Chapter 46: A Serious Zhou Bai
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Everything from the young girl’s neck down had turned into paper.
Her limbs were nailed to the wall. She hung there like a painting.
Zhou Bai lowered his head and said in a deep voice, “Who did this?”
Li Xiuzhu walked up next to Zhou Bai. He gazed at the girl on the wall and said, “Probably herself.”
“What?” Zhou Bai said incredulously, “Why would she do that to herself?”
“To increase her Degree of Taoification.” Li Xiuzhu sighed. “Didn’t you say she was about to get expelled? From what I’ve heard, Donghua Tao Academy holds a test every two months. Once a student is found to have no visible improvement after consecutive tests, they get expelled. The conserved resources are used to foster students with greater potential.
“This girl…clearly didn’t have enough gift. Mutation is the result of forcibly improving.
“The sound you heard before was probably the sound of her ramming her head into the wall. Her body has completely mutated below her neck. She’s become something like a paper person. She can even pass through walls.
“But because her head still retains its human shape, when she’s passing through the wall, her head gets stuck and makes the sounds of a collision.”
Zhou Bai looked at the girl before him, who had lost all vitality. He sighed, “Why…why must she insist on improving…”
“The path of Tao practice—if you don’t advance, you’ll retreat. Especially under the influence of the distorted Heavenly Tao, sometimes advancing doesn’t necessarily mean success.” Li Xiuzhu shook his head. “To take a step forward or to take a step backward, the delicate decision between them is something you must learn while practicing Tao.
“You need the courage to press forward with an indomitable will, but also the resolution to break it off when you must.”
Zhou Bai frowned after he heard this. Practicing Tao…was too difficult.
“Good thing I have the auxiliary practice system.”
Zhou Bai looked at the girl on the wall and asked, “Did you kill her?”
Li Xiuzhu shook his head. “I’ve been lying in ambush outside. When I realized you passed out, I barged in here. But she killed herself right after I broke through her Tao technique.”
Looking at the girl before him who was pale as paper, Li Xiuzhu sighed and said. “She probably had a single thread of consciousness remaining, that’s why she chose to kill herself. And it was probably thanks to this thread of remaining consciousness that she didn’t kill you last night.”
What followed was a series of aftermath procedures. The teachers at the school, police from the outside, and all sorts of practitioners came to the scene to analyze, inspect, and seal off the site.
Li Xiuzhu also brought Zhou Bai back to the police station to file a report.
Before he left, Zhou Bai told him about everything he saw, “I saw a square-faced man speaking with her before. He promised to prepare something for her, and they…”
Hearing Zhou Bai’s description of what happened, Li Xiuzhu narrowed his eyes, “Square-faced man? I’ll have someone look into it. Your teacher is looking for you; go speak with him.”
***
When Zhou Bai left the police station, he encountered Lu Chongyang, who had been waiting for him outside.
“Zhou Bai,” Lu Chongyang asked with concern. “Are you all right? I can’t believe a student mutated at school.”
“I’m all right.” Zhou Bai felt like a mouse who had just seen a cat. The more Lu Chongyang cared about him, the more awkward he felt.
It was just like that time in his senior year of high school when he cut class to go to an Internet cafe. When the homeroom teacher came to get him, he didn’t scold him at all. He just sighed.
What touched Zhou Bai the most iwas not scolding, cursing, or disdain, but disappointment….
But when he remembered he was doing this to become stronger and fight for the future of humankind, Zhou Bai straightened himself up.
Lu Chongyang couldn’t tell Zhou Bai’s change of emotions. He just said, “Zhou Bai, you haven’t been coming to class recently. Is it because of what’s been happening next door? Since it has been resolved, come to class tomorrow.”
Zhou Bai looked at Lu Chongyang, who stood in front of him. Although he felt nervous, he summoned up his courage and said, “Teacher…I think I still won’t be coming to class.”
“What do you mean?”
