The Student Dormitory

So Tu Lou was left to stay at the Yuling Courtyard to recover from his injuries, while Real Person took Zheng Zetian back to the mountain. Thanks to the combined influence of Senior Brother and Junior Brother Song, he was directly given a student dormitory room.

Of course, saying that they cut in line isn't quite right. The Tianyu Mountain student dormitory was originally a perk for newcomers, specifically designed to take care of new disciples like Zheng Zetian who had no family background and were traditionally selected (or kidnapped) from outside the mountain.

Moreover, Ink Bamboo Mountain has learned its lesson. After all, it's too damn damaging to have all of its disciples wiped out so easily. So, since the founding of Tianyu Mountain, they've focused on protecting newcomers, lest they die so quickly.

The student dormitories are built on the cliffs of Tianyu Mountain. The Plank Road is carved into the cliff face, forming stone chambers and caves, resembling a large cluster of beehives and swallow nests. These densely packed meditation rooms are said to be designed by a master imitating Yuntai Peak. The buildings are protected by magic arrays, and the buildings are guarded by a Nascent Soul Realm master. Public lectures on Daoism and scriptures are held every day.

In addition to the spirit-gathering array and the Qi Refinement Stage furnace, the sect provides cultivation materials to ensure a constant flow of spiritual energy throughout the dormitory building, providing a cultivation experience comparable to Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land. There are also shared, free Spirit Pool and medicinal fields, training grounds, libraries, canteens, and even mechanical attendants providing delivery and cleaning services.

The disciples living here only need to focus on their cultivation without any distractions. Their meals and other necessities are delivered to their door, so they don't have to worry about being disturbed by the outside world.

Moreover, this place is truly free. As long as you are a disciple who entered the sect with the Daoist certificate of Ink Bamboo Mountain, was properly brought back by your master (not a place donated by your family), and passed the Tianyu Mountain Inner Sect entrance exam, you are eligible to apply for dormitory accommodation. Before passing the Xuanmen unified advanced exam and reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, you can move in for free and live and cultivate in the dormitory.

Of course, in reality, most disciples who have survived the tribulation and condensed their Golden Core will travel Fourth Department to train after earning their first pot of gold by doing missions, and choose a place in the Ten-thousand-mountains to open their own cave dwelling. However, the dormitory building is still overcrowded, and normally you have to queue up to apply.

There are many main reasons. For example, the children of the Cultivation Family would rather spend money to buy a house in a good school district, closer to the Tianyu Mountain campus. Moreover, those from such aristocratic families understand the importance of connections and want to make friends with other disciples early on, which is also a way to find help for their families. Therefore, the Outer Sect Disciple who are selected through the virtuous path in Lou Guan City will apply for student dormitories as soon as they pass the Inner Sect entrance exam, and some will even spend money to buy a spot.

The international students from the Xuanmen sect especially loved this kind of place where they could stay home and cultivate all the time...

Moreover, there are quite a few Xuanmen disciples who come to Tianyu Mountain to study. The cultivation of Xuanmen Cultivation Method is slow. Before they can receive the true teachings, the Outer Sect Disciple are busy with studying and taking exams, and they have almost no ability to protect themselves. The Divine Sect can kill people without batting an eye. If a Blood God Child were to infiltrate the sect, the entire sect of disciples could be turned into blood.

Therefore, after the study abroad service was launched, not only the disciples and successors of various mountains came to take advantage of the spots, but also many nephews and nieces of others came to join tour groups to Tianyu Mountain.

The various sects of the Xuanmen have limited space in their branch academies on Tianyu Mountain. Priority is given to providing cave dwellings to the disciples selected by the sects. Therefore, such student dormitories perfectly meet the expectations of Xuanmen students studying abroad. After all, Xuanmen students also need to cultivate the Five Arts. They can easily get stuck in the Golden Core Realm for two hundred years. Tianyu Mountain actually provides room and board? It would be a fool not to take advantage of such a good deal!

Even if all the dormitories were built like beehives, it still wouldn't be enough. Those with some money could buy a secluded island Immortal Palace to live in, while those without much money had to live even further away. Some rented long-term rooms on boats or in guesthouses by the lake, and some even lived as far away as Daoguo Mountain, 500 miles away.

"This is your room now. Keep the sign safe. When you leave, you can ask the Mechanical Puppet to clean it for you. You will receive three Spirit Qi Pills every week for cultivation. If you are cultivating basic Dao Qi such as Tai Chi Five Qi, you can specify the type. If it is special Spirit Qi, you will need to apply to the sect to refine it and then wait in line."

