Chapter 9: Bathing Amidst Fragrant Incense!

The search results were wildly varied.

The most common explanation, of course, was this: the emergence of an awakened one’s spiritual body is a natural and inevitable process. It can happen sooner or later; some awakened ones don’t even develop a spiritual body until they’re fifteen or sixteen years old.

Ha, ha!

Would Ji Xun really wait until he was fifteen or sixteen?

By then, that bastard Fu Shuxing would probably be piloting warships and fighter jets in the skies!

Would Ji Xun still be stuck on the ground, waiting for a cold dish?!

So Ji Xun skimmed past those answers and looked for others.

Among them, he found one method: chanting a spell.

At first glance, it seemed mystical and absurd.

But surprisingly, many people had endorsed the answer and even left thanks and tips.

The chant was: “I want the XX spiritual body.”

The “XX” had to be a spiritual body that actually existed in reality, and it couldn’t surpass one’s own spiritual power by too much. Most importantly, before chanting, one must bathe and burn incense, preferably meditating for over ten minutes beforehand to completely clear one’s mind.

The scientific basis behind this method was that the spiritual body is a higher-dimensional entity. When a person’s body and mind are relaxed, consciousness is no longer bound by time and space constraints, reaching a state that approximates higher-dimensional activity.

Much like the spiritual domain.

Both the spiritual domain and spiritual body exist in higher dimensions, but the spiritual domain resides within the person.

Guides possess strong spiritual power. They can easily control their emotions, enter the “empty” state at will, and extend spiritual tendrils into the sentinels’ higher-dimensional spiritual domain to assist with mental guidance and reconstruction.

Awakened ones without spiritual bodies usually have weaker spiritual power.

In other words, even if they successfully enter the “empty” state and attempt to condense a spiritual body in the higher dimension, they likely won’t produce effective results in reality.

This means repeated attempts are necessary.

Simply put: bathe and burn incense — meditate — chant the spell.

Each chanting session lasts half an hour.

After at least a week, results will begin to show.

Ji Xun rubbed his swollen, painful eyes from crying and found it quite reasonable.

Since the “contact” method was useless now, he decided to try this last resort.

The next day, Ji Xun took advantage of break time to visit the market next to the sanctuary and found a shop specializing in incense.

“Boss, I want to buy incense.”

The shop owner was a middle-aged guide blind in one eye, with an orange cat spiritual body wrapped around his leg, also wearing a single black eye patch.

“Buying incense? Which kind? The best is two hundred star coins, this better one is one hundred forty, these common ones are eighty, and this cheapest one is twenty.”

Ji Xun looked at the bundles of incense and said, “I don’t want the stick incense; I want the kind used for bathing and burning incense.”

He didn’t really know, but figured he shouldn’t go for the cheapest.

“Then give me the eighty-star coin one.”

“Alright!”

Ji Xun called Zhao Zhanlei over to pay.

Zhao Zhanlei arrived quickly.

He was having a rough day too.

Fu Shuxing seemed off—he’d been in a low mood all day. In the morning’s mecha simulation battle against three hundred female bugs, Fu Shuxing piloted the mecha alone and tore through two hundred sixty!

The bloody scene left the other sentinels in the class stunned.

Yet, once out of the mecha cockpit, Fu Shuxing’s expression was chillingly calm.

That kind of calmness was terrifying—Zhao Zhanlei felt as if a sword of Damocles hung over his head.

It was painful!

Truly painful!

So when Ji Xun called him, he immediately bolted out like escaping a trap.

—

Seeing Ji Xun, Zhao Zhanlei quickly told him everything. “I really don’t get it. Nobody provoked him. Could it be that he’s upset about yesterday’s extra training? Is he venting today?”

Ji Xun said nothing.

Only when he heard Fu Shuxing’s name did he grit his teeth, then looked up to the shop owner and said, “Boss, I’ll change to the most expensive incense! Thanks.”

Zhao Zhanlei paid two hundred star coins and walked out with Ji Xun, puzzled. “Xun Xun, why buy incense all of a sudden?”

Ji Xun replied, “For something big.”

“? What big thing?” Zhao Zhanlei recalled how dejected Ji Xun had looked yesterday after school. Today’s mood seemed oddly reminiscent of his dinosaur obsession phase. Strange.

Ji Xun smirked. “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

Zhao Zhanlei laughed bitterly. “Hey, how am I supposed to know if you don’t say? I mean, you and Xing Ge—what’s going on between you two?”

“Stop!” Ji Xun halted.

Zhao Zhanlei stopped too, confused.

“Stone.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t mention Fu Shuxing’s name around me anymore,” Ji Xun said seriously, solemnly, and earnestly to Zhao Zhanlei. “If you say it once, I’ll cut ties with you for a whole day.”

Zhao Zhanlei blinked in bewilderment.

Ji Xun said no more and kept walking.

Zhao Zhanlei stared after him, suddenly understanding. “Damn,” he muttered. So those two ancestors had a falling out and broke up!

He immediately chased after him. “Xun Xun, Xun Xun!”

Ji Xun didn’t stop.

Zhao Zhanlei caught up and said, “Xun Xun, come on, we’ve been brothers for so many years. You can’t just break off like that. What happened between you and Xing Ge? Did he bully you? He wouldn’t. He usually spoils you. You know, Xing Ge just isn’t good at talking; don’t take it to heart.”

