Thirty Unfinished, Chen An Exits First

Zhu Zhuqing sat cross-legged and began to execute the Nine Nether Profound Technique.

She continuously absorbed spiritual energy, converting it into soul power. As the Nine Nether Profound Technique circulated, Zhu Zhuqing entered a profound and mysterious state.

This situation was related to her cultivation method; the Nine Nether Profound Technique shared some similarities with the God-Elephant Suppression Prison Force.

Both advocated that the body was composed of particles, though this particular set was far more esoteric and miraculous.

Compared to the God-Elephant, the Nine Nether Profound Technique seemed even less like something a human could cultivate, as it was originally intended for the Nether Witch Clan.

They were naturally more sensitive to spiritual energy and nether energy.

"Guide the spirit with qi, let the profound spirit enter the meridians. As the nether rises and falls, new life is born."

The Nine Nether Profound Technique was much gentler than the God-Elephant. While in that mysterious state, Zhu Zhuqing's soul power rose rapidly, yet it was also being suppressed just as fiercely.

This was something she had learned from observing Luo Xiaoshi's advancement, and it was beneficial to both the quality and total volume of her soul power.

"First cycle, second cycle..."

It was clear that Zhu Zhuqing would require quite some time here.

Meanwhile, Chen An had already emerged from his seclusion.

Waking up within the secret realm, Chen An chose not to leave immediately, as he wanted to gauge his own strength.

It could be considered a form of caution.

"Phew, level 93. Did I reach this level just by breaking through? Not bad."

Once the level 90 bottleneck was shattered, the only remaining hurdle was level 100.

The levels in between were only subject to normal restrictions, so after absorbing the God-Condensed Soul Ring forged from the origin, reaching level 93 was a natural progression.

"I doubt anyone can surpass this set of soul rings I possess."

Thinking this, he summoned his martial soul and displayed his soul rings to admire them.

The ninth soul ring was also red, matching the color of the eight preceding it.

However, his soul rings could not be compared to standard hundred-thousand-year rings, for even among hundred-thousand-year rings, there were gaps.

Moreover, his rings were even more crimson than before, with their age rapidly approaching the million-year mark.

As the saying goes, one hundred yuan is a hundred, and nine hundred ninety-nine yuan is also a hundred.

"All nine soul skills are focused on self-enhancement, and with Mastery of All Weapons further refined, not bad, not bad at all."

Chen An was very satisfied with this result; the only slight pity was that he hadn't reached the million-year mark.

However, a moment's thought revealed the reason: that million-year threshold likely couldn't be reached until after level 100.

Therefore, this tiny bit of regret was not really regret at all—it was merely the manifestation of greed.

After stepping out of the secret realm, he felt a bit surprised.

"Huh? Does my breakthrough affect the academy?"

As soon as he came out, he felt the spiritual energy becoming dense. There was no other possibility; it could only have been caused by him.

Before building the school, he had scavenged all the heavenly treasures within a few kilometers, so the idea of a spiritual energy resurgence was even less likely.

At his level, he would have inevitably sensed that in advance.

As for whether someone had helped, he considered the factions capable of such a feat, but none could have completed this project in just a few days without a sound.

"It seems that is the case."

With the answer in his heart, he stopped dwelling on the question, and his mind immediately turned to his few rebellious disciples.

He especially recalled that he hadn't taken Ning Rongrong to the Technique Pavilion yet, nor had he taught her any martial arts; it was truly a lapse in judgment and a dereliction of duty.

He felt a bit guilty himself.

"Sigh, let's go check on the rebellious disciples first."

People are just like that; in the beginning, they call others 'sweetheart,' but as time passes, they start calling them 'Madam Niu.'

Having made up his mind, Chen An decided to first check on his chief rebellious disciple, Zhu Zhuqing, who spent every day thinking of ways to scheme against her master and make him do all the work.

"Eh, can't find her? That silly girl, nothing bad happened to her, right?"

