"Your spirit eye isn't completely stable yet. Wearing these daily will protect your eyes so they won't easily be irritated by outside psionic energy fluctuations."
As Ms. Wen spoke, she picked up a second box. This one was slightly smaller than the other two—more of a case than a box. Printed on the lid was an embossed dark logo that looked vaguely familiar to Jiang Zhaoye. Ms. Wen opened it methodically.
Inside was a wristwatch.
The watch face was slightly larger than the basic student model on his wrist, its screen jet-black. As Ms. Wen lifted it from the case and shifted it beneath the light, the faint texture of psionic circuits shimmered across the watch casing. "This watch comes with an assistant AI. It can monitor your psionic energy values, heart rate, body temperature, and spiritual energy stability in real time. The data is much more comprehensive, and it tracks trends to offer support and guidance. It's far better than the manual-input watches your school hands out."
As she spoke, her hands didn't stop as she opened the third box.
Jiang Zhaoye froze for a moment.
Inside the massive box lay an object no larger than a button. It was black with a matte finish—a tiny, round disc that looked entirely ordinary. Yet looking at it, Jiang Zhaoye's eyes lit up, and his heart pounded with excitement.
"You should recognize this one," Ms. Wen said, looking at him with a smile in her eyes. "A spatial button. Small-scale spatial compression equipment."
"The internal storage is about one cubic meter, enough to carry some personal belongings. When you head out with more gear in the future, this will save you some effort."
Jiang Zhaoye stared at the three boxes laid out before him, his throat tightening.
He couldn't describe what he was feeling. He only felt that his middle-school vocabulary was severely lacking; the words stuck in his throat, and unable to find the right ones to express himself, he could only let out a muffled "Mm."
Ms. Wen admired his expression before suddenly standing up, reaching out to ruffle his hair, and walking away. "Alright, stop standing there like a fool. Head back to your room and try out your new gear."
Jiang Zhaoye nodded and carefully carried the three boxes back to his room.
Closing the door, he set the boxes on his desk. The very first thing he did was put on the psionic goggles.
The lenses were extremely light, and the nose pads fit perfectly. His field of vision was crystal clear, and when he turned his head, the frame didn't slip or shake at all, feeling almost weightless.
Excited, he rushed into the bathroom and brushed aside his slightly long bangs in front of the mirror. In the reflection, the light gray goggles sat across the bridge of his nose, concealing those overly striking ice-blue eyes and exposing only the soft contours of his lower face. The combination produced a cold, mysterious, and dangerous aura.
Jiang Zhaoye tilted his head slightly. The lenses refracted a cold glint, projecting the sharp danger of a predatory beast.
He suddenly recalled an old movie he had seen before—a secret agent or assassin wearing tactical goggles standing in a dim corridor, staring expressionlessly at their target, the lenses flashing with a cold reflection for a brief moment. Imitating that pose, he lowered his head slightly and looked at his reflection in the mirror.
Mm, that definitely has the right vibe.
He tried taking off the goggles and putting them back on a few times to confirm they wouldn't leave pressure marks on his face. Satisfied, he put them back on and walked out of the bathroom.
Unbuckling his old buddy, Jiang Zhaoye picked up the new watch, humming a cheerful tune as he strapped his new partner onto his wrist.
The screen lit up, displaying a series of data: Psionic Energy: Metal 13, Water 15, Ice 22; Heart Rate: 74; Body Temperature: 36.4°C.
Accompanied by a pleasant female voice announcement: "Good evening, dear partner Mr. Jiang Zhaoye. Your information has been registered and bound. May we have a wonderful time working together in the days ahead~"
"Xiao Ling is now formally reporting your current status—Psionic Energy Values: Metal 13, Water 15, Ice 22; Heart Rate: 74, Body Temperature: 36.4°C. Vitality is robust, pulse is healthy, currently in the dormant period before psionic awakening. Congratulations, you are in excellent health. Xiao Ling hopes to be your finest assistant in your upcoming daily life and cultivation~"
Jiang Zhaoye couldn't help but chuckle.
