Reversing the Milky Way

The so-called Affairs Hall is a department specially established by the White Palace Academy to take on civil affairs. Its responsibility is to resolve various commissions from the market, and the Supervisory Office in White Maple City also has the same responsibility.

Upon entering the Hall of Affairs, Bai Cheng noticed that there were significantly more people here than elsewhere, with many of them standing in front of the circular stone pillar in the center of the hall, gazing intently.

As Bai Cheng approached, he discovered that the enormous circular stone pillar resembled an LCD screen, densely covered with glowing text detailing various commissions, each accompanied by a specific numerical score.

After looking around, Bai Cheng noticed that all the other students were wearing formal student uniforms, and he was the only one who looked out of place.

Just then, he suddenly felt someone pat his shoulder.

"Hey, who are you? Don't you know that outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering this area?"

Bai Cheng turned around and saw a man dressed in the robes of an academy elder who looked to be around forty years old looking at him with a serious expression. This man was Lin Qingyun, the elder of the Affairs Hall of the White Palace Academy, whose cultivation was at the mid-stage of the Opening Meridian Realm.

After sensing the newcomer's anger, Bai Cheng immediately began to explain his intentions.

After realizing that Bai Cheng had come to find a way to cultivate, Lin Qingyun changed to a kind expression.

"I see. So you came here because you think your cultivation is progressing too slowly? But you've come to the wrong place. Although this is where you exchange for academy points, you can't participate in these commissions with your current status. You should wait until you officially become a student before accepting commissions."

After saying that, Lin Qingyun waved his hand to signal Bai Cheng to leave, while Bai Cheng's face turned ashen.

"Wait! Elder, I just saw that this stone pillar is covered with the details of the requests, but it doesn't seem to specify the level of the participants. Why can't we participate?"

Bai Cheng looked serious. After all, his main purpose in coming to the academy was to be able to enter the Earth Spirit Tower for cultivation. Only the official personnel of the White Palace Academy and the Supervisory Office could enter the Earth Spirit Tower. Unless outsiders had connections, it was almost impossible for them to enter the Earth Spirit Tower for cultivation. This was also the reason why Bai Cheng wanted to enter the White Palace Academy.

After hearing this, Lin Qingyun scrutinized Bai Cheng in front of her.

"You? What do you think the Academy's Affairs Hall is? If we don't handle the entrusted tasks properly, it will damage the reputation of my White Palace Academy! The reason you're not allowed to participate is because your current level is not even high enough to participate in the lowest-level Class C entrusted tasks. This is a clear rule of the Academy, not because I'm deliberately targeting you."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng also looked somewhat worried.

"What is the lowest level of participation required according to the academy's regulations?"

"The lowest level of participation for a commissioned task is C-level, which requires you to be at least at the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. So, I advise you to honestly improve your realm now before trying to accept commissioned tasks."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng took a deep breath.

'Is there really no other way? It seems we can only proceed slowly now.'

Thinking of this, Bai Cheng bid farewell to Lin Qingyun and was about to leave the Affairs Hall when a student suddenly walked towards him.

"Elder Lin, we would like to take on the mission from Kulinling, but we are short of someone to collect materials. How about this young man takes on the role?"

The newcomer looked young, almost the same age as Bai Cheng.

"Hmm, Hu Chen, are you sure you want to bring this kid along?"

"Of course, Elder Lin, there are many people like him who have just entered the academy and joined the ranks of formal students in order to adapt to and participate in commissioned tasks in advance."

After speaking, Hu Chen looked at Bai Cheng standing to the side.

"Brother, what do you think of my proposal?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng pondered for a moment.

"You make it sound so simple, but what is my reward? As far as I know, the points for these commissions are calculated directly using the academy's identity tokens, but I don't have any right now."

As soon as Bai Cheng said this, a sharp female voice rang out.

"Oh, this new student doesn't seem to have any sense of responsibility. You should know that you're not allowed to participate in commissions from regular students right now. Now that a great opportunity is in front of you, instead of being grateful, you actually want a reward?"

Upon hearing this, a strange emotion welled up in Bai Cheng's heart. He looked up and saw a beautiful young woman approaching Hu Chen's side.

Bai Cheng was also puzzled when he saw the person who came.

