Evan Xiao: "On me?"
Grace nodded.
"Which part of me do you want to put the sigil on?"
"Hmm... your hand, I guess."
Evan handed her his hand.
Grace had just learned this technique and found it all very new and exciting.
So, she eagerly started working, forming a sigil on the back of his hand.
When she saw the mark disappear on the back of his hand, she reached out to touch it.
She touched it for a while, but didn't feel any reaction from the sigil.
She tugged and pinched the flesh on the back of Evan's hand, puzzled, "Did I do the sigil wrong? Why don't I feel anything at all?"
"Want to know?" Evan Xiao asked.
"Tell me!"
"Just touch it with your lips, and you'll feel it." He looked at her soft, tempting lips as he spoke.
"Really?"
Evan nodded.
"Why?"
"Because your spiritual power is too weak."
"Oh... then I'll try!" Grace lowered her head and pressed her lips to the spot where she had just made the sigil.
The moment she touched it, she felt a sudden jolt in her heart, like an electric shock.
"Did you feel it?" Evan Xiao asked.
"I think I felt something—kind of tingly, like an electric shock in my heart..."
"Want to try again?" Evan Xiao asked with a smile.
"How?"
"Make another sigil here." He pointed to his lips.
Grace felt something was off and blinked her big eyes at him.
Evan smiled, wrapped his arms around her slender waist, and said, "Silly, you can only make sigils on objects, not on living people."
"So... you were just teasing me?"
Evan's big hand wandered across her back, his breath quickening. Suddenly, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Grace... I want you..."
Grace's face instantly flushed red.
"You're already at Stage Nine, just one step away from forming a core. Hurry up..."
Feeling his embrace growing hotter, Grace stammered, "I... I have to go home!"
"Why go home?"
"To eat."
"Just eat here."
"I promised my mom I'd have lunch with her at home." Her body felt weak from his teasing, so Grace quickly excused herself and ran home.
Back home, she told Minister Zhuo and Lena about reaching Stage Nine.
She thought they'd be happy.
Instead, the two were silent for a long time, looking at her like she was a monster.
"How long has it been? You're already at Stage Nine!" Minister Zhuo looked dazed. "I've been absorbing spirit energy since I was one, and it's taken me forty years to reach Stage Seven. You did it in months? Stage Nine?"
Grace: "Uh..."
Maybe it was a little too fast...
"How did you do it?" Minister Zhuo asked again.
"I... I don't know! I just kept cultivating and suddenly reached Stage Nine."
Minister Zhuo was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Hahaha! I, Minister Zhuo, have a genius daughter that only appears once in a thousand years! Wonderful!"
Laughing, he suddenly said, "Grace, I'll let you be the clan leader!"
"No way! I'm still young, Dad. You're the best choice for clan leader!"
"Then just be an elder for now!"
"Elder? I'm only sixteen! How can I be an elder?"
"Then—"
"Oh, Dad!" Grace hugged his arm. "Being the clan leader's daughter is perfect for me!"
Minister Zhuo looked at her cute, spoiled expression and smiled kindly.
...