Nightmare Immortal Era

Chapter 22: The Beginning of a Collapse

On the top floor of the office building at Immortal Ascension Academy, Dean Fang Zhuo, who had appeared on the flying boat before, was currently bowing and looking respectfully ahead.

In his position sat a young girl dressed in white, wearing a black hairpin, with a beautiful face and a cold temperament.

If Yang Ning were here, he would definitely recognize her. This person was none other than Wang Yi, the follower by Lin Tianheng's side.

Wang Yi was obedient by Lin Tianheng's side, but as soon as she arrived at Immortal Ascension Academy, she immediately transformed into someone superior. She casually flipped through the documents on the table, and Dean Fang Zhuo didn't even dare to make a sound.

"Are there any outstanding students in this year's batch?" Wang Yi asked.

"There are a few!" Fang Zhuo hurriedly replied, "Zhang Feiran from Yongzhou, Bo Haitang from Nanzhou, Leng Yuxi from Qingyuan, they are all geniuses who mastered the Breathing Technique in just seven days. There's also Dasheng Lin Jingyun, although it took him eight days, he consumed an Exquisite Pill, so he should also be able to cultivate Qi Refining!"

"He took eight days even after consuming an Exquisite Pill? How useless is he?" Wang Yi frowned.

"Well, he is the adopted son of Princess Chang from the Man family!" Fang Zhuo reminded in a low voice.

"So what?" Wang Yi sneered, "Even if I were to say this in front of Princess Chang, I would still say the same. Moreover, why would they put so much effort into cultivating such a useless person? Is he really an adopted son? I remember that Princess Chang was hunted down thirteen years ago and hid in Dasheng for a while."

Fang Zhuo didn't dare to answer. He couldn't afford to provoke Princess Chang, let alone Wang Yi.

"Sir, do you want to select and cultivate some students from the new batch?" Fang Zhuo asked.

"Cultivate? What's the point of cultivating? There are plenty of inner disciples who are begging to curry favor with my young master. Why should we pick from the students?" Wang Yi said indifferently.

Fang Zhuo was speechless. He wanted to say that students were innocent and more loyal, but upon further thought, as long as one had strength, they wouldn't be afraid of betrayal. If they lacked strength, even the most loyal person couldn't be kept.

Loyalty meant little to cultivators, especially to those at the Gold Core stage.

"Then why did you come here?" Fang Zhuo asked.

"In three months, the Demonic Beast Valley will open. I want you to send all those people from Wei Daocheng's boat in!" Wang Yi said.

"What!" Fang Zhuo was stunned and hurriedly said, "Although the Demonic Beast Valley opens every year, the number of Demonic Beasts inside is still huge. Going in without a physical body at the Fifth Layer is just sending them to their deaths!"

"And then?" Wang Yi asked.

Fang Zhuo understood. She wanted those people to die!

However...

"Is this what Lord Tianheng wants?" Fang Zhuo asked.

Wang Yi looked at Fang Zhuo indifferently, "What's wrong? Are you very interested in Lord Tianheng's thoughts?"

"No, no!" Fang Zhuo quickly shook his head, "I was just thinking about what reason to use to send them."

"You, as a dean, still lack reasons?" Wang Yi stood up and placed a jade bottle on the table again, "Working for Lord Tianheng, you won't be treated unfairly!"

"I... well..." Fang Zhuo looked at the bottle of pills with longing in his eyes. It seemed like he was hesitating, but he didn't say anything until Wang Yi left.

Only after a long time did Fang Zhuo tremblingly pick up the jade bottle.

Carefully opening it, he saw a round, greenish-white pill lying quietly inside.

"The Azure Green Pill, condensed from the water of the Falling Jade and the qi of the Blue Sky, can refine one's mana and help condense Divine Ability seeds. Wait, isn't the Falling Jade the same as the Blue Sky? This sentence should be a mutual reference, right? The original meaning should be to gather the water and qi from the Blue Sky to condense the pill?"

Rubbing his temples, Yang Ning felt a bit tired. These cultivators seemed to be bad at language arts. I don't expect you to be eloquent, but can you at least write a coherent sentence?

One typo can turn one thing into another!

Not to mention the lack of coherence, the disorderly sentence structure, the grammatical errors, and the need to create new characters that don't exist in Chinese characters.

Many of these problems could be solved by Deep Blue, but there were also some that couldn't be solved, and he had to discuss them with Deep Blue.

No wonder there are so few people in the library. I thought the textbooks were already sloppy, but I didn't expect them to be even worse. The ones in the library are even more casual!

I wonder if Dao Sect focuses on education. If they can't even compile textbooks properly, can they still expect Immortal Ascension Academy to produce talented individuals?

"Yang Ge!" a voice called out next to Yang Ning. When Yang Ning turned around, he saw that Ning Rong had appeared by his side at some point.

"I didn't expect to find you here!" Ning Rong sounded surprised, "I heard that you haven't attended classes or returned to the dormitory for a month. You've been reading books and not practicing or sleeping?"

