Back when he first went to the Unknown World, Jiang Li had been full of excitement. Now, that excitement had turned into deep disappointment. This grey world failed to stir even a bit of interest in him.
A world with only two types of things—what fun could that possibly hold? The only use Jiang Li could think of for this place was to come here in the future to attempt his tribulation, to see if ascending to the Immortal Realm was possible here. Perhaps this world was somehow connected to the Immortal Realm.
That thought was the only comfort he could give himself. The System had already memorized the coordinates of the grey world. He only needed to spend another fifty thousand Source Points to go there again.
But for Jiang Li, who could casually write a Fusion Stage cultivation technique, Source Points were like an unlocked treasury—he could take as many as he wanted, whenever he wanted.
What?
Some people go do missions just to earn fifty Source Points?
No way.
Definitely no such people exist. Jiang Li instantly denied that idea in his heart. The Remote Communication Talisman in his sleeve suddenly vibrated.
Jiang Li picked it up and connected the call.
“Brother Jiang, the matter you asked me to investigate is done. The former Human Emperor Candidates all said that no one on their side has ever seen the man in black.”
It was another commander from the Human Emperor Palace reporting to him.
“That’s strange,” Jiang Li muttered.
He couldn’t figure it out—why was that man in black so certain that Jiang Li would become the next Human Emperor? Or was it that he’d only been spreading the Demonic Path freely, and everything else was coincidence?
“Then go to the Heavenly Mystery Tower and issue a commission. Their channels are unfettered—tell them to investigate who, three hundred and eighty years ago, taught Jiang Yixing the Demonic Cultivation Method.”
“Yes, understood.”
After cutting the connection, Jiang Li opened one spatial rift after another, but there was no notification from the System about discovering a new unknown world. It seemed that finding the grey world last time had been pure luck. A few days later, the System issued a new task.
[New Task Released: The Great Zhou Imperial Academy is about to begin student enrollment. The Four Great Academies serve as preparatory colleges for the Great Zhou Imperial Academy. Sixty percent of their students manage to pass the final entrance examination. You are not a student from any of the Four Academies; the other students laugh at you for this. Please achieve first place in the Great Zhou Imperial Academy entrance examination.]
[This task is optional.]
[Task Reward: One drop of True Dragon Blood, one Beast Transformation Pill, activation of the special mission “Lost Immortal Realm.”]
“Hm?”
Jiang Li automatically ignored the True Dragon Blood and the Beast Transformation Pill. He asked instead, “What is ‘Lost Immortal Realm’?”
[Task not yet activated. The host is unauthorized to know.]
Although this blasted System was as tricky as ever, it had never lied. When it said it could teleport him through space, it truly could. When it said it would give him something, it would give it without fail.
Since this special task was called “Lost Immortal Realm,” didn’t that mean completing it might lead him to find the actual Immortal Realm? That thought made Jiang Li’s heart itch with curiosity. He decided he would take on this task.
Besides, it had been quite a while since he last visited the Great Zhou Imperial Academy. He himself had once been a student there, and it was during that time that he met Ji Zhi, who back then was only a prince.
At that time, Jiang Li had just broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage and was being hunted down by enemies. With no other way out, he had resolved to burn his Five Elements Spirit Root, determined to perish together with his pursuers. The other party had been shocked—burning one’s spirit root was something only madmen did.
Doing so could indeed unleash immense power for a brief moment, but it was exceedingly dangerous—nine deaths out of ten! And even if one miraculously survived, one would become a mortal with no Spiritual Qi forever. In the Nine Provinces, living without a spirit root was worse than death.
Yet, Jiang Li had neither died nor become mortal. Instead, the act had forced his Heavenly Spiritual Root to awaken ahead of time. The Heavenly Spiritual Root hides itself by nature.
Outwardly, it manifests as the Five Elements Spirit Root. Only after a cultivator reaches the Nascent Soul Stage would the Heavenly Spiritual Root reveal itself, allowing one’s potential to soar to the sky. Heavenly Spiritual Roots were already incomparably rare; cultivating up to the Nascent Soul Stage with a Five Elements Spirit Root was even more difficult.
