Jiang Ding sprawled weakly in his chair, waves of pain crashing through his mind.
"Have you... overdrawn your soul?"
Li Junhao hesitated, then glanced again at the intricate, exquisite array diagram on the desk. One look was enough to tell that it was not a crude copy drawn by imitating a cat from a tiger—it truly had a function.
Soul overdraw.
This was a common occurrence when cultivators inscribed talismans or array diagrams beyond their own abilities.
And that was only when the work exceeded their abilities by a little. If they attempted high-level talismans or array diagrams far beyond their capabilities, their souls could be drained dry in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a corpse.
"...Yes. I saw it in the library. You have a bright future ahead of you, so don't learn from me."
Jiang Ding barely raised a hand and tucked the Talisman Sword array diagram into his clothes, lest it harm Li Junhao.
Unlike himself, neither high enough nor low enough.
Li Junhao was guaranteed a place at Clearwind University or Big Dipper University. Even if he could not enter the School of Dao Cultivation, he still had a strong chance of working in the auxiliary research field of immortal Dao technology. He might even take the route through a research institute and step onto the immortal path.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling...
The dismissal bell rang, and Jiang Ding swayed with every step as he headed toward the cultivation room.
As the door opened, Jiang Ding ignored everything else and drank the Essence-Consolidating Bone-Strengthening Soup. A warm current flowed into his stomach, and he immediately felt his mind ease somewhat.
He took out the Talisman Sword array diagram.
The array inscriptions were exquisite and magnificent, filled with a sense of spatial depth. An ordinary person would feel dizzy at a single glance.
Jiang Ding studied it carefully. After some practical experimentation, his understanding of the first level of the Divine Firmament Hundred-Step Flying Sword Talisman Sword deepened further.
It used the Sharp Metal Formation as its core, combined with a small amount of soul runes for spiritual connection. Later, it would need floating arrays, spirit-gathering arrays, and flight arrays added to it. Once the four talisman-paper array diagrams were united, it would become a Talisman Sword that could be controlled independently.
The floating arrays, flight arrays, and spirit-gathering arrays were each more difficult than the last. Worse, they were weak. Even after the Talisman Sword was completed, its power would only be comparable to a bird slamming into someone, and its endurance would be short.
Naturally, there was a shortcut.
Refining it with essence blood.
Not only could this use the spiritual-connection soul runes as a foundation to speed up one's comprehension of floating, flight, and spirit-gathering arrays, the Talisman Sword's power would also rival a powerful bow or heavy crossbow. More importantly, it would be agile enough to dominate Inner Qi realm martial artists for a time.
It just cost one's life and ruined one's future.
"Great Sun Sword-Planting Sword-Refining Art, once a Dao Child-level technique of the Nine Great Immortal Sects beyond this world..."
Jiang Ding murmured, his heart brimming with longing.
If he could refine a Dao Child-level Hundred-Step Flying Sword, his soul could undergo a transformation during his mortal years. Out of thin air, he would gain an enormous advantage over other cultivators, not to mention the Flying Sword's continued nourishment of his soul afterward.
If he succeeded, the Great Dao would lie within reach.
Jiang Ding lay muddleheaded in the cultivation room for two hours. Only when the Array Spirit informed him that class had ended did he wake up and slowly make his way toward the classroom.
He took his backpack and inspected and maintained the parts of his pistol.
"An announcement from Teacher Guo."
Class monitor Hua Bing did not dismiss the class immediately. "The midterm examinations will begin in one week. Everyone needs to work harder and strive for better results. The school places great importance on these midterms. Those who rank near the top will receive substantial resource rewards."
"Meeting adjourned!"
The classroom fell silent for a moment before buzzing erupted, mostly with worry.
With the midterms approaching, half the first semester had already passed. The college entrance examination that would determine their lifelong fates was not far off either.
Jiang Ding and Li Junhao followed the crowd outside. All around them came chirping voices, while in the distance came the engine roars of tanks returning to the school.
