Chapter 47

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Chapter 47: Controlling Spiritual Energy

In the afternoon of the second day, Nie Jiu and Lou Yun walked side by side towards the classroom. Watching Nie Jiu continuously stuffing food into his mouth as they walked, Lou Yun couldn’t hold back any longer: "A Jiu, just how much do you eat in a single day?"

Nie Jiu forcibly swallowed the mouthful of food: "Not sure. Anyway, I’ve always been able to eat a lot since I was little. Eventually, my family just couldn’t afford to support me anymore and drove me out. Then I met this old man. He told me that as long as I became a magical weapons master, I could eat as much as I want. He also gave me a cultivation method, so I started training. Later, I heard that this place provides free meals, so I came here."

Lou Yun was completely dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open wide. After freezing for quite a while, he managed to squeeze out a sentence: "So you became a magical weapons master just so you could eat your fill?"

Nie Jiu nodded repeatedly: "Yes! Lou Yun, you have no idea how awful it feels to be hungry!"

Lou Yun couldn’t help but slap his own forehead. From ancient times to the present, Nie Jiu was probably the only person who became a magical weapons master for this reason!

However, after taking in Nie Jiu’s robust physique and his beginner four-star magical weapon, Lou Yun suddenly understood. That old man Nie Jiu encountered back then must have seen that he had talent for cultivation. That’s why he came up with this method to motivate Nie Jiu to become a magical weapons master.

Indeed, Nie Jiu was only one year older than Lou Yun, just seventeen this year. Yet he already possessed a beginner four-star magical weapon. Though not as advanced as Lou Yun’s, among his peers, he was definitely outstanding. For example, sixteen-year-old Lou Qian was still only at the primary three-star magical weapon level.

This time, the place Nie Jiu took Lou Yun was not yesterday’s classroom, but the training chamber.

The training chamber was specifically for students to practice weapon techniques and cultivate spiritual energy. It had three floors, each with several rooms. Every room contained specialized equipment tailored for practicing different weapon techniques.

By the time they reached the room, most students had already arrived. They greeted Lou Yun politely upon seeing him. A few bolder girls even came directly to his side. Taking the chance to play with Xiao Huo, they laughingly joked around with Lou Yun.

Watching Lou Yun surrounded by flowers, most of the male students wore expressions of envy and jealousy. Yet Lou Yun, right in the midst of it, was suffering silently. He truly wasn’t very comfortable with this kind of attention.

Fortunately, at that moment, Han Tianxiao appeared promptly and dissolved Lou Yun’s awkward situation.

Han Tianxiao pointed to a table: "Lou Yun, you go over there!"

Lou Yun acknowledged and walked over. Turning his head, he unexpectedly found Xia Zhilan standing to his left. For politeness’ sake, Lou Yun smiled at her as a greeting. The latter immediately lowered her head in embarrassment, two involuntary blushes blooming on her cheeks.

Lou Yun didn’t think much of it. After exchanging greetings, he lowered his head to look at the table in front of him. On the table lay a large plate covered with a layer of white flour. However, mixed within the flour were quite a few small stones, about the size of black sesame seeds.

What is this for? Wasn’t it supposed to be cultivating spiritual energy? Had it changed into a cooking class?

Lou Yun scanned his surroundings, bewildered. He noticed all the students had identical items on their tables. Observing the expressions, he saw that some new students like himself wore looks of utter confusion, while the older students all wore expressions of understanding.

Han Tianxiao waved his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down. He picked up the plate from his own table. "Older students don’t need me to explain. New students, listen. What we learn today is controlling spiritual energy."

"Spiritual energy is intimately connected to our cultivation. It’s an extremely important factor impacting our strength. Thus, control over spiritual energy is particularly vital."

"Alright. Your task today is to use your spiritual energy to pick out the small stones from the flour in the plate in front of you. Remember, you can only use spiritual energy. No part of your body is allowed. If I see any flour on you, I will punish you! The first one to finish with the least amount of flour spilled gets a reward!"

"Begin!"

