Yan Jian Hong smiled brightly. Apparently, the youth hadn’t been scared off yet. This was good. In a moment of peril, you couldn’t be scared of the outcome if doing something risky was the only way to save everyone. So not stepping back from learning even though you knew the risks was a first step in the right direction. “If you’re sure that you want to learn, I will naturally teach you. This technique isn’t all that difficult. You know how to sense spiritual energy, right?”
Yun Bei Fen nodded.
“And after sensing it, you can also move it. That works both inside your body — which is usually how we cultivate — but also outside like when you want to create a shield or attack somebody.”
Yun Bei Fen nodded again. “I can! Although I’m not that good at the latter …” He hung his head, realizing that he should have learned this a lot earlier. Now, he wasn’t really ready to defend or attack and it seemed he also couldn’t support others because of the same problem.
The red priest simply smiled though. “It’s alright. We all start to learn at some point. You know the basics which is enough to build on. The rest will come with time as long as you practice.” He took a moment to console him but then turned serious again. “So, this skill works by moving the spiritual energy as well just that you don’t give it as much of a push. Instead, using the reserves in your own body, you slowly guide it toward another person. I’ll demonstrate for you.”
He didn’t use Yun Bei Fen as a prop for his demonstration and instead pulled the unsuspecting white jade over, making him stand in front of him with his back turned toward the two of them. Meanwhile, he continued to explain to Yun Bei Fen. “If you transmit energy directly without the help of an array, you can do that the easiest the closer you are to the person.
“Touching them to do so has proven to be especially helpful for younger disciples because the distance they have to guide the energy isn’t as far. Since most people also have an easier time guiding spiritual energy out of their body through their hands, most will place their palms against the back of the other person. It’s a wide enough and also a smooth surface.
“In theory though, you can touch them anywhere or even transmit the energy from a few steps away. It can be difficult to grasp though and the risk of injury is higher. I will first demonstrate it for you that way though because it makes it easier to grasp the idea. So, watch closely, yes?”
Elder Baili couldn’t help but chime in. “And use your spiritual sense to observe!” Maybe you didn’t need to tell others but you absolutely needed to tell his youngest disciple. He would know. He had tried to teach him stuff in the past and this little one clearly didn’t get even the easiest concepts if you didn’t remind him regularly of everything that needed to be done.
The red priest gave the Elder a look but didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned to white jade and focused. This might be a demonstration but he still didn’t want to harm his friend.
He raised his hands and moved the spiritual energy in his body, ejecting just the faintest sliver through the skin on his palms. Then, he gently moved it forward until it touched Shang Qiang’s back and with a last push, the energy was absorbed into white jade’s body.
Yun Bei Fen watched closely, his eyes turning wider every second.
This skill actually wasn’t that specialized. Even outside of the Zhen Yan Sect, many people were familiar with it so Yan Jian Hong hadn’t thought twice about teaching it to an outsider.
The ones who would usually use it were the ones often out on missions because that was when spiritual energy would run low easily. Between traveling, needing to guard against demonic practitioners and dangerous spiritual beasts, as well as whatever objective a mission had, this happened a lot to the disciples.
Usually, Elders would make sure to send at least one disciple along that knew the technique well. And even if nobody had been taught, they would usually figure it out when in the situation. That was how simple the technique was even though it might not seem that way to Yun Bei Fen.
Yan Jian Hong took back his hands and turned to look at Yun Bei Fen. “Alright, this is how it’s done. Did you get a good look?” He tried judging how effective this had been by Yun Bei Fen’s expression but it was so comical that he really couldn’t say. Slowly, he started to understand why his Master had felt the need to remind him to use his spiritual sense. If this was the way he usually reacted, he’d also have doubts if this was his disciple.
Yun Bei Fen looked up at him, his eyes still as wide as if he had just seen a ghost. “I did!”
Yan Jian Hong nodded with a smile. “That’s good. Do you think you could already do it on your own or do you want me to demonstrate it again?”
This time, Yun Bei Fen wasn’t as confident. “Well … I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Yan Jian Hong gave a nod again. “Alright. Then I’ll demonstrate it for you once more. After that, you try it out yourself.”
White jade had already turned around after the demonstration ended and now looked at the red priest in question.
Yan Jian Hong shook his head though. “How about I’ll demonstrate on you? This way, you can feel it yourself and will see more clearly what I mean.”
Yun Bei Fen gave an excited hum. This sounded like a great idea! He was really worried about how this would work so it was best to see for himself once.