"I've decided."
Li Junhao suddenly said, "I won't practice martial arts anymore. I'll devote all my time to studying and aim for 800 points on the college entrance examination."
"...May you succeed the moment you mount your horse."
Jiang Ding froze. What ambition!
Eight hundred points, while still at the Flesh-Refining realm, meant scoring close to full marks in every academic subject!
Someone like that would count as a prodigy even across the entire Immortal Sect. He would certainly receive special admission from the Immortal Sect's School of Dao Cultivation, and they would not begrudge him a set of pills to improve his martial aptitude.
In fact, so long as he did not die, experience from the past showed that such a person was destined to rise.
When he returned home and was about to head back to his room, Jiang Ding halted.
Lin Wanqiu and Jiang Yuan were both staring at him with stern faces.
"Criminal Jiang Ding, confess honestly!"
Jiang Yuan said solemnly, "Or I'll spank you with this!"
She waved the thin bamboo switch she had specifically snapped off in the garden downstairs.
"Hm? Is your skin itching?"
Jiang Ding glanced at Jiang Yuan, frightening her into shrinking her head back and hiding behind Lin Wanqiu.
"Mom, are you taking a compensatory day off today?"
He set down his backpack and sat in front of Lin Wanqiu.
"Dingding, why..."
Lin Wanqiu stopped herself halfway through, worry in her voice. She had clearly learned about what had happened in class.
"Because I desire it."
Jiang Ding answered calmly, spreading open his palm. At sixteen or seventeen, the boy's hand was covered in calluses.
Since elementary school, he had practiced his sword day and night without interruption, rain or shine, until he had reached the limit of what ordinary daily nutrient absorption could support.
"You..."
The many lectures and reproaches Lin Wanqiu had prepared could no longer leave her mouth.
As his mother, she knew how much her son had sacrificed for this. Yet he had inherited her poor aptitude as well. How despairing must he have been?
"You still have to be careful!" Lin Wanqiu sighed. "I know that when you were little, your father..."
Not long after Jiang Yuan was born, Father Jiang had cheated on them. He chose another powerful woman and had another child even older than Jiang Ding, seemingly still unable to let go of his obsession with becoming a Cultivator.
She believed her son was working so hard to prove something.
"It has nothing to do with him."
Jiang Ding said flatly, "Mom, to live long and see far, to let one's sword roam across the world—this is every boy's long-cherished wish. What's more, it can bless one's family and forcibly raise the aptitude of those with poorer talent."
"Ah..."
Lin Wanqiu sighed. She knew that with their family's aptitudes, it was far too difficult.
"Big Brother!"
Stars sparkled in Jiang Yuan's eyes, as though she were imagining herself lazing about, eating and waiting to die, yet still becoming a high-level Cultivator.
At dawn, Huang Deyou came knocking as usual.
"Come in."
A faint voice sounded from within.
Huang Deyou carefully closed the door behind him, then approached Jiang Ding respectfully. "Master, we have less than one tael of silver left. This is the account book."
He presented the ledger, which he had checked no fewer than ten times.
"Mm."
This time, Jiang Ding did not look at the account book. He tossed over fifty taels of silver. "That brother... Han Lin, how is he doing?"
"Reporting to Master, young brother Han has done very well." Huang Deyou forced out a smile. "He can read, and he knows a little arithmetic too. I assigned him to the accounting room to record the specimens we have already collected, so we won't purchase the same ones repeatedly."
Knowing that Jiang Ding valued the matter, he added:
"Also, ever since we began collecting animal specimens, the quantity has greatly increased. We can receive more than a hundred intact specimens every day."
"You've done well."
Jiang Ding glanced at his library points, which had already reached 658. After all, not every specimen was an unknown new organism. Often, more than ten specimens only produced one new entry.
"There is one more matter. I need Purple Spirit Grass. Get forty-odd portions for me. Find several experienced herb gatherers. I need them today."
"Yes, Master."
Huang Deyou respectfully withdrew.
Before you continue