Chapter Sixteen: Members of the Spiritual Cultivation Hall

"Drunk?" Su Ye's body stiffened slightly. Suddenly, he felt as if his whole being had gone soft—he couldn't help but wonder if Jian Muqian truly had no bones in her body.

Instinctively, his gaze shifted to the driver, but the latter showed no reaction, eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead.

"Didn't you just have two glasses of red wine? How can you be this drunk?" Su Ye reached out, gently supporting Jian Muqian's fragrant shoulders, exerting a bit of strength to move her from his lap.

But with that, Jian Muqian's hair became a tangled mess.

Seemingly annoyed, Jian Muqian slapped Su Ye a couple of times, her rosy lips mumbling as she tried to return to the position she found most comfortable.

This time, her head tilted lightly and came to rest on Su Ye's shoulder, and she wrapped her hand around his arm.

Su Ye was so startled, it felt as though his heart might stop. He realized he had never experienced such intimacy with any girl before.

Back in the day, he had been a prodigy, focused solely on cultivation. Later, when he became a "waste," no girl wanted to be near him. If it weren't for Jiang Liuying always challenging him, he probably wouldn't have spoken to girls at all.

He turned his head slightly, taking in Jian Muqian's long, beautiful eyelashes and radiant face. Especially in her drunken state, she looked sweet enough to kiss.

Just then, Su Ye felt a sudden pressure on his arm—a gentle, soft sensation that sent tingles shooting through his body.

Fortunately, the car soon arrived at the school. Though it was late, Su Ye had already called a female teacher from Jian Muqian's dorm. Watching her being helped back into the school, he finally headed home.

By the time he returned to the Jiang household, it was already midnight.

Su Ye's mind kept dwelling on how to control the heavenly thunder within him. This was nothing like the nine thunder pulses he had previously mastered—this was heavenly thunder.

He rummaged through his pockets and found the business card Yu Tianhua had given him.

"Hmm? Why does this card feel so different?" Su Ye noticed that, aside from Yu Tianhua's number, the card's material and the patterned design on the back were unusual. It was clearly an expensive card.

"Temple of Spiritual Cultivation?" he read softly. Below was a website address that immediately piqued his interest.

All of China knew that the website for the Temple of Spiritual Cultivation was the hottest around. The country was vast, and even though many had started cultivating, no one could do without modern technology. The Temple of Spiritual Cultivation was a gathering place for countless Guides.

Naturally, many martial artists would post questions there. If a Guide responded, it was considered a tremendous fortune.

Su Ye grew excited and dashed up to the third floor, determined to borrow Jiang Liuying’s computer.

It was already midnight, but it was Saturday—who would sleep so early?

As he approached Jiang Liuying's door, he paused, hearing a strange noise—a woman's suppressed panting and other intense sounds.

Buzz—

Su Ye's mind buzzed. What was happening? What was Jiang Liuying doing?

Panicked, he banged on the door. "Liuying, Liuying..."

Suddenly, the room fell completely silent. The sounds vanished.

In that moment, Su Ye realized what was going on, and his hand dropped from the door.

Even if he had never deliberately watched such things, the boys in class often talked about it. That sound—it was unmistakably the "clap clap clap" of such activities.

And, it was clearly not Jiang Liuying's voice.

"You—you rotten Su Ye! What are you doing?!" Jiang Liuying's voice was shaken.

Su Ye was about to turn away. He coughed awkwardly. "I, I just wanted to borrow your laptop."

"What for? Why don't you use your own? I'm not lending it!" Jiang Liuying replied, her voice trembling.

Su Ye gritted his teeth. "You cut my internet cable, and changed the Wi-Fi password! Come on, just let me use it for a bit—I'll return it right away."

Before he'd finished, he heard the slap of slippers approaching, and the door flew open. Jiang Liuying appeared, flushed and lightly perspiring, snapping, "What's so urgent?"

Su Ye produced the Temple of Spiritual Cultivation card, flicking it between his fingers. "Help me log in—I need to ask a couple of questions."

"A Guide’s card? Where did you get this?" Jiang Liuying was immediately intrigued, snatching it from him and hurrying back inside.

Su Ye glanced around her room—it was remarkably tidy and filled with plush toys. His own messy den paled in comparison.

As Jiang Liuying opened her laptop, a paused movie was still on the screen.

The scene was... intense.

With a yelp, Jiang Liuying almost closed the laptop, then quickly regained her composure, closed the window, and coughed. "Ugh, you ruined my late-night drama binge. I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow's update... Let's check your Temple of Spiritual Cultivation first."

Her cheeks were burning as her fingers danced across the keyboard, entering the website and the referral code from the card before logging in.

"Temple of Spiritual Cultivation, huh? There are so many Guides here!" She clicked rapidly, exclaiming from time to time.

"Stop fangirling and focus," Su Ye urged. "I need to ask about heavenly thunder—see who might answer."

"Each question costs ten thousand, and there's no guarantee a Guide will reply. Do you even have that kind of money?" Jiang Liuying shot him a scornful look.

"I do. I have tens of thousands left," Su Ye replied.

"You scoundrel! You eat my food, live in my house, and still borrowed money from me last time. Yet you have tens of thousands? Where’s my scissors?" Enraged, Jiang Liuying crawled across the bed, searching for her scissors.

"What are you doing, mother-in-law? It’s late—just go to sleep. I’ll take the laptop!" Su Ye grabbed the computer and ran.

Back in his room, Su Ye earnestly browsed the Temple of Spiritual Cultivation's questions. With his current access, he could only read first-level queries.

"Wait, can't I register as a member and answer others' questions? I've had experience with thunder techniques before..." he mused.

He registered and uploaded his insights on thunder cultivation, not caring whether anyone would read them.

He kept scrolling until past five in the morning, stopping only when the laptop ran out of battery.

Early the next day, Jiang Liuying woke him by kicking him.

"Hey, hey! Are you a pig? Do you know what time it is? Get up!" She was merciless, her white sneakers thudding against him.

"What’s your problem?" Su Ye mumbled sleepily.

"Get up, come with me to Beiqiao in Nansha! Uncle Zhong had an incident there, and we need to check on him," Jiang Liuying said hurriedly.

"An incident?" Su Ye shot upright. Uncle Zhong had always been kind to him.

Given the Jiang family's unique status, their stewards and staff were always coming and going.

"He's fine, just ran into something odd. He asked me to bring a sword over, and I don't want to go alone." Jiang Liuying patted the sword, carefully wrapped in cloth—it was clearly valuable.

"You need me just to deliver something? That's not fair. Last time, I braved the rain with Xiaowen, and now you’re dragging me along?" Su Ye protested.

"Quit whining. Who said life was fair? I'm gorgeous and you’re not—where’s the fairness in that? Come on! From Uncle Zhong's tone, it sounded urgent. Otherwise, he wouldn't have told me to take the sword from the underground vault. Let's go." For once, there was a serious look on her face.

Su Ye nodded, hastily got up, and was dragged out before he could even put on his socks.

Soon, they arrived at Beiqiao in Nansha.

There, Su Ye discovered the old bridge was being demolished for reconstruction. Much of the earth beneath had already been excavated, and the area was cordoned off; the workers had been sent away.

Beneath the bridge, a massive collapse had opened a dark, yawning hole, the depths of which were impossible to see.

When Uncle Zhong saw Jiang Liuying arrive with the sword, his expression was grave as he took it from her. "You two, stay in the car!" he ordered.