When Chen Youjia returned home, the room was only faintly lit. She thought Wang Qi was not there—the teachers' accommodations were far better than those for exchange students, so naturally she had chosen to stay here—and pushed the door open.
Then, she was blocked by a dense net.
Looking closely, it was a three-dimensional net. Every node was a tiny sphere, while countless fine black lines linked the nodes together. Those black lines were taut, forming precise structural components. And those structures were constantly changing.
At the center of that dense three-dimensional web, Wang Qi was leisurely flipping through a book. Every few pages he turned, his fingers would wave twice through the air, and the structure of the black mesh would shift accordingly.
The faint spiritual glow emanating from his hand lit the room. That bit of light was even weaker than the dim polar sunlight outside, which was why Chen Youjia had thought no one was inside.
"What are you doing?" Chen Youjia frowned prettily and took half a step back.
If this net was some problem Wang Qi was working out, then she should not touch it.
Only then did Wang Qi realize Chen Youjia had arrived. He ordered, "Jarvis, store the structure." A few seconds later, the black network collapsed with a crash, turning into fluid that gathered into several black streams as thick as fingers and flowed into Wang Qi's clothes.
"Today, I ran into a Burning Gold Valley cultivator willing to cooperate." Wang Qi was delighted. "Though the cooperation will not last long, I can definitely finish the initial stage."
"That master is pitiful too, taking in a scourge like you." Chen Youjia spoke in utmost seriousness. "Don't go developing any bizarre poisons."
The last time Wang Qi had joined an empirical department was