It was difficult to find any pattern to magical girls' advancement.
Even somewhere like the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau, with its vast data on magical girls, had not actually identified a pattern or an effective method of advancement.
Moreover, magical girls from different regions had regional differences, with enormous variations in both their abilities and their transformation outfits.
The timing and methods of advancement were equally bizarre and varied.
Some advanced simply by collecting enough magical items;
some advanced when an intense personal wish erupted in the midst of battle;
some advanced after hearing everyone's wishes and encouragement upon their defeat, thereby gathering the light of people's hearts;
some shouted about friendship and picked up both their companion's seed and their own, triggering a miraculous transformation that granted them advancement.
Jiang Si truly hated works that failed to properly define their power levels and provide clear advancement requirements.
To put it bluntly, that sort of setting was just lazy.
They never explained the logic of advancement, changes in strength, how skills were used, or how to defeat an opponent reasonably.
They simply hammered away at the idea that extreme emotions could bring immense power...
Trash fiction. Enough already.
After all, if extreme emotions really could unleash tremendous power, nobody would need to train or seek ways to grow stronger. They could simply keep a group of friends and relatives around.
Whenever an enemy appeared, grabbing one and killing them would be the most efficient response.
Ultimately, using emotion-something anyone could unleash-as the logic behind growing stronger was inherently unreasonable.
The method of growing stronger had to possess both uniqueness and difficulty. Otherwise, why could only you do it, while others could not?
Having painstakingly pursued the Great Dao for so many years, Jiang Si naturally understood its hardships well. The road to advancement was no different.
Naturally, he was dissatisfied with magical girls' tangled mess of an advancement path, which had no system whatsoever.
Randomness had no place on the great path of cultivation.
Even advancement through the mystery pathways, known for their bizarre nature, actually had fixed methods and routes.
Probability should only apply to success and failure, not make even the method of advancement random.
But that was all right. Since no such path existed, he, Jiang Si, would blaze a road of advancement for magical girls.
Then he would spread the Dao throughout the world, make it public to all magical girls, and usher in a golden age of cultivation.
Such merit might even help him reach a higher path...
As for enabling everyone to transform into magical girls-in the cultivation world, those without spiritual roots could not cultivate.
Naturally, he did not consider that.
But thinking about such things was still far too premature. The most basic method he had found, using the magic power of magic-absorbing crystals to increase strength, was actually not particularly efficient. Most magical girls could not really come into contact with Calamity Beasts' magic power.
It would contaminate their own magic power, reducing their strength instead.
Although the Azure Cloud Sect had already found a way to purify magic power using certain magical girls' abilities, the quantity shrank severely after purification, which made Calamity Beasts seem somewhat insufficient in number.
In truth, Calamity Beasts had already been appearing frequently enough in Jianghai City over the past few years. If the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau had been on its own, it would actually have struggled to cope.
Calamity Beasts often appeared in multiple locations, and with insufficient manpower, they could only abandon dealing with some of them.
Of course, the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau made this choice not because it had given up and shirked its responsibilities, but because it took for granted that the Azure Cloud Sect would act.
Because the girls really were desperately short of Grief Seeds.
Not only would they hunt Calamity Beasts the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau could not cover, they would even compete with its magical girls for them.
At press conferences, however, the bureau would claim credit for all the Azure Cloud Sect's work.
People in politics were cast from the same mold everywhere.
Aside from accumulating magic power, he could actually feel his physical training improving his magical girl form as well.
Extensive training made his control over magic power more precise and perfect when transformed, and even slightly increased his magic power.
But hardly anyone in the entire Azure Cloud Sect was willing to use this method.
It was exhausting, its benefits were not actually obvious, and it required a great deal of time. From the moment Jiang Si had gained the power to transform into a magical girl until now, he had never slacked off, training every single day without fail.
In reality, the magic power he had gained by today was only about as much as he would get from absorbing the magic power of one C-rank Calamity Beast's Grief Seed.
It really was not worth promoting.
Still, getting more physical exercise was never wrong, so this was also among the cultivation methods disseminated throughout the Azure Cloud Sect.
Jiang Si sat meditating on a cushion in the Illusory Moon Cave Abode, contemplating the road to advancement. Wisps of smoke drifted around him, the pleasing sound of running water lilted nearby, and the surrounding incense smoke carried a rich fragrance...
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Suddenly coughing violently, Jiang Si turned to glance at the incense, then started coughing again. "Who, cough, cough, who changed my incense..."
This fragrance was a little too choking.
Near the stone table in the center of the Illusory Moon Cave Abode, a girl wearing a pale green cloak and hugging a plush rabbit immediately shrank back at his words.
Then a little bird woven from threads of magic power appeared again and landed on the girl's head. "It was Yumo! Yumo did it!"
Faced with the tattling magical bird, the girl immediately flushed scarlet and clutched the plush rabbit in her arms, as though trying to hide behind it. "N-no, it wasn't me," she stammered.
