novelraw Chapter 34 : Chapter 34
Chapter 34 : Chapter 34
Chapter 34: Genius
Gudu Ke truly felt a trace of surprise.
It was not because of a mere basic rune. As the founder of the talisman path, he himself had always been a peerless genius. In his eyes, ordinary talismans were little more than child’s play.
What drew his attention was the speed at which Lin Bai entered Meditative Absorption.
It was too fast.
Almost the instant his fingertips touched the Yellow Willow Paper, Lin Bai’s mind had already sunk into that dim spiritual space without the slightest obstruction.
If a high school student solved a middle school problem, no one would be shocked.
But what if it were a baby only a few months old?
No matter how great a genius you were, seeing such a thing would still leave you astonished.
Gudu Ke began to observe the yellow paper in Lin Bai’s hands more carefully, only to discover that Lin Bai was already sketching nodes within it.
“The nodes are stable, and his foundation is solid.”
“This disciple named Lin Bai has a thirty percent chance of reaching the realm of a talisman master in the future.”
Lin Bai, of course, had no idea that Gudu Ke was paying attention to him. Right now, he was fully focused on completing his “first masterpiece.”
His consciousness was like a blade, precisely carving out node after node and linking them together. Within that dim space, a perfectly formed square earthen block gradually appeared.
Lin Bai touched it with his consciousness and found that it felt soft and springy, almost like jelly.
“Perfect. The more I look at it, the more beautiful it becomes.”
When he withdrew from his inner perception, the Yellow Willow Paper in his hand showed no outward change. Its color and texture remained exactly as before.
But the moment he sank his mind into it again, that Earth-within-Earth rune was still floating steadily within the spiritual space.
“It still feels as though... something is missing.”
Lin Bai pondered over it.
His consciousness stirred again, manipulating the spiritual essence within the space as he tried to condense a second and third Earth-within-Earth rune. He wanted to see whether he could stack and connect them together.
“Still no good. It feels as though something stands between them. As expected, I still need an attribute-less linking rune to join them.”
Lin Bai looked at the runes floating in the dim space. Some of them seemed to be connected, but he knew that in reality they were separated by an enormous gulf.
Although he had failed, he was not discouraged. Every attempt was a valuable experience.
“So this disciple’s connection to heaven and earth is this strong? He can condense large numbers of runes in such a short time.”
One had to know that runes were the script of heaven and earth itself. Sometimes, some talismanists even had to burn incense and pray to the gods just to condense a rune, let alone do so so casually and in such quick succession.
If Lin Bai could have sensed Gudu Ke’s thoughts, he would probably have smiled to himself.
A connection to heaven and earth?
That was the one thing Lin Bai lacked least.
After the awakening of his Past-Life Wisdom, the scattered fragments of information within his mind had allowed him to roughly understand his own origin.
Most likely, this great world and the universe of his previous life had once brushed past each other briefly within the Chaos Sea, causing his soul to be “exchanged” here within the torrent of information.
Later, the two worlds drifted apart again within the Chaos Sea, each vanishing toward destinations unknown.
But no matter what, as the “specialty” this world had exchanged back, how could Lin Bai possibly avoid receiving a little extra “attention” from the world itself?
That was why, even before arriving at the Martial Academy, Lin Bai had already understood what his talent was most suited for.
Talismans.
With his extraordinarily strong soul and his exceptionally powerful connection to heaven and earth, if he did not study talismans, it would make no sense at all.
After marking Lin Bai’s file in his mind with “high-priority attention,” Gudu Ke shifted his awareness toward the other students.
For this Progenitor of Talismans to give a disciple extra attention, even for only a short while, was already an exceedingly rare thing.
After all, figures of that caliber had countless matters to handle every day. Even if this was only a replica of Gudu Ke, the original Gudu Ke would still be aware of the karmic ties on this side.
After completing the “classroom test,” Lin Bai neatly set down his Yellow Willow Talisman Paper and then began quietly observing the others.
