In the end, sleep didn’t come, because Sima Jiao had no intention of continuing to sleep. Even though these two eccentric individuals entered each other’s spirit mansions to sleep as casually as eating or drinking, it was ultimately a very intimate and dangerous affair. With so many strangers present, Sima Jiao couldn’t possibly rest easy.
Since sleep wasn’t an option, he merely sat there bored, fingers moving slightly to produce numerous small spheres hovering above his palm. At first, Liao Tingyan thought he was just passing time, but after watching for a while, she noticed that each sphere had characters written on them, seemingly surnames. He wasn’t playing around but rather making selections.
Liao Tingyan had no doubt that whoever was chosen would be Sima Jiao’s next target.
While Sima Jiao showed little interest in the lecture, busying himself with his deadly lottery, Liao Tingyan remained awake because she was attracted by the teacher’s lecture. The Yuan Ying cultivator was explaining fundamental concepts like the Five Elements spirit roots and spiritual energy circulation—precisely what Liao Tingyan was unclear about. So she lay there listening, placing a soft cushion under her arms for comfort.
Their corner had essentially become a blind spot because of Sima Jiao; no one could see what they were doing. Liao Tingyan listened to the class in the most comfortable position and felt she gained something from it.
Her cultivation was like a pavilion built in mid-air—insubstantial despite her power. The level of cultivation determined how much spiritual energy they could use and how powerful their techniques would be. Within this framework, the quantity and variety of spirit roots determined their mastery over the Five Elements of spiritual energy and what techniques they could employ.
The skills Liao Tingyan had previously figured out on her own were comparable to solving math problems without knowing the formulas—manageable for simple questions by counting on fingers but impossible for more complex ones.
The ancestors of the cultivation world had left countless techniques. Cultivators needed not only to raise their cultivation levels but also to study various techniques. One reason Gengchen Immortal Sect could be the top sect was because they possessed the most extensive collection of technique manuals. Powerful techniques weren’t something all disciples could cultivate.
Cultivation level was like a character’s level in a game, while learned techniques were like character skills—using gaming terms made it crystal clear.
“Ancestor, have you learned many techniques?” Liao Tingyan turned to ask her deskmate who was playing with the spheres.
The school bully’s expression wasn’t particularly pleasant, but he still answered her question. “No.”
So this person’s techniques were all self-created. Liao Tingyan wasn’t surprised, as most techniques he used were highly destructive, employed for killing. He probably developed them during the process of killing people. Creating original techniques, especially powerful ones, was extremely difficult and generally impossible without genius.
Facing such an academic prodigy, and thinking of her only self-created technique—the low-level small spell of using water to apply face masks—Liao Tingyan couldn’t help but feel some respect. The ancestor was truly formidable.
Up front, the teacher gave an example using a water-attribute technique. Liao Tingyan tried to follow along but failed. Without solid foundations, failure was inevitable. She tried again and still failed. Beside her, Sima Jiao couldn’t bear to watch and grabbed her hand, directly sending a small stream of spiritual energy into her meridians, guiding her wayward spiritual energy to rapidly circulate.
Immediately, icy energy surged from Liao Tingyan’s outstretched palm, following her will to condense into a small ice tower. Although she now looked like a Heavenly King holding a pagoda, she still felt a little excited.
Sima Jiao’s simple and direct guidance allowed her to master this technique in the shortest time. She was only experimenting now, able to form this small tower, but if she used her full power, she could even condense a massive ice tower or transform it into other shapes, like weapons.
“Such a minor technique, yet you failed twice. Really…” Sima Jiao touched the solid ice tower, melting it with scorching temperature into water vapor, then with a flip of his palm, condensed it into sharp ice needles—in that instant, he had created another technique, transforming it effortlessly, as easily as breathing.
Liao Tingyan: “…”
Sima Jiao: “What are you learning from that half-baked teacher up there?” With a flick of his finger, those ice needles transformed into metal gleaming with a cold light.
Boss?? How did ice become metal? Even when you’re cheating, shouldn’t you follow some basic laws?
Sima Jiao: “My spirit roots are special; you can’t use them like this, but you can use other methods.”
He seemed to suddenly discover the joy of teaching, grabbing Liao Tingyan’s hand to teach her the circulation paths of various techniques through the body’s meridians, even trying to teach her how to use the Five Elements’ generation cycle for fancy operations.
“Water, wood, and earth suit you best—attack, speed, and defense. You can also use derivative techniques.” Sima Jiao said while using Liao Tingyan as an experiment, spiritual energy rushed through her meridians.
“This one, if there’s enough water-attribute spiritual energy around, using your full power could annihilate cities within a hundred miles.”
Liao Tingyan: “…” No thanks, really.
“Wood cultivators are mostly useless, but that’s their problem, not yours. You can do this… you can turn a person’s body into wood, then add fire, and burning them to ash becomes simple.”
Liao Tingyan: “… I think…”
“Earth and stone differ only in quality. You can condense earth into stone. For those with cultivation levels far below yours, you can use this technique to crush them, smashing flesh and bone into a pulp.”
Liao Tingyan: “Enough, ancestor, really enough. My meridians can’t withstand your practical teaching; they’re about to split.”
Sima Jiao withdrew his hand, unsatisfied. “Core Formation stage cultivation is still too weak.”
Liao Tingyan believed that if the blood coagulation petal hadn’t diminished in effectiveness after one use, he would certainly have her eat another dozen or two, allowing her to directly ascend to the highest level.
“I think it’s already satisfactory, more than enough. Boss, please rest. Have some beer.” Liao Tingyan took out the spirit liquid to clear the heat that she had collected earlier and poured him a cup.
