Backlash from Spiritual Power

Li Mo stopped, spread his arms, and felt the continuous drizzle.

"Thunderstorm season is almost here again."

Based on past experience, the more focused he was on researching something during the day, and the more it was summer thunderstorm weather, the greater his chances of entering the Mystic Dream.

Depending on what he was studying, he would trigger different situations after entering the Mystic Dream.

He seemed to be gradually adapting to the Mystic Dream.

For example, at the beginning, Li Mo studied various medical texts and medicinal materials every day. Thus, after entering the Mystic Dream, he merely wandered about in a daze, instinctively acquiring knowledge of the medicinal materials along the way.

Afterward, he began studying the Three-Way Swordplay. Once he entered the Mystic Dream, he gained his reason, while his body and shadow switched places, allowing him to rapidly accumulate swordplay experience.

So now that he had begun studying the Eye of True Spirit cultivation method, what would happen after he entered the Mystic Dream?

Over the next few days, Li Mo still failed to enter the Mystic Dream as he wished.

Fortunately, he had not encountered any major setbacks in his cultivation, so he was not anxious and continued waiting in silence.

Elsewhere.

After his confession failed that day, Shi Yazhou acted as though nothing had happened.

He was like a warrior who could never be defeated. He had completely cast off his psychological restraints, and whenever he got the chance, he would try to approach Zhao Huaxue and ceaselessly proclaim his adoration, making everyone's scalp prickle.

"Huaxue, I truly like you. From the first day I saw you, I haven't been able to forget you. My head is filled with thoughts of you. Whenever I close my eyes at night, I dream of you..."

Li Mo and Lu Tianyou, who were watching the spectacle from the side, did their best to pretend they had seen nothing and held back their laughter, but they could not stop goosebumps from rising all over their bodies.

Zhao Huaxue had clearly never experienced a scene like this.

After repeatedly warning him to no avail over the past few days, Zhao Huaxue's hesitation and astonishment in the face of Shi Yazhou's incessant harassment had completely transformed into anger.

"I will never be with an unremarkable nobody. Give up!"

With that, she left the classroom.

Shi Yazhou had once again been rejected by Zhao Huaxue in front of everyone, but this did not dampen his enthusiasm. Instead, his eyes lit up.

"Huaxue, I'll show you another side of me!"

The class did not have only people like Lu Tianyou and Li Mo watching the show. There were also murderous-looking fellows such as Zhou Zheng and Yang Zhiman, who were glaring gloomily at Shi Yazhou, while Zhang Guoyin, already in his sixties, shook his head and sighed.

Yang Zhiman could no longer contain the anger in his heart.

"As the ancients said, 'families should be evenly matched, and a talented man should be paired with a beautiful woman.' I say, you really have no self-awareness at all!"

He strode up to Shi Yazhou.

"Today, in front of everyone, I, Mr. Yang, am putting this out there: if you dare harass Zhao Huaxue again, you and I will be sworn enemies!"

He then left the classroom, fuming.

Lu Tianyou fought back an impulse to burst out laughing and whispered to Li Mo, "You're really good at coming up with nicknames. That Scholar Yang is just too fitting. Did you hear him? He even called himself 'Mr. Yang' and said they'd be sworn enemies. Hahaha!"

He vividly imitated Yang Zhiman's words.

Li Mo could not help laughing and dragged him out of the classroom.

That night.

Li Mo finally entered the Mystic Dream.

It was still the boundless, desolate earth, exuding an ancient and lonely aura. After looking around, Li Mo, in shadow form, discovered that there seemed to be no changes here, which left him somewhat puzzled.

Fortunately, Li Mo soon discovered that there truly was a great deal of spiritual energy between heaven and earth here.

The dense spiritual clouds in the sky were especially astonishing. They were actually spiritual energy as well, already so concentrated that the seemingly endless dark clouds appeared to be surging and rolling, with enormous shadows occasionally sweeping across their surface.

Li Mo had already grown accustomed to all this.

He then walked into the distance for a while. After confirming that there were no other abnormalities, he sat down on the ground.

He actually intended to try breathing in spiritual energy and cultivating in the Mystic Dream.

