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"Ach!"
Shi Quan, who had just arrived at the cafeteria, suddenly sneezed. "Are Dad and Mom thinking of me?"
Rubbing his nose, he just wanted to eat something now, so he walked straight to the cafeteria's serving window without thinking too much.
He had no idea that he had already been described by Master and Tang San as a mutated Blue Silver Grass Martial Spirit.
After devouring five large steamed buns and two bowls of plain congee, Shi Quan's rumbling stomach finally stopped wailing.
Leaving the cafeteria, Shi Quan headed towards the academy's library.
There was an opening ceremony in the morning, and he couldn't neglect his studies. Plus, there was the Cultivation of Martial Spirit control, and the Cultivation of the six great martial arts. Just thinking about it gave Shi Quan a headache; he had too much to do.
Moreover, for the Cultivation of martial arts, he needed to find a relatively quiet place where no one would disturb him.
He had to plan all of this carefully.
Nuoding Academy's library was actually just two classrooms converted, so it wasn't large. There were only five or six bookshelves in the library, and five or six tables were placed near the main entrance, with a management desk beside them.
Shi Quan walked into the library and gently knocked on the management desk.
"Who is it?" Hearing the sound, a sleepy-eyed old man in gray clothes behind the library's management desk lazily lifted his head.
"Hello, teacher, I'd like to borrow a book. Do I need to go through any procedures?" Shi Quan waved at the old man.
The old man finally woke up, looked Shi Quan up and down, and asked, "First-year new student?"
"Yes, teacher, my name is Shi Quan, a first-year new student."
"This is the first time I've seen a first-year student come to borrow books." The old man chuckled softly and waved his hand. "You can just go and get whatever book you want. Just tell me when you've got it."
"Thank you, teacher."
Shi Quan nodded and walked into the library.
He didn't know the first-year curriculum yet, but he knew without guessing that it must be very basic. For him, there was no need to study these basic knowledge points, so it was very necessary for him to borrow some more comprehensive books to self-study in advance, otherwise, the morning class time would be wasted.
Perhaps for the convenience of students, the bookshelves were not tall, and there were also stools specially placed beside them. However, many parts of the bookshelves were already dusty, indicating that very few people came to the library to borrow and read books.
Shi Quan's goal was clear: he was looking for books about Martial Spirits and Spirit Beasts.
Ordinary people could only buy books that recorded common Spirit Beasts. Books about Martial Spirits were difficult for ordinary people to obtain, and most of them were collected in academies and Spirit Hall.
To understand the myriad strange Martial Spirits and countless types of Spirit Beasts in Douluo Continent, reading and studying were very necessary.
After searching for a while, Shi Quan quickly returned to the management desk with two books.
"'Martial Spirit Record Encyclopedia,' 'Spirit Beast Species Compendium'?" The gray-clothed old man looked at the books Shi Quan handed him and couldn't help but glance at Shi Quan again, then smiled and handed the books back. "That's fine."
"Thank you, teacher." Shi Quan politely thanked him, took the books, and walked out of the library.
The gray-clothed old man watched Shi Quan's receding figure, and the smile on his lips grew wider. "He's a polite kid. Children who like to read at such a young age are rare…"
There was still some time before the opening ceremony, so Shi Quan directly took the two books to the playground where the ceremony was to be held. He casually walked to a corner of the playground and sat down, quietly reading his books, waiting for the opening ceremony to begin.
Warm sunlight fell upon him, and as he looked at the books in his hand, Shi Quan felt as if he had returned to the small courtyard in Shi Family Village.
Immersed in the ocean of knowledge, time quickly passed.
The opening ceremony quickly began. The playground had already been divided into areas by grade. When the students gathered, Shi Quan slowly got up from the playground and walked to the very back of the first-year team.
Shi Quan had participated in many such ceremonies in his previous life. They were just some academy leaders speaking passionately to inspire, whether he listened or not didn't matter.
As Shi Quan expected, after the teachers finished counting the attendance, the people on the stage immediately began to speak passionately.
Shi Quan was too lazy to listen, so he simply lowered his head and continued reading.
"What are you reading?" A voice suddenly interrupted Shi Quan.
He looked up and saw a girl with a sweet smile. Seeing her distinctive ponytail, Shi Quan immediately recognized the girl in front of him—Xiao Wu!
Xiao Wu was always an restless person. She had originally thought the opening ceremony would be something fun, but after learning from Wang Sheng that the ceremony was so boring, she didn't want to attend. However, since the teacher had to count attendance, she could only sneak to the back, hoping to find an Opportunity to slip away. But then she saw Shi Quan looking down at something, and curiosity made her lean in.
