Chapter 78: Opening the Book to Revitalize the Cultivation World (78% complete)
The first rays of sunlight pierce the veil of night through the eastern horizon, and a gentle, damp breeze caresses the islands in the sea—it is the freshest and most pleasant time of day.
Autumn is the perfect time for a good nap.
The first sound broke the silence of the island.
"Who is it! The alarm clock has rung three times and you still haven't turned it off! Is it fun to wake up every time an incense stick burns out?!"
"Exactly, could you also buy a soundproof box? You can keep your own alarm clock sounding to yourself."
There were intermittent complaints.
After a while, the sounds of various morning activities became more frequent.
Su Xiaoyao was fast asleep when she felt a slight itch on her face. She wrinkled her nose, turned over, and hugged the blanket to continue sleeping.
The disturbing thing didn't give up; instead, it followed her around to the side and continued to harass her.
Annoyed beyond measure, she casually swatted away the troublesome object and rolled back into her sprawled sleeping position.
This time, in her drowsy state, she cleverly pulled the blanket over her head to cover her face, preventing things from disturbing her precious rest time.
The bamboo pole with a feather stuck at one end, which had been flying in mid-air, stopped and swayed left and right as if it were thinking.
A moment later it turned sideways, pushed back a few feet as if gathering strength, and then suddenly plunged headfirst into the surface of the blanket.
It accurately positioned itself right under Su Xiaoyao's nose, through the blanket, right where she was breathing.
After silently counting to ten, Su Xiaoyao finally couldn't hold on any longer and threw off the blanket covering her head, barely opening her empty, lifeless eyes.
[Xiao Yao! You're finally awake!]
Seeing that she was finally awake, 996 dropped the bamboo stick he was holding and excitedly moved closer to her.
Then they discovered that Su Xiaoyao was asleep with her eyes open.
996:……
As expected of its host, it is exceptionally gifted and can do things that ordinary people cannot.
It finds a different way to comfort itself.
Just as it was hesitating about what to do next, the inner door was pushed open from the outside.
Shen Suqi tiptoed in and winked at the shifting bamboo pole.
Not having to endure Su Xiaoyao's furious morning grumbling, 996 was overjoyed and stepped aside to wait quietly.
Shen Suqi floated to Su Xiaoyao's bedside, squatted down, and whispered in her ear:
"Helian Yi gets up at the crack of dawn to practice his curved swords! He even feeds the first and fifteenth of the lunar month the Five-Star Sword Manual! He's determined to cut you down!"
"The Phoenix will be taken care of by our Talisman Cultivation Class again this month, and we'll be able to get our Medals of Honor by the end of the month!"
"How can you sleep at your age! Su Xiaoyao! Get up and keep rolling!"
A light gradually returned to Su Xiaoyao's eyes.
She turned her head away listlessly, staring blankly at the smiling Shen Suqi.
"You copied my lines."
Shen Suqi laughed happily, and behind her back, an invisible fox tail swayed.
"Who told you to come and bother me after being woken up by Helian Yi yesterday morning? This cycle of revenge is endless."
She shook her head and sighed in a pretentious manner.
Su Xiaoyao rolled her eyes.
She was awakened early yesterday morning by the loud, deliberate martial arts practice noises coming from Helian Yi's courtyard. When she checked the time, it was only four in the morning.
She was devastated when her sweet dream was disturbed, and she tossed and turned in bed until dawn, unable to sleep.
To release the pent-up frustration in her heart, she decided to use the method of transferring her suffering—
Go and cause trouble for the next unlucky person.
Therefore, Shen Suqi, who lived nearby, was chosen by her by chance.
Cause and effect are a cycle, and that's how we ended up in this situation today.
Su Xiaoyao, sporting two classic panda eyes, groggily got up, pounced on the culprit, grabbed him, and dragged him to the bed.
"Don't roll over, come back and continue your nap!"
"No, no! Don't try to drag me into this mess!" Shen Suqi had learned a lot of concise vocabulary.
While still not fully awake, Su Xiaoyao was caught off guard when a "refreshing talisman" was stuck to her head, instantly energizing her.
Once her agility returned, she immediately began to entangle Shen Suqi with fierce attacks.
