Entering the Pagoda for Cultivation

At this moment, Wang Jinglong did not realize that Lin Xiaobao was already looking at things from a completely different height. Instead, his negative emotions of being looked down upon were continuously being stirred up. After taking a medicinal pill from his storage bracelet and swallowing it, Wang Jinglong stood up and staggered down the mountain, yet the hatred in his eyes remained unabated in the slightest...

Returning to Lin Xiaobao, although his battle with Wang Jinglong seemed to have been won with ease, it still had a profound impact on his inner self. Especially Wang Jinglong's Heaven-Shattering Wheel—Lin Xiaobao believed that if he had not cultivated his Mental Wave Technique to the third stage, where the initial appearance of the mental waves emerged, it would have been extremely difficult for him to push aside the interference of that noise and claim victory.

Merely a top-grade spirit artifact possessed such formidable effects, which gave Lin Xiaobao even more imaginative thoughts regarding array formations. Despite this, Lin Xiaobao did not pause his steps for even a fraction.

Perhaps the senior students all knew that the new students' trials had not yet concluded, so along this entire path, Lin Xiaobao did not encounter anyone else trying to block his way and shake him down. Very soon, he arrived at the foot of the Questioning Dao Pagoda at the peak of the mountain.

Standing still, Lin Xiaobao immediately sensed a vast and boundless aura rushing toward him. At this moment, the Chaos Mirror fragment within his dantian actually stirred slightly. Although this process flashed by in an instant and vanished, it still failed to escape Lin Xiaobao's perception.

Standing before the pagoda, he felt as if he were bathing in a gentle spring breeze, as though his entire being had plunged into a world of the Dao. Lin Xiaobao thought to himself: It seems this Questioning Dao Pagoda truly has some extraordinary methods! Its aura can actually trigger the Chaos Mirror fragment; perhaps cultivating within it will also be of some help in completely refining the Chaos Mirror fragment.

Just at that moment, a figure materialized out of thin air right at the entrance of the Questioning Dao Pagoda.

Seeing that the person was dressed in the attire of an academy instructor, and sensing the mountain-like, heavy and profound aura emanating from him, Lin Xiaobao cupped his fists in salute and said, "Student Lin Xiaobao pays respects to Instructor!"

That person was also slightly startled upon seeing Lin Xiaobao's attire. "You are a new student of this year?"

"Yes!" Lin Xiaobao replied.

"If you want to enter the pagoda to cultivate, produce your academic credits!" The person explained, showing no inclination to make any exceptions simply because Lin Xiaobao was a newcomer arriving at this place for the first time.

Lin Xiaobao immediately took out his jade token. "Please convert all of these academic credits into cultivation time!"

The instructor took Lin Xiaobao's jade token, and upon seeing the fifteen hundred credits inscribed upon it, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, prompting him to look at Lin Xiaobao a few extra times. Taking the token, he wiped away the credits on it, and then formed a bizarre incantation gesture with his hand. A brilliant ray of light shot directly into the jade token, and the number thirty immediately materialized on the back of the token.

After taking back the jade token, Lin Xiaobao noticed that the aura of the token had undergone some subtle changes, as if it had merged completely into one entity with the entire Questioning Dao Pagoda.

"Hurry on inside, the time has already begun counting down!" The instructor kindly reminded him.

Lin Xiaobao immediately cupped his fists in a bow and plunged headfirst into the Questioning Dao Pagoda. He was also filled with boundless curiosity regarding the miraculous effects of the pagoda.

Watching Lin Xiaobao's figure vanish through the pagoda doors, a hint of a playful smile finally surfaced on the instructor's resolute face. He muttered to himself, "To be able to snatch a thousand credits from senior students the moment he enters the academy, it seems the Longxiang Academy is about to get lively once again!"

With that, the instructor vanished into thin air without a trace, just as he had appeared.

Upon entering the Questioning Dao Pagoda, Lin Xiaobao experienced for the very first time what it meant to have abundant spiritual energy. Under the sheer saturation of spiritual energy, the entire space had transformed into a hazy, milky-white expanse. Inhaling the spiritual energy into his belly felt much like breathing pure oxygen in that heavily polluted world of his past life—no, this feeling was many times better than breathing pure oxygen.