If not compared to Sima Jiao, her current cultivation level is quite impressive.
Sima Jiao picked up the cup, eyes showing disdain: “Beer? What nonsense?”
This ancestor never ate or drank; getting him to eat something was harder than preventing him from killing.
In the end, the little black snake drank that cup of spirit liquid. After shrinking, its presence had drastically reduced. It had followed the two to the classroom, and for a long while, neither had noticed it was there. The snake didn’t care; it crawled out, finished the cup of spirit liquid, and coiled on the table to play with the small spheres.
The small spheres Sima Jiao had created rolled all over the table, and one was pushed by the little black snake to Liao Tingyan’s hand.
Liao Tingyan glanced at the character “Wood” written on it. “You want to deal with the Shi clan and their close relatives, but how do you know which families they’re close with?”
She truly didn’t understand. This ancestor had been confined in the Three Saints Mountain for so long, knowing nothing, and had been out for only a few days before causing trouble. She hadn’t seen him do any investigation; how did he know about these complex family relationships?
Sima Jiao gave her that look as if she were an idiot again. “They’ve already told me themselves.”
Liao Tingyan: What are you talking about? I feel like I’ve lost my mind.
Sima Jiao leaned back against the low chair, playing with those small spheres in one hand, and said, “The Spiritual Rock Mountain Platform, the challenge, and the hundred-man battle—watching which people they sacrificed, seeing how those families allied together—all relationships naturally became clear at a glance.”
What?? Liao Tingyan had thought he was purely acting crazy at that time; she hadn’t expected there was purpose behind it.
She turned her head, dedicating her gaze to the teacher lecturing in front. Never mind, Sima Jiao was the most complex problem; better not to think about him. The essence of a leisurely life was to stay unbothered.
Sima Jiao gathered those small spheres and caressed her fingertips. “Pick one.”
Liao Tingyan perfunctorily grabbed the little black snake and placed it into the pile of spheres. “Let the silly child do it.”
The little black snake excitedly burrowed through the pile of small spheres, encircling three at once to play with. Sima Jiao flicked its head away and picked up the three spheres to look at them.
That night, he went somewhere unknown and didn’t return all night.
Without her cheat device to escort her, Liao Tingyan yawned as she entered the classroom. Because she was alone today, attending another class, a decent-looking young man actively sat next to her. The young man’s appearance was ordinary, but he wore expensive-looking magic robes. When he turned to look at her, his expression was full of eagerness to flirt.
“You’re the sister of those twins from Night Tour Palace, right? How come I haven’t seen you before? Where’s your brother?” The young man leaned over to strike up a conversation.
Liao Tingyan felt he might be about to die and couldn’t help but give him a pitying look.
The young man leaned closer: “My name is Qi Letian. You’re called Yong Lingchun, right? Our Qi family has always had good relations with the Wood family. You can call me Brother Qi; perhaps I could look after you in the future.”
Qi… One of the small spheres the little black snake had circled yesterday seemed to have the character Qi on it.
Yong Lingchun was quite attractive. This young lady had a bad temper and looked particularly arrogant, but now it was Liao Tingyan wearing this skin. She looked harmless and a bit sleepy, appearing especially soft. Qi Letian liked such soft girls, and seeing no reaction from her, he mistook it for shyness. He couldn’t help but lean closer and closer, wanting to take advantage.
Suddenly, he let out a yelp, clutching his buttocks as he jumped up from his seat.
The stern Yuan Ying cultivator at the front pulled a long face and expelled him for improper behavior. Liao Tingyan maintained a serious, good student expression as she continued to listen to the class, thinking to herself that the ice needles she had learned from Sima Jiao yesterday were quite useful. She had just tried to condense a dozen ice needles to stab that brother’s buttocks.
It was just that she wasn’t skilled enough yet; after stabbing once, those ice needles melted, soaking a patch of that brother’s pants. Seeing him walk out with such an uncomfortable expression, she guessed his buttocks were too cold. Liao Tingyan suddenly felt a bit of pleasure from bullying someone above her league.
“Today we’ll discuss souls and spirit mansions,” the serious Yuan Ying cultivator at the front cleared his throat and said.
Liao Tingyan’s thoughts were pulled back by these two key terms, hearing the teacher caution everyone: “A person’s spirit mansion is the most private place and must be protected. If someone intrudes into your spirit mansion, the result will be either death or injury.”
A student asked, “What about Dao partners?”
Most of these students appeared to be in their teens or twenties, and some were mischievous. They weren’t much different from the classmates Liao Tingyan had seen before. The naughty student who asked this question indeed caused a wave of low laughter and discussion in the classroom.
The teacher pulled a long face: “Even Dao partners who practice dual cultivation would not easily enter each other’s spirit mansions. This is a very dangerous action. If you are fortunate enough to meet a Dao partner who can share joys and sorrows, live and die together, you might try. But you are all still young now and don’t know the dangers. You must never give in to momentary pleasure and try such things with others.”
Listening to this, Liao Tingyan understood—this was the otherworld’s version of a sexual health class.
She thought of herself and Sima Jiao, suddenly feeling like a problem student who had tasted forbidden fruit.
The teacher continued to emphasize the importance and destructive power of souls, soul thoughts, and soul awareness, as well as the privacy of spirit mansions. “…The merging of souls is the most intimate connection. In the past, the Gengchen Immortal Sect had several pairs of Dao partners renowned throughout the cultivation world. Often, when one died, the other could not live alone. This is because the connection between their souls was too close, and their feelings were so deep that they couldn’t be separated from each other.”
“So everyone must never be careless in this matter.”
Liao Tingyan: “…”