Venerable Burning Gold shot into the sky, tore straight through the restriction, and strode out of the Ancient Academy Realm.
Outside the Ancient Academy Realm, everyone saw only a single figure break through the restriction and soar into the air. Before they could react, he had vanished into the distance like a fiery meteor.
The Esoteric Sect old man’s expression changed abruptly. After hurriedly giving the holy maiden a few instructions, he took off after him as well, his face grim.
“Hm?” Elder Green Snake narrowed her eyes. “How did an old monster with cultivation like that sneak into the Ancient Academy Realm?”
She swept her gaze around the crowd. “Could one of your sect elders have ignored the rules and slipped inside?”
Elder Lieyang snorted. “The Ancient Academy Realm permits only Golden Core cultivators. Unless someone scattered their cultivation and forcibly kept themselves at the Golden Core, how could anyone get in?”
“Doesn’t Fire Cauldron Sect refine all manner of strange pills?” The Fox King’s eyes gleamed as he let out a soft laugh. “If they can make pills that send one’s cultivation soaring, surely they have pills that can make it plummet as well?”
Tianyuan Pill King chuckled. “I have never heard of such a perversely unnatural method.”
Tianji Zi silently watched the direction in which Venerable Burning Gold had disappeared.
Sword Sovereign Tianyi lowered his gaze toward him. “What do you make of it?”
Only then did Tianji Zi look away. He smiled faintly. “The Esoteric Sect has been stirred up. It can only be one of those matters.”
At that, everyone present wore a different expression. Clearly, each had their own suspicions.
A short while later, the Esoteric Sect old man returned to his place with a dark face.
It seemed that he had failed to catch up.
...
Inside the Ancient Academy Realm, Tu Jiaojiao and Chi Yantian slowly came to. Neither could hide their excitement. They had clearly gained a great deal.
“This senior said he shares the same roots as our Heavenly Fire Cult. Maybe it’s true!” Tu Jiaojiao seized Yu Qingtang’s hand. “Oh, right! He also told us that the black fire contained demonic energy. It harms cultivators without benefiting them in the slightest, and it will take several days to dissipate.”
“Luckily, the Fire God Art we just learned can dissolve demonic energy. I’ll help you—”
“Ah—” Ye Chenyan stepped in, stopping the eager Tu Jiaojiao. He pointed toward the Heavenly Fire Cult disciples gathered not far from the pit. “There are so many people in the Heavenly Fire Cult waiting for you to help them dispel it.”
“Miss Tu needn’t worry. I’ll handle this.”
“You?” Tu Jiaojiao’s expression turned strange. “But you haven’t learned—”
Then inspiration struck. She glanced furtively at the Flying Immortals Ranking and lowered her voice. “Does it have something to do with your special constitution?”
“Mm.” Ye Chenyan smiled and nodded slightly. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Hey!” Chi Yantian checked on several Heavenly Fire Cult disciples before turning back to call to them. “Everyone gained something. Why don’t we go cultivate in the Cultivation Tower together?”
“What needs to be dissolved can be dissolved, and what needs to be cultivated can be cultivated.”
He rubbed his hands together eagerly. “There’s a martial platform outside the Cultivation Tower, too. Once we’ve finished cultivating, we can find someone to test ourselves against!”
Ye Chenyan looked at Yu Qingtang. “Want to go?”
“You’re asking me?” Yu Qingtang blinked, rubbing his chin as he thought it over.
The major plotlines in the Ancient Academy Realm had more or less run their course. Nearly every rare heavenly treasure had ended up in their hands, with quite a few unexpected extras besides. The Lotus Realm he carried and the new melody he had memorized from the crystal short flute could both count as unexpected gains.
“The Academy’s great exam is only a few days away.” Yu Qingtang nodded seriously. “We’ve gained a great deal this time. It’s time to go to the Cultivation Tower.”
The Ancient Academy Realm’s Cultivation Tower was like a library on a university campus. Normally, hardly anyone went there. But whenever finals approached, it would be packed from top to bottom with students cramming at the last minute.
The closer the Academy’s great exam drew, the fuller the Cultivation Tower became. It was still early enough now that they might be able to claim a good spot.
Yu Qingtang was also calculating, “Once we get to the Cultivation Tower, we should run into a Dharma Academy disciple or two, right?”
Though he had gradually come to recognize the usefulness of that turtle-shell Lotus Realm, he still could not stand its side effect of setting his backside on fire every time he ate meat. He sincerely hoped it would return to the Buddhist sects, where it could truly fulfill its purpose.
