Chapter 69: White Hair
By the time Yan Ping returned, it was already late morning. Her student appeared busy in the garden, drawing out rune symbols with a twig in the sand. So far, she had gotten most of the details right from merely mimicking what was written in the book.
"Pay attention to the sequence of the strokes when you write the runes," Yan Ping dropped down from the air onto her feet a few metres behind Anji. "Although it appears the same, the effectiveness of a rune diminishes when you cross the energy paths when creating the runes."
Startled, Anji jolted and turned her head behind so quickly that she almost gave herself a whiplash.
"Shifu!" Anji greeted.
In Yan Ping’s hand was a basket. The Zhao family refused to send her back without some treats for Anji, but Yan Ping could not refuse and ended up accepting the snacks. They were Anji’s favourite dried persimmons, which Old Chen Zhong sent with his information report.
"Your father summoned me urgently," Yan Ping declared honestly. "If there’s anyone to blame for our lesson delay, blame your father. These are snacks from the Black Tortoise sect leader. He said they were your favourites, so be sure to finish them up. Doctor He said you can have up to two dried persimmons a day. Leave the rest in the preservation crate for other days."
Surprised by the delicious snack, Anji wondered if she could ask why her father summoned her shifu down the mountain during their supposed isolated training. However, the aura around her shifu made it hard for Anji to approach the subject. Eventually, she dropped it. Her shifu would tell her if it was important.
After putting away her straw hat, Yan Ping brewed a pot of tea and sighed. Anji cleaned up the garden and washed up before heading indoors, eager to begin their lesson for the day.
"How many runes do you remember?" the blind prophet asked. "I’m assuming you finished reading the book I gave you if you had extra time to be doodling on the ground."
Grinning sheepishly, Anji nodded.
"I finished the book twice. However, I thought it would be necessary to remember how to write the rune symbols anyway. You weren’t coming back yet, so I took it upon myself to practise writing them."
It was a good learning attitude. However, Yan Ping was concerned about the lack of guidance in Anji’s life. Although her student was extremely enthusiastic, she was also extremely inexperienced. Without proper guidance, Anji could unknowingly make an irreversible mistake. Thankfully, the girl had no functional cultivation base to work with. There was presently no risk of qi deviation from practising how to draw runes.