Chapter 2: The Revitalization of the Academy - Progress: 2%
The interior of the mustard seed space is a hidden world, stretching as far as the eye can see.
It was personally crafted by Jun Huilian, pursuing the ultimate in luxury and splendor. Even the floor is made of a single piece of warm jade that can absorb spiritual energy. The jade surface is carved with exquisite Pixiu patterns, so detailed that every scale is lifelike. Every step you take here will reveal top-tier magical artifacts that are sought after by the outside world, but these artifacts are only used as utensils for daily use.
When Jun Hui was a rogue cultivator, she was proficient in drawing arrays, making medicine, crafting artifacts, and creating talismans. She used all the finished products she made to exchange for resources. Later, she was unwilling to shortchange herself, and her strong desire to hoard led her to accumulate unparalleled and precious wealth over the long years of cultivation.
Lin Ming handed her the burning lotus flower.
Burning lotus flowers are not rare, but they are extremely difficult to preserve. Once picked, they lose their effectiveness in a short period of time. Since they are not hard to obtain, she figured she could just go out and get them when she needed them, so she never collected them intentionally.
She threw the burning lotus flower and other prepared items into the four-legged cauldron, manipulated the fire to refine a square stone key carved with a lotus pattern, then embedded the key into a stone door as tall as a three-story house, took a step back and said, "Wake up, my old friend."
As if in response, a deafening roar erupted.
There was movement inside the dark stone gate; the giant beast exhaled scorching breath and took heavy, powerful steps.
Jun Huilian waited calmly at the door. Before long, the beast's oppressive aura disappeared, and in its place, an exceptionally handsome man walked out from behind the door.
"Fei Bai," she called his name with a smile.
Jun Feibai's face, which had been showing signs of sleepiness, vanished upon seeing her.
He visibly became delighted: "Ah Lian, the spiritual energy here is so pure, did you take me to ascend?"
Jun Huilian affectionately rubbed his head: "When you ascend to immortality, your spirit pet will go through the tribulation with you. It will sense your presence even when it's asleep."
Jun Feibai is her spirit pet Pixiu, with whom she has signed a life-and-death contract, sharing life and death, fortune and misfortune.
She patiently explained the current situation.
“There are plenty of cultivation techniques. We collected all of them back then. If they need any, we'll just give them to them.” Jun Feibai’s idea was simple and straightforward.
He didn't care how many copies of the cultivation method he made and gave away; he didn't really care.
Jun Huilian shook his head: "Let's not talk about what kind of turmoil it will cause. Everything in the world has its own laws of balance. It's okay to exploit loopholes and spread it gradually, but if we give it all to the Heavenly Dao at once, it will accelerate the collapse."
“What balance and what luck, it’s really troublesome.” Jun Feibai muttered, “Before A-Lian saved the world, the person with the strongest luck I had ever seen was that stupid and incompetent Fang Tieyan who had extremely good fortune. We only found out that he was a lonely soul from another world after he completely ruined himself. He treated himself like the male protagonist in a storybook. He didn’t even know how to choose his master. It shows that his luck wasn’t that magical.”
Jun Huilian was amused by his words and remembered this person after being reminded by him.
Fang Tieyan was a wandering ghost who possessed other people's bodies. He was arrogant and disrespectful because of his strange ideas. No matter how strong his luck was, it couldn't withstand his recklessness. Finally, he provoked a vengeful demonic cultivator. The cultivation world was full of treacherous methods. The demonic cultivator killed him before he could grow up and annihilated him without leaving a trace.
Later, she became curious about where his ingenious ideas came from, so she extracted his body's memories and discovered that he was bound to a spirit pet called "System," which also came from another small world and fed on luck.
She also learned through the system that there are three ways to obtain fortune: First, by exchanging merits. For example, the merits she accumulated from saving the world could be converted into fortune enough for her to ascend without having to undergo the tribulation of lightning. However, her spiritual power was exhausted and she fell into a deep sleep first. Second, by gathering and generating fortune. This condition is extremely demanding. It is similar to the establishment of a dynasty in the mortal world. One must choose a suitable location to dig out a "dragon vein" to ensure that the fortune does not dissipate. Then, one must gather all those with great fortune in the world and not ignore ordinary mortals. One must achieve a flourishing and prosperous society. Third, it is the system's method of generating fortune with fortune.
From the very beginning, the system selected Fang Tieyan, whose luck far surpassed that of ordinary people, and devised a perfect life path for him. It can almost be said that as long as he follows its arrangements, Fang Tieyan will at least grow into a regional overlord. The so-called task points are luck. Fang Tieyan earns points by completing tasks and then exchanges them for items with the system. This in-and-out process does not hinder Fang Tieyan's growth and is sufficient to keep the system running.
Unfortunately, Fang Tieyan was greedy for enjoyment and ambitious, which caused him to waste his opportunities.
"You reminded me." Jun Huilian's eyes flickered, and he smiled silently.
"What did you remind me of?" Jun Feibai asked, bewildered.
She said, "The system is a great tool for exploiting loopholes. It can always conjure up some rewards for Fang Tieyan out of thin air. The rules don't allow me to directly interfere in other people's lives, so I can use it to give away the cultivation technique."
"You want to cultivate 'Fang Tieyan' to nourish your fortune? But there's only one system, and you've already dissected it," Jun Feibai reminded him.
“One ‘square iron inkstone’ is definitely not enough, we can make some more.” Jun Huilian became excited. “I’ve been interested in this kind of thing for a long time, so it’s a good opportunity to make some to play with.”
"As long as A-Lian is happy." Jun Feibai nodded obediently.
