Chapter 78: The Learner Outshines the Mentor

Chapter 78: The Learner Outshines the Mentor

The snow had already stopped.

The playground was covered with about four to five centimeters of snow. Under the dark night sky, it gave off a faint white glow, like a soft carpet or a silent, flawless snowfield.

Su Chunfeng did a few simple warm-up exercises and then began to jog along the edge of the playground, stepping on the snow.

Crunch, crunch…

His footsteps on the snow made a clear, rhythmic sound in the quiet night.

Soon, the same rhythmic crunching sounds came from behind him. A young man about 1.75 meters tall with an average build jogged up to catch up with Su Chunfeng and ran alongside him. With a smile, he asked warmly and proactively, “Hey, student, which grade and class are you in?”

“Hello, teacher,” Su Chunfeng replied politely. “I’m in Class One of the first year of high school.”

“What’s your name?”

“Su Chunfeng.”

“Why are you out running and exercising so early?”

Su Chunfeng smiled sheepishly. “It’s the weekend and it snowed. I couldn’t go home yesterday, and there were no classes last night, so I went to sleep early. I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to come out and exercise. Teacher, what about you? Why are you up so early too?”

“Hmm, I couldn’t sleep either. Lying in bed, I felt something wasn’t quite right outside, so I came out to take a look,” the young teacher said with a meaningful smile.

“Oh,” Su Chunfeng responded.

By now, he could completely confirm that this young male teacher, who looked about thirty years old, had come out of the Faculty Dormitory Building around four in the morning to jog and exercise on the playground. He was the Half-Baked Practitioner who had set up that small Arcane Array in the Faculty Dormitory Building.

That was because he still carried the faint trace of esoteric aura from being near his own Arcane Array.

Furthermore, his relatively handsome face looked pale, his eyes showed tiredness, and his overall vitality seemed weak, with an imbalance in the Five Elements… This was due to suffering from the array’s backlash and encountering problems during his cultivation, which led to poor health.

A true Half-Baked Practitioner, a self-taught genius.

Su Chunfeng felt a mix of pity and admiration inwardly. After maintaining it for so long, this Half-Baked Practitioner didn’t even know to dismantle the Arcane Array, nor did he consider how to avoid its backlash. He just endured it stubbornly and kept cultivating. Perhaps he simply didn’t know that casting arts and setting up arrays would cause backlash?

The young teacher suddenly introduced himself. “I’m Qian Ming, the English teacher for classes 5 and 6 of the third year of high school.”

“Oh, hello, Teacher Qian.”

Qian Ming asked with a smile, “Su Chunfeng, were you practicing esoteric techniques on the playground earlier?”

“Hmm?” Su Chunfeng said. “What techniques?”

“Student Su Chunfeng, you can’t fool me.” Qian Ming smiled, speaking with an air of someone superior. “In the entire County No.1 High School, even in all of Jinzhou County and Pingyang City, perhaps no one except me could sense that you are practicing esoteric techniques because they don’t understand… But I clearly sensed abnormal fluctuations in the Qi of Five Elements near the school playground earlier, and you have the aura of esoteric techniques on you.”

Hearing this, Su Chunfeng almost laughed out loud. This teacher, who clearly had no formal master in esoteric cultivation, spoke with such arrogance and conceit. It was as if he thought that learning a little bit of esoteric arts on his own made him some transcendent master.

It was a bit like showing off one’s meager skills in front of an expert.

Who was Su Chunfeng? Of course, he knew that during his practice earlier, although drawing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into his body could be considered a form of Art Casting to some extent, personal cultivation itself wouldn’t cause natural backlash, so there was naturally no question of leaving any esoteric aura on his body.

As for the abnormal fluctuations in the Qi of Five Elements near the playground, that was indeed true.

After all, Su Chunfeng’s current cultivation level was at the Early Stage of Purified Body and approaching the Middle Stage. The amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy he drew in during cultivation was significant. Coincidentally, it had just snowed, the temperature was low, and the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was abundant, pure, and extremely stable. So, the abnormal concentration of spiritual energy flowing toward one spot during the process could indeed be sensed by nearby occultists—this was something Su Chunfeng had overlooked, letting his guard down.

“Speechless, aren’t you?” Qian Ming said smugly.

“Teacher Qian, are you sick?” Su Chunfeng said, caught between laughter and annoyance, and then sped up his pace, running off—he couldn’t be bothered with this self-satisfied Half-Baked Practitioner.

Qian Ming was stunned for a moment and hurriedly quickened his steps to catch up. “Hey, Su Chunfeng, don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re still young and don’t understand many things… I’ll be honest with you. Practicing esoteric techniques is destined to be a lonely journey, full of dangers at all times. So you need a master by your side to guide and support you constantly, to prevent you from going astray. Otherwise, if you experience Qi Deviation/Demonic Possession, it’s very dangerous.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“See, you’re still pretending in front of me… The abnormal fluctuations in spiritual energy earlier were clearly caused by Art Casting. Who else could it be but you?” Qian Ming’s stamina wasn’t great; he was already somewhat out of breath after running less than a lap. He waved his hand. “Slow down. I genuinely want to help you. Come on, stop pretending. No one can cast any arts near County No.1 High School without me sensing it with my sharp perception.”

