Chapter 28: Guidance

Ye Bufan hurriedly returned to his residence. The subordinate waiting outside noticed Ye Bufan's unpleasant expression and wisely kept silent, avoiding any interaction that might provoke anger. Sitting alone in his room, Ye Bufan's expression fluctuated between dark and light. "Su Yuan... no wonder he was chosen by the Mysterious Extremes Peak Master. With inferior-grade spiritual roots, he can match my supreme-grade spiritual root ability. This guy is too abnormal." The cultivation speed of supreme-grade spiritual roots was theoretically 27 times faster than inferior-grade spiritual roots. Considering the gap between dual and triple spiritual roots, the difference could reach thirty times! "Treasures, physique, comprehension, or opportunities—which does he possess? Or does he have them all?" Ye Bufan narrowed his eyes. Reflecting on himself, he realized he had been overconfident this past year. He used to scoff at the saying "there's always someone better," but Su Yuan's performance today served as a sobering wake-up call! It made him realize that if even an inferior-grade spiritual root cultivator like Su Yuan could catch up to him, then other supreme-grade spiritual root cultivators with some opportunities or treasures could easily surpass him. Ye Bufan calmed his emotions and fell into deep thought. "Should I cooperate with the Demon Sect?" He recalled the demoness's words. He became entangled in hesitation. Meanwhile, in the shade behind Ye Bufan's cave dwelling, a Golden Core elder observed him with composed detachment. The cave's defensive formations couldn't block a Golden Core elder's spiritual sense, especially since this elder had personally arranged these formations. He could easily perceive Ye Bufan's emotional fluctuations. "What choice will you make, Ye Bufan?" the elder thought quietly. Ye Bufan remained completely unaware of being watched—after all, he was only at the seventh level of Qi Condensation. Ultimately, Ye Bufan couldn't reach a decision. Instead, he took out a high-grade Qi Gathering Pill, swallowed it, and began cultivating. The Golden Core elder watched for a while before departing. The elder went to the Seven Extremes Main Peak to report to the sect master. "Sect Master, Ye Bufan is still maintaining his rationality." "Oh?" A handsome young man nodded calmly. "By the way, Sect Master, there's an inner disciple at Mysterious Extremes Peak whose strength is actually comparable to Ye Bufan's, and they joined the sect in the same year. I think he also deserves special attention!" the elder added. "Hmm? Who?" The sect master seemed surprised. "Su Yuan! I checked—he has inferior-grade triple spiritual roots and was personally selected by Peak Master Wang to become an inner disciple. Currently at mid-stage Qi Condensation, he exhibits exceptionally dense spiritual energy fluctuations, solid foundations, and has comprehended the Mystic Truth Derivation Art. His comprehension is astonishing!" The sect master said in surprise, "There's actually such talent? Why haven't I heard Peak Master Wang mention him?" "Well... according to my recent investigation, Peak Master Wang seems to have thought Su Yuan died in the secret realm!" The elder scratched his head. "What?" The sect master was shocked. "Peak Master Wang isn't that careless, is he?" The elder shrugged. "That's what the facts indicate. I also found it unbelievable when I checked." The sect master grew interested in Su Yuan. "Where is he now?" "Inner disciple cave dwelling number 4399 at Mysterious Extremes Peak." "Understood. Continue monitoring those supreme-grade spiritual root disciples." "As you command." The Golden Core elder withdrew. The sect master stroked his chin, then flashed away, disappearing from the hall. Cave dwelling. Su Yuan spoke: "Do you have any doubts about your recent cultivation, alchemy, or artifact forging? Feel free to share them with me." "Su Yuan, are you going to guide us?" Zhang Wei asked doubtfully. "We practice different techniques and have different spiritual roots. Can you really guide us? Also, what do you mean by alchemy and artifact forging?" "Just speak your mind! Zhang Wei, you go first!" Su Yuan said. Hearing this, Zhang Wei spoke frankly: "I've reached the third level of Qi Condensation and opened eight spiritual nodes, but I've hesitated to open the ninth because I