Ye Chenyan took Yu Qingtang’s hand, intending to say goodbye. “In that case, we’ll be on our—”
“Let’s go together!” Chi Yantian called.
Ye Chenyan smiled as he tried to refuse. “You should help your disciples first—”
“We can do that at the Cultivation Tower.” Chi Yantian waved a hand. “They aren’t so delicate that they can’t endure a little longer.”
He completely failed to understand Ye Chenyan’s attempt at refusal. Excitedly, he prepared to leave with them. “At first, I thought running into you was bad luck. But now that I think about it, every encounter we’ve had along the way has turned out well! Ha ha!”
“Once we leave the Ancient Academy Realm, I’ll treat you to meat and wine!”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
The Heavenly Fire Cult had a great many people. With a blank expression, Ye Chenyan led the enormous group to the Cultivation Tower before finally letting out a long breath.
He turned with a smile. “You aren’t planning to squeeze into the same cultivation chamber as us, are you?”
The Cultivation Tower had three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The upper level had the most abundant spiritual energy, but anyone who cultivated there also had to withstand violent surges of spiritual energy. The greater the danger, the greater the reward.
Before Chi Yantian could answer, Tu Jiaojiao finally lost patience and tugged him aside. “The two of us will help the disciples circulate their cultivation on the lower level first. Then we’ll go find you upstairs.”
She shot him an exasperated look. “They want some time alone!”
Chi Yantian looked baffled. “Huh? You need to be together to cultivate?”
Tu Jiaojiao: “...You’re the one who has to bring Flamelet along every time you cultivate!”
Chi Yantian crossed his arms. “How is that the same?”
“No, it isn’t.” Ye Chenyan smiled, cupping his hands in farewell with an eagerness that was difficult to conceal. “We’ll head on ahead.”
Yu Qingtang looked left and right, not particularly eager to go upstairs. “Maybe I should just stay on the lower—hey!”
Before he could finish, Ye Chenyan had dragged him into the Cultivation Tower and hauled him all the way upstairs.
“Wait!” Yu Qingtang tried to remain below and slack off. “I can’t. I won’t be able to withstand the spiritual energy turbulence on the upper level. I know my limits. Just let me stay downstairs.”
“You’ll be fine.” Ye Chenyan refused to argue and kept hauling him upward. “Besides, you were tainted by black energy. You still need to dual—”
He coughed.
“I mean, once I master Heavenly Wolf Tribulation, I’ll have to help you dissolve it.”
Yu Qingtang had only just stepped onto the upper level when he felt the spiritual energy thicken around him with every breath. He was dragged into an upper-level cultivation chamber with tears practically in his eyes.
“I could wait in line downstairs with the Heavenly Fire Cult...”
“No.” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “They only picked up a trace from the outskirts, and they need the Fire God Art to dissolve it. You were down at the bottom of the pit, exposed to it at close range. We need to be careful and take this slowly.”
He pressed Yu Qingtang down onto a meditation cushion. “Sit cross-legged. Circulate your cultivation.”
Yu Qingtang reluctantly sat down. A golden lotus throne appeared beneath him, and the oppressive pressure around him immediately eased.
He looked at Ye Chenyan expectantly. “So how long do you plan to cultivate each day?”
Ye Chenyan sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion opposite him and smiled. “As many hours as there are in a day.”
“Ha ha.” Yu Qingtang gave an awkward laugh. “Stop joking...”
Ye Chenyan did not smile.
Yu Qingtang sucked in a sharp breath and scrambled to his feet. “I suddenly remembered I have something to do!”
Ye Chenyan wrapped an arm around his waist, effortlessly tossed him back onto the meditation cushion, and shut the cultivation chamber door behind him with merciless finality.
“We qin cultivators make a lot of noise when we train.” Yu Qingtang looked at Ye Chenyan earnestly. “How about I go to another room instead?”
“I’ll pick a secluded room on the upper level. I promise I won’t secretly slip downstairs.”
He raised four fingers. “I swea—”
“Don’t worry. I’m not afraid of the noise.” Ye Chenyan pressed down Yu Qingtang’s four raised fingers—and every thought of escape that went with them—before coaxing him, “Cultivate properly for the next few days, and once we leave the Ancient Academy Realm, you can eat whatever you want for several days. Doesn’t that sound good?”
“Chi Yantian said he’d treat us to meat and wine. The Heavenly Fire Cult’s wine is another matter, but their barbecue is exceptional. I remember one of Biehe Sect’s younger disciples saying you really like barbecue.”
“If you don’t cultivate properly now, when the time comes, there’ll be meat roasting on the rack, and karmic fire roasting you beneath it...”
