Virtual Spirit Realm

A spell competition was a spell competition after all; its difficulty far surpassed the mock exams held at school.

After leaving the examination hall, high school students from every school were abuzz with discussion.

Some compared answers, while even more complained that the questions were too difficult.

"What did they mean by 'casting reduction under extreme conditions for the fourth spiritual power circulation method of the Fireball Technique'?"

"What kind of garbage questions were those..." Tao Dapeng was thoroughly indignant.

The textbooks clearly only listed three casting routes for the Fireball Technique. He could not even understand the question.

"Are Pearl High School students all this freakish? Are these the things they usually test?"

"It was very simple," Jiang Ran answered calmly.

"Spiritual power depletion—when the requirements for casting cannot be met—counts as an extreme condition. At that point, casting reduction must be performed."

"There are three solutions for casting reduction. The first is to simplify the spiritual power route..."

Jiang Ran spoke with great fluency, leaving Tao Dapeng dumbstruck on the spot.

Had they not agreed to be brothers for life, to be lousy students together?

"No..."

"Ran, have you gone crazy?"

"I feel like I barely know you anymore. When did you learn all this?"

"Listen carefully in class. Teacher Zhou has covered all of this before," Jiang Ran said with complete seriousness.

The teacher really had taught these things. However, because such questions were relatively difficult and had low scoring rates, they had only been covered briefly in class. The focus had remained on spell analysis questions that most students could score points on.

But ever since reaching Qi Nourishment Perfection, Jiang Ran had undergone a complete rebirth. His mind had become extraordinarily sharp.

Put simply, his intelligence had increased severalfold.

Combined with the knowledge points in his memories, these spell questions were now as easy as taking something from his pocket.

The written spell exam was worth a total of one hundred and fifty points. Jiang Ran was confident that he could score at least one hundred and forty.

After the exam ended, the crowd dispersed. The overwhelming majority of students returned to their dormitories to study and cultivate.

The college entrance examination was drawing near, and time was becoming ever more pressing. At this point, everyone knew what they should and should not do. Study and cultivation were the only melody on campus.

Tao Dapeng did not actually drag Jiang Ran out to "skip class" and eat delicious food.

Dapeng was, after all, a filial child. His family had just bought him such a fine spiritual root; if he did not cultivate diligently now, he would truly be letting down everyone's efforts.

The next day, one hundred competing teams and tens of thousands of students gathered in the spell training hall of Pearl Middle School.

There was no official competition today. What was about to take place was a "lecture."

It was not an ordinary lecture, but a high-level professional spell lecture.

The lecturer was Professor Cao Siyi of Jade Pivot University!

Professors held lofty status in the Heavenly Lu Kingdom. The selection of every professor had to be verified by at least three great immortal sects, while the cultivation threshold for the title of professor... was the Nascent Soul Realm!

Yes, every professor was a powerful cultivator above the Golden Core Realm.

Jiang Ran stared without blinking. This was his first time coming into contact with a great cultivator of such a level.

Beyond Qi Assimilation, the Grand Ruins Realm also possessed the Dao Foundation Realm. He was very curious whether the Nascent Soul Realm and the Dao Foundation Realm could be compared.

What he had not expected was that Professor Cao did not personally appear in the venue.

Teachers from the Pearl Group were rapidly handing out equipment, seemingly some kind of magical artifact.

Before long, Jiang Ran received one as well. Though it was called a magical artifact, it was actually a palm-sized square jade block.

At the center of the jade block was a circular hole, within which mysterious light gathered and swirled without end.

A guiding voice sounded from the speakers ahead.

"This is an authentication magical artifact that grants access to the Virtual Spirit Realm. Everyone, please enter your names to bind it."

"In thirty minutes, Professor Cao will meet everyone in the Virtual Spirit Realm."

"Please complete the binding as soon as possible. If you encounter any problems, contact the teaching assistants..."

Jiang Ran opened the package and found the three-step binding instructions.

Name, school code, then input a wisp of spiritual power.

The square jade block activated instantly, rising on its own and lightly attaching itself to the center of his brow.

The mysterious light in the central hole gave off an unusual radiance. Amid a wave of dizziness, Jiang Ran closed his eyes.

When he came back to himself, the scene before him had changed from the spell arena into a vast, boundless green prairie.

"So this is the Virtual Spirit Realm..." Jiang Ran felt somewhat shaken.

The world before him was extremely real. He could feel the grass beneath his feet, hear the breeze passing by his ears, and even smell the earth of the mountains and forests.

Although it could not compare with his ability to directly travel to the Great Ruins Realm.

Still... this place did not seem like a virtual world. Or rather, it was not merely a virtual world.

Students began appearing one after another across the grassland. As students from each school successfully completed their bindings, they gradually filled the surrounding prairie.

The accompanying teachers from Pingjiang No. 1 High School entered as well, signaling for the students not to stand and to wait quietly.

Less than half an hour later.

The air ahead twisted.

Professor Cao appeared in the Virtual Spirit Realm in an instant. His hair was grizzled, yet his back remained exceptionally straight.

"It's beginning..."

Professor Cao smiled kindly and brushed his sleeve.

The collective gaze of tens of thousands of students did not make this great cultivator feel the slightest discomfort.

"You all know that 'only after Foundation Establishment can spells follow the heart,' yet what I speak of today lies precisely before Foundation Establishment."

Professor Cao did not move, yet the entire prairie seemed to breathe slowly.

He raised two fingers and drew through the air, and a wisp of faint light blossomed from his fingertips.

"This is the Gathering Fire Art."

"Gathering fire is the foundation of the fire element. Under normal circumstances, it consumes five strands of spiritual power. But if one circulates it through the Tidal Cycle..."

The wisp of light suddenly divided into nine sparks, forming an array in midair.

"Spiritual power does not increase, yet its might doubles."

"If spiritual energy is compressed in a tail-chasing formation—"

"Then its might remains undiminished, while spiritual power consumption is halved!"

The prairie suddenly transformed into an illusory sea of flames, and the students seemed to stand atop the crest of the waves.

Jiang Ran listened with rapt attention. This was the first time he had listened to a lecture with such seriousness.

It was not that he was usually inattentive. Rather, the professor's lectures carried a unique resonance that drew every student into complete concentration.

"Casting across realms is not brute forcefully imposed, but the imitation of heaven and earth's hidden mechanisms." A withered branch flew from Professor Cao's sleeve. With a gentle stir of its tip, an illusory azure lotus bloomed. "In his youth, Qingya True Person once used the Golden Core Realm to fight against a Nascent Soul cultivator. He had comprehended the principle of 'three voids and seven truths.'"

"Use divine sense as the guide, borrow the momentum of heaven and earth, and make up for one's own shortcomings." He flicked his finger, and the azure lotus instantly turned into a thousand petals of flying snow, each containing a complete spiritual power circulation route. "Save one fraction of spiritual power, and gain one fraction more chance of victory."

Everything Professor Cao taught was basic, so basic that it could even be called simple.

Yet it was precisely this simplest content that benefited every student immensely.

Even many of the teachers present revealed looks of sudden enlightenment.

A professor was a professor, after all. A few casual pointers could guide Qi Refining and likewise illuminate Foundation Establishment.

The sea-of-flames environment gradually drew in, and spiritual light faintly emerged between the students' brows.

"Cultivation is like weaving brocade; spellcasting is like threading the needle." Professor Cao's voice rang like a clear bell. "Understand today how spiritual power may be used efficiently, and one day you may obtain a sliver of heavenly light."

His voice gradually faded, and his figure slowly vanished.