The Forging Method and the Three Diagrams

Nanmen Xiu’s words were like Pandora’s box.

Even though they were likely to be force-fed more dog food, there wasn’t a single person present who didn’t want to hear it.

Gossip is an undeniable human instinct, especially gossip about the outstanding individuals right beside you.

Seeing the others nodding like chickens pecking at rice, Nanmen Xiu could no longer hide her sly fox tail.

“That’s all for tonight’s class. I’ll cover those contents next time. Make sure to attend on time, okay? I’ll only explain it once. If you miss it, I won’t go over it again.”

Huang Xiu’s expression shifted slightly.

What a clever scheme from Teacher Nanmen Xiu—using herself as bait to lure them in!

But it was just listening, probably no harm.

“Just… is class over already?”

She glanced at her phone: 7:40 PM. This psychological counseling class was shorter than she’d expected.

“Mm, this isn’t a traditional course. You’ve just enrolled and don’t have much time. Besides, I need to go home and rest too.”

Nanmen Xiu explained with a smile, then, with the air of a big sister, slapped her phone down on the table.

“Come on, everyone, let’s create a group chat. From now on, if anything good comes up, I’ll notify you first.”

After setting up the group chat and adding each other as friends, this unorthodox psychological counseling class—one that had caught Huang Xiu completely off guard—finally ended.

The teachers’ dormitory area was separate from the students’.

So on the way back, only Huang Xiu and the other three were on the road.

It was nearly eight o’clock. The campus streetlights were already lit, clusters of warm orange light pushing back the darkness.

Every building within sight was brightly lit.

Inside were exploration department students burning the midnight oil in cultivation and research department students busy with experiments.

With its selective admission process, Tiandu University had a strong learning atmosphere.

Everyone was striving, fighting for a better future.

As a result, there were few idle people strolling late at night on campus.

The entire campus was very quiet.

Walking back to the dorm, Huang Xiu’s eyes reflected the lights like a sky full of stars.

The four of them remained silent, not a word spoken the entire way.

Even knowing they were all the same kind, it was still too difficult for them, as Transformers, to chat cheerfully at a first meeting.

And so, in silence, they arrived at the dormitory area, exchanged polite goodbyes, and dispersed to their own rooms.

“Today’s experience… is really off the charts!”

Huang Xiu pushed open her door, kicked off her shoes, and immediately collapsed onto the bed, burying her face in the pillow.

Just meeting so many Transformers out of nowhere was already absurd enough.

And on top of that, there was a teacher who had originally been male but had undergone complete feminization, sharing her love life with them.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

“I wonder if Teacher Xu Gaoxuan knows that Teacher Nanmen Xiu used to be a guy.”

Huang Xiu’s voice came muffled from the pillow.

He probably does.

After all, since Teacher Nanmen Xiu had confessed her Transformer identity to them, the students, there was no reason not to tell Teacher Xu Gaoxuan.

Maybe it was common knowledge among the faculty.

“But still, it’s insane—falling for a man, falling for a woman who was once a man.”

Huang Xiu shook her head.

That kind of mutual feeling was way too rare.

She was about to get a glass of water when she suddenly noticed that on her desk, which usually only had her computer, there was now a thick book.

“What’s this?”

Huang Xiu flipped off the bed with a small leap, landing in front of the desk.

A solid, hardcover book sat quietly on top of the computer.

The book was by no means small—it was as wide as her laptop.

The cover was pure white, with no title.

It didn’t have many pages, maybe ten or so.

But each page was made of a glass-like material, about the thickness of an exercise book.

Huang Xiu hefted it; the book weighed around twenty jin.

“This is probably the heaviest book I’ve ever held! The weight of knowledge!”

The book looked sturdy enough to use as a weapon, she figured.

A sharp corner to the head would be enough to take down even an Anomaly user.

Curious, she opened the book, and the first thing she saw was:

[White Tower Lineage Basic Hammering Method, Version 5.2]

[Author: Tiandu University]

[Warning: This book is prohibited from being photographed, shared, or taken off campus. Violators will be severely punished.]

“No way, it’s the Hammering Method!” Huang Xiu was thrilled.

