Cultivation Academy

The Star Dou Great Forest lay directly south of the Heaven Dou Empire. Spanning across the Two Great Empires, it was one of the three major habitats of wild Soul Beasts.

People only dared to build cities around its perimeter, and only Soul Masters dared venture inside to seek the Soul Rings they needed.

Yet, within a giant tree on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, there were traces of human habitation.

Strangely, from the outside, the great tree appeared perfectly intact, with no signs whatsoever of having been damaged.

But if someone possessed the ability to see through illusions, they would discover that at the base of this towering tree, over ten meters in diameter, there was actually a door engraved with the words Cultivation Academy. Looking more closely, they would find a window every few meters up the wooden door.

Counting them up, the entire tree had eight windows and one wooden door. In other words, someone lived inside the tree and had built nine floors within it.

It was precisely because an illusion covered the entire tree that the Soul Beasts on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest had not discovered it.

Suddenly, a figure darted out from the surrounding canopy.

That person was none other than Bai Yuan.

He carefully surveyed the area. After confirming there was no danger, he cautiously walked up to the great tree, merged into the illusion, and "disappeared."

Pushing open the door and entering, Bai Yuan found himself facing a living room.

The living room was not large. A round wooden table stood in the middle, surrounded by several wooden stools. All of them were connected to the wooden floor, clearly carved out while the tree itself had been hollowed out.

Bai Yuan went upstairs along the wooden staircase that was connected to the wall. The floor above was a wooden kitchen with a wood-burning stove.

However, because he regularly used spells to handle things, he did not have to worry about setting the entire tree ablaze while cooking.

Bai Yuan continued up the stairs. The third floor was a single bedroom with only a crude wooden bed.

The fourth and fifth floors, as well as the sixth and seventh floors beyond them, were much the same—so bare that they could not have been any simpler.

Yet the moment one stepped onto the seventh floor, they would find that the world had changed completely. Clearly still inside the tree, once upstairs, they would discover that they had entered a lake hundreds of meters in diameter.

The lake water was crystal clear, yet strangely, its bottom could not be seen. At the center of the lake was a Green Lotus, and there were no other living creatures besides it.

"Master, you're back."

The Green Lotus transformed into a White-Haired Little Girl, who rushed into Bai Yuan's arms in an instant. The surrounding lake vanished like a bubble, turning into another simple room like those below.

Bai Yuan caught Bai Yu and affectionately rubbed her little head. "Bai Yu, have you been cultivating properly lately?"

Bai Yu looked up at him with a smile. "Of course I have. Your disciple is already at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. But speaking of which, where are the junior brothers and Junior Sisters you promised to bring me? Why can't I sense their auras? Did you hide them somewhere, Master?"

Bai Yu lay across Bai Yuan's shoulder and looked downstairs, but she sensed nothing and saw no one.

Bai Yuan gave an awkward smile. "Bai Yu, your master did not take in any disciples this time. No one believed me."

Bai Yuan sighed. He truly did not know what else to say. Even when he demonstrated spells before ordinary people, they still believed he was a Soul Master who had merely concealed his Soul Rings through some special method.

Thus, no one was willing to Become his disciple. Those without Innate Soul Power called him a fraud and refused to Become disciples.

Those with Innate Soul Power thought Bai Yuan was insane. He was clearly a Soul Master, yet he insisted that he was a cultivator. So they, too, refused to Become his disciples.

Bai Yu wrapped her arms around Bai Yuan's neck and gently patted his back to comfort him. "Master, it's their loss that they refuse to Become your disciples. We don't need to care about them."

Bai Yuan held Bai Yu in his arms, turned back to look at the rooms downstairs, and sank into despair.

Six years ago, Bai Yuan had brought Bai Yu to the Star Dou Great Forest to evade Spirit Hall's search and Tang Hao's pursuit. Inside this tree, he had painstakingly made eight rooms.

He had thought that he would soon find new disciples and fill all those rooms. Yet eight years later, only Bai Yu and he still lived here.

