Chapter 155: Springing Spring

Moments later.

She raised her arm.

On her slender white wrist, a semi-transparent wristwatch glowed faintly.

"The auxiliary identity device can access the network—I'm not an idiot."

Zhou Princess Qingyue looked utterly speechless. "When I was bored, I went through all your communications."

"Just now, I noticed an encrypted message arrived."

"Only the primary identity device can open it."

"I kept tapping for ages but couldn't open it, so I came over to check."

The ghost sat back on the sofa. "Your classmate is definitely not ordinary."

Jiang Jian pondered for a moment, ignored her, and turned his gaze to the snow.

"Organize all three of my notes—Scientific Theory, Acupoint Mastery, and Introduction to Theology—and send them to Nie Zheng as a gift."

Ji Xue immediately jumped up. "Got it!"

Although Nie Zheng hasn't yet enrolled in Divine Gift University.

But the theoretical textbooks of Divine Gift University aren't classified—anyone with a bit of connections can get them.

As they spoke.

The interzone shuttle left Linjiangzhou and headed toward Taiping Prefecture.

Throughout the journey, Jiang Jian reviewed his theoretical lessons.

Although he hadn't attended classes recently.

Jiang Jian had replayed every single lecture video and hadn't missed a single lesson.

He had also made detailed notes for all three textbooks.

"By the way."

Jiang Jian suddenly remembered something and added, "Send a copy to my sister too."

Ji Xue froze, whispering, "I wanted to mention it just now, but didn't dare—I thought you didn't want her to see it."

"You're overthinking."

Jiang Jian said softly, "I just didn't notice."

Ji Xue brightened: "Great!"

With that, it hurriedly organized the notes and sent the material meant for Nie Zheng first to Jiang Zhao.

But in its fluster, it accidentally forwarded Nie Zheng's communication address along with it.

Ji Xue browsed forums daily and absorbed vast amounts of information.

It could clearly see that Jiang Jian's notes and annotations were immensely helpful to ordinary students!

Especially the Acupoint Mastery notes.

Jiang Jian's annotations even surpassed the textbook content itself.

They contained many remarkably clever angles of expansion.

What shocked Ji Xue was:

These Acupoint Mastery notes also provided significant aid to its own cultivation!

Though different life forms had vastly different meridians and skeletons.

The Shenque acupoint was a foundational cultivation orifice.

Every life form possessed it.

The only difference lay in its positional distribution.

Jiang Jian's annotations on Acupoint Mastery transcended racial differences entirely.

His understanding of the Shenque acupoint had reached a terrifying level of perfection and subtlety!

"With these notes, Jiang Zhao's cultivation will surely progress more smoothly."

After sending the message to Jiang Zhao, Ji Xue's mood improved greatly, then copied another copy and sent it to Nie Zheng.

It hopped lightly into the cockpit and began piloting the shuttle itself.

Throughout, Ji Xue never noticed it had accidentally sent an extra communication address.

Boom!

The interzone shuttle shuddered, its rear spewing intense light flames as its speed surged!

Like a brilliant streak of light, it sliced through the sky toward the Tower of Heaven.

"The cultivation of Yongquan cannot be rushed."

Jiang Jian, clad in a white robe threaded with gold, stood before the viewport, his mind calm.

The Yongquan acupoint's spiritual essence fluctuated between real and illusory, unstable.

This journey to the Star Ring Realm had one clear purpose:

To refine his cultivation and settle his spiritual essence.

Though this would make his progress even slower.

But Jiang Jian knew well:

To glimpse the Spirit Platform,

Not a single cultivation detail could be neglected.

"Han Guang's transformation seems to have hit a snag."

Jiang Jian picked up the wooden sword, lowered his gaze to its wooden casing.

For some reason, since leaving Linjiangzhou,

The cracks on it hadn't spread—they'd begun to heal!

"What's the reason?"

Jiang Jian frowned slightly, carefully comparing the timing of Han Guang's changes, and suddenly realized something.

"Could it be related to the nature of the spiritual essence?"

He looked at his palm.

His fingers were pale and slender, with streaks of black light flickering in and out.

Amid the scattered spiritual radiance, a faint shadow of a black phoenix appeared.

"Long Que spiritual essence, focused on slaughter and ferocity, cannot aid it."

"Only the original spiritual essence can help it break free from its shell."

Thinking of this,

Jiang Jian subtly shifted his intent, and the black, slaughter-oriented spiritual energy vanished.

Invisible, transparent Yongquan spiritual energy spread outward.

Indeed.

Han Guang's wooden sword trembled slightly, emitting a barely audible hum.

The cracks on it began slowly spreading again.

"This is fine."

"It's the perfect chance to settle my Yongquan spiritual essence."

Jiang Jian sat down and made his Yongquan spiritual energy visibly manifest.

The aura around him became distinctly clearer.

To any observer, he now looked like a beginner just entering Yongquan.

The ghost walked over and said, "You look much weaker than before."

Jiang Jian remained silent, continuing his cultivation.

The ghost smiled and continued, "Exuding Long Que spiritual essence makes your cultivation seem ambiguous—clearly dangerous."