In class, Teacher Wen Zhidie had said they would receive the materials needed for Hammering Method cultivation, but she never imagined Tiandu University, which hadn’t even issued textbooks, would be this efficient.

The morning’s class, and by evening the cultivation materials were already delivered to the dorm.

“Finally, I can start cultivating!”

Her heart racing, hands trembling, Huang Xiu had been waiting for this day like a flower withering from anticipation.

She ignored the warning and continued flipping.

The pages were still that glass-like material.

But in the center of the second page was embedded a stone slab that took up eighty percent of the page.

The stone was ordinary, nothing special that Huang Xiu could see.

But what was on it was not ordinary: carved into it was the visualization diagram she had seen in class.

Though it wasn’t the same stone as in the photo, the patterns and lines of the diagram were identical.

Below the stone slab on the page was a line of small text describing the diagram’s effects:

[White Lotus Visualization Diagram (Quicksilver Grade): Suitable for the White Tower Lineage. Slightly increases mental strength and enhances control over abilities.]

“Special effects…”

Huang Xiu remembered Teacher Wen Zhidie mentioning this, and explaining the principle behind the Hammering Method’s special effects.

It was roughly because the visualization diagrams themselves came from the Void Realm, possessing an indescribable mystery.

And that mystery, during each visualization, attached itself to their specialized mental energy.

It was harmless.

She flipped further and found that the next two pages were also visualization diagrams.

[Taotie Visualization Diagram (Quicksilver Grade): Suitable for the White Tower Lineage. Slightly increases physical strength and Void Energy level.

Note: During cultivation, you may experience increased appetite as a side effect. If it develops into binge eating, please contact your teacher immediately.]

[Mana Seed Visualization Diagram (Quicksilver Grade): Suitable for the White Tower Lineage. Enhances resistance to mental manipulation-type void arts or abilities, and increases Void Energy recovery speed.]

“Three visualization diagrams, all with different effects.”

Huang Xiu smacked her lips, looking at the three diagrams, and immediately fell into analysis paralysis.

Since the school had issued these three diagrams, they were surely all tested and approved as good products.

Whichever she chose wouldn’t be bad.

“But judging from the ‘Quicksilver Grade’ after the names, these diagrams probably have higher versions.”

Teacher Wen Zhidie might not have had enough time in class to cover this, so Huang Xiu could only speculate on her own.

Since the diagrams had ‘Quicksilver Grade’ appended, there must be higher grades like Gold Grade, Defilement Grade…

You couldn’t switch, right?

Huang Xiu didn’t want to make a wrong choice and regret it forever.

She quickly flipped through the entire book, trying to find any warm tips.

Finally, she did find some.

[School Warm Tip: Choose a visualization diagram according to your own will. Pick the one that suits you. If it doesn’t fit, you can change it at any time.]

“You can change it anytime! Then no problem.”

With the warning gone, Huang Xiu began to analyze which diagram would be best for her.

Just looking at the effects, the Taotie Visualization Diagram was undoubtedly the most appealing.

After all, increasing Void Energy level and physical strength was a pain point for most Anomaly users.

As for the increased appetite, that wasn’t really a side effect.

Tiandu University provided food—no extra meals needed, and it was free…

But Huang Xiu felt this effect wasn’t very suitable for her.

“I rarely engage in close combat. My current Void Energy level already tops all Quicksilver-grade Specials. It’s enough. Increasing it further seems unnecessary.”

Huang Xiu looked at the White Lotus Visualization Diagram.

Mental strength and enhanced control over abilities… That could increase the time she could micromanage her mutated plants.

Seemed pretty good.

“Since I can change it anyway, I’ll go with this.”

Huang Xiu was too lazy to think further and made her decision directly.

As for the Mana Seed Visualization Diagram, it was never in her consideration from the start.

Its two effects were even more useless to her than the Taotie diagram’s.

Having chosen her target, Huang Xiu read through the entire book.

The cultivation methods in the book were much clearer and more detailed than what the teacher had explained in class.

But the precautions Teacher Wen Zhidie had mentioned in class were the accumulated experiences of generations of predecessors.

Many of them were not explicitly stated in the book.

Huang Xiu mentally noted both the class notes from Teacher Wen Zhidie and the precautions she deemed important.

Then, following the book’s instructions, she began her first Hammering Method cultivation as a Special.

