“Take me to class?” Nangong Yu looked him up and down. “Why?”
Chen Zhi replied, “Grand Martial Uncle Xu instructed this disciple to escort Little Martial Grand-Aunt to and from class every day.”
“Wait.” Nangong Yu frowned. “Every day?”
“Yes. Little Martial Grand-Aunt has successfully drawn qi into her body, and her cultivation has broken through to the mid-Qi Refining stage. You’re one of the outstanding disciples of your generation. Once you set foot on Disciples’ Peak today, you’ll be transferred to Class A.”
A devastating piece of news!
Nangong Yu staggered and held her head. “I must still be dreaming.”
Chen Zhi let out a soft laugh and summoned a spirit crane. “Little Martial Grand-Aunt, we should get going.”
Nangong Yu didn’t want to move.
If she only had to attend class once every three days, she could force herself to put up with it.
But every day?!
No—she would have to climb the mountain and come back down every day! Was this a joke? Even if cultivators had long lifespans, did that mean they could waste their time like this?
This was supposed to be a cultivation-world dungeon, not a school dungeon, all right?
“Little Martial Grand-Aunt?” Chen Zhi reminded her when he saw that she wasn’t moving.
“Mm.” Nangong Yu’s expression went blank as she stepped out of the shadows. “Let’s go.”
Something might happen today. Her senior-brother NPC had already hinted at it. She would attend just this one day, then skip class tomorrow.
Besides, she was in Class B. Didn’t transferring her to Class A require her consent?
The spirit crane took off, its broad, sturdy wings sweeping silently through the sky as it flew toward Disciples’ Peak.
Seeing her lower her eyes in silence and yawn every now and then, Chen Zhi tried to guess what she was thinking.
“By the way, I’m almost out of contribution points.” The girl suddenly spoke. “How many do you have?”
Chen Zhi was startled and instinctively leaned back.
He quickly composed himself. “Not many.”
They were on the back of a spirit crane. He had been ordered to protect her, so there was no way he could run.
But his contribution points were his. No one could take them from him.
“I won’t take them for free.” Nangong Yu let out a long yawn, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. “I’ll trade you something for them.”
After a pause, she added, “Or, like last time, you can ask me a question. I’ll decide how valuable the answer is, and then tell you how many contribution points I want.”
That statement struck right at Chen Zhi’s deepest weakness.
He had never even realized that he was such a curious person!
“Then this disciple will ask Little Martial Grand-Aunt for guidance.” Chen Zhi considered his words carefully. “The culprit behind the incident at Taixuan Peak still hasn’t been found. In your opinion, what method might the other party have used?”
Nangong Yu shot him a glance. “Five hundred contribution points.”
Chen Zhi’s brow twitched violently.
“Then I won’t ask.” His curiosity vanished at once.
The outline of Disciples’ Peak had already appeared faintly in the distance.
It would take another quarter of an hour for the spirit crane to reach it. In the meantime, a kitten seemed to have gotten into Chen Zhi’s heart, scratching him over and over with its claws.
In the end, he still couldn’t hold back and asked another question. “Little Martial Grand-Aunt, how did you achieve enlightenment?”
She had helped others break through more than once, so that wasn’t what Chen Zhi was curious about.
What he wanted to know was how she herself had achieved enlightenment. She had only attended class twice!
“Fifty contribution points.” Nangong Yu rolled her eyes. “No satisfaction guaranteed.”
It sounded as though he was poor, too, so Nangong Yu lowered her price this time.
Chen Zhi thought about it, then took out his token and transferred the points to her.
Seeing how readily he paid, Nangong Yu answered, “I was cultivating, and then I achieved enlightenment.”
That answer was far too vague. The Eldest Grandson NPC certainly wouldn’t be satisfied with it, and it wasn’t worth fifty contribution points.
Nangong Yu continued, “I don’t know that elder’s name. She and the elder in charge of Class A never introduced themselves, but as soon as she arrived, she drew us a diagram of the meridians…”
She selectively recounted the events. “I just imagined that my blood vessels and meridians looked like that.”
“Then, as I circulated my energy, I learned how to exhale and circulate it. I learned how to circulate spiritual power.”
