Ten-Thousand-Year Second Ring, Heavenly Heart Lotus! Ning Rongrong Knocks on the Door Late at Night?

Ning Rongrong stood where she was, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly.

She had always been praised as exceptionally gifted in her sect. Bone Grandpa and Sword Grandpa had both said she was a rare genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, one seen only once in a century!

Yet every word Gu Qing said was understandable on its own, but strung together, they left her mind struggling to keep up.

What Soul Power vortex? What internal circulation? Why had she never considered such things before?

"I..."

Ning Rongrong held it in for a long while before finally managing to say, "I didn't understand."

Gu Qing leaned back in his chair. He did not criticize her, merely said:

"That's normal. We'll have plenty of time to go over these things slowly later. I'll organize the specific training plans tonight and give them to you tomorrow morning."

"Settle in first today. Teacher Flender will arrange your dormitories. Tang San, take them over."

Ning Rongrong let out a breath, though she was still a little unwilling to accept it. She secretly glanced at Zhu Zhuqing beside her. Zhu Zhuqing had already returned to her usual indifferent expression, but her gaze was unfocused. Clearly, she was still processing the matter of Netherworld Absolute Kill.

Ning Rongrong thought that at least Zhu Zhuqing had not fully digested it either, which made her feel slightly more balanced.

Tang San answered and led the two of them outside.

The dormitories were not far behind the teaching building, a row of old single-story rooms that Flender had just had someone clean that afternoon.

The room was small. Two wooden beds stood against opposite walls, with a table in between and an oil lamp on it. Opening the window revealed the academy's back mountain. The night breeze drifted in, carrying the scent of grass, trees, and earth.

As soon as Zhu Zhuqing set her luggage at the foot of the bed, she began making it. Her movements were swift and efficient. After finishing her own, she casually shook out and folded Ning Rongrong's blanket as well.

Ning Rongrong sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs as she watched Zhu Zhuqing bustle about. She sighed, "Zhuqing, you'll definitely make a wonderful wife and mother someday. Whoever marries you will be truly lucky!"

Zhu Zhuqing's hands paused as she folded the blanket. This suddenly made her think of Zhu Zhuqing's breathtaking beauty, and her cheeks reddened slightly.

Pretending nothing had happened, Zhu Zhuqing did not turn around. Her voice was cool. "Shut up."

Ning Rongrong grinned and closed her mouth, without the slightest hint of remorse.

Night gradually deepened, and Self Academy fell into a slumbering silence. Only the occasional cries of nocturnal birds echoed in the distance.

Gu Qing sat at his desk, with two open blank notebooks spread before him.

The core of Zhu Zhuqing's Netherworld Absolute Kill lay in converting speed into ultimate penetrating force. However, her Soul Power reserves were limited. How to compress her Soul Power during high-speed thrusts without causing her meridians to collapse was a key problem.

Ning Rongrong's Soul Power vortex was theoretically viable, but she was only level twenty-six at present. He still needed to calculate precisely the minimum Soul Power threshold required to construct the vortex.

With the two problems piled together, his train of thought became somewhat stuck.

Gu Qing set down his pen and stretched his stiff wrist. He raised his right hand, and a Black-Gold Lotus emerged from his palm, slowly spinning.

His first soul ring lit up, purple-black light flowing along the edges of the lotus petals—Treasure Appearance Golden Lotus: Twin, Support Form.

This time, he did not spread the amplification aura outward. Instead, he forced all of its amplifying power back into the Buddha Wrath Tang Lotus itself.

Golden mist poured from the lotus core and surged backward through the meridians of his arm into his body. His strength, mental power, Soul Power, and other attributes all rose at once.

Immediately afterward, his second soul ring lit up.

It was a deep black ring—a ten-thousand-year soul ring!

The Buddha Wrath Tang Lotus's second soul ring came from a fifteen-thousand-year Heavenly Heart Ancient Tree. It was a plant-type soul beast with no offensive ability. It spent its life rooted deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, growing by absorbing the essence of the earth veins and the sun and moon.