Of course, if three pills are not enough, you can exchange them at the sect or cultivate in the public alchemy room or the spiritual energy blessed land on the mountain. The public alchemy room changes spiritual energy pills every three days, and the nearby spiritual springs only have Taiji Five Qi, so pay attention to the time and type.

In addition, every night, the Spirit Pool offers Daoist Elixir Baths for body tempering, but I've heard that some people secretly drink the elixir, so it's best to go early, as there won't be much left if you go too late. The canteen also serves celestial cuisine, but it's mostly vegetarian dishes and porridge, and the taste is bland. I recommend you dine at the vegetarian restaurants at the foot of the mountain; some of the best celestial cuisine restaurants from Lou Guan City have moved there. It's also a good place to make friends with fellow Daoists and broaden your horizons.

As for Moon Worship, Tianyu Mountain is primarily a place for cultivating the Xuanmen Immortal Path, and many novice disciples who haven't reached the True Person realm find it inconvenient to Moon Worship here, as the sky is obscured. However, if you fly a hundred miles outside the waters, there are Revered Heavenly Demon temples on the shore where you can cultivate, so they are easy to find.

Lou Guan Branch is located on the mountaintop. If you encounter any trouble, such as not being able to find your dormitory, just come and find me."

"Thank you for your guidance, Master."

Real Person patted Zheng Zetian on the shoulder and encouraged him to work hard and live up to the expectations of his sect. Then he flew away on a cloud.

Zheng Zetian stood on the Plank Road, watching Real Person fly away, and then gazing at the lake in the distance. He saw many large golden carp passing by in the water below, the school of fish resembling a golden dragon encircling the immortal mountain. In the distance, clouds and mist swirled, and he could vaguely see shimmering, colorful lights and dazzling illusions in the depths of the lake. These were the lakeside fairy houses formed by merchant ships not far from Tianyu Mountain. For a moment, he felt as if he were in a dream.

Is this his new home...?

Zheng Zetian took a deep breath, turned around, and looked at the cave carved into the rock wall. The sign read 'Liu'. He glanced around and saw that the surrounding caves also had the character 'Liu' on them. They looked completely indistinguishable, which made him frown.

Then he took out the plaque that Real Person had given him earlier and looked at it. He saw that on the ordinary wooden plaque, one side was engraved with "Quail Fire" and the other side with "Destiny".

"Mysterious Flying Stars..."

Good heavens... Is this tycoon just bored? One, two, three, four, five isn't enough for you, why do you have to use the Zhou Tian Xing Zi (a system of celestial constellations) to assign dormitories to the kids? Is he afraid they won't be able to find their way home?

But thinking about it, it makes sense. If they can't even find their own dorm rooms, how would outsiders possibly assassinate a student?

Zheng Zetian shook his head and pushed open the door to enter the cave dwelling dormitory carved into the rock wall.

Although the dormitory wasn't large, just three bedrooms and a living room, it was quite clean. The walls seemed to have been carved out by Sword Light, smooth and flawless. The floors and walls were also decorated, and there was even Spiritual Spring from the earth's veins that could be easily accessed. The desks and chairs were also spotless. Compared to the standards of those rogue cultivators in the Central Plains who would find a cave in a mountain ravine and hibernate with bears, it was really quite good. They could easily seclude themselves for hundreds of years and live there until the end of time.

Zheng Zetian wasted no time and immediately began cultivating. He put the three pills into the alchemy furnace to steam and Qi Refinement Stage, breathing in and out Qi. In the blink of an eye, he had completely refined the Azure Sky Dao Breath into a week's worth of Spirit Qi Pills in the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn!

This was certainly due to Zheng Zetian's own aptitude and comprehension, as well as the fact that the Azure Haze Azure Sky Heaven Origin Technique was simple and easy to learn, allowing him to cultivate at a speed a hundred times faster than ordinary people. Zheng Zetian also clearly felt that the Flesh Scorpion on his back did indeed have an auxiliary effect on cultivation.

Especially when he was in deep meditation, he could clearly feel the Flesh Scorpion being activated, injecting some kind of hormone into his spinal meridians, which greatly enhanced his perception and spiritual awareness. What should have been only half an incense stick's time felt like an hour to him! Moreover, it wasn't just that time seemed to slow down; the speed of his breathing Qi Refinement Stage had indeed increased! It was clear that time wasn't actually slowing down, but rather that his own reaction and perception speed had increased four or five times!