At this, Chen An released his divine sense, scanning the entire academy, and managed to locate Little Stone and Ning Rongrong.

They were both practicing, but he couldn't find Zhu Zhuqing.

However, thinking of the girl's cleverness and the protective talisman he had given her, and seeing that the academy was fine, he felt much more at ease.

"Then I shall wait."

He returned to his office to rest; breaking through was quite exhausting, after all.

In the end, he didn't sit still for long before heading out again; perhaps having taken on disciples and recruited students had shifted his mindset.

"Heh."

On the training grounds, the students were all practicing diligently.

Most of them were practicing basic skills, an arrangement Chen An had made based on the initial training performances of Luo Xiaoshi and Zhu Zhuqing.

There were also those with a better foundation practicing their moves, though they were all training in the Arhat Golden Body.

Chen An passed by them and walked straight toward Luo Xiaoshi, who was drilling the Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff. A close look made him frown; he felt something was off within Little Stone's body.

After calculating in his mind, his brow smoothed out, and he continued to watch Luo Xiaoshi practice.

After watching a few more moves, his brow furrowed once again, and he spoke up.

"Little Stone, this move is lacking. Raise the staff three parts higher and change the sweeping motion into a thrust."

The martial art of the Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff had been practiced by Luo Xiaoshi to the verge of perfection, missing only a hair's breadth from a breakthrough.

Upon hearing this guidance, Luo Xiaoshi subconsciously followed the instruction. After changing the move and delivering a single strike, the wooden dummy was pierced through, the staff embedding itself deep within.

"Hoo, hoo."

Exerting his staff intent with his entire being left him somewhat overwhelmed at this moment.

But Chen An was very satisfied, for Little Stone's staff intent had improved by a few points, and his Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff had reached the realm of perfection.

Only after resting for a few breaths did he notice Chen An's presence.

"Teacher, you've come out of seclusion."

As Luo Xiaoshi exclaimed, Ning Rongrong also walked over.

She had noticed Chen An quite a while ago, but seeing him giving guidance, she had held back from coming over to disturb him. Once the instruction finished, she immediately approached.

"Greetings, Master."

"Good girl."

Seeing how well-behaved Ning Rongrong was, he suddenly felt dissatisfied with Little Stone; he wasn't steady at all, and his startled shouting made it seem as if he hadn't expected Chen An to emerge from seclusion.

"Right, where is your Senior Sister? Why can't I find her?"

Chen An was still concerned about this matter, and upon hearing it, Luo Xiaoshi answered truthfully.

"Senior Sister went to the Cultivation Room, saying she wanted to break through to level 30."

At this, Ning Rongrong added.

"That's right, Master, but Senior Sister went to the Cultivation Room yesterday. She hasn't come out for a whole day, and I'm a bit worried."

Upon learning it was the Cultivation Room, Chen An immediately understood. This was a story of his own heavy-handedness; to prevent interference from things like divine sense, he had set the protection level of the Cultivation Room extremely high, never expecting that he had guarded against himself as well.

Now, unless he used violent investigative methods, he truly couldn't detect what was happening inside.

"Since you're worried, why don't we go take a look together?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Ning Rongrong was overjoyed, as that was exactly what she had in mind.

Seeing Ning Rongrong like this, Chen An was pleased and turned his gaze toward Luo Xiaoshi, seemingly asking, "And you?"

Luo Xiaoshi was silent for a moment before immediately saying.

"I'll go too."

Chen An nodded, having already formed a judgment in his heart.

Arriving at the Cultivation Room area, there were quite a few rooms open, about a dozen or so. These were basically for students nearing level 20; as for someone like Zhuqing, she was the only one in the entire academy.

Chen An didn't even need to investigate to know that Zhuqing was not in the outer circle, because the spiritual energy they absorbed was weak and slow.

Furthermore, the spiritual energy here was all being drawn toward the deeper rooms.

Walking further inside, he could basically determine the location of his target.

"It seems the situation is still stable."