The living room on the villa's ground floor glowed with warm light. Spirit crystal lamps cast soft white light onto the plain carpet, spreading into a faint halo.
Chen Fan followed Jiang Qingyuan downstairs, a faint tingling still lingering in his fingertips after the Chaos Sea had settled.
He watched the cool, aloof figure ahead of him, an apologetic look on his face, and spoke first. "Professor Jiang, about what happened today... thank you, truly. Without you here, I probably would've cultivated myself into internal injuries."
Jiang Qingyuan sat down beside the sofa and brushed a hand across the table. Two sets of lustrous white jade teacups appeared out of thin air, and spiritual tea poured itself from the pot, its crisp fragrance instantly spreading through the room.
She glanced up at Chen Fan. Her tone was as cool as ever, but her earlier anger was gone. "At least you know you were reckless. The evolution of the Spirit Sea is no trifling matter. With your cultivation, you haven't even touched the threshold of controlling Chaos Qi, yet you dared to force a transformation of your Spirit Sea."
"I didn't expect it to erupt so suddenly either." Chen Fan sat opposite her and took a sip of tea. As it slipped down his throat, a warm, soothing sensation spread along his esophagus, easing the lingering soreness in his meridians. "I'd read quite a few ancient Daoist texts and practiced the Fire Cloud Cultivation Method to lay my foundation. I'd built up almost seventeen years' worth of groundwork. Today, while contemplating the cultivation method under your guidance, I suddenly touched that last paper-thin barrier, and I couldn't resist making a push."
His explanation mixed truth with falsehood, attributing the Spirit Sea's transformation entirely to "years of accumulated cultivation plus a chance enlightenment."
The entries, the panel, cultivation methods such as the Diagram of the Five Supreme Dao Evolutions-these were his hidden trump cards. Even with Jiang Qingyuan, he would not lay everything on the table.
Jiang Qingyuan's eyebrows rose slightly at his words.
The affinity a False Spirit Root had for Spiritual Qi was what it was. Never mind touching the origin; even smoothly drawing Qi into the body would count as decent talent.
Yet Chen Fan had managed it. Not only had he managed it, he had caused such a tremendous commotion.
Jiang Qingyuan did not press him.
Everyone had their secrets, herself included. The rule of the cultivation world was not to ask what should not be asked. When the time came to speak, the other person would naturally do so.
She merely said evenly, "A fortuitous opportunity is a good thing, but if you can't hold on to it, it becomes a calamity. Your Chaos Sea has formed, and you have the beginnings of an Innate Dao Vein. This is a heaven-sent blessing, but with an unstable foundation, that blessing will become a disaster.
"For the next half month, you are not to force any breakthroughs. First, thoroughly understand the circulation paths of your Chaos Sea until you can control it freely."
"Understood." Chen Fan nodded readily.
He had not planned to rush a breakthrough anyway. Raising his realm quickly was easy; laying a firm foundation was hard.
With the Aperture of the Mysterious Female and his physique improving every day, he would thoroughly grasp all of this sooner or later. There was no need to hurry.
"Also." Jiang Qingyuan lightly tapped the table, and a ball of lustrous white light floated before Chen Fan. "This contains my compiled insights on Foundation Establishment, along with practical methods for constructing a perfect foundation. Take it back and study it at your leisure. You can ask me about anything you don't understand."
Chen Fan caught the ball of light. It felt warm and smooth in his hand, packed with substantial, practical cultivation knowledge.
Warmth stirred in his heart, and he looked up at Jiang Qingyuan.
The lamplight fell on her cool profile, softening the sharpness of her features. Her long eyelashes cast a small patch of shadow beneath her eyes. Always so distant in daily life, she now sat quietly beneath the light, unexpectedly possessing a touch of gentle, homey warmth.
"Professor Jiang, you're actually quite a nice person," Chen Fan blurted out.
Jiang Qingyuan paused and looked up at him, one eyebrow slightly raised, a hint of teasing entering her voice. "What, afraid I'll punish you, so you're buttering me up first?"
"No, I'm just telling the truth." Chen Fan smiled. "Any other professor would've thrown me out long ago for recklessly causing trouble like that. You not only saved me, you even gave me your insights... honestly, I'm pretty surprised."
Over his seventeen years, he had grown accustomed to cold looks and mockery, accustomed to relying on himself for everything.
For someone to suddenly stand before him and catch him when he fell, then teach him hand in hand-it would be a lie to say he was not moved.
Jiang Qingyuan fell silent for a moment, then lifted her cup and took a sip. Her tone grew more reserved. "You're a student jointly trained by Jingfu and Han University. If something happens to you, it means trouble for me too. Besides, your potential is worth nurturing."
Her words sounded official, yet her fingertips gently rubbed the rim of her cup.
In truth, it was not just his potential. She saw her younger self in Chen Fan.
