After the Divine Thought condensed, the cultivation speed increased extremely quickly.
At this moment, the fifth Mystic Light condensed!
And a strong Divine Thought had another benefit: the five senses could reach an unprecedented height, observing even the slightest flutter of an insect's wings.
Some women in the courtyard, like Young Miss Lu Qingqiu from Yunzhou, prioritized elegance over warmth, wearing only gauze skirts even in cold weather, using Spiritual Qi to ward off the chill.
Every time he encountered her in the Wudao Field, Ji You even felt a bit too embarrassed to look closely, usually giving up after a dozen glances.
During his subsequent observations in the Tianshu Academy, he found that the young girl on Void Mountain didn't come every time; sometimes he would occasionally encounter her, sometimes not.
Her cultivation seemed to have no fixed schedule; she came when she wanted and left when she wanted.
However, as the number of encounters increased, Ji You noticed that the probability of them meeting became more frequent.
Ji You suspected that the young girl seemed to be coordinating with his schedule, the reason being simple: his cultivation time was fixed, and if she didn't want to meet, she could easily avoid him.
So, the two maintained this unspoken understanding, sitting on two black stones to cultivate, and occasionally staring at each other during their leisure time.
Cultivation was inherently a monotonous affair, but it seemed having a Fellow Daoist with an unspoken understanding was also an excellent thing.
However, in the past seven or eight days, the young girl had always seemed unhappy, a bit irritable, getting angry if he looked at her for too long.
The good news was that the irritable young girl was no longer content with just flicking her sleeve; instead, she would directly kick him out with her fair feet.
This, in a way, was also a reward.
“Nineteen breaths…”
“If this continues, I should be able to gather seven Mystic Lights before the New Year…”
There was no calendar in the mountains; the end of winter came, and the year passed unnoticed.
Ji You opened his eyes; the sky was vast and desolate, cold air drifted from the distant mountains, and deep winter had arrived.
He reached into his money pouch, weighed it, and decided to go to the Immortal Meal Workshop to fill his stomach.
A few days ago, Kuang Cheng had visited, saying he had joined the Immortal Supervision Bureau, with a monthly salary of fifteen taels, and he gave seven taels to Ji You.
This Immortal Supervision Bureau was a new government office established by the Emperor, reportedly specifically serving the Immortal Sects, not seeming to want to revive imperial power, but rather like a sycophant to the Immortal Sects.
But in Ji You's view, this might be a tactic to show weakness, indicating that the Emperor of Great Xia was not without intelligence.
Ji You walked towards the Baiyu Platform while practicing the Mountain-Shaking Fist in the air.
He was a Dual Cultivation practitioner of martial arts and Dao, and although it was said that martial arts were ultimately minor skills, he had never neglected them.
It was just that he didn't go to the Trial Sword Forest very often now, because he had basically mastered the fundamentals of swordplay, spearplay, and boxing, and could perform a set of Moves while walking or sitting.
In addition, Wang Xin'an had also asked him not to go, saying that he used to be very leisurely as a Martial Skill Instructor, but ever since Ji You came, he had never been happy again.
He also said that if Ji You went fewer times, he wouldn't even ask for that one tael of silver.
This matter was so troublesome that the Gangster felt embarrassed and readily agreed.
As he arrived at the Ascension White Jade Platform, Ji You suddenly saw thirteen Instructors, including Cao Instructor, who had just returned from outside, covered in dust and with deeply furrowed brows.
It seemed that since the beginning of winter, the Outer Courtyard had been somewhat chaotic, and Shengjing City was also a bit chaotic.
“Cao Instructor!”
“Ah? Oh, Ji You.”
Cao Jinsong stopped at the Baiyu Platform, bid farewell to the other Instructors, and walked towards Ji You: “Is your cultivation going smoothly?”
Ji You released his Spiritual Light, and five Spiritual Lights appeared on his forehead.
“My goodness, this Disciple is extraordinary! Could it be that you’ll enter the Upper Five Realms before the New Year?”
“No, I still plan to take it steady; I don’t want to rush too much.”
Ji You was a bit worried about his broken Spiritual Spring and used this as an excuse.