"Ah, has it been a month already?" Yang Ning scratched his head in confusion, "Time flies so fast, I didn't even notice!"

"You've become foolish from reading too much!" Ning Rong angrily snatched the book from Yang Ning's hand. "Did we come to Immortal Ascension Academy just to read books? We came here to cultivate immortality. What are you doing, wasting your body like this?"

"Is that so?" Yang Ning blinked, as if still immersed in the world of books and not fully present. "Aren't we here to study?"

"What's the point of studying? This is Immortal Ascension Academy! Cultivating immortality is the most important thing, studying is secondary! What's wrong with you? What happened to you in Qinshan? The Yang Ning I used to know wasn't like this!" Ning Rong was confused. "Where is the spirited Yang Ge I knew before?"

"Spirited? Me? Really?" Yang Ning blinked, feeling like Ning Rong was talking about a stranger.

"Who else could it be if not you? 'To stand at the peak and overlook all the mountains, to break through the wind and waves and sail across the vast sea'—weren't these your words?"

Yang Ning was quite satisfied. It seemed that his performance was convincing enough to deceive even someone familiar with him.

Well, there's no need to correct it. This impression needs to be deepened.

"Let's talk outside, someone is reading here!" Someone had already noticed the commotion, and Yang Ning didn't want to attract the attention of the librarian, so he pulled Ning Rong into the aisle.

"Alright, I want to hear your explanation!" Ning Rong breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Yang Ge really had some other plan.

"First of all, literary creation cannot represent a person's true nature. It needs to be analyzed in conjunction with the historical background and personal circumstances. At that time, I achieved the top score in the imperial examination and had ambitions to accomplish something. But I was assigned to the Hanlin Academy to compile books, which I definitely wasn't satisfied with. However, since we are all scholars, we can't directly approach our superiors with complaints. So I wrote these two poems to express my thoughts. Luckily, my superior saw them and understood, so I was transferred from the Hanlin Academy to the Ministry of Works."

"Is that so?" Ning Rong blinked, suddenly feeling something was off, and immediately said, "Wait, we were talking about your lack of cultivation, don't bring up those things!"

"What do you think of me as a person?" Yang Ning asked.

"Well, ambitious, caring for the country and the people!" Ning Rong blushed. She had wanted to say "handsome and dashing," but felt a bit embarrassed, so she changed it. "And exceptionally talented!"

To put it bluntly, Yang Ning was the most brilliant star in the four hundred years since the founding of Yue Kingdom. Countless young girls dreamed of him, and Ning Rong was no exception.

Yang Ning had to admit that these were all facts.

But this persona was too dangerous in the Immortal Cultivation World, so what Yang Ning had to do was to make this persona collapse!

"All of that is fake!" Yang Ning shook his head.

"What?"

"It's just a performance for others!" Yang Ning said. "In reality, I'm just an ordinary person who likes tinkering with mechanisms. Reading books, holding office, they are all to serve my hobbies."

"Really?" Ning Rong was stunned.

Upon careful consideration, what he said seemed to make sense. Although he had impressive literary talent, he didn't write many poems or articles. Most of the time, he was busy with strange inventions.

This behavior of loving invention and creation matched his words.

She didn't know that Yang Ning's original dream was to become a scientific genius and bring truth to the world.

"But you can't waste your talent like this. You have the opportunity to cultivate immortality. Is your hobby more important than cultivation?" Ning Rong asked.

"Why do people cultivate immortality?" Yang Ning asked.

"For eternal life!"

"And what is eternal life for?"

"Um, to do what one wants?" And to be with the person one loves!

Yang Ning nodded. "Exactly, eternal life is for having enough time to do what one wants. I embarked on the path of cultivation because of my passion for craftsmanship. If I were to give up this hobby, what meaning would cultivation have for me?"

"Oh," Ning Rong suddenly realized. "Can it be explained like that?"

Strangely enough, it seemed to make sense logically!

"But!" Ning Rong immediately reacted. "You don't even cultivate, let alone eternal life. Your lifespan might be shorter than an ordinary person's. How can you pursue your hobbies like this?"

"It's my fault!" Yang Ning seemed to come back to his senses. "I was too eager for knowledge. Since I entered Immortal Ascension Academy and discovered the library here, I felt like a mouse in a rice jar. I couldn't help myself!"

"I see!" Ning Rong breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you were giving up cultivation! Even if you like reading, you should do it in moderation!"

"I will be careful!" Yang Ning replied. "Thanks for reminding me. Otherwise, if I continue like this, my body will break down sooner or later!"

"Yes, as fellow countrymen, we should support each other. If I don't remind you, who will?" Ning Rong smiled. "Put the book down and take a rest. You can't continue like this!"

"Okay!" Yang Ning nodded. "Then I'll go first!"

"Alright!" Ning Rong smiled, clenched her fist, and stared at Yang Ning until he left the library. She felt a great sense of satisfaction in her heart!

Can I consider this as saving a lost young man?

(End of this chapter)