"But now,"

"You look like some Yongquan human I could crush with a flick of my finger."

Crack!

Jiang Jian swept his sleeve, and a transparent stream of light roared toward the ghost!

The ghost's hastily formed protective barrier shattered instantly!

"So noisy."

Amid the scattering fragments of light, Jiang Jian frowned, rose, and walked to the rear of the cabin, activating the partitioning light barrier.

He ignored Zhou Princess Qingyue's sarcasm entirely.

The ghost's way of thinking differed greatly from humans'.

After being reprimanded last time,

Zhou Princess Qingyue's behavior had grown even stranger.

She said whatever she wanted.

She did whatever came to mind, utterly unpredictable.

The sun rose and set.

Before long, over ten hours had passed.

The interzone shuttle moved swiftly.

The Tower of Heaven drew ever closer, eventually filling most of the view.

"We're here!"

The craft descended and landed on the Skytower Dockyard.

Ji Xue leapt off the control rod, her tail curling up a pile of items, and looked at Jiang Jian.

"You don't need to bring all this."

Jiang Jian paused his cultivation, his snow-white robe sleeve brushing lightly—he took only the Hanguang Sword with him.

Ji Xue set the items down and replied, "Alright."

This was his second time at Skytower.

Jiang Jian knew the way here well.

The only difference.

Was that the space elevator staff, upon seeing Jiang Jian, showed expressions of shock.

"Surging Spring Realm!?"

He stared fixedly at Jiang Jian, rubbing his eyes harder.

"Huh? How much time has passed?"

"Last time you came, weren't you Divine Gift Realm?"

"And how did you end up coming to Skytower a second time?"

"Did you strike it rich and pay out of pocket to reach the Star Ring Realm?"

"But I don't handle private-pay routes!"

"This is a cultivation route!"

At the base of Skytower, hundreds of corridors were packed with people.

Only the cultivation corridor stood nearly empty.

Jiang Jian naturally wouldn't tell him he still had nine cultivation opportunities left.

After multiple rounds of verification.

The glass cabin door of the space elevator slowly opened.

"This so-called elevator actually ascends along a track straight into the heavens."

Zhou Princess Qingyue, curious, walked to the edge of the glass dome and touched the smooth, transparent elevator wall.

Click!

Amid the staff's bewildered gaze, the elevator sealed shut, perfectly airtight.

The beeping grew increasingly urgent, signaling imminent launch.

"Space elevator about to launch."

"Destination: Star Ring Realm."

"Drop point: Cultivation Corridor."

"Countdown: 10 seconds."

……

Boom!

The space elevator surged upward at breakneck speed!

Ji Xue and the ghost were riding for the first time.

They kept gazing downward, occasionally exclaiming in awe.

Only when the elevator entered space and darkness surrounded them.

Did Zhou Princess Qingyue snap back to awareness, staring at the colossal, suffocatingly vast blue planet below.

"The information on the identity device was true."

"The Great Shang is merely a remote corner of Earth."

"What I once thought was the entire world was just one landmass of Earth."

For some reason.

She grew suddenly quiet, just as she had been when Jiang Jian first met her in the underground palace.

The space elevator halted.

Star Ring Realm.

Clicks echoed continuously as multiple locks opened one after another.

"Surging Spring Realm?"

Seeing Jiang Jian, the cultivation corridor guide paused in surprise, "And you brought two pets?"

From the reception records, he could see Jiang Jian's household registration.

The cultivation corridor mostly housed Divine Gift Realm prodigies from the nearby ten prefectures.

Surging Spring Realm cultivators were almost all cleaning crew members, all using private-pay routes.

Jiang Jian said nothing more, stepping off the elevator: "I wish to apply for external tower cultivation."

More than ten minutes later.

Jiang Jian exited the base and headed toward the Star Ring Dump, following his memory of the route.

"It's so beautiful here."

Ji Xue walked on all fours along the Star Ring floating belt, surveying her surroundings.

She was constantly cautious, afraid she might fall.

After all.

Beneath the Star Ring's luminous band lay the silent, dark void of space.

"Don't be afraid—you won't fall."

Jiang Jian glanced at her, "Three hundred meters above and below the Star Ring, gravity still exists."

"As long as you don't go beyond that range, you won't drift into space."

As he spoke.

Jiang Jian stopped walking.

Gazing at the massive pit ahead.

The Star Ring waste here had already been cleared.

Beneath the floating layer at the pit's bottom flowed the Star Ring's core.

The vast luminous band rose and fell, countless light points drifting aimlessly.

"Ji Xue, go get water—once a day."

Jiang Jian descended into the pit and sat cross-legged among the Star Ring's core.

Ji Xue looked confused: "Where do I get water?"

Jiang Jian, still cultivating, said, "At the Tai Ping Prefecture base we just came from, you can buy water and food."

"Alright, I'll go buy some."

Ji Xue nodded, glancing at Zhou Princess Qingyue beside her, "What about you? Do you need food?"

The next second.

She immediately realized and muttered to herself, "Right—you're a ghost. You don't need to eat or drink."

