"What if I really do have strong talent and manage to learn it by luck?"
Faced with Ye Ling's confidence, Ai Yueli explained, "What I was about to teach you earlier was something you absolutely cannot learn at your current stage."
"Absolutely can't learn?"
"Seeing how smoothly your cultivation has been progressing, I felt a bit envious. I wanted to teach you something that, at your present stage, you simply couldn't learn, just to temper your edge."
"In that case, Fourth Master was actually doing it for my sake."
Before Ai Yueli could speak, Ye Ling smiled and cut in. "The path of cultivation can't be free of setbacks. It's better to run into them now than to face them later."
Such a sweet child… and I once even harbored killing intent toward him. That really was wrong of me.
Ye Ling's warm words comforted Ai Yueli deeply, while also multiplying the guilt in her heart.
[Ai Yueli feels guilt toward the host +777]
Huh? An unexpected bonus.
Ye Ling had only meant to soothe Ai Yueli and then steer the conversation back to cultivation. He hadn't expected this kind of pleasant surprise, and it immediately caught his attention.
"Fourth Master, you really don't need to blame yourself so much. People have emotions and desires. Even I sometimes have dark thoughts. The fact that you were willing to apologize to me already makes you one of the best teachers in the world in my eyes."
Kind words cost nothing, so Ye Ling promptly piled a big compliment onto Ai Yueli. And to be fair, even this so-called rebellious disciple hadn't gone to apologize to Bai Yiyi or Ai Yueli just because he'd once entertained thoughts of challenging his masters.
As far as he was concerned, even if Ai Yueli wasn't the very best teacher, she was certainly a good one. A teacher willing to apologize to their own student might lack some ability, but their attitude as a teacher was unquestionably upright.
"N-no… I… I'm not as good as you say."
A rare look of embarrassment appeared on Ai Yueli's face, her golden eyes unable to meet Ye Ling's clear gaze.
Perhaps because her emotions had already been thoroughly drained, Ye Ling didn't receive any new system notification.
Tsk. Emotion points really aren't that easy to come by.
Ye Ling sighed inwardly, but didn't dwell on it. He'd only been testing things out anyway, so missing out didn't really cost him anything.
If anything, being able to see Ai Yueli show embarrassment for once and gaining her goodwill was already a huge win. Compared to that, emotion points felt almost optional.
"Fourth Master, you're being too modest."
Pressing his advantage, Ye Ling shifted to a joking tone. "So what exactly was it? Fourth Master, could you satisfy my curiosity?"
Seeing that Ye Ling no longer insisted on trying it himself, Ai Yueli finally let out a breath of relief.
If it was just to satisfy his curiosity, she was willing to explain.
Although she hadn't intended to tell Ye Ling so early, since things had already reached this point, and with a sense of compensation in her heart, she could only speak up. "Originally, the content of the next stage wasn't something I should tell you so soon. But since I've already piqued your curiosity, I have to take responsibility."
…Why does that sound kind of strange?
Ye Ling felt that something was off, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He only felt like he'd somehow been taken advantage of.
"Fourth Master, please go ahead."
After a moment's thought, Ye Ling added, "There's a saying down the mountain. A true master always carries the heart of a student."
"I won't aim unrealistically high, but I'll always maintain a strong spirit of exploration."
The reason Ye Ling liked Ai Yueli's honesty was precisely because he himself couldn't do the same. In order to complete the tasks assigned by the system, he'd never stopped lying to Ai Yueli.
"A true master always carries the heart of a student? That really is a rather profound saying."
Ai Yueli had never heard it before, but it made her trust Ye Ling a little more.
Still, when the words reached her lips, she ultimately warned him, "Even if you truly want to try it, you must not do it in secret. If you force it, your soul could be damaged, and that would be very serious."
In truth, injury itself wasn't the biggest issue. With the Heavenly Gate Sect's methods, even if Ye Ling were reduced to a mere wisp of a remnant soul, there would still be a chance to save him.
But if Ye Ling's confidence were damaged, if he came to realize that he had limits and ultimately couldn't overcome this barrier, then he would truly be finished.
The body and even the soul could be repaired, but cracks in one's Dao Heart and temperament could only be mended by Ye Ling himself.
"Don't worry. I'm not that foolish."
Although Ai Yueli sounded a bit long-winded, Ye Ling actually found it very comforting.
Most people would have long since grown tired of being reminded and cautioned by others, but he had almost never received such concern.
Because of that, Ai Yueli's attitude made his heart feel warm.
If Ai Yueli had a system, she would probably be receiving countless messages right now filled with Ye Ling's affection.
"Then I'll say it."
Seeing that Ye Ling was ready, Ai Yueli stopped holding back and spoke plainly. "After you've comprehended the combinations of characters, the next step is practical application."
As she spoke, she raised a hand and lightly pointed at the characters floating in the air. One by one, the characters in the ancient text space moved in the direction of her finger.
In truth, a single thought would have been enough. But in order to demonstrate things clearly for Ye Ling, she used the most basic method.
"With your current mental force, you can barely move the characters. But in real combat, your enemy won't give you time to think through character combinations, nor will they wait for you to slowly move them around. So even if the talisman you assemble is extremely powerful, you'll be killed by the enemy before you can use it."
Ai Yueli pointed out Ye Ling's weakness with sharp precision.
At present, he could indeed move the characters, but the speed was painfully slow. Compared to using talismans in combat, he would honestly be better off throwing a few Mighty Strength Fists.
But—
"Fourth Master, when talisman practitioners fight, shouldn't they prepare a bunch of talismans in advance?"
Even without the system's knowledge infusion, Ye Ling naturally understood this kind of basic common sense.
Not to mention, all those books he had read in the study weren't for nothing. He knew very well that talisman practitioners had their own way of fighting.
That was to throw talismans.
Throw them at the enemy until they dropped.
Generally speaking, no one in the cultivation world was willing to provoke a talisman practitioner. It wasn't just because a skilled talismanist was highly sought after, but more importantly, you never knew how many talismans they had on hand.
As long as their True Qi was sufficient, a wealthy talisman practitioner didn't fear any number of cultivators of the same realm, as long as they didn't attack all at once.
So in Ye Ling's view, preparing talismans ahead of time was enough. This didn't seem like a problem at all.
But—
"Disciple, how many materials do you think can withstand characters linked to the Dao?"