ASER - Chapter 64
Chapter 64: A Man and a Woman Alone
Students wouldn't tell the teachers after getting the booklets; they would just slowly digest them. The teachers didn't know at first, and A'Diao didn't care if they knew or not. Anyway, her mental power was increasing daily, basically keeping up with her current daily mental power consumption. This finally curbed her urge to blow up the toilet.
Before the appointed day arrived, she contacted Feng Ting. The latter was a career-oriented military officer who had long known that A'Diao would be too busy with exams and studies to pay attention to old acquaintances, just as he was busy slaughtering demonic spirits every day.
But today was still a bit unexpected, until A'Diao explained her purpose.
Feng Ting, without a second word, told her everything he knew about the demonic lairs. "If you want to tackle a demonic lair, I suggest going to the five I just proposed. The others are either unpredictable, high-level, or frequented by a mixed bag of people, where you might get robbed and murdered."
"Especially that place in Jinling. The area is large, and there are too many people."
Feng Ting was somewhat evasive, not wanting to state it plainly, but he was part of the military officer system and knew more about this aspect than Chen Ran.
A'Diao: "Are there many people dying inside the Jinling catacombs? But the officials haven't disclosed it, probably because they're afraid no one would go kill demonic spirits if they did."
Seeing her astuteness, Feng Ting sighed, "Indeed, the impact isn't good. The main thing is, once you're in a catacomb, it's a lawless land. The imperial court can't manage it at all, and there are too many cases to investigate. Later, they just turned a blind eye. Over time, it has become a place with countless murderers and robbers. So, your academy probably doesn't support you going into catacombs now either."
Actually, he didn't support it either.
She had only been in school for a few days; even if she progressed like a rocket, she couldn't have become that much stronger.
But not going into catacombs wasn't realistic either.
If you don't go into catacombs, where would spirit cores come from? Without spirit cores, children from ordinary families would have no chance to get ahead.
"No, the academy will support it." A'Diao's words stunned Feng Ting.
A'Diao: "At least the people in our class will go into catacombs. Because the academy isn't a charity; it needs to cultivate students strong enough to bolster the academy's strength. Those kept in school all the time can only mean they've been given up on by the school."
From the day the mental state examination existed, A'Diao had guessed the academy's intentions.
Feng Ting thought this might be what made Danzhou's top high school so formidable. Hearing A'Diao mention some of the academy's facilities, especially the three spirit gates including the Central Spirit Gate, his breathing instantly became heavy.
Terrifying.
"I probably can't beat you now, but I have military equipment and more men here. Are you coming to Lingcheng?"
A'Diao: "I choose the Little Tangshan Catacomb."
Located between Jinling and Lingcheng, under Lingcheng's jurisdiction, it's a half-day trip by hovercar. But being in the mountains, fewer people go there. Correspondingly, if trouble occurs, the support received will also have a time delay.
But... this was advantageous for A'Diao.
Lingcheng was currently the Chen family's domain, and the most flexible armed forces were in Feng Ting's hands. She could completely use her connections.
Feng Ting had already guessed her purpose and strongly agreed. "Don't worry, as soon as I receive news, I'll rush over at the fastest speed. Based on the aircraft's distance, I can get there in about twenty-five minutes."
Actually, it was the same principle: for a truly fatal threat, even if you were in Kyoto, someone might not arrive in time to save you. What A'Diao wanted was merely deterrent support; when truly in danger, she still had to rely on herself.
"OK, I'll give Sister-in-law a gift then."
Low EQ: I'll give you a reward.
High EQ: I'll give Sister-in-law a gift.
After getting the information, A'Diao studied it carefully, sent it to their five-person group chat, and briefly explained the reason for choosing Little Tangshan.
She was quite frank, but also gave everyone reasons to feel at ease.
Tian Zhongxiang: This place is good. Jinling seems to have stronger forces, but there are many factions, which is troublesome. Lingcheng, on the other hand, is safer for us.
Tian Zhongye: Right. My dad went to assist outside a catacomb a few days ago. When he came back, he warned us to be extremely careful of other people if we go into a catacomb. People are more terrifying than demonic spirits.
