Chapter 46

Although Bai Tingxuan had some doubts in her heart, she trusted Sun Ran very much and ultimately chose the Longevity Decree.

Each of them bought a skill, naturally intending to master it as soon as possible.

The Order Maintainers' headquarters had dedicated training rooms, each capable of accommodating a squad of five people or fewer for simultaneous training. The fees were very reasonable, just ten credit points per day, which could be considered a welfare benefit for the Order Maintainers.

When the training room was activated, a door appeared out of nowhere in the Thorn Rose's room. Opening the door revealed a spacious area one hundred meters long and wide.

This was the initial training space, empty but with rules identical to those of the virtual world. The squad leader had the freedom to modify the space, allowing the trainees to transform it as they wished to achieve the best training effect.

Sun Ran was an absolute expert in this regard. With a thought, the originally smooth, reflective floor was replaced with a soft green field. Following that, Lan Xin's shooting range, Ke'er's poison alchemy room, and Bai Tingxuan's cultivation chamber rose up in various directions.

This was akin to a small-scale creation process. An ordinary person would take at least a few days to achieve such perfect details, but for Sun Ran, it was easy and enjoyable. The entire process took less than a minute.

"Alright, let's start," Sun Ran smiled.

Lan Xin naturally continued to hone her martial skills, while Ke'er dove into the poison alchemy room, enthusiastically experimenting with her elixirs.

Sun Ran said to Bai Tingxuan, "Come, let's go to the cultivation chamber. I'll teach you the way."

Bai Tingxuan nodded. She knew that Sun Ran had once been a Destroyer on Earth, and compared to the Order Maintainers, he was definitely at least Gold level. His Dao techniques must be incredibly powerful. Having such a great expert personally teach her, she couldn't help but feel a bit excited despite her usual calm demeanor.

In the cultivation chamber, Sun Ran pointed to the cushion placed in the center of the room and said to Bai Tingxuan, who was following him, "Sit."

"What sitting posture should I use? Loose cross-legged, full lotus, or half lotus?" Bai Tingxuan asked, her face slightly red, her eyes sparkling, still a bit excited.

Sun Ran was taken aback, "Sitting posture? Is there such a thing? Oh, I see, those are just superficial forms. Sit however you like, whatever is comfortable. I'll tell you, when your body feels comfortable, it means it has harmonized with the Dao."

"Okay," Bai Tingxuan understood, found a comfortable position, and then asked, "What if my legs go numb from sitting for too long?"

"If your legs go numb, just change your posture. Do I need to ask?" Sun Ran felt that Ke'er's mind had been poisoned by whatever god-awful cultivation technique she had practiced before: "The Dao has no fixed form and changes with the times. In simpler terms, there's no such thing as an unchanging good thing in the world!"

Sun Ran's explanation was very down-to-earth, making the profound Dao techniques seem like street performances. But after careful thought, Bai Tingxuan found it quite reasonable. She suddenly remembered a saying, "Great skill appears clumsy, great Dao is simple." She was shaken and immediately focused, putting aside her playful attitude to listen to Sun Ran's teachings.

Seeing the focused look on Bai Tingxuan's face, Sun Ran began. He lightly tapped the walls around him, setting up a soundproofing barrier, then walked to the center of the cultivation chamber and said solemnly, "The methods of teaching the Dao vary in quality. The lowest is through written or spoken words, which always have omissions. The middle level is through actions, which have average effects. The highest is to let the student achieve enlightenment on their own. Now, calm your mind and think of nothing."

Bai Tingxuan knew that Sun Ran was about to show his true abilities and did not dare to slack off, immediately clearing all杂念 from her mind.

Then she felt the environment around her change. She couldn't see specific things, only a sense of grandeur and profundity, and even a deep, soul-stirring emotion.

A voice seemed to whisper in her ear, "At the beginning of creation, the primordial chaos appeared; the path to immortality defies the heavens..."

She tried to understand the meaning but found the voice becoming vague again. Having studied Dao techniques, she immediately realized that 'thinking' was a distraction in her mind. She quickly cleared her mind and continued to feel.

Time seemed to lose meaning. It might have been a second, or it might have been countless years. Bai Tingxuan's mind was in a state of nothingness, without the concept of time.

Finally, all the images disappeared, and the surroundings returned to the appearance of the cultivation chamber. Sun Ran was smiling at her, his eyes clear and bright in a way that was indescribable.