"Holy crap, who's this woman? And why does that sound so familiar? Damn, isn't that what my old boss always said when he made me work overtime?! Like, 'The company makes me work overtime because it's a learning opportunity, don't even mention overtime pay!'"

Thinking of this, Bai Cheng couldn't help but picture Cui Yangjian's bloated and fat body.

After getting to know her better, Bai Cheng learned that the woman in front of him was named Meng Wan'er, from the Meng family, a cultivation family in the Xuanwu Hall territory. The man named Hu Chen seemed to be from the Arrow Shadow Sect. He and Meng Wan'er from the Meng family were childhood sweethearts, and both of them were a year older than Bai Cheng.

To Bai Cheng's surprise, both of them were at the early stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Reaching this level at such a young age demonstrated exceptional talent, making them truly outstanding individuals. As for students from other sects studying at the White Palace Academy, there were also rules: they had to contribute to the academy to continue their studies as students. If their contribution points didn't meet the standard within a year, even if they were formal students, they would be expelled.

They had no connection with the independent cultivators of those sects, so their main purpose in entering the White Palace Academy was to cultivate in the Earth Spirit Tower. However, in order to cultivate, they had to exchange for the academy's exclusive points, which was also a way of making these cultivators work for the academy, since there were too many restrictions on entering the Earth Spirit Tower.

Bai Cheng's expression turned serious as he faced Meng Wan'er.

“Young lady, you keep saying you have lofty ideals and moral consciousness. According to your logic, your contributions to the academy are your honor and the academy's honor. Since it is an honor, how can you use your honor to exchange for commission points? This doesn't seem to match your lofty ideals and moral consciousness. Since the academy has given you honor, how can you ask the academy for compensation? Don't you agree?”

Upon hearing this, Meng Wan'er's face immediately turned ugly, and her aura began to rise.

"What did you say?!!"

Just then, Lin Qingyun raised her hand and stepped between the two.

"Enough! Private fights are forbidden in the academy. Don't forget, Bai Cheng, you are not a formal student yet. Even if you want to participate in the commissions of formal students as a handyman, you must at least reach the fifth level of the Spirit Guiding stage."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng silently lowered his head and walked out of the Affairs Hall.

After Bai Cheng left, Meng Wan'er once again showed a disdainful expression.

"This is outrageous! How dare a newcomer who hasn't even been certified be so arrogant!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Chen, who was standing beside him, quickly offered words of comfort.

"Alright, Wan'er, you need to control your temper a bit, after all, there are so many other people watching here."

After speaking, Meng Wan'er noticed the gazes of those around her; they had all witnessed the unpleasant incident between Bai Cheng and Meng Wan'er. At this moment, Hu Chen also turned to Lin Qingyun for clarification.

"By the way, Elder Lin, what was that person's name?"

"Him? He said his name is Bai Cheng."

Upon hearing this, Meng Wan'er and Hu Chen exchanged a glance.

"What?! So he's Bai Cheng?!"

Their surprise stemmed from Bai Cheng's display of a Thunder Spirit physique upon admission to the academy. During Bai Cheng's period of quiet cultivation, his physique had already spread throughout the academy, and everyone knew that another Thunder Spirit physique had arrived.

On the other side, after Bai Cheng walked out of the Affairs Hall in a depressed mood, his mood gradually began to calm down, after all, he had experienced this kind of thing many times before.

"Sigh, it seems that this is the only way to continue cultivating for now. However, it is still necessary to try the so-called Profound Spirit Pill."

Afterwards, Bai Cheng returned to the Jiwu Pavilion, gritted his teeth and spent fifty silver coins to buy two Xuanling Pills before returning to his residence in the academy.

After taking a Profound Spirit Pill, he also began to cultivate. As the effects of the pill began to appear, he could clearly feel that the speed at which he absorbed natural spiritual energy and converted it into spiritual power within his body was at least twice as fast. This feeling was as if every cell in his body had taken a stimulant.

Having cultivated to this point, he roughly understands how spiritual energy circulates and is used within the body. Simply put, after absorbing spiritual energy, each time he circulates it throughout his meridians to complete a small cycle, his meridians undergo slight changes due to the tempering effect of the spiritual energy. These changes are not easily noticeable in a short period of time, but become extremely obvious after prolonged and continuous cultivation.

