An Inept Teacher Dooms His Disciples

"You're not fooling me again, are you?" Wang Yan said unhappily, narrowing his eyes as he gazed into the distance.

"Why would I lie to you? You little brat, you're awfully suspicious for someone so young!" Card Fairy snapped angrily. She paused, then continued, too impatient to argue with Wang Yan. "Believe me or don't, this is how things stand. Only Fire Type spiritual energy can let this divine artifact gather magical power!"

"Ah! Looks like this Immortal Card Artifact isn't all that impressive!" Wang Yan shrugged discontentedly...

"Argh! You little brat, you'll regret this someday!" Card Fairy flew into a rage, yowling like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "This Immortal Card Artifact of mine, even in the True Immortal Realm... tsk, what's the point of telling you all this? Think carefully. There must be plenty of disciples with three Immortal Roots like you. Surely some of them have advanced much further than you?"

"Well, there are, but they have pills!" Wang Yan answered uncertainly. In truth, he was beginning to recall them. He cultivated harder than anyone, and while many of those who reached Minor Completion of the Cultivation Realm at thirteen had better aptitude, plenty were much like him. Some were not even disciples of the main family and had no elders supporting them, yet they had still reached Minor Completion of the Cultivation Realm. He could not help thinking, Could that damned water cultivation method have been holding me back all along?

"Anyway, that's how it is. Cultivate or don't! You make it sound as though I'm begging you!" Card Fairy was clearly angry, her petulant voice making it seem as though she was deliberately sulking at Wang Yan. Inwardly, however, she was nervous. If he refused to oblige her and did not cultivate, her plans would go up in smoke.

"All right, all right! Don't be angry, Card Fairy. It's better than nothing, anyway...!" Feeling that he might indeed have been cheated, Wang Yan hurried to answer. This was the only path he had left now.

Indeed.

The Wang Household was no great Lineage or major sect. Those responsible for instructing youngsters like them were merely core condensation realm cultivators. After a cursory examination of their aptitude, they let the disciples choose cultivation methods, then gathered them for a single lesson each day. After that, they were left to cultivate...

People said an inept teacher doomed his disciples. There really was truth to that.

"That's more like it!" Card Fairy replied in satisfaction. In truth, she had merely been sulking at Wang Yan. If she did not get him to practice this Fire-Type Cultivation Method and he truly gave up on himself, would she not have saved him for nothing? She would be in dire straits herself, though she had not told him that her fate was now intimately tied to his.

"But I have another question!" Wang Yan said with a shrug.

"You little brat, always making trouble!" Card Fairy sounded impatient. "Speak!"

"I do want to cultivate, but I don't have a Fire Type cultivation method!" Wang Yan said. Indeed, as a disciple who had only entered the cultivation realm, how could he have any cultivation methods on hand? Practicing fire spells required a Fire Type cultivation method...

"A trifling matter! I can just give you a Fire-Type Cultivation Method, can't I?" Card Fairy replied, then fell silent...

"Where's the cultivation method?" Wang Yan waited a while, but Card Fairy said nothing. Growing anxious, he hurried to ask...

"Wait! I'm creating a cultivation method suited to you!" Card Fairy quickly replied.

"Creating?" Wang Yan was startled. Creating cultivation methods was not something an ordinary cultivator could do. Even the simplest cultivation realm method required the abilities of a nascent soul realm cultivator. Could Card Fairy actually be one of those legendary nascent soul realm cultivators? And she was even making a method tailored to him...

"Done!" Card Fairy announced before Wang Yan could think any further.

"So soon?" Wang Yan asked incredulously. How could creating a cultivation method be so easy...

"Oh, it's only a cultivation realm method. How could that stump me? For Card Fairy, it's no more effort than lifting a hand! Hahaha!" Card Fairy really was a character. The slightest thing to feel proud of sent her into delighted laughter. Wang Yan could not help wondering whether she really was an old nascent soul realm monster. Why did she act like a child...

"That's good! Please teach me the cultivation method, Card Fairy!" Wang Yan sensibly refrained from asking more, lest she launch into another lengthy lecture...

"Listen carefully!" Card Fairy sounded a little tired as she addressed Wang Yan, explaining the cultivation method in full detail. When she finished, she said, "That's all there is to it. Ask me directly if there's anything you don't understand! Hm? What's wrong? Is it difficult?"

"This... isn't this cultivation method a little too simple? It only passes through twelve meridians!" Wang Yan said, somewhat dumbfounded. The method Card Fairy had described was not complicated at all, but extremely streamlined. He could scarcely believe it. His Water Spirit Art required passage through more than twenty meridians, and its circulation route was exceedingly complex. Naturally, he had his doubts...

