Ye Ling's mental fortitude was exceptional. He maintained a completely calm expression, turning his gaze back to Ai Yueli and waiting for her next response.
[Ai Yueli's shock toward the host +7]
What he hadn't expected was that although Ai Yueli was indeed shocked, she wasn't that shocked.
That, too, was easy to explain. In Ai Yueli's mind, Ye Ling had already been categorized as someone whose luck was absurdly overpowered. In that case, no matter how strange or miraculous something appeared on him, it wasn't really worth making a fuss over.
Perhaps this ancient text truly did hide some deeper mystery, but she and the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden simply weren't fated to trigger it. Situations like that weren't unheard of in the cultivation world.
Yesterday, it was still just an ordinary, tattered old book. Then it got picked up by some poor scholar, and the very next day, hidden mysteries surfaced, propelling that scholar to become a world-shaking great literatus in one fell swoop.
It sounded completely ridiculous, like something made up in a cheap novel at the foot of the mountain. Yet Ai Yueli actually knew that very scholar. The fool had once tried to pursue the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden and ended up being slapped straight into a mountain, nearly suffocating to death.
Reality was always stranger than fiction. So the "miracle" happening to Ye Ling only managed to surprise Ai Yueli a little. It didn't really stir up much emotion.
Seeing that Ye Ling didn't take the bait, Ai Yueli could only speak up helplessly. "There's no problem. This really is the simplest and most effortless method. You did very well."
There was an inexplicable hint of sourness in her tone.
If this book had been any good back then, would I really have failed to understand it?
Recalling the look of disdain on the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden's face back then, a wave of bitterness rose in Ai Yueli's heart.
Within the space of this ancient text, cultivators could easily use Mental Force to perceive its contents directly. There was no need to cautiously enter page by page.
Moreover, a complete ancient text naturally had the function of assisting others in learning. It was only after countless years of contention and damage that it had gradually become unrecognizable.
Worth mentioning was that it wasn't that the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden had been unable to repair it back then. She had simply been too lazy to do so. The effort required to fix this ancient text would have been enough for her to personally write an entirely new one for Ai Yueli.
So she had directly mocked her instead. "As my disciple, you wouldn't tell me you can't even understand this book, right?"
Though it was a painfully clichéd provocation, it successfully ignited Ai Yueli's competitive streak. From that point on, she never begged the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden to repair the ancient text again. Instead, she stubbornly forced herself to chew through it in its broken state.
In a way, Ai Yueli's unwillingness to admit defeat had been cultivated by the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden entirely by accident.
Of course, by the time it got to Ai Yueli, it wasn't that she couldn't repair the ancient text. It was just that she wasn't an all-rounder like the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden and would have needed help from her third senior sister, who specialized in artifact refinement.
That process was both troublesome and unnecessary. She hadn't taken in any disciples, and she herself had no real need for the ancient text, so the matter was left unresolved.
Yet now, in Ye Ling's hands, the ancient text had inexplicably recovered. That really did make her feel a little sour.
Just a little.
"That's good. I was worried my learning method might be too inefficient."
A gentle smile hung on Ye Ling's handsome face. After nodding to Ai Yueli, he extended his Mental Force once more, wrapping it around the floating character combinations.
No.
This was way too much.
Watching Ye Ling so casually comprehend the secrets of the character combinations, Ai Yueli felt so sour she nearly bit down on the handkerchief she was clutching.
"Ahem… Disciple, while your method is efficient, it does lack a bit of spiritual subtlety."
Ai Yueli couldn't help herself and decided to raise the difficulty a little.
After all, you're a genius. Adding a bit of challenge shouldn't stump you, right?
After justifying herself internally, the darker side of her thoughts quietly gained the upper hand.
"Oh?"
Ye Ling's deep eyes lit up.
Now this was something he wasn't sleepy about at all.
He wasn't afraid of Ai Yueli talking about cultivation. In fact, this was exactly what he had been waiting for.
He immediately put on an eager, studious expression and said, "Please enlighten me, Fourth Master."
"…"
Seeing Ye Ling look so "innocent and earnest," Ai Yueli felt a moment of hesitation. The brighter side of her conscience began to push back.
But looking at Ye Ling's excited expression, she found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
She was the one who had brought it up. If she backed out now and said "forget it," it would definitely dampen Ye Ling's enthusiasm for learning.
And to be honest, Ye Ling's current learning method really was the optimal solution. Even she couldn't come up with anything better.
Fine then. It wouldn't hurt to blunt his edge just a little. Having everything go too smoothly wasn't necessarily a good thing.
After thinking it over, Ai Yueli spoke with a hint of hesitation. "The method I'm about to suggest is indeed better, but the difficulty will increase accordingly. If you can't manage it, there's no need to feel too discouraged. That would be perfectly normal."
Before going any further, she decided to give Ye Ling a bit of a warning, just in case she really did end up dealing him too heavy a blow.
"Fourth Master."
Ye Ling wasn't nervous in the slightest. He patted his chest and said frankly, "If I can't learn it, then it just means my talent is limited. Don't worry, I won't let that get me down."
Ye Ling understood this very clearly. If not for his System, with its ability to reverse causality and twist reality itself, he would be nothing right now. So even if he felt a bit unwilling, it wouldn't really hurt him.
If he learned it, that was a gain. If he didn't, that was perfectly normal.
Because of that, Ye Ling's mindset at the moment was exceptionally steady.
But seeing Ye Ling so full of confidence only made Ai Yueli panic.
She had seen countless geniuses say things like "it's fine if I can't learn it" in front of her. But for geniuses, the most frightening thing was running into their own limits.
Before they touched that limit, many geniuses believed they could overcome any setback.
Yet the moment they truly hit their ceiling and realized they were just ordinary people after all, they would truly become ordinary.
A genius who lost their confidence had already lost any chance of a future.
So the more Ye Ling insisted it didn't matter, the more worried and guilty Ai Yueli felt.
She had only wanted Ye Ling to experience a setback, not to lose his confidence.
No, such an outstanding seed must never lose his self-belief!
Pressing her lips together, Ai Yueli decided to slap herself metaphorically. She couldn't let Ye Ling lose confidence because of her own mistake and pride.
Compared to enthusiasm for learning, a genius's confidence was far more important.
The Dao of talismans was a path that had to be taken step by step. There was no such thing as learning to run before learning to walk. Before Ye Ling truly comprehended this ancient text, there was no way he could advance further.
Because of that, Ai Yueli decided to admit her mistake. She opened her mouth with a slightly apologetic tone. "Actually—"
"Fourth Master, are you really that worried I won't be able to learn it?"
Before Ai Yueli could finish her apology, Ye Ling interrupted her.