Zhou Bai felt a monumental aura pressing down on him, making him feel like a small boat in the middle of a hurricane. The raging storm crashed against him, and he felt as if he would fall apart at any moment.
But Zhou Bai took a deep breath and said earnestly, “Teacher, I have my own way of practicing Tao. The usual procedures don’t suit me. I want to go at my own pace.”
Lu Chongyang focused his gaze, and he said slowly, “Donghua Tao Academy has been established for more than one hundred years. Thousands of predecessors have died just to compile the ninety-nine chapters of the Taoist Sutra. We’ve paid an incredible price to create the materials and classes you have now to practice Tao.
“Although I’m not as great as the predecessors, I’m also a practitioner with a 56% Degree of Taoification in the fifth realm. You think learning on your own will be more productive than studying with us?”
Hearing what Lu Chongyang said, Zhou Bai couldn’t think of anything convincing to refute him. Everything he said was correct. Ordinary students, no matter how gifted, couldn’t exceed the accumulated experience of Donghua Tao Academy just by working on their own.
As Lu Chongyang spoke, an aura of the fifth realm hit him. It was like substantial air pressure, cracking down on Zhou Bai’s body and spirit.
Zhou Bai even felt his bones make light cracking sounds.
That heavy sensation was enough to make normal people bow down in worship.
But Zhou Bai was not a normal person.
He had already practiced four star points on the Taiyi Disc. His body had gone through four rounds of enhancement. It was no longer what it used to be. His 99-point Primordial Spirit Value also gave him a strong mental immunity.
Plus with help from the auxiliary system, he was able to stand against Lu Chongyang’s pressure and answer seriously. “Teacher, the uniform classes…are too slow. I can practice faster by self-studying. I don’t want to waste time going to class.
“I want to become stronger faster, faster, faster. I want to have the power to slaughter Mara and resist goblins.”
Zhou Bai gazed at Lu Chongyang. He told him the real reason in another fashion. “If I go to class obediently now, it will indeed be much safer, and I can become stronger safely…”
Zhou Bai’s fists clenched tighter and tighter. Countless dark memories flashed in his mind, “But…this is not the path I want to take. I have a gift. I have the ability. I should be able to advance faster and farther. I can withstand more. I can become stronger.
“I don’t want to remain the way I was today, and in the past, always being protected by others, unable to do anything myself.”
Zhou Bai stuck out his chest, staring at Lu Chongyang. An aura like never before rose from his body.
“If I don’t place first in the test in two months, it means this is the limit of my gift. Then I promise never to cut class again.”
Lu Chongyang stared at Zhou Bai. He saw an earnestness that exceeded all his peers in Zhou Bai’s eyes.
Lu Chongyang said coldly, “You’re cutting class for two months. If you don’t pass the test, it won’t be as easy as simply returning to class. You’ll get expelled.”
An even greater pressure was thrown at him. Zhou Bai felt like he was tossed into the bottom of the ocean. The air around him heaved. Thoughts of surrender popped up endlessly in his mind.
He took a deep breath, then said decisively, “If I don’t succeed, I’m willing to accept the school’s arrangements.”
Seeing Zhou Bai say this against his aura, Lu Chongyang finally realized something at that moment.
“This kid…he’s serious. He really thinks that even if he doesn’t go to class for two months, he can still pass the test and get first place, when he doesn’t even know what he’ll be tested on.”
Lu Chongyang was a little surprised at Zhou Bai’s determination. He was planning on using his aura to pressure him and make Zhou Bai aware of his errors so that he would turn back on his wrong path and go back to class.
But he didn’t expect that under the pressure of his aura, Zhou Bai wouldn’t yield. Instead, he showed Lu Chongyang the determination and earnestness in his heart. His sincere expression from before really shocked Lu Chongyang.
At that moment, Lu Chongyang remembered something someone once said. “The path of Tao practice depends on one’s will. It’s one personal choice after another. What the future holds, only they can control it.
“I’ll reserve your seat in class for you, but you only have two months.”