After having drinks and some food, and cutting and sharing cake, the two went upstairs and sat on the balcony, enjoying the night sky filled with stars.
Changxi County is located by the sea, and the sky is much cleaner compared to big cities. On summer nights, one can see a sky full of stars. Not only that, but the nights also cool down, unlike in big cities where the heat cannot dissipate, and it still feels stuffy at night. Ge Dongxu’s villa, thanks to his arrangements, was even cooler during the summer nights.
Ge Dongxu taught Yuan Li to drop a bit of blood on the bracelet. After the blood was dropped, the faint connection of minds surprised Yuan Li greatly. She also began to realize that Ge Dongxu’s restraint from breaking his virginity was different from the famed Virgin Boy Technique of Huaxia Country.
But as for what exactly was different, Ge Dongxu didn’t say, and she didn’t ask, especially because she felt that even if Ge Dongxu explained it, she wouldn’t understand.
That night, Yuan Li stayed over at Ge Dongxu’s villa, but they slept in separate rooms and nothing happened between them.
It wasn’t that Yuan Li didn’t want to, but rather that she dared not.
Ge Dongxu felt similarly hesitant, always feeling that Yuan Li had a particular attraction that easily triggered his desires, a kind of innate allure, so as long as he could hold back, he didn’t dare to mess around with her like he did with Liu Jiayao. Moreover, Ge Dongxu could tell that Yuan Li and Jiang Lili were probably of a similar disposition in his presence, guessing that they wouldn’t dare to kick him or threaten him if he lost control, unlike Liu Jiayao!
...
The admission notice from Jiangnan University arrived three days after Yuan Li’s birthday.
It created a sensation throughout Ge Family Village and even neighboring villages had heard that Ge Family Village had produced a student for the top university in Jiangnan Province.
That day, the village chief and esteemed elders of Ge Family Village specially visited Ge Dongxu’s home to discuss the celebration of having a university student in the village.
Since Ge Dongxu was the first university student from Ge Family Village, and at a nationally top-ranked institution no less, they felt it was akin to having a scholar in the village. Both the village chief and the elders believed that they needed to do more than just hold a banquet. They also wanted to parade him through the streets and visit the Ge Family ancestral hall to notify the ancestors of Ge Family Village.
Seeing the village chief and the elders show such high regard for their son, Ge Shengming and his spouse were naturally overjoyed. Just as they were about to agree, Ge Dongxu interjected, "Holding a banquet is fine, and visiting the ancestral hall to notify the ancestors of Ge Family Village is proper, but I absolutely disagree with parading through the streets."
It was a joke. With his status, even holding a banquet was grand enough to make him uncomfortable. If they also had an ancient-style celebratory parade with him riding a horse for people to admire, he would indeed cringe.
"Jiangnan University is the top key university in our Jiangnan Province. Baiyun Mountain Town has barely seen a few of its own enter this university over many years. You getting into this university is a glory for the entire Ge Family Village. Riding a horse around the nearby villages is the right thing to do. Last year, Lin Family Village had a university student who even had lower scores than you and still came through our Ge Family Village," said Ge Guangtong, the respected elder of the village.
"In any case, anything else is negotiable, but I’m absolutely not doing a street parade," Ge Dongxu stated firmly.
He couldn’t possibly agree to such a thing.
Ge Shengming and his spouse were actually quite tempted, but seeing their son’s firm stance, they had to tell Ge Guangtong, "Uncle Tong, since the child disagrees, let’s respect his wishes."
Ge Guangtong and the village chief looked at Ge Shengming and his spouse, then at Ge Dongxu, and finally could only say helplessly, "Well, all right then. But notifying the ancestors is definitely necessary. I’ve already picked the day after tomorrow. What do you think?"
"Fine, Uncle Tong says the day after tomorrow, then it’s the day after tomorrow. After notifying the ancestors, we’ll have a meal at my house," Ge Shengming nodded and said.
