25 Spirit Stones

Shi Yueh, looking at the disciples (some in disbelief at what was happening while others were indifferent and just wanted to see what had happened), glanced over where Ling Tianni was currently facing the stone floor.

"Now you understand, I hope..."

Shi Yueh then turned to all the people who were still there and spoke in a calm voice, which, even though he spoke softly, echoed like a rumble of thunder in all the heads of the people present, "Well, now that the show is over, you have lessons to look forward to, so hurry up and don't upset your teachers, please."

The people closest to the source of the sound put their hands over their ears to protect themselves; it was so loud that it hurt them. And frightened by the Sect Elder's words and the noise, all of the disciples ran towards their specific classes.

Lien Hua, who was very close, also heard this loud noise and put her hands over her ears to stop it, with little to no result.

'Damn, how fucking loud was that noise? Was there really any need for it?' Looking over to her left where her friends had somewhat contorted faces in pain, she wondered if it was right for an Elder to do this to his disciples.

Not thinking too much about it, Lien Hua, after a few seconds of hearing her ears ringing, had already walked away with Lin Yue and Chen Huang a little way from the square, and they were next to their classroom.

"Man, I can still hear my ears ringing, but he did well to stop that useless fight."

"Yes, he did well and above all what the hell happened to him Ling Tianni, one day a social recluse, the next suddenly a guy full of self-confidence?"

Lien Hua, looking towards Chen Huang who had commented on Ling Tianni's behaviour, realised that she was not the only one who had noticed this strange phenomenon, but hearing a noise behind her, she looked towards it and noticed that it was Lin Yue.

"Yes, it's really suspicious… Who knows what has happened to him."

"Yeah, Lin Yue is right; who knows what happened to him. But it's not our concern. The important thing is that it doesn't concern any of us."

Lien Hua wasn't really interested in what other people might be doing; in the end she had lived like that all her old life. The important thing to her now was that they didn't touch her private life or try to interfere with it.

"Mh, Lien Hua, you are right."

Receiving confirmation from Lin Yue, Lien Hua with a small smile looked towards Chen Huang and Lin Yue who were in front of her.

"Chen Huang, Lin Yue, speaking of other things, will you be there this afternoon for a good practice? I have many things for you to try out."

"Of course Lien Hua, I definitely can't refuse a training session with you! Don't you think so too Lin Yue?"

Lin Yue, looking at her two friends who were practically forcing her, replied with a completely emotionless face, "Well, even if you weren't going to do this whole charade, I would still have agreed."

Seeing how Lin Yue had answered, Chen Huang and Lien Hua scratched their cheeks a little in embarrassment and somewhat laughed. However, Lien Hua didn't let it affect either of them too much and continued with her speech.

"Fine, then we'll go straight to my house after class. But we should go now; classes are about to start."

While she was talking, Lien Hua was also scanning the area a bit and seeing that there was hardly anyone around, so she added the last part to her speech to keep them all from being tardy.

So after agreeing to have a good group practice, Lien Hua and her two friends entered the classroom which was half full. Walking down the steps leading to their seats, Lien Hua looked around. 'Ling Tianni still hasn't arrived. I haven't seen where he went after we left, so I don't know what happened to him.'

However, just as this thought came to her as she arrived at her seat, Lien Hua immediately dismissed it and turned to her friends and greeted them, sitting down in her seat. As she sat down, Lien Hua looked over the Sect Elder's stage and noticed that Shi Yueh was already on top of it, but no one else had noticed him yet.

Lien Hua politely stood up, and in the process made hand movements towards her two friends who first looked at her suspiciously, but after noticing Shi Yueh immediately followed her movements with the other disciples in the room who also noticed them and stood up to greet their instructor with due respect.

"Present juniors greet the esteemed Sect Elder."

"Good, good, you can sit now."

As soon as they heard those words, the class all sat and looked towards Shi Yueh, who was starting his lesson.

"Hello everyone, today Ling Tianni will unfortunately not be attending classes due to disciplinary action. But besides this inconvenience, today we will mainly be discussing the Empire's official currency: Spirit Stones."

