Chapter 542 - 250: The Academician’s Last Step (Part 3)
Chapter 542: Chapter 250: The Academician’s Last Step (Part 3)
From the distance came the sporadic crackle of firecrackers, mingled with the laughter and clamor of children.
Lv Jianyang finally recovered from his immense shock. He looked at Yang Qi’s calm, yet somewhat unfamiliar face, then glanced down at his own rough, chapped hands. His thoughts turned to the school fees waiting to be paid at home, his father’s medical expenses, the child who would soon be born...
His eyes suddenly turned red.
He ducked his head abruptly, taking a hard drag from the nearly finished cigarette before forcefully extinguishing the butt against the earthen wall. His shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.
After a long moment, he raised his head again. His eyes were still a little red, but the heavy, deathly aura in them had dissipated considerably, replaced by a mixture of disbelief, gratitude, and a newly rekindled light.
He looked at Yang Qi, his throat bobbing a few times. Finally, he hoarsely uttered a single word.
"...Thanks."
A thousand words were caught in his throat.
He knew that single word was too light, but right now, it was all he could say.
Yang Qi smiled and clapped him firmly on the shoulder, just like when they were kids.
"Don’t be so damn polite with me. Come on, let’s go inside and play a game of chess with Teacher Lv. With your lousy skills, don’t let Teacher Lv say I’m a bad influence on you again."
Lv Jianyang cracked a grin, trying to laugh but failing. He just nodded forcefully.
...
...
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Qi was still at home.
He helped his grandmother tidy the house and dealt with the endless stream of relatives and neighbors coming by to offer New Year’s greetings.
The matter of the Jiang Family and their son gradually faded from memory, but the impression that Yang Qi was now "very capable" and "an expert" was deeply ingrained in the villagers’ minds.
Lv Jianyang came by in the afternoon. He didn’t say much, but most of the gloom in his eyes had lifted.
Early on the morning of the third day, Yang Qi drove back to Xianlai.
The park was quiet, with only a few staff members on duty.
Feng Jianye and Luo City were both there, and they were a little surprised to see Yang Qi back.
"Director, why didn’t you stay home a few more days?" Feng Jianye asked.
"Everything’s fine at home, and there wasn’t much to do. I came to check on the little guys, especially the two red pandas," Yang Qi replied, heading straight for the quarantine area.
After a few days of care, the two red pandas’ condition had clearly improved.
Though still thin, their fur had regained some of its luster, and their eyes were much more lively.
Seeing Yang Qi enter, they let out a few happy cries to greet him.
"Their spirits are good, and so are their appetites."
Luo City reported, "Today’s a good day to give them their first external parasite treatment. We only did a simple cleaning before."
"I’ll do it. You can get the medicine and tools ready for me," Yang Qi said.
Having him do it personally would minimize the stress on the red pandas.
The parasite treatment went smoothly.
Yang Qi soothed the animals as he worked. Although the two red pandas were a bit uneasy, they cooperated obediently under the influence of the messages he continuously sent: ’It’ll be over soon,’ and ’It won’t be itchy once you’re clean.’
After dealing with the red pandas, Yang Qi took a stroll over to the aviary.
Most of the new birds had already adapted and were in good spirits.
The rainbow lorikeet even said a clear "Wishing you prosperity!" to Yang Qi, making the keeper on duty laugh out loud.
That night, Yang Qi stayed in his small villa.
Inside the quiet room, the Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array operated silently.
Yang Qi sat cross-legged and began to cultivate the Celestial Essence Divine Technique.
He had also cultivated every morning and evening while at home these past few days, but his progress had been extremely slow.
The cultivation of Divine Sense was completely different from the cultivation of Magical Power.
Magical Power could be steadily increased by absorbing Spiritual Qi and refining medicinal pills, like streams gathering into a river—an accumulation of quantity.
Divine Sense, on the other hand, was more like a qualitative improvement—a tempering, solidification, and transformation of Spiritual Power.
It required not just energy, but also insight, tempering, and a certain kind of opportunity.
The purpose of the Celestial Essence Divine Technique was to visualize the Celestial Essence Spiritual Light within the void, using it to temper the Divine Sense and make it pure.
But Yang Qi discovered that the efficiency of simply sitting and visualizing was shockingly low.
That speck of Spiritual Light flickered in and out of existence, extremely unstable, and its tempering effect on his Divine Sense was negligible.
He had cultivated bitterly for several days, yet he could feel almost no discernible change in the growth or consolidation of his Divine Sense.
Obviously, relying on bitter cultivation through meditation alone to achieve something in the path of Divine Sense was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Yang Qi recalled the information about the Cultivation Technique, as well as the general knowledge of cultivation he possessed.
Cultivating Divine Sense often required assistance.
Either through special medicinal pills that nourished the soul and strengthened Divine Sense, such as the Nourishing Spirit Pill or Soul Condensing Liquid.
Or through certain special Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects, like Soul-Stabilizing Wood or Spirit Calming Jade which grew in extreme environments and could nurture the soul, or materials from certain rare beasts that had a soul-calming effect.
And at present, Yang Qi had none of these things.
Nor had he ever received any related items from the system’s lottery.
’You have to eat one bite at a time and walk one step at a time. First, I’ll consolidate my Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer, and continue to build my foundation. I’ll worry about a breakthrough after the system lottery gives me a relevant item.’
Yang Qi adjusted his mindset and stopped dwelling on it.
He temporarily listed cultivating the Celestial Essence Divine Technique as a daily required task, but he wouldn’t force progress.
On the fourth day, Yang Qi went back to his hometown again, spent the day with his grandmother, and also went to see Lv Jianyang.
Lv Jianyang had clearly cheered up a lot; the light was back in his eyes.
On the fifth day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, Yang Qi drove away from his hometown, heading for the high-speed rail station in Ningshan County.
He had bought a high-speed rail ticket to the Provincial Capital.
The purpose of this trip was to pay a New Year’s visit to his teacher, Song Chunfang.
He had already wished her a happy new year over the phone before the holiday, but as her Disciple, visiting his teacher in person afterward was proper etiquette, especially since Teacher Song had always cared for him deeply.
The high-speed train sped along, the scenery outside the window flying backward.