Yan Hong Min looked at him miffed. “Of course, it does! Why else would I have given it to you?” In fact, he certainly would have put it on his third junior martial brother’s head if he hadn’t gotten in trouble for ruining his hair once. After all, what did Shen Lei need additional protection for? Luo Lin was a lot more vulnerable when out there!

Shen Lei nodded and turned to Luo Lin, handing the bowl over. He knew it looked odd but … well, appearances were worthless when one’s life was on the line.

Luo Lin accepted it but stared at it for a moment. He did have some issues with putting this on his head but … well, he also understood that in a dire situation, looking ridiculous would be the least of his worries. “Well, thank you very much for this. We will make good use of it.” He put the bowl in his spatial bag and then motioned back to the shelf where Yan Hong Min had been looking for items earlier. “So, what did you find for Fen’er?”

“Oh, right!” Yan Hong Min had been completely sidetracked by the request for an explosion that he almost forgot about that. He hastily turned back to the shelf and pulled out a few items he had had his eyes on before, bringing them back to Luo Lin. “It’s not much but might work in a pinch.

“This one I call the spiritual porcupine. It has more offensive capabilities. It gives off some spiritual energy and uses it to scan its surroundings. If it detects something, it’ll fire projectiles in that direction. The disadvantage is, of course, that it’s low level so it can’t do much damage but it can be used as a kind of alarm to notify someone else. So if anyone stays with him, they’d get a warning that someone is approaching. Unfortunately, if it runs out of spiritual energy, it can’t scan any longer, and replenishing it is a bit tedious because you have to screw it open and then close it up afterward.”

Luo Lin nodded. That really didn’t sound practical but maybe it could indeed be of help to Xiao An in guarding him, either by being a warning sign or maybe a distraction. In any case, it was better than nothing and it seemed like it wasn’t all Yan Hong Min had found. He put the orb-like object away carefully and then looked at his second senior martial brother expectantly.

Yan Hong Min then handed him a small box that looked a bit like the ones that held powder.

Luo Lin liked to apply makeup on most days but he had never gotten used to the feeling of powder on his face so while he had one lying at the back of a drawer at home that he had bought a long time ago, he didn’t really use it and only saw them at the store every now and then. Thinking of the one he had bought back then … how come this one looked so similar?

Just as the thought struck Luo Lin, Yan Hong Min hastily took a step back. “You weren’t using it! I made sure of that before I took it. You hadn’t taken it out all week!”

Luo Lin looked at him and then simply raised the object. “What is it and how is it used?” Even though he’d usually feel annoyed that Yan Hong Min had sneaked into his house, rummaged through his drawers, and even dared to steal something from him, right now definitely wasn’t the moment to argue about that. No, they had to focus and get this over with quickly so he needed quick explanations and nothing else. Anyway, it wouldn’t be too late to complain to Shen Lei about how bad his second senior martial brother was for doing this when they got back to the sect.

Yan Hong Min pursed his lips, feeling that this was too good to last. Still, he was also aware that there was no time to waste here so he motioned at the small crevice where the box could be opened. “It opens just like before. When it does, it can reflect an attack but only unless it’s below the middle stage of the nascent soul realm.”

Luo Lin snapped the box open and found that it had been hollowed out and both sides were embedded with a mirror. He couldn’t help but feel that this was ridiculous. If a simple mirror could reflect attacks just like that, cultivation would be a hoax. But before he could think about it more closely, he saw faint lines on the glass and realized that the mirror was … well, maybe even just a distraction to make this less obvious.

Shen Lei saw the same thing and gave Yan Hong Min an appreciative glance. Luo Lin didn’t like his second senior martial brother all that much so his own stance was also worse compared to Zhi Guan and Yun Bei Fen but he could see what Yan Hong Min had done there: The powder case stolen from Luo Lin had clearly been turned into a defensive item most suited to be used by Luo Lin himself. His second senior martial brother might have even handed it back to him whenever he went out on a mission the next time. It was just that Luo Lin left the sect so rarely that it had probably been forgotten until they asked for defensive tools today.

The three of them all understood the backstory of this item but nobody mentioned it, knowing that now was hardly the time for that.

“Will it work for Fen’er?” Luo Lin was still mostly worried about this.

Yan Hong Min could only smile wryly though. “Not as well as it should, I’m afraid. It is meant to be an inconspicuous item that can be used in a pinch to deflect one or two attacks. Without being able to move it, it might not work. It does have a bit of a range though so just putting it down close to where his vitals are will be much better than doing nothing at all. At the very least, it might give him one more chance to be saved.”