Starting as a Magical Girl, I Alone Shall Rule for Eternity

Chapter 157: Preparing for the Path to Nascent Soul

"Did you go see Shion?"

Keke's somewhat airy inquiry echoed in the quiet living room.

It sounded a bit like a female ghost.

Jiang Si took off his shoes and changed into slippers while replying, "No."

He didn't transform today.

When he entered the house, he saw Keke dressed very lightly. Her pink pajamas weren't very warm. Although Beihai hadn't entered autumn yet, the nights were still quite cold.

After waiting for him to come in, Keke tucked in her feet, hugging her legs and curling up on the sofa, resting her chin on her knees.

Her jet-black hair fell smoothly against her face, covering half of her expression.

"Then, what were you doing out so late at night?"

"Exercising."Casually grabbing a glass of water from the side and taking a sip, Jiang Si prepared to go upstairs to sleep.

He didn't expect Keke to just get up like that and follow behind him, heading upstairs.

Jiang Si stopped and looked back at Keke, who was innocently staring at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Going upstairs."

"You're not going back to your room to sleep? What are you doing going upstairs?"

"Can't sleep."

Keke grabbed the hem of his clothes. "I'm scared alone."

Jiang Si felt a bit of regret.

He should have brought sleeping pills back.

Jiang Si remembered that Bingtang had sleeping pills. There was a period when Bingtang wasn't feeling well and couldn't sleep, so she took sleeping pills. Later, he remembered she stored some in the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling for emergencies.

She even asked him back then if he wanted to test his drug resistance.

He tried a few times;

they had no effect on him.

The so-called hypnotic properties were nothing more than paper tigers before his robust physique.

Keke hadn't exercised much, so sleeping pills should work on her.

"Let me help you fall asleep quickly."

Hearing Jiang Si say this, Keke immediately covered her neck and took a few steps back. "No! It hurts too much!"

"One-second sleep, how could it hurt?"

"It hurts after waking up!"

Jiang Si used to do this when they were kids.

Because their parents wanted some alone time, they'd leave Keke with Jiang Si. If the kid wouldn't sleep at night and was being noisy, or pestering Jiang Si to play with her, Jiang Si would send her into a quick sleep.

A light tap on the back of the neck, convenient and fast.

"And, there could be side effects. I might become stupid."

Jiang Si was slightly taken aback.

So, Keke becoming this silly today was because he hit her too much as a child?

Although regret was impossible, it was still somewhat a pity.

If he had been gentler back then, maybe Keke wouldn't have become this silly.

Everything she does feels half-baked, having grown three years older but only possessing the maturity of a one-year-old.

Keke, still covering the back of her neck, stubbornly followed her older brother to the bedroom and then just stood in the room.

She didn't say anything, just stood there.

Jiang Si glanced at her. "Are you going to stand here all night?"

Keke shook her head.

Jiang Si then pulled a bedsheet from the wardrobe, spread it on the floor, and grabbed a blanket.

Keke said softly, "Sleeping together wouldn't be a big deal either. After all, when I was little, you always slept with me..."

"Your sleeping posture is too bad. You steal the blankets."

That shut Keke up, making her a bit embarrassed.

"Who knows if you'd still wet the bed..."

"I would not!"

Blushing, she denied Jiang Si's concern and glanced at the floor bedding again. "Won't it be uncomfortable sleeping there? The bed is more comfortable, right?"

"If you're not used to it, you can go back to your own bedroom to sleep."

Keke was stunned. "Huh? I sleep on the floor?"

"Otherwise?" Jiang Si gave her a puzzled look. "You come to my bedroom and still want to take my bed?"

"Oh, right..."

Keke mumbled a reply and then obediently lay down on the floor bedding.

Jiang Si didn't pay her any more mind, returning to bed intending to get some proper rest.

He hadn't been lying down for long when a small voice came from the floor bedding. "Brother..."

He originally didn't want to respond.

As a cultivator, one must maintain vigilance even while sleeping.