He looked down at the string of numbers on the watch face, then picked up the spatial button from the desk. He rubbed his finger over the button's matte surface. The texture against his fingertip felt no different from an ordinary metal button, but he knew the space inside was large enough to fit several duffel bags.
Ms. Wen had already registered his personal information and linked it to the watch. Blue Star's psionic technology was highly advanced; unlike the immortal cultivation world where the ice cave was located, spatial storage products didn't require dripping blood to establish ownership or scanning with divine sense.
As long as any ordinary person bought one through legitimate channels and registered their biometric data, they could use it directly and even check the items stored inside in real time through the linked watch.
After sitting in his chair and zoning out for a moment, Jiang Zhaoye took a deep breath and began organizing his supplies.
He laid out the important items he needed to bring on his bed one by one: the jade slip, the jade pendant with the character "Han," the small copper mirror, the Fasting Pills, and the Marrow Cleansing Pills.
Using an unused makeup bag he had grabbed from his mom's room, he sorted and packed them inside before storing the bag into the spatial button.
He then stowed a crate of bottled water, a large bag of food, a folding knife, several changes of clothes and a thick coat into the spatial button, along with an older-model psionic detector he had dug up at home that Ms. Wen used to use.
It was a palm-sized device equipped with a telescopic probe capable of measuring the concentration of psionic energy in the air, analyzing environmental elemental composition, and determining if toxins were present.
Having packed everything he could think of, Jiang Zhaoye pulled out the lanyard that came with the spatial button, threaded the button onto it, and hung it around his neck, filling the void left by the Mystic Sea Ice Marrow and the Great Void Ice Soul Cicada. Then he flopped down on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at his new watch.
Outside the window, the sparse chirping of summer insects drifted inside, while the faint sound of running water echoed from downstairs as Ms. Wen washed fruit.
Jiang Zhaoye closed his eyes and brushed his fingers against them, deciding that once Ms. Wen fell asleep tonight, he would make another trip to the ice cave.
...
At midnight, Jiang Zhaoye stood in the center of his room, took a deep breath, and pulled his down jacket tighter around himself.
He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness deep into his eyes. The two cicadas lay curled up quietly there like jade submerged underwater.
Jiang Zhaoye lightly touched the child cicada's aura like plucking a harp string. A wave of dizziness struck instantly, and silver light burst brightly across his vision as space rippled like the surface of water.
When he opened his eyes again, frigid air rushed against his face. Standing on the familiar ice, he exhaled a soft plume of white mist that slowly drifted and dispersed before him like smoke.
This time, there was no excruciating pain or loss of consciousness, only a faint dizziness—like taking a high-speed elevator, where he felt weightless for just a split second before landing firmly.
He stretched his arms and legs, and after confirming he was entirely unharmed, he immediately took out the psionic concentration detector from his spatial button.
Flipping the switch, the screen lit up. The numbers flickered a few times before settling at 32.
Jiang Zhaoye froze for a moment, then carried the device around the ice cave, testing the main ice chamber, the study, the side room, and the narrow passageway: 32, 34, 31, 36... The numbers fluctuated slightly, but overall remained within that range.
He hadn't even measured the spirit-gathering array on the cold jade bed yet, but the psionic concentration here was already more than triple that of his practice mat in his living room at home. The average psionic concentration at his home was only 5, and even the highest spot—the area in his bedroom where his practice mat was laid out—had an average of only 10.
Jiang Zhaoye simply brought the detector over to test around the cold jade bed and at the center of the bed where the spirit-gathering array was carved: 79, 100.
The concentration multiplied several times over compared to the rest of the cave.
Looking at the dancing numbers on the screen, an excitement akin to winning the lottery filled his heart. Ten times the psionic concentration!
In Huaicheng, a psionic concentration like this was only found in a few national chain cultivation halls, and even then required a Rank 3 psionic cultivation room. To cultivate inside one, even the member price was eight thousand yuan an hour.
Installing a psionic array above Rank 2 in one's own home was completely out of the question—the residential complex wasn't rated high enough, and installing anything above Rank 2 was illegal.
Rate on N.U.
