June 25, 2015. Overcast.
A lot happened today.
For instance, Shao Shuangyue, after two straight days of doing nothing but gaming when she wasn’t sleeping, finally completed her first playthrough of Immortal Tribulation.
For instance, Shao Qiming had a breakthrough in his cultivation, reaching Tier One Awakening and unlocking his Spiritual Vision.
And for another, Shao Nantian announced that in three days, he would be taking the younger generation on a vacation to the South Sea Beach. He himself was going for business, so he wouldn’t be an overbearing elder getting in the way of the young folks’ fun. He just hoped that Shao Qiming and Su Zhou would look after their little sister, Shao Shuangyue.
In response, Shao Shuangyue, feeling underestimated, puffed up her cheeks and playfully pounded on his shoulder for a good while.
Of course, today was also the day the ’Inheritance’ promised to Su Zhou by the Zhengguo Governnt was scheduled to arrive.
"It’s strange. Shuangyue didn’t even encounter the National Preceptor in her playthrough. Even when she beat the Demon Emperor at the end, there wasn’t a trace of him."
11:00 AM, at the Su Family ho.
Back in his own ho, Su Zhou was browsing a forum on his phone, his brow slightly furrowed. "On the forums, quite a few people have figured out the National Preceptor exists from item descriptions and indirect references. But for so reason, the vast majority of people only end up fighting the Demon Emperor."
"Only a small fraction of players have run into the National Preceptor, and the timing is different for each encounter. One person t him on Taibai Mountain, just like I did, while another challenged an Innate-tier National Preceptor *after* the Demon Emperor... Is it an Easter egg?"
But that didn’t seem quite right. Su Zhou watched online videos of encounters with the National Preceptor. The first scenario seed manageable, but in the second, the Innate National Master was terrifyingly powerful. If it weren’t for the ga’s chanics—specifically, the ’Thunder Return’ counter to ’Thunder Strike’, which was practically a cheat—the Innate National Master would be nearly impossible to defeat. The whole screen was flooded with sweeping blue-green bolts of Thunder Light. How were you even supposed to fight that?
’Right now, the prevailing theory on all the major player forums is that you need to et a few conditions to encounter the National Preceptor. The most important one is not losing a single drop of blood during the three consecutive battles against the Demon Generals in the decisive fight on Taibai Mountain, before the Divine Blade is forged.’
’The second condition is not dying even once before facing the Demon Emperor... Ugh, enough about that for now.’
Setting these questions aside for the mont, Su Zhou waited in his ho for the Inheritance to arrive.
It was now 11:20 AM, but the Inheritance the governnt had promised had yet to arrive.
According to the notice from their last conversation, the Zhengguo Governnt had said the Inheritance would be delivered to Su Zhou at 11:25 AM on the 25th. But with only five minutes left until the deadline, Su Zhou, who had snuck ho to avoid a crowd of reporters, still couldn’t sense the aura of any approaching governnt Transcendents.
’I’ll just wait. The governnt wouldn’t be late for sothing like this.’
Putting his phone down, Su Zhou remained calm. ’Actually, I have a feeling the governnt might try to wow with so unexpected delivery thod—like a drone drop or rocket express, sothing like that.’
His mindset was excellent; in fact, he was even a little excited.
He was looking forward to seeing just what thod the Zhengguo Governnt would use to deliver the Secret Manual into his hands.
Five minutes later, Su Zhou checked his watch again: 11:25 AM.
The ti had co.
And at that very mont, a strange, distorted sensation appeared in the Su Family’s living room. The next instant, the sensation vanished, and a square, steel-plate-like electronic terminal abruptly materialized in the center of the room.
Following the trail of the sensation that had appeared and vanished so suddenly, Su Zhou quickly located the electronic terminal, which was about the size of a laptop screen.
—There was no trace of anyone having been there, no residual Spiritual Qi trail, only the faint, colorless remnants of Spiritual Qi that were rapidly dissipating.
