Chapter 21: Making a Wish

When the two entered the classroom, the many students already seated there cast them looks of schadenfreude.

Li Mochen knew that their being cornered by Hancock must have already spread throughout the academy.

The schools in this world were similar to the outer and lower courtyards of their Shenxiao Sect, and the student situation was likely much the same. Back when Li Mochen first began learning immortal arts in the Shenxiao Lower Courtyard, what he loved most was listening to others' gossip.

"What are you looking at?"

William, annoyed by these stares, glared back. "Careful, or I'll beat you all up!"

Thus, most in the classroom fell silent and withdrew their gazes, lowering their heads to focus on their books.

To maintain its advancement rate, Linden Academy usually grouped together self-funded students and the top-performing public-funded students when dividing classes. The 10th Grade B class where Li Mochen and William were, along with the neighboring A and C classes, were the cream of the entire grade.

So most students here were the teachers' darlings, the kind who couldn't afford to provoke someone like William.

Yet a few among them looked quite disdainful, clearly unimpressed by William's threat, just unwilling to bother with him.

Then there were two girls in the class who kept looking at Li Mochen, their faces full of worry.

But Li Mochen looked straight ahead, acting as if he didn't see them, and walked in to find his seat. The two girls were quite attractive—the kind that could make at least forty percent of men in this world fall for them at first sight. But to Wenjian Taoran, women and such were but fleeting clouds.

So after sitting down, he focused his attention on the history textbook before him.

The body's original owner had excellent grades, undoubtedly a model student of good character and high marks. But the blow to his family and his part-time jobs had affected his studies.

Take this history textbook, for instance. If it were a year ago, the original owner would have already thoroughly mastered it and started delving into extracurricular readings to broaden his knowledge. But now, he could only ensure he didn't fall behind the overall curriculum.

In Li Mochen's memory, the content only went up to page seventy-three. What followed was world history, which greatly interested him.

Everything in this world felt novel to him, including its history.

But soon, Li Mochen grew bored and sighed. Though his spirit was severely injured, his accumulated Dao foundation remained, and his memory and comprehension were still formidable. He had only skimmed the history textbook once and already understood its contents thoroughly, even able to recite them backward.

"The Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Reformed Church of Light, the Renaissance. I must say, Western culture does have its merits—"

"This world's Eastern ancient kingdom is truly useless, conquered by foreign tribes, forced to shave heads and change attire, its civilization extinguished. Though I don't know the specifics, the cause was likely factional infighting."

This was like the demonic calamity in their Yuanqiong Realm. In the early days, the righteous immortal sects were exceptionally powerful, enough to crush those demons. But the various sects schemed against each other, endless internal strife, each pulling the others back, allowing the demons to grow and eventually cause disaster.

Back then, he had warned the Central Plains sects many times, calling for a united effort to eliminate the demons. But what good did it do? Others only thought his Shenxiao Sect had ulterior motives, wanting to use them as pawns. Each sect only swept the snow before their own door, ignoring the frost on others' roofs.

And though this history textbook in Li Mochen's hand didn't detail the reasons for the fall of the Eastern ancient kingdom with the dynastic title 'Ming,' he estimated his guess was close to the truth.

Unfortunately, the world history content for this grade ended there. What followed was modern history, which the original owner hadn't elected at the start of the school year. Li Mochen could only infer some follow-up from what he had read in newspapers and magazines.

"Still, in 3882 of the Light Calendar, over a hundred years ago, a group of capable people emerged. Good, this shows the nation's fortune wasn't exhausted. To some extent, it was a casting off of old ills and a rebirth through fire—a groundbreaking re-creation of the Hua people."

"But this world is truly vast. Just this America alone has an area of forty-seven million square kilometers. Is it the current hegemon among nations, the world's strongest power?"

"On the surrounding oceans, there are several continents shrouded in mist, yet to be truly explored. Their areas are astonishing; the smallest is over a hundred million square kilometers. They are home to many mythological creatures, gathering places for numerous monsters and magical beasts."

"Besides that, there is a Dark World located on the yin side of the world, running parallel to this Bright World. It is said that land there is even more vast, its boundaries still unknown. But this Dark World is also extremely dangerous; the minimum requirement to enter is being a Level 10+ Outlaw. In earlier times, those powerful dark creatures even repeatedly invaded this Bright World."

Li Mochen mused and sighed, then his mind wandered, wondering when he would receive that windfall today.

This was not because he was obsessed with money, but because before leaving home, he had made a wish to his 'Shenxiao Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Pagoda.'

This supreme treasure he had obtained in his youth likely had five functions.

First, divination. As early as the Golden Core stage, Taoran had learned a technique called Zhou Tian Dou Shu, which allowed him to consult the Zhou Tian stars and the 'Shenxiao Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Pagoda' to divine fortune and misfortune on important occasions. Though he was no master of numerology, his divinations were usually accurate.

Second, stabilizing fortune. The 'Shenxiao Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Pagoda' could consume a certain amount of primordial energy and merit power to help stabilize one's fortune, keeping it constant at a certain state.

Before the final battle with the demons, Wenjian Taoran had used this function. Based on past experience, the state should have lasted at least another month before wearing off. But now, he wasn't sure.

Theoretically, it should still be within the effective period, since only seven days had passed. His experience at Cai's Chinese Restaurant seemed to confirm this.

Third, helping to avert disasters and resolve difficulties, by using one's own fortune to help others dissolve calamities; or conversely, transferring one's own misfortunes onto others.

But this function was somewhat useless.

A person's fortune is, to some extent, constant. If it increases today, it will decrease tomorrow. Extremes meet; when things reach their peak, they decline; when they hit rock bottom, they improve.

If he gave his fortune to others, his own would decrease. Overuse would invite unnecessary calamities upon himself.

And transferring his own misfortunes to others also came with various restrictions and taboos; if not handled properly, it would still bring disaster upon himself.

Fourth, accumulating merit. This was the true wonder of the 'Shenxiao Spirit Fortune Purple Gold Pagoda.' It could convert a person's merit into their own fortune. Whether it was divination, stabilizing fortune, or the ability to help others avert disasters, all could rely on merit power to avoid various aftereffects and side effects.

The last function was wish-making. In short, it could grant the owner's wishes, making them come true.