Zhu Ziyang had been incredibly busy these past few days.
During the day, he had to shuttle between the Outer Courtyard and the Inner Courtyard; attending classes in the Outer Courtyard when he had them, and going to Sea God Island to study Reign Over The World with Mu En when he didn't. In the evenings, he also needed to learn Light Magic and Undead Magic under Electrolux's tutelage.
Although it was Light Magic and Undead Magic, Electrolux no longer remembered much Light Magic. According to him, all the Light Magic he remembered were forbidden-level spells, far beyond Zhu Ziyang's current strength to learn and cultivate. Moreover, Electrolux preferred that he focus his energy on Undead Magic.
The Undead Magic Electrolux mastered belonged to the Death and Summoning types, encompassing the application and cultivation of the Power of Death, the study of summoning contracts, and the summoning of undead creatures.
What Zhu Ziyang first learned was the cultivation and application of the Power of Death.
Thanks to the power of his own Spirit, Zhu Ziyang could easily mobilize the Power of Death within him. However, whenever he mobilized the Power of Death, his Light Attribute would lie dormant; the two were like the sun and moon, rarely seen together. Because of this, Zhu Ziyang rarely used his first Spirit Ability. This state would need to continue for some time until Zhu Ziyang learned to merge the two.
"...The so-called Death is the deprivation and erosion of life force. The application of the Power of Death is the processing of this deprived and eroded life force..."
"...The most basic application method is to convert life force into pure heaven and earth elemental energy, then absorb it, thereby enhancing one's cultivation..."
"...The advantages of this method are obvious, and so are the disadvantages. When life force is converted into heaven and earth elemental energy, it causes severe waste; eighty percent of the elemental energy dissipates into the world, and only twenty percent can be applied to oneself. This is an unavoidable trade-off..."
"...However, the existence of spirit rings has given me an idea: one could first fill external life force into the spirit ring, complete the conversion from life force to heaven and earth elemental energy within the spirit ring, and even go a step further, directly converting it into spirit power, and then absorbing and refining it... I just don't know what the conversion rate would be, it should be higher than twenty percent... But this is clearly a redundant approach; converting life force into spirit ring years is the optimal choice."
"...A further application method is to directly refine life force through the Power of Death... Life force is the most difficult special power to refine, but once it can be refined, the benefits gained are unimaginable..."
"...The strengthening of the physique by life force is just the most basic benefit; the greater benefit is the elevation of life level, directly manifested as lifespan..."
That night, in Zhu Ziyang's dorm room.
Before Zhu Ziyang lay a pot of blooming flowers. He opened his right hand and placed it on a petal, then a faint grey circulated from his palm. An astonishing scene occurred: the vibrant flower rapidly withered and faded, its verdant leaves quickly turned yellow and fell off, and finally, the entire flower stem dried up, shriveled, and eventually rotted into mud! In just the blink of an eye, a delicate flower was gone, as if its life force had been sucked dry in an instant!
Indeed, this was the result of its life force being completely drained!
Zhu Ziyang's face showed joy; he knew he had succeeded.
"Very good, as expected of the genius this old man has taken a liking to!" Electrolux's voice came from his mind, his voice also filled with excitement. "With this, you have initially mastered the basic application of the Power of Death. Next, begin to try converting life force into heaven and earth elemental energy, or spirit ring years!"
"I understand, Teacher!" Zhu Ziyang replied with a joyful expression.
The young man immersed himself in selfless cultivation.
—
Sea God Island.
Zhu Ziyang, having finished his cultivation, was about to cross the lake back to the Outer Courtyard when he saw a Blue-haired girl figure on Sea God Lake running somewhat frantically towards the island. With each step she took, a thin layer of ice formed on the lake water beneath her feet. Behind the Blue-haired girl figure was a red figure with a pair of fiery red wings, engulfed in flames, relentlessly chasing the Blue-haired girl figure.
The two figures, one in front and one behind, appeared in Zhu Ziyang's line of sight. Zhu Ziyang was startled, then immediately recognized one of the figures.
Ma Xiaotao!
This was the first time Zhu Ziyang had seen Ma Xiaotao since the exchange meeting; it had been about three or four months. Although Zhu Ziyang had spent more time on Sea God Island in the past month, he hadn't met any other Inner Courtyard Disciples besides Zhang Lexuan. Seeing Ma Xiaotao now, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised, as he had a very deep impression of this fiery senior sister.
