A Jing Began Making Himself Useful!

The rate at which his Persona Sync Values were dropping was extremely unstable. Sometimes they fell quickly, and sometimes they fell slowly.

In short, it was deeply arcane and mysterious, with no pattern to be found at all.

But one thing was certain: whenever he played one persona, the Sync Values of the other two were definitely falling.

The only question was how much they fell, and how quickly.

Furthermore, once a Sync Value dropped too low, the corresponding talents of that persona template, as well as the illusions of Mirror Flower Water Moon, would begin to lose their effectiveness.

Therefore, he had to keep a close eye on every persona's Sync Value at all times and make sure none of them fell too low.

At present, Ling Yunpo's Sync Value was still acceptable, while Luo Yan's had barely grown at all.

Thus, even though Qiu Changtian had obtained a batch of spirit stones, he still could not immediately transform into Ling Yunpo and go to Senior Sister An to curry favor and offer her treasures.

He could only first bring Xu Yinglian back to the Kunlun Sky Pillar, return the Taiyi Splitting Light Sword to Ziwei Sect Master, and then find a place to load his save and teleport to Penglai.

At Penglai Immortal Island in the East Sea, having just become an honorable disciple of Yuqing Temple, Luo Yan was taken away by one of the sect's White Jade Puppets to the warehouse, where he received a beginner's gift package.

It was filled entirely with textbooks. It was downright absurd.

At the very top of the stack were the three-piece set of preparatory materials for immortal cultivation:

<Divine Immortal Food Qi Golden Cabinet Wonderful Record>, for fasting.

Preserving Spirit Refining Qi Inscription, for refining qi.

<Taishang Three-Jiao Lingying Scripture of Ascending to Truth>, for circulating qi.

Of course, Luo Yan had absolutely no need for any of them.

During his days playing Qiu Changtian, he had already cultivated to the Qi Refining Stage. It was only through Mirror Flower Water Moon that he had disguised Luo Yan as an ordinary mortal with no cultivation whatsoever.

If he truly encountered some fatal danger, he would no longer need to keep pretending. He could simply and forcibly dispel Mirror Flower Water Moon.

At that time, whether it was Qiu Changtian's Kunlun Daoist Magic or Ling Yunpo's Mount Shu swordsmanship, he would be able to use them with ease...

It was just that there was no point.

The combat power of a Qi Refining Stage cultivator was far too poor. It was better to stay in the sect and cultivate properly than to go courting one danger after another.

Besides the three basic textbooks, the rest were all sorts of general-knowledge texts:

<Shangqing Dongzhen Tianbao Dadong Three-Scenery Treasure Register>, which taught people to draw various talismans.

Taiyi Qimen Liuren Three Secrets Essential Chapter, which taught people to arrange various formations.

<Divine Immortal Methods of Taking Spirit Herbs and Calamus, Nine Formulas>, which taught people how to process various spirit herbs.

<Divine Immortal Method of Refining Pills and Casting the Three Origins' Treasured Illumination>, which taught people to refine various pills.

<Zhouyi Cantongqi Cauldron Mirror Seal Pot Sword Diagram>, which taught people to cast various Magic Treasures.

There were all sorts of other subjects as well, such as divination, summoning gods, astrology, and calendars. Altogether, there were no fewer than thirty-three books, and Luo Yan was left staring blankly at them.

Good grief. Had I come here to cultivate immortality and seek longevity, or to learn technical trades?

So Penglai's Yuqing Temple was the cultivation world's Blue Soaring Vocational School?

And what was even more absurd was that despite passing the entrance examination with full marks, he had not become an inner disciple or taken a certain elder as his master.

When he asked the White Jade Puppet, he learned that Yuqing Temple emphasized choosing one's own specialty. New disciples were first required to familiarize themselves with courses in various fields, then choose a corresponding teaching elder to acknowledge as their master based on their "true interests and hobbies."

That raised a question: without the sect's prescribed initiation ceremony and apprenticeship, once you had attended a few classes and wanted to take a master, would the elder you had chosen actually be willing to accept you?

Wouldn't you still have to rely on connections?

If that was still unclear, a more understandable analogy was that the imperial examination no longer determined which specific school you belonged to, but only whether you were qualified to attend university.

Then you could choose a university you liked for a period of "trial study," relying on your good performance during that period to make a mutual selection with the university...

They might as well have plainly said, "You need to know someone at the university."

With this sort of favor-based system, no wonder Penglai Yuqing Temple was the weakest of the Three Pure Ones' orthodox sects. What trash!

Without betraying a hint of emotion, Luo Yan brought his textbooks to the classroom and attended the lesson with the other disciples.

