Suppressing his surging excitement, Jiang Zhaoye carefully compared the trace element analysis data on the device again, finally confirming his suspicion—psionic energy and spiritual energy were essentially the exact same thing.
Aside from minor variations in secondary components, the spiritual energy in the ice cave and the psionic energy on Blue Star had almost identical primary compositions. Those subtle differences were more like geographical variations—just as water quality differed between northern and southern regions, the psionic composition between two neighboring cities would also vary slightly.
A happy smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Packing away the device, he took off his down jacket and sat cross-legged on the cold jade bed wearing only a slightly misshapen, faded old T-shirt and pants, officially beginning his experiments.
First test: Cultivating the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 plus the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》.
Skillfully following his established routine, he used the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》 to absorb spiritual energy and guided the spiritual power along the pathways of the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 to temper his skin, flesh, sinews, and bones. The moment the spiritual power entered his meridians, Jiang Zhaoye noticed a stark difference.
The concentration of spiritual energy here was ridiculously high. The surging, pure ice-attribute spiritual power flooded in like a sea pouring into a river. His meridians, once like parched riverbeds, instantly filled to the brim. The spiritual power circulated smoothly and abundantly, its speed and efficiency accelerating as if boosted by an engine—a night-and-day difference compared to cultivating at home.
Jiang Zhaoye comfortably closed his eyes and circulated his spiritual power again and again, almost reveling in the feeling of spiritual energy seeping through his skin, slowly flowing along his meridians, and penetrating into his flesh, muscles, and bones. One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed...
"Beep beep~ Xiao Ling friendly reminder: among your psionic energy attributes, your Ice attribute has increased!"
The attribute gain alert he had set in advance with his smart assistant, Xiao Ling, echoed softly through the ice cave. He unhurriedly brought his cultivation session to a close, opened his eyes, and picked up his watch to take a look.
[Psionic Energy: Metal 13, Water 15, Ice 23]
Ice attribute: 23.
Time taken: 3:28:00
Jiang Zhaoye stared at the numbers, admiring them repeatedly, his already cheerful mood soaring even higher.
It went up! Wow, it takes only roughly three and a half hours to gain a point!
Back home, he could cultivate the exact same techniques for half a day and his stats wouldn't budge a millimeter. But here in the ice cave, it actually rose by a point in less than three and a half hours.
Knowing this was mainly due to the tenfold boost in spiritual energy concentration, he feigned a couple of coughs to suppress the smug excitement on his face and dutifully began his second experiment.
《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 plus 《Mystic Ice Mirror》.
He switched technique pathways, using the unfamiliar Qi-guiding method of the 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 to absorb spiritual energy before tempering his body with the route of the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》.
Running it was indeed smoother than practicing the 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 at home; after all, the high energy concentration compensated for some of its absorption inefficiency. Once an hour had passed, Jiang Zhaoye didn't even need to check his watch—he could feel for himself that his attributes hadn't budged at all.
Having anticipated this, Jiang Zhaoye curled his lip slightly, ran through one more cycle to confirm he hadn't made any mistakes, and then stopped. It seemed combining the 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 with the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 had no effect on boosting his stats... at least not anytime soon.
With less than thirteen days until the school's scheduled inspection, he didn't have the luxury of time to keep experimenting. He would try more combinations later when he had free time—after all, leaving this cave abode required mastering the 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 eventually.
Jiang Zhaoye decisively switched techniques and launched into his third test: running 《Water-Ice Attribute Conversion》 to skillfully refine water-attribute energy before converting it into ice-attribute energy.
The conversion efficiency was significantly faster than at home, and energy loss during the process had noticeably dropped. An hour later, Jiang Zhaoye opened his eyes. The numbers on his watch remained unchanged at [Psionic Energy: Metal 13, Water 15, Ice 23], but having gained some experience with this technique, he roughly estimated from his physical sensations that cultivating for another two to three days would convert one point of Ice attribute.
Compared to the efficiency of the first test, however, the gap was stark.
