章 12: Multitasking
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"Hmph, we have already stopped competing with them for the disciples nurtured for our sect's spiritual veins. If these nobles' children want to compete as well, then they shouldn't blame me for being impolite. Our branch may have declined over the years, but we won't allow anyone to truly trample over us," the scholar-robed man replied with a sinking expression.
"Since Senior Brother has made up his mind, I and Junior Sister Zhong will naturally support you. Our branch has only us three Spirit Masters left, so we must advance or retreat together," the disheveled man pondered for a moment before finally making up his mind and speaking.
But no sooner had he finished speaking than his face changed abruptly, and a violent coughing fit ensued. He quickly took the vermilion gourd from his waist, pulled out the stopper, and poured several mouthfuls of emerald liquid into his mouth.
A strong aroma of alcohol emanated from it, revealing that it was some sort of potent but unknown liquor.
After a few mouthfuls, the disheveled man's complexion looked somewhat better.
"Junior Brother Zhu, are you alright? The cold energy in your body has been a chronic problem for many years. Merely using medicinal liquor to cope with it is merely treating the symptoms, not the cause," the scholar stated, concern showing on his face.
"Senior Brother Gui, rest assured, as long as I drink this 'Three Suns Wine' in time, I can control the onset of my cold illness. There is no need for too much worry," the disheveled man replied with a smile, seemingly not taking his illness to heart.
"It's all my fault. I knew that you had just advanced to Spirit Master and should have let you consolidate your realm for a while longer before letting you go to the Nightmare Cliff. Otherwise, you might not have fallen ill with this cold disease," the scholar said with regret.
"It's not Senior Brother's fault. I was the one who insisted on going that year. After all, at that time, Senior Brother was at a critical point in your cultivation and couldn't leave the sect, and Junior Sister Zhong was already in dire straits, with no time to delay," the disheveled man replied, shaking his head.
"After the opening ceremony, I will beg Uncle Master again to obtain a few more Pure Yang Pills. Although these pills cannot cure the cold disease, they can at least alleviate your suffering," the scholar said solemnly.
"Forget it. Uncle Master is now in seclusion facing the life and death threshold. The other mountain peaks have already objected to our previous disturbances. If we go again, we will be giving them a handle to use against us," the disheveled man replied with a bitter smile.
"You need not worry about this matter. If they really come looking for trouble, I will deal with it," the scholar replied with a cold snort.
After hesitating for a moment, the disheveled man finally said no more.
Following their conversation behind the tree, the two men disappeared again into a mist.
At this moment, the young men and women arrived in front of a row of newly-built stone houses, where the burly man pointed at will, and they were each assigned to enter.
When Liu Ming pushed open the door, which still had a hint of new wood scent, a room measuring no more than three or four yards in length and width appeared before his eyes.
A cyan wooden table, a chair of the same material, a stone bed about a yard long covered with a thin layer of cotton cloth bedding — beyond that, there was nothing else.
Seeing all this, Liu Ming did not show a disappointed expression. Instead, he let out a light sigh and walked over to the stone bed to sit down.
Similar to the spartan furnishings of the stone house, his thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the difficult life on the ferocious island, giving rise to a momentary daze.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he finally came back to his senses. With a bit of thought, he began to carefully check each corner of the stone house and all the furnishings, ensuring that they were just ordinary objects with nothing unusual before finally lying down on the stone bed, starting to recall some events silently.
The event of him being seized by officials and sent to the ferocious island due to his father's crime, although it happened years ago, he still remembered many details.
At that time, aside from him and his father, there were only a few servants at home.
As for his mother, he had never seen her since he could remember; it was said that she passed away due to complications during his birth when he was very young.
About other relatives and friends, he had never heard his father mention them.
But he had vaguely heard from others that his father, with him as an infant, had moved from a very distant place. As to where they lived before, no one knew.
His father was very strict with him. From when he first began to understand things, his father taught him to recognize characters, read, and made him memorize classical texts.
A few nights before his father's arrest, he suddenly made Liu Ming, who was only a few years old, forcibly memorize a very secretive location until he knew it by heart, repeatedly admonishing him not to tell a third person before letting it rest.
A few days later, his father was captured by the yamen runners who stormed into their home, and he was sent directly to the ferocious island.
Perhaps those yamen runners never really expected to get any useful information from a child of only a few years old.
However, whenever he thought of the secret place that he still remembered vividly, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.
As a child, he did not know what the name of that place meant, but now he understood that for the present him, it was almost no different from a dragon's lair or a tiger's den.
Without sufficient strength to venture there, it would be hardly different from suicide.