Zheng Zetian was also astonished. The system the Grandmaster had devised was quite impressive. He had originally estimated that it would take about a year to reach the Golden Core stage, but now with various sects providing resources and equipment to accelerate his progress, it seemed he could form his core in two or three months. Even breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm probably wouldn't take much time. This was simply too outrageous...

Zheng Zetian examined his meridians Qi Sea again, but found no hidden dangers. So he left the dormitory and flew to the spiritual land on the mountain to continue his cultivation.

What's even more convenient is that with his Heavenly Origin Technique, he only needs to collect Purple Radiance Qi, which can be collected from any medicinal field or forest. With his talent for Qi Refinement Stage and the acceleration of the Flesh Scorpion System, Zheng Zetian doesn't need to buy expensive Nine-Turn Pills to assist him. He can directly collect the spiritual energy of heaven and earth like an old-timer cultivator and just absorb it.

However, Zheng Zetian soon discovered the drawbacks of this method of cultivation.

Damaging the environment.

It's true, if you gather Qi too quickly and too aggressively, the plants and herbs in the spiritual fields will wither and die, their roots and stems will rot. If it were a spiritual field in the wild, it wouldn't matter, but these medicinal fields on the mountain belong to the sect. Gathering Qi too aggressively will ruin the sect's harvest.

Furthermore, after activating the system, although the speed of neural perception increases, the body cannot keep up with the speed of consciousness. This is not obvious when meditating and breathing, but when moving or walking, it feels as if one is crawling like a snail on ice. If one forces oneself to accelerate, it may strain muscles or sprain tendons. The system is good, but is physical training still necessary to unleash its full potential...?

Besides this, there are some additional problems, such as fellow disciples frequently going to the spirit field forest for dual cultivation...

Well, how should I put it? After all, the Yuling Courtyard is here. Let's be reasonable. Dual cultivation is a righteous path. You, the Grand Master, can strictly forbid those Spirit Race from eating people, but can you castrate them and prohibit dual cultivation? That would be too unreasonable...

Besides, these Spirit Race are used to sleeping under the open sky and on the ground. With housing so scarce on Tianyu Mountain and inns so expensive, they just hide in the bushes...

As a result, Zheng Zetian's cultivation was interrupted several times by various intense, continuous battle chants. Cough cough, it wasn't that he lacked willpower, but rather that these people's dual cultivation was making too much noise.

No one knows where that Yuling Godly Monarch came from, this prodigy who actually improved the Dual Cultivation Technique. Not only did he alleviate many of the past drawbacks and eliminate the risk of being used as a vessel for sexual exploitation, but he also greatly enhanced its effects. As a result, during battle, the pores of both warriors would emit rich Yin and Yang energies, causing the mountains and forests to be shrouded in mist and everyone to be drenched in sweat. Moreover, it seemed that there was an amplification effect when multiple people cultivated and sparred together. Therefore, attracted by the battle cry, more and more people joined the battle to cultivate, endlessly, to the point that the Purple Radiance spiritual energy of the entire mountain forest was polluted and seriously affected his cultivation efficiency!

The Scorpion System then complained, saying that Yin and Yang are mutually generative, the mother of creation, and that the Spirit Race Clan's dual cultivation in the grove is part of the ecological balance. To some extent, it is like watering and fertilizing, promoting the growth of various spiritual fruits and vegetables. Compared to the Heavenly Origin Immortal Technique, which collects spiritual energy and affects the environment, this dual cultivation method is the right way to promote the growth and reproduction of all things in heaven and earth!

Ugh, so annoying...

Zheng Zetian was speechless. Back in the Central Plains, he could occupy a mountain and cultivate there by himself, enjoying the peace and quiet. There were no other people competing for his territory. What was wrong with his thinking? Why were there so many cultivators? It was really annoying...

Finally, Zheng Zetian circled the mountain several times and changed locations a few times, but in the end, everywhere was overcrowded, and he really couldn't find a quiet place to cultivate. There was nothing he could do but wait until his Tu Lou disease was cured in a couple of days, and then fly to the outside of Tianyu Mountain to find a place for quiet cultivation.

When morning came and he returned to his dormitory for his morning prayers, Zheng Zetian found a brocade box in the front hall. It was actually a reward for his assistance to the Discipline Institute.

The reward is a candle.

Zheng Zetian immediately understood: the Grand Master missed him because he hadn't Moon Worship last night.

So they set up a shrine, lit candles, and the sky instantly darkened. Li Fan's shadow rose up, and he immediately asked...

"Fellow Daoist, won't you come and have some fruit?"

