Astral Apostle

After visiting the Exploration Bureau, Zhou Jing spent the next few days attending classes during the day and astral traveling at night.

Chen Feng and Bill, the two apostles, were currently in a stable situation, and no one would provoke them for a while. He would routinely project onto them alternately and flip through their tlogs. He was only dealing with some daily matters and checking the results of their cultivation to let his two brothers develop steadily.

Soon, it would be three months before they entered school. The date of the mid-term competition was getting closer and closer.

The various faculties had long begun to prepare. As time approached, the atmosphere in the academy gradually became restless. The school's intranet was also warming up. The experts of the three faculties had all been analyzed on the forums.

Zhou Jing had previously joined the Crown Faculty and was nurtured as a future leader, but he did not need to participate in the mid-term competition.

The president, Deng Yunjie, had said that the mid-term and end of the semester were the stage for the older students. The first-year students could only be spectators and watch the older students perform in the audience, so Zhou Jing was not pressured.

However, compared to the mid-term competition, he was more looking forward to the official intersection period between Plane D19 and the main world. The time was about the same time as when the mid-term competition started.

According to the new information, there were different possibilities in the way explorers would interact with the natives. He could not wait to come into contact with the explorers as an apostle to test the situation.

As for how to differentiate between explorers, other than obtaining information from the Exploration Bureau, he could also use the Great Divination of the Heavenly Origin of Mt Qingliang.

Zhou Jing started laying out his plans.

...

Year 13 of Xinghe, winter.

Great Xia Dynasty, Capital City.

Heavy snow fell, and the entire city was clad in silver. The pedestrians on the street were all wearing felt hats and thick cotton clothes.

The palace was located in the north and faced the south. Every inch of land around it was expensive, and it was mostly the residence of high-ranking officials and nobles.

Among the many mansions was a Daoist temple.

This Daoist temple had a golden plaque with the words "Divine Firmament Spirit Rushing Temple'' written on it. It was actually signed with the title of the current Emperor, a calligraphy treasure bestowed by the emperor.

Everyone in the capital knew about it. This was a Daoist temple that the Emperor had specially built for "Divine Firmament Wind Spirit Daoist", the "Thunder Sect's Immortal", and "Heavenly Secrets Sect Master", Ling Fengzi.

In the nearly 200 years that Great Xia had been established, there were only a handful of Daoists who could obtain the Emperor's favor. In the past few decades, Ling Fengzi was the only one who could do so. He was almost considered a trusted aide by the Emperor.

Therefore, many people often came to curry favor with them. Those who entered and left the Divine Firmament Spirit Rushing Temple were either high-ranking officials or nobles.

As Perfected Master Windwalker's reputation spread, there were constantly foreign nobles entering the capital just to visit.

In just two years after he entered the capital, he had completely become a living immortal that was praised by the world. There were even rumors that he was akin to the Imperial Preceptor.

At this moment, Ling Fengzi was standing in the courtyard, looking up at the heavy snow. From time to time, he would reach out to catch the snowflakes.

He was wearing a simple Daoist robe and had a horsetail whisk in his hand, giving off an otherworldly aura.

Beside him were the accompanying disciples. They were all wearing black and white Daoist robes and holding paper umbrellas to shield him from the snow.

"Master, the snow is heavy. Why don't you enter the house?" A disciple asked carefully.

"If I'm not in the snow, how can I admire the snow? Only by being in the world can I return to nature…"

Ling Fengzi's tone was indifferent.

"Master is right." Whether or not the disciples understood, they quickly agreed.

At this moment, Ling Fengzi's eyes changed slightly and he became lively.

At this moment, it silently changed from placement mode to Zhou Jing personally projecting himself.

Zhou Jing composed himself and looked at the sky before turning to leave.

"Why are you standing here? Why aren't you entering the house?"

"Huh? Didn't you say that you were enjoying the snow of the world?"

The disciples were stunned.

Zhou Jing turned around and pretended to be an expert as he slowly spewed crap, "The inside and outside of the house are all heaven and earth. There are no rules to begin with. You guys are too pretentious."

Your grandmother, you say whatever you want to say don't you…..

The disciples complained in their hearts, but they did not dare to refute. They quickly followed, not daring to say or ask anything.

Zhou Jing sat down in the room, and a disciple brought over a bowl of hot tea with both hands.

He took the tea bowl and took a casual sip before sizing up the disciples present.

These disciples subconsciously straightened their backs when he glanced at them.

Zhou Jing could not help but recall. After confirming that Bill did not set any rules for disciples to stay with him, he felt relieved.

Bill was in Ning Tian and had followed the Emperor back. So far, he had been in the capital for two years.

In the past two years, the number of times Zhou Jing had 'slept' in Bill's body was far fewer than the number of times he had with Chen Feng. Most of the time, Bill was in placement mode and acted automatically according to the set plan.

There were some deviations during this period, but he had more or less achieved his goal.

The most important thing was to increase the Emperor's trust. Bill had done this very well. He had used medicinal pills to nourish the Emperor's body, and the effect was obvious, thus gaining his trust.

In his opinion, the core reason was him successfully reviving the Emperor's little bro… although this was not part of his plan.

In order to maintain his image as an expert, Zhou Jing did not intend to pick up his old profession. He only refined some medicinal pills to nourish the body and delay aging.

However, because the Emperor had enjoyed too much when he was young, he had a problem of impotence to begin with. After being nourished by medicinal pills, his body became healthier and healthier, consolidating his foundation and nurturing his essence. He had indirectly cured the "Illness" and was invigorated for a second time.