The two exchanged blows for a while, only stopping when Jiang Yun, who was waiting outside the door, raised his voice to ask how things were going inside.
"Stop dreaming, you quilt spirit! I will not yield!" Shen Suqi unleashed a talisman array.
Su Xiaoyao didn't have time to tear off the talisman on her forehead, and like an upgraded version of a nimble zombie, she hopped around and dodged.
Stop hitting it! The bed collapsed!
The 996 work schedule is being shouted out.
It should have known that these two were equally bad, and that getting together wouldn't be as good as it expected when it got up for school.
When they get together, they just turn into two little kids!
Someone needs to come to the rescue!
996 is a phrase that resonates deep within my heart.
As if hearing its prayer, Jiang Yun transmitted his voice once again.
"If we don't leave now, we'll be late."
The two people inside the room then stopped, still not quite done.
"Hmph, we'll have another match next time." Su Xiaoyao jumped off the bed, her head held high with arrogance.
"Who's afraid of who! I'll definitely get up an incense stick earlier than you tomorrow!" Shen Suqi refused to back down like a child.
"Then I'll get up early and burn two incense sticks!"
"I'll burn three sticks!"
"I'll take half an hour!"
"I have one hour!"
"I'm not sleeping!"
The two bickering adults suddenly stopped talking at the same time.
"No, why are we comparing ourselves to each other? Sleeping until the very last second is my life's motto." Su Xiaoyao suddenly woke up.
She patted her cheeks.
What indecent things was she saying? How could she get up so early? Even missing a second of sleep is a sin!
Shen Suqi also fell into deep thought.
Yes, they shouldn't get stuck in this vicious cycle. What happened to the promise of attending classes on time?
The two exchanged a glance.
“No, I have to get into the classroom at the very last second tomorrow,” Su Xiaoyao said. “Only then can I demonstrate my amazing time management skills.”
“Same here, I won’t let the classroom waste my time,” Shen Suqi said.
Su Xiaoyao said with satisfaction: "You have a high ability to accept new words and use them very flexibly."
"Right, right, I think so too." Shen Suqi said proudly.
"So we shouldn't hurt each other. The real source of evil is Helian Yi, who woke me up. We should unite against him," Su Xiaoyao said, stroking her chin.
“That makes perfect sense.” Shen Suqi nodded repeatedly.
And so the two reached a reconciliation.
Outside the door, Jiang Yun and Xiao Tingyuan waited and waited, and finally the two best friends, holding hands and having an extremely good relationship, arrived.
Xiao Tingyuan frowned as he looked at the time displayed on the communication stone.
Two months into the semester, the university adopted the "year, month, day, week, hour, minute, second" system of timekeeping, and he gradually got used to it.
He said, "There are still six minutes and twenty-five seconds before class starts. Xiao Jiang is the one who is furthest from the classroom. It should be just right for us to leave now."
"Then let's go!"
Su Xiaoyao was the first to pull out her newly made skateboard.
Its appearance is exactly the same as the skateboard she played with in her previous life. The only difference is that the main function of this model of skateboard is to reduce the spiritual power used when driving, making it faster, more stable and effortless than flying on a sword.
After she created this, some of her classmates who were in business came to her to buy the rights to make the prototype. They then sold this convenient, fast, and inexpensive mode of transportation outside the island, and the designer, Su Xiaoyao, made another fortune.
"Is this how we have class?" Xiao Tingyuan asked, looking at her.
"Is that all?" Su Xiaoyao glanced down at the dinosaur pajamas she was wearing, then reached out and hugged the soft, thick tail to her chest.
She was ready to leave like this.
"Although your pajamas are convenient to wear out, most people will only wear them to eat or go shopping; very few people will wear them to class," Xiao Tingyuan gently reminded him.
After the start of the school year, Su Xiaoyao seized another business opportunity.
As she had predicted, the cultivators who had never complained of fatigue, no matter how hard they had worked or how long they had to work, were ultimately defeated by "Eighth in the Morning".
She seized the opportunity to carefully develop the fabric and launched an extremely soft and comfortable pajama set. She simplified the shapes of various animals and wore them on her body. The design was strange, but strangely cute.