"Reading."
Looking at Xiao Wu's big eyes so close to him, Shi Quan instinctively took a step back. A hundred-thousand-year-old rabbit, she was really good at pretending to be a child. He had to commend her acting skills.
"Reading?" Xiao Wu pouted, and when she clearly saw the book in Shi Quan's hand, she immediately lost interest, like a wilted eggplant. "What's so good about reading? It's too boring."
Shi Quan chuckled faintly, "In books, there are houses of gold; in books, there are beauties as fair as jade. You wouldn't understand."
"In books, there are houses of gold? In books, there are beauties as fair as jade? What does that mean?" The bored Xiao Wu seemed to have discovered something interesting and stared at Shi Quan curiously.
"It means there's money and beautiful women in books."
"Money in books?"
Xiao Wu's eyes immediately lit up. Yesterday, she almost couldn't eat because she had no money, and later at the cafeteria, she was mocked by older students because of money. Now, hearing that there was money in books, she immediately became interested. Looking at the two books in Shi Quan's hand, she directly, and familiarly, took the other book from Shi Quan's hand and started flipping through it.
"Money, where's the money?" Xiao Wu asked while flipping through the book.
Seeing Xiao Wu like this, Shi Quan couldn't help but chuckle. He truly didn't know if this hundred-thousand-year-old rabbit was truly silly or just naive, to actually think that money was hidden inside books.
Shi Quan raised his hand, took the book back from Xiao Wu, and explained, "The money is in the knowledge of the book, not tucked inside it."
Xiao Wu's expression stiffened, and she said indignantly, "Are you fooling me?"
Shi Quan said indifferently, "I wasn't. You just misunderstood."
Xiao Wu glared fiercely at Shi Quan. "I'll remember you. What's your name?"
He didn't like being disturbed when he was reading. Hearing Xiao Wu say that, Shi Quan was even less inclined to pay attention to her. After glancing at her, he ignored her and lowered his head to continue reading.
Seeing Shi Quan ignore her, Xiao Wu gnashed her teeth in anger. When had her Sister Xiao Wu ever been so ignored by someone?
If it weren't for the opening ceremony, she would definitely teach this boy a good lesson.
Shi Quan had no mind to care about Xiao Wu beside him; he had too many things to be busy with.
The ceremony continued in an orderly fashion. Shi Quan was reading intently when he suddenly noticed that the voice on the stage seemed somewhat familiar. He looked up and saw that the person speaking on stage was actually the old man who guarded the library.
And on the nameplate in front of his desk, it clearly read Dean, Marde.
"He's the Dean?"
Shi Quan hadn't expected the Dean to be guarding a small library.
"Dean Marde seems to be good friends with Master. It looks like they both share a common love for Spirit Master theory?"
With a sudden thought, Shi Quan remembered this crucial point. Otherwise, how could a dignified academy Dean appear in a library?
As Dean Ma's voice faded, the entire opening ceremony drew to a close. With a dismissal announcement, the entire playground instantly became lively.
Picking up his books, Shi Quan immediately rushed towards the academy's back gate. Yesterday, while exploring the academy with his parents, he had noticed a small hill outside the back gate, covered with many trees. It looked like a place few people visited, and there was a good amount of Blue Silver Grass on the hill. Few people, plus a semi-mimicking environment, made it an excellent place for Shi Quan to Cultivate martial arts and spirit power.
The hill was not steep. After casually choosing a suitable patch of woods and ensuring no one was around, Shi Quan found a slightly larger clearing within the woods and stopped, placing his books aside.
Sitting upright, Shi Quan directly sat cross-legged on the Blue Silver Grass with the five hearts facing the sky. After calming his mind, he quickly focused his mind on his Dantian and began to Cultivate.
Internal Energy flowed along the Ren Meridian to the Tanzhong acupoint. Palms met at the base, fingers pointed upwards, and the ten fingers of both hands naturally spread open, then lifted to the top of the head. With the intention of lifting, the Internal Energy within the body, originating from the Huiyin acupoint, was absorbed in a spiral shape as Profound Yin power.
It ascended through the central meridian, spiraling out from the Baihui acupoint at the top of the head; then, the hands changed to palms facing downwards, pressing down to the Dantian, simultaneously exhaling. With the intention of the hands pressing down, the Profound Yang power was absorbed spirally into the Baihui acupoint, passing through the central meridian and spiraling out from the Huiyin acupoint, with both circulating.
