Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Qing Ming City.

 In the shop.

 Lu Ming laid on the rocking chair, lazily basking in the sun.

 His body would always be fatigued after rigorous combat. After such battles, he had to rest well and recover from the overexertion. He would then emerge stronger.

 The exchange match had ended!

 Lu Ming was very satisfied with the outcome of this exchange match.

 First of all.

 He had finally become a powerful backer in the eyes of his disciples!

 He was formidable support for them!

 Henceforth, Sword Card Masters' words would carry more weight!

 Not bad!

 Secondly.

 This was the first time that he successfully completed seven sealings in a fight, and counter-attacked on the spot! It was of great significance to him!

 This was the legendary Murong skill in Demi-G.o.ds and Semi-Devils [1.Demi-G.o.ds and Semi-Devils is a famous wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha)!]

 Giving someone a dose of his own medicine!

 It was super das.h.i.+ng!

 Cough.

 Although he remembered this only after watching Xiaobai's move, this point was enough to prove that he was a quick-witted and smart person…

 Finally…

 Xiaobai.

 Lu Ming allowed her to partic.i.p.ate in the fight as he was worried that she was idling too much.

 In the end…

 She thoroughly defeated another college.

 Well…

 Very well.

 From sealing the ability to counter-attacking via materialization, she was super amazing! She was indeed his disciple!

 Eh…

 Wait a minute.

 Lu Ming suddenly thought of something.

 “Xiaobai,” Lu Ming turned around and called.

 “Yes,” Xiaobai replied in the shop.

 “When did you learn materialization?”

 Lu Ming found it odd.

 Xiaobai had just reached three-star!

 A few days before she went to Zi Yang Combat College, she had just attained the three-star level. How could she possibly materialize?! Was this not the basic requirement of a breakthrough to four-star?

 Besides…

 He had not taught her this before.

 “It's in the school textbooks.

 “I have a lot of teaching materials here,” Xiaobai said,

 She pointed to a corner of the room.

 Oh.

 Over there…

 They were the teaching materials that Lu Ming bought beforehand because he wanted reimburs.e.m.e.nts from Old Jiang… Ah spat! It was for the sake of better educating Xiaobai…

 He bought a pile of teaching materials and asked Xiaobai to read them.

 Afterward…

 Xiaobai understood them.

 Lu Ming was silent for a long time.

 This numbskull.

 Materialization could just be picked up through reading?!

 Although Sword Card Master cards were extremely st.u.r.dy and easy to materialize, this relied on the fact that the person was a three-star! Xiaobai had just attained three-star, right?!

 Her energy quality was only at the beginner three-star level!

 Such materialization…

 “How many times did you try it?” Lu Ming asked in a low voice.

 He suddenly felt that this was very important.

 If…

 If the Sword Card Master could really materialize earlier than others because of card solidification, that would imply that the Sword Card Master would be unequaled amongst their cohort once they were a beginner three-star!

 This was truly amazing!

 “I didn't.”

 Xiaobai said embarra.s.singly, “I used it for the first time during the fight…”

 Lu Ming was speechless.

 Oh.

 It turns out that she had not tried it before?

 Hahahaha…

 d.a.m.n, this innate talent!

 Forget it.

 He would let Li Haoran settle this.

 Currently, the rest of the Sword Card Masters were at least peak three-stars. They didn't even have the materials for experimenting with… Therefore, he did not bother about it anymore after sending a message to Li Haoran.

 Afterward…

 “What about the sealing during the combat?” Lu Ming asked.

 He also did not teach Xiaobai this.

 “It was also the first time.”

 Xiaobai's face was blus.h.i.+ng.

 After all…

 She picked this up when she secretly watched her master practice. Normally this could not be considered learning without permission. Nevertheless, her master would probably not blame her for doing so.

 Lu Ming was expressionless.

 First time…

 d.a.m.n!

 He had tried it umpteen times but did not succeed!

 Even if he were to do the sealing now, he might not succeed too!

 The success of the seven sealings in his earlier combat was because of Cloud Slas.h.!.+ He could succeed only because it was Cloud Slash. Aside from that, for other abilities…

 It was impossible!

