Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Elder Shi Ding was somewhat irritable.

Because his daughter, Shi Liuli, had at some point taken a seat at the back of the classroom and was currently having a pleasant conversation with a male disciple.

She was completely oblivious to the fact that her elder father was above giving a lecture, which made him feel an indignation of being neglected.

Of course, at the moment, he was being “ardently gazed upon” by a bunch of disciples who wanted to become his apprentices, so he couldn’t show any abnormality. Otherwise, these disciples would swarm around him like flies… or even worse, if they noticed something was off, they would swarm around Liuli, which would be even more troublesome.

So, he simply leisurely finished the lesson content and then precisely on the mark announced the end of the class in a loud voice.

Upon hearing her father announce the end of the class, Shi Liuli smiled, bid farewell to Luo Yan, and then dashed out of the classroom to catch up with her father’s hurried footsteps.

“Father!” Back at the cave dwelling, she grabbed Elder Shi Ding’s arm and sweetly called out, “Father has worked hard giving the lecture, let your daughter make you some tea.”

“Very good, very good.” Elder Shi Ding laughed heartily, and just as Shi Liuli went into the inner room to get the tea leaves, he suddenly came to his senses.

Hmm? Wait a second, I have to ask her about that young male disciple. I mustn’t forget.

Seeing Shi Liuli carry a cup of tea out from inside, Elder Shi Ding coughed and said:

“Liuli…”

“Father, please enjoy the tea.” Shi Liuli dutifully offered the tea cup.

“Oh, yes, of course.” Elder Shi Ding took a sip contentedly, “Hmm, not bad, your tea-making skills have improved.”

“That’s good to hear.” Shi Liuli turned and said, “I still have homework to do today, so I’ll be going.”

“Yes, yes… Ah, wait, wait a moment,” Elder Shi Ding thought, almost forgetting the main issue, “Liuli, when your father was teaching today, it seemed like you made a new friend?”

With a clear mind, Shi Liuli immediately understood what her father was worried about and let out a cold laugh:

“Father.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I think he’s not right, he could be a spy from outside.”

“Not right?” Elder Shi Ding set down his tea cup, surprised, “What exactly do you mean?”

“He’s playing dumb,” Shi Liuli stated confidently, “On the surface, he seems honest and harmless, but his real character is not like that at all.”

Elder Shi Ding was silent for a moment, swallowing the words about to slip out, “Is that so,” and gently explained to his daughter:

“Liuli, it’s quite normal for a person to disguise themselves. After all, the inside of our Yuqing View sect isn’t as safe as it appears to you usually. When I first joined the sect back in the day…”

“Stop!” As her father started to go on about “back in my day,” Shi Liuli quickly called for a halt, “Stop, stop, stop! I get it. So what Father means to say is that he is doing this just to protect himself, right?”

“That’s right,” Elder Shi Ding said with a smile, “The Cultivation Realm is truly survival of the fittest, and sects only use rules to constrain competition, covering it up under an apparently just order. Disguising oneself and being wary of others are very normal behaviors.”

“Besides, if he really were a spy from another sect, he wouldn’t have been so easily detected by you as being off.”

“Hmph.” Shi Liuli was still somewhat skeptical and argued, “But he indeed didn’t show any flaws, it’s just my intuition telling me that he’s disguising himself.”

“Is that so.” Elder Shi Ding didn’t continue to argue with his daughter, instead asking, “Then, how is his knowledge and talent? I mean, if you set aside your subjective impression of him and objectively evaluate his abilities and aptitude?”

“I specifically tested him,” Shi Liuli said as she wrinkled her nose, “His theoretical foundation is very solid; he must have read through the ‘Daoist Scriptures’ thoroughly, as the content of Father’s lecture posed no difficulty for him…”

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and exclaimed:

“Right, the day I took him to attend the entry-level examination, he clearly said he hadn’t read through the ‘Daoist Scriptures’ at all!”

“There’s definitely a problem here! I need to investigate his exam papers and scores!”

