20 Cultivating tent

"Not bad! You brat! I doubt you have better. I bet your soul realm is orange or red" Nie Zexi shouted.

"You shouldn't insult your cousin" Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er rebuked her at the same time, frowning at her.

"What?" she looked bewildered, "I'm not insulting him, just teasing." She replied, trying to explain herself.

"Ah, don't worry. It's just our teacher Shen Xiu likes to remind me about my red soul realm, trying to insult me," said Nie Li to calm them down. The fact both girls immediately jumped to his defense, stroked his ego greatly, but it was not necessary. Hurting his pride was not easy in this life.

"Why would she do that" now Nie Zexi too looked indignant. "Wait, Shen Xiu. Is she from the Sacred family as well? Had that brat already complained?"

'What brat?' Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er looked at them questioningly.

"No, It's not related to that." Nie Li said and could see that they are going to interrogate Nie Zexi later, but it was not a problem. If Ye Ziyun learns about Shen Yue's real nature a bit earlier it will be a good thing.

"I have a perfect technique for you." He wrote on the parchment the chants, "It's called Impenetrable Tiger Technique. It's a defense-type technique and very suitable for your Earth affinity."

Nie Zexi took the technique and began to test out the chants.

"Now it's your turn," he reminded Ye Ziyun.

"Oh, Just a minute." She said and injected her soul force into the soul crystal. The crystal glowed with cyan color and a vague bird shape could be seen inside.

"Impressive. Soul force of 93. Snow Wind Attributes, Ice Phoenix soul form" Nie Li could see why his novel counterpart gave her "Nine Revolving Ice Phoenix Technique". He didn't have any objections to that so he decided not to change it. He quickly wrote down the technique and gave it to Ye Ziyun.

"This is incredible!" exclaimed Nie Zexi, "I can feel my cultivation rising so fast."

Xia Ninger looked at this with a smile. She was there not so many days ago. She remembered how she was astonished at the speed of cultivation as well. Now looking at their reaction was a bit amusing. She was also pleased with the fact that she had reached the Bronze rank earlier than Ye Ziyun. But now she was getting a new technique too, so she must work harder to keep ahead.

Ye Ziyun hearing that decided to try the chants as well. Even though her grandfather gave her a good technique, previous lessons on Inscriptions and Ancient languages showed that Nie Li's knowledge on some matters may surpass even her grandfather's. Her grandfather, Lord Ye Mo was a legendary figure in her eyes in both cultivation and knowledge, but now one of her year-mates being better than him in something was unbelievable.

Everyone silently watched for her reaction. They didn't have to wait for long. She gasped. This technique was completely on another level than her current one.

Seeing her reaction Nie Zexi complained, "Where were you last year brat? I could have been a Silver rank by now"

"You know where I was, sister Zexi" answered calmly Nie Li, "I was toiling on the farmlands of our clan." That shut her up. And both his classmates took note of the fact.

They were extremely curious about the source of Nie Li's knowledge, but they weren't close to him enough to ask those kinds of questions. But his relative was another matter. Nie Li wasn't worried. Even if they learned something they wouldn't spread it around. And they were pretty isolated inside their clans.

Then as if remembering something Ye Ziyun asked Xiao Ning'er, "Have you reached Bronze rank already?"

"Yes. A couple of days ago" she answered as if nonchalantly. But Nie Li could feel her smugness about the fact.

Now, Ye Ziyun was looking at him resentfully. Even though she wanted to restore her friendship with Xia Ning'er, that doesn't mean she wants to be left behind.

Nie Li stared at her incredulously. These girls were completely unreasonable. How could he have given her a technique earlier? They hadn't even talked to each other once until yesterday!

"Oh, I have some matters to attend to." Nie Li decided to leave before they blamed him for something else. "Sister Zexi. Here are the things you required" he gave her the interspatial ring he prepared for her. Inside were Charger cube and the resources she needed. And he quickly retreated.

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Meanwhile in Shen Xiu's room.

"You are saying that he dropped a bronze rank with one punch as if it was nothing." She asked her nephew.

"Yes. I didn't notice him using any technique," said Shen Yue. After yesterday's fiasco, he decided to ask her aunt about Nie Li's mysterious technique.

"It's natural. With your current cultivation, you won't be able to detect many techniques," she rebuked him "there's no way he would have reached the Bronze rank by now, so it can only be some kind of technique."

"Yes, I was wondering about that as well. How could he have learned that kind of technique?"

"You said he was from Heavenly Marks family?" after Shen Yue nodded Shen Xiu continued. "Heavenly Marks Family even though they are in dire straits now, has a very strong background. They may have some secrets that even our family is unaware of. I will ask our family to investigate this. Meanwhile, don't confront him directly yourself. If you want to attack him do it through others. And if you learn something, inform me immediately."

Shen Yue nodded, and their talk turned into his cultivation. Even though Nie Li might know some small techniques, in the end only power matters. If you barely reach the Bronze rank, no mysterious technique will help you against stronger opponents.

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Back in his room, Nie Li continued his work on the Demon Spirit Concentration array. In the end, he concluded, any array he creates without a physical container will have an efficiency of less than 50%. In other words, if he draws it on the floor to contain the energy released by dissolved demon spirits, more than half of that energy will dissipate into the air. The longer he spends time absorbing the spirit power, the more will disappear.

And he can't draw an array into his dorm walls. If he had a house, he would have turned one of its rooms into a cultivation chamber. But he didn't have a house right now.

What can he use as a container inside his dorm room? Some kind of chest? Then he had an epiphany. A tent! He could put a small tent in his room to cultivate inside because the thickness of the container walls was not critical. Of course, it would be better if the walls were from stone or some special material, but even fabric was better than nothing. He can use it until he buys a house. And in his travels, he added, remembering the coming expedition to the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.

He must remember to approach Chen Linjian tomorrow and gather some information about the ruins before that. Because this time he didn't have the reputation of someone who embarrassed the Sacred family with his knowledge.

But now he must go to the market again. To buy a tent for his cultivation chamber. So he went. Cultivating in that chamber will be many times more effective, so creating it is the priority. And he can cultivate at night too, inside the chamber because he would not be absorbing spirit power from nature but dissolved energy from demon spirits.

He went to a shop selling tents and bought the smallest tent made from the hide of some snow-wind beast. The hide was thick to keep the warmth inside the tent. He also bought a normal-sized tent for travel. He would put his small tent inside it to cultivate during his travels

Nie Li returned to his room because he didn't need to buy anything else at the moment. He slowly drew the Demon Spirit Concentration array on the inside of the small tent. It had taken him an hour to finish. He decided to call it simply a Cultivating Tent.