Chapter 13
Feeling as if she had just drunk a large bowl of inspirational chicken soup made by her seniors, Qiao Wan was now filled with high spirits and determination, just like a struggling student from Tsinghua University preparing for their final year of university.
Upon returning to the cave, the first thing she did was take out the communication jade slip from her waist.
In addition to being used for transmitting messages, communication jade slips in the cultivation world also had another function: a sort of anonymous forum.
At this moment, the inked words on the jade slip were refreshing rapidly.
"The new dish, Spicy Fried Dark Feather Spider, introduced by Wuyi Garden, is really unpleasant. I almost couldn't hold it and almost threw up in the cafeteria. My dear immortal friends, please don't try it easily, be cautious, be cautious."
"Could any kind taoist friend please tell me what assignment Elder Geng Xuan gave today? It's embarrassing to say, but I accidentally fell asleep during Elder Geng Xuan's lecture in the Quiet Hall. Q.Q"
"Selling a second-hand Tengu, approximately five feet and three inches tall, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day, with a gentle and obedient personality, and skilled in protecting its owner. Selling price is two hundred medium-grade spirit stones. I hope a lucky taoist friend can take it home..."
Qiao Wan, holding a jade scroll, thought for a moment and felt that she should also send a message to express her determination.
"From today on, I must practice diligently! I will be able to defeat sickness with my fists and kick Lone Sword Xie Xingzhi with my feet! I swear!"
Not long after sending this message, the jade tablet in Qiao Wan's hand made several consecutive chimes.
First: Immortal friend, what happened to you?
Second: Are you serious, immortal friend? It's getting late. If you finish practicing, go wash up and rest as soon as possible. Everything will be in your dreams.
...
Qiao Wan glanced briefly and didn't see any constructive answers. She casually threw the jade scroll aside and bounced onto the bed herself.
Just wait! Who says she can't do it!
However, just as she sat down and checked her spiritual energy and cultivation level, Qiao Wan felt a bit discouraged again.
But it's okay!
In life, you always stand up again and again after being knocked down.
Qiao Wan clenched her fist.
I can do it, I can succeed!
Closing her eyes again, this time Qiao Wan suddenly remembered the senior in her dream.
I wonder how that senior is doing now.
Thinking of the bloody sunset on the sea, Qiao Wan felt a bit worried. After hesitating for a while, she decided to immerse her consciousness in the dream.
This time, when she arrived on the plain, Qiao Wan headed straight for the seaside without hesitation.
The beach seemed to have experienced a great battle. The fighting had stopped, and there were constantly corpses being washed ashore by the waves. The sea of blood had turned into a dark and dull brown color.
And the Buddha was sitting on the beach resting.
"Is it you?"
Hearing Qiao Wan's movement, the Buddha opened his eyes and frowned. "Why did you come back?"
Qiao Wan honestly confessed, "I was worried about you, so I came back to take a look."
"You shouldn't have come back."
"They will come again," the Buddha furrowed his brows again. "This is not where you should be."
"They?" Qiao Wan couldn't help but ask.
As soon as these words came out, Qiao Wan knew she had crossed a line.
The Buddha seemed to glance at her, or maybe not. After a long pause, the Buddha spoke again, without concealing or covering up, his voice strong and powerful, "My inner demons."
Qiao Wan felt a bit embarrassed.
Looking at the senior's strong aura and cultivation, Qiao Wan thought he must be a high-ranking monk from the Buddhist sect. High-ranking monks often struggle with inner demons, and it's not something they usually admit openly. Qiao Wan didn't expect the senior to be so upfront and admit his inner demons.
The senior had his head slightly lowered, and his long dark blue hair fell gently. It seemed like he was deep in thought. After a while, he spoke again, in a firm and decisive tone, "Nevermind, come here."
Saying that, the Buddhist stood up and walked straight towards a nearby beach. Qiao Wan followed as instructed.
"I need your help with something," said the senior.
Qiao Wan replied, "Senior, feel free to tell me."
"You saw earlier that the troublemaker wasn't a match for your sword," the senior said firmly.
Qiao Wan was puzzled. Was he referring to when she pierced the sea monster's eye like cutting a melon?
Was it not just her imagination?
The senior seemed to sense her doubts, paused for a moment, and continued, "What you saw was my inner demon. It is connected to my soul and gives me insight into my next moves. Killing them requires a lot of effort."
"You have no connection to them, and they couldn't predict your attacks," he added.
