Spell Seed

In Tianyuan or other urban districts, if a cultivator failed to get into university, they would remain at Qi Refining for life, unable to qualify for Foundation Establishment.

As a result, the National College Entrance Examination had become extraordinarily important. Quite a few cultivators spent their entire lives preparing for it, only to fail in the end.

And without Foundation Establishment, one would not receive a Dao Method Seed bestowed by a Star Lord, and thus would be unable to cast spells.

Therefore, Qi Refining was merely the foundation of cultivation. Foundation Establishment was the true path to immortality.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, not only would one's energy greatly increase, but one's absorption and utilization of spiritual energy would rise to an entirely new level. The lucky ones might even gain divine abilities that required no mana to use, practically ascending to heaven in a single step.

Some people even spared no expense of their lifespan, keeping company with the Demon Sect or Evil Gods just to gain the qualifications for Foundation Establishment. They did not care even if they became reviled evil cultivators.

But Luo Tong had taken a different path.

He had been a Talisman Arts prodigy since childhood. Before he could even speak, he could draw sixty-four kinds of talismans. As soon as he could hold a pen, he could draw pictures so astonishing they seemed almost supernatural.

After entering high school, he had thoroughly mastered all sixty-four kinds of talismans. He had been one of Tianyuan's hottest prospects for admission to the Profound Law Sect the previous year.

But he had still failed.

Because he was too gifted, his research into talismans had reached an exceptionally unusual level. In the end, he discovered that certain combinations of talismans could cast spells without requiring Dao Method Seeds.

Although the variety of spells they could cast was limited, this shattered previous understanding and opened an entirely new direction for talisman research.

But the discovery had been too far ahead of its time, and no one accepted it.

To make others acknowledge his theory, Luo Tong used his only chance to make everyone see it: in an essay question on the cultural portion of the National College Entrance Examination, he wrote down all of his ideas.

The good news was that he had indeed attracted attention.

The bad news was that it was the Inspectorate.

The Inspectorate from the level above Tianyuan City had moved directly, detaining him on charges of colluding with an Evil God. Everything related to talismans had been given zero points, and even the three close brothers he had tutored had been implicated.

If the Tianyuan Cultivators Committee had not strongly insisted that there was nothing wrong with Luo Tong, whether he could have left prison at all would still have been uncertain.

The blow had been too great, and Luo Tong had been unable to move past it for a long time, until today.

After a moment of silence, Glasses said quietly, "Luo Tong, have you thought this through? Last time, you were a minor and couldn't be criminally charged, and you got lucky because the Tianyuan Cultivators Committee paid the fine. If you get caught again, things won't be easy."

"A scholar dies for one who understands him! President Chen has treated us well, so I can't keep anything to myself. Besides, even if I get caught this time, it'll only be my problem. Just pin everything on me."

"...P-pin it... pin it on me!" the short one stammered. "I... I'm a minor."

The tall, skinny one patted his chest, indicating that they could count on him.

Telling his brothers not to worry, Luo Tong said, "Just give it to me. If you take it, they'll definitely trace it back to me anyway. Oh, and don't let President Chen know about this. It's a crime, after all. We can't drag President Chen into it."

"Got it." Glasses nodded. "How has your research been going? Any progress now?"

Luo Tong gave a bitter smile. "When I was in the Inspectorate, I still wouldn't give up. I still wanted to prove myself, and I really did find several usable spells. Unfortunately, the more I did, the more mistakes I made. I nearly didn't make it out."

Luo Tong extended a finger and tapped a reference book beside him. With a casual motion, he drew several talismans that connected into a spell formation.

Ordinary spells were also based on talismans, but once connected, they needed to communicate with the relevant Star Lord. The Star Lord would then grant permission and help cast them.

But the spell Luo Tong cast this time bypassed the Star Lord entirely, reaching straight into the mysteries of heaven and earth's origin. Using mana as fuel, it drew forth that profound and inscrutable power.

Seeing the dim glow unique to spells, Glasses and the other two were still utterly mesmerized.

Spells were the most fundamental power of cultivators. Cultivators who could not cast spells were merely mortals with much stronger bodies.

Guided by the spell, all the words in the book were extracted and then entered the Spirit Brain, becoming text within it.

Not only that, but the important knowledge points in the book were also extracted. According to Chen Yu's requirements, they were turned into questions and corresponding multiple-choice answers, greatly reducing their working time.

"This spell, I call it 'Highlight Key Points.' With this spell, you can mark all the key points in a book. It's an excellent spell for making questions and reviewing. And it's extremely simple to cast—it only takes one-tenth of a mana unit."

"Wow..." Glasses said dreamily. "No matter how many times I see it, I still think your method is insanely awesome. But is this spell complicated? Or is it like before, where only you can cast it?"

"It is complicated, but not that hard to cast. I've written everything I've learned in my life into this book. As long as you master all the contents of the book, you'll be able to cast some of the spells I've summarized, and perhaps even develop new ones from the old! So, what do you think..."

"No need. Your teaching ability is unbelievably bad. Although understanding it does improve one's grasp of spells quite a bit, we only need to learn Highlight Key Points."

"R-right. It's... it's torture."

As usual, the tall one said nothing. He merely displayed his contempt for Luo Tong's teaching ability with a look of disgust.

Luo Tong shook his head helplessly, feeling deeply that geniuses were all lonely.

There was no other way. He could only teach them Highlight Key Points.

Although the three already had some foundation, it was still somewhat difficult for them to learn.

And Luo Tong was a genius. He could understand much of it entirely through intuition, but explaining it was troublesome.

After spending half the day on it, he finally taught all three of them, and by then it was already late at night.

Although learning the spell took some time, once they had mastered it, it immediately became very easy.

Glasses was the first to learn it. When he activated the talismans and transformed the mana within his body into a spell, he immediately felt the spell's fluctuations and saw the book at hand turn into words and become question after question.

Looking at the scene before him, Glasses stood there in a daze for a long time. Then tears suddenly began to stream down his face uncontrollably.

Having been implicated by his brother, it was impossible for him to feel not even a trace of resentment.

But he also knew that it was not Luo Tong's fault, nor was it his own.

But whose fault was it? He had no idea at all.

Sometimes, when he woke in the middle of the night, he could not help wondering whether things would have been different if he had not gotten so close to Luo Tong back then, if he had not been drawn to him.

But whenever he thought that way, he would feel ashamed of his own darkness, only to unconsciously continue thinking along the same path.

That double torment had nearly become his Heart Demon, but today, that resentment vanished into thin air. He felt that knowing Luo Tong had truly been wonderful.

After crying without restraint, Glasses took off his glasses, blew his nose, and said firmly, "All right, let's continue. We'll do our best to make enough material for President Chen by tomorrow morning."

The short one stood on tiptoe, patted his shoulder, and said firmly, "D-don't... don't blow your nose on... on my head!"