She skipped over the part about visualizing her spiritual root. Even so, what she did tell Chen Zhi opened his eyes wide.
His expression became complicated. “Little Martial Grand-Aunt, you really are a genius.”
Visualization!
She was truly too clever!
When Chen Zhi first drew qi into his body, he had spent an extremely long time sensing the Five Elements spiritual energy and slowly drawing it into his body.
Then he had painstakingly guided the spiritual energy through a complete cycle within his meridians, finally completing the process of drawing qi into his body and reaching the first level of Qi Refining.
But what Little Martial Grand-Aunt had done…
She possessed a childlike innocence. If she said she had it, then she had it.
Wasn’t that the very essence of an innocent child’s heart? No wonder she cultivated so quickly. After one bout of enlightenment, she had directly reached the fourth level of Qi Refining.
Considering the spiritual-energy vortex her enlightenment had created, she should not have stopped at merely the fourth level of Qi Refining.
Given how vast it had been—even drawing in the spiritual energy from several nearby mountain peaks—it would not have been excessive for her to break through directly to Foundation Establishment, or even the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
Perhaps it was because her spiritual root was simply too poor. Chen Zhi felt a little regretful on her behalf.
“We’re here!” Nangong Yu announced.
Chen Zhi came back to himself and guided the spirit crane downward. It landed at the foot of Disciples’ Peak.
“Little Martial Grand-Aunt, thank you for your hard work,” Chen Zhi said.
Nangong Yu sighed, climbed down from the spirit crane, and walked over to the stone steps. Resigned to her fate, she began climbing.
Chen Zhi rode the spirit crane and watched over her from a distance.
He didn’t dare get too close. He was afraid Nangong Yu would scold him.
“You’re climbing so slowly!” A cocky little boy’s voice suddenly rang out from behind her. “Are you useless?”
Nangong Yu didn’t even need to turn around. As soon as the voice fell, a little demon shot past her with a whoosh.
Mo Jiuyou possessed extraordinary physical strength, partly because of his natural talent and partly because his master had tempered his body.
After overtaking Nangong Yu, he didn’t hurry upward. Instead, he stopped a few steps above her and said, “I’m already at the third level of Qi Refining! It won’t be long before I surpass you!”
He had already drawn qi into his body before joining the sect. Before Nangong Yu’s breakthrough, he had already reached the second level of Qi Refining.
Stimulated by Nangong Yu’s enlightenment, he had cultivated diligently every day and had now reached the third level of Qi Refining.
Anyone who saw him would have to praise his excellent talent!
“Then you haven’t surpassed me yet, have you?” Nangong Yu glanced at him and continued climbing at her leisurely pace.
Mo Jiuyou was instantly choked with frustration.
The worst part was that she hadn’t said anything insulting or boasted. She had merely stated a fact.
“Hmph!” He gave a forceful snort. “I’ll surpass you very soon!”
With that, he increased his pace, as though he had decided not to argue with her any further.
“By achieving enlightenment?” A voice filled with innocent curiosity came from behind him.
There was no mockery or derision in that curious tone, but Mo Jiuyou’s climbing abruptly froze. He gritted out, “Even without achieving enlightenment, I can still surpass you!”
“Wow.” Nangong Yu nodded. “So there really are cultivators in this world who look down on achieving enlightenment.”
She glanced toward the sky. “Heaven, open your eyes. Someone looks down on enlightenment. Don’t be a jerk and give it to him.”
“!!”
Mo Jiuyou was both shocked and furious. He whipped around. “What did you say?!”
Nangong Yu told him, “I told Heaven that you look down on enlightenment and asked it not to bother you. Otherwise, it might insist on giving enlightenment to you.”
“Who—who looks down on it?!” Mo Jiuyou stopped climbing and stood on the steps, glaring at Nangong Yu as she approached. “You woman, why are you making things up?!”
Nangong Yu smiled sweetly as she crawled up to him, suddenly grabbed his arm, and gave him a hard kick in the butt!
“Stop bothering me.”
A nine-year-old boy ghost had been kicked down the mountain by a player again and again. Was this a distortion of human nature, or a decline in morality?
