"What a damn fool! If you're sleeping, then sleep! How dare you claim there was a reason? What a load of nonsense!"
"Today, if I don't teach you a lesson, I'll stop being Tongtian!"
A spirit whip appeared in his hand, and he lashed it toward Xian Junyu's backside.
"Ow! Master, I was wrong! I was wrong! Your disciple really knows his mistake!..."
"Ow..."
Xian Junyu cried out in pain. The beating honestly wasn't as painful as it sounded, but this lazy bum had loafed around for over a thousand years and couldn't endure even the slightest hardship.
Besides, even if he could endure it, he wouldn't. The more he endured, the harder Master would whip him. Couldn't they see? The louder he cried, the lighter Master's strikes became.
Duobao and the others below shrank their necks slightly at the sight.
Tongtian struck him thirty-one times before finally venting his anger.
Still, he hadn't used any dirty tricks. At most, he had only broken the skin. If he had truly wanted to harm him, a single whip would have been enough to kill him.
"Get down there!"
"If I catch you sleeping again, it won't be a mere thirty-one strikes!"
After driving away the infuriating Xian Junyu, Tongtian had two Daoist Children stand on either side of him with rulers in their hands.
"If he falls asleep again, beat him hard!"
"Yes, Master!"
The two Daoist Children looked at Xian Junyu apologetically.
It was as if they were saying: Sorry, Senior Brother. You saw it yourself—we don't want to beat you either, but Master is watching. You can't blame us...
Rubbing his already bruised backside, Xian Junyu glanced at Master on the high platform. When Master wasn't paying attention, he glared at the two Daoist Children.
The meaning was clear: Just give me a token tap or two. Don't hit me too hard!
The two Daoist Children blinked and instantly understood. Naturally, they wouldn't hit him hard. They would merely go through the motions.
Tongtian saw every one of Xian Junyu and the Daoist Children's little gestures, but he couldn't be bothered to interfere. As long as Xian Junyu didn't sleep and listened, it didn't matter how much he understood.
With that, he continued his lecture.
"Being the foundation for nurturing all beneath Heaven and the source of the Emperor-Saint's creation, human life receives its qi from the Supreme Ultimate, while motion and stillness follow the laws of Heaven and Earth. Its spirit begins in the Primordial One, while opening and closing embody yin and yang..."
To avoid being beaten for falling asleep, Xian Junyu endured his discomfort and forcibly calmed his mind to listen.
At first, he was completely bewildered, as though Tongtian were playing a lute to a cow. But as he concentrated intensely, he suddenly gained a trace of enlightenment.
It was as if he were trapped in darkness and a ray of light had shone in, suddenly illuminating everything before his eyes.
Just like Duobao and the others, he entered that wondrous state, listening as if intoxicated.
Seeing that his senior disciple had truly entered the state, Tongtian cursed inwardly.
That brat really does need a beating. See? He can listen after all. Looks like I'll have to give him a little motivation from time to time in the future!
Having seemingly found the proper way to teach Xian Junyu, Tongtian decided that whenever this senior disciple's lazy nature emerged in the future, he would reward him.
Three hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.
Under the Saintly Aura, the five listened in a trance, and three hundred years quickly came to an end.
"Awaken!"
The lecture ended. At Tongtian's command, Duobao and the others instantly opened their eyes, and their cultivation levels broke through one after another.
Xian Junyu did not awaken immediately. When his junior brothers and sisters broke through, the system also began returning cultivation to him. He remained immersed in that state, receiving the cultivation.
[Ding! Jin Ling's cultivation broke through to the Mystic Immortal Middle Stage. Randomly returning a multiple to the host... Golden Immortal Initial Stage cultivation!] [Ding! Wu Dang's cultivation broke through to the Mystic Immortal Initial Stage. Randomly returning a multiple to the host... Golden Immortal Late Stage cultivation!] [Ding! Gui Ling's cultivation broke through to the Heavenly Immortal Late Stage. Randomly returning a multiple to the host... Golden Immortal Perfection Stage cultivation!] [Ding! Duobao's cultivation broke through to the Heavenly Immortal Perfection Stage. Randomly returning a multiple to the host... Grand Unity Heavenly Immortal Initial Stage cultivation!]
