Chapter 5

Gao Xiude now just wants to slap the him from a moment ago dead.

He looked at Yu Xizhi somewhat incredulously, the other party showing no intention to avoid, innocently looking at him. Gao Xiude even sensed a hint of provocation, both eager and subtly challenging.

Gao Xiude: …

Is this really Senior Sister Yu?!

Yet Yu Xizhi’s eyes and brows remained gentle, as if Gao Xiude’s previous reaction was a misconception.

“Senior Brother Shen, I’ll go with you; let’s go now.”

Gao Xiude, sweating coldly, decisively turned around, earnestly looking at Shen Ye. Ignoring the surprised look in Shen Ye’s eyes, he walked toward the entrance of the academy without looking back.

Yu Xizhi anticipated the other’s reaction long before, slowly sitting down. She wore a harmless smile under Shen Ye’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Shen.”

Shen Ye felt like he had seen this gentle and reserved smile somewhere before but couldn’t place it. He and Yu Si were close, and although he had criticized Yu Xizhi’s past actions, he couldn’t keep staring at her here. He quickly turned to catch up with Gao Xiude.

Yu Xizhi withdrew her gaze.

She had long seen her own appearance. It bore an eighty percent resemblance to her appearance before, and with her current demeanor, it was a hundred percent.

She had naturally smiling eyes; even when angry, a hint of a smile remained. There was even a dimple on her right cheek. Yet her features were strikingly beautiful.

So when she smiled, she appeared innocent and pure, but when her eyes flashed with ambiguous intentions, she became a perfect villainess.

Yu Xizhi mastered the transitions and control of expressions perfectly.

No wonder; before transmigrating, she was a minor actress.

Because she was too likable in appearance, she was discovered at a young age and joined the industry. Ironically, her first breakout role was that of a vividly portrayed little villainess.

From then on, she could only accept roles like tea masters, white lotus characters, and the blackened villainess,and she has since become a household name as a professional female supporting actress.

(T/N:greentea bit*h)

Later, she even topped the national arts examination. Just as she was about to carry her luggage to school, she transmigrated.

Since she had already transmigrated, Yu Xizhi maintained a good attitude. After all, in her new life, she still held onto the script of a cannon-fodder villainess.

Look, she had only just made a little attempt, and she scared the child away.

Yu Xizhi was very satisfied with her acting skills not regressing.

With this incident, no one in the academy dared disturb her anymore.

Unfortunately, the teacher for the Qi refining class happened to be none other than teacher Xu, with whom she had a feud.

(T/N: Before this, I translated this as Instructor Xu, but now I will use ‘teacher’ Xu.)

Teacher Xu obviously knew about the recent events. Upon seeing Yu Xizhi, he sneered, but before he could say anything, the bell for class rang.

This bell wasn’t an ordinary one; it was the Kunwu Treasure, the Heavenly Heart Bell. Once it rang, it had the effect of clearing one’s mind and enhancing clarity of thought.

There were a pair of Heavenly Heart Bells, one of which was tied around the neck of the Kirin, the guardian beast of the Kunwu Sect, while the other served as the bell for the academy. This emphasized the importance the sect placed on education.

When the Heavenly Heart Bell rang, it signaled the start of class. Even teacher Xu couldn’t disobey such a rule of the academy. He gave Yu Xizhi a sideways glance, said nothing more, and began the day’s lesson.

Teacher Xu had already progressed to the middle section of “Qi Refining,” the manual for cultivating theory, but Yu Xizhi was starting from the beginning.

Though the words on the pages were vertical, each page didn’t have many characters. At first, Yu Xizhi found it awkward, reading down one character at a time. But soon, she adapted to this reading style.

The dull and uninteresting voice of teacher Xu’s lecture gradually faded away, along with the faint sounds of wind and birds outside the window. The flowing air passing by her seemed afraid to disturb her, becoming much calmer.

Each inked character seemed to come alive, leaping from the page into her mind and deeply imprinting itself. The more she read, the more engrossed she became, and her speed increased. From a distance, it seemed like she wasn’t reading at all, but mindlessly flipping through pages!

Her flipping was not particularly loud, but such speed was enough to draw the attention of the entire academy!

A junior disciple from Taiqing Peak at the back whispered with concern:

“Ah, what’s wrong with Second Senior Sister? If she doesn’t want to read, she shouldn’t. Isn’t flipping the book like this going to make teacher Xu angry again?”

“Teacher Xu is already very angry! Look at his face, he’s not even teaching anymore! Second Senior Sister is really in trouble…”

Yu Xizhi was completely unaware of her current state. She had memorized scripts since childhood, was naturally smart, and, with professional training, she could almost have a photographic memory.

And now, that bell had cleared her mind, and her body, after absorbing Qi, had no resistance to such high-intensity knowledge intake. She felt the content of the book rapidly being memorized, and within her, there was a strange surge, as if craving more of this knowledge.

If someone were to use spiritual vision to look at Yu Xizhi right now, they would see an excessive surge of spiritual energy within her body, actually repeatedly flushing her meridians according to the methods she had just read!

Taiqing Peak main hall.

As Sect Master Huaiyun was engaged in a game of chess with someone, his expression shifted slightly. He glanced back in the direction of the academy. In his perception, amidst the smoothly circulating spiritual energy, there was a ripple suddenly rising, as if some bottomless pit was attracting the surging spiritual energy!

The red-robed old man sitting opposite him evidently also noticed this movement. His withered fingers held a black piece, which he placed steadily on the chessboard, smiling, “Congratulations, Sect Master Huaiyun. Kunwu’s future looks promising.”

Initially, Huaiyun had intended to immediately send someone to check who was causing a disturbance in the academy. But upon hearing the words of the red-robed old man, he changed his mind.

