"Of course it's a broadcast..." Ji Luofei saw Ning Cheng standing there muttering to himself and couldn't help but speak helplessly. The broadcasting array of the Cang Qin Two-Star Academy hadn't been introduced for very long because the academy aimed to join the ranks of the Three-Star Academies. Aside from enhancing its strength, the academy also needed to bolster its facilities.
The duel stage outside the academy was built for this reason, and the broadcasting array had been established by a high-cost array master from Huazhou that the academy had invited. Not only that, but the academy also sold sound stones. The sound stones of Cang Qin Two-Star Academy could broadcast across most of Ping Zhou, with the transmission of sound facilitated by various sound transfer arrays.
"Where does this bumpkin come from? Doesn't even know what a Sound Range Array is," a long-haired male student passing by Ning Cheng and Ji Luofei overheard their conversation and mocked disdainfully.
Ning Cheng had realized by now that the broadcast was not transmitted by electricity, but rather in a different way. Just as he was about to respond to the mockery, Ji Luofei pulled on his hand and said, "Don't mind others, let's go."
"Who do we have here, if not Ugly Ji," the talking male student had recognized Ji Luofei and continued to mock without restraint.
Ji Luofei's expression remained calm, unperturbed as if the mockery had nothing to do with her. Ning Cheng suppressed his inner fury as Ji Luofei pulled him away, knowing that with his level of cultivation, if a conflict arose, he would most likely be killed instantly.
"Gu Fei really is useless, can't even defeat such an ugly freak." After Ji Luofei and Ning Cheng walked away, the person behind them still snickered coldly. His intention was very clear, to enrage Ji Luofei.
Ning Cheng could feel Ji Luofei struggling to contain her anger. At that moment, he almost couldn't help but turn around and grab the mocking guy for a beating.
"His name is Chu Chenjun, he's at the third layer of Qi Gathering, and his cultivation level is even higher than mine," Ji Luofei explained softly on the side.
Ning Cheng did not speak. He knew that without strength, words were futile. Ji Luofei's words were also a reminder. If his cultivation were strong enough, Chu Chenjun wouldn't dare to be so arrogant in front of him. He kept thinking about who this Gu Fei was. Considering Chu Chenjun's words, it seemed that Ji Luofei had fought with Gu Fei before, and he wondered if the wounds Ji Luofei had were because of that.
Cang Qin Two-Star Academy was vast, and Ning Cheng knew the reason Ji Luofei brought him to the academy was for his safety. So, he expected Ji Luofei would find a secluded place for him to lay low, but instead, she led him to an ancient and solid tower-like building.
The tower appeared majestic, and there were quite a few people coming and going in front of it. It was called a tower, but that was only because its shape was somewhat similar; in fact, it would be more accurate to call it a tower-like building because even the top of the tower was flat.
In the middle of the tower-like building, several enormous characters were inscribed: 'Cang Qin Cultivation Tower.'
"Follow me inside, and don't speak out of turn," Ji Luofei advised Ning Cheng before she walked ahead into the building.
From the outside, the tower-like building already seemed vast, but only after Ning Cheng followed Ji Luofei into the ground floor did he realize that it was many times larger than he had imagined.
Ji Luofei led Ning Cheng straight to the third floor before turning towards a black stone door in the corner.
"Elder Mu lives here, this is one of the academy's cultivation rooms, all under Elder Mu's watch. You must show respect when you meet Elder Mu..."
As Ji Luofei was instructing Ning Cheng, the black stone door already opened. An old man with sparse hair, a face full of wrinkles, and eyes that could barely open stood at the doorway, "Since you're here, come in."
His voice was surprisingly loud and crisp, if Ning Cheng had heard this voice first, he would have never thought it belonged to an elderly man but rather a young man in his twenties or thirties.
"Elder Mu, this is Ning Cheng," Ji Luofei walked into the stone door first and respectfully bowed to the old man.
Following behind, Ning Cheng also bent over and said, "Ning Cheng greets Elder Mu."
"Qi Gathering First Layer, you can barely offer assistance, but how about your spiritual roots?" Elder Mu glanced at Ning Cheng with dull eyes before speaking.
Ji Luofei quickly responded, "Although Ning Cheng doesn't have a primary spiritual root, he has three secondary miscellaneous spiritual roots."
"What color?" Elder Mu asked again.
Ji Luofei replied somewhat apprehensively, "Muddy yellow..."
Ning Cheng didn't understand much about spiritual roots, only knowing they indicated aptitude. His aptitude was very poor, so he assumed his spiritual roots would not be any better.
Although Elder Mu had just asked Ji Luofei about Ning Cheng's spiritual roots, after Ji Luofei's answer, Elder Mu merely snorted and said, "You're here to clean the cultivation rooms, and that has nothing to do with the quality of your spiritual roots. Alright, there's nothing for you here now, you may leave."
"Yes, junior bids farewell." Ji Luofei, having heard Master Mu's words, quickly bowed her head and curtsied, then left without saying another word to Ning Cheng.