The same refusal to accept fate. The same willingness to stir things up.
"Oh, right." Suddenly remembering something, Chen Fan asked curiously, "That day my Spirit Sea went out of control, when you manifested your Dharma manifestation, did you give the Netherworld side quite a scare? My consciousness was hazy then. All I felt was an especially heavy pressure outside."
He only knew that the commotion that day had been enormous. Jiang Qingyuan's Dharma manifestation had made all of Xuzhou tremble beneath its pressure. The Netherworld side must have reacted.
Both sides had suppressed the matter. The Immortal Palace treated it as routine border deterrence, while the Netherworld side dared not publicize it, fearing both a loss of face and, even more, that the Immortal Palace would seize the opportunity to attack.
"It was nothing." Jiang Qingyuan's tone was flat, as though she were discussing something utterly insignificant. "People from the Netherworld side came over to investigate. I intimidated them a little, and they withdrew. They only dare sneak around playing little tricks at the border. Give them ten times the courage, and they still wouldn't dare confront the Immortal Palace head-on."
She spoke lightly, and that was indeed how things stood.
The Immortal Palace was the nominal overlord of the Nine Provinces, and its strongest power in practice as well.
The Nine Provinces were divided into nine provinces, and the standing army of any one province had enough combat strength to crush the Netherworld Ghost Domain on its own.
The Netherworld had only managed to scrape by until now by hiding in the savage wilderness and that stretch of sea, with the Freedom Divine Domain secretly providing some resources and backing.
If relations truly broke down into war, the Immortal Palace headquarters would not even need to act. Xuzhou's law enforcement teams alone could steamroll the Netherworld.
The Freedom Divine Domain and the Holy See lay far beyond the Endless Star Domain and dared even less to interfere openly. If they truly angered the Immortal Palace, an expedition across star domains to attack them was not impossible.
Chen Fan nodded without giving it much thought.
He had never thought the Netherworld would dare do much anyway. The Immortal Palace's dominance was common knowledge etched into the bones of every cultivator in the Nine Provinces.
"That's good, then." He smiled. "I was worried I'd caused you diplomatic trouble."
"There's certainly trouble, but they don't get to run wild." Jiang Qingyuan snorted coldly. "The Freedom Divine Domain and the Holy See only dare play little tricks behind the scenes. On the surface, they still have to follow the rules laid down by the Immortal Palace. If things really blow up, they'll be the ones to suffer."
Chen Fan wholeheartedly agreed.
Weak nations had no diplomacy. The same held true in the cultivation world. The Immortal Palace's fists were hard enough that its words carried weight.
They chatted a while longer about cultivation. Jiang Qingyuan explained many details of controlling Chaos Qi to her, every word a pearl of wisdom drawn from genuine experience.
Chen Fan listened attentively. Many things he had previously been unable to understand became immediately clear with a few pointers from her.
Time slipped by unnoticed, and the moonlight outside the window grew brighter.
"It's getting late. Go back and rest." Jiang Qingyuan spoke first, bringing their discussion to an end. "That house is damaged, so I've kept the room on the east side for you. I've already activated the Spirit Gathering Formation. There are Foundation Stabilizing Pills in the bedside cabinet. Take one before bed; it'll help repair your meridians."
With that, she rose and walked unhurriedly toward the stairs, her skirt brushing the floor and leaving a cool afterimage.
Chen Fan sat on the sofa and watched her disappear around the bend in the stairs, then lifted his cup for another sip.
Jiang Qingyuan was different. She looked cold and said little, yet she considered everything. She scolded him for his recklessness, then turned around and gave him insights and pills and activated a Spirit Gathering Formation.
Cold outside, warm within, with a little hidden protectiveness toward her own. Sometimes, he could even sense a concealed streak of someone who enjoyed watching the fun.
Chen Fan smiled and rose to head to his room.
A thick, soft carpet lined the corridor, swallowing his footsteps.
He pushed open the door, and Spiritual Qi washed over him, more than twice as dense as downstairs. Sure enough, a jade bottle sat on the bedside cabinet, holding lustrous Foundation Stabilizing Pills.
He tipped one out and swallowed it, then sat cross-legged on the bed and examined his Chaos Sea within.
Gray mist circulated slowly. Deep within, the cycle from Supreme Change to Supreme Ultimate proceeded in orderly fashion. Specks of starlight lay scattered across the sea's surface, and the fine beginnings of Dao Veins slowly linked them like spider silk.
Vast, mysterious, and brimming with infinite possibilities.
And to outsiders, he would only ever describe all of this as the result of "diligent cultivation and enlightenment."
He would forever keep the secrets of the entries and the Diagram of the Five Supreme Dao Evolutions buried in his heart.
Jiang Qingyuan...
Chen Fan silently repeated the name, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Having a mentor like her seemed... rather nice.