Chapter 222: Visitors from the Student Union (3.5k)
As the three of them walked further towards the tower’s peak, the energy became eerily colder. Su Jiu’s eyes flashed with a bloodlight, and in the darkness, she sensed ripples of strange energy.
“You two are probably not normal humans, right? But being able to enter this ancient magic-forbidden tower in your demon form proves that you either haven’t committed many sins, or… you are people who care about the world.”
“No need to deny it. This tower was transformed from a senior’s first beast pet. In the beginning, it wasn’t for students like you to use… You should know that it was originally used to suppress a particularly bloodthirsty Otherworlder demon. After confirming its death, our Dragon Country’s alchemists repaired the tower, using the Otherworlder’s remains as energy, and it became a training ground for students like you.”
The old man took a sip of wine, his gaze swept over Bairnis, and finally landed on Su Jiu’s confused face, laughing heartily.
Su Jiu nodded lightly, her little leather shoes paused slightly. At this moment, the three had arrived next to the top-floor room in the center. She looked up, surprised to find black viscous fluid attached to the door.
“What is this?”
This aura was indeed somewhat similar to the Ghost Car’s avatar, but not entirely the same. It could only be said that both possessed the Dark Erosion attribute. The energy attached to the viscous fluid seemed overly active, exhibiting an excited bounce towards Su Jiu’s arrival. However, Su Jiu also sensed a greedy malice within that energy. Su Jiu gently picked up a wisp of the black viscous fluid with her fingertip. The next moment, a strange tremor surged through her heart. The Ghost Car clone, which she hadn’t used in a long time, emerged spontaneously. Black and red flames began to bite at the viscous fluid, as if consuming each other? The viscous fluid emitted a “sizzling…” boiling sound on the black and red flames, seeming to be enjoying itself immensely. It seemed the Ghost Car clone was too weak to do anything to the other party.
“Don’t touch it! You persistent infernal thing, why did it appear again?”
Looking at the two streaks of darkness intermingling on her fingertips, Su Jiu’s expression flickered slightly. Just as she was about to flick the viscous fluid off her hand, the flat-nosed old man’s eyes narrowed, and he flung his wine pot towards Su Jiu’s hand. The starlight-flecked wine instantly washed away the black viscous fluid.
Looking at the viscous fluid that had been removed, Su Jiu’s face stiffened slightly because she discovered that after her Ghost Car clone’s flames had consumed a small amount of the black viscous fluid, her own Dark Erosion attribute seemed to have strengthened slightly. Although it was very little, she wouldn’t misjudge her Ghost Car clone, which she hadn’t used in a long time. Consumption had a feedback, and it was feedback that acted on attributes. If her Dark Erosion attribute was 100% away from the first level of transcendence, it had just increased by 0.001%. If the Ghost Car could evolve a second time, it wouldn’t be so strenuous.
The black viscous fluid on the door seemed to have noticed the old man’s presence and quickly scattered like startled birds, disappearing. If the doorknob hadn’t been polished to a metallic shine, it would have been as if nothing had happened. Su Jiu looked at the access control on the door and then at the old man, blinking her eyes. The key she held in her hand couldn’t open the door; she could only rely on this old man.
Hanging the wine pot on his waist, the flat-nosed old man looked around again. After finding no more black viscous fluid, he said quite sternly, “This is a place that only students close to the Battle King Level come to. The last few people went on a mission, and I didn’t expect these ghosts to reattach. If you don’t have the Holy Light attribute, your strength, which is only at the War General Level, makes you too prone to injury.”
“I’ll switch you to a different room!”
Seeing the slightly solemn look on the old man’s face, Su Jiu was thinking about how to acquire this place. After a slight pause, she spoke, “Teacher, it’s fine for the two of us to share this room. And the black viscous fluid just now doesn’t seem very aggressive.”
“That’s fine too. Anyway, you’re only cultivating for a week, and the energy in this room is much stronger than elsewhere. Is this Black Skirt Girl your beast pet? You can have her guard you, and I’ll combine the time for the two rooms. It will be fourteen days in total. Remember to swipe your card at the front desk to stop the time when you leave.”
The old man’s gaze fell on Su Jiu’s little face, and he narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking he had figured out Su Jiu’s intentions. He took out a key card labeled “Heaven – 099” from his pocket and tossed it to Su Jiu before turning to leave.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
Su Jiu bowed slightly with a smile and swiped the card, making a “ding!” sound. The flat-nosed old man stopped at the corner, took a deep look behind him, took another gulp of wine, exhaled, and couldn’t help but mutter, “Her avatar’s level is definitely not low, at least double S. There aren’t many dark attributes that can contend with this ghastly thing…”
The two entered the room. An energy flow almost equivalent to habitually holding a Beginner Magic Crystal rushed in. Su Jiu scanned the surroundings. It was a very simple, about 30 square meter small room. Under a special alchemy electric strip, there was a small chair, a straw mat, and an outlet.
“In my storage, I have the novels and poetry collections that Little White bought for you.”
Smiling at Bairnis, Su Jiu knew that the latter didn’t need to cultivate. As long as her injuries were healed, her cultivation would slowly increase along with her master’s strength until she returned to her former strength as the Duke of the Spiritual Butterfly.
Hearing Su Jiu’s words, Bairnis felt a warmth in her heart. She took the storage bag from Su Jiu’s waist. As she opened the storage bag, she paused slightly, as if thinking of something. She said with a somewhat solemn expression, “Miss, that viscous fluid might be alive. I sensed the aura of an Otherworlder on it. If, according to that old man’s words – that the Otherworlder is truly dead, then perhaps he had some treasure on him that turned his aura into a living thing.”
“Alive?”
