"You''re too rough... do it more gently..."


    "Hmm? Like this?"


    "Correct... and now slowly pull out..."


    Although the words from above couldbe misinterpreted, Li Yun and Xie Qing weresimplytrying to create a spiritual item. More urately, the girl was teaching the young man.


    And the only thing they understoodinall this time was that Xie Qing, although he turned out to be talented in formations, could not make various items.


    Therefore, they focused on engraving formations, which wereplex geometric figures that had to be superimposed on each other to form a normally functioning formation.


    "This is difficult. For example, here I can''t figure out how to merge the ''detection'' and ''sh'' formations, as they have different coding!" said Xie Qing, raising his eyebrows in puzzlement and looking at Lu Yin, who was sitting to his right and making pills: "Lu Yin, when can I start making pills?"


    "Hehe..." Lu Yin smiled gently andughed, ncing at the young man who looked gloomy: "You need to help our Yun. Besides, you haven''t learned everything you need for advanced pills yet. We don''t want to waste expensive herbs, do we?"


    "Ugh..."


    Li Yun,who wassitting to his left,ughed, covering her mouth with her hand. She smiled when she saw that Xie Qing was already getting tired.


    "Formations are aplex thing. Although you easily remember everything, you still have a basic level. For example, you are trying to merge two formations with different coding into one without using a key, which can lead to anexplosion"


    "Uh, who is this key of yours?" raising his eyebrows, Xie Qing asked, looking at the spiritual item in the shape of a pentagon in his hands: "I tried to connect them with the key ''Fan'',but they don''t listen."


    "The key ''Fan'' is used only for formations of the ''spirit'' and ''qi'' type, but here we have the ''protection'' and ''signal'' type, which is already a different category. For merging, you need to use the key ''Yuan''.It looks like this."


    Li Yun smiled gently and waved her hand, drawing the hieroglyph in the air withthehelpof Qiwhichwas supposed to be the key to the merging of two formations.


    Xie Qing looked at this hieroglyph and, thinking for a moment, perfectly repeated it. Finally, the two formations lit up and merged into one - a moreplex formation.


    "Yes! Finally!"


    The young man smiled happilyandthe two girls pped their hands, which made Xie Qing feel strange.


    "Why do I feel like they''reforting me like a child?"


    The rtionship between these three developedquitequickly, considering that they were from the same generation of cultivators and their Masters were friends.


    Therefore, Xie Qinggot rid ofunnecessary formalities and stopped behaving too seriously or "cool".Thishelped him rx.


    "Thank you, Yun. Without your help, I wouldn''t have been able to learn everything soquickly" Xie Qing sincerely thanked, looking at the girl who only nodded shyly.


    "It''s okay. I''m d I can helpyou" Li Yun replied, and then continued: "But I must admit, I was surprised by how quickly you learned. One hour and you already know the basic formations of the basic levndalthough I haven''t taught you many keys yet, youwere able tolearn this while I was applying the formations."


    Xie Qing, whowas praised, couldn''t help but show a proud smile, which made the two girls giggle.


    Of course, they werejusthaving fun with each other. Xie Qing finally felt what it was like to be innormalrtionships with almost all peers...although Li Yun was eight years older than him, and Lu Yin was even ten.


    The trio continued to study, asionally telling each other something and teasing each other. This scenewas watchedby three Masters - Zhang Mei, Liu Yang, and Xu Mei.


    It was unusual that these three had a gentle expression on their faces.Especiallythis wassurprising for Zhang Mei, who usually behaved coldly and distantly.


    "Lu Yin always smiled, but it was hard for herto find friends.It seems that your disciple is outstanding, XuMei" Liu Yang suddenly said, and her gentle smile was sincere, like a mother watching her child grow: "He was able to get along with them so quickly. Oh, a first-ss charmer, isn''t he?"


    "Pfft!" Xu Mei snorted and sternly looked at Liu Yan: "Aren''t you tired, old rag, of looking at the young?"


