Chapter 14#

Autumn Deepens#

The world divides cultivation realms into five major tiers, each further divided into three minor stages. The higher one goes, the greater the changes brought about by promotion or breakthrough. Currently, Xiao Man was only in the Baoxu Realm, the lowest tier. The changes brought by his advancement were subtle. Coupled with the fact that his entire mind and soul had been focused on the Buddhist shrine earlier, he hadn’t noticed the change in his own cultivation for a moment.

Hearing Yan Wushu’s words, Xiao Man steadied his mind to perceive and found that it was indeed so.

There wasn’t much joy on his face; his eyes were calm and indifferent. He lightly flicked his sleeves, intending to return to Qiyinchu. While the lessons at Baihua Peak were important, consolidating his realm was more urgent. The arts of talismans, formations, and alchemy could be caught up on later.

Yan Wushu saw through Xiao Man’s thoughts and spoke up again to stop him: “I know you’re not fond of staying with me, but this moment is crucial. You stay here to meditate and regulate your breath; I’ll leave, alright?”

His voice was somewhat raspy. Since last night, he had set up sword arrays and drawn cages, suppressing the thing inside the Buddhist shrine for an entire night. He had consumed a lot of spiritual energy and was exhausted at this moment.

Xiao Man looked up at Yan Wushu. Having just advanced his realm, it was indeed not ideal for him to move around. After weighing the options, he finally nodded.

“But I have to take that little thing away.” Yan Wushu retracted the hand pressing on Xiao Man’s shoulder, walked to the Luohan couch, and poured himself a bowl of cold tea to drink. “Your realm isn’t as high as its, I’m afraid you won’t be able to control it.”

“It indeed shouldn’t stay with me, please take it back to report.” Without hesitation, Xiao Man raised the prayer beads in his hand, applied a bit of spiritual energy, and forced out the soul hiding in one of the bodhi beads.

The creature was a deer, with two antlers on its head and a tail swishing behind it. It was snow-white all over, though its fur wasn’t in great condition, appearing somewhat sparse.

The deer transformed into a tiny creature. After being forced out of the bodhi bead, it refused to leave, reaching out its two front legs to cling to Xiao Man’s finger.

“Gu!” The deer let out a cry, clearly terrified of the man opposite who had been hacking at it with a sword all night.

Yan Wushu walked back thoughtfully, one arm crossed over his chest, the other hand taking out a folding fan to tap against his chin. After observing it for a while, he spoke:

“Perhaps I’ll have to search through ancient texts to find out what species it is.”

“Hmm?” Xiao Man didn’t understand, holding the wisp of the deer’s soul in his palm and lifting it slightly. He didn’t want Yan Wushu to stay here any longer; his gaze and movements were filled with the intent to hurry him along.

The deer on his palm was stared at by Yan Wushu for a while and was scared to death. Sensing Xiao Man’s intention, it immediately let go of his finger, turned around, and dove into his sleeve.

Xiao Man: “…”

“Fine.” Yan Wushu gave a cool “tsk,” bent over, and reached out with lightning speed to pluck out the hidden deer soul. He then took out a magical tool from his Qiankun ring, cast a slight spell, and placed it around its neck.

This deer soul’s original realm was in the Lower Taixuan stage.

Inside the Buddhist shrine, it had been demonized, manic and full of malevolence, displaying power no lower than the Upper Taixuan stage. Now that the demonic nature and malevolence had been entirely removed, its realm was constantly dropping. Yan Wushu’s action actually made it fall directly to the Middle Shouyi stage.

—Only one major realm higher than Xiao Man’s Baoxu Realm.

“This way, with the advantage of your lineage, you shouldn’t be unable to suppress this Shouyi-realm deer.” Yan Wushu placed the deer soul back into Xiao Man’s palm.

Xiao Man lifted his eyelids and asked in confusion: “You’re not taking it to report to Sect Leader Shen?”

“Wait until I’ve had a sleep.” Yan Wushu turned to walk out of the hall, waving his hand without looking back.

He went to sleep on the rocking chair in the long corridor.

Xiao Man glanced at the rain outside the corridor, stuffed the deer—which was currently lost and despondent due to the sharp drop in its realm—back into the prayer beads, lowered his eyes, and began to circulate his energy.

He hadn’t expected such a harvest. According to his original cultivation speed, it would have taken at least another half a year until the Sword Trial Assembly for his realm to improve. It was likely because tempering the Phoenix True Fire all night had further opened and cleared the meridians and acupoints in his body.

And the harvest didn’t stop there. In the process of purifying the foul malevolence on the deer soul, Xiao Man had also absorbed the residual spiritual energy in the Buddhist shrine.

That was a magical tool for suppressing a Taixuan-realm beast soul. Even if damaged, it was not to be underestimated. Xiao Man’s realm wasn’t high; to completely transform this spiritual energy for his own use, he had to take it slowly.