“Taking it steady is fine, after all, Chu River is now in seclusion, probably with his Dao Heart completely shattered, and Lu Qingqiu has only condensed two Mystic Lights, so there’s no need to rush.”
After Cao Jinsong finished speaking, he thought of something: “By the way, have you seen Zhang Congzhi and Cai Ziyao?”
“I’ve seen Cai Ziyao, probably before the beginning of winter, she was quite good, wearing a plain white Qian Shui dress, with very large eyes. As for Zhang Congzhi…”
Ji You frowned slightly for a while: “Who is he?”
“Zhang Congzhi was in your cohort, often cultivating in the Wudao Field. You don’t recognize him, but you recognize Cai Ziyao, who doesn’t often go to the Wudao Field?”
“Then Zhang Congzhi must not have any distinguishing features.”
Cao Jinsong waved his hand: “But that’s not important. What’s important is that these two disappeared after the beginning of winter, and I and the other Instructors searched for three days without finding a trace.”
Ji You was startled, thinking that the disappearance of cultivators was indeed rare.
He seemed to smell something bad, but couldn't pinpoint what was wrong.
“Were there any signs before they left, such as a Junior Sister, I want to see if your Dao Heart is clear?”
Cao Instructor spat: “They didn’t disappear at the same time; there was a seven-day gap between them.”
Ji You pondered for a while: “Perhaps they didn’t disappear for the same reason.”
“Whether they did or not, the fact is they’re gone, and they didn’t take their usual clothes or valuable Medicinal Pills and Spirit Stones with them, so they shouldn’t have been gone for so long.”
“Could they have met with some misfortune?”
“Who would dare to attack a Tianshu Academy Disciple right under the Tianshu Academy’s nose? I don’t think so.”
After Cao Instructor finished speaking, he advised him to cultivate well and then hurriedly left.
Ji You watched him disappear, then returned to Bishui Lake Garden, practicing his punches.
However, before he could even enter his door, he saw a group of fellow cultivators gathered in front of his courtyard gate.
There were two from the Ninghua Upper Realm, Bai Rulong and Qian Yunxiao, and three female cultivators, Lu Qingqiu, Sun Zhiqiao, and Lou Siyi.
“Young Master Ji.”
“What is it, everyone?”
Lu Qingqiu smiled faintly: “Today is the Winter Solstice, and I, Qingqiu, would like to host a gathering at Hongding Restaurant, and incidentally watch the Mortal’s Heaven Worship Ceremony. Would you be so kind as to grace us with your presence, Young Master?”
Since Ji You quickly condensed five Mystic Lights, Lu Qingqiu’s competitive spirit seemed to have weakened a lot, and she had shown intentions of befriending him on multiple occasions.
This was a Young Miss from a wealthy family, inherently possessing a merchant's mindset: if you can win, win; if you can't, make friends.
“Excellent!”
“In that case, we shall meet at the Divine Gate and Divine Path at Shenshi.”
Ji You glanced around: “Only the six of you?”
Lu Qingqiu nodded slightly: “Young Master Bai went to call Chu River earlier, but he doesn’t seem interested.”
“Then we shall meet at Shenshi.”
Ji You cupped his hands to the group, then entered his door and took out a letter from a drawer.
It was sent from Yuyang County, and he hadn't had time to read it earlier due to cultivation. He figured it must be Old Qiu inquiring about his well-being.
Sure enough, the letter began with Old Qiu asking if he was doing well, and then mentioned that Qiu Ru had grown half a head taller and kept asking when Young Master would return.
Additionally, Fang Zhongzheng had visited the Qiu Family and said that Old Qiu had been quite efficient when working for the Ji Family back then, asking him to work at the county office.
Old Qiu also mentioned one other thing, or rather, a strange occurrence.
He said that there seemed to be evil spirits causing trouble near Thirty Li Pu, leading to frequent disappearances of livestock in the days after Ji You left.
Ji You finished reading the letter, thinking it was strange how he kept encountering disappearances.
Two people had just disappeared from Tianshu Academy, and now even the livestock at Thirty Li Pu were gone…
(The foreshadowing will be gradually connected later. Please support with monthly votes and continued reading.)