As Elder Cao had mentioned, only five days of rest were granted to the six of them.
The very next morning after Wen Shuangbai and her group returned to the Qingling Academy of Dizhou, they were summoned to the back mountain.
There, in a clearing, stood a dilapidated stone hut that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, its appearance ancient and worn.
The closer Wen Shuangbai got to the hut, the more she could sense an intense fluctuation of spiritual energy.
She pondered silently.
If her guess was correct, this was—
"This is the Qingling Mountain’s treasure—the Endless House," Elder Cao declared from the side. "Time inside flows ten times slower than outside. For the next twenty-five days, you will cultivate within. The pavilion elders are already waiting for you inside."
One day outside equaled ten days inside.
Twenty-five days of cultivation here would be equivalent to two hundred and fifty days.
As the saying goes, time is gold—this Endless House was truly a peerless treasure!
In the original novel, Qingling Mountain had also lent the Endless House to Yu Xiaoxiao and her group. Thanks to it, Yu Xiaoxiao, Lu Ying, and Bai Lijue had all experienced rapid growth in their cultivation.
However, in the end, despite securing second place in the competition, Yu Xiaoxiao’s relationship with Qingling Mountain soured after she crippled Senior Sister Li Zhuohua. Eventually, she married Di Qi and became a permanent member of the Purple Flame Realm, cutting all ties with Qingling Mountain.
As for Lu Ying and Bai Lijue, they prioritized their family interests over the sect and rarely returned afterward.
By the novel’s conclusion, even though Qingling Mountain had placed second, its status plummeted afterward. The sect gained nothing and became the most destitute among the seven regions—a classic case of "drawing water with a sieve."
Wen Shuangbai couldn’t help but sigh at the thought.
Elder Cao observed the six disciples before him, who showed little reaction.
The silver-haired one was even dozing off behind Xie Ziyin!
After a moment of silence, Elder Cao deliberately emphasized, "Activating the Endless House consumes hundreds of thousands of spirit stones daily. It is never used unless absolutely necessary. I hope you all make the most of this opportunity—"
Whoosh—
Before he could finish, something flashed past him one after another.
The spot where the six had stood was now empty, save for Yin Xuan and a few swirling leaves.
Elder Cao: "..."
He fixed his gaze on Yin Xuan.
Yin Xuan: "..."
Glancing left and right, Yin Xuan stepped onto his narrow sword and shot into the Endless House before Elder Cao could say another word.
Honestly, couldn’t his juniors have given him a heads-up before rushing in?
He didn’t particularly mind offending the other elders, but Elder Cao was different—after all, the man was in charge of meals.
---
When Wen Shuangbai dashed into the Endless House, her vision blurred, and she found herself in a sealed chamber.
The chamber was spacious, with a stone bed in one corner, a stone table, and a stone trough resembling a hot spring—though it was empty for now.
Behind the table stood a woman of unremarkable appearance.
Wen Shuangbai recognized her.
She was Elder Ye Chan of the Thousand Mechanisms Pavilion, Shentu Ming’s junior sister and a direct disciple of Master Huakai.
Master Huakai had only two direct disciples: Shentu Ming and Ye Chan.
Officially, Wen Shuangbai’s master was her scumbag father, Wen Feng, whom she had yet to meet since transmigrating into the novel. But she refused to acknowledge him.
Wen Feng had taught her far less than Master Huakai.
In that sense, Master Huakai was practically her master, and this Elder Ye Chan was, by extension, her senior sister.
Wen Shuangbai grinned and bowed. "Greetings, Senior Sister Ye—"
Before she could finish, a black whip lashed out like a serpent from the side, striking her arm. She yelped in pain. "Senior Sister! That’s not fair!"
"Who’s your senior sister? Don’t get presumptuous—isn’t your master your dear father, Wen Feng?" Ye Chan snapped, her temper as sharp as her whip. "And enemies won’t play fair either."
Without pause, she sent crackling lashes toward Wen Shuangbai, each strike appearing out of thin air, impossible to predict.
Wen Shuangbai dodged frantically but was soon covered in welts, collapsing to the ground like a gasping fish.
Ye Chan bound her with the whip and dumped her into the stone trough.
Now, the trough brimmed with shimmering spiritual liquid.