This matter could be addressed later. It was more important to maintain an invisible facade in front of this old fox, Baiyu Zhai.

So Huaiyun withdrew his attention, no longer delving deeper. He lightly smiled and casually flicked a piece on the board, as if unconcerned. “It’s just a minor disturbance caused by a disciple; apologies for any inconvenience to the Master Zhai.”

Meanwhile, in the academy, the atmosphere became tense.

“Yu Xizhi!”

Yu Xizhi suddenly snapped back to reality. She had just finished flipping through the last two pages of the entire book and was feeling a bit dazed. Being abruptly called out like this made her feel disoriented, as if she had lost track of time.

She felt a bit unsatisfied, even a bit resentful that the book had so little content, preventing her from reading more. But since she had finished the book, she automatically snapped out of her previous state.

Even after calling her name three times without receiving a response, Teacher Xu’s face grew darker. He tapped her desk with his fingers, injecting a hint of spiritual energy into his voice. “Yu Xizhi!”

“Here, disciple is present.” Yu Xizhi suppressed the unfamiliar surge of emotions in her heart, finally standing up and respectfully saluting.

Teacher Xu looked at her sternly and said, “I called your name four times. Are you deliberately ignoring me?”

“Disciple was deeply engrossed in reading and didn’t hear the teacher’s voice.” Yu Xizhi maintained her posture of clasping her fists and bowing, “Please forgive this disciple, teacher.”

“Engrossed in reading?” Teacher Xu seemed to find this ridiculous, even unable to suppress a cold sneer. “Very well, since you’re so diligent and have already finished the entire book, I assume you’re well-prepared. Let me test you.”

He stood tall, his voice unconsciously tinged with sarcasm, and Yu Xizhi could clearly hear it. She thought she should take out her grudge notebook later and mark Teacher Xu’s name several times, but her voice remained calm, “Please, Teacher, give me the question.”

Teacher Xu turned around and returned to the front of the classroom, standing with his hands behind his back. He loudly asked, “What are the taboos in Qi Refining?”

“The preface of ‘Qi Refining’ states, ‘To listen to the Dao in the morning and die content in the evening.’ Qi refining is the second realm of learning the Dao. where one draws Qi into the body, cleanses the marrow, and purifies the Qi. For those who truly cultivate and attain Dao, the first thing they sense is the mysterious realm of this world, which easily triggers excessive curiosity, restlessness, arrogance, and unease……”

Yu Xizhi stood upright, her speech not hurried, as she eloquently recited from the beginning to the end of the chapter that Teacher Xu had asked about!

Teacher Xu narrowed his eyes and asked again, “In Qi Refining, what kind of Qi are you refining?”

“In the second chapter of ‘Qi Refining,’ on the twelfth page, third paragraph, it states that Qi Refining refines the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and even more so, the righteous energy of heaven and earth. At the time of the initial creation of heaven and earth, all things were in chaos…”

Yu Xizhi hardly needed to think. Some people belatedly opened the book and realized that what she said matched it perfectly!

All the disciples in the classroom were stunned. Amidst Yu Xizhi’s clear voice, whispers filled the room:

“Oh my god, has Second Senior Sister already memorized this entire book… It’s over three hundred pages long!”

“So, Second Senior Sister really was reading just now?!”

“Can books really be read like this? But wait, if Second Senior Sister has such abilities, why has she been stuck at the initial stage of Qi Refining for so long?”

“…Anyway, I feel like Second Senior Sister’s state just now was like she was meditating. Did Teacher Xu disturb her meditation?!”

“Ah, disturbing someone’s meditation, that’s asking for trouble.”

The whispers reached Teacher Xu’s ears, both the discussions among the students and Yu Xizhi’s responsive voice seemed like a slap to his face.

Teacher Xu’s expression worsened; his initially imposing stance of standing with his hands behind his back now seemed like a joke. His clenched fists behind his back turned white-knuckled. After exchanging five or six questions like this, with Yu Xizhi responding effortlessly each time, his anger grew more intense. He was about to ask another question when Yu Xizhi interrupted him.

“For the content about getting stronger, I’m afraid I can’t even answer one question. But surely Teacher Xu wouldn’t intentionally make things difficult for me, right? If he insists on making it difficult… should I go and read a few more books first?”

Teacher Xu’s face darkened, her words seemed to choke him, his chest heaving. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, “Very good, you… very good.”

“I agree with the teacher’s words.” Yu Xizhi, however, seemed oblivious to the true meaning behind his words, showing a smile of gratitude for the praise. “Does teacher have any more questions? If not, may I sit down first?”

Teacher Xu felt Yu Xizhi was shameless and unreasonable, filled with anger and frustration. Inside, he felt consumed with the term “shameless,” his neck even turning red.

Yet she seamlessly answered his questions; even though he was as strict as he could be, he couldn’t find a single flaw.

Most importantly, regardless of whether he admitted it or not, he knew he had interrupted Yu Xizhi’s meditation.

Just as that disciple had said,.

Disturbing someone’s meditation is asking for trouble.

Meditation is a state that every cultivator dreams of achieving—a kind of enlightenment, in simpler terms. Whether one can achieve it, when, and how are all mysterious and unpredictable. Once encountered, it brings immeasurable benefits to cultivators.

The Kunwu Sect has clear rules: whenever a disciple meditates, fellow disciples must assist in protecting them. Disturbing someone’s meditation warrants severe punishment in the Hall of Discipline and is considered to harm fellow disciples.

As a teacher, disturbing a disciple’s meditation is an even greater offense. If Yu Xizhi doesn’t let it go, he might even lose his position as a teacher!

Just like now.

Yu Xizhi looked at him with a smile, not mentioning the incident at all, but her eyes clearly conveyed—

Look, fortunes change.

I’ve got you now, Teacher Xu.