However, Ning Cheng felt that something was amiss. Ji Luofei had said that Master Mu was good to her and that he was able to work here as a handyman because Master Mu had helped him for Ji Luofei's sake. Yet, Ji Luofei's behavior towards Master Mu didn't seem to be held in high regard, so why then would Master Mu help him?
After Ji Luofei left, the seemingly lifeless Master Mu finally spoke to Ning Cheng in a cold voice, "The seventh floor of the cultivation tower is currently unattended; you are responsible for cleaning the seventh floor."
Ning Cheng was utterly confused. Responsible for the seventh floor? The old man just mentioned being responsible for the seventh floor, then said nothing more. Who knew what he was supposed to do? Where was he supposed to live?
"Here, take this and go to the seventh floor. Don't disturb me whether there is an issue or not." After speaking, Master Mu threw a wooden token and a thin piece of paper at Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng had just caught the wooden token and the thin piece of paper when he felt a powerful force pushing him, involuntarily forcing him out of the room. The next moment, Master Mu's black stone door had already closed.
"This Master Mu doesn't seem to be someone easy to talk to, probably not a good person either," Ning Cheng thought bitterly to himself, yet he didn't dare to approach and question Master Mu further.
The instructions on the paper were very simple: before the arrival of daybreak, he must clean any unused cultivation rooms on the seventh floor. Should there be any abnormal situation, it must be reported immediately. The wooden token was the key to opening the main door of the cultivation rooms. As long as no one was occupying a cultivation room, the token could open it. Violating the rules would result in severe punishment.
Ning Cheng, reading these straightforward sentences, was perplexed. Violate what rules? There were no rules mentioned above. Besides, what constituted an abnormal situation? To whom should he report? And exactly how should he clean?
Of these things, Ning Cheng knew nothing. The only thing he understood was that the cultivation tower had seven floors and he was to work on the seventh, not even knowing where he'd eat or sleep.
Ning Cheng wanted to ask Ji Luofei, but he had no idea where she might be. Cang Qin Two Star Academy was so vast that even if he walked around, it didn't seem like something he could finish in a short time.
As Ning Cheng had expected, Ji Luofei must have waited for him outside after bringing him to Master Mu. But when he came out of Master Mu's stone house, he didn't see Ji Luofei.
Ning Cheng didn't go out to look for Ji Luofei, clearly understanding that the less he showed his face around here, the better. Ji Luofei knew that he had offended Xian Yuankui, meaning that Xian Yuankui held a not-insignificant position in Cang Qin Two Star Academy, or that the person who saved him, Jian Sujie, held a formidable position here, otherwise the matter wouldn't have reached Ji Luofei's ears.
Ning Cheng made his way to the seventh floor of the cultivation tower, which was much smaller than he had imagined. The tower was not exactly a tower but was built like one. With a total of just seven floors, it was to be expected that the higher floors were smaller.
Upon reaching the seventh floor, Ning Cheng counted a total of eighteen cultivation rooms. It didn't take much time for him to understand the situation: as long as the red light above the door of a cultivation room was on, it indicated someone was inside cultivating. If the light was off, then it indicated vacancy. The seventh floor evidently had few cultivators, with red lights on at only three cultivation rooms; the rest were unlit.
Ning Cheng tried inserting the wooden token into the slot at the door of an empty cultivation room, and the stone door automatically retracted. He then saw the inside of the cultivation room, which was also quite large and divided into two parts.
The outer part was like a small training field, littered and chaotic from someone's cultivation of some sort of spell, complete with traces of fire damage. The inner part seemed to be a resting area, even furnished with a wooden bed.
Ning Cheng left this cultivation room to inspect several others. The rooms were largely similar: some were soaked with water stains, while others bore various burn marks and were strewn with dead plant vines and tendrils.
After a quick survey, Ning Cheng knew what his responsibility entailed—it was to clean the unoccupied cultivation rooms every day. To put it bluntly, he was now a janitor.
After making a round, Ning Cheng found his accommodation in a corner of the seventh floor, a small stone house of just a few square meters. Like Master Mu, he lived in a small stone house, but his was not even a fraction of Master Mu's size.
Inside the small stone house, besides a bed, there were several cleaning tools: a huge broom, an iron shovel, and a dustpan. These three items took up a tenth of the space in the tiny room.
Ning Cheng was actually relieved. At least he had a place to stay. Although it was in the busy cultivation tower, it was relatively secluded. The only thing he was eager to find out was where he would eat and wash.
To ask Master Mu, Ning Cheng didn't dare and also didn't want to face that ominously grim face again. He specifically went to the sixth floor's cleaner's stone house, knocking on the door to be greeted by a man even skinnier and taller than himself.
Seeing the tall man's impatience, Ning Cheng hurriedly asked politely, "I'm new here, now cleaning the seventh-floor cultivation rooms. Could you tell me where I can eat?"
"Who told you that people cleaning the cultivation rooms get meals?" The tall and thin man disdainfully retorted before slamming the stone door shut with a bang.
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