Chapter Sixty-Six: The Senior Sister Grows Even More Excited

Within the eighty-square-meter extradimensional space, all manner of spiritual instruments were neatly arranged—some resembled glass bottles, while others took the form of complex laboratory benches. Each device bore intricate, high-level inscriptions. Such spiritual tools were exceedingly rare on the market; even if one managed to find them, the prices were enough to make one's jaw drop. But if one possessed the necessary skills, it was far more economical to simply purchase the raw materials and inscribe the runes oneself.

Every spiritual instrument in this laboratory had been personally inscribed by Liu Shuangling, tailored for her own research. She stood before a laboratory bench, gazing at the ethereal, azure speck of light hovering at its center. This was Zhang Jiaxue’s soul. Compared to its initial state, it had grown somewhat stronger, yet it still fell far short of her expectations.

“Are you still conscious?” Liu Shuangling’s delicate, oval face was tinged with contemplation. She had employed numerous methods to provoke fluctuations in Zhang Jiaxue’s soul, yet the soul remained in a hazy, bewildered state—almost as if, once separated from the body, it could no longer think, bereft even of instinct.

A lack of desire was a fatal flaw. Liu Shuangling believed that desire was the driving force behind the evolution of all living beings. A creature without desire was like stagnant water, forever unable to transcend its own limitations.

She began to ponder where she might have gone wrong. Was this simply the inevitable result of a soul leaving the body? Or was the issue rooted in the manipulation of the soul itself? Or perhaps there was some crucial factor she had overlooked?

Standing before the bench, her gaze fixed on that wisp of blue light, Liu Shuangling’s mind raced through countless possibilities. After a moment, she sighed and resolved to leave the lab. When confronted with difficulties, she preferred not to lock herself away in search of answers, but rather to relax her mind before returning to the problem.

…

Outside, the night was deep and silent. In the bedroom, black ink suddenly spread like a living thing, thick as shadows flowing across the bedsheets. Liu Shuangling’s body slowly rose; the dark circle at her feet swiftly faded, and the sheet appeared utterly untouched, as though nothing unusual had occurred. She landed lightly, her feet—pale as tofu—slipping perfectly into a pair of plush slippers.

She stepped out of the bedroom, fetched a can of black tea from the kitchen, made herself a cup, and arranged some store-bought pastries and bread on a tray before heading to the living room. Settling onto the sofa with lazy grace, she placed the tray on the coffee table, pulled her phone from her pocket, and prepared to check on Bai Yujing’s latest news—no, she corrected herself, last night’s news.

Unlocking her phone and opening Douyin, she was greeted by an eye-catching headline before she’d even searched for Bai Yujing:

“Bai Yujing, a once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy?!”

Liu Shuangling blinked in surprise, watching footage from the press conference before instinctively tapping into the comments section.

“Five years? This is beyond unbelievable—this is ‘unbelievable’s mother opening the door for unbelievable, it’s home and settled in!”

“I wouldn’t dare write a cheat this outrageous in my novels; readers would call it unrealistic.”

“Here comes the most threatening challenger to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. (insert doge meme)”

“If this turns out to be true, I’ll livestream myself eating ten pounds of crap.”

“Mastering every spell, scripture, and martial art in the Central Spirit Library? Heh, not counting the spells and scriptures, there are tens of thousands of martial arts books alone—he probably hasn’t even finished reading the table of contents.”

The online comments were dripping with sarcasm and mockery; not a single person believed Bai Yujing was telling the truth. Everyone assumed he was boasting at the press conference to generate buzz.

But Liu Shuangling knew better—Bai Yujing never lied. Which meant that everything he had stated at the press conference was fact. He had ascended to the rank of Ninth-Tier Spiritual Master in just over five years, and in about eight years had mastered every spell, scripture, and martial art in the Central Spirit Library.

What kind of godlike talent was this?

Liu Shuangling fell silent. Previously, she could still attribute their difference in abilities to the gap in age. But now, after Bai Yujing had revealed his cultivation speed, she was forced to face the truth: even if they were the same age, she would never be able to match him. In fact, there was likely no one in the world who could compare to Bai Yujing’s natural gifts. He might even surpass the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

This realization cast a shadow over her features; yet, gradually, the corners of her lips curled upward. “Heh.”

“Haha!”

She threw her head back and laughed, her clear, ringing laughter echoing through the living room. It wasn’t that the pressure had driven Liu Shuangling insane—rather, she was exhilarated by the thought that if she could defeat Bai Yujing, it would be tantamount to being able to conquer the world at any time. Her original two-step plan had now become one. The notion delighted her.

…

At six-thirty in the morning, as dawn’s first light crept through the thinning mist before the Azure Cloud Gate’s archway, three figures appeared in quick succession, their arrivals separated by less than a second, as though prearranged.

Tiya was the first to pass beneath the pristine white arch and step onto the stone steps. “Did either of you watch last night’s press conference?”

“No,” Zhu Ying replied, her expression as cold as ever. The moment the official state of emergency had been lifted, she’d devoted herself entirely to tracking down the mastermind; Bai Yujing’s performance at the press conference was of no concern to her.

Tiya was unsurprised by this response and sighed. “You really should have watched—it was the sect leader himself, revealing the pace of his cultivation. The entire internet exploded. I didn’t even have to pay for trending topics to draw attention. Still, it’s understandable people don’t believe his progress. We, at least, know the sect leader’s strength and character. There’s no doubt he was telling the truth—he really did master every scripture, martial art, and spell in just over eight years. Now, can you guess how long it took him to create the Absolute Realm, the Temporal Eclipse Cataclysm, and the Northern Dipper Holy Fist?”

Here, Tiya’s tone turned agitated. The modest achievements she’d recently made in cultivation now seemed utterly insignificant. The harder she worked, the wider the gulf between herself and Bai Yujing grew. Judging by the current trend, she seriously doubted whether she’d ever rival Bai Yujing—perhaps only after ascending to the heavens themselves.

A trace of rare surprise flickered across Zhu Ying’s face. Even she knew how inconceivable it was to accomplish such feats in just eight years. And yet, when it came to Bai Yujing, it somehow seemed plausible.

“The sect leader cannot be defeated by any one person alone. We need to work together,” Liu Shuangling remarked. She spoke only of cooperation, never of partnership. In her eyes, “partner” and “dependence” were words for the weak; she would never entrust her ideals and ambitions to anyone else. In the end, the one to defeat Bai Yujing would be herself. Her two junior sisters were nothing more than pawns she intended to use.

As it happened, Tiya thought the same. She deliberately let slip, “There was another matter last night worth noting. After Yaqi’s death, someone released some of his research materials onto the black market.”

“Is that so?” Liu Shuangling feigned indifference, but memorized the information. Yaqi’s research might just prove useful to her.