Yu Qingtang met his gaze and closed his eyes in grim resignation.
“...Fine.”
For the sake of barbecue, putting in a little effort once in a while was not impossible.
Only after seeing Yu Qingtang finally settle down and begin cultivating the Scripture of Awaiting Good Fortune did Ye Chenyan open the scroll containing the diagrams for Heavenly Wolf Tribulation.
In antiquity, the human race, demonfolk, and demon race had all flourished, each with its own methods of cultivation.
As a rule, humans could not cultivate demon-race techniques. But Venerable Burning Gold had said Ye Chenyan’s constitution was special...
Ye Chenyan’s eyes flickered.
His master had found him on an ancient battlefield. He had never known who his parents were.
Could he actually be of the demon race?
His expression became somewhat strange.
Even if he was, there had been no need to hide it from him. The human race and demon race might still have divisions between them, but they had long since stopped being enemies locked in a struggle to the death.
Besides, the demon race should have been unable to cultivate human cultivation methods as well. Yet he had cultivated Guiyi Sect’s cultivation method perfectly well.
Ye Chenyan frowned slightly and could not stop himself from sighing.
Across from him, Yu Qingtang swayed, bracing himself against the meditation cushion as he shifted his rear a little. He secretly opened one eye to look at Ye Chenyan.
Their eyes met.
“I-I wasn’t slacking off!” Yu Qingtang said guiltily. “I was only changing positions so my feet wouldn’t go numb.”
After saying that, he squeezed his eyes shut as if he were cultivating with complete concentration—then abruptly opened them again.
“Wait. Why haven’t you started cultivating? You aren’t slacking off, are you?”
Ye Chenyan laughed. “I don’t slack off.”
He shook the scroll in his hand. “I’m studying a new technique to dissolve the black energy in you. You should cultivate properly.”
“Oh.” Yu Qingtang answered, but he could not sit still. He leaned forward curiously to look at the cultivation method in Ye Chenyan’s hands. “What kind of technique is it?”
Ye Chenyan did not stop him. Instead, he asked curiously, “Can you understand it?”
These were not ordinary human characters, yet he had somehow understood their meaning. If other people could not read them...
Yu Qingtang knitted his brows.
He knew the setting in that damned Long Aotian novel: the human race, demonfolk, and demon race all used mutually unintelligible scripts.
But this demon-race script looked less like writing and more like pictures.
The vaguely abstract stick-figure doodles of a three-year-old, at that.
“A little dog.” Yu Qingtang pointed to the left side of the scroll, then to the right. “And a meat bone.”
He made something up on the spot. “Since it’s called Heavenly Wolf Tribulation, it’s probably about how a Heavenly Wolf faces the temptation of a meat bone...”
Ye Chenyan covered his mouth, looking helpless. “All right. I know you can’t read it. Go cultivate.”
Yu Qingtang pouted, pried his hand away, and returned to his meditation cushion to cultivate.
He had only just closed his eyes when he heard Ye Chenyan give a muffled laugh.
“Ahem.” Seeing Yu Qingtang open his eyes again, Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow and pretended he had not laughed. “What?”
“Nothing.” Yu Qingtang took out the Dragon-Crane Zither. “I’m tired of cultivating the cultivation method. I’ll play the qin for a while.”
“You’re tired already?” Ye Chenyan looked surprised. “How many times have you run through it?”
Yu Qingtang held up one finger.
Ye Chenyan: “...”
Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away.
Sorry. Those of us who are bad students with no attention span are just like this. Two math problems, two lines of English...
Ye Chenyan sighed and held out a hand. “Give me your hand. I’ll dissolve the black energy for you first.”
“Hm?” Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened. “You learned it already?”
“Of course.” Ye Chenyan smiled and raised his brows with a touch of pride. “I’ve already run through it once.”
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
People really should not compare their talent to a Long Aotian.
Obediently, he placed both hands over Ye Chenyan’s. Curious, he felt the unfamiliar spiritual power flow from where their hands overlapped into his meridians, carrying a scorching, domineering presence.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes flew open. He flung Ye Chenyan’s hands away and hurriedly leaned back to put some distance between them.
“Wait, wait!”
For some reason, his face had turned red. “This... why does this feel so strange?”
“What?” Ye Chenyan caught his hands again and pulled him back. “Stop moving around.”
“But, but...” Yu Qingtang’s eyes were wide, and he did not know how to explain it.
For some reason, this method of dissolving the black energy made him feel embarrassingly exposed, as though he had no privacy at all!
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