This was Nine Shadows Shift. This was merely the most basic Internal Skill Cultivation Technique of Nine Yin Shift. Shi Quan's first Cultivation could only familiarize him with the energy circulation route. Subsequent Cultivation would require combining it with footwork and movement techniques.
Shi Quan's goal today was to familiarize himself with the basic operational routes of these five martial arts: the Muscle and Marrow Cleansing Internal Refining method, the Indestructible Divine Skill body-hardening Cultivation Technique, the Nine Shadows Shift light movement skill, the Heavenly Star Shift force Cultivation Technique, and the Concentrated Soul-Suppressing Technique mental martial art, to lay a foundation for future Cultivation.
As Shi Quan Cultivated relentlessly, when he finally noticed the time, the moon was already high in the sky, without him realizing it.
"Eating irregularly like this, my body can't take it…"
Yesterday, he didn't eat dinner because of Cultivation. Today was even worse; he even forgot to eat lunch.
A day of intense Cultivation, yet Shi Quan's gains were not small. In just one day, the five martial arts were almost mastered.
The reason Shi Quan's Cultivation was so rapid and smooth, besides his own talent, was largely due to Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill.
As is well known, Internal Skill Cultivation Techniques serve as the foundation of martial arts. Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill, as the strongest Internal Skill in the True Scripture, is incredibly difficult for ordinary people to Cultivate, almost like ascending to heaven. Even those with extraordinary talent require a certain Opportunity to succeed in Cultivation.
However, Shi Quan, due to a trace of Yin and Yang Qi within the True Scripture, directly succeeded in Cultivating Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill. This act was equivalent to helping Shi Quan forge a perfect and powerful foundation. Cultivating these martial arts was like building a house on that foundation.
The better the foundation, the easier and faster it is to build the house. But if the foundation is poor, not only do you have to consider everything carefully, but the house might not even be able to be built.
Furthermore, the entire content of the True Scripture was transmitted into Shi Quan's mind, making him a martial arts theory Master. Coupled with the amplification effect of the Spirit Martial Spirit, Shi Quan's Comprehension Ability and learning ability were much stronger than ordinary people, making his Cultivation naturally much easier.
If combined with the Spirit Understanding state, Shi Quan believed his martial arts Cultivation would also yield twice the result with half the effort.
Seeing that it was late, Shi Quan didn't linger. He picked up the books beside him, and with the Internal Energy surging within his body, he stepped out horizontally. Although it was just a horizontal step, Shi Quan's entire figure dashed forward.
This was Nine Shadows Shift. However, from the movements, Shi Quan's actions were clearly a bit stiff at the beginning, and his dashing speed was not fast. But as time went on, Shi Quan's movements clearly began to gradually become smoother, and his dashing speed also became faster and faster.
In just a moment, Shi Quan's figure appeared at the foot of the hill like a ghost.
"Great!"
Shi Quan let out a long breath. Dashing all the way down, he found that not only was there no loss of Internal Energy in his body, but the Yin and Yang energies mutually nourished each other. Under continuous flow, there was a great tendency to become more and more intense, as if he had an inexhaustible supply of power throughout his body.
"As expected of the strongest Cultivation Technique. Just this point alone is incomparable to ordinary Cultivation Techniques. At the same Rank, it is absolutely invincible, and even against higher Ranks, it has the power to contend!"
As his Cultivation deepened, he gained an even clearer understanding of the True Scripture's power.
Moreover, he had a hunch that Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill was definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface. His spirit power within his body hadn't been completely converted into Internal Energy, and yet it already had such results. If there were no longer any interference from spirit power within his body, he wondered if his Internal Energy would undergo other changes.
However, according to his current progress, it might still take about a month to convert all the spirit power in his body into Internal Energy.
It was late, and there was no food left at the academy. Shi Quan could only endure his hunger and return to the dormitory first. Fortunately, Li Meili had bought him some snacks and put them in his cupboard when he arrived, which could barely help Shi Quan alleviate his hunger.
The situation in the dormitory was much the same as yesterday. After Shi Quan quietly ate something and tidied up simply, he went to bed and began his usual Cultivation.
Early the next morning, before anyone else in the dormitory was awake, Shi Quan had already risen early and walked out of the dormitory alone.
Whether in an academy or society, there are always a few solitary individuals, who rarely interact with those around them. Shi Quan was such a person now, and he had long since grown accustomed to it, as he had been this way in Shi Family Village, not to mention that he was constantly busy with Cultivation now.