After another ten breaths of time, those men were already in the distance, clearly worried that she had escaped.
"You know of the Enigmatic Art of Escape?" Lou Yueshuang stared at the scarred Mo Wuji in astonishment, her voice was slightly agitated.
She personally witnessed Mo Wuji scattering some stones and twigs to install something, and because of that, those men that were chasing her could no longer see her.
Enigmatic Art of Escape? Mo Wuji thought of the Enigmatic Art of Invisibility back on Earth; these two things really sounded the same. But in reality, what he did was install a concealment array. There was no spiritual energy powering this array, so it would be useless against slightly powerful cultivators. His array merely made use of the the various positioning of the stones and twigs to misdirection the men’s sights. In other words, it was merely a diversionary technique.
The Enigmatic Art of Invisibility was actually similar to a diversionary technique, but it was at a slightly higher grade.
Chinese history is filled with wonders. During the ancient times, a few impressive strategists made use of the Enigmatic Art of Invisibility to deal with their enemies. These included Jiang Ziya, Zhuge Liang, etc. But when the truth of the matter was revealed, this Enigmatic Art wasn't some daoist magic, but diversionary techniques.
The Enigmatic Art of Escape mentioned by Lou Yueshuang should be similar to the Engimatic Art of Invisibility.
Mo Wuji shook his head, "No, I merely used a little diversionary technique. It's just a parlor trick that I managed to learn in my free time, it's not worth mentioning. I think it's best if you hurry and return before those guys return. Otherwise, it would be troublesome."
"Many thanks big brother. I'm called Lou Yueshuang, I'm an intermediate class mana cultivation student at An Jing Academy." Lou Yueshuang was sure that Mo Wuji wasn't a simple person. She immediately bowed and expressed her thanks.
Mo Wuji hurriedly asked, "How do you cultivate mana? Do you absorb the elemental energy from your surroundings?"
When Lou Yueshuang heard that Mo Wuji didn't even know about mana cultivation, she started to believe in Mo Wuji's previous words. He really might have picked up on the Enigmatic Art unintentionally.
She explained, "I'm also not sure. I'm only in the intermediate class. Only students in the advanced class can feel the mana from the Heaven and Earth and cultivate it."
"Advanced students can feel mana at any time and at any place?" Mo Wuji spoke really quickly and in an urgent manner.
Lou Yueshuang shook her head, "Perhaps some geniuses can. However, a majority of them can only feel the mana in a mana array installed by a mana array master. Alternatively, they could also use mana stones…"
As she got to this point, Lou Yueshuang looked hesitantly in the direction that those men disappeared from. She knew that she shouldn't speak to Mo Wuji any further, and that it would be best for her to leave immediately.
Mo Wuji noticed this and said, "You should head back first. Oh right, is there any way I can enter An Jing Academy?"
Lou Yueshuang gritted her teeth, and after a few breaths time, she said, "I can bring you in. Follow me."
When Mo Wuji heard those words, he didn't ask any further as he hurriedly followed Lou Yueshuang.
He really wanted to know if those mana stones were spirit stones. And if those mana arrays were spirit gathering arrays.
There were six security guards at the entrance of the Academy. Lou Yueshuang brought out a wood token and showed it to the guards. Then she pointed towards Mo Wuji and said, "This is my personal bodyguard."
The security guards immediately opened the gates. They didn't even ask any questions. However, as Mo Wuji followed Lou Yueshuang in, he clearly noticed expressions of shock among two of the guards when Lou Yueshuang appeared. Ostensibly, they didn't expect Lou Yueshuang to arrive back safely.
One look at their expressions and Mo Wuji could easily tell that those two fellas were informants for those guys that were chasing Lou Yueshuang.
"Lou Yueshuang, those guards seem to those guys’ informants," Mo Wuji whispered softly.
Lou Yueshuang nodded, "I know. Actually, as long as I make it back to the entrance of the Academy, even if they have informants, those people wouldn't dare to do anything to me. They know that I left the Academy today, which was why they were waiting outside the entrance."
As the two spoke, they already entered An Jing Academy.
Lou Yueshuang’s footsteps were slow. Mo Wuji guessed that she still didn’t know where she could house him.
Mo Wuji knew very clearly, if he wanted to enter that array, or obtain that mana stone, he would need to befriend Lou Yueshuang.
Thus, the moment they entered An Jing Academy, Mo Wuji said, "My name is Mo Wuji. My greatest wish is to be able to see a mana stone, or to experience a mana array installed by mana array masters."
"Brother Mo, I know that you're interested in this area. Otherwise, you wouldn't have learnt the Enigmatic Art of Escape. However, if you want to study in An Jing Academy, it would be quite hard…"
As she said this, Lou Yueshuang paused for a brief moment, then she continued, "I do have an idea. Not long later, there will be an assessment for the advanced mana cultivation class. If I work hard, I might be able to enter. Every advanced student can bring a personal guard into the mana array for personal protection. By that time, he can be my bodyguard. It's just that it will do you injustice."
Why would Mo Wuji care about injustice and a fake role? He just needed to recover a bit of his spiritual will, then he would easily be able to leave this planet.