Bai Tingxuan moved slightly and realized that her internal magic power had become many times more powerful and pure, unlike the mixed and impure power she had before. With a thought, the magic power responded immediately, moving as smoothly as if it were a part of her, without any stiffness, as if it had always been there.

Among all the skills, Dao techniques had the strongest controllability, primarily because of the existence of magic power!

The data structure of magic power was incredibly intricate, a genius design. It existed within the body of a Daoist, integrated with their mind and spirit, and had a strong affinity with external data, or in simpler terms, the power of heaven and earth. This characteristic made magic power the medium through which Daoists cast spells.

Unlike Western mages, who directly harnessed the power of heaven and earth to cast spells, Daoists directly controlled the magic power within their bodies, which then mobilized the power of heaven and earth to cast spells as smoothly as if they were using their own limbs. Of course, controllability came at a cost; Dao techniques were less powerful than spells and even weaker than technology, which relied entirely on external means.

However, in direct combat, Daoists were always the strongest!

In battle, only controlled power was true power. The rest, no matter how powerful, was just dazzling but useless fireworks.

"I..." Bai Tingxuan couldn't describe her current feelings. She felt as if she had been 'refreshed,' with a powerful magic power forcibly infused into her, but without any sense of disharmony. She could deeply understand the essence of this magic power, which was truly amazing.

Sun Ran smiled, "The teaching is over. Now, you are a true Daoist disciple."

"What about before?"

"Street performers, taking shortcuts."

Bai Tingxuan couldn't help but laugh, finding Sun Ran's metaphor apt. She could feel the significant difference before and after.

Before, her magic power from practicing the Spirit Cultivation Technique was only at level one. Now, it had directly reached the upper limit of level two, thanks to the Order Maintainer's authority. Without this restriction, she felt she could at least exert level three power.

"From now on, I'll call you teacher."

Sun Ran quickly refused, "No, no, don't call me teacher. It makes me sound old."

He had been called a teacher so many times that he had paid a heavy price for it and was now allergic to the term.

Bai Tingxuan thought about it and said, "Alright, I won't call you teacher, but I will treat you with the respect due to a teacher. You can't control my actions."

"Fine, do as you wish." Sun Ran didn't mind. Having a respectful and beautiful disciple was not bad.

With nothing else to do, Sun Ran left the cultivation chamber and sat on the grass to watch Lan Xin practice her martial skills.

Lan Xin saw him, finished a set of punches, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and walked over to ask, "So fast?"

Sun Ran had only been in the cultivation chamber for less than two hours. She couldn't imagine what kind of teaching could be completed so quickly. Had he just gone through the motions?

"Yeah. This low-level technique is no challenge for me," Sun Ran said confidently.

"Arrogant," Lan Xin laughed and scolded.

"Where's Ke'er?" Sun Ran turned to look at the poison alchemy room but didn't see Ke'er.

"She configured the poison in just twenty minutes and went to the arena to test her skills."

The arena was a virtual combat game popular on the internet. The organizers would take a scenario from the virtual world and place the combatants in a life-or-death battle, which was a great place to hone combat skills.

As if on cue, Ke'er appeared from the training room, looking dejected.

"What happened?" Sun Ran asked.

"I ran into a young illusionist who used despicable means," Ke'er said angrily.

Both of them were speechless. Using poison was already considered despicable; how could there be something even more despicable? Besides, Ke'er was only eighteen herself, so she was also a young kid.

Ke'er then recounted her experience.

The time flow in the arena was ten times faster than in reality. During this time, she fought over twenty battles. The poison was very effective, and she had a natural talent for using it. Her martial skills were also strong, and against opponents of the same level, her win rate was as high as 90%. In the few losses, the opponents only narrowly won.

For this, she earned the title of "Rose Demoness."

All this glory lasted until she met an illusionist named "Jasmine Blooming."

Ke'er fought her five times, winning once and losing four. By the end, she was almost completely suppressed and came to complain.

"She's still boasting on the battle network. Husband, you have to take revenge for me!" Ke'er said, tears in her eyes, pulling on Sun Ran's sleeve.

Sun Ran couldn't resist her, and he nodded, "Let's go and see."

Ke'er immediately turned from sad to happy, secretly giving Lan Xin a smug smile behind Sun Ran's back.