Ji Xun didn’t stop walking, eyes straight ahead, raising two fingers at Zhao Zhanlei.

“?” Zhao Zhanlei didn’t understand. “What’s that?”

Ji Xun said, “Two days of no contact.”

“Don’t follow me.”

Then he strode away.

Zhao Zhanlei stood frozen, watching the little guide vanish like a flash.

“…”

What is even going on?

Why two days of no contact?!

—

Back in the sentinels’ training room.

Zhao Zhanlei sat down beside Fu Shuxing, intending to gauge his mood. But as soon as he sat, Fu Shuxing abruptly got up and moved to another empty seat.

Zhao Zhanlei looked on, dumbfounded.

So you two are fighting, and I’m the one caught in the middle?

Is that it?

Am I the third wheel???

—

Because of the two-day no-contact deal, Ji Xun left school early without waiting for Zhao Zhanlei and took a taxi home by himself.

At dinner, Ji’s mother asked, “By the way, Xun Xun, is Xiao Xing okay?”

Ji Xun smiled faintly. “He’s fine. He’s very well.”

After dinner, Ji Xun ran upstairs.

Shortly after, he came back down. “Dad, can I borrow your lighter?”

Ji’s father immediately looked at his wife and firmly denied, “What nonsense! I don’t smoke, how would I have a lighter?”

Ji Xun glanced at his mother and quickly said, “Right, I forgot Dad doesn’t smoke. Never mind, I’m going upstairs to shower!”

Ji’s mother slowly ate a cherry tomato, quietly watching the father and son’s little exchange.

Ji Xun showered thoroughly for over half an hour.

—

Then, he quietly slipped to the study, pushed the door open, and whispered to his father inside, “Dad, lighter.”

Ji’s father took out a lighter from a drawer, weighed down by files. “Don’t let your mother see. What do you need a lighter for?”

“It’s useful, really. I’ll return it in a few days!”

“Hey!” Ji’s father was about to protest, but the boy had already disappeared.

—

Ji Xun locked his door, then used the lighter to light four sticks of incense.

He tied the incense sticks to the four corners of his bed’s headboard with string, set a timer, turned off the lights, and sat cross-legged in the center of the bed, eyes closed.

He sat quietly, emptying his mind, meditating...

Until the electronic timer beeped. Ji Xun knew ten minutes had passed and began softly chanting, “I want the lion spiritual body, I want the lion spiritual body, I want the lion spiritual body...”

He nearly chanted himself to sleep.

When the timer beeped a second time, he jolted awake and opened his eyes.

The incense tied to the four corners had burned down significantly.

Some ashes had fallen onto the bed.

Ji Xun brushed the ashes off, then went to the desk to drink water—chanting had made his mouth dry.

But surprisingly, he felt his entire body brimming with energy! (The kind of energy that comes from a good, full sleep...)

Ji Xun grabbed his telescope, planning to scout the enemy’s situation across the way.

He slightly opened the window.

Through the telescope, Ji Xun saw...

Nothing.

Fu Shuxing’s bedroom was pitch black.

He didn’t even know if Fu Shuxing had returned or was already asleep.

Ji Xun frowned, feeling uneasy, and put down the telescope.

Just then, a loud shout came from downstairs—“Xun! Ji Xun! Little Ji Xun!”

Ji Xun opened the window and looked down.

“What?”

Zhao Zhanlei asked, “Xun Xun, why is smoke coming from your room?”

Ji Xun: “...!!!”

He turned back to look. After a while of breathing in the smoke himself, he realized the bedroom was thick with lingering smoke.

He immediately waved his hands, opening the window wider to let the smoke dissipate quickly.

Zhao Zhanlei entered Ji Xun’s room, saw the scene, and exclaimed, “I thought your room was on fire. What are you doing?”

Ji Xun said, “None of your business. We’re on a break, so have some respect.”

“Come on.” Zhao Zhanlei smiled and hugged him. “Xun Xun, if you’re fighting with Xing Ge, I’m definitely on your side. See? Two against one—we have the numbers advantage.”

Ji Xun seemed to consider this and said, “What if you betray me?”

“I would never betray you!”

“Then Fu Shuxing asked you to play the J-2 fighter jet game with him?”

“...No way. He’s been busy with extra training lately!”

“Has he come back yet?”

“No, his finals are coming up, then he and Uncle Fu will be deployed to the battlefield for real combat. That’s real knives and guns, with life-or-death risks. No room for carelessness.”

Ji Xun was shocked. “Real combat?? He’s only twelve!”

Zhao Zhanlei said, “Xing Ge is a genius. Age means nothing.”

Ji Xun thought that wasn’t quite right.

No matter how much book knowledge you have or how well you perform in simulations, without real combat experience, going to the battlefield is just being cannon fodder.

He also wondered if Fu Shuxing’s strange words yesterday were triggered by this.

Zhao Zhanlei pointed to the burning incense sticks tied to the headboard. “Now you can tell me why you’re doing this, right?”

Ji Xun was still thinking—if he had to go fight the bug tribes now, he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep either. Not only was Fu Shuxing scared, the general should be scared too.

Could it be that the general’s call last night was because of this? Fu Shuxing felt ashamed of being afraid and didn’t want to admit it, so he vented his frustration by yelling?