On the other side, Zhou Bai once again stood before the Stele of "All Swords Return to the Sect," but regrettably, just as before, progress was slow.
However, after contemplating the sword marks on the stele for a while, a line of text popped up on the panel of the auxiliary cultivation system.
"Do you want to spend 97,432 lazy points to learn ’All Swords Return to the Sect’?"
"Turns out I can use lazy points to learn it?" Zhou Bai’s eyes lit up slightly, "Nearly 100,000 lazy points, though. That’s quite a lot. But it’s good that lazy points can be used.
Otherwise, even if I finished studying these 49 steles for 50 hours, I might still be unable to master them. Then, although I have the means to heal with lazy points, having to learn separately and then explain to the elders would be very troublesome."
Unfortunately, Zhou Bai did not have enough lazy points at the moment, so he did not spend any to learn "All Swords Return to the Sect" and continued to observe the sword marks. After all, since he was here, he didn’t plan to waste the time, even if he could use lazy points to cultivate "All Swords Return to the Sect" later on.
But after he contemplated the sword marks for a while, he noticed that the numbers on the panel had changed.
"`All Swords Return to the Sect’, which originally required 97,432 lazy points to learn, now required only 97,404."
"The cost of lazy points reduced by 28?" Zhou Bai thought to himself, "Could it be that contemplation and learning reduce the lazy points needed to learn?"
The more Zhou Bai thought about it, the more it made sense to him.
It seemed the more familiar he became with the skill, the longer he spent learning it, the fewer lazy points he would need to master it immediately. With that in mind, Zhou Bai became even more serious about his contemplation.
Half an hour later, as he observed the sword marks on the first stele, Zheng Wentian appeared and began to contemplate the sword marks on the same stele with Zhou Bai.
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Worried about the health and safety of his ’cash cow’, Zhou Bai warned, "This thing is very difficult. Don’t be too impatient. It’s easy to lose your mind if you rush success. You have to take it slow."
Ten minutes later, looking at Zheng Wentian who stood up and walked towards the second stele, Zhou Bai was stunned, "You?"
With a light chuckle and confidence glowing on his face, Zheng Wentian replied, "The first stele is quite simple. Can’t you master it?"
Zhou Bai: "…"
Twenty minutes later, Zheng Wentian stood up again and moved on to the third stele. However, when he saw the third stele, he couldn’t help but frown; it was suddenly much harder than the first two. He felt it would take at least thirty to forty minutes to learn it, and it seemed unlikely he would be able to master it today.
Looking at the remaining 46 steles, Zheng Wentian thought, ’If each one is harder than the last, then mastering ’All Swords Return to the Sect’ in 50 hours is indeed a great challenge.’
Meanwhile, Zhou Bai was still lying in front of the first stele, and an hour had already passed.
Zhou Bai first healed himself with 500 lazy points, then looked at the auxiliary panel. The amount he now needed to learn was about 96,000 lazy points, over a thousand less than before.
"Let’s go, Zhou Bai." The Grand Elder, appearing behind Zhou Bai at some point, glanced at him, urging him to leave, then turned to Zheng Wentian, his eyes brightening, "Worthy of a celestial god race, quite a talent."
Hearing this, Zheng Wentian looked proudly at Zhou Bai. The confidence that had been shaken these past days was largely restored.
During this time, Zheng Wentian had been very unhappy, to say the least. It was the most unhappy time since his birth.
He, a third realm cultivator, had been defeated by a first realm one.
As soon as he left his room, he was bombarded with requests to borrow points, and he had lent almost two thousand points by now.
He hid in his room, closed the door, shut the window, and wanted to dive under the bed to plug his ears whenever he heard that familiar voice, unwilling to step outside.
That feeling of being unable to refuse even made him doubt himself...
Zhou Bai... hovered over his head like a nightmare, even stirring a desire to kill in him.
But today, right now, Zheng Wentian felt like he had finally gotten one over on life, as his talent demonstrated during the practice of Twilight Taoist Skill far surpassed that of Zhou Bai.
"In two more months, I will have left you so far behind you won’t even be able to see me."
On the other hand, after the Great Elder had sent Zhou Bai out of the dreamscape, Jiaojiao watched the departing Zhou Bai and felt a trace of peculiarity: "Although he learns slowly... the obsession, frustration, and extremities in Zhou Bai’s spirit seem exceptionally weak, this kid’s mental strength is indeed strong."
Once Zhou Bai emerged from the dreamscape, Ying Hui approached him, "From now on, you and Zheng Wentian should come here together to cultivate every week, I won’t be escorting you both over here anymore."
Zhou Bai nodded, and after watching Ying Hui leave, he planned to wait there for Zheng Wentian to finish cultivating so they could go for a meal together—the kind where he treats.
However, waiting around was also rather dull, and he remembered the first time they met, where he almost recognized the Elder Grandaunt who looked like Christina.
So he walked over to the doorway, approaching the tiny-framed Elder lying on the recliner.
"Elder... Sun?" Zhou Bai started, trying to call out to him.
The Elder, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes, sweeping his tired gaze over Zhou Bai and said with a faint smile, "Zhou Bai, what is it?"
Zhou Bai asked, "Elder Sun, who is Christina you mentioned last time?"
"Christina? Did I mention that?" Elder Sun questioned.
Zhou Bai said, "You did! You mentioned I resembled Christina a bit; who is she?"
"Oh," Elder Sun nodded, "Right, I did say that. Christina... she’s an acquaintance from a very, very long time ago."
Zhou Bai grew curious, "A very, very long time ago? How long ago is that?"
"I first met her more than a hundred and fifty years ago," Elder Sun squinted his eyes, seemingly lost in memories, "That was the first time I saw her, I must have been seven or eight years old back then, and she already looked like a young girl.
Blue eyes, silver hair, high cultivation level, but it seemed she was not a deity.
However, according to what my master said, when my master’s master first began his training, Christina already looked this way."
Hearing Elder Sun’s description, Zhou Bai became curious, and the Christina residing in his sea of consciousness also grew very curious, shouting within, "Ask what Christina used to do! What happened to her in the end!"
"What did Christina do?" Elder Sun shook his head, "Heard she did everything, cultivated, studied Taoist skills, researched arrays, crafted magical artifacts, taught young cultivators, and even did mundane tasks like groceries, cooking, farming, and laboring. It seems that except for participating in the war against the Heavenly Demon, she did a bit of everything."
"What happened to her in the end?" Elder Sun shook his head again, "No idea, Christina disappeared. Ever since the distortion of the Heavenly Dao over a hundred years ago, we’ve never seen her again."
Speaking of which, Elder Sun looked up at Zhou Bai and said, "But it’s possible that you are a descendant of hers."