"And besides," the senior said after a brief pause, "Your spiritual awareness is quite strong. I'll teach you a technique to help me kill these troublemakers." His voice carried a slight hint of determined murderous intent.
"Wait...wait a minute..." Qiao Wan was a bit overwhelmed.
"Hmm?" the senior furrowed his brows and asked, "Don't you want to?"
His question startled Qiao Wan again.
It was quite invigorating.
The senior's voice, with its echoing effect, was remarkably intimidating, deafening, and lingered in the air.
Perhaps this was the way of Buddhist practice. With its complete set of eight sounds, it exuded magnificence and sounded like thunder roaring.
"I do want to," Qiao Wan blinked and felt like her ears were playing tricks on her. "My...spiritual awareness? Quite strong?"
Did she understand correctly?
"Senior, could you please clarify?" Qiao Wan asked.
The senior countered, "What is it?"
"This matter about my strong spiritual awareness..." Qiao Wan replied.
"You don't know about it?" The senior seemed slightly surprised.
Qiao Wan shook her head.
She had always been aware of her own capabilities and nobody had mentioned anything about her spiritual awareness before.
"Come here," the senior commanded.
"Now," the senior said with a deep voice, "extend your spiritual awareness."
Following the senior's instructions, Qiao Wan closed her eyes and tried to extend her spiritual awareness.
A white ray of light slowly took form, lifting its head.
As guided by the senior, Qiao Wan commanded it to move forward.
The ray of light cautiously extended a small tentacle, steadily moving forward.
The further her spiritual awareness reached, the more Qiao Wan felt a strain.
But the senior instructed her to continue.
The ray of light twisted and turned as if it was difficult for Qiao Wan to control.
Boom!
A loud noise echoed.
Qiao Wan felt her mind go blank, as if something was pouring out like flowing water!
In an instant, her spiritual awareness surged!
And the light veins burst into bright light in an instant, expanding more than five times its original size!
Qiao Wan woke up and was shocked to see the person in front of her with such a thick light vein. She stuttered in excitement, "Is this... my spiritual awareness?"
Was her spiritual awareness really this powerful?
Qiao Wan was pleasantly surprised.
The Buddha's expression turned sour as her spiritual awareness skyrocketed while he was standing in front of Qiao Wan.
Although he managed to dodge quickly, the light vein unexpectedly tore a small hole in his robe, revealing his smooth and sturdy chest.
"This is indeed your spiritual awareness."
"Didn't your master teach you these things?" the Buddha asked in a stern voice, his eyebrows furrowing even more.
"Not really," Qiao Wan thought for a moment and decided to honestly explain her unique physical condition.
"Senior, you may not know, but my constitution is slightly different from ordinary people. For some reason, when spiritual energy enters my body, I can only refine about thirty percent of it. The remaining seventy percent simply dissipates, as if it has become useless. Ordinary people spend twice the effort to refine spiritual energy, but for me, it takes more than thrice the time," Qiao Wan explained, "I believe you have also noticed my aptitude and cultivation level."
"Hmm?" The Buddha's confusion showed on his face. "Extend your hand."
Qiao Wan did as she was told and stretched out her hand.
The Buddha extended two fingers and gently pressed them against her wrist, slowly moving upwards inch by inch.
The Buddha furrowed his brow and looked very serious.
Qiao Wan also furrowed her brow, mirroring his focused expression.
Although she had long been aware of her own aptitude, when the Buddha scrutinized her, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
The Buddha had just said that her spiritual awareness was powerful.
It felt like suddenly gaining a cheat code.
Who knows, maybe she also had innate talent that had been buried for so many years and only now, with the guidance of the venerable, or rather, the Elder Martial Brother, she could finally tap into her true potential and embark on the path of an invincible protagonist who could defeat Elder Martial Brother and Xie Xingzhi.
Just as Qiao Wan's thoughts ran wild and her imagination drifted further away, envisioning herself winning the first prize at the cultivation conference, the Buddha finally spoke again.
"I need to examine your sea of consciousness. Are you willing?"
This statement brought her back to reality, dispelling her daydreams entirely.
Qiao Wan snapped out of her thoughts and without much hesitation, nodded. "Senior, you may go ahead and examine it."
The profound Buddhist aura and solemn voice left her no room for hesitation or doubt.
The Buddha's spiritual awareness, just like himself, was golden in color, exuding a majestic and noble aura. However, as it delved into her sea of consciousness, it gently dissolved like water, hiding profound remorse, tenderness, and patience that were difficult to detect.
