But how could this possibly be the same!!
When these guys taught Li Yunxian, she picked up whatever they taught instantly, mastering it with ease and gaining an immense sense of accomplishment.
But when Li Yunxian taught them?
All she saw was a sea of confused, bewildered faces.
Li Yunxian considered herself to have a very good temper.
Even back in Tiantong, when she took over someone’s class, those students weren’t especially smart, but teaching them never felt painful.
At least, they could actually learn—just a bit slowly.
But now, things were different.
These people! Every last one of them! Not a single one understands a thing!
They don’t understand at all!!
Aren’t you all supposed to be geniuses!!!
Is this what people mean by when heaven opens a window, it slams shut all the doors?
For the first time, Li Yunxian felt herself on the verge of madness.
Duàn Huácǎi and the others didn’t dare say a word as they watched Li Yunxian’s expression—they felt that even when they’d gone mad or fought desperately against her, none of that had pained Li Yunxian as much as this did now.
But some things, you just can’t do, no matter what.
“At least we can sense Lingli now.” Someone tried to comfort Li Yunxian in a small voice.
As long as they could sense Lingli, it meant they could cultivate.
No one mentioned the fact that it had taken over half a month since Li Yunxian began teaching for them to reach the point of simply sensing Lingli—one of the most basic and superficial stages in cultivation, something many people were born able to do.
After this would come Resonating with Lingli, Grasping Lingli, Inducing Lingli, and only then reaching Qi Absorption.
Normally, when Cultivators began their training, the bottleneck was always at the Qi Absorption stage—how to take something from outside and draw it into the body.
That was what felt truly unfamiliar to them.
But now… Would she really be able to teach them before she had to leave?
Li Yunxian began to doubt herself.
Duàn Huácǎi and the others looked at Li Yunxian’s collapse and dared not speak.
They’d lived as ordinary people their whole lives; they had basic emotional intelligence.
So they searched their consciences and chose to ease Li Yunxian’s mood.
“Little Li, why don’t we take a break and talk about something besides cultivation…” they suggested.
Heavens! This bunch, who had been locked away for countless millennia and whose emotions had long since collapsed, were now actually trying to comfort someone else’s breakdown!
Duàn Huácǎi and the others felt a complicated swirl of emotions.
But this was just who they were.
If they hadn’t possessed such lofty morals, most of them would never have devoted their entire lives to Zhencheng, this artifact that could shelter so many people.
Li Yunxian eyed their expressions.
Once she realized they really could sense Lingli, she saw that their current state was genuinely calmer than before.
This situation was now manageable.
“All right, let’s talk about Zhencheng again,” said Li Yunxian.
Zhencheng? This was their area of expertise!
Their entire lives as geniuses—bent low by the struggle to learn cultivation—now finally straightened their backs again!
“Ask away! Whatever you want to know, just say it!” Duàn Huácǎi and the others responded to Li Yunxian with confidence.
“No, I want to tell you some things you don’t know.” Li Yunxian looked at them, then shared all the information she had learned.
As Li Yunxian spoke, Duàn Huácǎi and the others’ expressions slowly cracked apart.
They digested the information with dull, blank eyes.
The Zhencheng they had devoted their lives to creating, it turned out, would bring disaster to all of interstellar humanity.
It was actually a boon to the other races.
And their very existence, besides inflicting pain upon themselves, also brought suffering to countless people in the world.
What was this supposed to be?
What could this even be?!
Li Yunxian watched as the emotions of these people before her became unstable again.
But maybe because they’d suffered so much, they didn’t need Li Yunxian to comfort them; they calmed down with astonishing speed.
They’d never been naïve enough to think that just because they lived on the so-called righteous path, there was no scheming or conspiracy around them.
For Duàn Huácǎi and the rest, after each new arrival had brought fresh news—seeing the interstellar population continue to grow—had already proven that their research had meaning.
It let more people survive.
As for everything else…
Duàn Huácǎi took a deep breath and asked Li Yunxian, “So, if we succeed in cultivating, we’ll become Creepy and not Guixiu, is that right?”
