16: Chapter 16: My master didn't teach me anything, yet I understood everything!

Ye Qingyao's life on Changge Peak officially began.

She had none of the arrogance of a Genius; instead, she acted like the most devout ascetic, voluntarily taking on all the chores on the peak.

In the early morning, the first ray of dawn pierced through the sea of clouds.

She would pick up that ordinary broom and meticulously sweep the fallen leaves around the thatched cottage.

In her eyes, this was not mere sweeping.

This was cleansing the dust from her own heart within her Revered Master's supreme Dao arena.

Every swing of the broom swept away a trace of distraction and was a tempering of her state of mind.

At noon, she went to the mountain spring to fetch water and cooked with Mortal fire.

Su Changge had long ago waved his hand and said he had already achieved fasting, implying: "Don't bother, I'm too lazy to eat."

But Ye Qingyao insisted.

She believed this was a form of "filial piety," a Disciple's duty to her Revered Master.

Moreover, it was a practice closer to the "Great Dao is simple."

Whether the Revered Master ate or not was the Revered Master's Realm.

Whether the Disciple did it or not was the Disciple's original intention.

Su Changge was naturally happy to see this; days with someone to serve him were simply too comfortable.

His daily life became increasingly Return to Simplicity—he was a salted fish to the extreme.

During the day, he would either lie on the grass, staring blankly at the sky.

Or he would move a small stool and sit by the cliff, lost in a daze for an entire afternoon.

In Ye Qingyao's eyes, the Revered Master sunbathing was discussing the Dao with the Great Sun Sovereign, inhaling and exhaling the extreme Yang Qi of heaven and earth.

The Revered Master being in a daze was him wandering through the Great Void, his intent merging with the Dao.

At night, Su Changge returned to the thatched cottage and closed the door to "sleep."

In reality, his consciousness had long since sunk into the System space.

One hour in the outside world was ten hours in the System space.

"System! Exchange all remaining emotion points for Qi Refining Pills! Feed them to me!"

He looked at the dazzling array of Divine Abilities and Cultivation Techniques in the System store and felt bitter.

These things required massive amounts of emotion points, and relying solely on the admiration of Sect Disciples was not enough.

And that damned main quest [Take the Empress as a Disciple]—he didn't know how many stages it had, or what the punishment would be if he failed.

He had to improve his strength as soon as possible, at least to have the power to protect himself; otherwise, what if one day his Disciple discovered he was a fraud and slapped him to death?

Driven by this strong sense of crisis, he cultivated by popping pills more ruthlessly than anyone else.

In Ye Qingyao's eyes, every time the Revered Master closed the door at night, it was a supreme practice of "proving the Dao in a dream," with his Divine Soul wandering through the Nine Heavens, something no Mortal could fathom.

One was desperately fighting to survive.

The other was wildly imagining things.

The Revered Master and Disciple, on this mountain peak, reached a strange harmony that outsiders could not understand.

Ye Qingyao observed, imitated, and realized something every day.

She firmly believed that every move and every word of her Revered Master was the Dao following nature.

One day, Su Changge was popping pills too aggressively in the System space, causing his Meridians to spasm and his Qi to go astray.

He scrambled out of the System space in a sorry state, feeling as if all his bones and tendons were twisted together, an indescribable discomfort.

He walked into the courtyard, facing the morning sun, and stretched an incredibly huge yawn without caring about anything.

"Ah—so comfortable!"

His bones instantly emitted a series of "crackling" sounds, like frying beans.

Not far away, Ye Qingyao, who was meditating, suddenly opened her eyes, a brilliance never seen before erupting from her pupils.

This is... the Ancient Dragon Whale Body Refining Diagram?!

What had she seen?

The Revered Master's body stretched out in a trajectory that seemed casual but was actually profoundly mysterious.

Every twist of his joints, every stretch of his muscles, seemed to trigger the rhythm of heaven and earth, causing visible ripples in the surrounding Spiritual Qi!

To her ears, the sound of his bones cracking was like an Ancient Dragon Whale turning over in the deep sea, the thunderous sound of the human body's great Dragon awakening!

"I understand!"

"The Revered Master is personally demonstrating to me the supreme truth that 'the Physical Body is a boat that can cross the bitter sea'!"

Her heart was shaken, and she immediately held her breath and focused, imitating the stretching movement Su Changge had just made, learning it step by step.

After Su Changge finished yawning, he felt relaxed and refreshed.

When he turned his head, he was stunned.

He saw his precious Disciple stiffly imitating him in an extremely strange and twisted posture.

"This girl... is she having a cramp?"

Su Changge was full of question marks.

However, in this high-intensity self-imagination and imitation, Ye Qingyao clearly felt that her blood and Qi were boiling at an unprecedented speed!

Her Physical Body strength was actually, truly, slowly and firmly increasing!

Under this "immersive self-teaching," her cultivation had improved a bit more!

Su Changge knew nothing about this.

He only discovered one thing: this Disciple's cultivation speed was simply outrageous.

He clearly hadn't taught her anything; she just read books, swept the floor, and learned to stretch like him, and her cultivation soared like a rocket, from the 12th level of Qi Refining, directly hitting the Bottleneck of the Early Foundation Establishment Stage.