"Tsk, tsk. A backwater is a backwater!" Card Fairy smacked her lips with an air of worldly seniority. "Don't tell me you think the more complicated a cultivation method is, the better it must be? You're wrong there. On the contrary, you're only in the cultivation realm. At this stage, you need to absorb spiritual energy to advance and lay your foundations. The faster you absorb spiritual energy, the better. So the fewer meridian routes a method follows, the better, and the slower the circulation, the better. Wouldn't a more complicated method just make you absorb less spiritual energy more slowly? You can't go wrong listening to me!"

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Wang Yan felt as though his eyes had been opened to a whole new world. Card Fairy really did seem to possess some genuine ability. Both her theory of Immortal Roots and her understanding of cultivation methods were unlike anything he had heard before. Moreover, she did not bury her explanations in convoluted wording; she was concise and clear, letting him grasp her meaning immediately. It truly felt like a refreshing revelation...

At that moment.

"It's getting late! I'd better rest a little. After all that fuss, I'm truly exhausted!" Card Fairy said, her languid voice sounding utterly worn out...

However.

"Late?" Wang Yan glanced at the sky and saw the full moon hanging high overhead. Suddenly remembering something extremely important, he cried out, "Tsk! Oh no, the trial!"

"Tsk! What is it now? Why all the shouting?" Card Fairy's displeased voice rang out in Wang Yan's mind...

"My trial... now I'm finished!" Wang Yan said helplessly.

"Trial? What trial?" Card Fairy's interest was piqued again, and she hurried to ask.

"Forget it. It's too late...!" Wang Yan said with a bitter smile. Judging by the moon hanging high overhead, this was clearly the final day. Wang Ziling had long since taken his medicinal herbs, and not a shred of his cultivation remained. Naturally, he could not make it in time. In the Wang Household, talent and strength were all that counted. Young though he was, Wang Yan understood that. Had he not cultivated so hard precisely to keep those people from humiliating him? If he returned now, would he not simply be inviting humiliation?

Besides.

Wang Ziling had already gone back. If he saw that Wang Yan had returned too, would he not come looking for trouble? Wang Yan did not even have enough strength to protect himself now. Going back would only bring more trouble. He was better off staying away...

"Uh, never mind. I won't waste more words on you. Think over the cultivation method I taught you first. I'll watch over your practice in a little while...!" Finding the matter uninteresting, Card Fairy spoke casually and fell silent...

I'll follow what Card Fairy told me! Wang Yan composed himself, sat down on the ground, and began pondering the method.

Wang Yan was not stupid. On the contrary, he was exceptionally clever. In less than two hours, he felt he had more or less worked it out and called aloud, "Card Fairy! Card Fairy!"

"Ah, what don't you understand?" Card Fairy asked impatiently...

"I've more or less grasped it. Can I start now?" Wang Yan hurried to ask...

"So soon?" Card Fairy's surprised voice rang out in Wang Yan's mind.

"Yes. I already had a foundation, so I suppose that made it quicker!" Wang Yan replied hastily.

"Then explain it to me!" Card Fairy said, sounding doubtful.

"Mm!" Wang Yan wasted no words and explained everything in full detail. "This cultivation method...!"

"Oh? I didn't expect that. Your cultivation and temper aren't much to speak of, you little brat, but your comprehension is rather good!" Card Fairy said in surprise after hearing Wang Yan out. "You can begin...!"

"All right, Card Fairy!" Wang Yan quickly replied. Sitting cross-legged, he began circulating energy according to the cultivation method she had given him. At first, wisps of energy almost invisible to the naked eye flowed into his body. Gradually, threads of red spiritual light rippled from him...

Though he had already understood the cultivation method, practicing it for the first time still proved somewhat difficult for Wang Yan. Yet whenever he began to falter, an invisible guiding force seemed to surge within his body, propelling the spiritual energy he had absorbed from heaven and earth along the route and into the so-called Immortal Card Artifact in his abdomen...

At last!

The same scene appeared. When the red spiritual energy entered those extraordinarily intricate metallic spiritual-energy meridians, it soon passed into that boundless world of red light...

Suddenly!

With a whoosh, that wisp of red light entered the surrounding red radiance, forming a tiny glowing red speck.

At once, Wang Yan felt a trace of scorching energy flowing through his body...

I can sense it! The magical power stayed! The magical power stayed! Wang Yan could not help beaming with wild delight. The joy in his heart was no less than what he had felt when he first sensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth all those years ago-perhaps greater still... after all, the journey from despair to hope was truly an agonizing one...