The fact that his father made him memorize the location of that secret place with much seriousness surely implied a significant secret, and, in all likelihood, it was directly related to his father's arrest and subsequent death in prison.
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The fact that the mastermind behind the scenes could use a crime as severe as "great disrespect" to send Liu Ming's father to his death indicated that the person must have had substantial influence. Common investigation methods would probably be of no use and might even alarm the enemy, potentially leading to one's own demise.
But how could he let the murder of his father go unavenged?
When Liu Ming thought of this, a shadow of darkness appeared in his eyes, uncharacteristic of his young age.
If he had previously been at a loss, now that he only needed to become a Spirit Acolyte or survive the Spirit Opening Ceremony to significantly increase his strength before entering that place, it should no longer be a difficult task.
However, the thought of the terrifying success rate of the nobility's offspring in the Spirit Opening Ceremony, even with his usual confidence in himself, made his heart sink slightly again.
He had naturally asked Gu Lao Da and the other about the specifics of the Spirit Opening Ceremony on the way.
Unfortunately, as high-ranking servants of the Bai Family, their knowledge was limited. They only knew that through the ceremony, one could use external forces to solidify and reveal the unmanifested spirit veins in a Spirit Vein affinities individual, and with the help of the ceremony's power, congeal the Spirit Sea within the body, the defining feature that differentiates Spirit Acolytes from Qi Practitioners.
Only with a Spirit Sea could a Spirit Acolyte keep converting Yuan Energy bit by bit into true magic power. The speed of cultivating Yuan Energy is then vastly different from before, unimaginable to ordinary Qi Practitioners.
The mysterious nature of the Spirit Sea was something Gu Lao Da and the other knew nothing about, which left Liu Ming somewhat helpless.
Well, he could do nothing but intensify his training in the art of controlling Yuan Energy.
Although he wasn't sure if being more proficient in this art would help during the Spirit Opening Ceremony, that was all he could do now.
Since he had that ability, even though time was running short, it should still be somewhat effective.
Thinking of his special talent, the corners of Liu Ming's lips couldn't help but curl up into a slight smile.
This ability wasn't innate but emerged after he went through the family tragedy, witnessed a series of bloody events on the brutal island as a child, and fell severely ill. Only then did he inexplicably discover this bizarre talent.
This ability allowed him to split his consciousness in two forcefully, to control each half of his body simultaneously to perform their respective tasks at the same time.
And this ability was very different from those 'multi-tasking' talents that were rumored to exist.
Once split, if both halves of his consciousness were properly trained, they could gradually grow stronger separately, and one could even let one half rest in a dormant state while the other half was active.
The usual 'multi-tasking' talents could not achieve the two scenarios mentioned above.
After he noticed the anomaly and made discreet inquiries among the islanders, coupled with his review of the island's scant relevant texts, it took him several years to confirm that his ability was likely a mutated enhancement of 'multi-tasking'.
As for what exactly this mutation was and whether it had any potential side effects, Liu Ming had no way of knowing.
With the talent now at his disposal, he naturally didn't waste it. Thanks to years of deliberate training, his mental strength had increased astonishingly, more than twice that of an ordinary person.
If not for this, he wouldn't have been able to evade the pursuit of many hunters and the Black Tiger Guards for so long.
He hadn't shown Gu Lao Da or Three Gu the full extent of his talent, which allowed him to let half of his spirit rest alternately. With this ability, his power wasn't as simple as the sum of two halves.
On the brutal island, if he wished, he could even continuously study and practice a secret technique day and night for five or six days, then fully recover his spirits with just a good sleep.
That is to say, his practice time was multiple times that of the average person.
This was the fundamental reason he managed to master so many esoteric techniques at a young age on the brutal island.
Recalling this, Liu Ming slightly closed his eyes for a moment and then immediately sat up, taking a deep breath and starting to practice on the stone bed.
For him, rest was truly a luxury.
Thus, in the following ten days or so, aside from designated meal times, Liu Ming hardly stepped out of his stone house, training day and night in the technique of controlling Yuan Energy.
The Tiger Bite Ring, which was initially somewhat difficult to activate, became more manageable after his arduous practice over just a short period of ten days.
During this time, other young boys and girls either stayed inside their stone houses like Liu Ming, never leaving, some wandered around the forest, and some gathered together as if they were brothers, constantly engaged in excited discussions about something.
But Fang Xiong and the other outer sect disciples turned a blind eye to all of this, as long as no one left the forest area, letting the group of youngsters move around freely.
And so, the day of the Spirit Opening Ceremony finally arrived.
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