In the afternoon, just past the You hour, Meng Luoluo dragged her nearly useless arms and drenched body back to the small courtyard.
Only ghosts knew how she had survived this day; it was on par with her past life.
Seeing her in this state, He Manting couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Meng Luoluo: "......"
*You absolute culprit, you didn't even try to dodge, insisting on facing Eldest Senior Sister head-on. And now look, I'm the only one who got hurt.*
Meng Luoluo was just about to speak when she was shoved into the pond by He Manting.
Meng Luoluo: "......"
He Manting: "How does it feel? I checked, this pond is brimming with spiritual qi, and you can take a bath while you're at it. I'll go get you a change of clothes. Soak in the pond a bit longer—it'll do wonders for your cultivation."
At these words, Meng Luoluo began to sense her surroundings carefully. Sure enough, spiritual qi was flowing through her meridians, but far too little. After all, she had five spiritual roots to feed.
No wonder everyone loved taking disciples with fewer spiritual roots; the fewer roots you had, the faster you cultivated, because you needed far less spiritual qi per realm.
Realizing this, Meng Luoluo hesitated no longer. She circulated her cultivation method and began absorbing spiritual qi—she needed to grow strong as fast as possible.
The good news was that she was diligently cultivating. The bad news was that she fell asleep. Yes, you read that right—she fell asleep.
The culprit was her inherited cultivation method, known as the *Great Dream Spring and Autumn Art*. This method was completely useless to anyone else; normal people cultivated by meditating and rarely slept, let alone dreamed.
But in the eyes of someone from modern times, it was an absolute treasure: regular sleep schedules and frequent dreams were guaranteed.
The drawback of this method was that it made you prone to sleepiness. The moment you felt tired or sleepy, down you would go, perfectly fast asleep—you never had to worry about insomnia again.
When He Manting finished cooking and came out with Meng Luoluo's clothes, this was the scene that greeted her: Meng Luoluo was floating on the water's surface, occasionally sinking a tiny bit, blowing a few bubbles whenever her head dipped under.
He Manting teleported over, jumped into the water, and hurriedly scooped Meng Luoluo up, then checked the water depth. *Hmm, waist-deep. Well, the kid just fell asleep and floated up, she wasn't drowning.*
He Manting carried her to her room, dried the water droplets on her skin, and changed her into a fresh set of clothes from head to toe.
Before leaving, she lingered for a few extra moments. A child's body was so soft, it felt like you could pinch water right out of it.
***
In her dream.
Meng Luoluo found herself back in that vast ocean. This time, she entered of her own accord, letting go of those few books.
The first was the *Great Dream Spring and Autumn Art*. After reading it, Meng Luoluo learned that this method was divided into five stages: Having Dreams, Entering Dreams, Controlling Dreams, Creating Dreams, and As-in-a-Dream.
So far, she had only reached the first stage, Having Dreams. Perhaps because it was "Having Dreams," she came straight here every time she fell asleep.
The second book was the *Immortal Heart Bell*. This book focused entirely on defense, functioning like a 360-degree shield with no blind spots—wasn't that just a turtle shell? Though this book had no stages, when cultivated to the ultimate level, it could trap enemies within the bell and use sonic waves to obliterate them.
*Emmm*, it suddenly reminded her of a certain movie—the Lion's Roar utilizing a giant bell to amplify the volume. What was going on here?
Never mind, she would just practice it and grow stronger.
***
The next day.
Meng Luoluo woke up from hunger. She didn't even put on her shoes, running straight to the kitchen, where she was surprised to see He Manting cooking.
Meng Luoluo was utterly astonished, her eyes wide with shock.
He Manting: "I knew you were exhausted yesterday and didn't even have time to eat. I started earlier today just in case your senior sister drags you off to cultivate again and you miss meals."
Meng Luoluo's eyes welled up with tears: "Thank you, Sister, you're so good to me."
*Ah, in my past life...* Her family treated her like a tool, demanding money from her under all sorts of pretexts to support her younger brother, buy him a car, a house, and pay for his wedding. In the end, when the bride price wasn't enough, they even tried to force her to marry someone off just for the money. So, she jumped off a building.
Seeing this, He Manting offered comfort repeatedly: "Be a good girl, Luoluo, don't cry. You won't be pretty if you cry. Go wash up, put your shoes on, and we'll eat in a minute."
Looking down, Meng Luoluo remembered how hungry she was and that she had sprinted over barefoot. She hurried back to put on her shoes and wash up.
During the meal, both remained silent, but He Manting could tell: just getting up early to cook a meal could move this child to tears like this—she must have suffered through some terrible things in her past. Since the child hadn't brought it up, she shouldn't pry too much.
In her previous life, Meng Luoluo had never appeared. Perhaps because she herself had never come to the North, Meng Luoluo had been harmed early on.
