Chapter 260: Chapter 222 Cultivation
In the special activity room of Qingxuan University, Jiang Cheng sat cross-legged on the floor.

After Qinghe Xuanran University started the winter break, there were indeed students like Yue Linger who stayed on campus.

However, as a first-year student, Jiang Cheng did not meet the conditions to stay on campus.

Her freedom to come and go from the university during the winter break, and her access to the school’s facilities and resources, were entirely due to the special care from the Taixu Sect.

Students with potential like Jiang Cheng are quietly nurtured in batches by Qingxuan University every year.

They not only have the “reserved” spots to enter the Taixu Sect in advance, but if they perform exceptionally well, they might even be directly recommended to join a strong lineage within the Taixu Sect.

From beginning to end, Mo Ningdan only allowed Jiang Cheng to call her teacher, not master, precisely for this reason.

The fact that Mo Ningdan came to the Liangguo Subrudder of the Taixu Sect indicates that her own cultivation talent was not outstanding and was not enough for her to stay and enjoy the resources of the main sect.

But Jiang Cheng was different.

Foundation Establishment was a breeze for her, Core Formation was the baseline expectation, Nascent Soul was not impossible, and anything beyond that was already beyond the predictive range of their Liangguo Subrudder.

In other words, Mo Ningdan could be Jiang Cheng’s teacher, but she was not quite qualified to be her master.”

The door to the activity room opened, and Mo Ningdan walked over to Jiang Cheng, who was sitting in meditation.

Jiang Cheng remained with closed eyes, utterly still, as if she hadn’t detected Mo Ningdan’s arrival at all.

Mo Ningdan used her Divine Sense to scan Jiang Cheng’s body and found no fluctuations in her spiritual energy, and nodded approvingly.

Looking at the current situation, the Taixu Sect made an extremely right decision to focus on nurturing Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng had also made significant progress.

In just one term, her willpower had grown considerably.

However, Jiang Cheng wasn’t the greatest surprise to the high-ranking members of the Taixu Sect.

The biggest surprise among the new students to the Taixu Sect’s higher-ups was Lin Yao!

Lin Yao’s cultivation talent could only be considered excellent, far inferior to Jiang Cheng’s from the same period.

But later, following the end of the Chaotic Heart Mountain assessment, Lin Yao managed to surpass Jiang Cheng to take the top spot, causing the Taixu Sect’s leadership to take notice of this female cultivator from Wuyue.

After that, the understated contest between Jiang Cheng and Lin Yao was keenly captured by Mo Ningdan, who suggested to Principal Shang Yufeng that they also increase investment in resources for Lin Yao, to serve as a whetstone for Jiang Cheng.

Shang Yufeng agreed.

However, what surprised everyone was that the whetstone seemed to be growing even faster than the knife.

At present, Lin Yao has already shown signs of potentially surpassing Jiang Cheng.

But this was not necessarily a bad thing; geniuses only grow faster through competition with other geniuses.

Moreover, Shang Yufeng, Mo Ningdan, and other executors were all from the main sect, where each of the favored ones from the orthodox Immortal Sects were considered exceptional, one in a million, with talents so formidable it was nauseating.

The small squabbles between Jiang Cheng and Lin Yao were hardly noteworthy in comparison.

“Mrs. Mo?” Jiang Cheng opened her eyes, sounding a bit surprised.

Mo Ningdan said, “Good, you managed to maintain your concentration for half an hour this time, not a small improvement.”

Just as Jiang Cheng was about to be pleased, she heard Mo Ningdan continue, “However, you cannot become complacent. I just came from next door, and Lin Yao has managed to maintain two hours of focused cultivation.”

“Yes, Teacher, I will try even harder,” Jiang Cheng said, not entirely convinced.

After Mo Ningdan finished suppressing her, she added, “Each person has a different constitution, and there are various methods of cultivation. Lin Yao’s willpower is tenacious; it’s not strange that you’re not like her. There have been precedents of Holy Maidens in our sect cultivating the Red Dust techniques and reaching the Unity Realm, so what’s important is to find your own path, not to constantly compete with others.”

“Yes.”

Mo Ningdan, hearing Jiang Cheng’s tone soften a bit, nodded gently and said, “I told you before to keep your distance from Jiang Cheng. Have you taken it to heart?”

“I have kept it in mind, Teacher.”

“Hmm. Lately, it’s not only Jiang Cheng you need to stay away from, but also from your several imperial brothers, especially your second brother, Liang Wu.”

Jiang Cheng was taken aback, not understanding why Mo Ningdan would say such a thing.

She was already virtually estranged from her imperial brothers, so why would her teacher specifically remind her to keep a distance from them?

But as a princess, Jiang Cheng, who was brought up in the palace from a young age, naturally wouldn’t ask too many questions.

“I understand, Teacher,” she replied.

Mo Ningdan was quite satisfied with Jiang Cheng as a student.

She was obedient, diligent, sensible, and talented, indeed a fine piece of jade worth sculpting, potentially a future pillar of the Taixu Sect.

“Alright. Just now, I discussed with Yan and decided to arrange for you and Lin Yao to practice through actual combat. This morning’s cultivation will end here, go back and rest at noon, and in the afternoon we’ll start training.”

Jiang Cheng, hearing that she could spar with Lin Yao again, joyfully said, “Fine.”

Last time, she was at the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, and Lin Yao was at the eighth; they competed at the eighth level, and she narrowly lost.

Now that Lin Yao had also reached the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, she finally could fully engage and have a proper fight with Lin Yao!

This time, she absolutely would not lose!

At noon, Jiang Cheng returned to Consort Li’s palace for a meal.

Resultingly, Consort Li asked her with a stern face, “Lu’er, have you seen Prince Han recently?”

Prince Han was Jiang Cheng’s second imperial brother, Liang Wu.

Upon hearing her mother ask like this, Jiang Cheng immediately remembered what her teacher, Mo Ningdan, had instructed.

“No, what’s wrong with Liang Wu?” she asked.

Consort Li exhaling in relief, said, “I knew you couldn’t possibly be entangled with him, now I can finally be at ease.”

Jiang Cheng frowned and asked, “Mother, tell me what exactly happened to Liang Wu?”

Consort Li, still agitated, said, “Do you remember the recent trouble at the imperial mausoleum? They had to dig it up all over again, and unexpectedly, a group of tomb robbers actually set their sights on the imperial mausoleum.”

“Tomb robbing? Isn’t the imperial mausoleum protected by formations? Ordinary tomb robbers wouldn’t have the skill, would they?”