 But Xiaobai?

 She could seal a fiery dragon the first time she faced it in combat!

 How could that be possible?!

 “Come. Xiaobai.

 “Tell Master. How did you manage to deduce the speed, angles, and calculations?”

 Lu Ming suddenly called Xiaobai over.

 “I don't know.”

 Xiaobai was somewhat embarra.s.sed. “I tried to calculate them. Although I can calculate things correctly, during the combat, there was too little reaction time after my opponent attacked!

 “I couldn't catch up!

 “So… I didn't bother to do so anymore.” Xiaobai's voice was getting softer and softer.

 Obviously, she was feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed…

 “Didn't bother anymore?”

 Lu Ming was stunned.

 Could it work if she did not bother about it?

 “Yes.”

 Xiaobai was blus.h.i.+ng. “Xiao-Xiaobai was the one who managed to do it.”

 “d.a.m.n!”

 Lu Ming was shocked. “Xiao-Xiaobai?!”

 “How annoying!”

 Xiaobai glared at Lu Ming. “Master, don't be mean!”

 “Okay, okay, okay.”

 Lu Ming did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Tell me, how did Xiao-Xiaobai handle it?”

 Xiaobai looked embarra.s.sed.

 She knew that this was a form of laziness and cheating!

 After all…

 Master was super amazing. He performed a total of seven sealings, which was tantamount to seven deductions!

 As for her?

 She could only seal once and needed one deduction. And she had to rely on Xiao-Xiaobai to complete it. Therefore, she felt very ashamed to say this…

 Aye, it was too embarra.s.sing.

 It would be great if she was as formidable as her master.

 “Well…”

 Embarra.s.sed, Xiaobai lowered her head and clutched the corner of her clothes. “Doesn't Xiao-Xiaobai cultivate everyday? I saw that it felt bored cultivating sometimes, so I told it to read some books…”

 “Huh?”

 Lu Ming was dumbstruck.

 The Original Card…

 Read?

 Shus.h.!.+

 He suddenly turned his gaze to the corner.

 Xiao-Xiaobai was carrying a row of custom-made bricks and exercising, moving up and down. Before it was a book that was also moving up and down and exercising in tandem with it.

 The name of the book…

 Well…

 “Introduction to Algebraic Topology!”

 Lu Ming was taken aback.

 d.a.m.n. T-this works as well?

 Puff!

 Puff!

 Xiao-Xiaobai was diligently cultivating.

 Every time it moved up and down once, the book would also flip by one page. The Original Card could read the book through its sense of perception. Its thinking ability was different from that of humans. It seemed to be faster and stronger.

 By its side were two buckets of books…

 Lu Ming took a glance.

 Well…

 “Complex Variables”, “Modern Geometric Methods and Applications”, “Weakly Differentiable Functions “…

 Lu Ming was silent.

 “S-orry.”

 Xiaobai was feeling ashamed.

 It seemed that she had angered her master by cheating today.

 “It's okay.”

 Lu Ming touched her little head.

 Hum!

 Xiaobai nudged in Lu Ming's arms.

 “Xiaobai,”

 “Yes.”

 “Why did you let Xiao-Xiaobai read suddenly?”

 Lu Ming was curious.

 “It was very bored cultivating all the time.”

 Xiaobai pondered for a moment. “I just wanted to find something for it to do. I happened to be reading at that moment. Therefore, I threw a book to it in pa.s.sing.. I didn't expect it to learn faster than me…”

 “Oh.”

 Lu Ming understood now.

 Hahaha.

 As everyone knows, one's reading efficiency increases when bored… 

As if! d.a.m.n! Who wants to hold a book and read it when they feel bored?!

 I felt very bored when attending my cla.s.ses!

 However, everyone would rather count the number of strands of hair on the teacher's head than to read books…

 “It loves to read very much,” Xiaobai answered.

 Whoos.h.!.+

 Whoos.h.!.+

 Xiao-Xiaobai was glowing fervently.

 It really loved these books.

 It felt that…

 They were very interesting.

 Lu Ming was expressionless.