Piercing his gaze through the dense mist, Lin Xiaobao discovered numerous stone doors lining both sides of the corridor, quite a few of which were flickering with a crimson glow, presumably indicating that people were already cultivating inside them. Choosing an unoccupied stone door, he pressed his jade token against it. With a loud rumble, the stone door swung wide open, and Lin Xiaobao slowly stepped inside.

Projecting his spiritual sense outward, Lin Xiaobao discovered that the four walls of the chamber were rippling with extremely rapid frequency fluctuations—a height that his current spiritual sense simply could not reach. According to Lin Xiaobao's estimation, it would likely require the might of an expert at or above the middle stage of the Dao Embryo realm to barely force their spiritual sense to penetrate the stone walls.

Since there were no worries holding him back, he naturally had to seize the time to cultivate. Meanwhile, the Spirit-Gathering array inscribed upon Lin Xiaobao's body exerted its advantages to the absolute limit, continuously drawing the dense spiritual energy of the surroundings into his body, circulating it along his meridians, and finally settling it deep within his dantian.

Because the Chaos Mirror fragment was suspended within his dantian, Lin Xiaobao did not have to worry in the least about being blown apart by an excess of spiritual power. No matter how much spiritual power poured in, the Chaos Mirror fragment would swallow it all up in one go.

As Lin Xiaobao simultaneously operated the Taiyi True Fire Formula and the Mental Wave Technique, he discovered that many obscure points he had previously encountered during his cultivation were slowly revealing themselves.

His heart surged with even greater joy; it seemed that this Questioning Dao Pagoda indeed possessed considerable assistance for cultivation. Having made this discovery, Lin Xiaobao immediately closed off his six senses and began to concentrate wholeheartedly on his practice. As time flowed onward, Lin Xiaobao gradually slipped into that mysterious and profound state beyond description.

Completely immersed in the ecstasy of cultivation, Lin Xiaobao failed to notice that the Chaos Mirror fragment, which had remained dormant within his dantian all this time, was now beginning to exhibit faint fluctuations.

Had Lin Xiaobao not been lost deep within that state of enlightenment at this moment, he surely would have noticed that the moment the spiritual energy entering his body transformed into spiritual power and crossed into his dantian, it was instantly devoured entirely by the Chaos Mirror fragment, leaving not a single shred behind for Lin Xiaobao. As for the spiritual power Lin Xiaobao had previously stored within his dantian, the Chaos Mirror fragment now simply held it in utter disdain.

With the continuous influx of spiritual power, the runes carved upon the Chaos Mirror fragment were also gradually deepening. Although this process was minuscule to the extreme—so much so that even the most meticulous scrutiny would find it hard to detect—it was nevertheless an undeniable, existing phenomenon.

Influenced by the interference of the Questioning Dao Pagoda, the Chaos Mirror fragment also began to leak out wisps of the power of the Dao's origin. This power continuously merged into Lin Xiaobao's body, nourishing his entire being while bestowing even profounder insights upon Lin Xiaobao as he remained lost in that marvelous state.

This process pointed directly toward the Great Dao and was utterly impossible to describe with mere words. Yet, from Lin Xiaobao's continuously relaxing brow, one could tell that he was thoroughly enjoying this process.

To speak of matters on the other side, Lin Xiaobao, currently lost in his profound realm, seemed to have lost all perception of the outside world. Three days later, the entrance trials of Longxiang Academy were officially declared concluded.

Out of several thousand aspiring students, merely a little over a thousand remained behind; all the others had no choice but to return from whence they came. One must understand that nearly everyone daring to come and test their mettle possessed exceptional talent. Of course, there was no shortage of those harboring a mentality of trying their luck, but such people were ultimately a minority. From this, one could easily perceive just how stringent Longxiang Academy's requirements for its students truly were.

It was by no means a coincidence that students walking out of Longxiang Academy would achieve great accomplishments in the future. After all, those able to remain behind could carve out a place for themselves on the Longxiang Continent even without cultivating inside Longxiang Academy; being able to concentrate on their cultivation within Longxiang Academy now was akin to adding wings to a tiger.