Chapter 60: He’s About to Lose Control
The fluctuation of Yun Sheng’s spiritual power—faint, yet beginning to coalesce—mingled with a tempting, sweet scent in the air, relentlessly battering the crumbling defenses of his sanity.
Si Jin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and even the simple act of swallowing seemed difficult.
Fine beads of sweat dotted his temples. Unlike Yun Sheng, who was sweating from exhaustion, his sweat was scalding hot, laced with a scorching anxiety he was desperately trying to suppress.
Leaning back into the sofa, Yun Sheng slowly recovered from the dizzying exhaustion as her consciousness gradually returned.
The first thing she noticed was the tension in the air, so thick it was almost tangible. And... from just a few feet away, an oppressive, dangerous aura, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
She lifted her heavy eyelids and looked at Si Jin.
He stood with his back to the light. His lips were pressed into a bloodless line, his bangs were slightly damp, and his body was taut as if bracing against some invisible flood.
Her heart hammered in her chest, and her cheeks instantly flushed hot.
She frantically looked away, but the image felt as if it had been seared into her mind.
Embarrassment, shame, and a sliver of instinctive fear washed over her like a bucket of ice water, snapping her mostly awake.
Yun Sheng instinctively curled up, shrinking deeper into the sofa. But this defensive posture only seemed to further upset the precarious balance in the air.
Si Jin suddenly turned his head, his scorching gaze landing right on her.
He ignored his body’s violent reaction, acting as if he couldn’t smell the sweet fragrance lingering in the air. His tone was cold as he spoke, switching directly back into "teaching" mode.
"Are you recovered?"
Yun Sheng nodded instinctively, her voice still a bit faint. "...A little better."
"Good. Your spiritual power can already be initially condensed. Now, try to use it to attack me."
"Attack?"
Yun Sheng was stunned, thinking she must have misheard.
’Use my pathetically weak spiritual power—which I just barely managed to condense, and which feels like a single breath could disperse it—to attack an SSS-level Dark Sentinel?’
’That’s no different from trying to poke a steel fortress with a piece of straw!’
"I just want to see if you can control the power you’ve just managed to gather."
Si Jin’s tone was flat, betraying no emotion, as if he were simply assigning a simple quiz.
"Don’t worry about its strength. Just focus, release it, and attack me."
Hearing this, Yun Sheng collected herself. She sat up straight on the sofa and refocused her mind.
Perhaps because she had just succeeded once, the process was much smoother this time.
She no longer hesitated, imagining herself compressing and shaping that bit of spiritual power, trying to form it into a sharper, more piercing shape.
The moment she had the thought, her spiritual power actually stretched and thinned at her command, forming a thin needle.
It shot out, flying straight for the space between Si Jin’s eyebrows!
However, the moment the thin needle reached him, it dissolved like melting snow, silently disintegrating into nothing.
A subtle, almost imperceptible glimmer flashed in the depths of Si Jin’s eyes.
The spiritual power of most guides was gentle, used primarily for soothing and channeling. But in his early years on missions, he had encountered a rare few who were different.
They tempered their spiritual power into sharp blades, specializing in attacking the weak points of a Sentinel’s spiritual landscape. The resulting damage and control were sometimes more difficult and deadly to deal with than the physical attacks of a Sentinel of the same Level.
He had planned to train Yun Sheng in this very direction, and her reaction and comprehension far exceeded his expectations.
The "thin needle" she had formed on her first attempt was insignificant to him.
But against a Low-level Sentinel with weak spiritual defenses, or one caught off guard, a strike like that would be enough to cause significant mental anguish, even brief confusion.
Yun Sheng watched her attack vanish without a trace, not even managing to stir the hem of Si Jin’s clothes. A wave of frustration and helplessness washed over her.
’I really am too weak...’
"Not bad."
A deep voice suddenly spoke, carrying a faint hint of... praise?
Yun Sheng looked up at Si Jin in surprise.
"Keep practicing. Once you get the hang of it, you should have the strength to protect yourself against a Sentinel like Chen Hao."
The light that had faded from Yun Sheng’s eyes suddenly returned, brighter than before.
The puppy that had been sitting quietly on the rug seemed to sense the change in her mood and immediately trotted over.
Its fluffy head nudged affectionately against the hand hanging at Yun Sheng’s side, and it even stuck out its warm tongue to lick the back of her hand.
Yun Sheng’s heart melted. Filled with joy and relief, she habitually reached out and ruffled the wolf pup’s fluffy head and ears.
Her fingertips brushed over its cool, smooth fur and kneaded its soft little belly. A genuine, almost childlike smile spread across her face without her realizing.
Until she felt an intensely strong gaze fall upon her hand...
Yun Sheng froze, the smile solidifying on her face.
She slowly raised her head to meet Si Jin’s deep blue eyes, which were watching her quietly.
The air was suddenly silent.
Yun Sheng snatched her hand back as if she’d been shocked. Her cheeks flushed a visible crimson, and she was so embarrassed she wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.
’Not again!’
’I can’t believe I just "fondled" his spiritual body in front of him again!’
"I... I didn’t do it on purpose..."
Si Jin’s gaze lingered for a moment on her crimson cheeks and her "offending" hand. He then glanced at his own spiritual body, which looked like it wanted more and was trying to get closer to Yun Sheng, and a flicker of disdain crossed his eyes.
In the end, he said nothing and simply looked away.
"That’s all for today. Practice on your own. We’ll continue tomorrow."
With that, Si Jin didn’t linger. He turned and strode toward the window.
"Get your scent under control."
His final warning drifted into the room on the cold night breeze.
Then, without a moment’s hesitation, Si Jin leaped from the windowsill, melting into the boundless night and vanishing completely.
The light in the room seemed to soften, and the heart-pounding tension in the air gradually faded.
Yun Sheng reached out, her fingertips once again sinking into the wolf pup’s cool, smooth fur. The corners of her lips curved into a smile.
’Whatever lies ahead, at least I’ve taken a real first step.’
「Meanwhile, outside the Lin Family estate, in the shadows of a secluded, tree-lined lane.」
Si Jin leaned against a tree trunk, his figure all but invisible in the deep darkness of the night.
The calm and restraint he’d shown in Yun Sheng’s room were now completely gone.
His chest heaved violently with every scorching breath. The hands at his sides were clenched into fists so tight his knuckles were CRACKING, as if he were desperately trying to contain a raging inferno threatening to burst forth from within him.
He needed a release. He had to find an outlet for this violent desire that threatened to burn him to ash, or else...
Just as he reached his breaking point, his keen senses picked up a faint noise in the distance.
"...that’s the building, the room with the light on, second floor..."
"Wait till they’re asleep, knock ’em out, and grab ’em. No one will ever know..."
The voices belonged to two furtive men using the darkness and the shrubbery as cover as they crept toward the Lin Family estate.
Si Jin’s eyes, which had been tightly shut, snapped open.
In the darkness, his deep blue pupils blazed with a savage, murderous intent.
’An outlet... and one just delivered itself right to my doorstep!’