It flowed like a gentle breeze, bringing enlightenment to all beings.
This had nothing to do with age, gender, or status. It was true compassion for all living things.
From a brief glance of her beautiful eyebrows and eyes, Qiao Wan could vaguely see that her senior was a stunningly beautiful man. But as they spent more time together, Qiao Wan also came to realize that her senior had a temper that was not very good, similar to her strict high school class teacher.
But someone so strict could actually have such a gentle spiritual presence.
Qiao Wan didn't know why, but her nose suddenly felt sour, and she couldn't help but feel a sense of grievance in her chest.
This spiritual presence was so gentle, as if it slowly soothed all the pain in people's hearts, shining light on every inch of darkness and secrets in their hearts.
The gentleness actually made Qiao Wan want to cry a little.
Thinking that the Buddha was still in front of her, Qiao Wan forcefully held back her tears.
At this moment, the Buddha reached out again, and his fingertip gently rotated on her forehead, and pressed lightly.
With this press, it felt like something exploded in her brain, and Qiao Wan's mind instantly became clear.
Especially clear.
After confirming that she had spoken accurately, the Buddha withdrew his hand and said in a deep voice, "What you just said is that your aptitude is different from others, and you can only use 30% of the spiritual energy. The remaining 70% has completely dissipated. However, from what I just saw, your 70% spiritual energy has not dissipated."
Qiao Wan was stunned for a moment and after a while, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva, but her eyes couldn't help but widen.
"Senior?"
"What... What do you mean?"
The Buddha said, "I just saw it with you. Although I don't know the reason, your spiritual energy from these past years has indeed been guided into your sea of consciousness to nourish your spiritual presence."
"Therefore, you haven't made any progress in your cultivation over the years."
The girl's sea of consciousness was so vast that he was somewhat surprised.
He just released a bit of his spiritual presence and explored it, but could only move around the outskirts. Inside was an endless black sea, even he couldn't enter.
There was a faint hint of demonic energy in this darkness, but it disappeared in an instant, and even he couldn't determine the reason.
But looking at the girl in front of him, her aura was extremely righteous and faintly emitted a wave of pure righteousness. Logically speaking, she shouldn't have any connection with demonic energy.
There was something suspicious about this, which needed to be explored in the future.
He imprinted a Buddha seal in her sea of consciousness and then withdrew his hand.
As for the present...
The Buddha couldn't help but take another look at Qiao Wan.
Although her cultivation was only at the foundation building stage, her spiritual presence was about to break through the golden core stage.
Her spiritual presence was already stronger than an ordinary person's, and over these years, it had grown rapidly with the nourishment of spiritual energy.
Qiao Wan stood frozen in place, feeling a bit dazed.
This felt like a pie falling from the sky, leaving her completely flabbergasted.
She couldn't believe it.
Qiao Wan felt like she was floating on air and couldn't help but pinch herself. With excitement on her face, she stuttered, "Sen-sen-senior... Are you telling the truth? You're not... not just comforting me, right?"
"Lie? Why would I lie to you?"
Qiao Wan suddenly snapped back to reality.
The other person was a Buddhist practitioner, there was no need to deceive her at all.
But this... is really... too unbelievable.
Qiao Wan squatted down and silently grabbed a handful of sand, rubbing it in her palm, trying to calm herself down.
After knowing that she had traveled through time, even Qiao Wan couldn't help but fantasize secretly that she was unique, maybe she could even have the fate of a protagonist.
Just as she was about to make a determined effort to work hard, as she was actually still at the Foundation Building stage, not progressing, she was told that her spiritual energy, which was initially thought to be 70% leaked, went to her spiritual consciousness and it was about to break through the Nascent Soul stage.
Happiness comes too quickly, just like a tornado.
The matter of her entering dreams was very strange. Even Elder Martial Brother and the master initially helped her investigate, but at that time, they didn't hear about her special spiritual consciousness.
And she was a sword cultivator, naturally not putting much time and effort into this aspect.
According to the meaning of her elder, does that mean she could also have some sort of unique ability, like a hidden talent?
Qiao Wan excitedly trembled.
The reason why her spiritual consciousness was so strong was because, on one hand, she had lived two lives, and her soul was naturally stronger than others'.
On the other hand, it also had to do with her years of desperate cultivation; it was not unrelated.