Today's instructor was Elder Shi Ding, and the subject he taught was Treasure Casting.

It was said that this elder's cultivation was actually not very high. Even among Nascent Soul Realm elders, he was considered relatively weak.

However, his specialty was the most obscure branch of the unorthodox art of Artifact Refining. Since learning it consumed far too many resources, few people had ever practiced it, and true masters were rarer still.

Within Artifact Refining, there was another extremely important skill called "sword casting."

As for the importance of flying swords to cultivation sects, there was no need to elaborate here.

Thus, although Elder Shi Ding's cultivation was nothing special, his status within Penglai Yuqing Temple was extremely high. Even if he went to Kunlun or Mount Shu, he would receive a personal welcome from someone at the level of a Sect Master.

The many disciples in the classroom also vied with one another to put on all sorts of enthusiastic displays, hoping to earn this elder's favor.

Naturally, having seen every kind of performance, Elder Shi Ding had no interest whatsoever in these eager disciples. He arrived precisely at class time, forbade anyone from asking questions, left as soon as the lesson ended, and remained aloof throughout.

As for disciples like Luo Yan, who had already guessed the outcome and therefore acted extremely unenthusiastically, they were even less likely to catch his eye.

Later on, Luo Yan began imitating the other disciples in the back rows and simply lay on his desk to sleep during class.

Until he found a way to maintain his Sync Values, he might as well lie flat for now. There was no need to seek a master either.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly saw someone pat him on the shoulder from the side.

Hmm, Shi Liuli?

"I didn't expect you to actually pass the entrance examination." Shi Liuli greeted him, sounding surprised.

"Senior Sister." Luo Yan hurriedly put on a smile. "Yes. I was lucky enough to pass."

"Mm. Then study hard." After chatting with him a little longer and confirming that he had adapted to the pace of the classes, Shi Liuli spoke casually and prepared to stand.

She had merely happened to be passing by when she suddenly spotted a familiar face in the classroom, so she came over to ask after him.

Since he had successfully entered Yuqing Temple and could keep up with the curriculum, she had fulfilled her duty as a senior sister.

She had already lost interest in this dull-witted junior brother.

Seeing that she intended to leave, Luo Yan also felt helpless and powerless.

Qiu Changtian had relied on his Clear Dao Heart aptitude, and his apprenticeship process had been smooth sailing all the way.

Ling Yunpo, meanwhile, had been fortunate enough to meet Senior Sister An, who had cared for him with the utmost diligence.

Luo Yan had it worst. He had neither a favorable environment nor fortuitous opportunities to help him rise, nor had he encountered a benefactor like An Zhisu. He felt as if he were trapped in a muddy quagmire, possessing a cheat but having no way to bring it into play. For now, he had no good solution either.

The Kunlun Mirror watched from the shadows, rendered speechless: This girl clearly showed some interest in you at first, but for the sake of your "hypocritical" persona, you deliberately pretended to be mediocre and harmless.

In the end, she couldn't see through it and simply took you for an ordinary fool. Does that make any sense?

I'll have to step in personally. It's the perfect chance to test whether that earlier idea will work.

With that thought, it quietly activated Mirror Flower Water Moon, opening a gap in the mask-like persona Luo Yan had disguised so flawlessly.

As it weakened the aura of that persona, it also allowed his true aura to seep out.

Then it temporarily lifted the mental suggestion!

Shi Liuli, who was just about to leave: ?

She suddenly and keenly sensed that this dull and foolish junior brother seemed to have become a different person just now.

His former air of innocence had suddenly vanished.

Yet when she looked closely, nothing seemed to have changed.

Could it have been her imagination?

Shi Liuli pondered for a moment, but still decided to treat it as an illusion.

She was just about to stand and leave again when the Kunlun Mirror continued opening the gap, increasing the leakage of his true aura.

Thus, the aura of his true nature collided with that of his hypocritical persona. It was like two incompatible magnetic fields being recklessly layered atop each other, making the sense of wrongness Shi Liuli felt grow increasingly intense.

Hmm?

Hmm, hmm? No, that's not right!

There's something wrong with this junior brother!

Shi Liuli sat back down, turned her head, and eyed Luo Yan suspiciously.

Stare...

"Senior Sister... Senior Sister, is something wrong?" Luo Yan asked, pretending to be embarrassed.

Shi Liuli did not answer.

Of course, she could not directly ask, "Are you pretending to be stupid?" If he really was deliberately pretending to be simple and honest, he certainly would not admit it outright.

Hmph, what an interesting junior brother. What are you hiding?

Let this Eldest Young Lady, whose insight is as sharp as a torch, expose your true face!