Combine the two, and it was no wonder that an entire millennium might pass without a single Heavenly Spiritual Root cultivator appearing. But no one had ever burned their Five Elements Spirit Root to trigger an early awakening of their Heavenly Spiritual Root—until Jiang Li.
After that incident, he found himself back at the Ninth Layer of the Qi Refining Stage, yet his foundation was far firmer than before. What shocked him even more—after some time of continued cultivation, he actually reached the Tenth Layer of Qi Refining! Since when did the Qi Refinement Stage have a tenth layer?!
If he kept cultivating like this, would he end up cultivating to even the Twentieth Layer of Qi Refinement? Would he still be able to build his foundation after that?
Unable to make sense of his transformation, Jiang Li went to the one place in the Great Zhou famed for its vast collection of books—the Great Zhou Imperial Academy’s Library Pavilion—to seek answers. Although he never found the book he was looking for, he immersed himself there and learned the System’s theoretical side of cultivation.
Combining all knowledge he could, he finally deduced that he indeed possessed the Heavenly Spiritual Root—and that it had awakened early. Later, after Jiang Li became the Human Emperor, he would still come to the Great Zhou Imperial Academy once every thirty years to hold public lectures there—to repay the favor of the Academy that once enlightened him. …
“How fast time flies... Five hundred years passed in a blink. I left here as a student, and now I return as one again.”
It was enrollment season. From all across the nation, the brightest scholars had come to sit for the entrance examinations. The inns were packed to the brim.
Jiang Li spent a large sum to rent a room near the academy in preparation for the exam. The previous System mission had rewarded him with the “Source Point Reading Function.” Now, the next task was to place first in the entrance exam—clearly hinting that he was supposed to use this new reading function to ace it.
But Jiang Li found that utterly ridiculous. Even without the System back then, he had already scored first place in the entrance examination of the Great Zhou Imperial Academy. Five hundred years later, now a Mahayana Stage cultivator, his insight and knowledge were far beyond mortal understanding.
Handling a mere entrance exam would be as easy as moving a finger. Using the System for this would be an insult to his intelligence! The Great Zhou Imperial Academy had a history as ancient as the founding of the Great Zhou itself.
Located within a corner of the Great Zhou Imperial City, it occupied a vast piece of land despite the city’s extraordinary value per foot of space. Yet, no one dared voice objection, for every emperor of the Great Zhou throughout history had graduated from this academy.
Because of that, inns near the area charged absurdly high prices—ordinary folks could not afford them. Usually, three or four students would cram together into a small room, living tightly and studying day and night. Even the students from the Four Great Academies showed the same diligence, cramming every moment they could.
Jiang Li, hands clasped behind his back, strolled leisurely through the streets, wearing a calm, unhurried expression utterly out of place amid the intense scholarly tension surrounding him. Someone nearby grew displeased at his carefree demeanor and was just about to sneer when his companion quickly stopped him.
“What are you doing stopping me? I can’t stand people like him—acting all idle like life’s a holiday!”
“You memorized too many books and went dull! Doesn’t he clearly look like someone who’s already got everything down? You can tell he’s confident to the core!”
The other friend chimed in, “Right! Think about those top students in our academy—don’t they all look laid-back before exams? Then they complain about thinking they did terribly, only for results to come out and they’re first in the entire class!”
“Yeah, yeah! Always napping during lectures, saying afterward they got this question wrong, that question wrong… I thought, ‘Hah, so that genius isn’t so great after all.’ Then when marks come out—he’s still first. And me? I’m last again.”
The one who had wanted to mock Jiang Li suddenly realized the sense in their words. Yes—how could anyone who came all the way to take the Great Zhou Imperial Academy entrance exam be here just to make up the numbers? That was close!
I almost made a fool of myself. Better buckle down and study hard—no need to stick my face out there just to get slapped.
(End of Chapter)