 This was Xiaobai's Original Card, indeed!

 Suddenly…

 His eyes narrowed and he glanced at Xiao-Xiaojian, which was glowing in the other corner of the room.

 Xiao-Xiaojian, who was cultivating, could acutely sense a gaze full of murderous intent sweeping across it. Instinctively, it saw the scorching look in Lu Ming's eyes.

 Oh no!

 He instantly wanted to return to the Sea of Consciousness to hide…

 “Come over here!”

 Lu Ming grabbed it and gave it a round of bas.h.i.+ngs.

 “Good-for-nothing!

 “What is the use of having you!

 “Look at other people's Original Card!

 “Look at Xiao-Xiaobai!

 “You're a dignified ancient sword spirit…

 “Sword spirit, what c.r.a.p!

 “You don't even know complex variables, how are you qualified to call yourself an ancient sword spirit?!”

 Cras.h.!.+

 Cras.h.!.+

 Xiao-Xiaojian was dazed from the beating.

 What's happening?

 d.a.m.n!

 Who did I provoke?!

 And…

 d.a.m.n, what are complex variables?

 It seemed to have seen them before?

 Oh.

 It suddenly remembered…

 It looked at the collection of books at the corner beside Xiao-Xiaobai and instantly felt wronged.

When yours truly dominated the world, there was no algebra or physics yet! 

d.a.m.n! Go and find a sword spirit who knows complex variables?!

 d.a.m.n!

 “Come on!”

 Lu Ming threw a pile of books at it. “From today onwards, you will learn them too.”

 Xiao-Xiaojian looked aggrieved.

 It was a dignified ancient sword spirit!

 Who actually had to begin to learn mathematics?!

 Why was he such a bully?

 Yours truly would rather kill in combat and fight with people than to hold a book like Xiao-Xiaobai and read it while exercising…

 This is too stupid!

 Cut the c.r.a.p!

 “Read!”

 Lu Ming forced it to learn.

 However…

 The disappointing thing was, it could not remember the information at all…

 He attempted a test. For the same test, Xiao-Xiaobai scored one hundred but Xiao-Xiaojian merely scored twenty…

 Furthermore, this was a multiple choice test!

 “What's the use of having you?!”

 Lu Ming sighed deeply.

 However…

 He did not know that Xiao-Xiaojian felt even worse!

 What kind of rogue master was he?!

It was true.

 Since the ancient times, he had never heard that sword spirits had to do tests…

 He was too much of a bully!

 “Xiao-Xiaojian is so stupid.”

 Xiaobai also furrowed her little brows.

 Snort!

 This sword spirit was too dumb and a burden to master!

 Xiao-Xiaojian was speechless.

 It was so furious!

 Even the adorable Xiaobai did not put in any good words for it anymore!

 What could it do?

 It had experienced many millennia and its memory was filled with too many things. When learning, it would recall many things and could not calm down and concentrate on studying.

 It was true.

 Find a five or six-year-old and get them to learn calculus from scratch. Check out if they or a high school student pick up the knowledge faster?

 Could they be compared in this way?!

 Although Xiao-Xiaobai was childish, it was like a sheet of blank paper!

 “Oh…”

 Lu Ming pondered deeply for a moment.

 Well…

 So, it only worked for a spirit body born naturally like Xiao-Xiaobai?!

 “Wait a minute.”

 Lu Ming pondered for a moment and sent the test that he created to his two disciples, Li Haoran and Xiaoyan. “Get your sword spirit to do this test and collect the scores.”

 He provided two sets of materials.

 One of them was the reference materials they had to read through before attempting the test questions. The other set was the test.

 “Okay.”

 Although Li Haoran and Xiaoyan did not know what was happening, they executed the instructions seriously.

 Xiao-Xiaoshé was speechless.

 Xiao-Xiaolei was at a loss for words.

 They had never heard that spirit bodies had to do tests!

 However…

 This was their masters' orders and they could only execute them accordingly.

 Afterward…

 Xiao-Xiaolei, ninety-eight marks.

