At the moment, his movement skill Thousand Blooms only has one grade that he managed to create, taking inspiration from the previous talent Etheral Shadow Step, as well as his Seven Fold Illusion.

After seeing that he was alone in the room, Yang Ze suddenly vanished from his position, leaving behind an afterimage that stayed on the bed for a good three seconds before turning into a small speck of blue light that popped up like a firecracker.

From the other side of the room, Yang Ze simply narrowed his eyes as he once again moved, this time in less than five breaths, the entire rooms as filled with numerous afterimages of him, as they all slowly dissipated, leaving behind small specks of light.

"It's a decent skill." This was the first skill that Yang Ze created by himself, so he was pretty satisfied with it.

He could move at an incredible speed, leaving behind afterimages with his internal energy in them. After a few seconds, this internal energy would explode. The more internal energy he puts in, the bigger the explosion. At the moment, he was inside the room, so he only dared to use a sliver of his internal energy, but that was still more than enough to fill the entire room with the sound of firecrackers.

Yang Ze could only imagine how great the destruction was going to be once he put more internal energy.

Thankfully, there was no one else present outside the house, saving him from the trouble of explaining things.

"This Enlightenment really is useful." Yang Ze finally understood just how effective this thing was. Till now, he has been using it to practise techniques and cultivation. And now that he had finally created his own skill, he understood just how powerful it could be.

He didn't even need to practise his self-created skill. The skill comes from the numerous insights that would appear during the Enlightenment state and would be perfected upon creation.

"Should I try to create the second grade of this skill?" After thinking for a while, Yang Ze held back this thought. There were still a few things that he needed to take care of. And besides… this movement skill was much better than the talent he had been using before. He didn't think he needed any more advancement for now.

Instead of focusing on one technique only, it would be better to focus on different things.

After making up his mind, he simply walked out of the room and signed in the 'Withering Year Mark' talent. Looking at the progress (2/10) behind his talent bar, he simply nodded with a smile before taking a walk around and then heading into his room to meditate in order to increase his cultivation.

It wasn't until it was almost evening that he was disturbed by the sound of footsteps.

"You all are back?" Looking at the group of girls who were back in the room, he simply gave them a nod in greeting before closing his eyes in meditation once again.

"Umm…" Seeing him close his eyes, Mei Ling was the first one to jump forward.

"You said you would teach us." Her voice lowered after she saw Yang Ze opening his eyes once again, but instead of being afraid, she took a step forward, putting up a brave front.

"Oh!" It was only now that Yang Ze remembered that he said something like this. He cast a glance at the group of girls in front of him before giving them a nod.

"Come, what do you want to learn?" He didn't think too much about it. With his knowledge and understanding, it would be child's play to teach these kids. Besides, even if he couldn't teach them in a single go, he could take his time. After all, he had to live in this place for quite a while. Instead of constantly sitting in meditation and watching this deathly silence around him, it would be better to teach these kids. At least they would be able to protect themselves better.

"I… we…" After hearing that Yang Ze was ready to teach them, the group of girls looked at each other in excitement and nervousness, but couldn't put together the words.

Seeing their difficulties, Yang Ze let out a deep breath as he slowly began to introduce them to the two paths of cultivation that he knew.

"There is the Internal energy cultivation, and then there is mental energy cultivation."

Taking a short pause, Yang Ze slowly began to tell them everything about the cultivation, the different realms and powers, as well as the Mystic Nether Art, the mental energy and how it is used.

And the more Yang Ze spoke, the more entranced the girls got.

In their short lives, this was the first time they had heard about something so extraordinary.

To think that such a world exists beyond this ruined area… their eyes gleamed with excitement and hope as they thought about it and imagined themselves to be out there in the open.

Once Yang Ze was finally done explaining to them everything about the internal energy cultivation and mental energy cultivation, he took a sharp breath, looked at the girls in front of him and asked with a gentle smile.

"So… what do you girls want to learn?"

His question was met with silence as every girl was lost in her own train of thought.

Yang Ze didn't disturb them. This was perhaps the most important decision of their lives, and he didn't want them to rush it. He wanted them to take their time, calculate all the risks and rewards before coming to a conclusion.

The girls, on the other hand, didn't discuss with each other as it was of no use. They needed to choose what was going to be best for them, not the other party.

It wasn't until almost an hour passed and the sun began to set that the girls finally made their decisions.

"I want to learn Thousand Years Art." Mei Ling was the first one to decide.

A-Zhu and Xiao Lian were the second ones to voice their opinions.

"I want to learn it as well." Both of them spoke simultaneously before looking at each other and breaking out in smiles.

Yan-er kept on looking at Yang Ze and the room beside her.

Even though she wanted to learn the Mystic Nether Art, after hearing Yang Ze's explanation about both internal energy and mental energy, she had a better understanding.

Once she learned how one's strength as well as lifespan would increase after the increase in realm, she was already tilting towards the Internal energy cultivation.