Song Ling had already sent a file to the group.
Song Ling: The demonic spirit in the Little Tangshan Catacomb is the Level 1 Demonic Spirit, Petrification Lizard. Due to individual limitations, the catacomb's area dictates that their population won't be too large. It's also deep in the wilderness, and city forces haven't had time to clear it out yet. It was originally a pioneering choice for some teams, but because its external defense is too strong and difficult to deal with, it's not well-regarded. However, Petrification Lizards' eyeballs can be refined to produce petrification toxin, which fetches a high price in the biochemical field—one can sell for 50,000 star coins.
Besides spirit cores, the body parts of demonic spirits are also a major source of economic income when killing them.
So, the overall profit from Petrification Lizards is actually very high. The problem still lies in their defense. Ordinary people can't handle them, and those who can have gone to fight in Level 2 Demonic Spirit catacombs.
Could their team handle it?
Song Ling was planning to get some equipment from her family when A'Diao suddenly private messaged her.
"Can you use your family connections to get these potions? They can't be bought in pharmacies."
Song Ling looked at the list A'Diao provided. There weren't many items, but she understood the chemical formulas for two or three of them, and her expression immediately turned strange.
After seeing Song Ling agree, A'Diao didn't look at her phone anymore and started using the energy tester built into Xiao Yuanbao to test her Spirit Power level.
Currently, one spirit cluster was G5; two spirit clusters combined would be G7, but on the surface, it appeared as G5.
But she was used to considering her cultivation level as G5. The other spirit core was her trump card, never to be revealed unless absolutely necessary.
Xiao Yuanbao: "According to the big data from currently available information, Master, your current Spirit Power enhancement speed is thirty times the average level of all high schools in Jinling."
Comparing with the average was the most feared; it was meaningless.
A'Diao: "What about compared to my classmates?"
Xiao Yuanbao: "Currently, we cannot obtain the Spirit Power data for Class 1 students. However, based on the combat video you recorded on Tuesday, we can roughly judge their level. Your current Spirit Power intensity level should be seventh in the class. The strongest, Tuoba, was at F3 on Tuesday."
Only two days had passed. No matter how fast Tuoba was, it was impossible for him to improve by several numerical levels again; F4 at most, because the higher up, the harder it is to improve.
But the gap with her was still very large. Tuoba and others had support behind them. They probably used a large number of spirit cores to exchange for points to go to the Small Spirit Gate, and the exchange time might be much longer than five hours.
This couldn't be helped. She had to upgrade the toilet to Level 4 sooner!
And to obtain Spirit Power, it depended on these things.
A'Diao brought out the express delivery that had just arrived today. After opening the box, inside was a large pile of... brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
"Special supplies for drawing Daoist talismans, bought for three hundred thousand star coins. And these are still the lowest grade. Too expensive."
"These profiteering merchants! Just some worthless paper, such exorbitant profits!"
A'Diao, who had always adhered to the double standard principle of "I can scam others out of money, but others can't scam me," was extremely indignant. But she considered her account, which was almost zero again, and her mental power, which was nearly depleted every day, and her heart felt sour.
Money, oh money.
However, she quickly and obediently started fiddling with them and began drawing Daoist talismans.
Anyway, to deal with Level 1 Demonic Spirits, these Daoist talismans should be enough.
But which talismans to draw? Did she have a choice?
A'Diao first tried with a few sheets of spirit xuan paper and found that among the Daoist talismans she knew, the powerful ones... before she even put brush to paper, the xuan paper couldn't withstand the force of her Spirit Power and was ruined.
Damn!
Low-grade stuff is no good!
A'Diao could only try with the lowest-grade talismans.
The Petrification Lizard's strongest point was its defense, but it also had a fatal weakness: its neck. However, it wasn't stupid; as long as it avoided exposing its neck while dodging and moving, they wouldn't be able to hit its vital spot and would instead be killed by it.
So...
A'Diao chose the Immobilization Talisman.
She had drawn this thing out of thin air before and had experience. Now with xuan paper, it was even easier to manage.
