“Instructor, we’re setting off tomorrow, why haven’t you rested yet?”
Pei Ruyi left the banquet and walked to the covered corridor when she suddenly saw Cao Jinsong, who had left earlier, sitting at a stone table in the courtyard.
At that moment, he was surrounded by shattered porcelain pieces.
From the faint patterns on the porcelain, it seemed to be the county magistrate’s treasured vase.
And Cao Instructor was continuously refining Spiritual Qi at his fingertips, gathering it into rice-sized particles, muttering to himself at a complete vase on the stone table.
Judging from the sweat on his forehead, he seemed to have been trying for a long time.
“I’m trying to transfer Spiritual Qi into the vase and then leave it there. Transferring it is very easy, but leaving it is incredibly difficult; I only succeed one or two times out of ten.”
Pei Ruyi was somewhat puzzled after hearing this: “Is it a new Cultivation Technique?”
Cao Jinsong’s hands trembled as he carefully approached the vase: “Ruyi, have you ever thought, if this matter is so difficult, how did Ji You manage to nurture a little girl until her Spiritual Light radiated from the top of her head?”
“This…”
“Spiritual Qi is the Origin of Heaven and Earth, secretly containing the power of the Heavenly Dao. The Five Hall Masters of the Inner Courtyard are like this, able to refine Spiritual Qi to the extent of using it like an arm. If Ji You didn’t succeed by chance, I think it’s not just the Upper Five Realms, but even the Linxian Realm wouldn’t be a problem.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the vase in front of Cao Jinsong suddenly couldn’t bear the strain and burst open from its belly, scattering pieces everywhere, leaving only Cao Instructor’s solemn expression.
He had entered the Upper Five Realms many years ago, and although he had been stuck in the initial Tong Xuan Realm without progress, he was still one Realm higher than Ji You.
Moreover, the Lower Three Realms are the Realm of Self, and the Upper Five Realms are the Realm of All Methods; the control over Spiritual Qi between the two is inherently vastly different, yet the final result was astonishing.
Either Ji You was too much of a Prodigy, or he himself was too foolish.
Cao Jinsong certainly didn’t admit he was foolish, so the only explanation was that his newly accepted Disciple had more potential yet to be discovered.
“An immense fortune…”
“Ruyi, this child will enter the Inner Courtyard with ease, and perhaps even have the chance to become a personal Disciple of the Five Hall Masters.”
Hearing this, Pei Ruyi couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
A Junior Third Realm Completion before the age of twenty was indeed extraordinary, but she felt Cao Instructor was exaggerating a bit.
One must know, on the path of Immortals, countless individuals have astonished the world. Speaking of Junior Third Realm Completion before the age of twenty, this year the Seven Great Immortal Sects found ten, and Tianshu Academy alone accounted for two.
But even so, including Ji You, these three still seemed slightly ordinary among the younger generation.
One must know, the young Master Jian of Lingjian Mountain achieved Perfection at the age of ten, the personal Disciple of Asked the Dao Sect entered the Upper Five Realms at twelve, and there were other personal Disciples from other Immortal Sects, all of them Prodigies.
Ji You was still a year away from his twentieth birthday, barely achieving Perfection, merely reaching the threshold to meet them.
As she pondered, she saw Cao Jinsong in the courtyard suddenly frown deeply, then abruptly stand up, looking towards the south of Yuyang County.
“Instructor, what happened?”
“Ruyi, have you noticed that the Spiritual Qi here seems to be desperately surging south, even beyond my control?”
“?”
Pei Ruyi was slightly startled, then immediately passed through the covered corridor, left the Yuyang County government office, and headed straight for the southern threshing ground where Ji You was.
Under the night sky, everything in Yuyang County was shrouded in darkness, only the threshing ground was illuminated by thousands of lights, casting a fiery red glow all around, festive like a landlord’s wedding.
The threshing ground was surrounded by common people, their figures appearing as shadows from afar.
The darkness under the lights obscured their faces, but one could roughly see their thin figures and ragged clothes.
Amidst this brilliant light, seventy-two young children knelt on the threshing ground, calling out “Godfather” in clear childish voices, then touching their heads to the ground.
Junior Third Realm Completion is not a profound Realm; it’s merely an elementary Immortal Dao, capable of limited actions.
But the name of Tianshu Academy is still quite useful, after all, it is the Great Xia Holy Sect.
And the Great Xia laws stipulate that adopted relatives are also relatives, and naturally should be protected. He didn’t know if this would be useful, but it was better than nothing.
If he was fortunate enough to find a way to repair the Spiritual Spring and enter the Upper Five Realms, his deterrent power might be even greater.
Ji You, sitting in front, was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed out loud as he looked at the children.
He might not have been able to save those children with leukemia in the end, but after all, he could still try to save another group of children.
As Ji You thought this, for some reason, the night sky above his head suddenly brightened a few shades.
Subsequently, countless Spiritual Lights appeared above the threshing ground, pure as white stars, floating like fireflies, constantly moving and gradually gathering towards him.
A moment later, the entire threshing ground was as brilliant as a sea of stars, which inevitably shocked Ji You.
“What is this?”
“Whoa…”
“I don’t think I ate mushrooms this time… did I?”
Ji You looked up, and after a few breaths, he was slightly startled, somewhat amazed.
Because he found that these lights did not appear out of thin air, nor did they come from the sky, but rather seemed to come from the seventy-two children in front of him.
Each of these children had a Spiritual Light at their glabella, which flew into the sky at that moment, and then a particle of Spiritual Light fell.
Before Ji You could react, they began to fly towards him and enter his body.
He frowned, instinctively trying to dodge, but found he couldn’t avoid them at all.
After much struggle, all the Spiritual Light in the sky had disappeared. Only then did Ji You begin to observe with his Divine Thought, discovering that an unorganized ball of light had suddenly gathered above his shattered Spiritual Spring, like mist, wisps and threads.
And at this moment, an uncontrollable Immortal Qi was constantly boiling around him, rushing straight into the sky, surging under the vast starry expanse.
It was also at this moment that the bloodstain stretching across the sky, for some unknown reason, became even more hideous.
Pei Ruyi, who had come from the county government office, was not far away, staring at him in a daze.
She couldn’t see the vast sea of starlight earlier, nor the surging Qi, but she still frowned slightly, feeling that Ji You’s aura was vastly different at this moment.
As the chief Disciple of the Outer Courtyard, Pei Ruyi had seen many Disciples from various Immortal Sects.
But she just felt that Ji You at this moment was truly somewhat strange.
Is it… Immortal Qi?
Pei Ruyi’s brows suddenly furrowed deeply.
She didn’t know why this thought popped into her head, and couldn’t help but be slightly startled.
Mortals refer to cultivators as Immortals, and even cultivators themselves call themselves Immortals, as if they are not of the same race as Mortals.
But in fact, a cultivator cannot be considered an Immortal unless they can laugh heartily and then Ascend.
Pei Ruyi had certainly never seen a Senior who had Ascended, so she naturally couldn’t know what true Immortal Qi was, but looking at Ji You’s ethereal and unstable aura, this thought involuntarily emerged.
No, I must be overthinking…
Without laughing loudly and Ascending to the Immortal Realm, how could a person in the Mortal world be filled with Immortal Qi?
“Ruyi, this child is certainly extraordinary.”
“Perhaps, he might even become a personal Disciple of the Five Hall Masters.”
“…”