When cultivating, time always flew by.
The days passed.
Chen Shaojie loved the feeling of cultivation. He was even a little addicted to it.
He would cultivate in the morning during the morning training session, then continue cultivating in the afternoon in the Book Depository. His spent most of his days in cultivation.
When Chen Shaojie cultivated, he would barely notice the passage of time.
Every time he awakened from the state of cultivation, it was because he got "disconnected".
Be it with Li Xuejiao or with Meng Tiancheng, he would only wake up when the "WiFi signal" was suddenly disconnected.
There was only one exception, and it happened on a certain day.
[*Crunch*]
[A friendly reminder from the Bask-in-the-Glow System: Tuoba Guoyun's body contains a Super-Grade Fire Spiritual Root. When you are close to him, your cultivation speed can become 10,000 times as fast. Would you like to bask in his glow? (Yes/No)]
[A friendly reminder from the Bask-in-the-Glow System: Tuoba Guoyun's body contains a Grade-1 Earth Spiritual Root. When you are close to him, your cultivation speed can become 5,000 times as fast. Would you like to bask in his glow? (Yes/No)]
Who's Tuoba Guoyun?
Chen Shaojie immediately awakened from the state of cultivation and opened his eyes.
"Huh?"
A soft remark came from his left side, "His senses are surprisingly sharp."
Chen Shaojie turned and saw a young man standing quietly nearby with a trace of surprise in his eyes.
"Can I help you?"
Chen Shaojie had never seen this person called Tuoba Guoyun before. Standing there, he looked no different from an ordinary person.
However, Chen Shaojie would not actually think that this man was just an ordinary person.
That was because the system had told him that the man possessed a super-grade spiritual root just like Grandmaster Qing Zhu, as well as another grade-1 spiritual root. He actually had two spiritual roots in his body.
He was the first person Chen Shaojie had met so far who had two spiritual roots, and both spiritual roots were high grade spiritual roots to boot.
So, this guy must be a big shot.
Tuoba Guoyun sized Chen Shaojie up, as if he was looking at something very interesting. "I can't believe you can actually sense my presence... This is natural instinct. You have very sharp senses. It's something ordinary people don't have."
Right now, Chen Shaojie liked big shots the most. After he came back to his senses, he quickly got up from the floor and saluted, "Senior!"
Tuoba Guoyun said, "Give me your hand."
Chen Shaojie had no idea what Tuoba Guoyun was trying to do, but he still did as he was told.
He had no choice. In order to get carried by the big shot, he must be obedient.
Tuoba Guoyun gently placed his own hand on Chen Shaojie's. Chen Shaojie immediately sensed a searing hot Qi flow into his body and made a full circulation.
"Wow, so you've actually reached the intermediate stage of Mineral Digestion."
Tuoba Guoyun let go of Chen Shaojie's hand. The astonishment in his eyes had become slightly stronger.
Chen Shaojie respectfully asked, "May I know who you are, Senior? And how can I help you?"
"I am Tuoba Guoyun, the chief of Jing Yun Hall."
Tuoba Guoyun briefly introduced himself. "I heard it was your idea to reorganize the Book Depository into the way it is now, so I came here to see what you look like."
Chen Shaojie did not quite know what the Jing Yun Hall was, but since Tuoba Guoyun was a sect chief, he was a confirmed big shot. Chen Shaojie quickly acted humble. "It was the result of the efforts of all the brothers and sisters in House A Class 2, not me alone."
"I know what happened. You do not need to be modest."
Tuoba Guoyun waved his hand. "I believe you're talented in handling mundane affairs, so I'd like to recruit you to the Jing Yun Hall. I've checked the result of your entrance test and found out that you don't have much talent in cultivation. That's why I originally came here today to give you a Foundation-Building Pill, but now that I've seen you... You've actually reached the Mineral Digestion realm. That's good. It saves me a Foundation-Building Pill."
What? A Foundation-Building Pill?
Chen Shaojie immediately wanted to say "give me, I want it...", but after thinking about it, he thought it was too unsightly and might leave a bad impression on the big shot, so he stopped himself.
He was wondering how he should politely express his desire to have the Foundation-Building Pill when Tuoba Guoyun asked him another question, "How did your cultivation level reach this stage in such a short period of time?"
"I..."
That was a hard question to answer. Chen Shaojie contemplated it and decided to make use of Grandmaster Qing Zhu's name.
But before he could organize his thoughts and give a reply, Tuoba Guoyun already said with a laugh, "I know Grandmaster Qing Zhu has taken a liking to you. He's probably helped you in some ways. Don't worry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I won't force you."
"T-Thank you for your understanding, Senior!"
"Although the Foundation-Building Pill can forcefully stimulate your potential to enable you to build a foundation, you will find it hard to improve in the path of cultivation anymore after that. Since you can cultivate the "Qing Yu Body Forging Technique" to completion with your own effort, the Foundation-Building Pill is unnecessary... Well, in that case, why don't you come find me at the Jing Yun Hall after you get promoted to the upper court? I may be able to take you in as my disciple. What do you think?"
So the Foundation-Building Pill... actually worked like that?
Then...then...no thanks!
The Foundation-Building Pill aside, Chen Shaojie already understood the big shot's purpose for coming here today after listening to what he had to say.
To put it bluntly, the big shot had seen what Chen Shaojie had done with the Book Depository and wished to recruit him.
In other words, as long as he could get to the upper court, he would immediately be under the protection of a big shot.
Although he was secretly overjoyed, he tried his best to appear calm. He pretended to think about it for a moment before he nodded. "Okay, Senior."
"Good, then it's a deal! I'll leave you to your cultivation."
Tuoba Guoyun smiled. He suddenly disappeared before Chen Shaojie's eyes as if he was just an illusion.
He came without a shadow and left without a trace.
Chen Shaojie was quite jealous. He looked forward to the day when he could also reach such a cultivation level.
Turning around, he saw that Meng Tiancheng had opened his eyes at some point and currently appeared to be deep in thought.
Obviously, he had heard the full conversation between Chen Shaojie and Tuoba Guoyun earlier.
Chen Shaojie sat back down, glared at Meng Tiancheng, and continued to cultivate.
Meng Tiancheng could only lament in his heart, "So he has indeed obtained help from Grandmaster Qing Zhu... The world is so unfair!"
He could only close his eyes and continue cultivating.
...
Two and a half months went by in the blink of an eye.
Today, Chen Shaojie once again spent the whole day cultivating in the Book Depository.
When it was almost time to "get off work"...
Chen Shaojie's eyes suddenly jerked open. A strange glint could be seen in them. He jumped up from the floor, tilted his head back and let out a loud and boisterous laugh.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Meng Tiancheng opened his eyes and scowled at Chen Shaojie.
He had reached a critical moment in his cultivation, only to be disturbed by Chen Shaojie's laughter. One could imagine how bad his mood was.
On the contrary, Chen Shaojie was in a great mood. He turned to Meng Tiancheng and responded with a smile, "Take a guess?"
"..."
Meng Tiancheng did not want to talk. He wondered if Chen Shaojie had gone crazy from cultivating.
Chen Shaojie laughed and started to walk out. He pretended to be as nonchalant as possible as he said, "I've reached completion."
"What?"
Hearing that, Meng Tiancheng's expression instantly changed.
After a long time, he finally gritted his teeth in defeat, closed his eyes again, and continued cultivating.