don't know how to connect it with the previous eight to form an integrated system..." Zhang Wei explained in detail. Su Yuan listened, then had him demonstrate his meridian rotation. "Too rigid and prone to breakage—you're cultivating too hastily and recklessly. Despite having a water spiritual root, you mainly use your metal spiritual root for cultivation. Moreover, there are eighty-eight obvious errors in your meridian rotation. Sixty-eight can be ignored for now, but the remaining twenty can be corrected. The first one is like this..." Su Yuan provided detailed guidance. Zhang Wei looked dumbfounded but adjusted his meridian rotation according to Su Yuan's instructions. Zhou Wuyou watched in astonishment. He had heard that high-level cultivators could help lower-level ones modify their techniques to achieve perfect harmony between cultivator and method—but Su Yuan was only at mid-stage Qi Condensation! Could he really do this? Zhang Wei didn't overthink it and faithfully implemented all of Su Yuan's suggestions. When he completed the adjusted meridian rotation, the technique's fluidity instantly improved by thirty-five percent! The spiritual energy's condensation also showed noticeable enhancement! After finishing the rotation, Zhang Wei suddenly stood up and hugged Su Yuan's leg: "Honored teacher, please accept this disciple's bow!" Su Yuan pushed him away speechlessly. "Get off me!" Zhou Wuyou covered his face—he would never do something so embarrassing, though he inexplicably envied Zhang Wei's shameless personality. Zhang Wei added, "What about the remaining sixty-eight problems?" Su Yuan waved his hand. "I'll tell you after you break through to the fourth level of Qi Condensation. You should also think more for yourself. Now, what about your artifact forging questions?" Zhang Wei immediately shared his doubts about artifact forging and even showed Su Yuan one of his creations. Su Yuan examined the spiritual patterns inside the artifact with his spiritual sense. "Your foundation in artifact forging is indeed weak. This inferior-grade artifact mainly consists of spirit-connecting patterns supplemented by spirit-burning and spirit-vibration patterns. Just these three basic patterns contain forty-eight flaws. Strangely, how did this even succeed as an artifact?" "Additionally, the shaping process was sloppy. You should know that an artifact's form must match its spiritual patterns. Forget about its ugliness—there's even one part that conflicts with the patterns, causing obvious stagnation in spiritual energy flow there. How dare you sell something with such major defects?" Zhang Wei began to lose confidence. "S-Su Yuan, I thought my foundation was decent? Since childhood, I've had real artifact forgers teaching me, especially since my father is a second-grade low-rank artifact forger—more than qualified to instruct me. This artifact is actually my best recent work—the ones I sold before were worse!" He looked at Song Cai. "Right, Song Cai? Didn't the rogue cultivators praise it highly when buying?" "Absolutely! Brother Zhang's artifacts sell out immediately after release! Some even request custom orders!" Song Cai affirmed. Hearing this and seeing their sincere expressions, Su Yuan fell into thought—artifact forging seemed easier than he imagined. Su Yuan shook his head. "You can't compare yourself to those rogue cultivators. Since you don't believe me when I say your foundation is weak, I'll point it out directly." Su Yuan proceeded to identify all forty-eight problems: "This spiritual pattern turns too abruptly, and here—the connection is too stiff. When hammering with your water-attribute spiritual energy, reduce the force by thirty percent..." The more Zhang Wei listened, the more stunned he became. Finally, he fell into prolonged silence. Looking at it this way, his artifacts seemed truly terrible. He began doubting himself. Su Yuan turned away from him and looked at Zhou Wuyou and Song Cai instead. Both wore eager expressions. Su Yuan said calmly, "Zhou Wuyou, you're next." "Yes! My problem is..." Zhou Wuyou quickly listed all his cultivation doubts. Su Yuan nodded calmly and provided guidance point by point. Unbeknownst to them, a young man hovered openly in midair above, observing their conversation. Initially, the young man found Su Yuan's guidance ordinary, but after hearing over a dozen