The next day, a freshly washed Li Luo heard a knock on the door.
He opened it to see Jiang Qing’e standing outside.
She handed him a box.
“These are the spirit liquids and purifying lights that Cai Wei prepared for you.”
Li Luo received it eagerly. His spirit liquid stock in school had been exhausted, and going a few days without had been agony.
This fresh batch would sate him for a while.
“Perfect. Thanks, Qing’e.”
“Thank Cai Wei. She’s gone to great pains to squeeze out spare cash to get you these spirit liquids even though House Luolan is barely tottering along.
Li Luo nodded solemnly. House Luolan needed a lot of cash to get back to its feet, and his liquid cravings were costing them hundreds of thousands of skygold. She must be troubled.
Perhaps Cai Wei had never imagined she would one day be forced to live such a frugal life.
The two walked side by side. “You only have four and a half years left. I think it’s best if you make some concrete plans. No more leaving it up to fate.”
She said this so seriously that Li Luo could only nod obediently.
“By my calculations last night, you have to reach the Second Changing of the Evolving Resonance tier by the end of One Star Hall.”
The Resonant Master stage was divided into the Sprouting Seed tier, Pattern Genesis tier, and Evolving Resonance tier.
The Evolving Resonance tier was further divided into four Changings.
“Evolving Resonance tier, Second Changing…”
Li Luo mused. He was only an Upper Flowering for now. Next was the Pattern Genesis tier, in which there were five patterns… It was going to be a long, long climb, and many of his peers spent a long time there.
He knew that most of the decently skilled students managed to reach Second or Third Pattern by the end of One Star Hall. The very diligent and talented might make it to Fifth Pattern. To reach the Evolving Resonance tier, and Second Changing at that… wow.
Not many students reached that level even by the end of Two Star Hall.
“I was a Second Changing when I finished my first year. And an Earth Fiend by the end of my second year.”
“Your lifespan is limited. Time is running out. You can’t afford to be slower than me.”
She glared at him fiercely. “So you must reach the Evolving Resonance tier by the end of the year. And Second Changing!”
“If you lag behind at this first step, what chance do you stand? Cultivation is only going to get harder from there on!” “Focus on your cultivation for the rest of the year. I will convert all of my points into energy liquid for you. Outside of school, House Luolan will finance all the cultivation resources you need.”
Li Luo stopped walking. “Qing’e, you need to cultivate as well. If you give me all your points, how are you going to compete against the Seven Astral Pillars at the end of the year?”
“I have a 9th-grade light resonance. No one can compete in terms of cultivation speed. Don’t worry about me.”
“Yeah, yeah. A 9th-grade light resonance isn’t invincible you know. The Seven Astral Pillars aren’t exactly easy either.” He argued.
Astral Sage College’s Seven Astral Pillars were all poised to be Dukes themselves. Jiang Qing’e’s 9th-grade light resonance was rarer indeed, but they had an additional year of experience on her. Besides, their special status gave them access to far more resources than others. While Jiang Qing’e was improving, so were they. What they lacked in natural cultivation speed, they could make up for with their copious amount of resources.
Jiang Qing’e was too clever not to know this.
Li Luo was very touched by her gesture, but he had to reject it.
She stared at him.
He stared back. Then suddenly he smiled disarmingly. “Qing’e, I’m very touched by your concern, but trust me, okay? It’s just the Evolving Resonance tier right? I’ll breakthrough and show you at the end of the year.” She held his gaze for a few moments, then looked away.
“We don’t have that time. Do you think you can take it easy? I’ll give you two months to reach Fourth Pattern. If you can’t, we do it my way.” Jiang Qing’e compromised.
“Two months to reach Fourth Pattern…”
Li Luo considered it. It would be very difficult, but he didn’t bargain further. It was a reasonable pace if he was going to reach Duke in five years.
“Alright.”
He nodded. Still, Jiang Qing’e’s sense of urgency was making him anxious too. True, the five year limit had hung over his head before, but he had just sort of worked towards it without a concrete plan like what Jiang Qing’e was laying out.
With her supervision, there would be no more slacking off for him now. Perhaps that was a good thing?
Was he a masochist to accept the whippings so readily?
She nodded back. She was twisting his arm on this one, but it couldn’t be helped. She couldn’t let him relax one bit.
Otherwise on the day that he died, she could not bear it.
Her master and mistress had left Li Luo in her care. If she let them down, it would haunt her for life… Although that might not be for very long. Given her personality, if Li Luo’s doomsday came, Death would probably get a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
Their negotiations over, both were left without any sign of relaxedness. They turned down the corridor together and came to the hall.
Cai Wei was already waiting.
“We need to go to Suncreek Villa today. Some resonance artificers that Pang Qianchi mobilized are already causing trouble there.” She said with a concerned face.
“All the resonance artificer circles in Xia City are watching us. If we don’t handle this well, we might never be able to recruit another artificer again…”
Although that branch of Suncreek Villa had rebelled under Pei Hao’s control, but it was still formally under the name of Suncreek Villa. If others saw it as an internal coup, it would damage Suncreek Villa and House Luolan’s reputation.
Before, Jiang Qing’e might not have cared so much, but now she knew the defensive wards of House Luolan were at stake. The presence of House Luolan lent it strength…
Suncreek Villa was a part of House Luolan. It would compromise the wards.
Jiang Qing’e and Li Luo looked at each other. They knew that much was at stake today.
“Let’s go. We have to deal with it, no matter how troublesome it is.”
Li Luo said with a smile, leading the way out towards the trouble.