"Oh? Is this... the success activation of Wenqu - Ugly Study?"
Zhou Bai’s face initially lit up with joy, then suddenly furrowed his brow when he realized something was amiss.
He read the introduction to Ugly Study again carefully.
"Wenqu - Ugly Study: As long as one is ugly, they can use laziness to learn skills. Note: If you’re ugly, you better hit the books."
"I TMD..." Zhou Bai stood up angrily. "Has this damn system lost its mind? Do I count as being ugly?"
Christina, who was beside him, turned her head, looking at Zhou Bai curiously, "What’s wrong, Zhou Bai?"
Zhou Bai looked at Christina seriously, asking, "Tina, I have a very serious question for you, am I handsome or not?"
"Ah?" Christina hesitated, "Actually, well..."
"That’s enough!" Zhou Bai stopped Christina before she could continue. "I think asking a cat wouldn’t make much difference anyway. How I look... don’t I know myself?"
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Christina thought to herself, ’Why do you guys always have such inexplicable confidence in your looks?’
Zhou Bai, stroking his chin, thought, ’It seems the auxiliary system, for some unknown reason, has a bias in facial recognition, making me capable of using Ugly Study abilities to learn skills with laziness.’
With that in mind, Zhou Bai looked at the panel prompt but didn’t immediately spend laziness to learn.
He decided to make a lateral comparison to see how laziness was being spent before deciding.
Then Zhou Bai picked up the manual for Catching Toads Strength, read a few sentences, and found that he could learn it by spending 8,000 points of laziness.
"Hmm? Haven’t I already learned Catching Toads Strength?" Zhou Bai suddenly came to his senses; Catching Toads Strength had four realms: Full-Body Realm, Five Organs Realm, Six Entrails Realm, Blood Flow Realm.
He and Christina had only cultivated to the Five Organs Realm.
Zhou Bai then picked up the manual for Gale Breath Walk, read for a while, and found that he could also learn it by spending 6,000 points of laziness.
"The power of Gale Breath Walk should not be weaker than Catching Toads Strength, yet it costs less laziness; it seems that the amount of laziness might be related to the difficulty of learning."
Zhou Bai didn’t spend his laziness on Gale Breath Walk or Catching Toads Strength because those two martial arts were sufficient for now; he wanted to spend his laziness on Twilight Taoist Skill instead.
"I just don’t know how much laziness I will need to learn Swords Return to Their Source. I should know by next week after visiting the Great Elder."
Christina, cultivating the fifth star point of the Chengying diagram, then saw a one-meter Chengying Sword floating in front of her; it occasionally vibrated and turned transparent.
This was the Chengying diagram’s fifth star point, Shadowless, which meant to rally Primordial Spirit power to make the Chengying Sword invisible to the naked eye—murdering without a trace.
There are still star points for concealing Sword Qi and hiding one’s presence, all of which Christina had to cultivate slowly.
However, Zhou Bai’s actions on the side also drew Christina’s attention; storing Chengying back in the Pure Jun scabbard, Christina couldn’t help but ask, "What’s going on? You seem to be jumping at shadows?"
Zhou Bai gave a slight smile and briefly explained the situation with the Ugly diagram, "From now on, I can use laziness to learn Twilight Taoist Skill, hehe. With this, I will definitely be able to learn the Five Supreme Divine Skills."
Christina was both envious and jealous, "Damn, to actually be able to learn all Five Supreme Divine Skills."
Zhou Bai then looked at the next star point.
Wenqu - Talent: A comprehensive enhancement of cultivation talent.
Cultivation method: (Skipped directly by Zhou Bai)
Lazy Aura (0/40,000)
"Could it be an enhancement of talent? Combining this with the previous use of Lazy Aura to learn skills…" Zhou Bai speculated about the reinforcement direction of the Ugly Drawing, "Could it be enhancing my cultivation aptitude?"
Zhou Bai continued to accumulate Lazy Aura without using it, maintaining his routine of normal cultivation and social interactions, as he awaited the day when he would come into contact with the Twilight Taoist Skill again.
However, before that day came, it was time for the meeting he had arranged with Lin Muqing.
Just like last time, Zhou Bai started observing Lin Muqing’s actions a few hours in advance, trailing her to the location of the aerial corridor. Only after confirming that there were no issues did he plan to reveal himself.
...
Donghua City, Dao School zone at 1,500 meters, southern boundary.
Standing at the protective layer of the Array at the boundary of the 1,500-meter height, one could see the vast land below, sprawling like a deep and immense beast.
And at this boundary, one could also spot the dark metallic towers rising and descending—that was the aerial corridor, connecting different heights and areas of Donghua City.
Zhou Bai thought to himself, ’According to Dr. Zhuang’s words, humans have lost the spirit to learn scientific and technological knowledge. My observations in the Dao School seem to confirm this.
But aside from the various devices crafted using Arrangements and runes, Donghua City still possesses numerous scientific creations. Who built these then? Could it be that the human government has specially selected some people to study and develop technology? But that doesn’t seem quite right...’
At the same time, Lin Muqing stood in front of the aerial corridor, gazing at the endless land beneath her feet with a vacant look in her eyes, her thoughts unknown.
Zhou Bai had approached her side unnoticed. Lin Muqing turned around and smiled at Zhou Bai, "Have you been following me this whole time?"
Zhou Bai was startled and didn’t respond because he noticed a streak of golden light at Lin Muqing’s waist, darting left and right as if attempting to break free.
He glanced at Lin Muqing; she looked perfectly normal, seemingly unaware of anything unusual.
Lin Muqing looked at Zhou Bai curiously, "What’s wrong?" She touched her face, "Is there something on my face?"
"No, nothing," Zhou Bai casually glanced again at the golden light at Lin Muqing’s waist and mentally shouted, "Christina? Did you see that? Did you see the golden light?"
Christina nodded incessantly, "Of course I saw it. It seems... it seems like that I Ching thing from last time."
Zhou Bai agreed, recalling the last time he saw Xing Jun holding the first hexagram of the I Ching, it was the same kind of golden light, invisible to everyone except him and Christina.
Christina exclaimed, "The hexagram! I’ve got it, this wicked woman must also have one of the I Ching hexagrams on her!"
Zhou Bai asked, "Then why didn’t the golden light get directly absorbed into our gemstone this time?"
"Who knows!" Christina, holding the gemstone around her neck said, "Maybe because you were the one who unsealed the first hexagram last time, it got absorbed into the gemstone. Try taking her hexagram, maybe you can absorb it then."
"Take a hike, Lin Muqing is at the fifth realm of cultivation," Zhou Bai said mentally, "The fifth realm, the Five Life Realm, is that where you completely control your physical body and can condense the Dao embryo, right?"
The Five Life Realm is where the body is 100% under control, the inside like its own realm, the self becoming the deity of one’s own body, and ultimately the condensing of the Dao embryo.
Not to mention the increase in combat prowess, merely the lifespan alone could reach 200 years, a truly comprehensive leap beyond that of a normal person.
Christina said, "That’s true. Hey, don’t be fooled by how easily she was killed last time. That was because she had too many powerful enemies and was ambushed. If we face her now, we’d be lucky just to run away."
Zhou Bai said, "And since Lin Muqing brought the item here, maybe it’s meant for me to see. I’ll find a chance to study it later."
"You must get your hands on it!" Christina urged, "Once you have it, and it gets absorbed into my gemstone, my gemstone will surely become stronger."
Meanwhile, Lin Muqing took Zhou Bai’s hand and headed towards the aerial corridor, "Let’s go in and talk. There aren’t many people around at this time."