Even when she used her authority to investigate, she found this person had no background—no, rather than having no background, it was more like she had appeared out of thin air.
*Whatever.* Their enemies were the same anyway. A child with no background or identity, and so adorable to boot—keeping her by her side to raise wasn't out of the question.
The child had even deduced that she was reborn, so she must possess considerable ability, only she was still too young to unleash it yet.
Just past the Mao hour, the Eldest Senior Sister arrived in a chariot.
Meng Luoluo thought to herself that she would need to find one of these for herself in the future. Such a magnificent vehicle for getting around was far too cool and dashing.
After landing, the Eldest Senior Sister handed Meng Luoluo five Heaven-grade cultivation manuals, one for each elemental attribute.
Wang Shiyao: "I have Metal spiritual roots, so I can only teach you metal-attribute techniques and swordsmanship. For Fire and Earth, you can look for Number Three. For Water and Wood, look for Number Four. But for Fire, I'd suggest you find Number Five."
"Number Five knows some divination and has the ability to avoid misfortune and bring about good fortune. You can learn from her too—you don't have to divine for others, just being able to calculate your own fate is enough."
Meng Luoluo: "I understand, Senior Sister."
"These five swordsmanship manuals and techniques—how do you plan to study them? Are you going to pick a few?"
Meng Luoluo shook her head.
Wang Shiyao continued: "You don't want to study all of them, do you?"
Meng Luoluo nodded in assent.
"Very well. It's not impossible for you to study them all, just manage your time properly. The difficulty of all five together is quite substantial."
Meng Luoluo: "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Sister."
Wang Shiyao: "Don't mention it. After all, I am the Eldest Senior Sister. The affairs of the peak are mostly handled by your Second Senior Brother; I prefer doing business. If you're ever short on money, you can come to me."
Meng Luoluo: "Alright, I know, Senior Sister."
***
As a youth of the new era who could study five, six, or seven subjects simultaneously, after so many years of education, practicing only one style of swordsmanship a day felt like a waste of so much time. She needed to find something else to study.
After a series of thoughts, she still hadn't decided what to study, so she ultimately went to ask He Manting.
Hearing her thoughts, He Manting pondered briefly.
"I suggest you learn some formations—ideally ones that can activate even while you're asleep. How is your soul strength?"
Meng Luoluo: "I don't know."
"Come here, relax, and let me probe your soul strength."
At that, Meng Luoluo relaxed her mind and spirit, and He Manting sent her own soul power to probe Meng Luoluo. Before long, she withdrew it.
He Manting exclaimed in wonder: "Not bad, Luoluo! Your soul strength far surpasses your cultivation. Your cultivation hasn't reached Foundation Establishment yet, but your soul power has already hit the Source Gathering Realm."
"Is this soul power something you were born with, or did you cultivate it later?"
Meng Luoluo: "I've never cultivated it. I don't even know what soul power is."
He Manting hesitated for a moment before finally deciding: "I suggest you cultivate soul power and formations. I remember you mentioning the issue with your cultivation method earlier; I feel your method might be connected to illusion formations."
"Dreams are false, and illusions are also false. Since you don't want to stay idle anyway, you can cultivate both together."
Meng Luoluo nodded: "There's no time to lose, Sister, accompany me to the Scripture Pavilion."
Taking her personal disciple jade token, Meng Luoluo grabbed Sister Ting's hand and headed straight for the Chaoyun Sect's Scripture Pavilion.
***
Arriving at the Scripture Pavilion, the two saw an old man drinking tea outside the door and walked forward together to bow.
Meng Luoluo: "Greetings, Senior. This junior is Meng Luoluo, a disciple of Fan Peak, and this is my elder sister."
He Manting: "Greetings, Senior. This junior is He Manting."
At the sound of the name "He Manting," the previously languid old man instantly sat up straight and sized up the newcomers.
The He Family of the Yuzhou ancient clans had rarely traveled outside since the last great battle. Seeing that this young girl didn't harbor any malicious intent, he waved his hand dismissively.
"Personal disciples are entitled to enter the Scripture Pavilion for free four times a month. Since the two of you are entering together, that leaves you with only two visits."
Meng Luoluo: "Thank you, Senior."
Seeing that these two little fellows meant no trouble, the old man let them pass without fuss.
Once inside, as they had discussed, He Manting helped her look for books on illusion formations, while Meng Luoluo went to the upper floors to find books on cultivating soul power.
Some books on soul power were classified as forbidden texts because their damage was high and they harmed both others and oneself. Moreover, basic ones weren't recommended either; should anything go wrong, the price to pay would be heavy indeed.
In contrast, illusion formations were quite niche, and very few people studied them. Heaven-grade illusion formation manuals were all tossed into a secluded corner on the first floor.