"It won't, it won't. I'm willing to do that," Mo Wuji said, "but how long will it take for you to enter the advanced class?"
"I intend to take the advanced assessment half a year later. I believe that I should be able to succeed," Lou Yueshuang said resolutely.
Half a year? Mo Wuji was slightly dumbfounded. If he had to stay in this planet for half a year, he might as well go elsewhere and search for other opportunities. He definitely wouldn't wait here for half a year.
As he thought of this, Mo Wuji said with a tinge of unwillingness, "Is half a year the shortest time? Can it be even shorter?"
Lou Yueshuang answered awkwardly, "There is an assessment three days later, but I'm sure that I will fail so I won't be going for it."
Mo Wuji frowned and went into deep thought. After some time, he asked, "Then can you let me see your cultivation manual?"
Lou Yueshuang was placed in an uncomfortable position and she shook her head, "Brother Mo, it's not that I don't want to lend it to you, but when I entered the school, I had to sign an agreement. I can't casually lend the school's mana cultivation manuals to anyone…"
"Since that's the case, is there anything you don't know? Why don't you try asking me?" Mo Wuji suddenly thought that he had created his own cultivation technique from nothing; he didn't even have spiritual roots but he managed to open 108 meridians. He didn't believe that he wasn't able to help Lou Yueshuang and bring her to the advanced class.
Lou Yueshuang hesitated for some time before she finally said, "Brother Mo, I… this…"
It wasn't that she was contemplating about a question to ask. Mo Wuji didn't even know about mana cultivation, so how was he going to solve her doubts? Isn't he scamming her right now?
"You can try asking a simple question first. If I'm unable to even answer that, then you don't need to ask any further," Mo Wuji said.
He had seen some books on cultivation back in the book store; the contents recorded inside were all over the place and he wasn't even able to make sense of them. But after hearing Lou Yueshuang's words, he started to form a faint understanding of what he read. Mana was very likely an inferior form of spiritual energy; this sort of spiritual energy was different from the one back in the cultivation world, which was why he wasn't able to feel it. As a result, he didn't understand those things that he read about.
But if he were to get his hands on a low grade mana absorption manual, he might grudgingly be able to get by.
The reason why it was "grudgingly", was because these methods were were simply inferior to the point where it would force people to bite their fingernails in anger. Cultivation was so simple, but they purposely wanted to take their pants off before they fart. No, that's not the right analogy. It should be: they took their pants off, waited for a few hours, then they farted.
"Alright then. When I'm cultivating mana, when the energy is moving towards my dantian, some of the mana disperses, and what I'm absorbing is merely useless impurities…"
Before Lou Yueshuang could finish, Mo Wuji said, "That's simple. To condense elemental energy, you would need to compress the energy first, before cultivating it. The reason why you're unable to resonate with the spiritual energy… No. The reason why you are unable to resonate with mana is because you didn't compress it. You can try using the extreme meridian… oh, the extreme spirit channel to absorb the energy, then through the cyclic wood spirit…"
"Wait, Brother Mo, what's the extreme spirit channel…" Lou Yueshuang interrupted Mo Wuji's words.
Mo Wuji furrowed his brows. He guessed that Lou Yueshuang hadn't even opened a single spirit channel yet, or worse, she might not even have opened her spirits.
He hesitated for a moment, but he still pointed to a position at the bottom of Lou Yueshuang's throat and said, "This is the entrance of the extreme spirit channel. If you haven't opened your extreme spirit channel, I can help you. But try it out first, see whether you are able to feel mana from that point."
Lou Yueshuang did not hesitate to follow according to Mo Wuji's instructions. In merely a few tens of breaths, she stared at Mo Wuji in pleasant surprise and said, "Brother Mo, I'm able to easily to dissociate mana. Where's that cyclic wood spirit channel…"
Lou Yueshuang's voice didn't only contain the emotions of pleasant surprise; it even contained a hint of excitement and anticipation.
Mo Wuji only taught Lou Yueshuang the method that ordinary cultivators used, it wasn't really anything much. Even when cultivators cultivate, the spiritual energy that they absorb would contain impurities. These impurities need to be removed in the extreme spirit channel, then compressed in the cyclic channel. Different spiritual roots would result in different cyclic channels.
What Mo Wuji didn't expect was that Lou Yueshuang was actually able to dissociate mana even though she hadn't opened her spirit channels.
Soon, Mo Wuji understood what was going on. He hurriedly asked, "Lou Yueshuang, before you started cultivating mana, was there some sort of spirit opening or anything similar?"
Lou Yueshuang nodded eagerly, "Yes, all students that enter An Jing Academy's mana cultivation class would need to go through an opening of the mana roots. Only students with mana roots can cultivate mana. Many people are unable to open their mana roots, so they aren't able to cultivate."
So it was truly like that. Since that's the case, Mo Wuji was confident that he could send Lou Yueshuang into the advanced class. The only thing that left Mo Wuji worried was that the mana here didn't contain any spiritual energy. Because he had tried cultivating previously; he didn't feel any sort of spiritual energy, just some unfamiliar energy.