Over those six years, perhaps because of cultivation, Bai Yuan's appearance had barely changed. Bai Yu was even more extreme—she still showed no signs of growing up.

It was as though, after Demon Beasts took human form, their appearances became permanently fixed at the age they transformed. Or perhaps a Demon Beast's Lifespan was simply too long, and six years was not enough for her to grow even a little.

This left Bai Yuan speechless. A perfectly good Mature Woman disciple had, because of one miscalculation, become a permanently little girl.

As for why Bai Yu had only advanced six levels of cultivation over the past six years, despite advancing three levels in a single night back then—

Aside from cultivation becoming slower the further one progressed, that one night, Bai Yu had converted the Soul Beast power she had accumulated over several hundred years into her own cultivation.

That was why she had advanced so many levels at once.

Now, advancing six levels in six years could only be attributed to the effects of the Humanoid Transformation Pill. After all, Demon Beasts could only take human form upon reaching the Golden Core Stage, and transforming early was equivalent to enjoying the benefits of the Golden Core Stage ahead of time.

Seeing Bai Yuan remain silent, Bai Yu suddenly said, "Master, since those humans don't know what's good for them, why don't you take in a few Soul Beast disciples instead~~?"

Bai Yuan said nothing.

Naturally, he had considered taking Soul Beasts as disciples.

But he no longer had a Current Most Needed Treasure Chest, and a Humanoid Transformation Pill cost ten thousand Master Virtue Points in the shop!

After six years of system missions, Bai Yuan had only just accumulated a little over twelve thousand Master Virtue Points.

If he exchanged them for a Humanoid Transformation Pill, then redeeming the cultivation technique he wanted would become a distant dream once more.

"Master, please take in another Soul Beast as your disciple! If you can't communicate with them, I can. Or you could just take Big Tree Sister as your disciple. She's wanted to Become your disciple for a very long time." Bai Yu acted coquettishly in Bai Yuan's arms.

After pondering for a moment, Bai Yuan asked, "You said your Big Tree Sister wants to Become my disciple?"

Bai Yu nodded. "Yes. She really wants to Become your disciple. After you left, she asked your disciple every day when you would return and whether she could Become your disciple."

Bai Yuan was slightly stunned. He had searched high and low through the human world, yet no one had been willing to Become his disciple. But Bai Yu had a Big Tree Sister who wanted to Become his disciple every day.

"Where is this Big Tree Sister you mentioned?"

Bai Yu said, "We're inside Big Tree Sister's body."

Bai Yuan:...

"I've basically cleaned it out. It doesn't hate me?" Bai Yuan asked.

Bai Yu froze for a moment. "Master, I'll ask it for you."

Bai Yuan fell into deep thought.

A few seconds later, Bai Yu said, "Big Tree Sister says it does hate us. At first, it wanted nothing more than to kill us, but because I awakened its Spiritual Intelligence, it doesn't hate us as much anymore. It says it wants Master to give it a chance."

Bai Yuan still did not answer.

Because he was worried that the tree was lying.

The Attribute Panel opened.

[Host: Bai Yuan]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Ninth Layer]

[Items: Foundation Establishment Pill Formula]

[Special: Beginner Alchemist, Beginner Artifact Refiner, Beginner Array Master, Beginner Talisman Master]

[Number of Disciples: 1]

[Bound Disciples: Bai Yu (Current Binding Limit: 1) (After binding a disciple, whenever that disciple advances, the host will also gain the same amount of cultivation.)]

[Master Virtue Points: 12300]

[Shop: Click to open]

[Current Task One: Refine a Foundation Establishment Pill. Reward: Intermediate Alchemist, 1,000 Master Virtue Points]

[Current Task Two: Accept three disciples (one already accepted). Reward: Current Most Needed Treasure Chest, 3,000 Master Virtue Points.]

[Current Task Three: Break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage. Reward: Bound Disciple Limit *2, 10,000 Master Virtue Points.]