The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Two months earlier, when the first booklet of the Angel Sacred Art reached Ning Fengzhi, he had already read through it once.
At the time, he had merely thought that the Five Great Cultivation Techniques were exquisite and that Qian Renxue was indeed talented.
That was all.
But two months later, he saw word of mouth about the Angel Cultivation Technique spread among the public.
Commoners saw results from practicing it, low-level Soul Masters made breakthroughs, and even those with the poorest talent benefited. He began to realize that this was no ordinary thing.
Now, Ning Fengzhi sat in the council hall with the booklet he had read two months earlier spread before him, reading through it again.
This time, he read very slowly, pausing for a long time after every page.
Beside him, Sword Douluo Chen Xin could not help asking, "Sect Master, how many times have you read it now?"
"When I read it two months ago, I thought it was exquisite." Ning Fengzhi set down the booklet. "Reading it now, I find it terrifying."
"How so?"
"The first time I read it, I thought it was merely a good cultivation technique." He paused. "But in just two short months, it spread from a single major city to hundreds of cities across the empire. That proves its true value stands up to scrutiny."
Chen Xin asked, "Then what should we do now?"
"Have the disciples in the sect try it." Ning Fengzhi rose and walked to the window. "Spirit Hall wants faith. We want strength. Those two things do not conflict."
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Yu Yuanzhen said, "Every disciple under thirty in the clan is to switch to the Angel Sacred Art."
"Clan Leader, didn't you say before that we should try it for a month first, and that the cultivation technique passed down through our clan was the foundation of our establishment...?"
"Throw it away." Yu Yuanzhen's tone barely changed.
"Huh?" The elder beside him did not understand.
"I said, throw away that garbage cultivation technique of ours! The Angel Sacred Art's cultivation speed is far faster than our ancestors' technique!"
The Clear Sky Sect.
Two months earlier, their spies had immediately copied the Angel Cultivation Technique and brought it back from Heaven Dou City.
Tang Xiao had read the introduction on the first page and gone no further.
The Clear Sky Sect had its own inheritance. How much substance could there be to a cultivation technique created by some little girl?
Without even opening it, he knew it was just a haphazardly cobbled-together primer for beginners.
Most likely, Spirit Hall had put it together to indulge their Saintess.
The might of my Clear Sky Hammer has never needed the enhancement of any outside cultivation technique.
Only when the claims surrounding the technique grew increasingly incredible did Tang Xiao pick up the dust-covered copy again. The more he read, the more shocked he became. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!"
The imperial palace of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Xue Ye sat on his dragon throne with the Angel Sacred Guidance Skill before him, staring at the line on its title page: "Saintess Qian Renxue, whose achievements shall endure through the ages and whose virtue benefits all the people."
Beside him, Prince Xue Xing ventured, "Your Majesty, should we ban its circulation within our borders?"
"Ban it? Two months ago, perhaps there was still time. Now?" Xue Ye shook his head. "At least hundreds of thousands of people in our Heaven Dou Empire have been practicing it for two months. Do you want to drive them into rebellion by banning it now? I shall see just how far Spirit Hall can take this game."
Nuoding Academy.
Yu Xiaogang sat in his cramped faculty dormitory, holding a copy of the Angel Sacred Guidance Skill that he had asked someone to bring back.
He had read through it at least ten times. Paper and a pen lay spread across his desk beside a small plate of peanuts and half a pot of cold tea. Clearly, he had stayed up all night.
His hair now resembled a bird's nest, and dark circles ringed his eyes, but a smile hung on his lips, and he was brimming with excitement.
"The Soul Power guidance routes in this technique..." he muttered, drawing circles on the paper. "They closely match my hypothetical optimal Soul Power guidance routes.
"That's right. The circulation of Soul Power shouldn't be limited to the routes instinctively formed during Martial Soul Awakening. It should be redesigned according to the structure of the human body's meridians.
"But here, here, and here-I still don't understand why it has to be done this way."
He stood and paced around the room, no longer even bothering to eat his peanuts.
"It doesn't matter if I don't understand. That's not the point!"
"The point is, if I can integrate the design principles of this cultivation technique with my Ten Core Theories..."
He stopped, his eyes gleaming. "Then my theories will no longer be mere theories. They will be verified through practice and become a new cornerstone of cultivation for Soul Masters across the continent.
"And I, Yu Xiaogang, will become one of the founders of this new cultivation system."
He sat back down, picked up his pen, and swiftly wrote a title on the paper: "On the Correspondence Between the Angel Sacred Guidance Skill and Yu Xiaogang's Ten Great Theories. First author: Yu Xiaogang."
Yu Xiaogang paused, then suddenly crossed out "First author" and replaced it with "Supervising teacher."
He leaned back in his chair, his gaze growing distant.
"Creating this cultivation technique truly was a work of genius."
He murmured softly, "To achieve innovation of this caliber at sixteen-she's almost a match for me at my peak back then.
"If she could become my disciple, I could teach her my theoretical system. Combined with her genius and creativity...
"We could join forces, complementing each other. Given time, an even more complete system of cultivation techniques could emerge.
"When that happens, besides Qian Renxue, the title page of the cultivation technique could include the words 'Honored teacher: Yu Xiaogang'..."
He imagined that sight, and could no longer suppress his smile.
But the question was, how could he make Qian Renxue his disciple?
Yu Xiaogang sank into thought again.
Although my theoretical knowledge is profound, my Soul Power Level is low. Those people in Spirit Hall have always judged others by strength. They won't think more highly of me just because of my grounding in theory.
Especially that former Pope, Qian Xunji. He secretly sent people to beat me up several times. Don't think I don't know...
The cultivation technique says Qian Renxue is Spirit Hall's Saintess, which means she's Qian Xunji's daughter.
Not to mention that she's Qian Daoliu's granddaughter, the darling of the Worship Hall. How could she casually take a rank-twenty-nine Soul Master as her teacher?
At that thought, Yu Xiaogang tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. Suddenly, something occurred to him: Bibi Dong!
Although his past with Bibi Dong had been many years ago, it had, after all, been their first love.
Qian Renxue should be Pope Bibi Dong's daughter. Through that connection, I more or less count as one of her elders.
If I meet Bibi Dong under the pretext of "jointly discussing ways to optimize this cultivation technique," steer the conversation toward "Qian Renxue needs more systematic theoretical guidance," and then take the opportunity to offer myself as her instructor...
"Bibi Dong probably won't refuse, will she?" he said to himself. "She acknowledged my theories back then. Besides, this cultivation technique is of immense significance to Spirit Hall. If it can be optimized further, she'll benefit as Pope too. Whether for public or personal reasons, she has no reason to object."
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He even began planning what to say after meeting Bibi Dong.
He needed to appear genuinely concerned with perfecting the cultivation technique while also making her feel his sincerity and ability.
Perhaps Bibi Dong would even feel some guilt toward him over what had happened back then, making her more willing to cooperate on this matter.
"Then it's settled." Yu Xiaogang rose and carefully tucked the cultivation booklet into his robe. "I need to go to Spirit City as soon as possible, meet Bibi Dong, and talk to her about Qian Renxue."
He patted the booklet inside his robe. "Qian Renxue, your talent truly is astonishing. But the one who can truly take you further is me, Yu Xiaogang!"
What he did not know was that Bibi Dong, whom he was so eager to visit, was currently in Spirit Hall's Pope Hall, looking at stacks of cultivation-teaching reports sent back by branch halls from across the land, her expression as complicated as if she had swallowed a fly.
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