And so, it was settled like this.
That day, Ge Shengming and his wife started making phone calls to some relatives and friends, and the entire family also made a special trip to Ge Dongxu’s grandfather’s house.
Aside from sharing the good news with the two elderly people and inviting them to come over the day after tomorrow for a celebratory feast, the visit was also because Ge Dongxu had specifically prepared jade jewelry for his grandparents and needed to deliver it to them.
...
At dawn, on the eastern side of Baiyun Mountain, the sky was as red as a fire ribbon, the rising sun like a massive disk, the ocean transforming, spilling gold and radiating colors, immensely magnificent.
At the summit, beneath an ancient pine, Ge Dongxu slowly opened his eyes, then stood up, admiring the immensely magnificent scene, his eyes filled with great joy and a hint of faint puzzlement.
A week had passed since the Ge Family Village ancestors’ memorial and the celebratory feast.
During these days, Ge Dongxu, besides spending time with his parents and helping with the store’s affairs, was cultivating.
Cultivating during the Zi and Mao Hours daily was a must-do task, and the other times would depend on the situation.
Originally, Ge Dongxu thought that cultivation was like climbing a high peak, becoming increasingly difficult the higher one went, with progress slowing accordingly. Thus, even though he had progressed rapidly in recent years, when he discussed with Liu Jiayao about breaking through to the Dragon Tiger Realm, he dared not speak rashly, only suggesting it may take as little as three to five years, or possibly even ten years or more.
But ever since that mystical experience, Ge Dongxu found that he seemed to have grown much closer to nature. While cultivating, not only could he clearly perceive the subtle changes in nature’s spiritual energy, but a significant difference from before was that previously, cultivating meant forcibly "plundering" the spiritual energy between heaven and earth. Now, the spiritual energy gathered by the formation willingly lingered around him, requiring him to expend much less effort to absorb it into his body.
Thus, Ge Dongxu’s cultivation speed was now much faster than before. Originally, Ge Dongxu thought this phenomenon would be temporary and that cultivation would become more challenging when he progressed to the Eighth Layer of Qi Cultivation. However, over these days, he realized that his cultivation speed was still much faster than before and even the sense of closeness with nature, which grew with his increasing cultivation level, made his cultivation feel as natural as fish swimming in water.
It was as if the challenges his master mentioned about cultivation becoming harder later on and even hitting a complete bottleneck, where progress halts, seemed non-existent for him.
If previously he thought that advancing a level might take a year, now Ge Dongxu felt that with his current progress, he could breakthrough again in at most half a year.
What exactly was that mystical experience in his spiritual path? Ge Dongxu knew it definitely had something to do with that experience, but the current knowledge passed down to him did not include records of this aspect.
It seemed he would have to wait until he reached the Dragon Tiger Realm, where his realm would undergo a qualitative leap, and then he would be able to access more knowledge hidden within the Sea of Consciousness. Perhaps there would be records of this aspect there.
Ge Dongxu soon set aside the doubts in his mind, as that experience had far surpassed what he could currently understand; thinking more about it would only add needless troubles.
After all, Ge Dongxu knew it was a good thing, at least with his current progression, the Dragon Tiger Realm was "within reach." Moreover, while Ge Dongxu was initially planning to start refining elixirs for supplementation after reaching the Eighth Layer of Qi Cultivation, he now decided to hold off a bit longer.
Although taking elixirs at this time wouldn’t lead to the adverse effect of forced growth, he preferred not to supplement for now if he could cultivate normally. After all, the more one relied on supplements, the less effective they became in the later stages. Since his current rate of progress was so fast, Ge Dongxu planned to save the elixirs for critical moments in the future.
Putting aside the doubts in his mind, Ge Dongxu lightly smiled and leaped into the air like a bird.
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Only when he reached halfway down the mountain did he actually land properly and descended the mountain unhurriedly.
Before he reached home, Ge Dongxu received a call from Director Fan Hong.