 It was only slightly inferior to Xiao-Xiaobai. Only one-fill-in-the-blank question was not correct. Outstanding!

 Xiao-Xiaoshé, ninety marks.

 Although it did not answer that well, it got ninety marks in one glance. That was already very outstanding. At the very least, it was much stronger than humans!

 Furthermore…

 They were both spirit bodies born in the wilderness!

 Shus.h.!.+

 Lu Ming's gaze turned to Xiao-Xiaojian again.

 d.a.m.n it.

 Why is it that others could attain a hundred marks, ninety-eight marks, and ninety marks but you only scored twenty marks! Was this the legendary card spirit from another family?

 Cras.h.!.+

 Cras.h.!.+

 Cras.h.!.+

 He held onto Xiao-Xiaojian and gave it a round of beatings.

 What else could Xiao-Xiaojian say?

 It was super ashamed, okay!

 “Why did he have to do the test?”

 It did not understand.

 “Good mastery of mathematics, physics, and chemistry is the key to success. Have you heard of this before?”

 Lu Ming expected something better. “A qualified card spirit has to be well-educated and knowledgeable. This is the only way that it can unleash its combat power to the maximum…”

 It was true.

 He really envied Xiaobai's Original Card!

 Look, forget that the card spirit was born from the Original Card, it was so keen to learn…

 It knew everything!

 It was a different species from this salted fish of his who could only score twenty marks in mathematics!

 “Just this?”

 Xiao-Xiaojian had a ‘What the c.r.a.p' expression.

“I can also do that while I'm combating!”

“Can you?”

 Lu Ming had a dazed expression immediately.

 “Yes.”

 Xiao-Xiaojian also wore a dumbstruck expression. “Although I can't figure out weakly differentiable functions, complex variables, topology and so on, I have a wealth of combat experience…”

 Lu Ming was shocked. “Then sealing during a combat…”

 “What Xiao-Xiaobai did?”

 Xiao-Xiaojian remembered that. “I can do that! Isn't it just sealing a dragon? I can do that easily. Why do we need mathematics? I can do it based on my instincts!

 “I'm a peerless sword spirit!

 “My five senses and sixth sense are top-notch!

 “I'll just seal it directly!

 “Why is there a need to calculate?!”

 Lu Ming was silent.

 Oh.

 It turned out that his card spirit could also do that?!

 “I thought that it was something else!”

 Xiao-Xiaojian was instantly in high spirits. It said domineeringly, “If it's a small matter such as sealing during combat, just leave it to me. I'll do it for you in minutes!”

 With that…

 It puffed its chest proudly.

 Praise me!

 Quick!

 Praise me!

 You didn't know that I could be that amazing, right? Hahahaha!

 Lu Ming looked around.

 Suddenly…

 He held onto Xiao-Xiaojian and gave it a round of bas.h.i.+ngs.

 “Why didn't you say so earlier?!

 “What were you doing when I was fighting for my life?!

 “I almost failed yesterday. Don't you know that?”

 Cras.h.!.+

 Cras.h.!.+

 Cras.h.!.+

 Xiao-Xiaojian was speechless.

 H-how did I know that you wanted to seal?!

 You didn't mention anything!

 Furthermore, I was a sword spirit not a card spirit in the past!

 Hence…

 It could only glow at Xiaobai to seek help.

 Whoos.h.!.+

 Whoos.h.!.+

 “Master, master… What are we going to eat for lunch?”

 Xiaobai asked.

 Humph!

 Lu Ming then stopped bas.h.i.+ng the Original Card. It glared at it harshly. He would deal with this chap later. He knew that this Original Card had hidden many good things!

 He was once a sword spirit…

 Hahahaha.

 How can these be the only things that it knows!

 It seems that giving it more bas.h.i.+ngs will benefit him!

 Well…

 As for what to eat…

 Lu Ming glanced at Xiaobai. He asked after pondering for a moment, “Cough, do you still remember how to cook the stewed vegetables with papaya that we ate the last time?”

 “Okay.”

 “Let's eat that again.”

 “Okay.”

 “At the same time… Let's go and buy some papaya juice, papaya fried vegetables and papaya milk…”