Nolun Academy.
This behemoth is not built on the ground, but rather suspended in the clouds, like building blocks carelessly thrown there by an unreasonable giant.
A visible flow of obscure yet powerful energy ripples across the ancient stone walls.
Jeming mingles amongst the thousands of young men and women squeezed in front of the academy's bronze giant gate, trying hard to mirror the same expressions—looking around with just the right mix of anxiety and anticipation in their eyes.
But to be honest, the reason for his anxiety isn't on the same wavelength as the others.
"...One hundred eighty, one hundred eighty-one... Damn it, there are over one hundred eighty Golden Core Stage individuals just among the academy's greeters at the gate... uh, no wait, according to this world, they're Second Level Official Wizards."
Jeming does his best to maintain the standard "country kid visiting the city" expression on his face, but his eyeballs still can't help twitching.
Fortunately, the faces of these young people around him, here to attend the test, are also plastered with the expression "Who am I, where am I," making him appear not so out of place.
Feeling the strand of True Essence barely honed to the Qi Refining First Layer within his body, Jeming nearly laughs out of frustration.
"What kind of interstellar joke is this? How in a 'Spiritless World' with no Spiritual Qi whatsoever, are there so many Golden Core Stage... no, Second Level Official Wizard-level powerhouses? Dammit, could it be that the knowledge given to me by the cheat is a pirated version? If something goes wrong, can I even escape?!"
He sneaks a glance at the imposing group of Second Level Official Wizards ahead, akin to small humanoid nuclear missile launchers, as well as the multitude of First Level Official Wizards around that he's too lazy to count.
These guys, with the slightest pressure released, could render him, at the Qi Refining stage, immobile.
Reflecting on how for over a decade, day in and day out, he labored through "Refining Essence and Qi," an ancient method almost museum-like in the Cultivation Immortality Realm, just to barely reach the Qi Refining First Layer... Jeming really wants to slap himself to see if it's a dream.
He's been in this world so long he's almost forgotten the era of neon lights and high-speed internet.
He has become the son of an ordinary merchant in a remote territory, with a well-off family and a life that follows the usual trajectory.
Except... for that "library manager" privilege hidden deep in his consciousness.
Taking a deep breath to calm his roller-coaster of emotions, Jeming diverts part of his consciousness, skillfully positioning it within his soul to locate the magnificent White Jade Palace.
The Great Dao Book Pavilion.
The name alone sounds pretentious, as if representing the truths of the universe.
Its origins are unknown, mysterious and unfathomable, but the knowledge within is indeed vast as the ocean, from the most basic Qi introduction to supreme secret techniques that defy fate, encompassing alchemy, artifact refining, array formations, and talismans, everything under the heavens and earth.
"If in a Spiritual Qi-abundant Cultivation Immortality World, with this thing in hand, I damn well ought to be at the Golden Core by now, right? Perhaps even have hopes of Nascent Soul Divinity Transformation!" Facing the quietly standing White Jade Palace in his consciousness space, Jeming can't help but smirk self-deprecatingly.
This cheat is very good, very powerful.
But Jeming finds it more like a top-tier online library and research database, rather than a cheat that directly infuses him with power.
The knowledge inside requires him to understand, to practice, to seek for "raw materials."
Unfortunately, this world... lacks Spiritual Qi.
Without Spiritual Qi, all those incredible cultivation techniques in the Great Dao Book Pavilion that require introducing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the body, all those alchemy and artifact refining that need Spirit Grass, Spirit Stones, and Spirit Veins, are utterly unusable!
A skilled housewife can't cook without rice, no matter how powerful the Great Dao Book Pavilion is, it can't produce Spiritual Qi.
He can only rely on those nearly obsolete "Refining Essence and Qi" methods in the Cultivation Immortality Realm, literally "eating" his way to cultivation.
Every day's effort consumes a great deal of energy and time, and also requires a large amount of food to replenish the deficit.
What seems insignificant as "Qi Refining First Layer" in the Cultivation Immortality Realm, here, is a step climbed through over ten years of dry food gnawing and countless sacrifices.
Then, just as he thought he might spend this life that way, barely stronger than an average person, living reasonably well on meager True Essence, this world pulled the rug out from under him—this is actually a High Magic World, inhabited by wizards who control elements, study souls, and pursue immortality!
What's even more terrifying is that these wizards have a nearly pathological thirst for unknown knowledge.
And as someone practicing a completely different power system, he… is an extremely rare living research material!
Jeming knows full well that if he's discovered to be an outsider, the only fate waiting for him is to be researched, dissected, drained of value, and eventually exhibited as a specimen.
Human rights? Ethics? Expecting a bunch of wizards who casually wage wars on other planes and experiment with souls to have such things?
Therefore, when his lord notified him that he had reached the age to go to the academy for a qualification assessment like the other children, Jeming wanted to refuse.
But in the face of the lord's Second Level Wizard-like mountain-like pressure, those words of refusal spun several times in his mouth, not a single word daring to come out.
Fortunately, Jeming has not yet been hopeless enough to sit and wait for death.
Though most of the knowledge in the Great Dao Book Pavilion cannot be used directly, the amount and diversity of the recorded methods far exceed Jeming's imagination.
Besides mainstream cultivation knowledge, some unique and unconventional methods are recorded within.
Along with Jeming's thoughts, a streamer flew out from the White Jade Palace, forming a book's phantom in front of his consciousness.
He skillfully flips through the content above, simultaneously sensing the operation of True Essence within his body, conducting precise checks and adjustments to ensure nothing goes wrong.
Inner Cycle Basic Volume
Inner Cycle, this thing in the cultivation knowledge system known to Jeming, is a rather non-mainstream method, usually only practiced concurrently by those specialized in Body Refinement, trying to refine their bodies into Pocket World Magical Treasures.
Unlike mainstream cultivation methods that externally explore and absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, it emphasizes internal exploration, using one's Essence, Qi, and Spirit as nourishment to form a microcosmic energy cycle system within the body.
The most significant advantage is: once the Inner Cycle reaches its peak, it disconnects the body from external energy, placing oneself in an extremely closed state.
As long as he doesn't voluntarily expose it, even if scanned with Divine Sense, it would be hard to detect the True Essence within his body completely isolated from external energy!
"Stay calm... Previously at the lord's mansion, I have undergone a simple preliminary qualification test, roughly understanding that the wizard's qualification test mainly focuses on Spiritual Power and souls. As long as I hide the True Essence fluctuations in my body using the Inner Cycle and appropriately restrain the intensity of Spiritual Power, I should be able to pass... right?"
Whether it works or not, he must make it work; this is already the most effective method he can use under limited conditions!
Jeming sighs, bringing his awareness back to reality.
He raises his head, looking once more towards the bronze giant gate.
To outsiders, he's just been slightly lost in thought at the gate due to nervousness for a moment.
The queue ahead keeps shortening, and as he gets closer to the bronze giant gate, instead of anxiety, his heart grows increasingly calm.
The qualification assessment proceeds rapidly, with groups of anxious and expectant young people stepping into the gate and emerging again, faces filled with various emotions.
Soon, it's Jeming's turn.
He straightens his back, takes a deep breath, discarding the last inner misgivings.
Come on! This round of life and death!