And when she heard just how much time it would take to visualise one object… she had lost all hope in the Mystic Nether Art.

She only hesitated for a brief amount of time before making her decision.

"Me too… I want to learn the Thousand Years Art."

"Mmmm…" Yang Ze wasn't surprised by their choices. He had a cheat, so his progress was incomparable to the others. He could understand why they would choose internal energy cultivation. Were it him without the cheat, he too would have gone with it.

"And what about you?" Even though Yang Ze could guess the answer, he still asked Qing Cao with a smile.

"I…" Qing Cao hesitated for a while as she looked at her four friends, then at the boy in front of her and finally at the room around her before gritting her teeth and speaking in a firm tone.

"I want to learn the Mystic Nether Art."

"HuH!?"

"HUUUUH!?"

"What the…"

Everyone present in the room, including Yang Ze, exclaimed in surprise as they looked at her in surprise. Especially Yang Ze, who believed that she was going to go with the internal energy cultivation.

"Are you sure about that?" He asked, just to make sure that she didn't make a hasty decision and give her the time to rethink it. But to his surprise, she simply nodded again without speaking a word.

"..."

"..."

"Then so be it." Since she had made her decision, there was nothing he could do. He would just teach her, and if she found it difficult in the future, she could simply try to focus on her internal energy. In Yang Ze's mind, it would be a miracle if she kept on practising the Mystic Nether Art for a year, much less visualise an item.

Once they all made their decision, Yang Ze simply began to teach them. He first imparted the Thousand Year Art to the four girls, and once he was done teaching them, he focused on Qing Cao, who was listening from the side, before jumping off his bed and signalling her to follow him.

Qing Cao cast one glance at her friends, who were now in deep meditation as she simply followed behind Yang Ze, unsure of what was going to happen next.

The two of them walked in silence for a while before coming to a complete stop. Looking at the village beneath them from the mountaintop, Yang Ze couldn't help but take in a deep breath and ask in a soft voice.

"Why do you want to learn this Mystic Nether Art?" He couldn't help but glance at the girl beside him. "Didn't I tell you it would take you years to visualise just one item?"

"I heard you." Qing Cao nodded in response. "But how long do you think it is going to take me to reach the realm of foundation forging, or let's say pulse opening?"

"I don't know. Perhaps years…" Yang Ze shrugged before speaking further. "But that is not what I am talking about. The time you will spend on the visulation one item would be enough for you to reach the Pules Opening realm. I mean, why waste your precious time on just one object when you could be doing much, much more?"

Yang Ze was still trying his best to make her change her mind. He knew better than anyone else just how hard the Mystic Nether Art was. It would be a miracle if she could visualise a single item even in twenty years' time.

"Hahahahaa." Listening to Yang Ze, Qing Cao couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Yang Ze couldn't understand why she would laugh at such a serious matter.

It wasn't until a few minutes passed that Qing Cao's laughter stopped as she raised her head to meet Yang Ze's gaze and asked in a soft voice.

"How long do you think I will be able to live?"

Her words instantly made Yang Ze speechless. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes in response as he looked at her. He wanted to say a few words, but before he could even open his mouth to speak, Qing Cao spoke again.

"I am not even sure if I can get out of this place alive." This time her voice didn't tremble or falter. "Do you think I should be worried about my cultivation realm?"

"I told you that I was going to get you out of this place, didn't I?" Yang Ze couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows as he heard her talking like this.

Just yesterday, this very same girl was full of hope and ambition. She was even counting on him to take her out of this place, and now… suddenly she was talking about how she had little time left. He couldn't help but wonder what happened for such drastic changes.

"That remains to be seen." Qing Cao merely muttered those words before sitting down on the ground with her eyes stuck towards the distant horizon.

Yang Ze checked her personal panel once again, just to make sure that it was the same girl he had been with, but there weren't any changes. Initially, he thought it was a different person, but after seeing her panel, it didn't seem to be the case.

"What happened to you?" Yang Ze asked her, but to his dismay, the only thing he got in response was silence.

"....."

"....."

"Fine, have it your way." He didn't know what happened to her, but this didn't stop him from imparting the Mystic Nether Technique to her.

After imparting to her the complete technique as well as his personal guidance, he simply brought her to the house and left her there before wandering around the village using his illusion to blend in. He wanted to see if there was something amiss and, at the same time, see the so-called temple for worship.

Unfortunately for him, no matter how much he explored, he couldn't find anything different or out of place.

As for the so-called temple, he couldn't find it anywhere.

"What a waste of time and effort." Unable to find anything, he simply headed back to the house and sat there in meditation, trying to improve his cultivation as much as possible.

And so, three more days passed like this,

Every day, Yang Ze would wake up from his meditation, teach the girls and solve their doubts, wander around the village and then sit in meditation once again.

And finally, it was the day of the village's priest's weekly inspection.

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