As soon as Han Tianxiao gave the order, all the students immediately lowered their heads, using their spiritual energy to attempt to pick up the small stones from the flour.

It sounded simple, but doing it was hard. Flour is very light, while the stones were heavier. If insufficient spiritual energy was used, the stone wouldn’t move. But if slightly too much spiritual energy was applied, it would bring up the flour surrounding the stone as well. This truly tested an individual’s level of spiritual energy control. Clearly, very few could extract the stones without disturbing the flour. Soon enough, a layer of flour began swirling up all across the classroom, causing everyone to cough incessantly.

After watching others for a while, Lou Yun finally lowered his head to look at his own plate. Suddenly, a thought struck him. Wasn’t picking stones out of flour essentially the same as picking impurities out of liquefied materials when forging weapons?

When picking impurities from liquefied materials, you couldn’t use your hands, only spiritual energy. And if the spiritual energy control was slightly off, you’d pick out useful liquid along with the impurity. This principle was exactly the same as Han Tianxiao’s task of having everyone pick stones out of the flour!

It seemed he really could learn many helpful things at the Ancient Weapon Academy!

Lou Yun smiled slightly. He extended his finger and projected a thread of spiritual energy towards a small stone in the flour. However, this time he clearly used too little. The stone didn’t move at all, though it did stir up a small puff of surrounding flour. So he increased the force. This time the stone moved, but a patch of flour was lifted with it, startling Lou Yun into hurriedly withdrawing his spiritual energy.

At that moment, Chang Xiang’s voice also sounded in his mind: "That teacher of yours at the Ancient Weapon Academy does seems to have some genuine skill. This method should indeed help strengthen your control over spiritual energy!"

Lou Yun had no time to respond to him. He continued trying to project varying amounts of spiritual energy from his fingertip to move the small stone.

After all, he had previous experience picking impurities while forging weapons. Moreover, compared to extracting impurities from liquid, picking stones from flour was noticeably simpler. Stones at least had some weight, while impurities were often almost weightless. After several consecutive attempts, Lou Yun gradually grasped the appropriate amount of spiritual energy needed.

Once he grasped the trick, his movements naturally sped up. Han Tianxiao, who had been walking amongst the students with a smile, noticed Lou Yun.

Lou Yun pointed out with swift fingers, a burst of spiritual energy striking a small stone, and with a subtle flick, the small stone was launched from the flour, while the flour surrounding it remained completely undisturbed.

Next, Lou Yun’s speed increased rapidly, and his movements grew ever more proficient. Gradually, all the students simply stopped their own tasks and turned instead to stare fixedly at Lou Yun.

Lou Yun, in one breath, flicked every single small stone out from the flour without causing even a trace of flour to spill over the edge of the tray. Then, as he lifted his head, he finally noticed everyone staring at him dumbstruck.

"Uh!" Lou Yun lowered his finger, scratched his head, and awkwardly smiled.

Han Tianxiao gave Lou Yun a thumbs-up. "At your current age, this level of control over spiritual energy already achieved such a degree! It truly exceeds my expectations. Well done!"

Then, Lou Qian’s voice suddenly rang out from the crowd: "Exactly! Look whose brother he is!"

This remark immediately caused the group to erupt into uproarious laughter. Though Han Tianxiao was also smiling, he pointed at Lou Qian and laughingly scolded her: "Lou Qian, stop basking in reflected glory here! In terms of spiritual energy control, yours and Nie Jiu’s is the worst. Look! Look how much flour is still in your tray!"

Everyone instantly shifted their gaze to the tray before Lou Qian. Seeing it, they couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter again. Even Lou Yun couldn’t suppress a smile. Because now, the only things left in Lou Qian’s tray were the small stones themselves – all the flour had flown out.

Lou Qian possessed a natural tomboy nature. Though laughed at by everyone, she didn’t get angry. She stuck her tongue out at Han Tianxiao. "Spiritual energy control has always been my weakness! Battle skill practical application is my specialty!"

Han Tianxiao smiled but remained silent as he turned around. He walked to the front of the group. "Through your practical experience just now, I trust each of you has gained an understanding of your own spiritual energy control. Now, I shall explain to you the role spiritual energy control plays in actual combat."

