"You should have brought some tea as the System recommended you to." The System reported as Jin was on his knees kneeling on a half durian shell for both legs while carrying two buckets of water for each hand. If he spilled any water from it, Claire would put another 50kg weights on his upper limbs.
And it was rigged.
The water was filled not just to the brim, it was overflowing periodically with chi created water when Claire was instructed to pour the water under the commands of a certain well known entity of Tian Gong District.
"Saying anything now will not change anything!" Jin said to the System until he heard a bang from the walking stick.
"Have you forgotten that I am still connected to the System?" Grandma Yuan said and even without talking and merely with just eye movements, Claire understood her commands. She took out a 100kg weight and strapped it on Jin's arms.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtIf Jin was using Maqi to regulate, there would not be any problems holding such weight but this was a different story when Grandma Yuan forbade any use of Maqi so there he was under the spikes of durians poking at him while sustaining the weights that had been placed so haphazardly around him.
It was a literal translation of 'Do you understand the weight of the situation that you were in when you accepted the building of the JODE Exorcist School?'
Of course, Grandma Yuan did not say a word about that particular problem even as Jin visited her and Claire. And while there is no doubt Grandma Yuan knew of the situation that Jin had been placed in because of her occasional contact with the System, she did not spare any mercy to him.
Sure, Qiu Yue had made some changes to make Grandma Yuan and Jin the headmaster of the new JODE centre in order to have shared responsibilities but considering how there were no further developments to the project when Jin was not around, it was becoming a joke in the community which Grandma Yuan had to suffer. So, compared to what Jin was experiencing right now, it was nothing as to the insults that Grandma Yuan had to take in.
"There is only so much I can do." Grandma Yuan said as she asked Claire to bring the box that she did ask Jin to pop up to pick it up. "So, I believe you know what is to be done next."
"I do."
Jin thought Claire took her time to search for the box but in actual fact, she was making tea for Grandma Yuan first before bringing the gift box to Jin.
"Oops, sorry. I totally forgot about the gift box just now." Claire smiled so wide, it was bloody obvious that it was sarcastic.
"Be careful, the box is fragile." Grandma Yuan said and Claire purposely pretended to drop it which caused Jin to react instinctively, causing more water to spill from the bucket. "Another 100kilos of weight."
"Yes, Grandma Yuan," Claire smirked once more and knew this was practically punishment in action as she added more weights onto Jin and the Cultivator was already shaking. There was definitely some injury from the durian spikes and his worms were actively healing the wounds. At the same time, he wondered what grade those durian shells were to be able to handle over 300kg of weight including him.
"Don't you dare smash the durians. If you smash them or even just a small crack, you will see what you get next." Grandma Yuan said as Claire finished placing the 100 kilos of weight on Jin. This means that Jin had to use all his willpower to balance himself out while kneeling on the durians and also making sure the water on the bucket did not spill and simultaneously handle the weight of 250 kilos of weight on him. (He did not have the time to think where the weights came from.)
It was only until Claire and Grandma Yuan had finished their tea session in peace that Jin was allowed to be relieved of their punishment. By then, Jin curled up at the side of the room to see that those durian shells were barely fine. Ever so barely. His healing factor kicked in fully for the muscle strains he got handling those weights without Maqi.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmIt was then Grandma Yuan asked Jin to open the gift box.
"What is this?" Jin asked as he opened to see an old inscription charm that was made out of wood.
"Beats me. Ming told me to give this to you when your Pandas were visible. I did not understand what that meant until the System told me that you can make visible Pandas out from your cultivation. Show me one, I like to grab one and cuddle." Grandma Yuan's request was absolute. No bargaining allowed.
Thus, Jin quickly summoned one out and it ran toward Grandma Yuan like a playful kid who wants its granny's love. Claire stared at him and even though he was pathetically on the ground because of her actions, he unwillingly summoned the other to let her play as well. This also bought him some time as they play with the Pandas while he healed himself and takes a closer inspection at the charm.
"Huh… It's not actually a charm and rather, it looked like it's a string of numbers of some sort." Jin said and asked the System to map it out for him. With a quick search, the coordinates for it was located somewhere near the Royal Zodiac Dragon Clan's Military Bases in Shanghai.
"Ehh… I guess I have to contact Kong Rong for this. There is no way I can go into the Royal Zodiac Dragon's territory especially their military bases and say hi. My Grandpa left this and I need to enter your territory to get it."
"Are you sure they are map coordinates?" Claire asked as she hugged the tightly and smelled its fur.
"The System felt that it is of such a nature as well. It will not hurt to take a look as the System do not have access to the map data of that area." The System said and Grandma Yuan who was casually looking at the commotion.
"Is this…?" She thought to herself and if she could stare at the System, she would have done so.
For it is something that she knew the System was hiding its information on purpose.