Thus, this meditation lasted for several days.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky outside the Daoist hall was as clear as if it had been washed, without a single cloud. In the distance, the greenery on the mountains had faded, every inch showing signs of withering; autumn had deepened.

It was still morning, before the hour of Chen. Xiao Man shook his sleeves, cast a Cleansing Technique on himself, and stood up.

The rocking chair under the corridor was already empty, with only a ghostly shadow remaining. Xiao Man walked down the stone steps. Rong Yuan ran in from outside, bowing with a look of joy: “Congratulations on Your Highness’s advancement in realm!”

Xiao Man reached out and rubbed the top of Rong Yuan’s head, asking him: “How many days have I been here?”

“Today is the fourth day,” Rong Yuan replied, then his eyes shifted as he said: “Would Your Highness like breakfast? I picked some corn yesterday, it’s very sweet! If you want to eat, Rong Yuan will go and steam a few cobs right now!”

“No need.” Xiao Man shook his head. “Go about your own business.”

After saying that, he lowered his hand, walked around Rong Yuan, and headed towards the door.

Rong Yuan turned around and saw Xiao Man’s sleeves lifted by the suddenly intensified autumn wind. He drawled an “Oh” and asked: “Then where are you going? Baihua Peak?”

“Yes,” Xiao Man replied.

“Come back soon, Your Highness.” Rong Yuan watched him leave.

Xiao Man flew directly to Chaoyu Building using the wind.

If one were to ask what the difference between the lower, middle, and upper stages within a major realm was, the most direct manifestation was in speed. Of course, with Xiao Man’s current strength, he could by no means blink between two peaks, but his speed was twice as fast as before. Taking a Peng bird from Xueyi Peak to Baihua Peak usually took about fifteen minutes; with this speed boost, Xiao Man now only needed five or six minutes.

The morning classes in Chaoyu Building had already begun, but the instructor was not there. The arrangement of tables and chairs in the building had changed, and an open space had been cleared in front of the instructor’s seat. Qu Hanxing, Mo Juntian, and the others were sitting in their old spots by the window in the back row. Wei Chuyun sat in front of them, with no one beside him.

Xiao Man went straight over, shook his robes, and sat down. He glanced at the book held by the person next to him and took out an identical one.

Qu Hanxing, who was busily scribbling and drawing on paper, suddenly snapped his head up. Wei Chuyun put down his book and turned his head sharply, while Mo Juntian let out a shocked “Ah!”

Qu Hanxing hurriedly covered his mouth and whispered: “Don’t make a sound, have you forgotten how ruthless the instructor for this subject is!”

Then he pulled out a blank sheet of paper, waved his pen, wrote a string of words, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it to Xiao Man.

Xiao Man unfolded it and saw Qu Hanxing asking: “Why didn’t you come these past few days? We were all very worried.”

At this time, Wei Chuyun leaned closer, looked at Xiao Man for a few moments, and keenly noticed something: “Your realm has improved?”

“Yes.” Xiao Man nodded, while answering Qu Hanxing on the paper and tossing the paper ball back.

A look of joy appeared in Wei Chuyun’s eyes: “Many congratulations indeed.”

Pa—

The paper ball was tossed back again, with the same “Congratulations” written on it.

“This is the Formations class, I haven’t attended it before. What’s wrong with the instructor?” Xiao Man asked on the slip of paper. He was quite curious about the sentence Qu Hanxing had just said.

It took some time for this question to receive a reply, but he saw Qu Hanxing write:

“The instructor’s surname is Meng, she’s a woman. Her realm is at the Upper Guiyuan stage, and it’s rumored she’ll break through soon to become an elder of some peak.”

“This person doesn’t like anyone talking in her class, even if she’s not in Chaoyu Building, it’s not allowed, otherwise there will be punishment.”

“She is sharp-tongued and mean, and absolutely can’t stand anyone missing her class. If someone does, they will definitely be punished next time.”

Finally, Qu Hanxing specially emphasized: “Previously she wasn’t on Gushan, and the classes were taught by other instructors. Now those instructors have returned the classes to her, so we’ve had Formations class for three consecutive days. Brother Man, you haven’t come for three days, you must be careful!”

After reading it, Xiao Man nodded, carefully folded the note, then burned it with fire, cautiously destroying all evidence.

Wei Chuyun flipped the book to a certain page and pushed it in front of Xiao Man, indicating where they had studied these days. Xiao Man expressed his gratitude with his eyes.

A moment later, Mo Juntian also handed over the notebook he had kept.

Xiao Man’s level in formations was not low, so he didn’t need to go over these introductory things again, but he couldn’t bear to brush off his friends’ kindness, so he took the notebook and flipped to the first page. Mo Juntian’s handwriting was as neat and clean as ever, well-organized and quite pleasing to the eye.

However, Xiao Man’s mind was not on these beautiful characters.

Qu Hanxing’s description of the instructor for the Formations subject just now reminded Xiao Man of some things.