At twelve o'clock, a security guard came over and knocked on the door. "Lights out!" All the students began packing up with a rustle, and only then did Shi Tiexin raise his head.
He had actually finished an entire workbook.
Letting out a long breath and withdrawing from his intensely focused study state, Shi Tiexin could not help closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. Even with his eyes shut, his vision still naturally appeared before him, clearer than when his eyes were open. Stars once again flew up from below in a rushing stream, and the "Insight" badge also took effect.
Amid a crackling series of sounds, the Super Saiyan progress bar went wild again, climbing all the way upward. Though Learn-Practice Integration had six volumes, it was not, after all, a specialized Auxiliary Cultivation Manual. This newly completed ordinary-quality Auxiliary Cultivation Manual was actually stronger than all six books combined, both in the number of questions and their difficulty.
However, advancing from Good to Excellent was indeed far harder than going from Pass to Good. Even with all kinds of buffs and the bonus from mysterious enlightenment, the progress bar still failed to reach the end, stopping at around seventy marks.
This time, completing the Auxiliary Cultivation Manual also gave him some additional progress. That was better than receiving nothing at all. Still, it had only given him three marks. He did not know whether that was because it lacked the Learn-Practice Integration attribute, or because the closer one got to Excellent, the harder it became to raise each mark.
The Elite Class students moved quickly. They focused when studying and left without hesitation when it was time to go, vanishing in a rush. Shi Tiexin followed the crowd out of the study room, found a restroom, and went in to relieve his full bladder. Amid the splashing sounds, a high-pressure stream hissed forth. Shi Tiexin immediately felt a burst of satisfaction, as though the pressure in his heart had been released as well.
Being able to smoothly begin cultivating mind arts, and seeing clear, remarkable improvement, made him feel much more settled. The cool sensation in his mind had noticeably strengthened by a sliver, and the intensity of his mind energy had risen along with his cultivation.
Although he had not directly reached Excellent today, Shi Tiexin rubbed his temples and knew that this was as far as he should go. Both his body's endurance and mental concentration had reached their limits. If he forced himself onward, his efficiency would only drop. It would be more worthwhile to go back and get a good night's sleep. In the future, as Primal Vital Energy accumulated and his mind energy grew stronger, the time he could spend studying efficiently would naturally increase as well.
There was no need to rush. At this rate, having all six first-level mind arts reach Excellent was not far off. By the time he accumulated one hundred strands of Primal Vital Energy, it would be absolutely impossible for all his first-level mind arts not to have reached Excellent. In fact, they might very well become even stronger.
This speed was simply exhilarating!
Shi Tiexin shuddered in the restroom, then walked out of the teaching building feeling blissfully refreshed. It was midnight, and all was silent. This world's nightlife seemed remarkably sparse. By this hour, everything far and near had already fallen quiet, with scarcely any human voices to be heard. One light after another went out, and the illumination on the ground steadily weakened.
With a snap, the teaching building behind him extinguished all its lights. The surroundings sank completely into darkness, leaving only the huge red words "Knowledge Changes Fate" still radiating a crimson glow like an eternal flame. At that moment, Shi Tiexin suddenly felt something and looked up at the sky.
The weather was excellent today. The heavens were clear, with not a cloud for ten thousand miles. At first glance, Shi Tiexin saw a great white jade disk hanging high in the sky, casting down pure, gentle light.
The other students leaving school around him seemed accustomed to it and did not find anything strange about the sight.
But Shi Tiexin suddenly stopped in his tracks, stunned.
This white jade disk seemed to have appeared in some material he had seen before...
He stared blankly at that white jade disk, feeling as though some notion in his heart had suddenly shattered. There was something the other consciousness considered naturally existent, while he himself considered naturally nonexistent. That notion had been so solid and so obvious that he had failed to notice it for a time.
Yet beneath the light of that white jade disk, Shi Tiexin suddenly realized something. His mouth slowly fell open, and his immense shock even showed on his Immovable as a Mountain face.
His gaze shifted, and Shi Tiexin saw the crystalline points of light scattered across the sky. Twinkling bright and clear, like countless little eyes. Those points were not especially dense, but they were crystal-clear, mysterious, and fantastical, holding all the dreams humanity had ever woven from ancient times to the present.
Shi Tiexin was truly shocked, shocked beyond measure.
He could not help raising a hand and pointing at the lights in the sky. His mouth opened and closed. He wanted to say something, yet did not know how to say it. After the enormous shock, countless tangled thoughts crowded at his lips, jostling and shoving one another, none able to emerge. In the end, only one sentence broke free.
"What is that?!"
Shi Tiexin had merely been marveling and had not expected anyone to answer. But at that moment, a passing student glanced at him, then looked in the direction Shi Tiexin was pointing. Finally, with a proud expression, the student said, "How ignorant. You don't even know that? That's Aquarius, the constellation of art and romance."
In the darkness, Shi Tiexin could not see the person's face clearly. He only saw that person seemingly savoring something, as though drawing down some artistic radiance from the Aquarius cluster, swaying his head as he walked away chanting. Even in the darkness, one could sense the pungent air of pretentious literary affectation wafting over.
Shi Tiexin paid him no attention. He merely stood there blankly, turning the words over in his heart.
Aquarius?
Constellation?
Stars?
Then... these points of light were not glowing devices in synchronous orbit? Or were they glowing devices after all, merely named after constellations and the like?
No, no, no. Reason told him that these points of light, along with that white jade disk, could not possibly be man-made devices. This world's technological level was not high. More accurately, its technical level was extremely low. It could not possibly build such vast and numerous artificial luminous devices.
Then there was only one possibility. Combining the information projected by the other consciousness, Shi Tiexin stared dumbfoundedly at those points of light—these were stars.
The legendary stars.
The starry sky that had never existed in his original world, in Tumubao, the starry sky that had vanished into history.
Looking up at the heavens, Shi Tiexin stood frozen on the field like a statue. The people around him departed in a rustling stream and soon vanished completely, but Shi Tiexin simply stood there quietly, utterly motionless. The longer he gazed, the more dim stars he discovered that he had never noticed before. The deeper the night became and the weaker the lights on the ground grew, the more he could feel the boundless remoteness of the eternal starry sky.
Shi Tiexin watched quietly, was awed quietly, and wondered quietly.
Only after a long while did he finally start walking toward the Trash Class dormitory area.
In the middle of the night, Zhou Nan was sleeping soundly when a palm suddenly smacked down onto his shoulder. He woke in terror to find a face before him that looked especially horrifying in the darkness.
Before you continue