Shi Yueh, after explaining today's topic, had some small stones appear on his desk, no bigger than 10 centimetres, shining with a reddish colour.

Reaching out his hand to take one, the Sect Elder raised it and showed it to all his disciples who were watching him with great interest.

"Spirit Stones are ordinary stones which, after several years of exposure to large amounts of Spiritual Energy, absorb it and become like such and are called Spirit Stones.

But Spirit Stones are quite rare, because they can only be extracted from special mines, that is to say, only in places with high concentrations of spiritual energy. Fortunately for us, there are various types of Spirit Stones. The one I'm holding is a Grade 1 Spirit Stone: the one with the lowest value. But don't be confused by these words, a single Grade 1 Spirit Stone is worth more than all the gold a mortal family will ever make in their lifetime."

Lien Hua, looking at those magical stones that she could never have hoped to see in her old life, was fascinated by them like a dragon seeing an immense treasure. 'They are obviously invaluable; they are stones with spiritual energy in them… Even here, the gap in riches between normal people and cultivators is so high.'

Shi Yueh, seeing that all his disciples yearned for new knowledge about these Spirit Stones, satisfied them and continued his explanation.

"Spirit Stones are graded from Grade 1 up to Grade 6, but don't get your hopes up for Spirit Stones from Grade 5 upwards. Even Grade 4 Spirit Stones are very rare, and those above that are in small quantities, so they are almost unobtainable."

"But of course you're wondering why they're so invaluable, because as well as being a universal commodity, they're also useful in cultivation."

Lien Hua's eyes widened in shock as soon as she heard that word. Even though she had understood what it was for from her novels from her old life, however hearing it from the mouth of an experienced person in this world was great confirmation. 'So I can increase the speed of my cultivation even more, I must have them…'

In the meantime, Shi Yueh, satisfied with the reactions of his disciples, began to turn the stone in his hand, which glowed crimson red.

"Yes, as you have heard, these small stones are also used to increase one's speed in cultivation. They could also be called a bonus during actual cultivation. But why did I tell you about them today? Well, because from now on, seeing that all of you are now able to cultivate, the sect will start distributing 5 Spirit Stones of Grade 1 to each of you on a monthly basis. They will be distributed from the building on the other side of the square, and you can pick them up as early as today. But don't go thinking anything smart; the disciples working there will take notice."

Lien Hua, hearing that 5 Spirit Stones would be given to them monthly was quite happy, and she couldn't wait to go and try them out. In the end, anything that made her stronger was welcome at her home; she certainly didn't discriminate against a little help.

But apart from this nonsense, Lien Hua was more curious about studying these stones and wanted to see if with her connection to the spiritual energy she had confirmed back in the garden, she could do something like that with the stones.

Shi Yueh, noticing that his short lesson for the day was over, wasn't surprised to see his disciples who couldn't wait for him to finish to rush to the building where they will get their first Spirit Stones. He too, had been that way many years ago. 'Sigh... how many years have passed now, Ming...'

Shi Yueh, coming out of his nostalgia and momentary depression, found himself in front of a nearly completely empty classroom, with only one person left watching him intently, as if hesitating to advance.

Lien Hua, meanwhile, after the Sect Elder had finished his lesson, had turned to her friends who were about to come up to her and leave, and as soon as they approached, she started talking to them.

"Sorry guys, but I need to ask Sect Elder something for a moment. If you want, you can wait for me at my house while you go get those Spirit Stones, alright?"

"Don't worry Lien Hua, we'll go then, okay? See you later!" Lin Yue simply replied with a nod of her head and with Chen Huang left through the front door.

Lien Hua found herself alone in the rather large hall and calmly got up and walked over to the podium, but as soon as she stepped on the first step to the podium level, she looked up and noticed how Shi Yueh was busy thinking about things.

'Um... should I go and bother him? I don't know, but I have to ask him these things...'

Lien Hua, a little unsure about going to disturb him, looked up again and saw that the Sect Elder had come out of his deep thoughts and was looking at her with curiosity.

So Lien Hua, with new confidence, descended the steps that were in front of the podium, and approaching it, climbed the two stairs that raised up to the podium and moved towards Shi Yueh.