Sitting cross-legged, Li Mo held his breath and focused his mind. Following the circulation method of the Eye of True Spirit, he guided the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his meridians.

Compared to reality, where he needed about the time it took to drink a cup of tea to calm his mind, he entered a state of breathing and cultivation almost instantly. Spiritual energy from all directions surged toward Li Mo as though it had found an outlet, making him involuntarily let out a blissful sound.

Li Mo felt that his entire body was in a state of intense excitement.

Although the Li Mo in the Mystic Dream possessed reason, it was merely the reason of a dream. He remained in a state of dream-sleep.

After completing one cycle of the Lesser Celestial Circuit, he compared his cultivation results with reality.

Li Mo discovered that compared to usual, the efficiency with which the Lesser Celestial Circuit converted spiritual energy into spiritual power was at least twice as fast. Pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth continuously poured into his body, forming a small cycle before transforming into wisps of spiritual power that gathered in his Dantian.

At his current rate of spiritual-power growth, he could probably match the speed of circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit in the outside world.

At that moment.

Li Mo suddenly thought of a problem.

If he circulated the Greater Celestial Circuit here, wouldn't the efficiency of converting spiritual energy into spiritual power increase considerably again?

Li Mo's rationality was clearly weakened in the Mystic Dream. Although he could logically judge everything here, he was still merely in a state of dream-sleep.

The instant this thought appeared, he impatiently tried it.

Spiritual energy from every direction continuously poured into his body. This time, however, it traveled once through the Twelve Standard Meridians, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and the meridians in his limbs, allowing even the peripheral corners of his body to receive comprehensive nourishment from the spiritual energy before it finally transformed into spiritual power.

This was Li Mo's first time circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit!

Just as Uncle Ding Wei had said, the rate at which spiritual power was converted was clearly faster by a large margin. Li Mo immediately reveled in it, unable to stop, as the spiritual power in his Dantian grew more and more abundant.

This spiritual power would gradually dissipate on its own.

All Li Mo had to do next was accumulate a certain amount of this spiritual power before it naturally evaporated, forming the so-called spiritual-power vortex and stabilizing the spiritual power completely. Then he would reach the so-called first level of Qi Refining.

"Li Mo, get up!"

After who knew how long, Li Mo, still immersed in circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit, faintly heard Lu Tianyou calling him.

He jolted violently and remembered the grave consequences of suffering spiritual-power backlash. He instantly opened his eyes, undisguisable panic showing in his gaze.

At the same time.

Raspy roars and soul-rending beast howls once again rang out from the Mystic Dream. Countless pieces of geographic information seemed to surge in like a flood, trying to pour into Li Mo's mind.

Fortunately, Li Mo had gradually grown accustomed to all this.

He endured the pain and opened his eyes to see that Lu Tianyou had already put on his crane cloak. With his back to Li Mo, he faced the bronze mirror and arranged his makeup.

After waking up, Li Mo sat on the bed and checked his physical condition. He found that the spiritual power in his Dantian had clearly grown denser, with no other abnormalities. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

After washing up, Lu Tianyou noticed that something was wrong with Li Mo.

"Why do you look so awful?"

Hearing this, Li Mo concealed it with a sigh and hurriedly got up to wash and dress.

"I had a nightmare last night."

At this, Lu Tianyou seemed to think of something.

"Did you dream of Xiao Man?"

"Mm."

Li Mo did not want to explain too much. After Lu Tianyou sighed, he patted Li Mo on the shoulder.

"I'll give you an idea. Three years from now, after you complete the graduation assessment, choose to serve in the Special Service Hall of the Outer Sect. Once you have the identity of an inspector from the Heaven's Mandate Bureau, you'll be able to take revenge openly and honorably."

Li Mo nodded.

After washing up, he headed to the classroom with Lu Tianyou.

Generally speaking, the students would wait in the classroom ahead of time. During that interval, familiar classmates would gather together and chat, so the classroom was usually noisy and bustling, filled with twittering chatter like a morning market.

After entering the classroom, Lu Tianyou parted from Li Mo and went to Hu Tian'er's side.

Wang Feng waved Li Mo over, and the two of them sat facing Zhu Yidan and Zhao Xiaonan.