Su Chunfeng stopped.

Qian Ming couldn’t stop in time and ran a couple of steps forward before hurriedly turning back and walking over, panting heavily. “Look at you, this kid… Sigh.”

“Teacher Qian,” Su Chunfeng said with a smile. “Are you sure you’re a master?”

“Uh…” Qian Ming was taken aback but quickly regained his composure, putting on a calm, masterful demeanor. He nodded slowly, pretending to be modest yet showing off. “I can’t claim to be a master. As the saying goes, one can hide from the world in a busy city, or hide from the court in seclusion. I’m just a humble person living in seclusion amidst the mountains and fields of this world. Never mind, you wouldn’t understand these insights about mental state yet. But when it comes to esoteric techniques, there are few in the mundane world who possess abilities like mine nowadays.”

Su Chunfeng almost couldn’t resist spitting in his face. He chuckled. “Then what do you think I am?”

“A beginner.”

“In that case, why did you take the initiative to get to know me?”

“Alas, practitioners in this world are few and far between these days. Masters are lonely…” Qian Ming sighed heavily, tilting his head at a forty-five-degree angle to look at the dark sky. He said faintly, “For many years, I’ve been searching for traces of practitioners, hoping to make one or two like-minded friends, but it’s been rare to find any. Today, seeing you so young yet able to practice esoteric techniques, you are truly a rare genius. I couldn’t help but feel fortunate to have met you in my lifetime. My exceptional skills have finally found a disciple to pass them on to. So, what do you say? I’ll give you the opportunity to become my disciple?”

Encountering such a narcissistic and pretentious person, Su Chunfeng didn’t feel much disgust. Instead, he felt some pity and appreciation for him.

A frog in a well might think highly of itself, but that was only because its view was narrow and it hadn’t had the chance to see the vast world outside. Qian Ming, relying on his talent and diligent study, had cultivated to this level on his own and lived low-key in the top school of Jinzhou County. That was quite remarkable. Moreover, despite the danger to himself—or perhaps not knowing the trouble it could bring—he went to the effort of setting up an Arcane Array, which was quite challenging for him, to suppress and drive away the Malignant Supernatural Entities for the safety of the Girls’ Dormitory Building. This goodwill alone deserved recognition and praise.

By now, Su Chunfeng no longer intended to hide his identity in front of Qian Ming, and he probably couldn’t anyway. Besides, this guy seemed to be very secretive himself and was likely even more cautious about the identity of an occultist than Su Chunfeng was. Thinking this, Su Chunfeng got straight to the point. “Teacher Qian, you’re facing a problem and need help, right?”

“Hmm?” Qian Ming was stunned, then shook his head. “What problem could I have?”

“In that case, let’s mind our own business and not interfere with each other…” Su Chunfeng said with a smile, waving his hand. “I think you should also know that practicing esoteric techniques shouldn’t be known by ordinary people. So let’s pretend today’s events never happened. We still don’t know each other. Goodbye.” With that, Su Chunfeng turned to leave.

“Hey, wait.” Qian Ming quickly stepped forward to stop Su Chunfeng, surprised. “Y-you, how did you know I have a problem?”

“Your biggest problem isn’t that you set up that small Arcane Array and suffered Natural Backlash without realizing it.” Su Chunfeng said calmly. “It’s that you’re like a frog in a well, thinking too highly of yourself. You practice esoteric techniques recklessly without proper understanding, and now you’re weak and sickly, struggling to continue. You’re constantly at risk of Qi Deviation/Demonic Possession.”

Hearing Su Chunfeng pinpoint the exact predicament he was facing, Qian Ming couldn’t help but shiver with a chill.

Especially since Su Chunfeng immediately mentioned his secret of setting up an Arcane Array, calling it just a small array as if it was beneath his notice. Moreover, the latter part of Su Chunfeng’s words carried a stern, superior tone, mercilessly tearing off Qian Ming’s mask of false pride and offering severe criticism… as if slapping him hard across the face twice.

For a moment, Qian Ming stammered, unsure of what to say.

Su Chunfeng stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, his expression calm and tone even. “Actually, you can be considered a genius in practicing esoteric techniques. You just don’t know how big the world is, so you think all practitioners have the same experiences as you. So, you just want to learn some esoteric knowledge from me that you don’t know, hoping to find a solution to your current predicament through it, right?”

“This, this…” Qian Ming, having his true thoughts exposed, felt increasingly awkward.

“After you go back, stop practicing and dismantle that small Arcane Array.” Su Chunfeng said gently, in the tone of a senior. “Remember, Art Casting and setting up arrays will both incur proportional backlash from nature depending on the scale of the technique or array. Moreover, places like schools are especially unsuitable for casual Art Casting and array setting.”

“Wh-why?” Qian Ming stammered.

“We’ll talk about that later.” Su Chunfeng shook his head with a smile, turned, and walked away. Over his shoulder, he calmly left a final remark. “You’re not bad. At least you know to keep the identity of an occultist secret. Otherwise, your family would have been ruined long ago.”

Qian Ming immediately felt a chill run down his spine.

He stood dumbfounded by the snowy edge of the playground, watching the slender figure gradually disappear into the thick night. In his heart, an endless mix of shame, pleasant surprise, and excitement welled up.