Because who knows when someone might launch a sneak attack while you're asleep, dying without knowing why.

Even while sleeping, one must stay alert at all times, able to respond immediately to the slightest movement.

So Jiang Si's sleep was always very light. Such close-range talking, of course, he wouldn't fail to hear.

But once he responded, it seemed it would waste a lot of time. He planned to remain silent.

"Brother, are you asleep?"

"Brother..."

"If you don't plan to sleep, go out for a run."

Keke let out an "oh" and fell silent.

Thinking she was finally going to sleep, he didn't expect her to speak again after just a moment. "Brother, I can't sleep. You can't sleep either, right?"

Jiang Si was already considering going out now, transforming into Shion, and coming back with sleeping pills.

Is this girl purely here to torture people?

"Yiyi called me today. She said she has a letter of introduction to give you. Later, when you go to school, remember to meet her. Yiyi has been very worried about you recently. The TV kept saying you were missing before;

everyone was very worried about you..."

"Who's Yiyi?"

Although happy that Jiang Si replied, the content of the reply really wasn't something to be happy about. "It's Li Yi, Magical Girl Silver Lotus."

One real name plus one Magical Girl name, who can remember that?

Especially when there are many people, each with two titles, who knows who is who.

"Oh, your captain."

Jiang Si still had some impression of Silver Lotus;

she had visited the house before.

Keke asked curiously, "Brother, what's your impression of Yiyi?"

Jiang Si thought for a moment. "Very short."

Very short in stature. Clearly a high school student, but this height is basically hopeless.

"Tch, you're not very tall either, brother. Almost the same."

"Far from it."

Since she wouldn't let him sleep, Jiang Si simply started circulating his mana, beginning to cultivate.

Several cycles, strengthening his physical body without letting Keke notice.

The mobilization of the Black Dragon's mana was becoming smoother and smoother. Since it was suppressed last time, the Black Dragon could hardly make a sound anymore, even its consciousness had been in a deep slumber.

Although he wanted to erase it, he had to consider the consequences. What if erasing the consciousness meant the Black Dragon Nascent Soul couldn't produce mana? That would be a loss.

Before fully understanding the consequences, suppressing the consciousness was the safest option.

Now, the completely dormant Black Dragon was practically no different from being dead.

It was time to consider the next step of the [Borrowing Falsehood to Cultivate Truth Method]: Nascent Soul transformation.

In Jiang Si's view, orthodox cultivation naturally followed the stages of Foundation Building, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Nascent Soul Transformation, Soul Union, and Great Ascension.

The characteristic of this system was its extremely high adaptability. It could be applied to almost any novel. You could see cultivators in any web novel: cultivators returning from the infinite, cultivators returning from the dragon clan, cultivators returning from another world, cultivators returning from the city, etc. It could be called the underlying logic of web novels.

Moreover, the upper and lower limits were particularly high. In ancient web novels, you could often see scenes like a Golden Core stage cultivator blowing away alien fleets crossing the universe with a breath, or a Nascent Soul stage cultivator suppressing Western fantasy otherworldly gods with a single hand seal. It could be said to be incredibly powerful.

As for the lower limit, Jiang Si never read web novels where cultivators were weak.

So he expelled the Qi Refining stage from the realm roster.

Every rank had strengths worth mentioning, but Qi Refining did not.

This realm was most prone to scenes that stripped away all dignity, like being unable to differentiate oneself from mortal martial artists and being defeated by martial arts, or having one's cultivation completely lost by being touched by mortal blood, or having a lifespan no different from mortals, and so on. It was simply shameful.

Such scenes were an insult to the decades of web novel history;

they should apologize to all cultivators!

Anyway, coming back to the point, he must consider Nascent Soul transformation next. Cultivating a Primordial Spirit was necessary to advance further...

"Brother, do you want to try dating one more person?"

"Huh?"

"Just kidding."

She was actually serious.

Keke rolled over, thinking somewhat worriedly.