Yumo was one of the Azure Cloud Sect's seven true disciples, all geniuses Bingtang had painstakingly selected.
Although she seemed rather timid and shy, she actually ranked near the top of the Azure Cloud Sect in sheer strength.
She was at the peak of New Sprout. Though she had not reached the realm of great perfection in New Sprout, half a step from Full Blossom, judging from Yinlian's earlier performance, the two should have been on the same level.
"I-I just followed what Lady Bingtang said." Yumo's voice grew quieter and quieter. "Helped change... change the incense..."
Jiang Si got up to check. Bingtang had probably taken the wrong one; one of the bundles was low-quality coil incense.
He glanced back at Yumo. This girl, who looked like an elementary schooler, was actually already in her first year of middle school, one year below Keke. According to Bingtang, she had had communication difficulties since childhood and was frequently bullied at school, which was how she had developed her timid personality.
Even after gaining the power of a magical girl, she had not changed much.
The pale green cloak she wore was meant to conceal the pure white princess dress underneath. It was large and hooded, and whenever Yumo felt shy, she would hug her rabbit doll and tug at her hood to hide her face.
Because she had communication difficulties and spent most of her time in the Illusory Moon Cave Abode, she was one of the few people in the sect who knew Jiang Si's identity.
She was also a backup Bingtang had left in place to help her look after the Illusory Moon Cave Abode when she could not come herself.
"This is low-quality coil incense. It smells very harsh. This is the stick incense we normally need." Jiang Si took out the two bundles and specifically explained them to her. "The immortal aura in the Illusory Moon Cave Abode comes from this bundle of stick incense."
Yumo immediately tugged her hood over her face. "S-sorry. I'll remember."
"Couldn't you smell it?"
A small breeze sprang up beside the little girl. "I didn't like... the original kind either, so... I kept blowing it away..."
"Help me clear away the fragrance around us first."
"Oh, oh, okay."
Hopping down from the stool, Yumo trotted over to the meditation cushion and waved her rabbit doll through the air.
Breeze after breeze rose, blowing the pungent smoke toward the vent.
Before long, Jiang Si had put in fresh stick incense, but Yumo still had not stopped when he lit it.
Watching her continuously blow his immortal aura toward the vent gave him a bit of a headache. "That's enough."
Only then did Yumo stop, gazing at him expectantly.
Even an NPC could hardly do worse.
"There's nothing else for you right now. Go do your own things."
"I-I don't have anything to do..."
Having just absorbed a B-rank Calamity Beast's magic crystal and finished training, Jiang Si temporarily abandoned meditation and looked at her. "Didn't Bingtang give you a task?"
"Lady Bingtang said... to come over and see whether you'd gone to school..."
Bingtang had guessed correctly. He had not attended class.
He had actually gone to school, but discovered that there were two math classes that afternoon.
They were not classes he liked, so he had simply skipped them.
"Lady Bingtang... Lady Bingtang also said she's confirmed Hyacinth's location, and you should... go see for yourself."
"Didn't I ask her to investigate for me?"
"Lady Bingtang said she's very busy and has classes."
Jiang Si reflexively replied, "Fine, after school works too."
"She said she's very busy and hasn't finished today's homework yet, so you should go yourself..."
Rubbing his forehead, he more or less understood that Bingtang was upset and sulking.
Not having finished her homework was far too flimsy an excuse. Normally, she could finish all her homework at school and still have time to help with his.
Beside him, Yumo added worriedly, "Lady Bingtang... seemed a little... a little unhappy."
"Got it."
Jiang Si looked around his Illusory Moon Cave Abode. Bingtang managed the entire large sect, and there were bound to be difficulties. It was perfectly normal for her to feel unhappy.
Just dealing with this disciple Yumo before him already felt troublesome to Jiang Si, and Bingtang had far more to face.
So unless necessary, Jiang Si could not be bothered ordering around this group of troublesome girls with their wildly different personalities.
"Forget it. I'll earn my own money." Sighing, Jiang Si finally stood and tidied his schoolbag. "Give me Hyacinth's location."
"It's in my... in my head," Yumo said timidly. "I'll lead the way."
The little bird formed from threads of magic power, silent all this time, immediately took flight. "Yumo, Yumo's sneaking ahead! Going on a date with the sect master!"
The little girl's face instantly turned scarlet, and even her earlobes were visibly burning as she swatted wildly at the bird above her head. "No, I'm not! It's not a date! Lady Bingtang only told me verbally. She didn't... didn't send a message..."
That last part was an explanation to Jiang Si.
With a casual flick of his finger, he shattered the magical bird.
It was a creature a magical girl had constructed from her own magic power. In truth, ordinary people would struggle even to touch it, let alone shatter it.
But Jiang Si was intimately familiar with this ability. As long as he located the magic core within, even dispersing it through physical means was extraordinarily effective.