Nangong Yu dusted off her hands and continued climbing.
Before long, faint footsteps came from behind her. Then a gust of wind swept past her ear.
The figure paused slightly upon passing her, then quickly climbed upward at an even faster pace.
Mo Jiuyou, who had reached the third level of Qi Refining, had already learned the Light-Body Art, making him incredibly fast.
This time, he didn’t dare provoke Nangong Yu again. Before long, he disappeared from her sight.
One after another, people passed her by.
Mo Jiuyou wasn’t the only one who had learned the Light-Body Art. During the half-month Nangong Yu spent in epiphany, many disciples from Class A had learned it as well.
Even several disciples from Class B had successfully drawn qi into their bodies, giving them physiques far superior to before.
Nangong Yu…
Nangong Yu was used to being left behind by the NPCs.
There was no need.
There was absolutely no need to keep up with the NPCs. She and they belonged to two completely different groups.
There was still a quarter of an hour before the hour of Si.
All the disciples from Class A had arrived. They did not enter the hall early, instead standing outside in two separate groups with the disciples from Class B, gazing toward the Class B crowd.
The disciples from Class B had nearly all arrived as well, and they were also looking through the crowd.
They were all looking at Nangong Yu—the new disciple who had entered an epiphany during class, meditated for half a month, been guarded by a Golden Core cultivator, and taken Hall Master of Discipline as her master.
Their eyes were filled with unconcealed envy and complicated emotions.
“Little Yu, congratulations on your breakthrough!”
Zhao Ziyun was the first to approach. She handed Nangong Yu a bag of spirit fruits. “It’s just a small gift. I hope you won’t find it lacking.”
The two of them were not particularly close. A bag of spirit fruits was neither too extravagant nor too modest—a perfectly suitable congratulatory gift.
Nangong Yu accepted it and glanced at her in surprise. “You’ve drawn qi into your body too? Congratulations.”
Only after becoming a cultivator had Nangong Yu discovered how different the auras of cultivators and mortals were.
It was like the difference between roast chicken and plain water.
Cultivators carried spiritual energy on them and smelled wonderfully fragrant. Mortals, on the other hand, were bland and scentless, like plain water.
Zhao Ziyun was already at the second level of Qi Refining, but she did not seem particularly satisfied. She glanced in Mo Jiuyou’s direction, pressed her lips together, and said, “Let’s work hard together!”
Next to approach was Xiao Junlin. He likewise presented her with a congratulatory gift—a piece of warm jade.
“This is a specialty of the Xiao Imperial Dynasty. When worn, it keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer.”
Such a jade pendant would have been an extraordinary item to a mortal. To a cultivator, however, it was not particularly rare.
Still, it was just right as a gift for someone he was not especially close to. Nangong Yu accepted it as well. “Thank you. And congratulations to you, too.”
It was only proper to return a courtesy. Since others had given her gifts, Nangong Yu had to give something in return.
She rummaged through her storage bag—now that she had become a cultivator, she could finally open the storage bag issued by the sect.
“A small token of my appreciation. It’s nothing much.”
She handed each of them a bottle of Spirit-Replenishing Pills, making sure neither received more than the other.
Spirit-Replenishing Pills were not particularly valuable. In fact, they were among the most basic supplies for cultivators. But they were also something no cultivator could do without.
Both of them accepted the pills without showing any displeasure.
“The elder is here,” someone called out.
The disciples from both classes stopped chatting and looked toward the sky.
The first to arrive was the elder of Class A. With a sweep of his silver-white horsetail whisk, he descended coolly to the ground.
He walked straight into the main hall.
Mo Jiuyou and the others followed him inside. As he stepped over the threshold, he did not forget to look back and say, “See you in a bit.”
At that, all the disciples from Class B turned toward Nangong Yu with complicated expressions.
She had entered an epiphany. With such talent, she would naturally be promoted to Class A.
For a moment, unwillingness and fighting spirit rose in everyone’s hearts, and their gazes grew increasingly bright.
“Why hasn’t Elder Luo come?” someone asked in confusion.
The elder of Class A had already arrived. Why was Luo Qingyuan, the elder of Class B, still nowhere to be seen?