However, her current state seemed a bit off. Although at a considerable distance, Zhu Ziyang keenly noticed that Ma Xiaotao's aura was very unstable, her beautiful face had an unhealthy flush, and her consciousness didn't seem very clear. Her body instinctively chased the Blue-haired girl in front of her.
Only then did Zhu Ziyang notice that the Blue-haired girl being chased by Ma Xiaotao was also a Shrek Inner Courtyard Disciple. Although she wore a red school uniform, her blue long hair was very striking, and her face was beautiful, a stunning beauty no less than Ma Xiaotao. However, at this moment, this beauty was quite disheveled; her clothes were tattered, revealing her fair skin, and even her hair was messy, looking very much like a princess in distress.
However, Zhu Ziyang noticed the spirit rings floating behind the Blue-haired girl: two yellow and two purple. This Blue-haired girl, who looked about the same age as Ma Xiaotao, was actually a Spirit Ancestor. This truly showed she was a Shrek Inner Courtyard Disciple.
As they drew closer, Zhu Ziyang heard the voices of the two girls.
"...Ma Xiaotao, you crazy woman, stop chasing me..."
"...So hot! Give me, give me water..."
The Blue-haired girl was about to explode with anger at these words. Yet, she dared not look back and could only continue to rush forward, hoping that the students on the island would notice the anomaly here.
She noticed Zhu Ziyang by the lake and her eyes lit up at first, but then her expression suddenly changed, and she cursed inwardly, 'Why is an Outer Courtyard Disciple here on the island? And a first-year kid? Isn't this just causing trouble?'
"Run quickly, go back to the island and find someone, tell them Ma Xiaotao is out of control again!" The Blue-haired girl couldn't care less about anything else at this point and shouted at Zhu Ziyang. Her voice, which should have been crisp, was already hoarse.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ziyang, although unclear about the full story, could roughly guess a thing or two. It was likely that Ma Xiaotao's Spirit had a flaw, which led to the so-called 'loss of control.' Faced with such a situation, he found it difficult to interfere and could only choose to obey the Blue-haired girl's words, preparing to return to the island to call for help.
However, it seemed that upon hearing the Blue-haired girl's shout, Ma Xiaotao, who was behind, also noticed Zhu Ziyang. She instinctively looked over, and upon seeing him, a rare trace of clarity actually appeared in her beautiful eyes. Then, her speed suddenly increased, directly bypassing the Blue-haired girl, and in the Blue-haired girl's terrified gaze, she rushed towards Zhu Ziyang.
Ma Xiaotao's speed was incredibly fast. A top-tier Beast Spirit Battle Spirit Ancestor going all out left no room for Zhu Ziyang to be careless. He no longer bothered with minor details and unhesitatingly released his Pacifying Life-Reaping Scythe. His first spirit ring lit up, and then a grayish-white Blade of Death slashed towards Ma Xiaotao.
This was one of his few long-range attacks; stopping Ma Xiaotao for even a moment was better than nothing.
Although Ma Xiaotao was not fully conscious, her combat awareness was still present. Facing the flying Blade of Death, she executed a beautiful roll and sidestep, dodging it. Then, without slowing down, she continued to charge towards Zhu Ziyang.
Zhu Ziyang was speechless. Although he couldn't figure out why Ma Xiaotao was rushing towards him, this was not the time to ponder such things. While thinking about how to stop Ma Xiaotao, he shouted at the Blue-haired girl, "Hey, Senior Sister, don't just stand there! Come help!"
The Blue-haired girl was somewhat dazed, looking incredulously at the three spirit rings floating behind Zhu Ziyang. Only after hearing Zhu Ziyang's voice did she snap out of it and quickly took action, saying, "Ma Xiaotao's Spirit is out of control; she needs to cool down!"
An ice and snow staff appeared in the Blue-haired girl's hand, then her fourth spirit ring lit up, and a dense, cold mist of ice flew towards Ma Xiaotao. However, before the ice mist could even get close to Ma Xiaotao, it was evaporated by her flaming wings.
The Blue-haired girl stamped her foot in anger and shouted, "It's no good, my ice mist can't even get close to her, my fourth Spirit Ability is completely ineffective!"
However, Zhu Ziyang couldn't bother with her problem; Ma Xiaotao had already rushed in front of him, only three meters away!