No sooner had she finished speaking than Shi Liuli turned and ran off like a shooting star.

Watching his daughter rush off in haste, Elder Shi Ding was somewhat helpless.

Although he didn’t really believe that this Luo Yan was a spy, since his daughter rarely took the initiative to do something seriously, he thought it best to let her play along.

Hmm, just to be on the safe side, it would be better to eliminate potential problems in advance.

“Nian Nu?” Elder Shi Ding called out.

The White Jade Puppet standing in the corner of the room suddenly opened its eyes.

“Elder Shi Ding.”

“Go check out the test records of the new entry-level disciple, Luo Yan… Hmm, from observing the Dao repository to the entry test, transmit his entire test footage to me.”

————————

Having finished his class, Luo Yan returned to his residence within Yuqing View.

Yuqing View internally provided residences for disciples, but the outrageous part was that rent had to be paid, and the price was steep.

Fortunately, with Qiu Changtian’s support, Luo Yan wasn’t in a situation where he couldn’t afford to live—he directly paid the fees for one year and rented a small single room.

Once back in his cave dwelling, Luo Yan called to the Kunlun Mirror in his mind and said,

“Take me to Shushan.”

The Kunlun Mirror mechanically recited:

[Time until world destruction countdown: one thousand years.]

[Please hurry in searching for the Heaven-Mending Stone.]

“Stop!” Luo Yan said helplessly, “Can’t we skip those two lines of script? I’ve memorized them so well that they’re coming out backwards every time.”

“Then recite them backwards for me to hear?” the Kunlun Mirror retorted.

Luo Yan: ……

He recited the two sentences word by word in reverse order, then sneered:

“Silly mirror, silly mirror, have you forgotten that my current talent is ‘A Whiff and Enlightenment’? With my extraordinary intelligence now, let alone reciting lines backwards, mental arithmetic for advanced math would be a piece of cake.”

“What is advanced math… Never mind.” The Kunlun Mirror honestly recited:

[Location Two: Shushan Shangqing Faction, Qingluo Peak.]

[Identity: Ling Yunpo.]

[Overlaying with the Mirror Flower Water Moon Template, engaging in time-space travel.]

Back at Shushan’s Qingluo Peak, Sword Immortal Ling Yunpo opened his eyes and saw a package on the table.

Inside were the spirit stones that Qiu Changtian had earned from completing tasks.

He picked up the package and went out to find Senior Sister An, planning to give her a surprise.

However, after searching through various chambers, he couldn’t find any trace of An Zhisu.

Then, Ling Yunpo suddenly remembered that before his last save point, Senior Sister had mentioned taking some items to sell in the sect’s market to exchange for spirit stones.

Sigh, the problem with frequent save-scumming is this: jumping from Shushan to Kunlun to do a bunch of things, then hopping to Penglai and doing another bunch, and finally hopping back to Shushan, Ling Yunpo had nearly forgotten most of what was happening on his side.

He returned to his chamber and threw the package back on the table.

His gaze suddenly fell on the black Flying Sword hanging on the wall.

This sword was the one that had responded to his call and flew out from the Sword Pool after he resonated with it.

The refinement process went very smoothly, and when practicing swordsmanship with Senior Sister An, the Flying Sword was responsive and obedient, like an extension of his arm.

But since there was no master to help identify it, he still knew nothing about this Flying Sword.

Ling Yunpo stretched out his hand and the Flying Sword immediately flew to him, landing in his palm.

“Ah Jing, what do you think this sword’s name should be?” Ling Yunpo flicked the sword’s blade, producing a crisp and discernible sound, and he sighed inwardly.

“Senior Sister said it closely resembles the Green Duckweed Sword recorded in ancient books, but that Green Duckweed Sword was destroyed in the war of the Chan and Jie factions. So could this be a reforged Green Duckweed Sword?”

Before the Kunlun Mirror could respond, another unfamiliar, soft and enchanting female voice sounded in his mind:

“If that’s what you want to think, it can be~ From now on, you can call me Qing Ping.”