Zhou Jing was very helpless about this. He felt that his reputation had been ruined, and his image as an expert had been tainted with a trace of wretchedness.

He suspected that the third apostle, Bill, had a hidden talent. That was, no matter what medicine he created, there was a certain chance of adding an aphrodisiac effect. He could never escape this fate of being an aphrodisiac master.

What was an aphrodisiac master? He had cured both the symptoms and the root cause of illness!

(TL Note: The word "aphrodisiac" is made up of the two characters "spring" (often used as an innuendo for sexual stuff), and "medicine".)

However, although the method was crooked, it at least deepened the Emperor's favor and obtained a lot of titles and treasures. This was how this Daoist temple came about.

Now that he had become a popular person in front of the Emperor, many officials could not sit still anymore. They came to curry favor with him, and his connections expanded greatly. He knew most of the civil and military officials in the court and could be considered a celebrity.

As his reputation and connections increased, his status in the Imperial Astronomer Bureau also became more and more extraordinary.

The current Imperial Astronomers were mainly controlled by the Jade Cauldron Sect and had always neglected and ostracized him, an uninvited guest. However, as the favor he received deepened, the Jade Cauldron Sect did not dare to act rashly.

Moreover, Zhou Jing did not fight for authority within the bureau. The Jade Cauldron Sect gradually stopped caring about him, and everyone lived in harmony.

In addition, Zhou Jing had already entered the gate of the Righteous Heart Sect in the martial generation of the Sect Leader. He could learn many spell techniques, including the Great Divination of the Heavenly Origin.

Because his divine powers were astonishing and he had the Emperor's favor, although he had joined the Daoist sect, they did not have any requirements for him and allowed him to do whatever he wanted.

In order to have more people to use, Zhou Jing had been accepting disciples. There were both rich children and civilians.

As more and more disciples appeared, he simply established the Heavenly Secrets Sect. In name, it was a subsidiary of the Righteous Heart Sect. Naturally, he moved a pile of Daoist books from the mountain to teach his disciples, saving him the trouble of making up nonsense.

None of these disciples had yet to obtain the true teachings of spells. Most of them only learned some mysterious playthings.

The true abilities that Zhou Jing had taught them were basically only medicine and pharmacology. He wanted them to open a charity hall outside to treat people and increase the reputation of the sect. At most, he would teach them some martial arts.

Currently, the Heavenly Secrets Sect was quite famous in the capital. They had more than a hundred disciples, which was a private force that he could use.

Since he could afford to raise these disciples, he naturally had an extraordinary background. He had always earned money through alchemy, temple worship, and other activities, obtaining money from the rich. Those high-ranking officials and nobles were very respectful and were willing to spend money to support him, so he was very rich now.

Most of this wealth was saved up as reserve funds to support Chen Feng's rebellion.

Zhou Jing did not feel any psychological pressure at all when it came to scamming the money of these rich people. In any case, this money would still be used on them in the end. It was true that they would be the ones that would get the most out of the money.

"The development is quite smooth. Now, I can advance and fool the Emperor, wreak havoc in the court, interact with the nobles and ask about important matters… In the capital, I have a wide network of connections and a transcendent status."

Zhou Jing sorted out Bill's experience and nodded to himself.

Then, he opened the interface and checked Bill's cultivation results.

After two years of cultivation in the capital, the [Elemental Sorcerer] system had already touched the limit of Bill's current aptitude and could no longer be increased. The Gale Spirit had been cultivated to Tier 7, and its power had improved by leaps and bounds.

His current wind speed was extremely astonishing. It was still far from being able to set off a tornado at will, but it was easy to manipulate.

After the [Elemental Sorcerer] system reached the upper limit of his aptitude, he focused on practicing the spells of the Cooling Mountain, especially the Great Divination of the Heavenly Origin. He had made some progress over time.

Under the enhancement of the long-term Accelerated Learning, his level of sorcery was about equivalent to more than ten years of hard work by ordinary people. He could already use it proficiently. However, due to the lack of relevant aptitude, his growth in sorcery was gradually stagnating, and he had also encountered a bottleneck.

After officially cultivating the spells of this world, he realized that although their strength was far lower than that of elemental sorcerers, their abilities were much richer.

With the trend of this world's "Essence Qi Revival", there was a chance that these spells would evolve into stronger methods and become true "divine powers". At that time, the supernatural level of this world might increase.

"Bill's current combat strength is about the same as an immortal in this world. Even if he continues to develop, there won't be much room for improvement. Looks like it's time to do something…"

Zhou Jing pondered to himself.

Just as he was thinking, a disciple in charge of reception walked into the house and bowed.

"Master, there are a few people outside asking to see you."

Zhou Jing came back to his senses and casually asked, "Who is it?"

"The leader calls himself Lu Longchuan. He said that they're from the Heavenly King Stronghold and want to visit Master."

Zhou Jing paused and raised his eyebrows as he recalled where he had heard this name before.

The Heavenly King Stronghold… Ever since they were recruited, they had been dealing with the bandits in Northern Yan and Eastern Tai. It had been a year and a half since then.

Not long ago, the Heavenly King Stronghold had finally pacified the bandits in the two areas. The Emperor had specially summoned them to the capital to accept the rewards.

According to the information Bill had obtained from the court officials, the Imperial Court intended to send the Heavenly King Stronghold to Huyang to suppress the bandits there.

Ling Fengzi's identity was not like Chen Feng's, who was on good terms with the Green Forest. On the surface, everyone was not on the same side at all.

He did not know if the people from the Heavenly King Stronghold were here just to get to know him or if they had other motives…

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes at this note.