As Wen Shuangbai soaked in it, the liquid’s energy seeped through her wounds, flooding her meridians and refining her bones, blood, and veins.
During the trip to Tianjia Village, while battling the stone statues in the underground palace, Wen Shuangbai had already noticed that her meridians had become more resilient than before. Now, after being whipped by her senior sister and soaking in spiritual liquid, this sensation grew even more pronounced. Her entire body's meridians faintly radiated warmth, as if countless seeds were about to sprout from the earth.
Ye Chan glanced at Wen Shuangbai and said, "For artifact cultivators, there are two main disciplines to master: artifact forging and artifact control."
"Forging artifacts is inherently difficult. Many artifact cultivators consider themselves fortunate if they can master just this skill—it’s enough to earn them a living in the Xuantian Sect. Under normal circumstances, when we collaborate with other cultivators on missions, our role is simply to repair their damaged magical tools. But since you’ve participated in the Xuantian Grand Competition, the sect’s expectations of you no longer stop there."
"Aside from forging and repairing artifacts, you must also excel in controlling them. Your progress in forging is commendable, but your artifact control still has much room for improvement." Ye Chan patted Wen Shuangbai’s shoulder. "I’ll teach you everything I know. How much you learn depends on your own efforts."
Wen Shuangbai responded firmly, "Understood!"
For a long time afterward, Wen Shuangbai’s life followed an unvarying routine.
Soak in medicinal baths, cultivate, get beaten up; soak in medicinal baths, cultivate, get beaten up again…
Though she had a bed, she avoided sleeping whenever possible.
After all, with the elders around, she wouldn’t die—so she trained as if her life depended on it.
Besides, the Endless Abode burned through spirit stones. Every second was money.
Wen Shuangbai soaked in the exorbitantly expensive medicinal baths, received top-tier instruction, and enjoyed the ludicrously costly Endless Abode—all while relishing every moment of it.
Free stuff? Absolutely delicious.
---
On the thirtieth day of her training (three days in the real world), Wen Shuangbai visited her senior brother.
The reason? Well… his narrow sword had chipped.
Wen Shuangbai stared at the pitiful state of the blade, then at Yin Xuan, who sat cross-legged on the ground, his long hair disheveled, leisurely eating beggar’s chicken. She couldn’t help but ask, "Senior Brother, how many times did you swing this sword?"
Yin Xuan smirked, satisfied. "Thirty thousand strikes a day, rewarded with half a chicken."
Wen Shuangbai: "…………"
She nearly spoke up—she wanted to tell him that the Endless Abode’s daily refreshments already included half a beggar’s chicken.
But in the end, she kept her mouth shut.
She feared that if she mentioned it, Elder Cao would slash her meal rations the next day and confiscate her chicken.
That was exactly the kind of thing Elder Cao would do.
Wen Shuangbai spent a day repairing the narrow sword. And since the materials were provided by the sect—meaning they were free—she even fused several sword crystals into it.
These crystals weren’t as high-quality as the ones Li Zhuohua had spent hundreds of thousands on, but more of them would make up for it, right?
Twenty days later, when she visited Li Zhuohua, she told her about it.
Li Zhuohua immediately exploded. "What?! Free?! Why didn’t you say so sooner?!"
Li Zhuohua: "I! Got! Scammed!"
Cursing under her breath, Senior Sister Zhuohua stormed off to pick a fight with their sword pavilion’s elder.
Among everyone’s magical tools, Li Zhuohua’s Flowing Rainbow Sword was the highest grade—and aside from her own "Four Hundred Gold," it was the only sword that had developed a weapon spirit.
After extensive use, the Flowing Rainbow Sword had lost its luster, appearing dull and lifeless.
Wen Shuangbai activated the Yaoling Heart Technique to restore the sword to its former glory.
The little straw-woven goose tied to her Fire Plume Whip loosened itself and hopped down, waddling over to the Flowing Rainbow Sword. It bobbed its goose neck up and down, as if engaged in some incomprehensible conversation.
In this world, weapon spirits couldn’t speak. They communicated in their own unique ways, unintelligible to humans.
But if a master shared a deep bond with their weapon, they could sometimes vaguely grasp their meaning.
Wen Shuangbai occasionally understood what "Four Hundred Gold" was thinking—though most of the time, she didn’t.