Listening to the system's voice and feeling his cultivation constantly break through, Xian Junyu was so overjoyed that he wept.
"It's been over three hundred years, System Bro. You're finally putting in the effort! My dear junior brothers and sisters, Senior Brother loves you to death! Boo-hoo-hoo..."
His foundation had been rather poor after loafing around for a thousand years. Through this lecture, he had only barely comprehended the Heavenly Immortal Realm by relying on himself.
Now, System Bro had not only perfected his foundation but was also pushing him toward the Taiyi Realm. This cheat was simply too wonderful.
After Duobao and the others woke up, they were all overjoyed to see that their cultivation had broken through.
They all sighed that entering a Saint's Discipleship had indeed been a wise decision. Otherwise, it would have taken at least a thousand years to achieve such a breakthrough.
Jin Ling: Mystic Immortal Middle Stage!
Wu Dang: Mystic Immortal Initial Stage!
Duobao: Heavenly Immortal Perfection Stage!
Gui Ling: Heavenly Immortal Late Stage!
Duobao, the former Senior Disciple Brother of the Interception Sect, seemed not to have the highest cultivation at the Heavenly Immortal Perfection Stage, but his gains this time were in no way inferior to those of the others.
In fact, he had gained the most among them. He had advanced from the Earth Immortal Realm to the Heavenly Immortal Perfection Stage and was only one breakthrough opportunity away from becoming a Mystic Immortal.
He had practically gained nearly two major realms. As expected of Duobao Tathagata.
Tongtian showed no surprise at the breakthroughs of his four Personal Disciples. Their talents were not poor, and they were diligent people. What was there to find strange about their breakthroughs?
What truly deserved his attention was his senior disciple, Xian Junyu.
This little lazy bum had, for the first time ever, gone three hundred years without dividing his attention to sleep. Compared with the others, he looked forward even more to seeing what this lazy bum had achieved.
"Huh? Senior Disciple Brother still hasn't awakened?"
At Gui Ling's words, Duobao and the others also looked toward their senior disciple, who was still meditating. They were curious how much their Senior Disciple Brother of the Interception Sect had gained.
Senior Disciple Brother was a Primordial Being. His talent and foundation were not lacking—in fact, they were among the very best. He was merely a little lazy.
Under the gazes of Master and his junior brothers and sisters,
Xian Junyu's cultivation began to rise. The spiritual energy of Mount Kunlun gathered into a sea of spirit qi and surged toward him, creating an astonishing disturbance.
"To draw over so much spiritual energy, this is..."
Having lived for countless years, Tongtian had never looked forward to anything so intensely. Even when he became a Saint, he had never been this excited.
First came Xian Junyu's own efforts.
After breaking through from the middle stage of the Earth Immortal Realm to the late stage and then reaching perfection, he smoothly advanced into the Heavenly Immortal Realm.
At this point, all five Personal Disciples of the Interception Sect had left the Earth Immortal Realm behind and taken their first steps toward a higher realm.
"The Heavenly Immortal Realm! That's wonderful, Senior Disciple Brother..."
Gui Ling was just about to celebrate Senior Disciple Brother's breakthrough into the Heavenly Immortal Realm when Wu Dang swiftly covered her mouth.
With her mouth covered, Gui Ling looked bewildered. She stared blankly at Senior Sister Wu Dang, only to see her Senior Sister glance toward Master, Senior Disciple Sister, and Senior Disciple Brother.
Only then did she realize that everyone was staring fixedly at Senior Disciple Brother.
It was also then that she discovered Senior Disciple Brother's cultivation was still rising. It had not stopped.
The sea of spirit qi paused for a moment. In the next second, it transformed into a vortex and surged madly into Senior Disciple Brother's body.
In an instant, Xian Junyu began the second stage of his cultivation increase.
[Heavenly Immortal Initial Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, Perfection Stage, Mystic Immortal Initial Stage, Middle Stage, Late Stage, Perfection Stage...]
In the blink of an eye, his Heavenly Immortal Initial Stage cultivation broke through to the Profound Immortal Completion Stage, and he showed no sign of stopping.
Duobao and the others' eyes widened, their faces filled with disbelief.
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