Directly cultivating the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 combined with the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》 not only increased his Ice attribute faster, but it also consumed no Water attribute. In fact, during his cultivation, he noticed that his Water attribute seemed to have crept up just a tiny bit as well. Although the gain was miniscule and didn't register on the watch face, he could feel that his Water attribute had indeed grown when he ran 《Water-Ice Attribute Conversion》.
Next came the fourth test.
Cultivating only the ice-attribute section of the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》.
An hour later, Jiang Zhaoye set down his watch and laid flat on his back on the cold jade bed, staring up at the pearl-embedded stone ceiling as he organized his thoughts.
Cultivating the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》 alone didn't increase attributes. By extension, the 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 alone likely wouldn't either.
The combination of the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 and the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》 was currently the most effective. This setup rapidly boosted his Ice attribute—far outstripping 《Water-Ice Attribute Conversion》 alone—while simultaneously nudging his Water attribute upward.
The 《Mystic Ice Mirror》 was completely useless for this.
《Water-Ice Attribute Conversion》 could be saved for when he actually needed it later.
Pouring all his effort into practicing the 《Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art》 together with the 《Psionic Guiding Technique》 over the next thirteen days was clearly the optimal solution.
Having finished analyzing, Jiang Zhaoye raised his wrist, had Xiao Ling record each piece of experimental data into a separate backup file, and then sat cross-legged on the cold jade bed once more.
Now that he had confirmed his direction, there was nothing to hesitate over. Only a little over six hours had passed; he could still practice for another hour or so.
...
An hour and a half later, the ultimate tryhard Jiang Zhaoye returned to his loyal Blue Star.
The watch displayed his values: [Psionic Energy: Metal 13, Water 16, Ice 23]. His Water attribute had actually gained a point—a pleasant surprise.
Although the displayed Ice attribute hadn't numerically increased, young Jiang could feel the results of his cultivation. Another two hours of practice should be enough to push Ice up by another point.
Proud of himself, he picked up his smartphone from his desk.
August 3, Tuesday 06:01
Exactly one hour remained before Ms. Wen's usual 7:00 AM wake-up time.
Jiang Zhaoye raised an eyebrow triumphantly, feeling as though he had calculated everything perfectly. "Just as I thought. Eight hours passed over there while only six passed here. The time ratio between both sides really is 4:3."
The master strategist Jiang Zhaoye set down his phone and marched proudly into the bathroom, stinking to high heaven. He slammed the door shut with a snap, and before long, the fierce rushing sound of the shower echoed inside.
An hour later, Jiang Zhaoye dutifully warmed up breakfast, neatly setting out bowls of spirit rice porridge, small dishes of pickled vegetables, and freshly steamed frozen soup dumplings on the dining table.
Ms. Wen, having finished washing up, was pleasantly surprised. She happily ate breakfast with her son, praising him warmly at the table before sending young Jiang a two-hundred-yuan red envelope on WeChat before leaving.
For Jiang Zhaoye, it was a nice unexpected bonus. Truth be told, he had just been starving—before Ms. Wen even woke up, he had already downed over half a pot of spirit rice porridge standing in the kitchen... Cultivating body refinement techniques was far too draining on physical strength and energy.
It ruined clothes too. Luckily he had possessed foresight; the clothes he wore during cultivation were old ones he had been ready to throw away anyway.
That outfit was completely unsalvageable now, so classmate Jiang Zhaoye—who was slightly germaphobic—swept it into the trash can without a shred of mercy.
As he continued scarfing down his food, Jiang Zhaoye decided to buy a bunch of disposable pajamas in bulk online later, and drag Chen Tuizhi along next week to go clothes shopping. Since his height had grown and his physique and height would likely change even more over the coming week, he would have needed new clothes anyway.
Besides, he had to go back to school on the sixteenth. That scene would be tantamount to returning home in glory. With a guy looking as handsome as he did now, not gearing up in some top-notch battle robes would be like wearing fine brocade in the dark!
Rate on N.U.
