Jiaojiao looked at Zhou Bai’s calm face with some surprise and then smiled knowingly, "Zhou Bai, you probably don’t know what this represents, right? Well, enjoy it slowly."
As she spoke, in a world shrouded in darkness, a countdown timer appeared before Zhou Bai. It had days, hours, minutes, and seconds, ticking down the next 30 days without ceasing.
"Zhou Bai, if you can endure these next 30 days, I will teach you the Twilight Taoist Skill. But if you can’t stand it, you can call out to me anytime, and I’ll take you out, though it also means you forfeit the right to learn the Twilight Taoist Skill..."
Jiaojiao’s voice completely disappeared the next moment. Zhou Bai turned his head, looked at the countdown in the void, then turned back and closed his eyes.
"Ah, so boring." Zhou Bai yelled, "Jiaojiao! Jiaojiao, are you there?"
Jiaojiao’s laughter came through, "Hehehe, how is it? Do you feel the terror of this place?"
"I give up, let me out," Zhou Bai said, "I’d better not learn the Twilight Taoist Skill."
Jiaojiao felt that after lying down for so many years, this was the first time she really wanted to get up and hit someone.
After a moment of silence, she said, "I won’t let you go until you truly give up. If you really can’t take it, I will naturally let you out. If you make it through, I will teach you the Twilight Taoist Skill, and the school will give you an extra 2000 credits each month. You’ll get what you deserve."
"An extra 2000 credits a month?" Zhou Bai’s eyes suddenly lit up, and the expression of resignation on his face instantly vanished.
"Elder, go on, this place will be my home from now on. I’ll stay until I can’t stay any longer."
"…Call me Jiaojiao."
Watching Zhou Bai lie motionless on the ground in the image, Jiaojiao smiled slightly, "Let’s see how long you can lie there."
On the other side, Zhou Bai couldn’t help but ponder some questions.
’Based on countless pieces of information I surfed on the Internet in my previous life, a person would feel extremely uncomfortable in a room with nothing in it, becoming more and more unstable, right?’
’Going insane is also possible, it seems.’
Zhou Bai stroked his chin, "But why do I feel like there’s no problem at all?"
A thought struck him suddenly: ’I was lying in a hole when I dreamed, which means... my defensive power is especially high right now?’
Zhou Bai recalled reading in the school’s Taoist texts; having the defense like a mountain had played a significant role, implying that "defense like a mountain" could enhance a vast amount of mental resilience.
"So, because of the ’defense like a mountain,’ I’m not feeling any discomfort here?"
"Speaking of which, it’s all darkness, it’s all nothingness; it feels pretty similar to sleeping in my mind palace."
"But even so, this feels very boring."
"Nevermind, I’ll sleep."
And so, Zhou Bai closed his eyes completely and, taking advantage of his daily hard-earned cultivation technique, quickly entered into dreams.
Jiaojiao watched Zhou Bai start sleeping in the image, "Going to sleep, huh? Hehe, and how long can you sleep?"
In the dream, Zhou Bai yawned and opened his eyes, looked up, and saw, "Ten hours have passed, huh."
He looked around at the encompassing darkness, feeling no abnormalities, then simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Jiaojiao had no idea that what Zhou Bai did most often in his daily life was sleep in his mind palace, and his greatest cultivation practice was to sleep incessantly there.
Jiaojiao just watched as Zhou Bai continued to sleep in the image. After ten days of watching, her gaze gradually shifted from indifference to surprise, to confusion, to bewilderment, to incomprehension, and eventually, numbness.
"This guy... He actually slept for ten days straight?" Jiaojiao couldn’t help but continuously scratch her head, "How did he do it? Doesn’t he feel like he’s going to crack?"
Jiaojiao felt she had watched a person lie there and sleep for ten days and felt a bit bored and irritated herself. She couldn’t imagine what kind of mentality Zhou Bai, who had slept for ten days, had.
"Does he really feel no pressure at all?"
Just then, Zhou Bai in the image got up, stretched, and Jiaojiao’s gaze sharpened as she stared at him, "Can’t stand it anymore? Looks like the next ten days won’t be easy for you..."
Having slept for ten days straight, Zhou Bai did feel his mood becoming somewhat irritable.
Especially with the darkness that surrounded him, feelings of loneliness, solitude, and emptiness gradually surged in his heart.
But then he had a sudden thought, "Since ’lying down like a mountain’ can increase the resilience of the spirit, can the ’laziness value’ heal not just the physical body but also mental wounds?"
He tried to heal himself with the laziness value and indeed, it immediately used up a whole 500 points. He felt a jolt of energy, and then Zhou Bai collapsed to the ground and went back to sleep.
Watching Zhou Bai sleep again in the image, Jiaojiao was speechless, "Could this guy really sleep for a full 30 days?"
As she continued to watch until the 30th day, Jiaojiao grew increasingly astonished by Zhou Bai, who was still sleeping, "During this time, this guy would sleep for days at a time. After waking up and moving around, he could actually continue to sleep. In a way, his talent is incredible."
"But after the 30 days are over, there’s another test. Can he withstand it?"
With a hint of curiosity and anticipation, Jiaojiao watched Zhou Bai in the image.
She then saw Zhou Bai wake up and look at the countdown timer next to him, only a few minutes left until the 30-day trial ended.
Watching the time on the display tick down to zero, Zhou Bai breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, it’s over. This way, even if I don’t practice the Twilight Taoist Skill in the future, I should be able to get an extra 2000 points every month, right?"
The next moment, Zhou Bai watched the countdown turn to 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, and before he could feel happy, his smile froze on his face.
Because the countdown jumped slightly, it had changed from 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds to 99 days, 24 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds.
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"Hey, hey, hey!"
Zhou Bai suddenly stood up, "You’re joking, right?"
"It’s starting again?"
"Is it broken?"
Zhou Bai started shouting, "Elder!"
"Jiaojiao!"
"Doesn’t anyone care?!"
"Is there no law anymore?"
No matter how Zhou Bai called out or shouted, no one responded to him.
Watching the numbers start to jump again, Zhou Bai collapsed to the ground, his expression uncertain.
Watching Zhou Bai in the image, Jiaojiao had a smile on her face, "To go a hundred li is to halt at ninety; you might think all the hardships and dangers have been overcome, and victory is imminent when suddenly a catastrophic failure occurs. That is the greatest blow.
And such tests are common in the Twilight Taoist Skill. If you cannot face them with strength, then you have no right to cultivate the Twilight Taoist Skill."
"You must be able to persist for at least another three days in such a state to cultivate the Twilight Taoist Skill."