“I don’t know,” Li Yunxian replied.
She offered no assurance.
She had no way to guarantee anything.
But…
Li Yunxian looked at the people before her.
“You’re no different from the demonic path right now, but who’s to say that there’s only ever a fall from righteousness to the demonic, and never a return from the demonic to the righteous?”
Even if it’s never happened before, why can’t you be the first?”
“You’ve survived countless pains already—are you still afraid of this?”
Duàn Huácǎi and the others stared blankly.
Yes, were they really still afraid of this?
They couldn’t help but imagine the beautiful path Li Yunxian painted, but quickly snapped back to reality.
“No! You’re tricking us again!” Duàn Huácǎi glared at Li Yunxian. “If we become Creepy, won’t the negative influence of Zhencheng outside become even stronger?”
“Might it even turn from a righteous artifact into a demonic one? What then?”
“If the cities out there, with tens of billions of people, lose Zhencheng’s protection, what should we do?!”
“This isn’t something you can just try or gamble on!”
Even in moments like this, Duàn Huácǎi and the others’ first reaction wasn’t about themselves.
Li Yunxian looked at them calmly and asked in an even tone, “So, do you want me to kill you, is that it?”
“Sorry, I can’t.” Li Yunxian refused flatly, not waiting for their answer.
“If all of you died, whoever put you here would definitely notice.”
“When I go out, only after I’ve told the people outside to come up with a backup plan in case Zhencheng can’t be used at all—only then can you die.” Li Yunxian spoke with chilling indifference.
Duàn Huácǎi and the others:
What a truly cold and ruthless response.
Duàn Huácǎi’s mouth twitched: “So, how long do we have to wait to die?”
“I don’t know. With this Time Flow Differential, even at the very least, you’ll be stuck here for several thousand years.” Li Yunxian stated what everyone already knew.
Everyone had come here at different times; if you calculated when they would die, and the time those who came earlier had spent here, the Time Flow Differential was something Duàn Huácǎi and the others understood all too well.
“To be honest, if you cultivate properly and manage to become Guixiu with stable minds, I can take you out as soon as possible.”
Otherwise, if you can’t become Guixiu and turn into Creepy instead, you can just keep training until you reach the third, fourth, or fifth level of Qi Absorption.
By then, you’ll be able to use Fashu, and see your own mind clearly.
At that point, it’ll be easy for you to choose suicide, if you wish.
“The slowest way is to wait for those outside to come up with some plan or replacement. You know how efficient they are.”
Li Yunxian spread her hands at them.
They were silent.
Li Yunxian looked at their faces and suddenly felt something wasn’t right.
She narrowed her eyes.
“What’s with those looks on your faces!”
“Don’t tell me you actually think you’ll cultivate slower than it’ll take for those outside to come up with a replacement plan!!” Li Yunxian said darkly.
At this moment, Li Yunxian seemed more like an evil ghost than any of them combined.
Duàn Huácǎi and the others:
…Whimper.
They would never again envy those who cultivated immortality.
Why was cultivation such a painful ordeal!!
In the end, Duàn Huácǎi and the rest at least had some self-awareness.
After another half month, as Li Yunxian sensed another fluctuation of the time-flow path, her hands were shaking.
These people!
These people!!
How had half a month passed, and they still could only barely sense Lingli!!
Li Yunxian took a deep breath.
She felt that her reason for leaving the rift wasn’t to deliver information, but simply to catch her breath.
Suànniǎo, Suànniǎo!
Expressionless, Li Yunxian looked at these trembling people, lifted her hand, and left behind in this space all the supplies she’d prepared for herself—home, living, and entertainment goods, the entire set, enough to survive in the wild for countless years.
But the words she spoke had nothing to do with those warm, comforting things.
“When I come back, I want to see all of you able to induce…move Lingli!”
In the end, Li Yunxian had to lower her own standards for what she hoped they could accomplish.
“Understood?!” Li Yunxian barked fiercely.
This time, it was Duàn Huácǎi and the others who wore perfectly well-behaved faces.
“Yes.”
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