Most importantly, she gave Jun Huilian several pieces for free. Jun Huilian liked the fabric and wore pajamas to class for three days in a row.
With her casual attire, the students became more relaxed after a wave of free endorsements, and wearing pajamas out in public on campus became a beautiful sight.
Su Xiaoyao made a great profit again.
However, apart from Jun Huilian, who is a teacher, no one else dares to dress casually in class.
In the cultivation world, respect for teachers is still highly valued, and students worry that not wearing formal attire will displease their teachers.
“You don’t understand.” Su Xiaoyao saw things much better than they did. “Haven’t you noticed? As long as we cultivate diligently and do not do evil, the teachers’ requirements for us are actually very lenient. It’s okay if we doze off in class; the teachers won’t say anything if they see us.”
"That's because you're the one who's dozing off." Xiao Tingyuan retorted helplessly, "The teacher knows that you understand a large part of the content thoroughly, so there's no difference between listening to it once and listening to it twice, which is why the teacher is lenient with you."
"Is that so?" Su Xiaoyao asked doubtfully.
Shen Suqi nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's how it is too. When the class talks about the content I've mastered, even if I'm daydreaming, Xiao Ye won't care. Our teachers seem to know our learning progress very well."
"That's probably what makes top universities different," Su Xiaoyao understood.
"Let's go." Jiang Yun flipped onto the banner.
He has recently been trying his best to control the summoning banner.
This was Jun Huilian's suggestion; she offered a few more words of advice to her assistant.
For example, although the Soul-Summoning Banner is of extraordinary quality, it is almost impossible for the original body to develop a spirit due to the influence of the wronged souls trapped within it over the years. However, it is still a top-level sacred artifact, and it may have a vague sense of self.
Therefore, if you want to truly become the master of the soul-summoning banner and unleash its full power when using it, you must start by "cultivating a relationship" with it in your daily life.
It would be best to put down the sword for now and let the summoning banner integrate into his life, so that he can gradually get used to its presence.
Therefore, he even changed his sword flight to banner flight.
At first, it was a bit clumsy and the Soul-Summoning Banner was reluctant to take on any role other than a combat weapon. However, under Jiang Yun's patient guidance, it gradually came to accept him.
The summoning banner, which has begun to take the initiative, is no less intelligent than Helian Yi's scimitar.
Xiao Tingyuan stepped onto his sword and looked at the people around him using banners, skateboards he had made himself, and wind talismans, and couldn't help but think of himself.
Are there any special, exclusive modes of transportation available for kitchen repairmen?
Thinking this way, he asked the same question.
Su Xiaoyao casually took a Wind-Fixing Talisman from Shen Suxi to maintain her image.
She was busy finding a good spot to put up the talisman when she heard this, and without even looking up, she said, "You should still eat."
Xiao Tingyuan was dejected.
Because their residences were so close together, the group of four hadn't gone far when they ran into Helian Yi, who was strolling leisurely.
His two curved swords flew through the air, sometimes colliding with each other and making a loud noise, and sometimes working together to spin into a fiery wheel, sparking electricity due to their high speed.
Su Xiaoyao thought to herself, "What a small world!"
This guy actually dared to show his face in front of her!
She rushed over, stood in front of him, and shouted, "I! Want! To! Complain! About! You!"
"What did you complain about me about?" Helian Yi was forced to lean back by her.
“I’m complaining about your disturbance. You’re so eager to be noticed when you leave home this morning. I didn’t have time to confront you yesterday morning because I was busy with classes. But now that I’ve run into you, I’m going to have a good talk with you.”
Su Xiaoyao rolled up her sleeves and began to criticize.
"We've been neighbors for two months now, and out of trust in you, I didn't even use soundproofing when I slept! But you betrayed that trust yesterday! I'm feeling very heavy-hearted now; you've betrayed our neighborly harmony!"
Helian Yi felt a heaviness on his head, as if a very heavy hat had been placed on it.
"I'll reimburse you for the soundproofing tape you used," he said, emphasizing the key point.
Su Xiaoyao's brows relaxed a little.
Helian Yi continued, "From now on, I will consciously use the anti-diaphragm every day. Yesterday was the first day of my morning exercise, and I forgot about it."
Su Xiaoyao was skeptical, not expecting him to be so easy to talk to.
