A grand and majestic painting filled with mystery and wonder silently appeared deep within Ruo Ximeng’s sea of consciousness.
Vast skies and emerald seas stretched across the scroll, with countless strands of purple mist rising and curling.
Faint, ethereal sounds of celestial music echoed through the scene.
Anyone who held faith in this vision would find their Dao heart firm and unwavering as if carved from stone.
In cultivation, such a person would never falter, never suffer mishaps, and—most remarkably—might even receive the blessing of the heavens themselves.
However, at this moment, Ruo Ximeng was still just a novice in cultivation.
How could she possibly know that this unintentional moment had granted her a fortune beyond imagination?
Su Chen had no idea either.
He didn’t know that in just a brief moment, something so astonishing had occurred within Ruo Ximeng.
But seeing the look of determined clarity on her face, Su Chen was quite satisfied.
Thus, this warm and productive night quietly passed.
***
The next morning arrived, and everything seemed as usual.
As Su Chen debated whether to try one of the Imperial City’s famed chefs, or to rope the Divine General of Dayan—no, wait, persuade her—to cook for him again, the Imperial Mentor System suddenly spoke in a rare, serious tone.
[Host, although I’m completely in awe of your shamelessness—so much so that I no longer have the strength to complain or resist—]
[Still, there’s one thing I must seriously remind you of!]
Su Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It wasn’t often the system spoke this solemnly, so he was genuinely curious.
[Host! Ruo Ximeng went through a great ordeal and barely escaped with her life. Her body is still extremely weak.]
[Having her continue practicing only the Qi-Guiding and Heart-Calming Technique won’t be enough. You need to teach her a proper cultivation method!]
The system saw itself as a conscientious, righteous, and morally upright entity.
It couldn’t just sit by and watch Su Chen lead a promising disciple astray!
“That makes sense!”
The system was stunned.
Su Chen had actually stayed silent for a long while, and then—shockingly—he agreed with it for once.
In Su Chen’s view, Ruo Ximeng’s cultivation didn’t really matter all that much.
However, having some cultivation would help strengthen her body and extend her lifespan.
Besides, her current condition really was quite poor.
After all, her sacred bone had been dug out, and her bloodline extracted—those weren’t things one could just bounce back from.
But what Su Chen didn’t know was that Ruo Ximeng had already awakened the Human Emperor’s Sacred Vein.
Not only that, even the awe-inspiring, world-shaking, heaven-and-earth-trembling Primordial Star Technique was now quietly running on auto-cultivation inside her body.
‘Her physique? How could it possibly still be weak?’
But neither Su Chen nor the Imperial Mentor System had any idea.
To them, Ruo Ximeng was still just a fragile little white rabbit who had barely survived a disaster.
[Host, have you decided what cultivation technique you want to teach that girl?]
The system was clearly excited, eager to know what Su Chen had in mind.
“I’ve decided.”
Su Chen nodded slightly, speaking with a self-satisfied tone.
[What cultivation technique are you going to teach her?]
The system pressed for details.
“No, I mean I’ve decided that you should be the one to teach her!”
Su Chen answered with perfect confidence.
To him, the system was the real expert when it came to cultivation techniques.
“Ahem…”
The system was utterly stunned.
How could it have guessed that this was what Su Chen had in mind when he said he’d made up his mind?
[Host, I’ve told you multiple times already. Due to the violent damage you inflicted on me earlier, I’m still recovering. My instructional functions are completely offline!]
The system sounded exasperated.
It had no idea when it would be fully operational again.
“Not my problem,” Su Chen replied casually.
“Either think of a proper cultivation technique to teach Ruo Ximeng—or, you know what to do.”
Su Chen let out a cold laugh.
This kid just had to stir up trouble for no reason.
‘Let me tell you this—if I can’t solve the problem, then I’ll just deal with the system that raised it!’
‘Uh…’
***
The Imperial Mentor System was stunned.
‘There was actually a solution like that?’
But under Su Chen’s shameless threat, the system had no choice but to compromise.
The only problem was—it didn’t actually know any techniques.
After racking its brain for a long time, it finally spoke with careful deliberation.
[Why not teach her how to use her strength? What’s the point of having power if she doesn’t know how to use it? Without control or technique, it’s completely wasted!]
Having stayed by Su Chen’s side for so long, the Imperial Mentor System had picked up a thing or two from him.
Now, it spoke in a grand and solemn tone, acting as if it were delivering divine wisdom.
Clearly, Su Chen’s philosophy was just “overpower everything with brute force,” but now the system had rebranded it as “technique” and “method” to sound more profound.
‘That makes some sense. Go on.’
Su Chen gave a slight nod. Brute strength could overpower skill, yes—but only if that strength was overwhelmingly superior.
If the power was evenly matched, or worse, if the user was weaker, then methods and techniques became especially important.
‘Ahem…’
[There are countless ways and techniques to utilize strength. I’ll start with a few simple ones—like lifting immense weights with ease…]
***
After a long conversation between the Imperial Mentor System and Su Chen, Su Chen began to ponder.
Then, without hesitation, he went to find Ruo Ximeng.
“Master, are you going to teach me techniques to control my strength?”
At that moment, Ruo Ximeng looked at Su Chen with a face full of anticipation.
She had already been cultivating for a while, but hadn’t learned any real methods or ways to use her spiritual power.
“Exactly. The ways to use strength are numerous and complex. Simply put, there are…”
Su Chen paused mid-sentence.
The truth was, he hadn’t really listened to a word the system said.
But that didn’t matter.
The most supreme techniques were always expressed in the simplest ways!
“The techniques of using strength can be divided into explosive force, sustained force, and penetrative force.”
As soon as those words left Su Chen’s mouth, the Imperial Mentor System collapsed internally.
[Did I say anything even remotely like that?]
[I said things like lifting great weights with ease!]
“Explosive force? Sustained force? Penetrative force?”
Ruo Ximeng’s beautiful eyes were filled with confusion.
She clearly didn’t understand Su Chen’s explanation.
“That’s right, Ximeng. Look—this is a sheet of paper.”
Su Chen pulled out a piece of rice paper and casually tossed it into the air.
Then, with a powerful punch, he sent a shockwave through the air.
The paper was instantly reduced to ashes.
“This is explosive force! Watch again.”
He tossed out another sheet of paper and followed it with another punch.
Boom!
A sharp cracking sound rang out as the paper once again disintegrated.
“Hahaha… that was also explosive force!”
“Of course, with my current level, I don’t really need to rely on techniques. But you need to learn how to adapt. Train hard, understand?”
Su Chen patted Ruo Ximeng’s shoulder and spoke with full confidence.
“Yes, Master. I understand!”
Ruo Ximeng cupped her fists toward Su Chen and began preparing to train with determination.
[Host, be honest—is this just you punching paper for fun?]
The Imperial Mentor System finally couldn’t hold back and questioned him directly.