"Spatial Teleportation? Or maybe transport via the Spirit Realm? Or a special bloodline ability of so Awakener?"
Instantly, he stepped forward with great excitent, reaching out to sense the lingering, distorted Spiritual Qi path. His voice was filled with pure curiosity. "Can’t trace the source of the Spiritual Qi... Of course. I never would have thought Zhengguo’s technological and Extraordinary power was this strong!"
"Whatever the thod, to have a practical Spatial Teleportation ability at the Extraordinary Tier is incredible!"
The electronic terminal, containing the Extraordinary Inheritance, had appeared in the Su Family ho, delivered by a thod inexplicable to any ordinary person.
Even the current Su Zhou could only be certain of one thing: the object had truly appeared out of thin air, and it wasn’t the result of a Daoist Technique like ’Spirit Realm Transport,’ which used Spirit Bodies to move things quickly.
In situations like this, Extraordinary thods were truly far more convenient than science.
Picking it up and opening it revealed a specially designed e-reader. It contained explanations with animated images, PowerPoint-style concept summaries, detailed models of the Cultivation Technique’s Spiritual Qi Circulation, structural analyses for the formation of various Spiritual Qi Organs, and, most fundantally, a dictionary of common and uncommon Runes.
After a brief look-through, Su Zhou could tell the electronic terminal held extrely advanced technology. It could even generate a holographic 3D projection above its screen to analyze and deconstruct all kinds of Extraordinary Knowledge from every angle.
But more than the e-reader itself, Su Zhou was interested in the thod of its delivery.
’A Teleportation Technique, Spatial Teleportation... Is this a show of force?’
His rising curiosity slowly settled, and as he sat on his couch holding the terminal, Su Zhou frowned in thought. ’Or are they using this thod to subtly intimidate ? I’m probably overthinking it, but they chose not to use a normal house call and instead actively demonstrated this kind of Spatial Power to ... It feels a bit like they’re showing off.’
Spatial abilities were strategic-level powers. For one, if you could teleport hazardous materials—like a super-virus, a micro-nuke, highly concentrated poison gas, or other dangerous substances—into the heart of an enemy’s territory, you could achieve strategic-level destruction.
At the very least, teleporting a large amount of graphite dust into an enemy’s electronic systems control center would be a direct physical way to paralyze their ’brain,’ wouldn’t it? Su Zhou was just an eighteen-year-old student; he couldn’t even begin to imagine how many tactical and strategic possibilities Spatial Teleportation opened up.
But no matter how he looked at it, using such a power just to deliver an Inheritance... wasn’t that a bit of an overkill?
"Perhaps that’s part of the intention," Yara said, poking out from the top of Su Zhou’s head. It nibbled on Su Zhou’s hair as it looked at the e-reader in his hands, its tone a bit nuanced. "But I don’t think it goes as far as intimidation."
"This is more like a temptation—an invitation. *’Co, join us, and this power can be yours to wield.’* Otherwise, why would they have expressed their intention to appoint you as a professor a few days ago?"
"Adults and their complicated thoughts. Haven’t I already agreed?"
Su Zhou clicked his tongue in assessnt, then added, "But speaking of which, Yara, what do you think they’re planning, asking to be a professor? Did they sohow figure out I’m practicing another Cultivation Technique?"
"You’re a grown-up now, too," the Snake Spirit said softly, shaking its head and tail. "As for the Cultivation thod, of course you have one. How could a human possibly practice cultivation to the Extraordinary level without one? However, Zhengguo probably thinks you inherited so instinctual Cultivation thod from your bloodline. That’s not unheard of."
"Whatever. Let’s look at the Cultivation thod first."
After a mont of marveling at the Spatial Power Zhengguo had displayed, Su Zhou stopped getting distracted and focused on the e-reader in his hands, on the ’Wind Thunder System’ Cultivation thod that the Zhengguo Governnt had called ’most suitable for him.’
[Thunder Marsh]
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