"Don't waste time," he urged. "Let's go now."
"O-okay!"
Perching Cloud Academy, BH City.
Fourth Middle School, which Jiang Si attended, was actually already quite good, ranking among the best in BH City. Otherwise, Bingtang's family would not have been happy to send their child there.
But Perching Cloud Academy was BH City's very best private school. It had also been Bingtang's family's first choice, but in the end, Bingtang had insisted on going to Fourth Middle School and sitting beside Jiang Si, and her family could not stop her.
That was because, with Bingtang's abilities, it made no difference which school she attended.
For most students, however, getting into Perching Cloud Academy in BH City was essentially equivalent to getting into a prestigious university.
The educational environment was not so harsh or brutal either; in fact, it was quite relaxed. Its educational philosophy emphasized well-rounded development, identifying students' strengths and cultivating them.
It was a fairly ideal educational philosophy, and in practice, it was implemented reasonably well.
Because it was expensive enough.
This school's fees were far beyond what ordinary families could afford. Well-rounded development sounded wonderful, as did identifying and cultivating each student's particular talents, but those few phrases required enormous sums of money behind them.
Top teachers, a sound educational philosophy, equipment, facilities-every aspect differed completely from ordinary schools, and the number of things requiring money multiplied as well.
Traditional education might have many shortcomings, but its greatest advantage was that it was cheap.
At the gates of Perching Cloud Academy in BH City, all manner of luxury cars came and went. Even those who did not arrive by car invariably wore designer clothes and shoes.
After all, these were wealthy families. Insisting on matching school uniforms would have been rather tactless.
Yumo in her pale green cloak and Jiang Si in his ordinary school uniform looked utterly out of place among the students leaving school.
Mainly, neither of them had the air of a rich family's child...
High school students were at the age of youthful arrogance. Even among wealthy families, plenty did not constrain their children's morals through their upbringing.
Thus, quite a few students laughed as they looked at the pair.
Perhaps there was no particularly strong malice in it; they simply found it funny how out of place the two looked standing there.
But Yumo was still frightened into hiding behind Jiang Si, keeping her head firmly lowered as she hugged her rabbit doll and let her hood cover her head.
Like a turtle withdrawing into its shell.
She possessed supernatural power, yet ordinary people's mockery could still frighten her.
Jiang Si felt that he ought to discuss the Azure Cloud Sect's Dao heart cultivation with Bingtang once he returned.
On the great path of cultivation, having such a fragile Dao heart was no good thing.
Would it not shatter at a touch when faced with an inner demon tribulation?
Walking up near the school gates, Jiang Si said, "I'm looking for Hyacinth, a student in Class Seven, Year Three."
The security guard glanced at his uniform. "Fourth Middle School? Perching Cloud Academy doesn't welcome students from other schools. Go on, get lost."
"We're Hyacinth's friends."
"More than a dozen people come here looking for Hyacinth every day, all saying they're her friends." The guard rolled his eyes. "Who are you trying to fool? I know you're Hyacinth's fans. First, she no longer engages in magical girl activities. Second, she isn't meeting fans for the time being. Third, she has no intention of participating in idol activities."
Clearly, Hyacinth was very popular...
That was understandable, though. Before Yinlian, Hyacinth had always been the face of BH City's magical girls. Only after the Disaster Countermeasures Bureau forced her to retire had she gradually begun losing her fame.
Moreover, Hyacinth was one of the few magical girls who had publicly revealed her identity.
So there were also plenty of people who could find her.
This was also why Susan thought Hyacinth suspected her of being a Witch Association member. After all, the Witch Association had difficulty finding other magical girls. If they wanted to entice a magical girl in BH City, Hyacinth was their only option.
He examined the security guard and the defensive equipment inside. Only the electrified railings and the guard posed much of a threat.
Charging inside would be no problem. He was a minor, and the school was no high-risk, classified facility. Even if he was caught and the police came, detention was the worst he would face.
If he was not caught, he could simply act as if nothing had happened.
It was worth a try.
He turned, intending to take Yumo around the back. As long as contact was brief, the electric shocks from the railings could not break through his well-trained body.
Before he had taken more than a couple of steps, however, a pitch-black figure walked over from Perching Cloud Academy's teaching building.
She wore a sailor uniform similar to No. 4 Middle School's, but entirely black-so black it was almost glaring.
Her hair, eyes, clothes-almost everything about her was black, in stark contrast with her skin, which was so fair it looked almost sickly.
Those black eyes were hollow and somewhat lifeless, lending her exquisite, doll-like face a touch of something inhuman.
She really did look like a pitch-black doll.
And the sort of prop that would appear on a horror movie set, at that.
Hyacinth stopped when she reached the gate and tilted her head to look at Jiang Si. "You're Jiang Si, the newly debuted magical girl's older brother Susan mentioned, right? Take off your clothes and let me have a look."