All of this was nourished and tempered after birth.
She could only use 30% of the spiritual energy available to her, with a lower cultivation efficiency than others, forcing Qiao Wan to spend several times more time on her practice.
If you make sacrifices, you will be rewarded. In fact, under her desperate cultivation, the remaining 70% was all doubled and poured into her sea of consciousness, nurturing and tempering her spiritual consciousness, making it even stronger.
If it weren't for the Buddhist practitioner helping her today, she wouldn't have known when she would have discovered this.
This can't really be blamed on Qiao Wan . Cultivators before the Nascent Soul stage rarely thought about nourishing and tempering their spiritual consciousness, let alone at the Foundation Building stage.
It was only during the Nascent Soul stage that the importance of the soul was revealed.
Her spiritual consciousness was like skipping past the high school stage and heading straight to university, but the side effect was that her physical body couldn't keep up with her soul, and her cultivation progress was almost non-existent.
After rubbing the sand for a while, Qiao Wan finally calmed down, stood up, and respectfully bowed to the Buddhist practitioner in front of her. She sincerely thanked, "Senior's great kindness, the junior will never forget it. If there is anything I can do for the senior in the future, the junior will definitely not hesitate to do it, even if it means going through fire and water."
The Buddhist practitioner ignored her flattering words, glanced at her, and said in a deep voice, "This is a mutually beneficial relationship, there is no need to wait for the future, I need your help today."
Although her spiritual consciousness was powerful, she had never realized this over the years, and had never put in any effort in this area. Now she wanted to use it for herself, to dominate the world and make a comeback, but it was still too early.
After understanding this, Qiao Wan didn't feel disappointed at all.
To have made this discovery today, she was already very satisfied!
After feeling satisfied, Qiao Wan realized that this senior still needed her help with something important. She quickly and sincerely asked, "When should we start, senior?"
The monk glanced at her and then averted his gaze. "Before that, you need to learn how to control your spiritual consciousness."
From the tone of his words, it seemed like he was going to personally teach her. Qiao Wan promptly stood up straight and said, "Please teach me, senior."
Everything takes time; mastery of skills comes with practice. To master a skill, one must try slowly and be prepared to fail the first time before achieving success the second time. Just like now.
Spiritual consciousness is a delicate and mysterious thing. It can move at will and transform into various forms.
Boom -
Several rays of light instantly swept through the surroundings. The ends of the light rays curled up into small tentacles, taking on a very familiar shape as they quickly wrapped around the man's wrist.
The monk glanced at the tentacles on his wrist, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart. He furrowed his brow anxiously...
Injury to spiritual consciousness is different from physical injuries. Suppressing the urge to strike out, the monk remained motionless in his position.
However, the light rays seemed to sense the monk's restraint. They tightened their grip on the tentacles, displaying their power and foolishly continuing to crawl upwards.
Wrist, ankle, neck, waist...
The tentacles bound the monk in a very familiar position, suspending him in mid-air.
All of this happened in an instant.
After regaining her senses and seeing the scene, Qiao Wan's expression turned into one of confusion and surprise. Something seemed off.
In the mist, the monk's beautiful and dignified face visibly darkened.
A drop of cold sweat silently slid down Qiao Wan's forehead.
The monk and Qiao Wan exchanged looks...
Qiao Wan: "..."
Qiao Wan: "..."
Qiao Wan thought: "She didn't mean to do it, it's just that these light rays really resembled the tentacles of sea monsters!"
Who would have known that just as this thought flashed through her mind, everything became like this!
And the terrible thing is that tentacles really make people think of those adult manga from her previous life!
In her uncontrollable thoughts, images of a twin-tailed tsundere loli being bound by tentacles and shouting "Senpai!" while blushing, emerged in her mind.
With this thought, the spiritual consciousness transformed into tentacles and tried to enter the monk's robe.
Qiao Wan: "Wait a minute!"
The monk's robe had just been torn open by the light rays, revealing his white and firm chest. The spiritual consciousness faithfully followed Qiao Wan's mental scene and began climbing towards the monk's chest.
Qiao Wan was completely flustered: "Stop, please stop!"
She could practically see the senior's pink nipples! This was too embarrassing!
Feeling the movement of the light rays, the monk unexpectedly fell silent. The itching sensation on his skin made him furrow his brow uncomfortably.
After spending so much time with Qiao Wan, he had his understanding of her, someone who seemed calm and respectful, completely shattered for the first time.