The Heavenly Heart Ancient Tree's root system spread across dozens of miles. Every root was an information channel, capable of bringing changes in the earth veins, shifts in the weather, and soul beast migrations into its perception. Within its body, it formed a vast and intricate information network, then used instincts accumulated over ten thousand years to deduce and predict.

Gu Qing's second soul skill was called Heavenly Heart Lotus, refined from this instinctive ability of the Heavenly Heart Ancient Tree.

Its effect was: once activated, comprehension doubled, thought speed doubled, deduction ability doubled, perception precision doubled, information integration ability doubled, and mental focus doubled.

All mental attributes related to thinking and deduction were tripled for ten minutes.

It was a purely mental amplification soul skill. It had no offensive power, no defensive power, and could not grant any attributes to teammates.

Yet Gu Qing had never considered it inferior to his first two soul skills. Deducing cultivation techniques, breaking through martial soul bottlenecks, designing training paths—whenever intense concentration was needed, Heavenly Heart Lotus was his greatest aid.

A thread of extremely fine purple-gold light suddenly lit up from the lotus platform at the flower's center and shot straight into his brow.

Gu Qing closed his eyes. The originally chaotic fragments of thought in his mind began rapidly reorganizing into shape.

Zhu Zhuqing's Netherworld Absolute Kill: the transition between the thrust and the Hundred Claws should not be placed on the third step. The third step was where speed reached its peak, but it was also where Soul Power consumption was greatest. If she changed direction there, her Soul Power conversion would not keep up.

The transition point should be placed near the end of the second step. Her speed would not yet be at its peak, but her momentum would already be sufficient. Changing direction there would require the least effort and be the hardest to predict.

Ning Rongrong's Soul Power vortex: its construction point had previously been set directly above the dantian, but the meridians there were not wide enough. With her level twenty-six Soul Power reserves, the vortex would dissipate under the resistance of the meridians before it even formed.

It should be moved down to the Sea of Qi Vortex acupoint. The meridians there were twice as wide as those above the dantian, and the endurance threshold was at least thirty percent lower. Even with her current cultivation insufficient, it could operate steadily.

Gu Qing picked up his pen. Its tip landed on the paper with a soft scratching sound.

He wrote down the key points of both plans one by one: Zhu Zhuqing's triple-layer compression meridian route diagram, Ning Rongrong's initial Sea of Qi Vortex rotation speed and interception ratio. Every item was marked with absolute clarity.

By the time he finished the last word, Heavenly Heart Lotus's purple-gold glow had just begun to fade. Ten minutes had passed.

Gu Qing slowly exhaled, withdrew the Buddha Wrath Tang Lotus into his body, and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed for a moment. He reached for the teacup on the table. Just as his fingers touched the rim, a knock sounded at the door.

It was very soft! Like someone carefully tapping the wooden door twice with her knuckles, carrying a hint of hesitation.

"Brother Gu?"

Ning Rongrong's lowered voice came from outside. It was soft and sweet, as though she feared waking the people next door. "You're not asleep yet, right? I saw that your room's light was still on."

Gu Qing glanced at the two notebooks on the table, which he had not yet had time to close, then rose to open the door.

The moment the door opened, moonlight flowed in first.

Ning Rongrong stood beneath the moonlight, wearing a moon-white silk nightgown. It was clearly from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The fabric was fine, though the size was half a size too large. Its loose collar rested over her collarbones, revealing a stretch of fair neck.

The hem fell to her calves. Her bare feet rested in wooden clogs, her ankles slender, her toes petite, her skin crystalline and translucent.

The nightgown's material was too thin. Moonlight filtered through it from behind, faintly outlining the girl's slender waist and the delicate curve at her chest.

But Ning Rongrong's expression was entirely different from how it had been during the day. There was no coquettishness, no playfulness. Her beautiful eyes were filled only with seriousness and solemnity.

"Why are you still awake so late?"

Gu Qing stepped aside and let Ning Rongrong into the room.