With class time approaching, she could no longer question them, so they went to their respective classrooms.
She only looked up after she found a seat.
She pointed out something was wrong, that Helian Yi was messing with her!
His meaning was clear: he wanted to insist on morning exercises every day in the future, and to increase the intensity of his practice even without sleep.
Goodness, no wonder he agreed so easily, it turns out he's ready to start reading.
Shuzhu hadn't arrived at the classroom yet, and the atmosphere inside was quite relaxed before class started.
A cultivator happened to sit down next to Su Xiaoyao, and she took the opportunity to strike up a conversation.
"Class monitor, class monitor, don't you think everyone's been super tense lately?" she asked, leaning closer.
Su Xiaoyao removed the stimulant, and her mind returned to the half-asleep state of waking up early. With her eyes still half-closed, she spoke without much thought: "I think so, Helian Yi has rolled up his own roll."
"As expected," the monk said with a matter-of-fact expression. "Everyone is vying for the medal of honor."
"What medal of honor?" Hearing the familiar term, Su Xiaoyao's thoughts were pulled back from her dream.
The cultivation world shouldn't have the concept of "medals" at all.
"It's something you can clip onto your clothes. I heard it's a magical artifact designed and crafted by several teachers, possessing excellent defensive capabilities. But that's secondary." The cultivator's voice grew louder and louder. "The most important thing is honor! As long as the class is profitable for a consecutive quarter and remains the best class, everyone in the class will receive a reward of 100 credits and different levels of medals. The medal for first place is a unique golden holy artifact medal, while everyone else gets a silver holy artifact medal, and there's only one set of each."
Su Xiaoyao listened intently: "I didn't even know about this."
"The teacher mentioned it briefly during class, but it was something you already knew, so you missed it because you were catching up on sleep. The Medal of Honor was put up for display at the entrance of the conference hall yesterday, and we're waiting to see if the Talisman Cultivation Class can hold onto first place this month," the cultivator said with a smile. "That's why I came to tell you, in case you didn't know about it."
After being reminded, Su Xiaoyao remembered what Shen Suxi had said when she woke her up this morning.
"The Phoenix will be under the care of our Talisman Cultivation Class again this month. We'll be able to get our Medals of Honor by the end of the month!"
Two months ago, classes officially started, and they met the legendary phoenix cub. Since then, everyone has been eager to serve this difficult master, but only the class ranked first each month is qualified to take care of the little phoenix.
Since the start of the school year, Little Phoenix has been constantly occupied by Fu Xiu's class.
Su Xiaoyao always felt that this was very much like a red flag in motion, with the half-grown little divine beast representing the highest recognition of Tianyan Academy.
However, she didn't feel envious.
Because she felt like she was still a child herself and didn't want to take care of children at all, she was still a domineering phoenix cub. She only needed to observe phoenixes from afar, as they were proud and difficult creatures.
Moreover, the Talisman Cultivation Class was experiencing a constant cycle of life and death, and as the class monitor, Shen Suqi had a lot of time with Little Phoenix, who often used her status as her best friend to try and benefit from the auspicious energy.
Why not benefit from spiritual energy without having to raise children?
The reason why others don't compete or fight isn't because they don't like it.
The little phoenix is very curious and will play with anything that looks interesting, so it's really not difficult to get close to it.
Many people secretly wished to take care of the little phoenix, but divine beasts possess an aura of majesty that surpasses the world, giving people a feeling that they can only be admired from afar and not touched. Only with Jun Huilian in charge of the talisman cultivation class, the little phoenix behaved no differently from an ordinary beautiful human child in front of her, being well-behaved and cute.
Therefore, the students from other classes thought there was no need to compete for this title. Anyway, it seemed that the town's favorite little phoenix liked to stay in the talisman cultivation class the most. There was no problem visiting between classes. At most, they would be given a few eye rolls by those talisman cultivators. They just had to be thick-skinned and endure it.
I thought this was fine, but then another honor medal appeared that you could get by winning a quarter in a row.
Not only people from other classes, but she also got excited.
As everyone knows, Su Xiaoyao is usually lazy, but when it comes to the sniper rankings, she becomes incredibly diligent—it's one of her greatest hobbies! Listening to the heartbreak of others as they break down!