Zheng Zetian shook his head, "In the end, it's just dying and starting over. There's no point in eating so much. Besides, I still want to try. Maybe there's still a chance to save Master."

Li Fan nodded and said, "Fellow Daoist is indeed a man of great loyalty and righteousness. No wonder so many people were willing to betray their sects, abandon their masters and friends to follow you."

"Alright, we can experiment to see how long the rollback power lasts. However, according to my calculations, the rules may be affected every time the lunar phase changes. Therefore, before the next full moon, it would be best if you updated your save file in the Empty Star to avoid our experiment being in vain."

Zheng Zetian looked at him and said, "Does the Grandmaster see this as an experiment? Not just me, but your sect, your disciples, are all just your experimental subjects?"

Li Fan laughed, "You want me to lend a hand and help Song Dayou change his fate? I won't refuse, but I won't do it voluntarily either, because the current outcome is good enough, and his life is indeed not as important as yours. Or to put it bluntly, Song Dayou was originally someone I was prepared to die for you, not the other way around."

Zheng Zetian frowned.

Li Fan spread his hands and used his shadow to create an illusion in the room. Zheng Zetian recognized it as a railway track for a locomotive. The shadow transformed into two railway tracks. Many people were standing on one track, while only one person was on the other track. It seemed to be Song Dayou's shadow.

"We have a classic train problem, my friend. If I do nothing, the train will kill many people. But if I pull the switch and change the track, I can sacrifice one person to save everyone."

There is no right or wrong answer; choices vary from person to person. But as a leader, I would definitely choose to sacrifice a minority to save the majority. At least, it aligns with my own definition of the majority who are worth saving."

Li Fan gestured with his index finger.

"It's a pity that people are not born equal. Back then, they schemed and plotted, spending the lives of Three Great Sects to stop you from defying the heavens. This shows that your value is heavier than Mount Tai, heavier than all those who died in the Luo Sect Rebellion."

Unlike the Three Great Sects, we of Moshan do not seek the illusory pursuit of immortality, but rather the righteous death, sacrificing ourselves for the greater good without hesitation, for only then can our lives be considered valuable.

Song Dayou is a qualified disciple of Moshan. When I needed his life, he lent it to me without hesitation. So all I can do is to win at all costs. Only the final victory will not be in vain for him and the sacrifices made by generations of Moshan disciples.

Fellow Daoist, I will certainly not stop you from saving people. I also want to see if you truly have the ability to defy fate. However, I hope you understand that once is acceptable, twice is acceptable, but three times is not. I have already observed the ripples caused by the continuous save and reload in the Dirac Sea. I'm sure that if the company investigates seriously, they will find out.

Fellow Daoist, you must understand that what we are doing has far-reaching implications, and the enemy we are facing is far too powerful. This fruit may be our only trump card to turn the tide. It is inevitable that we are in the experimental stage now, but the risk of repeated rollbacks on the membrane leading to the company discovering the experiment is something we cannot afford.

I'll say it again, we can't afford to lose even once.

Zheng Zetian nodded, "Alright, in that case, as the Grand Master said, I will only try one last time."

But before that, you have to tell me the details of those demonic scoundrels. I need to know at least who my opponents are."

Li Fan didn't object, "That's true, knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle. However, it's better to let them tell you themselves."

The company has planted many infiltrators in Tianyu Mountain. They recruit spies from among the new recruits, selecting the most qualified to infiltrate my inner circle. That's why they've specially installed biological surveillance on you. They'll probably contact you to recruit you soon.

Ah, this company is quite interesting, though. They seem to really like giving people "Dao Companion" (a type of romantic partner). Amao has collected a dozen of all sorts, but Xiao Jiu, that stubborn girl, won't take a single one. If you ask me, fellow Daoist, just take whatever you like. The boobs are quite large, cough cough...

Of course, if you're in a hurry, there's a pleasure boat at the foot of Tianyu Mountain that's the company's spy hideout. But if you go to investigate, be careful. Don't lose your vital essence before forming your core, or it will affect your cultivation. These demons specialize in collecting the original genes of my Ink Bamboo Mountain disciples, and when they find an opportunity, they kill the original and replace them with clones. They're vicious and wicked."

Zheng Zetian narrowed his eyes and glanced at him, "The tycoon is incredibly perceptive. Could it be that having the company recruit me is also part of an experiment?"

So Li Juzi shrugged and said, "Of course, it's only polite to reciprocate."

"It's alright. Last time you managed to survive right under their noses until you ascended to immortality. I believe you'll be fine!"