Chapter 34: I Want to Become an Immortal (Part 3)
The previous questions had been calm and common-sense, but suddenly such a sharp question popped out.
Shu Jing was stunned by the question, cold sweat dripping.
The tentacles tightened, and Shu Jing immediately bared her teeth and said, “Because we want to grow meat zhi!”
“Continue, make it more complete.” Liu Sheng said expressionlessly.
“We’ve been trapped here for who knows how long. There are evil spirits in the back kitchen of the cafeteria that we dare not approach, and all the edible grass in the Courtyard has been pulled out and eaten by us. Everything edible has been eaten. Later, we discovered that after people die, their bodies quickly become covered in meat zhi, which is not only edible but can also slightly increase spiritual power.”
“But we’re hungry, and others are hungry too. Every time we go to collect meat zhi, we can’t snatch it from others. We were truly starving, so we thought… we thought…”
“To produce it ourselves for self-sufficiency and self-sale, right?”
Shu Jing dared not answer. By now, she had already noticed that the Yao Sujin in front of her was somewhat off, but she wisely did not voice her question.
Liu Sheng didn't care and continued to ask, “What’s going on with the Seven Profound Academy now?”
“Now the entire Seven Profound Academy has fallen into a strange disaster, including us Xuezis in the Academy.” Shu Jing gave a bitter smile, a smile that was desolate and despairing, “Once a strange disaster forms, it is irreversible and cannot be eliminated. Within a strange disaster, there are countless oddities, and most people inside can only endure and wait for death. If one can find the rules of the strange disaster and follow them, one might be able to last longer.”
“Is there no possibility of leaving the strange disaster?”
“According to legends, if one masters the rules for breaking the situation, there’s a chance to escape the strange disaster. But in reality, I’ve never heard of it.” Shu Jing shook her head dejectedly.
Afterward, Liu Sheng asked many more questions in detail.
As she asked, the tentacles casually brushed against Shu Jing’s neck, cold and slick.
Shu Jing felt that her roommate in front of her must have been replaced by some kind of strange entity; such things were common here.
Some strange entities liked to tease people, giving them knowledge quizzes, and if an answer didn't suit its taste, a death rule would instantly be triggered.
So she honestly told everything she knew.
…
After asking what she wanted to know, Liu Sheng used her tentacles to tightly bind Shu Jing and threw her aside.
She also went through the items and books in the room and finally understood the general situation.
The seven profound token Zhang Yuanzheng gave her once belonged to this girl named “Yao Sujin.”
It was now Tianhe Twenty-Third Year of Great Chu, a country and dynasty Liu Sheng had never heard of, suggesting it was likely another world.
This world was divided into the Human Realm and the Immortal Realm. The Human Realm was more like Tang Country before God Manifestation First Year, and strange disasters frequently occurred there; while the Immortal Realm was an entirely different scene. However, Shu Jing hadn't seen many Immortals, only knowing that cultivating immortality could transcend the mundane, and those who achieved Major Achievement could live as long as heaven and earth, with the power to change oceans into mulberry fields with a raise of a hand, and step on the sun, moon, and stars.
It sounded much more exaggerated than the cultivators in Liu Sheng's world.
Yao Sujin and Xuezis like Shu Jing were all drawn to the Immortal Sects, wishing to cultivate immortality but unable to find a way in. So, they first entered the Seven Profound Academy, established by Seven Profound Mountain, one of the four great Immortal Sects of Great Chu, essentially a preschool for the Immortal Sects.
Unexpectedly, soon after enrollment, they encountered a strange disaster that enveloped the entire Seven Profound Academy.
She sorted through the information about this strange disaster from Shu Jing's account:
One, there is only eternal night here, and the clock is completely messed up.
Two, the moon waxes and wanes; a lunar cycle can be counted as one day. Roughly four or five days have passed now.
Three, absolutely do not go out when the moon is completely dark.
Four, the safest place is one’s own Courtyard; do not casually go to others’ Courtyards.