He first looked at Wang Yu, who was seated in front of him. Since he could not see her face directly, he leaned slightly to the side and saw that her eyes were still closed in concentration. She was most likely still drawing her rune.
Then he turned to look at his other “classmates.” At present, only one male student was awake like himself. Judging by his appearance, he had already finished.
All the other students had their eyes closed, which meant they were still in the middle of drawing their talismans.
With no other choice, Lin Bai sank into his talisman paper once more and began experimenting with whether replacing the existing nodes could still produce a complete rune.
“It failed.”
Lin Bai frowned as he looked at the collapsed rune before him. Some of the runes fell apart halfway through his modifications, while others failed to take shape at all.
As Lin Bai immersed himself in his own world, about two quarters of an hour passed before the final student at last completed their talisman.
Gudu Ke’s voice rang out at the right moment, announcing the rankings of the top three.
“As expected, second place.”
The result was exactly what Lin Bai had anticipated. He came in second. The male student who had been the only other one awake took first place, while Wang Yu came in third.
Second place earned five Merit Points. One should not look down on such a small gain. This was something that could be earned through nothing more than a classroom exercise. If accumulated bit by bit, it would add up, and it was both easy and effortless to obtain.
After that, Gudu Ke continued teaching the next rune, which also belonged to the earth category. Its name was Earth-within-Metal.
This rune was still broadly square in shape, but its surface was no longer as smooth as the Earth-within-Earth rune. Instead, it bore small raised points, which represented the metal element within it.
The teaching pattern remained the same, and the rankings did not change either.
This first lesson had already covered two basic runes. That was possible only in the Martial Academy. In any outside faction, unless you swore yourself to lifelong drudgery, you would never even dream of learning such things.
And even if you did swear such an oath, you would still have to spend your days laboring like an ox or a horse in practice. They would call it a “test,” but in truth it meant being an apprentice.
Even a refined faction like Benevolent Heart Hall required Lin Su and Wang Qian to sign agreements promising not to transfer to any other faction for at least thirty years, with annual assessment duties on top of that.
And that was already considered extremely good. It required only a term of service and imposed no other excessive restrictions. Without connections, it was difficult to get in at all. It was the sort of golden position people fought to obtain.
Compared with all that, one could easily see just how rare the Martial Academy was. As long as you wished to learn and had the talent, it would teach you.
If the Martial Academy did not have age restrictions and talent requirements, it would never have been Lin Bai’s or Wang Yu’s turn to enter. The older generation would have taken every spot long ago.
When the lesson ended, Gudu Ke waved his hand grandly and, without the slightest wasted motion, teleported everyone straight back to where they had come from.
There was no extra nonsense. Great figures were always cold and decisive.
They had returned to the three-tiered altar they had entered that morning. It had to be said that Firecloud Grotto-Heaven’s spatial transportation truly was astonishing. Lin Bai could not sense the slightest fluctuation of time or space before he was already back where he had started.
Quite a few other people nearby were talking among themselves. They had likely been studying other subjects, and after returning, they had begun catching up with acquaintances.
A closed environment like the Martial Academy was the ideal place to make close friends—or to form private cliques.
Many factions sent people in precisely to maintain or build networks.
Small families and even the three major gangs of Yunmeng City were good examples. Without enough connections and access to information, they would long since have been destroyed or fallen into decline.
Take Zhao Rang, for instance. Right now, he was moving with practiced ease among the various small groups.
It was only natural. When exchanging resources or information, people trusted those with whom they shared common experiences far more readily.
But Lin Bai did not really know anyone. The only person who looked familiar to him was Wang Yu’s cousin, Wang Xiao.
Unfortunately, that fellow was currently being surrounded and fawned over like the moon among the stars.
Lin Bai was too slight to squeeze his way through, and he did not want to anyway.
Wang Xiao, however, had sharp eyes. He spotted them and waved from afar, and Lin Bai returned the gesture openly and naturally.
The Martial Academy only held classes for half the day. The other half belonged to the students themselves, and they were completely free to use it as they pleased.