Su Jiu spread out her skirt. She was about to start cultivating but looked at Bairnis with surprise. After furrowing her brow for a moment, she asked with some confusion, “With the strength of that old man just now, wouldn’t he know?”
“He probably doesn’t know. After all, as a Priest with a special attribute, and only after stepping into the War God realm could I barely sense it… Miss, don’t think too much about it. With me guarding you, no one can harm you.”
Hearing Su Jiu’s voice, Bairnis smiled faintly, her face carrying a trace of reminiscence. But then she seemed to notice Su Jiu looking at her intently, and the atmosphere felt a bit off, so she stopped speaking. Seeing that the other party didn’t continue, Su Jiu withdrew her gaze, took out the medicinal herb, and swallowed it in one gulp using the Ice Dragon’s avatar’s mouth. Without E Huo’s buff, she simply used the first stage of Elegy to compress and refine herself, then closed her eyes, feeling the coldness in her mouth, carrying energy, continuously washing over her Sea of Qi. According to her calculations, three days would be just enough to condense the Sea of Qi, and then another four days would be enough for her to condense it into a pilliform state. By then, she would have broken through to the Intermediate War General level and could go to class. However, the fact that the Ghost Car avatar had not successfully upgraded made her a little worried that it might have an impact. But for now, improving her strength was the most crucial thing. Sighing, she fell into deep cultivation.
Looking at Su Jiu’s diligent appearance, a trace of admiration flashed in Bairnis’s sapphire eyes. They say men are most handsome when working, but that’s not true; diligent women also possess a certain inexplicable charm. She watched Su Jiu for a moment, then found that the latter had already sat cross-legged like an old monk entering samadhi. She smiled gently, her face softening, and leaned closer to Su Jiu. Her delicate lips touched Su Jiu’s somewhat pale face like a dragonfly skimming water, and a blush spread to Bairnis’s swan-like neck. For her, this was enough; to ask for more would be ungraceful.
“Novels from Dragon Country… Interesting.”
She smiled faintly, then sat back on the small chair, placing one foot on top of the other. The corner of her long black skirt was slightly lifted, and a fair hand held a thick book, seemingly leaving only the slight sound of page-turning in the entire cultivation room.
Time flew by, and six days quickly came to an end. The previously quiet cultivation room began to emit a phenomenon of energy absorption. The surrounding energy was continuously drawn into the small body sitting cross-legged, forming a blizzard-like anomaly.
“Advancing to Intermediate War General requires a large amount of energy to condense the attribute pill, but she’s too strong! This airflow is almost comparable to the commotion of breaking through to the Battle King Level.”
A hint of surprise appeared on Bairnis’s face. She quickly got up to make space for Su Jiu and was about to step forward to guard her when a voice sounded from outside the door.
“President, is it appropriate for us to challenge her directly with so many people? If the teachers find out, we might get reprimanded.” A male voice sounded out, seemingly quite rational.
“What are you afraid of?! This woman has occupied this center location for so long. This location originally belonged to Senior Mo Yun. I’ve already spoken with Senior Mo Yun. We’re just cleaning up the room for her. As long as she admits defeat and gives up the spot.” Hu Ling’s voice also echoed from outside the door, sounding somewhat displeased.
The male voice from before came in again, still sounding hesitant, “What if Bai Ming finds out we’re blocking the door like this? He might bring people over. These days, several students at the War General Level have joined the White Water Society. I’m afraid…”
Hu Ling sneered faintly and said indifferently, “We have five or six War Generals here, plus me. What is there to be afraid of?” With that, she seemed to shout to the person beside her, “Liu Yu, you go challenge her first. This woman has caused our student union to lose a lot of funds. If we don’t teach her a lesson, how will outsiders see us?”
“Student Su Jiu, who is currently occupying the Heaven-grade Room 99, hello… This is Liu Yu from the 21st batch, challenging you. You have 30 minutes to consider. If you exceed the time limit, all energy will be cut off.” Accompanying Hu Ling’s voice, a “ding!” sounded from the speakers on the ceiling, like a synthesized electronic voice.
Hearing the broadcast, Bairnis’s eyes narrowed slightly. She looked at Su Jiu. Based on her appearance, she was close to finishing. She didn’t respond.
“Is that junior student scared because we have so many people?”
“It’s good if she’s scared, otherwise, if it gets out that our student union bullies people, our reputation might not be good.”
“Haha, the news of Sister Hu giving the top newcomer a warning must be spread on all the major forums soon, right? By then, the popularity of the White Water Society these days will probably be overshadowed.”
Seeing that Su Jiu didn’t respond, some people outside laughed and began to flatter each other. Clearly, such mutual flattery could easily make people happy, and the atmosphere instantly became cheerful. Time ticked by, and the countdown quickly approached. The synthesized mechanical voice began chanting:
“The sixty-second countdown begins.”
“Fifty-nine.”
…
“Fifty-one.”
Listening to this emotionless countdown, Bairnis’s expression became solemn. She glanced at Su Jiu, who was frowning, clearly at a critical juncture, and knew that Su Jiu absolutely could not be disturbed.
“Right, Miss, that thing called a mobile phone seems to be able to call people.”
Her expression immediately sank. Suddenly remembering something, she quickly rummaged through the alchemy storage bag and found Su Jiu’s phone. Looking at the strange patterns on it, she was stunned.
“Thirty-three.” The mechanical voice continued to count.
…
“Ten.”
“She absolutely cannot be disturbed now… and the energy cannot stop functioning.”
She put down the phone and looked at Su Jiu. Discovering that the latter had entered the crucial stage of pill formation, Bairnis gritted her teeth. After a few more breaths, she finally let out a sigh of resignation, got up, and walked towards the main door, opening it from the inside.
“Miss has always protected me. This time, it’s my turn…”
“To protect Miss.”