Jun Huilian's mind flashed, and she turned to look at Lin Ming, whose thoughts were in sync with hers.
Lin Ming spoke up at the right moment: "The other clones are cultivating separately and are located in various places, so they were unable to return in time."
Jun Feibai recognized Lin Ming at a glance as Jun Huilian's clone. He wondered why she was controlling another version of herself to talk to him, and she seemed quite happy about it.
Jun Huilian found this very interesting. She nodded in response to Lin Ming and waved her long sleeves to reach through the void.
A cloud of mist appeared before my eyes, and from behind the mist, the locations of three clones materialized.
The girl wiping her longsword sat alone by the window, exuding an aura of cold indifference that kept everyone at arm's length. She glanced in a certain direction and nodded slightly to her, who was thousands of miles away.
The frozen river stretched out in a vast expanse. A simple old woman, wearing a straw raincoat, put away her fishing rod, which was now devoid of bait, and took off her bamboo hat, exchanging a smile with her across the distance.
A child with a bewitching face and dressed in fiery red sat on the edge of a cliff, his bare feet swinging freely in the air, the bells tied to his ankles jingling with each movement, and a pair of crimson vertical pupils gazing at her from afar.
Jun Feibai asked, "Did A-Lian create four clones?"
“The cultivation world has four continents: Yongzhou, Yingzhou, Lingzhou, and Youzhou. I created four bodies of myself and spent ten years exploring each continent, making friends with different people, and observing their fortunes,” Jun Huilian replied.
A thought struck her, and Lin Ming stepped forward to ask, "How many systems should we build in the first batch?"
"How about a hundred to start?" Jun Huilian said. "I've studied weapon crafting for many years, but I've never crafted anything as ethereal as this. Let's try it out first. I've analyzed Fang Tieyan's system, and it can use spiritual energy to replace luck to provide the operating energy. The luck a person carries is like a malleable vessel. Every time it's filled, it expands, but the vessel is only so big. When he does something, his luck surges, and the overflowing luck is returned to heaven and earth. The system specifically captures that overflowing part and turns it into points. The problem with the Heavenly Dao is that it can't absorb the returned luck. We need to gather the dispersed luck and prevent it from being lost again."
Jun Feibai interjected, "Fang Tieyan's memories are stored here with me. We can find the system rules to refine and imitate from them."
“Then let’s give it a try,” Lin Ming said. “If you want to ‘bind’ someone without anyone knowing, just like that system, it would be incredibly easy. Even someone in the late stage of Tribulation Transcending would be separated from you by a huge gap, not to mention that even those in the Integration stage are rare.”
Jun Huilian was eager to try.
Jun Feibai asked the crucial question: "Then who should we bind to? We need to carefully select the first batch of task participants."
Lin Ming said, "That's not difficult. Let the four of us choose from the four continents. We've met all sorts of people over the years."
“Those who are not bound by great fortune only need to be resilient or have some special talent. Ordinary people may also be able to generate their own fortune.” Jun Huilian added, “Each of you select twenty people, and the remaining twenty systems will be randomly distributed. You might get some unexpected gains.”
"In that case, let's prepare a few more. Maybe we'll run into some interesting people," Lin Ming said.
Jun Feibai frowned: "But relying solely on supporting their cultivation is too slow. Not everyone can ascend to immortality at a hundred years old like A-Lian. It takes at least a thousand years to cultivate someone to the Tribulation Transcending stage, and there are many who are stuck at the bottleneck for two or three thousand years."
Jun Huilian recalled the second way to obtain fortune—gathering and generating.
“What if we bring them together?” she said.
“Let the system guide them to the same place,” Lin Ming continued.
Jun Huilian looked at Lin Ming: "The best way to gather cultivators together for a long period of time is..."
Lin Ming gave the answer: "Establish a school and academy."
“An academy is a good idea.” Jun Huilian immediately decided, “Some promising talents have already joined sects, and others come from powerful and influential families. Unlike independent cultivators, they are not free. The academy’s positioning is the most suitable, providing education to all regardless of where they come from.”
She paused, then opened her palm and several illusory figures appeared: "It just so happens that I received quite a few inheritances back then, so it wouldn't be bad to let them choose suitable successors again."
Jun Feibai stared at those illusory figures as he recalled.
Ten thousand years ago, A-Lian appeared out of nowhere with extraordinary talent. As a rogue cultivator without any sect or faction, many ascended seniors had their eyes on her legacy. While others struggled to find her in secret realms, she entered them like a rabbit entering a wolf's den, with legacy offerings to her as if they were free.
But Ah Lian created his own unique set of techniques and refused to inherit anyone's skills.
The older generation was unwilling to give up and clung to her, believing that she would eventually come to her senses. Unexpectedly, they waited and waited until she cultivated to the Tribulation Transcending stage without any obstacles, and then waited and waited until ten thousand years later.
Sensing the resistance from the successor in his palm, Jun Huilian gently reassured him: "Heroes emerge in chaotic times. Seniors will surely find a suitable successor."
The will of Heaven promised her that after revitalizing the cultivation world, she could roam freely in the Upper Realm. Little did she know that she could roam freely without accumulating any more merit.
These senior figures who left behind their teachings all guided her across different realms, and each of them considered themselves her masters. Now, they are all powerful overlords in the upper realm. The reason she stayed was twofold: first, she couldn't bear to see the cultivation world decline, and second, she was really bored and wanted to find some fun after reaching the pinnacle of immortality.
"I've never taken on any apprentices, yet I've suddenly become the headmaster." Jun Huilian said with some curiosity, "Let's go and think about it."
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