As he spoke, Han Tianxiao’s magical weapon materialized in his hand – that book: "Freshmen haven’t seen this. This is my magical weapon, mystery rank one star, the Book of Heaven and Earth!"

Immediately after, Han Tianxiao raised his hand and threw the Book of Heaven and Earth into the air!

"Mid-tier moon-grade weapon techniques, Open Book Gains Experience from the Heart Book!"

The Book of Heaven and Earth rapidly expanded in size as it soared upward and slowly split open down the middle. It then began to spin at tremendous speed. As it rotated, everyone could feel an enormous suction force emanating from the book. Consequently, all the flour scattered throughout the hall flew into the air under this force and was sucked into the open pages of the book.

After absorbing every bit of flour, the pages of the Book of Heaven and Earth closed again, its size shrinking back down as it flew back into Han Tianxiao’s hand.

Han Tianxiao picked up a tray in front of him and lifted the Book of Heaven and Earth. Slightly parting the pages, countless grains of flour instantly formed a miniature waterfall cascading out of the book, landing perfectly within the tray without a single particle missing.

"What did you all notice?"

Hearing this, the students exchanged confused glances. Though they were all awestruck by the weapon technique Han Tianxiao had just demonstrated, they hadn’t picked up on anything particularly noteworthy!

Lou Yun, looking at the now-empty tray before him, spoke up: "Teacher Han, the suction caused by the weapon technique you unleashed absorbed only the flour. None of these small stones stirred at all."

Only after Lou Yun pointed this out did the others catch on, nodding their heads repeatedly in agreement.

Han Tianxiao also nodded approvingly. "Correct. Lou Yun observes very carefully. To help you understand, let me illustrate the point using numbers."

"For example, I possess a total of 100 units of spiritual energy. To unleash the weapon technique I just used, I could apply either 100 units of spiritual energy, or 10 units. If I used only 10 units, I would absorb both the flour and the stones. I desired only the flour, not the stones. Therefore, I employed just 5 units of spiritual energy – sufficient to draw in all the flour. How much spiritual energy remains for me now? And how much did I conserve?"

"Ninety-five! Five!"

"Good! By saving 5 units per use, if I employ this technique ten times, I save 50 units of spiritual energy, correct?"

"Correct!"

"Do you all understand now?"

The students all began to contemplate Han Tianxiao’s explanation. Lou Yun was no exception. Moments later, he was the first to grasp the underlying principle. Seeing his expression, Han Tianxiao knew he had understood and smiled slightly. "Lou Yun, it seems you’ve figured it out. Explain it then."

Lou Yun didn’t hesitate. "When confronting an enemy, I could defeat him using either 10 units of spiritual energy or 100 units. However, the amount I use leads to vastly different outcomes. If I defeat him using only 10 units, I still have 90 units left. I can then perform other actions or engage other foes. But if I use 100 units to defeat him, he is vanquished, yet I have completely exhausted my own spiritual energy. Should another enemy appear, I would be utterly helpless!"

"Well said!" Han Tianxiao nodded appreciatively, then looked at Lou Qian. "Lou Qian, do you grasp what your brother meant? You are precisely the type who would spend 100 units of spiritual energy on an enemy in combat!"

"Ha ha!" Raucous laughter filled the hall once more.

Lou Qian, a little embarrassed, lowered her head and mumbled quietly: "Fine! I’ll just practice my spiritual energy control more from now on."

Han Tianxiao turned again to Lou Yun. "Lou Yun, I mentioned earlier that the first to complete the task would receive a reward. Name your reward. What do you want?"

Lou Yun’s eyes lit up. "Any reward?"

"Certainly. But it must be within my power to grant it."

With this assurance, Lou Yun didn’t hesitate. "Then I wish to learn the method you used yesterday, Teacher Han, the method to condense your magical weapon."

Han Tianxiao suddenly burst into hearty laughter: "Ha ha! I knew you’d ask for this! Come find me tonight!"