Chapter 279: A Competition Across Time

A bus came, and Hao Ren and Xie Yujia quickened their steps and got on it.

"You played Juliet before?" After sitting down, he asked Xie Yujia.

"Yeah. 'Romeo and Juliet' is the play that LingZhao Middle School does every three years." Xie Yujia nodded, playing with her hair.

She tried to catch her breath from the short jog before continuing, "My partner of that play was the most handsome guy in the school, so a lot of girls were jealous of me for playing Juliet."

Hao Ren smiled. "Yujia, you were the prettiest girl in the school, right?"

"No, that wasn't me!" Xie Yujia shook her head immediately.

Blushing, Xie Yujia continued, "The pictures of the play that I participated are still displayed in the Arts Hall in the school."

"I will go see them later." He did want to see the pictures of Xie Yujia in middle school. Last time when he was in her room, he didn't see the photos of her playing Juliet.

"Oh, how is your cultivation going recently?" Xie Yujia changed the subject.

"It's going steadily," Hao Ren answered.

Since he had unlocked three openings with lightning cultivation last weekend, his cultivation strength had grown. After he went back to school, he couldn't find a place to summon the lightning to temper his body; he had to absorb the five-elemental essences the regular way and tried to balance the elemental essences with the data Lu Linlin and Lu Lili provided him.

In the mornings, Hao Ren jogged around campus before going to the small forest to practice the fundamental boxing techniques. After classes, he would go to tutor Zhao Yanzi in the evenings and come back to his dorm on Little White.

His life had fallen into a routine.

On the second thought, he had not been with Xie Yujia except sitting behind her during classes. No wonder the guys outside of their program were beginning to pursue her.

"I reached-level 3 of the Qi Refinement Realm, and the old Grandma taught me how to make elixirs," Xie Yujia said.

Sitting on the bus, they talked about cultivation with such ease as if they were talking about homework.

"Making elixirs?" Hao Ren was curious.

"Yeah. The Life-Death Note the old Grandma taught me is capable of making elixirs." Xie Yujia nodded. "After a few days' practices, I'm familiar with the process and should be able to make the Beauty Pills."

Hao Ren had a hard time believing it. After all, she was only at level 3 of the Qi Refinement Realm, and even the Core Formation Realm cultivators had to spend years practicing before they could master the techniques of making elixirs.

If Xie Yujia could make elixirs after a few days of practice, then the art of making elixir would be too easy.

Seeing the disbelief on Hao Ren's face, she bit her lip. "I think making elixirs is almost the same as cooking; the key lies in the control of the fire. The Life-Death Note is like the spatula, and what I need now is fire."

"Ugh... Making elixirs is almost the same as cooking?" Hao Ren thought; he almost choked.

However, on the second thought, none of the cultivators seemed to be able to cook.

"I'll need to borrow Little White to make the elixir pills," Xie Yujia said.

"Little White... ok," Hao Ren agreed after a moment of hesitation.

Little White loved to eat and hated working; maybe it was time for it to do something useful.

"The Life Note the old Grandma gave me can gather essence, but I always find it difficult to circulate it. The trouble lies in the Zhangmen Acupoint. Did you encounter this problem when you first cultivated?"

Xie Yujia took the opportunity to ask him fundamental questions about cultivation.

The stuff the old Grandma taught her was too profound, and she explained the basics very little.

Xie Yujia was too bashful to trouble the old Grandma with such simple questions, so she turned to Hao Ren.

"The Zhangmen Acupoint?" Hao Ren thought back to when he first started cultivating. "It is a bit difficult. You must concentrate on breaking through the Qimen Acupoint before you can unblock the Zhangmen Acupoint."

As a grandmaster of the Soul Formation Realm, the old Grandma couldn't remember such small details in the early cultivation stage, just like great writers who sometimes had trouble remembering the spelling of some words.

However, Hao Ren had just reached Zhen-level and thus had a clear memory of the process when he cultivated and broke through the Spirit Concentration Scroll. Although he didn't know about the cultivation technique Xie Yujia was practicing, the general idea of all basic cultivation techniques was unblocking acupoints and straightening out meridians with nature essence.

Kan-level was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm, and the process of breaking through the Spirit Concentration Scroll was equivalent to the Qi Refinement Realm. The only difference between the human cultivators and dragon cultivators was that the latter had an easier time before Zhen-level due to the existence of dragon cores. While human cultivators divided the Qi Refinement Realm into ten levels, the Spirit Concentration Scroll of the Dragon Tribe only had three levels.

Xie Yujia took the opportunity and asked him a few more questions. Hao Ren told her everything he knew from his experience since they only talked about the process of cultivation and didn't touch the specific techniques.

The exchange between low-level cultivators was beneficial to them. As the only disciple of the old Grandma, Xie Yujia had no peers, so talking to Hao Ren was very helpful to her.

While they talked, the bus arrived at LingZhao Middle School.

Many luxurious cars were parked on both sides of the school gate. Undoubtedly, they belonged to the parents who came here to watch the show.

It was almost time to start, so Hao Ren and Xie Yujia hurried into the school.

The night view of LingZhao Middle School was very pretty; lights shone on the lake and trees around it, giving people a peaceful feeling.

The venue of the show was the Arts Hall. Not familiar with the layout of the school, Hao Ren followed Xie Yujia.

The street lights highlighted the pretty views of the campus. Walking on the pebbled path, they felt like they had gone back to the time when Xie Yujia was still a middle school student in LingZhao Middle School.

The moment they entered the Arts Hall, lively crowds of students and parents came into their sights.

Pictures were displayed in showcases in the Arts Hall. Hao Ren walked along the exhibition and finally found Xie Yujia's picture.

In the picture, Xie Yujia was dressed in a beautiful Western dress, pure and pretty. Her smile looked as natural and beautiful as the white jasmine displayed on stage.

Looking at the picture, Hao Ren found it difficult to believe that Xie Yujia was not the most popular girl when she was in middle school.

"Yujia, here you are!"

Luo Ying, Zhao Yanzi's Class Advisor, suddenly appeared behind them.

"Hello, Ms. Luo!" Xie Yujia quickly greeted her, and Hao Ren bowed slightly as well.

Seeing them together again, Luo Ying was convinced that Hao Ren was Xie Yujia's boyfriend. She looked him up and down and felt like his temperament was much better than before.

"Who is playing Juliet this year?" Xie Yujia asked her.

"Hehe, you don't know?" Luo Ying glanced at Hao Ren and said, "It's Zhao Yanzi from my class."

"Oh, it's her!" Xie Yujia was surprised.

"The students voted for her in the school's forum. She didn't want to play at first; but after knowing that you had played the part before, she suddenly changed her mind," Luo Ying explained.

Hao Ren smiled and finally understood why Zhao Yanzi wanted to play Juliet and rehearsed so hard.

She wanted to surpass Xie Yujia's performance as Juliet!

It was a competition across time!

Zhao Yanzi, who was in middle school, wanted to defeat Xie Yujia when she was in middle school!