"Did you hear? Tao Ran took a few people to find Shi Yazhou last night."

"What?"

Zhu Yidan and Zhao Xiaonan cried out in alarm.

Li Mo was also shocked and somewhat curious.

"What happened next?"

"Who knows? I only found out after I ran into Shi Yongjie yesterday. He said Shi Yazhou had been cornered in his room. It looks like Tao Ran must have some interest in Zhao Huaxue, otherwise why would he stand up for her?"

Hearing this, Zhu Yidan could not help sticking out her tongue.

She secretly glanced toward Zhao Huaxue.

"Zhou Zheng and Zhao Huaxue in our class are both considered prominent figures in the Enlightenment Hall."

Li Mo shrugged. "That's normal. After all, everyone in our class came from Anle City, the provincial capital. By the way, do you know about Zhao Huaxue's background?"

The three of them shook their heads.

As the four chatted back and forth, Shi Yongjie suddenly ran in from outside. He leaned against the classroom doorway, his face filled with terror.

"Shi Yazhou... He seems to be dead!"

After a brief silence, the previously lively classroom erupted again.

Everyone crowded around and questioned Shi Yongjie about the details.

Shi Yongjie looked about eighteen or nineteen years old. He had two small mustaches, and his appearance made him seem more mature than many people in the class. He led everyone toward the dormitory room he shared with Shi Yazhou.

Shi Yazhou really was dead.

Li Mo could not squeeze into the room, so he could only rise onto his tiptoes and take a distant look from outside the door. He vaguely saw Shi Yazhou lying on the bed, his eyes rolled back, his tongue hanging far out, and blood flowing from all seven orifices. He seemed to have suffered immense agony before his death.

Several disciples from the Law Enforcement Hall arrived after hearing the news and drove everyone away.

Li Mo, Wang Feng, Zhu Yidan, and Zhao Xiaonan gathered together again, discussing the matter animatedly as they returned to the classroom.

The classroom was filled with discussions about Shi Yazhou.

After a while, Li Mo returned to his own meditation mat. Lu Tianyou, that bigmouth, came over and let out a gloating sigh.

"Yesterday, he said he'd show us another side of him. Who would've thought it would be this side? Sigh, what a pity. With that clown gone from the class, we'll have so much less to talk about from now on."

Li Mo sighed, looking helpless.

"He's already dead. Say a little less."

Lu Tianyou shrugged.

"Do you think someone in our class did it? Maybe that person also likes Zhao Huaxue and secretly killed him at night?"

Li Mo's expression changed when he heard this.

By his own estimation, without disturbing his roommate Shi Yongjie, he would have had at most a thirty percent chance of silently strangling Shi Yazhou to death.

Could someone in the class have already mastered profound spells or possessed a magical artifact?

Fortunately, Ding Wei entered the classroom at that moment.

He looked coldly at everyone.

"I've just completed the autopsy with the people from the Law Enforcement Hall. We confirmed that Shi Yazhou suffered an accident while circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit last night and died from spiritual-power backlash."

At this, he snorted coldly.

"I've repeatedly warned you these past few days that when circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit, you must be in an absolutely safe environment. Throughout history, how many heroes, great figures, geniuses, and outstanding talents have died while circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit? Without the protection of a concealed, secure cave dwelling, recklessly circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit is courting death. He actually treated my words as wind passing by his ears. He brought this upon himself and deserved to die!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

Many people looked toward Zhao Huaxue, guessing that Shi Yazhou had risked circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit in his dormitory to prove himself to her.

Hearing this, Li Mo could not help feeling a lingering chill.

If he had not circulated the Greater Celestial Circuit in the Mystic Dream last night, and if the Mystic Dream had not been free from the consequences of spiritual-power backlash caused by interference from reality, then this morning there might have been more than just Shi Yazhou's corpse.

He and Shi Yazhou would both have become the kind of people Uncle Ding Wei called deserving of their fate and worthy of death.

"It seems that circulating the Greater Celestial Circuit in the Mystic Dream won't result in spiritual-power backlash from interruption midway. I really did escape death by a hair."

Li Mo tried his best to appear normal.