If her brother could fall for someone else in advance, maybe Teacher Shion would be disappointed and give up on Jiang Si?

Probably.

After all, a girl like Shion would definitely be very domineering, absolutely not allowing her lover to be unfaithful.

And her feelings for her brother definitely weren't genuine...

However, the moment Keke thought about what would happen if Shion took action and no one could stop her, she could only say it was a joke.

So, she herself must become stronger.

"Brother."

Although Jiang Si ignored her, Keke knew he wasn't asleep, so she continued, "Can I continue to ask Shion to be my teacher? I want to become stronger."

As soon as she said this, Jiang Si was instantly no longer sleepy.

He sat up, looking at her seriously. "Really?"

Keke was also startled by her brother, not expecting him to be so serious.

But she quickly nodded. "Yes, I don't want to continue like this anymore. You go to dangerous places with Teacher Shion, brother, but I can't do anything. I don't want to experience that kind of thing again."

"The purpose of seeking the Dao doesn't matter," Jiang Si said with satisfaction. "What's important is a resilient, unwavering heart. Since you intend to become stronger, you must uphold this belief, never give up, and remember not to quit halfway."

"I know," Keke also became serious. "I will absolutely not give up. This time, no matter what kind of training, I will definitely persevere. I will become stronger, even stronger, as strong as Teacher Shion."

"Great ambition!"

Jiang Si also decided not to sleep anymore, sitting up directly. "No need to wait. Since you can't sleep, we can have Shion come over tonight for some special training, to let you..."

Before he could finish, somewhat even breathing came from over there.

Jiang Si looked down. Keke had already closed her eyes, sleeping soundly.

Instant sleep.

But Keke hadn't slept properly for several days in a row, so instant sleep was actually quite normal. What she said earlier about not being able to sleep was probably a lie.

She probably just wanted to talk to him about becoming stronger.

Why not just say it directly? Taking such a roundabout way, wasting time.

Not long after falling asleep, Keke started kicking off the blanket.

Jiang Si casually covered her with the blanket again. If he didn't wrap her up like a cocoon, this girl would kick the blanket off again in a while.

Returning to bed and lying down, Jiang Si finally felt relieved.

As everyone knew, once one became a Great Emperor, it would trigger a bloodline ascension, elevating even the chickens and dogs in the family.

But Jiang Si had always somewhat looked down upon this kind of reliance on bloodline ascension.

Although his requirements for Keke weren't that high, it was better for Keke to willingly pursue the Great Dao and become stronger herself than to quietly wait for a bloodline awakening and be a freeloader clinging to someone else's coattails.

My sister Keke, never weaker than anyone in her lifetime, should have this kind of spirit.

While thinking about how to give her special training tomorrow, Jiang Si rested for a while.

......

By the time he woke up in the morning, Keke had long since left and gone downstairs.

She had even tidied up and folded the floor bedding, putting it back in the wardrobe.

Changing clothes, getting up to wash up—there was a bathroom on the second floor, but taking a shower required going downstairs.

After washing up and going downstairs, he saw Keke busy in the kitchen.

Somehow hearing him come down, Keke poked her head out of the kitchen, smiling and asking, "Brother, are you going to class today?"

"Yes."

He had to go at least once. The college entrance exam was approaching;

he needed to get his admission ticket.

Anything else could wait until after the exam.

Soon, Keke came out carrying two dishes: scrambled eggs and sausage with cauliflower.

Their mom's two favorite dishes to cook, mainly highlighting simplicity, convenience, and healthiness.

Then she served two bowls of cooked porridge, brought them to the table, and asked again, "Want some steamed buns, brother?"

"No."

"Baozi?"

"No."

"Okay."

He originally wanted to wait for her to finish eating, but Keke just sat at the dining table looking at him.

"Come eat quickly, brother."

Jiang Si sat down, looked at his porridge, then glanced at the two dishes.

Keke didn't seem to mind him, just eating on her own, looking very natural.

"I have to go to the Disaster Control Bureau today. Yiyi was really angry;

I need to placate her and get her to help me get my position back."