corrections, he grew astonished. Regarding Zhang Wei's cultivation issues, he had only spotted forty-eight problems. If Su Yuan's count was accurate, that would be incredible. Even excluding the unmentioned parts, Su Yuan's profound foundational knowledge was remarkable. Whether in cultivation, artifact forging, or alchemy—at least theoretically—he had reached an exceptionally high level, seemingly surpassing even the current top inner disciple, Zhuge Jian. Zhang Wei, Zhou Wuyou, and Song Cai all benefited from Su Yuan's guidance, feeling their paths suddenly illuminated! Zhou Wuyou even broke through to the third level of Qi Condensation on the spot! This demonstrated the advantage of having a skilled teacher. Many problems weren't unsolvable—they simply couldn't identify the issues themselves! With Su Yuan pointing them out, they gained immensely. Moreover, Su Yuan had corrected numerous mistakes. Su Yuan could have solved all their problems at once but chose not to, leaving them to ponder solutions independently. With his suggestions as references, they could achieve breakthroughs through their own realizations. Complete dependence on him would eventually lead to stagnation. The three soon took their leave. Song Cai left this month's shop earnings of 1,000 spirit stones and later sent his brother Song Qian to replace him and receive Su Yuan's guidance as well. After addressing everyone's issues, it was already afternoon. There wasn't enough time left to visit the Scripture Pavilion. Su Yuan wandered around Mysterious Extremes Peak and soon noticed a lively scene at the Training Hall square. Many disciples had gathered there, including several inner disciples sparring on platforms under the watch of overseers to prevent accidental deaths. Su Yuan watched with great interest. Some disciples controlled raging flames to assault opponents, while others fired numerous water arrows that were hard to defend against! Although he'd read about many spells in books, this was his first time seeing so many in reality. "Hey, junior brother, who do you think will win on this platform?" A young man suddenly asked beside him. Su Yuan turned to see a dashing youth and quickly said, "Greetings, senior brother! Both these senior brothers are late-stage Qi Condensation experts, while I'm only at mid-stage. I truly can't tell—please forgive me!" "Oh? You can't tell?" The youth seemed puzzled. "Isn't that normal?" Su Yuan nodded. "Why not take a guess? If correct, I'll give you fifty spirit stones," the youth offered with a smile. "What if I'm wrong?" Su Yuan asked warily. "Then you give me five spirit stones!" "Senior brother isn't joking?" Su Yuan asked. "Of course not!" The youth directly took out a mid-grade spirit stone. Su Yuan's eyes lit up. After observing the platform's two disciples, he said after some thought, "I think the one using the sword artifact will win." On the platform, two inner disciples—one with a sword, one with a blade—controlled their weapons midair while dodging attacks, their bodies glowing with defensive measures. After fifteen minutes of fighting, they remained evenly matched. The youth seemed surprised. "You're sure?" "I'm just guessing randomly!" Su Yuan said. The youth nodded and watched closely. After thirty full minutes, the swordsman won by the narrowest margin—a single move—as they stopped at the decisive moment. The youth looked astonished as he handed Su Yuan the mid-grade spirit stone. "How did you guess that?" Su Yuan shrugged. "Swords are cooler than blades, so the win probability was higher!" He truly had guessed randomly—losing would only cost five spirit stones anyway. The youth shook his head. "I don't believe you!" He pointed to another platform. "That mid-grade spirit stone was worth one hundred low-grade ones. Keep the remaining fifty. There's another match—guess again!" Su Yuan gave the youth a speechless look but wasn't about to return the spirit stones. Casually, he said, "Maybe the water-attribute spell user will win?" The youth watched intently, apparently assessing the combatants himself. Ultimately, the water-attribute spell user did win—by the slimmest half-move difference! Even the youth couldn't determine the winner beforehand. His gaze toward Su Yuan changed noticeably. Su Yuan remained calm—he'd guessed randomly again. Getting two coin flips right wasn't that hard, was it?