A'Diao was busy all night, exhausting all the Spirit Power in her body... and drew four talismans.
Well, she was completely drained.
Three days left. She would replenish her body while drawing.
Late at night a day later, in the hot spring pool, A'Diao's body emitted crisp cracking sounds from her bones. After a while, she opened her eyes and wiped away a layer of bloody foam adhering to her skin.
These were impurities hidden within her bones.
Bone setting was to temper its bone quality and alignment, more painful than tendon splitting. She gritted her teeth and persisted for several days, feeling like she was on the verge of death every day.
"But I finally succeeded in bone setting once. It feels pretty good. However, its effect on Spiritual Energy absorption isn't that obvious; it should primarily affect combat."
It seemed her breathing had become much lighter. A'Diao remembered she hadn't used the 50 points from clearing the first layer before, precisely waiting to try again after succeeding in bone setting once.
A'Diao had a sudden whim and went immediately. So she ran to the class cultivation room. At this hour, there was no need to queue. She swiped her points and went in.
Because it was too late, to avoid attracting attention, she had the smart system turn off the lights.
The effect of the gravity room was indeed very obvious. As soon as A'Diao entered, she felt as if she had returned to the first layer of the Clearance Points Tower. However, she had felt uncomfortable then, but now it was very easy.
After all, six or seven days had passed.
The more obvious her growth, the more distant such past difficulties seemed.
A'Diao increased it to 4 times gravity.
Still okay?
A'Diao continued practicing and finally raised it to the 8 times level.
That was about it, gravity similar to the second layer of the Clearance Points Tower.
Sweat poured down like rain, her internal organs felt as if they were under heavy pressure, but soon she felt certain shackles being released.
The more she adapted, the more exhilarating the feeling of becoming stronger became.
She was thinking: That scarecrow definitely can't insta-kill me from behind now.
As time passed, points were continuously consumed, but A'Diao had no intention of going to the consciousness reaction room. She knew her consciousness reaction was an advantage and hadn't become a hindrance yet. Instead, her body couldn't keep up with her consciousness, so she had to focus on her body first—most importantly, tendon splitting and bone setting targeted the body.
She had to effectively bring out the changes in her body, master and temper it.
The night grew darker. As dawn approached, A'Diao finally left the gravity room, only to suddenly see a dark figure right beside her... Who!
Startled, she reflexively reached for the other person's throat.
Bang!
The other person was pressed against the wall by her, and the smell of milk candy assailed her nostrils.
A'Diao paused, then released her hand. "Jiang Yena? What are you doing so late at night?"
Jiang Yena rubbed his neck and coughed several times, looking at A'Diao who had him pinned against the wall. Because the room was dim, but the glow from the streetlights outside diffused in, it made the face of this girl, who had stirred up so much turmoil in the class, appear somewhat more vivid.
Her face was delicate and youthful, but her eyes shone brightly like the radiance of a quiet night.
He shifted two steps along the wall, his face flushed with embarrassment, and said, "After finishing my problems tonight, I came to the consciousness reaction room to practice. How come Sister A'Diao, you're here too?"
"Practicing gravity."
"You've already passed the first layer, and you're still practicing? Someone like me is the one who needs to practice."
"Then you scored 680, why haven't you ascended to heaven yet?"
"..."
He didn't give off any mental power; the young man was quite composed. A'Diao glanced at him and suddenly thought, if someone as high-profile and flamboyant as Tuoba, the recognized number one, could be a high-level conquerable target, then someone extremely low-key could be one too.
Could it be this little milk baby?
In school, there were too many people, so A'Diao usually kept her notifications off. Turning them on now wouldn't be very meaningful. If A'Diao wanted to determine the other person's aptitude and identity, she could also use some special methods, for example...
She suddenly said: "Brother Yennai, it's late and quiet, just the two of us, a man and a woman alone, and this place is spacious. Tell me, should we..."
From Jiang Yena +2222!
From Qu Jiangnan +9999!
From Song Ling +6666!
From Tuoba +7777!
Oh, Classmate Yennai is no longer a suspect, but...
A'Diao: "???!!!"
There are others?!!
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