Jiang Si picked up his chopsticks and tasted a bite of the food.

No problem, quite fragrant. The taste was similar to what their mother used to make.

He habitually asked, "What about school?"

"I'll have the Disaster Control Bureau handle things at school. I can have them arrange a separate final exam for me. The Disaster Control Bureau used to do this all the time. Yiyi said she did it that way too."

"Oh, as long as it doesn't interfere with your studies."

Although everything seemed natural.

It made Jiang Si feel awkward.

He somewhat missed the old days when they didn't interfere with each other and lived their own lives...

On the TV, today's news broadcast reported on the Azure Cloud Sect's comprehensive contraction and also announced that the Disaster Control Bureau and the Azure Cloud Sect had reached a cooperation agreement, with both sides preparing for further negotiations.

He didn't know what Bingtang's plans were, but Jiang Si didn't intend to interfere too much with these decisions.

Bingtang choosing to cooperate with the Disaster Control Bureau naturally had her reasons.

In all matters under heaven, the most taboo thing is for amateurs to instruct professionals.

Although in the path of cultivation, Jiang Si considered himself quite experienced, in organizational management, he was truly an outsider.

"Brother, I'm finished eating."

"Wash your own bowl."

"Okay."

After finishing her meal, Keke cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks.

After drying her hands, she went back to her bedroom to get her schoolbag and asked another question, "Will you come back for lunch?"

"No."

"Then I'll eat at the Disaster Control Bureau. When will you be back in the afternoon?"

Does she have to ask about everything?

Jiang Si thought for a moment. "In the afternoon, I'll notify Shion to come over for your special training. I have class, so I won't come back first. Evening. Don't make dinner for me."

"Okay, really going to class? Not skipping to go play?" Keke even cracked a joke, seeming much more cheerful. "Then I'll come back in the afternoon and wait for Teacher Shion."

When it was time to leave, she stood at the door for a moment.

Keke then suddenly turned her head, slightly extending her hand and waving at Jiang Si. "Well, I'm leaving first, brother."

"Okay."

"Don't run around, brother. You must come back tonight."

"Got it."

After repeatedly reminding him, Keke finally pushed the door open and left.

Jiang Si then breathed a sigh of relief.

Why does it feel like the pressure has increased?

He put the leftover food in the fridge, wiped the table clean, and turned off the TV.

It felt a bit like when their parents were still around.

Although he didn't know why Keke had changed so much—most likely because she had made up her mind to become stronger.

When a person has a goal to become stronger, their personality can change. Jiang Si knew this.

It meant this was a good thing. Keke truly wanted to become stronger, not just pay lip service.

He needed to think about how to conduct the special training.

After Keke had gone far enough, Jiang Si finally left the house. While locking the door, the neighbor greeted him with a smile again.

"Little Jiang, your relationship with your sister has improved recently, huh? Your sister looked so happy today."

"Our relationship has always been good."

The neighbor was momentarily speechless.

Thinking the relationship changed based on some attitude shifts was too superficial.

In our cultivation world, generally, when there's such a change, it means the other party has an ulterior motive.

Undoubtedly, the reason Keke suddenly became so attentive was mostly because she saw him as a stepping stone.

She wanted to use his connection to gain power from Shion.

She would probably need to use him multiple times later, so naturally, her attitude had to be more attentive to avoid causing his displeasure.

Stopping at nothing, going all out.

Truly worthy of being my sister, Jiang Si. She's already grasped the survival rules of the cultivation world so quickly.

For a moment, Jiang Si even felt a surge of pride.

My sister Keke has the bearing of a Great Emperor!

Leaving home, Jiang Si wasn't in a hurry to go to school either.

Since Keke had already started striving to catch up, he, as her older brother, couldn't lose to her. He had to continue refining himself.

The Azure Cloud Sect's territory in Beihai was quite large.

For example, the small factory Jiang Si was heading to now belonged to Bingtang.