Lin Bai’s next plan was already very clear: he would go to the assessment area to temper his Martial Skill, then return at night to cultivate.
He had already asked the token about it before. Under normal circumstances, the assessment Testing Palace remained open at all times.
The moment Lin Bai thought of the ten jin of Human Order Merit he had yet to obtain, he felt as though ants were crawling all over his body.
What Lin Bai had not expected, however, was that Wang Yu had no intention of staying behind either. Instead, she followed him toward the Testing Palace.
That made Lin Bai rather curious, so instead of playing guessing games, he simply asked directly.
“Wang Yu, don’t you need to stay over there?”
He gestured toward the lively crowd around Wang Xiao.
“Ah, I’m just an ordinary member of the Wang Family. Not many people would pay attention to me.”
Lin Bai was usually a calm and steady person, but even he could not hold his composure at that answer.
The moment he had first met Wang Yu on the first day, the Intuition granted by his Dao Path had been sounding frantic warnings in his mind. It had never reacted that strongly even when he saw Wang Xiao.
He was certain that Wang Yu’s status within the Wang Family was anything but ordinary. Most likely she belonged to the core direct line, or perhaps even more than that.
Lin Bai turned his head to look at the girl beside him, whose face remained calm and untroubled, only to find that Wang Yu was also looking at him with bright, clear eyes.
Suddenly, Lin Bai let out a soft sigh and deliberately put on a wounded expression.
“It seems my wish has come to nothing. I had originally hoped that my handsome face might attract some young lady of the Wang Family.”
Then his expression and movements grew even more exaggerated.
“Alas, my dream of marrying into wealth! My resources!”
Seeing Lin Bai’s exaggerated acting, Wang Yu’s lips curved upward slightly. She decided to continue teasing him.
“In that case, I’m afraid you’re destined to be disappointed.”
“What? You’re even rubbing salt into my wound now? My heart truly aches!”
The two laughed and bickered all the way, and the atmosphere remained light.
Still, Lin Bai did manage to draw out quite a bit of information. Wang Yu had also received twenty jin of Human Order Merit. The one place she had failed to earn a Radiant Sun evaluation was the second stage, the physique test.
As Wang Yu watched Lin Bai clown around while also subtly probing for information about her, her interest in him only deepened, because her Mind’s Eye told her something.
Lin Bai had probably guessed who she was, and yet he still had very little interest in her.
That puzzled her.
If he truly had guessed her background, then his reaction was far too calm.
That kind of calm did not quite fit the values of this world, which was a world where almost everyone was obsessed with cultivation.
To put it simply, in this world people would do almost anything for the sake of cultivation. After all, if one was not even afraid of living as an ordinary person, then what was left to fear?
If Lin Bai married into the Wang Family as Wang Yu’s husband, saying that he would save fifty years of detours would already be an understatement. The resources that would be poured into him were beyond what Lin Bai could even imagine.
Unfortunately, Wang Yu’s Mind’s Eye was not a mind-reading art. It could only roughly sense the emotions others felt toward her.
So all she could do was guess.
“I never thought Lin Bai would possess such integrity. The path of cultivation truly must be walked by one’s own strength.”
If Lin Bai could have known what Wang Yu was thinking, he would certainly have cried out in protest.
He was not the sort of man who clung to some rigid masculine pride.
The only reason he had no particular interest in Wang Yu at present was because he trusted his own talent.
To put it simply, Lin Bai believed that his talent was more useful than the support of any great family.
That, too, was a small measure of pride hidden in his heart.
Of course, Lin Bai’s stomach was also quite adaptable. He was more than capable of accepting support in any form.
If anything, what he liked best was to accept generous support while still keeping his head held high.
So when Lin Bai noticed a faint trace of admiration appear in Wang Yu’s eyes, he felt rather baffled.
Still, even though he had no idea what she had imagined, his back straightened unconsciously anyway. Whatever she had been thinking, it seemed to be a good thing.