But it didn’t matter. Four Hundred Gold recognized written characters and could carve them. That was why it could comprehend Wen Shuangbai’s words.
Because it was literate.
Wen Shuangbai asked, "What did Flowing Rainbow say?"
The little goose pattered back, its brush-tip poking out from its rear, and began scratching words into the ground:
[It says hurry up and fix it—it can’t wait to wreck that stupid sword of the sword pavilion elder!]
Wen Shuangbai: "…………"
---
While practicing whip control and cultivation, Wen Shuangbai also repaired and enhanced her teammates’ magical tools. She even crafted a custom scalpel for Xie Ziyin.
The scalpel was based on a sketch Xie Ziyin provided. One look was all it took for Wen Shuangbai to confirm her fellow transmigrator’s former profession.
As she embedded the scalpel into the inner lining of an alchemy furnace, she asked pointedly, "Were you a medical cultivator in your past life?"
Xie Ziyin understood her implication and nodded.
Wen Shuangbai pressed further, "Which specialty?"
Xie Ziyin was flipping through a medical text when he suddenly rolled up the book and lightly tapped Wen Shuangbai’s head. "This area," he said.
Wen Shuangbai was stunned. "Neurosurgery?!"
Xie Ziyin: "Mhm. What about it?"
Wen Shuangbai was very familiar with hospitals in the modern world, especially the neurosurgery department.
After her father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he had stayed in the neurosurgery ward for a long time.
She knew all the department heads and junior doctors there, but none of their personalities matched Xie Ziyin’s.
She figured he must be from another hospital.
Just as Wen Shuangbai was about to ask more, Shen Hefeng rushed in clutching a turtle shell, his eyes wide with panic. "Shuangbai! Help me check on my turtle—it’s cracked! Aaaaaah!!"
Xie Ziyin: "…"
While Wen Shuangbai repaired the turtle shell, Shen Hefeng ran a hand through his increasingly thinning hair and asked Xie Ziyin, "Ziyin, do you have any hair regrowth pills?"
Xie Ziyin lowered his gaze, retrieved a few pills from his storage ring, and handed them over. "Here."
Shen Hefeng took them. "How much per pill? Still 202 spirit stones?"
"Never mind," Xie Ziyin said generously. "Just 200."
Shen Hefeng happily paid the spirit stones and pocketed the pills, clapping Xie Ziyin on the shoulder. "Good man! I’ve got your back from now on!"
Hearing this, Wen Shuangbai glanced up and raised an eyebrow.
Shen Hefeng dared to take discounted pills from Xie Ziyin? Did he not care about his hair’s survival?
Sure enough, within a few days—
Wen Shuangbai heard from Elder Ye Chan that Shen Hefeng next door had gone completely bald. He had sobbed and wailed to Pavilion Master Xu, demanding that Pavilion Master Xu kill Xie Ziyin—otherwise, he would hang himself on the spot and deprive Qingling Mountain of a once-in-a-century divination prodigy capable of shaking heaven and earth.
In the end, Elder Cao gave him a few genuine hair regrowth pills to settle the matter.
---
The six of them spent nearly a year inside the Endless House, yet only twenty-five days had passed outside.
Lu Jiayao gazed at the dawn outside, thrilled. "I’ve reached the seventh level of the Mingqiao Realm!"
The others congratulated him in unison. "Well done."
Lu Jiayao cheerfully took out the Profound Heaven Mirror. "I’ll let my mother know."
After sending the message, he looked up. "What about you guys? What level of the Mingqiao Realm are you at?"
The five of them smiled faintly. "We’ve reached the Dongxu Realm."
Lu Jiayao: "…"
These people were absolutely ruthless!!!
Elder Cao walked over and patted Lu Jiayao’s shoulder. "Don’t worry. If the sky falls, they’ll hold it up for you."
Lu Jiayao tilted his head, puzzled. "Elder Cao, why does that sound exactly like what my mother would say? Do you have kids too? How old are they? Do they cultivate at Qingling Mountain as well? What are their names? Which pavilion are they in?"
Elder Cao: "…"
Why bother comforting him? None of these six were normal!
With a faint sense of resignation, Elder Cao withdrew his hand. "Alright, everyone, head to the Sacred Tower. The second round of trials is about to begin."