Once one's own meridians change, the spiritual energy will circulate more and more smoothly within the body. Over time, everything within the body will gradually become filled with spirituality. As the body continues to be circulated with spiritual energy, this spiritual transformation will become more and more significant. This is why cultivators categorize these changes into cultivation levels.

As darkness fell, Bai Cheng finally recovered from his cultivation...

In three hours, he had already circulated his internal energy twice through the microcosmic orbit.

"I see. So this is the effect of the pill. But speaking of which, since the Profound Spirit Pill can accelerate the circulation of spiritual energy in the body, what would happen if we added the Spirit Gathering Pill, which can accelerate the absorption of spiritual energy?"

At this point, he suddenly remembered that he still had a Spirit Gathering Pill. He had bought it specifically for emergencies when he first entered White Maple City. Because the mysterious fragment in his body was constantly absorbing his spiritual power, he always carried it with him in case of emergency.

After taking the Spirit Gathering Pill and the Profound Spirit Pill together, Bai Cheng entered a state of cultivation again. As the effects of the Spirit Gathering Pill took hold, the surrounding spiritual energy began to surge into Bai Cheng's body like a vortex. At this time, Bai Cheng was already extremely sensitive to the spiritual energy in the air. He found that he could not fully experience the effects of the Spirit Gathering Pill while in the house, so he went to the small courtyard outside to start cultivating.

As the vortex of spiritual energy surged once more, the spiritual energy within a radius of tens of meters seemed to be sensed and flowed towards Bai Cheng's courtyard.

As the effects of the Profound Spirit Pill began to take hold, Bai Cheng felt as if his body was a giant conversion machine. He vaguely felt the same way he did when he first cultivated and his spiritual energy was abundant. However, the fragments within him quickly exerted their power again, absorbing all the spiritual energy that Bai Cheng could not absorb.

Three hours later, Bai Cheng recovered his senses in the dark courtyard.

"Wow, that feels so good! It's been so long since I've experienced this exhilarating feeling of cultivation!"

'Although I only circulated my Small Heavenly Circuit twice in three hours, the boost from this area with five times the spiritual energy was equivalent to circulating it ten times in three hours. However, the effect of the Spirit Gathering Pill didn't seem obvious. The spiritual energy was absorbed by the mysterious fragment in my heart before it could be refined. To make the Spirit Gathering Pill's effects manifest, I needed to speed up the Small Heavenly Circuit. Unfortunately, it seems that three hours is my current limit. I can sense that I'm still four or five days away from the fourth level of Spirit Guiding, but to reach the fifth level, it will take at least another month and a half.'

Thinking of this, Bai Cheng tried to manifest the spiritual power within his body again. He had noticed the changes in himself when he was undergoing the physical test.

He can now skillfully gather the spiritual energy within his body into his hand, instead of struggling as before. Although the ball of light in his hand, resembling a Tesla coil, is not large, he considers it a sign of progress.

He then tried to transform the ball of spiritual energy in his hand into another shape, but he sensed in his mind that he encountered great resistance when he tried to transform the ball of spiritual energy into another shape.

Finally, when he transformed the sphere of light into something resembling a dagger, Bai Cheng suddenly felt a sense of disorientation. He realized that he couldn't yet transform the sphere of light into the shape he wanted. As for why it resembled a dagger, it was because the dagger Bai Cheng was holding wasn't the sharp shape he desired, but rather something like a chibi-style prop.

Upon seeing this, Bai Cheng was speechless. He could sense that once he reached the fifth level of Spirit Guiding, his body should be able to skillfully control the spiritual power in his hands.

After thinking for a while, Bai Cheng suddenly stood up and looked at a big tree in the courtyard in front of him.

With a throwing motion, the dagger in Bai Cheng's hand flew swiftly towards the trunk of the tree. After a flurry of falling leaves, the dagger, formed from Bai Cheng's own spiritual energy, was firmly embedded in the tree trunk.

However, in the blink of an eye, the spiritual energy dagger turned into specks of spiritual light and dissipated in the air.

Upon witnessing this scene, Bai Cheng felt a long-lost sense of joy.