"Holy crap, is this the gold content of the Innate Dao Embryo? This is too perverted!"

Su Changge felt guilty, but at the same time, he felt a burst of ecstasy.

Great! If she can teach herself, then I, as her Master, am much safer!

However, he was happy too soon.

Trouble, after all, still came knocking.

One day, Ye Qingyao encountered a real barrier in her cultivation, stuck at the Foundation Establishment Bottleneck for seven days, unable to move an inch.

She pondered repeatedly and felt that she could no longer shut herself away.

The Revered Master's guidance was like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace, but if she did not ask, it meant her Dao Heart was insincere.

With the trepidation of a pilgrim, she came before Su Changge, who was "resonating with the Dao" by the cliff, and bowed respectfully.

"Revered Master, Disciple... has a question."

Su Changge's consciousness was moving away from the [Chaos Opening Heaven Axe] priced at 99 million emotion points in the System store. Hearing the voice, his heart skipped a beat.

It's here!

It's finally here!

The question-and-answer session from the straight-A student, which the academic slacker fears most, has finally arrived!

On the surface, he remained as calm and indifferent as ever, not even lifting his eyelids, just giving a faint "Hmm" from his throat.

Ye Qingyao organized her thoughts and asked cautiously in a tone of discussing the Dao: "Revered Master, my spiritual power is now at Perfection, my Divine Soul is flawless, and my Dao foundation is more stable than ever. But for some reason, I have been unable to build the 'Bridge of Heaven and Earth' within my body to turn spiritual power into a sea and condense the supreme Dao platform. I have tried several ancient methods, but all have failed. I beg Revered Master to enlighten me. Where exactly... did I take the wrong step?"

She asked extremely profoundly, pointing directly to the core essence of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Su Changge's vision went black after hearing this.

Bridge of Heaven and Earth?

Spiritual power into a sea?

Condense the Dao platform?

What the hell is all this?!

I'm at the 3rd level of Qi Refining, it took me three years just to guide Qi into my body, and now you're asking me how to build a foundation?

How would I know!

His brain crashed instantly, becoming a blank slate.

What to do? Waiting online, very urgent! If I don't answer, the image of the Revered Master will collapse!

Silence.

Su Changge chose the ultimate response plan—silence.

He gazed deeply at the churning sea of clouds in the distance, saying nothing, his whole person exuding an aloof aura of "the Dao follows nature, traveling with the world."

Seeing the Revered Master silent, Ye Qingyao became even more anxious.

Is my question too shallow?

Or is my Dao foundation flawed, not worthy of the Revered Master's words?

Just as she was panic-stricken and preparing to apologize and withdraw, Su Changge finally moved.

He slowly turned his head, his calm eyes looking at her quietly, and slowly uttered three words in a tone that seemed to contain the principles of the Universe, yet also seemed to say nothing at all:

"Realize it yourself."

After speaking, he felt that these three words were not impactful enough, so he added another sentence to instantly maximize his pretentiousness.

"The Dao cannot be taught in words. What can be spoken is not the true Dao. Your Dao is in your heart, not in my mouth. Go."

Boom!

Hearing this, Ye Qingyao felt a bolt of Nine Heavens divine thunder explode in her mind, and she froze in place.

Realize it yourself?

The Dao cannot be taught in words?

She chewed on these words repeatedly, her eyes shifting from initial confusion, to perplexity, then to clarity, and finally turning into ecstasy and worship like a volcanic eruption!

I understand!

I understand!

Revered Master, Disciple understands!

I am so stupid! I actually tried to get Revered Master to give me the answer directly!

The path of cultivation is inherently a solitary journey against the Heavens, one trial after another, one step one Dao.

If everything were paved by the Revered Master, would I still be cultivating my own Ye Qingyao's Dao?

That would just be a copy of the Revered Master's Dao!

The Revered Master is waking me up! Do not rely on external objects, do not rely on others! Seek inward, and open up the path that belongs only to me in a desperate situation!

This is the true supreme Dao!

"Thank you, Revered Master, for your guidance! Disciple... has realized it!"

Ye Qingyao kowtowed heavily to Su Changge's back, then turned around with a face full of ecstasy, turning into a stream of light and rushing back to her thatched cottage, her voice coming from afar:

"Disciple will go into seclusion today to break through the Realm!"

Su Changge watched her back, which looked like it had been injected with chicken blood, and was left in the wind, messy.

"???"

No... she realized it just like that?

What on earth did you realize?!

Three days later.

Above Changge Peak, the wind and clouds changed color, and the Spiritual Qi rolled back into a huge vortex, pouring crazily into that dilapidated thatched cottage.

A powerful aura, far exceeding that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator, soared into the sky, shaking the entire Taixuan Sect!

Ye Qingyao successfully broke through, stepping into the Foundation Establishment Stage!

After leaving seclusion, the first thing she did was come before Su Changge and kneel down again with gratitude.

"If not for the Revered Master's three-word true mantra that day, I don't know how long I would have been trapped in the Bottleneck by the Heart Demon! Disciple will never forget the Revered Master's grace of recreating me!"

Su Changge: "..."

I swear, I really just didn't know how to answer!