    "Shut up. The fact that you''re younger than me doesn''t make you young. You''re also an old woman, just a littleluckier" Liu Yan replied with unusual sharpness in her voice.Her eyes were closed, andthere was a gentle smileon her face.


    Zhang Mei rolled her eyes when she sawthat these two werearguing again. Shedidn''t pay attention tothem and looked at Li Yun, who was smiling brightly.


    "How cute.Sheused to smile, but nowshe''smore sincere. I must say, this guy has somemunicationskills" Zhang Mei thought and narrowed her eyes, unhappily distorting the corners of her mouth: "But this bastard still won''t remove the Soul Mark. And I can''t tell Xu Mei about it, she''llstart teasing me. How annoying!"


    At that moment, the guy who wasbeing cursedsneezed.


    "Did you catch a cold?" Lu Yin was surprised, taking a pill out of the alchemical furnace.


    "What cold? I would be ashamed if anyone heard aboutit" Xie Qing replied in a gloomy tone,and then added: "Probably some beauty is thinking about me again."


    "You are shameless," Lu Yin said with a smile,ughing.


    ***


    "I did it! Look, Yun!"


    At some point, when Lu Yin was finishing cleaning the alchemical furnace, Xie Qing''s voice was heard, full of joy. Li Yun finished arranging the created tokens andwent up tothe young man.


    "Y-you... created an enhanced version with acoverage offivehundred miles?"Li Yun shouted in surprise, and her eyes involuntarily opened, showing empty but beautiful eyes: "Amazing!"


    "Seriously... is there anythingin the world thatyou''re not good at?"Lu Yin muttered gloomily.


    Xie Qing just rolled his eyes. He suffered for two days with these formations and studied them, finallymanaging to createan enhanced token.


    It cost countless attempts and suffering, as merging twoplex formations into one could not be done without a dozen keys, and choosing them was alsodifficult.


    When two ordinary formationsare mergedinto one with the help of a key, theybine and acquire a single form. The problem was that although the merging was sessful, the inner part of the formation was still chaotic.


    Since the coding was different, the moreplex formations that needed to bebined,the more keys were needed. Moreover,some expensive resources were required.


    Thiswasdifficultand long work, butafter countless attempts,Xie Qingbined all the formations into one.


    "Youbined a second-level formation into a third-level formation, whichat the same timeconsists of ten second-level formations.Thisis a very advanced level!" Li Yun was surprised and pped her hands, adelighted smile appeared on her face: "You''re so amazing! Even I find it hard to do that!"


    "Thank you, Li Yun. Your help was alsoimportant. Without your guidance, I hardly would have reachedthis" Xie Qing sincerely said, gently squeezing the girl''s soft hands and looking at her: "Please, ask for anything.I want tothank you for your help, so name me anything you wantandI will give it to you."


    "Eh? N-no, it''s okay. We''re friends, so don''t worry about it!" Li Yun was embarrassed and shook her head.


    Xie Qing frowned, and Lu Yin smiled carelessly andwent up to Xie Qing, who wassitting in the lotus position.She put her hands on his shoulder and leaned forward.


    "Li Yun, just ask for something. This guy gave me a gift of gratitude for my help. As he said, it was a matter of a gentleman''sdignity" LuYin giggled and patted the young man on the shoulder: "Right?"


    "That''s right. If I don''t give something, I will feelbad" Nodding, Xie Qing said and smiled, gently squeezing Li Yun''s hands and looking at her: "Please, ask for anything. I don''t like to take and not give something in return."


    "I-I understand, but... I don''t even know what I want."


    Li Yun looked embarrassed andpuzzled,butinsomemomentsalso happy.The girl feltawarmfeelingin her chest, which was foreign to her.


    Lu Yin just smiled, watching these two. Her hands were still on the young man''s shoulders, which looked very intimate from the side.


    Thinking for a moment, Li Yun looked a little awkward but still asked for something.


    "Actually... you don''t have to do this, but... I wanted to create a certain itemandI needed one more. If you can find its location, that would beenough" the girl said and, hesitating a little, muttered the name of the ore: "This ore is called... um... Red Song...of Lust..."


    "Hmm?"