Chapter 13 Yan, Xie Yue: I suspect there’s a ghost in the dorm!
After a month of living together, the three of them had no conflicts of interest and got along relatively harmoniously in their daily lives.
Jiang Bai listened to their words, his face still showing no ripple of emotion, but a slight stir arose in his heart.
He understood their way of thinking. In the common perception of this World, Support Spirit Masters were indeed as they described.
A rather amusing idea suddenly occurred to him, a way to respond to their ’kind intentions’.
The corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift slightly.
Jiang Bai gently brushed off Yan’s arm from his shoulder, turned around, and faced Yan and Xie Yue directly.
His gaze was clear yet seemed to carry a certain penetrating quality. He spoke slowly, his tone even but each word distinct.
"Is that so? What if one day, many people want to kill me, and those are people you can’t defeat? What then?"
"???"
"???"
Jiang Bai’s words were like a massive rock thrown into calm water, instantly stirring up towering waves in the hearts of Yan and Xie Yue.
Both of them froze simultaneously, their expressions solidifying into blankness and disbelief.
What was this guy saying?!
Many people wanting to kill him? And many people they couldn’t defeat in the future?
How did that sound like... some kind of vow from an absurd romance story?
But was it appropriate to say this among the three of them, all guys?!
Yan and Xie Yue instinctively glanced at each other, seeing the same shock and a trace of... horror in each other’s eyes.
A terrifying thought uncontrollably surfaced.
Could this roommate, who usually appeared delicate, quiet, and only exceptionally crazy about Cultivating, possibly be a...
Did he have ulterior motives for being so nice to them?!
Almost simultaneously, both felt a chill run down their spines, a strange coldness creeping up their backs, and a certain part of their bodies involuntarily tightened.
Jiang Bai took in the vividly changing expressions on their faces, finding it somewhat amusing inwardly, but on the surface, he maintained that calm, somewhat inscrutable demeanor.
He offered no further explanation, nor did he pay any mind to his two roommates now plunged into an eerie, horrified atmosphere.
He merely patted the non-existent dust off his clothes lightly, turned, pulled open the dormitory door, and walked straight out, heading towards the back mountain with steady, firm steps.
The dormitory door closed softly behind Jiang Bai.
A deathly silence fell upon the room.
Several seconds passed before Yan finally swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as if he had just survived some life-and-death ordeal.
He wiped away some non-existent cold sweat and managed to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth after a long moment.
"He’s a real... lunatic!"
Beside him, Xie Yue, though silent, had his usually expressionless, delicate face now slightly pale.
He nodded silently, ever so slightly, expressing his complete agreement with Yan’s assessment.
Simultaneously, he decided in his heart that perhaps he should maintain a... safer distance when interacting with Jiang Bai in the future.
...
Jiang Bai walked alone on the tree-shaded path leading to the academy’s back mountain.
He didn’t dwell on the minor incident in the dormitory.
Yan and Xie Yue’s reactions were within his expectations, and he even felt a small sense of mischievous satisfaction.
What he needed wasn’t their understanding, but uninterrupted Cultivation time.
As he walked, his thoughts returned to the matter at hand.
After a month of Cultivating, the ’experience bar’ felt almost half full.
Jiang Bai looked inward, estimating the progress of his Soul Power accumulation.
At this rate, in just over another month, he truly had a chance of reaching the ten-level Bottleneck.
Level ten... the first spirit ring.
A thoughtful light flashed in Jiang Bai’s eyes.
According to the standard procedure, the academy would organize spirit ring hunts for students who reached the Bottleneck. Usually led by a teacher, they would head to a Spirit Beast hunting forest under the control of the Spirit Hall.
The standard Spirit Abilities of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda were fixed enhancement-type skills: strength, speed, Soul Power, defense, attack, attributes, Spirit true body...
It seemed there were no specific requirements regarding the type of Spirit Beast.
If the academy handled it, with favorable conditions, perhaps he could be assigned a Spirit Beast with three to four hundred years of Cultivation for his first spirit ring. Under less ideal circumstances, it should still be around two hundred years, right?
Jiang Bai estimated.
This depended on the strength of the leading teacher, the resources of the hunting forest, and the ’value’ of the student themselves.
Given his Innate ninth-level Aptitude and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, the academy shouldn’t be too stingy.
However, the upper limit of a spirit ring’s age primarily depended on physical constitution...
Jiang Bai pinched his own arm, which had some strength from years of odd jobs but was far from robust.
His body hadn’t undergone any tempering, relying purely on natural growth and Soul Power nourishment. ItsEndurance limit was probably around three to four hundred years.
Any higher, and there was a risk of bodily explosion during absorption.
Speaking of tempering the body...
Jiang Bai had indeed thought of Whale Glue!
In this era, people generally only knew Whale Glue as a precious ’aphrodisiac’ used for bedroom affairs.
It wouldn’t be until tens of thousands of years later that the World would learn its true value.
Spirit City, as a Holy Land for Spirit Masters, had a developed commerce. Places selling Whale Glue... should be findable.
Jiang Bai began to calculate in his heart.
He touched the storage bracelet on his wrist, inside which lay quietly over a hundred gold coins.
This was a ’fortune’ to him, but if he wanted to purchase high-age, top-quality Whale Glue, it might be a bit tight.
After all, Whale Glue, being treated as a ’precious tonic’, likely commanded higher prices for older vintages.
Jiang Bai decided to inquire about the price of Whale Glue later.
"Come to think of it, not starting with Innate full Soul Power does have a benefit,"
Jiang Bai smiled self-deprecatingly.
It gave him a relatively ample period of time to temper his body and solidify his foundation.
If he had Innate full Soul Power, he’d probably be rushing to obtain a spirit ring just days after Awakening, leaving no time for these preparations.
A loss may turn out to be a gain.
Just as he strolled along, immersed in planning for the future and strategizing resources,
a clear, pleasant, and somewhat familiar female voice suddenly came from a path fork to his side and ahead.
"Hey, Jiang Bai!"
"Are you heading to the back mountain?"
The voice interrupted his train of thought.
Jiang Bai looked up.
Under a wisteria trellis blooming with pale purple flowers stood a golden-haired girl.
She was still wearing the grey academy uniform of the Spirit Academy, but it seemed to have undergone some fitting modifications, accentuating her tall, slender figure.
Her golden hair flowed with a dazzling sheen under the sunlight, tied back with a simple silver hairband, revealing a smooth forehead and those amethyst-like, translucent eyes.
It was Qian Renxue.
She seemed to have just come from a certain direction as well, coincidentally meeting Jiang Bai here.
Her complexion looked much better than last time by the lake, with less sorrowful fragility and more of the brightness belonging to her age.
Only a hint of an extremely faint, lingering gloom seemed to linger between her brows.
Her gaze rested on Jiang Bai, carrying a bit of scrutiny and also a bit of... something indescribable.