Zhou Princess Qingyue glanced at her, saying nothing.

Instead, she stepped away, shifting her form.

Her silken robes fluttered as she donned a seven-beaded pearl crown, restoring her true appearance.

She walked to the other side of the dump, found a bright patch of the luminous band, and began cultivating immediately.

Jiang Jian paid no attention to any of this.

He brushed his sleeve lightly—the Shi Xuan Shan Seal appeared.

A small bronze seal floated before him.

It summoned a deep blue light barrier, sealing off all external energies.

"Cultivating the Surging Spring Realm is no overnight task."

As his thoughts churned.

Jiang Jian calmed his mind, carefully sensing the Surging Spring's spiritual essence.

When he broke through, he encountered no obstacles.

With his immensely thick Shen Que spiritual energy, the breakthrough came naturally—the Surging Spring acupoint opened effortlessly.

But this also meant.

His Surging Spring spiritual essence was extremely unstable.

Far inferior to the perfectly solid Shen Que acupoint.

"Each cultivation opportunity is extremely precious—only one week."

"Absolutely cannot be wasted."

The golden-threaded white robe glowed faintly, activating all thousands of its arrays!

Thick, dense spiritual energy formed a transparent vortex, hovering around him.

So vast was its volume, it completely enveloped Jiang Jian.

Occasionally.

Star Ring light points were drawn in, absorbed into his Surging Spring, slowly refined and polished.

One week passed quickly.

But Jiang Jian's progress was slow.

He had merely managed to slightly organize the scattered Spring Surge spiritual essence.

"Your cultivation time is about to end!"

"Proceed immediately to the cultivation corridor, board the space elevator, and leave the Star Ring Realm!"

A urgent alert sounded on his identity device.

Jiang Jian opened his eyes and activated his identity device.

With a swipe of his finger, he used all eight remaining opportunities at once!

All the urgent prompts vanished instantly.

Meanwhile,

Taiping Prefecture Base.

"What?!"

A staff member stared wide-eyed and exclaimed in shock!

Beside him, someone leaned over and asked, "What's the big deal? What happened?"

The staff member stood up and pointed at the holographic screen: "The system has a bug!"

In the central control room, many eyes turned toward him.

"What bug?"

"How could there be a bug? Our base's control system was installed by the highest authorities!"

"Yeah, don't make such a fuss!"

"Just tell us what's going on!"

Questions erupted one after another.

The staff member took a sip of water, caught his breath, and said, "Someone's cultivation time was extended to fifty-six days!"

At these words,

the central control room erupted in chaos.

"Fifty-six days?"

"That's impossible!"

"Aren't all cultivation corridor sessions seven days?"

"Could it really be a bug?"

"Quick, pull up the records—I'll check!"

"What's going on here?"

…

"Everyone, quiet!"

The deputy director of central control strode into the room and spoke sternly, "I've already investigated this matter."

The surrounding noise and chatter gradually subsided.

All eyes turned to him.

The deputy director scanned the room and said, "Linjiang Prefecture, Jiang Jian."

"He has ten cultivation opportunities in total!"

"Some were granted by the Linjiang Prefectural Office."

"The rest were advanced by the Hanjiang Prefectural Office, spending future-year quotas they had no right to use!"

Therefore,

his current fifty-six-day stay is entirely legitimate and compliant!"

Hearing this,

the staff members exchanged glances and fell silent.

Deep in their hearts, however, they now held a profound impression of Jiang Jian.

After all,

the Taiping Prefecture Skyward Tower had never seen such a case before.

Around this Skyward Tower, there were ten prefectures.

Each prefecture received a few annual quotas to award to their top prodigies.

These precious quotas were typically granted through martial contests or doctrinal debates to the most outstanding students.

By convention,

each student received only one Skyward Tower cultivation opportunity.

But no one had anticipated

that Jiang Jian had formed his own martial team, crushed ten thousand new students across two prefectures, and claimed the sole dual-prefecture New Student Champion title!

His initial reward was five quotas!

Then, the Hanjiang Prefect, honoring his promise, accepted defeat and increased Jiang Jian's reward to ten quotas!

Thus,

Jiang Jian possessed an unprecedented total of ten Skyward Tower cultivation opportunities.

Such an extraordinary event

had never occurred even in the vast Taiping Prefecture.

Star Ring Scrapyard.

Under the protection of the Shi Xuan Shan's green light, Jiang Jian continued refining his spiritual essence.

All his cultivation opportunities were legitimately obtained—he had no fear of scrutiny.

This was precisely why Jiang Jian had unhesitatingly used up all his remaining opportunities.

"The resource preparation for the Spring Surge stage is still far from sufficient."

Sensing the empty Spring Surge acupoint, Jiang Jian's thoughts churned.

The Long Que Jade had consumed nearly forty million Alliance Coins.

Leaving his funds temporarily strained.

Fortunately,

the Linjiang Academy had provided a substantial resource package as a gesture of goodwill.

Ji Xue had already cleared it.

The resources from the Academic Affairs Office, converted into currency, amounted to roughly thirty million Alliance Coins.

But even this was far from enough.

(End of Chapter)