Cultivating the Hammering Method felt a bit like daydreaming…

Huang Xiu had felt this way in class.

After starting her personal practice, the feeling became even more pronounced.

She first took a look at the White Lotus Visualization Diagram, then closed her eyes and tried to imagine the shapes of the lines on the stone slab in her mind.

She tried to make them appear clearly in her mind.

But for some reason, she—who had always had a good memory, even stronger after awakening—kept failing.

She had just looked at it and confirmed she’d temporarily memorized all the lines and symbols.

But once she closed her eyes, the moment she tried to imagine, her mind went blank, not even a single line could be recalled.

Huang Xiu opened her eyes and concluded, “It’s like I’ve never seen the visualization diagram at all.”

She could clearly perceive the mystical nature of the diagram.

She continued cultivating until ten at night, with no progress, but she didn’t get discouraged.

In class, the teacher had emphasized that Hammering Method cultivation was a long, tedious process.

Haste makes waste; you can’t rush it.

It was possible to make no progress even after hundreds or thousands of attempts, but as long as you persisted, you would eventually make a breakthrough.

Keeping the teacher’s advice firmly in mind, Huang Xiu had an exceptionally good attitude.

She even logged on to play two games before bed.

She played on her main account.

Mid-game, looking at Momo she had just killed with a critical strike from one slash, Huang Xiu inexplicably thought of Yun Ning.

After the game, she checked his account on the platform.

To her surprise, he was already at level thirty!

“I remember Senior Yun was level twelve after that all-nighter!” Huang Xiu rubbed her chin.

In just four days, playing in his spare time between classes, he had leveled up eighteen times.

“So this is what a tryhard looks like? Maybe I should…?”

Huang Xiu feared Yun Ning’s liver-power.

“But he wasn’t interested in games before, why is he suddenly playing so hard?”

Wait, did I lead Yun Ning astray?

At that thought, her face turned pale.

If Yun Ning really got addicted because of her last time, and his grades plummeted, Teacher Yuan Fei would probably turn her into a real paper person with a single palm strike.

“I don’t want to become a paper person!”

Afraid of death, Huang Xiu decided to observe.

If Yun Ning continued gaming intensively, she would help her senior kick his internet addiction.

“Senior Yun Ning, don’t turn from a jock into a net-addict, or I’ll be guilty as sin!” Huang Xiu prayed.

Over the next few days, after finishing her full daytime classes, the first thing she did was log in to check if Yun Ning was online.

Only then would she continue her Hammering Method cultivation.

But Yun Ning didn’t seem to have become a true net-addict.

After several days of observation, Huang Xiu noticed his play time was fixed.

He started at eight, played three matches, and immediately logged off.

It was like a task-based gaming routine.

Seeing this, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and canceled her intervention plan.

For the first two days, the Hammering Method cultivation still made no progress.

Huang Xiu asked a few friends around her.

Except for Chi Xue, who managed to visualize the first line on the second day, no one else had made any progress either.

Compared to the unchanging Hammering Method cultivation, her other classes were much more colorful.

The Introduction to Void Knowledge course had already covered Root Origin objects.

To help them understand better, Teacher Hua Song even brought out a real Root Origin object in class—a Finger Gun, which was a personal possession of Hua Song’s.

This Root Origin object looked like a man’s finger.

Its effect was simple.

Whichever hand held the finger, that hand could fire invisible bullets.

Of course, it was only a gun in the conceptual sense; its appearance didn’t change.

The power of the Finger Gun was affected both by the user’s Void Energy level and the target’s Void Energy level.

Hua Song’s comment on it was “useless but tasteless.”

But Huang Xiu thought it was strong, because she had high Void Energy and could use it as a ranged option.

However, it wasn’t her Root Origin object, so she could only watch helplessly as the teacher disdainfully put it away.

Tears of envy flowed from the corner of Huang Xiu’s mouth.

“I want it too!”

But after this incident, she truly understood the preciousness of Root Origin objects and began to pay attention to them.

On the Void Network, discussions about Root Origin objects were very active.

Each one was extremely precious.

Each Void Realm had only one.

They were often only possessed by high-level Specials, with the rest being imitations, i.e., Void Reals.