Five, the meatball-like strange entities will appear in the Courtyard at irregular intervals, but after appearing once, they will reappear after more than half a day. When they appear, please remain quiet and dark and stay in the Courtyard.
Six, after people die, meat zhi will grow, which is edible and can increase cultivation.
Seven, no more than two people can act together, otherwise they will be hunted by strange entities.
Eight, Seven Profound Academy has key areas such as the lecture hall, Hidden Scripture Library, Chongdao Shrine, male and female Courtyards, teacher Courtyards, cafeteria, and back garden. Different areas have different strange entities and different rules.
Regarding this last point, because Shu Jing and her companions were quite timid and afraid of death, they didn't dare to go far. So currently, they only knew about the female Disciple's Courtyard. They originally wanted to go to the cafeteria to find food, but they ran away as soon as they saw that the situation was not right from afar.
…
The two roommates who went out indeed returned quickly, as they had said.
Perhaps they thought it would be effortless for Shu Jing to deal with a starving, dying woman, so they just circled outside and wanted to rush back for a warm meal.
Unexpectedly, when they opened the door, they saw this scene.
Liu Sheng was seated at the table, surrounded by several tentacles, as black as night and thick as a child's wrist, coiling around her. She was smiling at them with a hint of playfulness.
Shu Jing was nowhere to be seen.
They felt something was wrong, stood at the doorway frozen for a breath, their eyes filled with disbelief, and then took half a step back.
The pitch-black tentacles seemed to sense new targets, slowly spreading towards them, each one emitting a suffocatingly evil aura.
“You’re finally back.” Liu Sheng’s voice was calm, yet slightly pleased.
Although she had learned the names of these two roommates from Shu Jing, they were no longer important. She would continue to call them Energetic Woman and Quiet Woman.
They exchanged glances, a premonition of ill fortune rising in their hearts.
They wanted to run, but where could they run to? The Courtyard room was their only refuge.
“You… what happened?” The Energetic Woman tried to make her voice sound calm and composed, but the tremor within was undeniable.
Liu Sheng gently waved her hand, and the black tentacles scattered with her movement, hiding in the shadows, which only made the Quiet Woman grip the Energetic Woman's hand even tighter in nervousness.
Liu Sheng chuckled lightly: “You must be tired from running around. Come in and rest!”
As soon as her voice fell, the tentacles from the shadows swarmed out, pouncing on the two at the doorway, dragging them through the door.
…
Once Liu Sheng confirmed from them that all the information was nearly identical to what Shu Jing had said, she lifted the two of them, threw them into the room that had been invaded by the meatball-like entity to keep Shu Jing company, and casually used a tentacle to close the door from a distance.
【The safest place is one's own Courtyard; do not casually go to others’ Courtyards.】
It was pitch black inside, bottomless. Liu Sheng didn't even dare to step a tentacle into it.
It seemed they should be able to get a good night's sleep.
Mutual benefit, Liu Sheng could also get a good night's sleep now.
With the hidden dangers resolved, Liu Sheng could finally move freely.
The first thing she had to do, naturally, was to find something to eat.
Just now, from those two, Liu Sheng had indeed found a small piece of something resembling fat, which was probably the so-called “meat zhi.”
Although Liu Sheng found this thing a bit nauseating, she was truly so hungry that her head was spinning and she couldn't care less. Enduring the nausea, she managed to gnaw a couple of bites and swallowed the whole thing.
It seemed Shu Jing was indeed right; “meat zhi” was not so easy to snatch. After going out, they only brought back such a tiny bit, nowhere near enough to fill their stomachs.
Although she was still very hungry, her stomach finally felt somewhat substantial, and a faint warmth spread from her stomach to her limbs, which should be spiritual power. However, they had just enrolled and didn't know how to cultivate yet, so this spiritual power could only disperse within her body.
Liu Sheng now had a bit of strength to walk a few steps further, so she prepared to head towards her first destination.
Before leaving, she looked back. A small wooden plaque hung beside her dormitory door, with “Ugly Twelve” written on it. This was the room number.