Even if that person is Shen Suxi, she has no reason to let him go in the competition!
The monk beside him continued:
"I heard that both the sword cultivator class and the Buddhist cultivator class have taken action. You know the leader of the sword cultivator class, Helian Yi. Although he uses dual swords, he was still chosen as the class leader. His strength should not be underestimated. He seems to have made ample preparations to intercept the honor medal of the talisman cultivator class. This is not surprising. Everyone knows that Helian Yi always strives to be the best. Apart from you, he has never lost to anyone."
"The Buddhist class is also quite interesting. They say that the golden artifact in the Medal of Honor is coated with the golden light of merit, which is undoubtedly a very beneficial item for Buddhist disciples. So they also want to try their best to prevent the talisman cultivators from getting it."
After hearing this, Su Xiaoyao knew whose arrangement it was; she couldn't think of anyone else but Xiao Ye, who loved to cause trouble.
Previously, the only reward for being named the best class was to stick a sticker on a little phoenix. Sticking a sticker on a little phoenix is not a difficult thing, so no one competed for it.
At the beginning of the third month, when everyone had let their guard down, it was suddenly announced that there would be an extra reward if they could stay in first place for three consecutive months.
The semester has been in session for some time now, and many students who had rushed to take classes are starting to feel overwhelmed by the workload. Because they are so exhausted, the cultivators who could go without sleep are now getting plenty of rest, and they are gradually realizing the importance of academic credits.
The reward of 100 credits for each student in a class is eye-catching enough, and there are even unique badges.
And since it's unique and there's only one set available, who wouldn't be tempted by such a limited-edition reward!
Even those taskers who had suffered greatly from the system's in-game store couldn't help but be tempted.
This ingenious reward program sparked the enthusiasm of students who had been attending classes for two months without much progress.
Fu Xiuban is in grave danger.
Seeing her lost in thought, a cultivator nearby asked, "Class monitor, do you think our class should participate?"
Everyone was envious of the reward, but the students in the equipment repair class all knew that their class leader and the other class leader were best friends, so no one brought it up to her.
"Let's get involved! How can we miss out on this major quarterly event!" Su Xiaoyao perked up, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "Reading is always beneficial, let's get started!"
"Great! Class monitor, you're awesome! I'll pass on the word. We'll also have a contest with the Talisman Cultivation Class this week!" the cultivator exclaimed excitedly.
Su Xiaoyao nodded.
She felt that her classmates misunderstood her.
She's not the type to be indifferent to worldly affairs; on the contrary, she loves to compete for anything that presents a challenge.
She may appear carefree now, but in reality, she is anything but relaxed, given her dual identities as a top-tier mission leader and an elite student at the academy.
To enjoy double the resources, one must bear more pressure.
The reason she was so exhausted was largely because she had just managed to hold onto the system rankings while simultaneously juggling her studies and cultivation in the real world.
As a participant, she clearly saw that the competition among the lower ranks of the list had weakened, and most people were unable to balance both, putting one of them aside and choosing to prioritize their studies.
But someone ranked so high like her couldn't let go, especially since she was a prominent figure of equal rank on both sides of the Tianyan Academy in the system space.
Su Xiaoyao is quite concerned about her image, and showing off has always been one of her greatest hobbies. To maintain both her outward appearance and her inner world, she has to put in more effort than others.
The event initiated by Jun Huilian was like a stimulating seasoning, reigniting her interest.
The monk was clearly prepared and began to analyze her competitors.
"Although the other classes seem to be quiet on the surface, I saw that my friend in the sound repair class brought back four broken mid-grade suonas yesterday, two more than usual, which shows how hard he works. He also got up very early today, betraying our reconnaissance alliance... I think the sound repair class is also trying to cut off the badges of the talisman repair class."
Su Xiaoyao clapped her hands and cheered: "Great! More denominators make our gold content even higher."
Her tone was arrogant, but it didn't make others uncomfortable. Instead, it gave her classmates a boost of confidence.
The leader of the equipment repair class has stopped arguing, and the real battle has begun.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 01:59:29 and 23:35:30 on March 13, 2024!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: 4 bottles of sweet candy balls;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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