They had already been somewhat dissatisfied about being assigned to Class B. Now, having an elder who clearly did not care about them made the disciples’ resentment even stronger.
Just then, a small voice came from the entrance of the side hall.
“Elder Luo is already here.”
“What?!”
Everyone was startled and hurried toward the side hall.
When they reached the entrance, they indeed saw the female cultivator already seated on a meditation cushion inside. Meeting everyone’s gaze, she revealed a faintly mocking smile.
“Judging by this, you all seem eager to create a Class C.”
Everyone hurried inside and found a place to sit, lowering their heads and eyes.
“This disciple knows their mistake.”
At first, they had thought the elder of Class A was overly strict, unpleasant, and unreasonable.
After being assigned to Class B, they discovered that the elder there was no better. She ignored them all day long.
If another Class C were created, things would surely be even worse than they were now!
“This is today’s lesson.”
Elder Luo waved her sleeve, and jade slips flew one by one to land before the disciples.
Nangong Yu reached out and took the jade slip in front of her. She did not immediately study it, instead glancing at the others first.
There were more than a hundred disciples in Class B. They had entered the sect less than a month ago, and not many had successfully drawn qi into their bodies.
From Nangong Yu’s observation, only a small number of them pressed the jade slips to their brows. Their eyes closed at once, their brows drew together slightly, and they became completely motionless.
After receiving their jade slips, the others hesitated for a while before continuing to cultivate the Breath Circulation Mind Art.
Nangong Yu then pressed the jade slip to her brow. In an instant, a stream of information flowed into her mind.
The Chronicle of the Ziyang Sect.
The Ziyang Sect had been founded more than a hundred thousand years ago. With profound foundations and a long history, it was a sect that had existed even before the War of Sealing Demons—one of the ancient sects that still stood in the world today…
Got it.
This was a culture class.
No wonder some people chose not to study it and focused on cultivation instead.
Being uneducated was not frightening. Once one became a cultivator, one could make up for it later. But failing to become a cultivator and being sent away to become a servant disciple, spending one’s entire life as a mortal—that was what was truly frightening!
Nangong Yu was still interested in the background of the Ziyang Sect. She accepted the stream of information and studied it bit by bit.
That continued until someone shook her awake.
“What’s wrong?”
She caught the jade slip as it fell and asked the person beside her.
The female disciple hurriedly said, “We have to leave! The side hall is about to collapse!”
Nangong Yu was startled. She quickly looked up and saw that a huge hole had already been blasted through the roof, revealing the blue sky and birds flying overhead.
She immediately stood up and ran outside.
The female disciple ran alongside her, speaking hurriedly. “Elder Bai He and Elder Luo are fighting!”
After attending classes for more than half a month, the disciples had already found out the names of the two elders.
Bai He, the elder of Class A.
Luo Qingyuan, the elder of Class B.
“Why are they fighting?” Nangong Yu asked curiously.
The two had barely run out of the side hall when they heard a thunderous boom. The entire side hall, along with half of the main hall, was struck by a streak of light and collapsed with a roar.
If that attack had landed on the disciples, the consequences would have been—
Nangong Yu clicked her tongue.
The female disciple gave her a strange look. “Because… because of you…”
“Me?” Nangong Yu turned her head and glared. “How is it because of me?”
Before the female disciple could answer, Mo Jiuyou shouted loudly, “Isn’t it because of you? Who told you not to come to Class A?”
Because Nangong Yu had failed to take the hint and voluntarily request an immediate transfer to Class A, Elder Bai He had gone to Class B to demand her.
However, Luo Qingyuan had no intention of letting her go. “Why should I hand over a disciple I personally trained?”
Elder Bai He replied, “With her aptitude, she ought to study in Class A!”
She might be a little unruly, but her talent was excellent. Leaving her in Class B would only hold her back.
Luo Qingyuan laughed twice, her fighting spirit blazing. “Then I’ll be the elder in charge of Class A!”
After all, Nangong Yu was her student.
Elder Bai He naturally couldn’t agree. If he did, wouldn’t it make him look as though he was afraid of her? “Hmph! In your dreams!”
And so, the two of them started fighting.