The small factory was registered under a shell company. It was originally purchased by Bingtang specifically to build the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling for the Azure Cloud Sect.

Spirit tablets, tables, chairs, benches, and other special props Jiang Si requested were basically produced here.

Walking beneath the factory, one could see a gloomy dungeon.

The dungeon didn't hold many people;

most cells were empty.

When the Azure Cloud Sect was cleaning up the Witch Association before, there were always some people connected to the Witch Association but whose crimes didn't warrant death.

When Bingtang caught these people, she would imprison them here, interrogating them for information about the Witch Association.

Then she would erase their memories and dump them at the Disaster Control Bureau.

As for those confirmed to be irredeemably guilty, she simply killed and buried them here.

Bingtang always handled this aspect very well.

As for Jiang Si, he only charged forward, mostly not caring who the other party was.

Bingtang never stopped him either.

Anyone he encountered within the Witch Association basically had no chance of survival. He couldn't be bothered with imprisonment and assessing crimes.

If they're hanging out with terrorists, do I have to identify them one by one?

Wishful thinking.

However, Jiang Si was certainly not someone who indiscriminately killed.

For example, the girl before him.

Jiang Si squatted down, looking at Xilan, who was pitifully lying in the prison cell.

He patted the cell door.

Unexpectedly, Xilan exploded. "What are you knocking for! Can't you see I'm sleeping! What are you so smug about! When Simo Tu-sama returns, you'll all die! You're dead! Don't think I, Xilan-sama, am afraid of you! I, Xilan-sama, am not even afraid of death. If you dare disturb my sleep again, I'll fight you to the..."

She looked up and instantly fell silent.

All her words were immediately swallowed back.

Then the next second, her eyes reddened. "Boss! Simo Tu-sama! Why are you here? Weren't you captured by the Azure Cloud Sect? Don't worry about me, Simo Tu-sama. You are the most important;

you must survive..."

"No need for you to worry," Simo Tu sneered. "A few little girls from the Azure Cloud Sect can't do anything to me."

"I knew Simo Tu-sama would never lose to them!"

"Letting you get captured was just a test for you," Simo Tu said solemnly. "You passed, Xilan. I've already beaten up those who bullied you for you. Although I didn't kill them, they were seriously injured."

Xilan couldn't hold back anymore. Tears streamed down her face as she burst into loud sobs. "Simo Tu-sama, Simo Tu-sama, Xilan will always revere you. I knew you would never abandon me. Xilan never doubted..."

"Stop crying."

Jiang Si forced himself to hold back, swallowing the phrase "I'll kill you if you keep crying."

To be honest, these past two days, he had really seen enough of these girls crying back and forth.

If their tear glands are so developed, they should apply to be professional mourners at funerals. At least they could earn some money.

"I'm here to take you out. You need to find a way to bring me the potion I mentioned before."

Xilan held back her tears, sobbing as she asked, "What, what potion?"

"The potion that allows one to use a Miracle Seed to transform into a witch."

Xilan immediately took off her shoes.

Then Jiang Si watched as two bottles slowly seeped out from the soles of her feet. Xilan, sniffling, pulled the potion from her soles and handed it to Jiang Si. "Here, here it is. I already prepared it earlier. Later, I was afraid someone would steal it, so I kept it hidden inside my body..."

Although he knew it was a Complete Witch's ability...

Jiang Si picked up the medicine bottle, frowning. "Couldn't you put it somewhere clean?"

"Mainly, mainly putting it in my feet is concealed."

Xilan said, somewhat embarrassed. "My feet are very clean, not like Twins who never wears shoes..."

Sighing, Jiang Si wiped the bottle and said, "Help me gather more information about the Mirror Kingdom within the Witch Association."

"No problem! Simo Tu-sama, I will strip them completely bare for you to see!"

Actually, these were all insignificant matters.

Casually dealing with it, Jiang Si gripped the potion tightly—this was the top priority.

If he could successfully obtain the power of a Complete Witch...

Perhaps Nascent Soul transformation was within sight!