The Smiling Red Panda 微笑的红熊猫

12. Mo Xiu, Mo Jingtang Is Excellent

Now that Jingtang was no longer sick, the boy naively thought Shi Mei would finally let loose and calm down. Wrong.

While the initial relief was there, something kept Shi Mei very troubled and occupied, it was a little disturbing but Jingtang forced himself to let it go since Shi Mei would not tell him.

Shi Mei developed a bad habit (according to Jingtang) of being highly sensitive to him, it was like a sixth sense now. He could tell when something was wrong even despite Jingtang's ability to hide things well and he could gauge his mood so much quicker now, things like that.

He also decided to start staying with Jingtang until he fell asleep in order to watch over him, and Jingtang let him since his nightmares stopped when Shi Mei started singing him to sleep.

What he was really doing was observing the flower and trying to figure out a way to destroy it without hurting Jingtang in the process, yes he managed to suppress its torment with his spiritual energy but he knew it was only a matter of time until the constant flow of energy was no longer enough.

Fortunately, as to not worry Jingtang and to maintain his already weak core, Shi Mei took good care of himself and returned to his room after taking care of Jingtang. He's probably never gonna develop ugly dark circles under his eyes.

The days that went by became fairly normal until the spiritual core test came around.

"Why do you look more worried than me, is it that bad?" Jingtang jested.

"I'm not worried, I trust you."

Shi Mei's leg wouldn't stop bouncing, he was definitely very believable.

Jingtang dropped his smile, "Now you're making me feel bad."

"I'm— I'm not, so don't." Shi Mei huffed.

"Shixiong~!" Jingtang whined, "Give your Shidi a little encouragement on his test!"

"I wish you luck."

"Ah, so bland."

———

Everyone watched as Jingtang sat in a lotus position, anticipating the results of his core test. Mo Ran had just gone through this recently and passed quite well, but everyone had doubts about Jingtang since he was younger and assumed to have less experience.

In the past, Jingtang cultivated a stable core at the age of sixteen, unlike his promise to Chu-fei. But when you're on the run and don't have much time to worry a lot about cultivation, it's unsure where that'll lead you, but his uncle made sure he could achieve a stable core, Xue Meng was probably the only reason Jingtang practiced in the first place.

But now, he knew he was ready.

While yes, the flower in his heart took a toll on him, his determination to form a core was so strong that it couldn't even mess with that of all things.

"Come on..." Mo Ran watched with bated breath.

Shi Mei was even tenser than him, making Xue Meng frown.

"Why are you guys so worried, don't you trust him?" Xue Meng quipped, "Even if he fails the test this time, he can always do better next year."

"But that's next year." Shi Mei almost snapped.

Xue Meng narrowed his eyes at his friend before moving his gaze to his cousin, "What about you? I get that Shi Mei feels like Jingtang's long-lost granddad, but what got you all excited?"

Shi Mei glared at him before returning his attention to the meditating boy.

Mo Ran frowned this time, "Ah well... I don't know?"