Seeing Tang Hao looking disheveled, Old Jack's gentle expression changed. He put on a serious face and said with disappointment, "Tang Hao! Such a young child, and Sui Sui is already weak. How could you let her wash vegetables herself?!"
Tang Hao's expression remained unchanged. His blank eyes swept over the well-behaved and silent Tang Sui, and he said impatiently, "If she can't even do this little thing well, she's useless even if she lives. With this sickly appearance, she'll likely die before she even leaves this village."
Tang San, who was wiping sweat, frowned upon hearing this.
These words were a bit too harsh for his sister.
Old Jack, listening to Tang Hao's speech, was so angry he wanted to argue with Tang Hao properly.
However, before he could start, he was interrupted by the protagonist of the conversation.
"Grandpa Jack, you must have something to look for Dad, right?" Tang Sui said crisply, her clear blue eyes looking into Old Jack's fiery gaze, like a basin of cool water instantly extinguishing the anger in his heart.
Old Jack remembered the purpose of his visit and immediately said seriously, "Tang Hao, Xiao San and Sui Sui are both about to turn six. It's time for them to participate in the Spirit Awakening ceremony, isn't it? I know Sui Sui is weak, but Xiao San has a bright future. It's worth a try! If he awakens a rare auxiliary Spirit and is recruited, Sui Sui's weakness can be treated with medicinal ingredients later on, right?"
Tang Hao, who was about to refuse irritably, glanced at Tang Sui's pale and thin little face. The refusal on his lips turned into another sentence: "As you wish."
He hadn't stopped trying to secretly find rare medicinal ingredients for Tang Sui and mix them into her daily meals and tonics over the years, but to no avail.
But... tsk, since both little brats want to go, let them try.
Seeing the siblings staring at Old Jack with sparkling eyes and asking questions, Tang Hao, hunched over, walked into the inner room.
Meanwhile, Old Jack, having agreed with the siblings, said with a smile, "Then it's settled. I'll pick you up in three days to go together!"
Tang San nodded. After Old Jack waved goodbye reluctantly and left, he showed obvious joy and took his sister's slightly cool small hand. "That's great, Sui Sui! If one of us awakens a healing Spirit, you won't have to be afraid of getting sick anymore!"
Even though he had tried to find suitable medicinal herbs in the back mountains to nourish Sui Sui's body, the few most suitable herbs he remembered in his memory were nowhere to be found here.
If he could awaken a healing Spirit, it would save so much trouble!
Tang Sui looked at Tang San's rare display of joy and nodded, "Mhmm!"
...
Three days later, Old Jack led the siblings and several other six-year-old children from the village to the Spirit Hall near Nuoding Village.
The children from Nuoding Village stood in a line, gazing expectantly at the young man standing with his hands behind his back in front of a long table. Even Tang San and Tang Sui, squeezed into the leftmost corner by the other children, stared intently at the young Spirit Master named Su Yuntao.
Su Yuntao's gaze swept over the nine children standing before him, finally pausing for a second on Tang Sui, who was particularly small among the children of the same age and looked so frail that she didn't seem like a six-year-old. He frowned almost imperceptibly.
Was this girl really six years old?
Perhaps she was sent for Spirit Awakening before she was six?
As a patrol deacon of the Spirit Hall, it was his duty to help ordinary people awaken their Spirits.
For him, it wasn't uncommon to see children brought for Spirit Awakening before they were a year old.
Tang Sui was not an exception.
Withdrawing his gaze, Su Yuntao began to introduce himself. He cleared his throat and said loudly, "Children, my name is Su Yuntao. I am a level 26 Great Spirit Master, and I will be guiding you through your Spirit Awakening. No matter what happens later, don't be afraid, because I am here."
As he spoke, a cyan light suddenly shot from between Su Yuntao's eyebrows and disappeared into his meticulously styled hair. His entire demeanor changed instantly.
"Lone Wolf, possess."
The cyan light flickered, and Su Yuntao's black hair instantly turned gray and grew rapidly. Fur of the same color suddenly appeared on his exposed arms. Under the standard Spirit Hall uniform, his seemingly harmless muscles bulged forcefully, stretching the clothes. His hands transformed into wolf-like claws, and his eyes became the vertical pupils of a lone wolf, emitting a faint green glow, startling the children nearby.
A white and a yellow ring of light lit up from beneath his feet. Those were his Spirit Rings.
This was... a Spirit.
The feeling of seeing it in an anime and seeing it with one's own eyes was different.
Tang Sui watched Su Yuntao, who was calming the frightened children while explaining and taking out the awakening tools from the package on the table. A different ripple suddenly spread through her heart.
If she awakened a Spirit, perhaps this sickly and frail buff she had could truly...
"Sui Sui, Sui Sui, it's your turn."
Tang San looked at his sister, who seemed stunned by Su Yuntao's transformation. He placed his hand on Tang Sui's back, gently patting her, and called Tang Sui back to her senses.
Tang Sui came back to her senses and, under the envious or secretly malicious gazes of others, walked to the center of the formation laid out with six Spirit Stones under Su Yuntao's watch.
"Begin."
Su Yuntao injected his Spirit Power into the six Spirit Stones. Tang Sui, standing in the center of the formation, closed her eyes. The surrounding noise seemed to disappear, leaving only a deathly silence.
[Beep—Energy injection detected. System dormancy ended.]
[Congratulations to the host for awakening Demonic Power and reactivating the system.]
A mechanical voice suddenly sounded.
Tang Sui opened her eyes, but instead of the sumptuously decorated small room, she saw a dark, deep, and silent expanse.
'You've come.'
A faint voice approached from afar. Tang Sui looked up, and her eyes met a jade-white mask carved into the shape of a fox.
The corners of the fox mask's eyes were outlined with a touch of crimson, drawn into slender angles. A point of faint flame glowed in its empty eyes, like a true fox squinting and smiling, exuding a cunning aura.
"Fox Mask..."
As a devoted fan of Men Lin Qi, Tang Sui was very familiar with this mask.
It was the Fox Mask representing wisdom, which had accompanied her Shikigami shell since birth!
She looked at the Fox Mask and, as if possessed, reached out, as if to touch the mask. But in reality, Tang Sui touched the blue crystal ball that Su Yuntao had placed on the table.
"Buzz—!"
A brilliant, full Spirit Power light instantly illuminated the entire room, making it as bright as broad daylight.
[Beep—Important item touched.]
[Congratulations to the host for awakening one of the twin Spirits, 'Your Dear Little Mask', with innate full Spirit Power~]
The slightly raised mechanical voice indicated the system's good mood at the moment.
Tang Sui stared blankly at the mask floating in her palm.
It was not shaped like a fox, nor was it shaped like any of the other masks she was familiar with that came with Men Lin Qi. Instead, it was a plain-looking mask, not carved into any specific form, but with a circle of patterns resembling Blue Silver Grass adorned on both sides of the jade-white mask. Otherwise, it was not embellished with any vibrant colors.
—Author's Note—
A brief explanation of the origin of the Men Lin Qi Shikigami: Initially, the girl treated the masks as friends. Later, the masks sensed the girl's inner vulnerability. Under the masks' influence, the girl's originally pure heart gradually darkened, and finally, the girl merged with the masks to become the yokai Men Lin Qi. (—Baidu)