Chapter 35: Mo Xi’s Great Blunder

Chapter 35: Mo Xi's Major Miscalculation

Mo Xi returned from outside, beaming as he clutched the Cloud Mountain Snow Needle tea he had finally gotten his hands on.

He wasn't just happy about finally getting the tea leaves he wanted—he'd also made a nice profit.

It wasn't a ton—less than what his mineral vein produced in a year—but it was still enough to cover the sect's expenses for a whole year.

Unfortunately, the Celestial Spirit Sect just didn't have enough reach. The few disciples sent out to buy stuff were just regular members—not many of them, and they had zero business sense. They only scraped together a small profit under Mo Xi's remote guidance before the Carefree Palace caught on and closed the loophole. If there'd been more people and smoother transport routes for the sect, he might've actually seized those trade routes and built his little commercial empire.

"Yeah, keep dreaming!" Mo Bei scoffed dismissively. She thought her brother's "ambition" was way too unrealistic—how could one tiny win lead to fantasies of world domination? "A commercial empire, my ass! We'd be lucky if our sect's mail delivery got any better."

No lie there.

From the master down to the disciples, the Celestial Spirit Sect had "homebody" written into their DNA.

Since the sect was self-sufficient, they didn't bother much with transport routes. Even when they needed something, they'd just send a few disciples to buy it and lug it back by hand.

Take the tea Mo Xi wanted, for example—he'd lent the Xiang siblings a paper kite artifact to go buy it. There'd been a hiccup along the way, and Xiang Rong and Xiang Yi got delayed, so they had to use other means to rush the tea to the beacon tower on the outskirts of Celestial Spirit Mountain—the farthest point where Mo Bei and Mo Xi could safely go to pick it up. Even then, Mo Bei didn't trust her brother to go alone, so she went with him to bring the tea back.

"Whatever, it's not like I need to buy this stuff often," Mo Xi said with a smug grin, patting his storage pouch. "I made a little profit this time, so I couldn't help buying extra—enough to last the whole sect a hundred years."

"..." Do tea leaves even last that long?

Mo Bei thought doubtfully.

She suddenly thought it might be a good thing Mo Xi couldn't leave Celestial Spirit Mountain—otherwise, he'd blow through the mineral vein his master gave him in a year and end up selling himself into debt too.

Mo Xi had no idea what Mo Bei was worried about. He was looking around excitedly, like he was trying to spot a passing senior disciple to show off his haul to. Unfortunately (or fortunately), no good target walked by. But as they passed Xuhuai Hall, Mo Xi craned his neck and slowed down:

"Huh, we have guests today?"

Xuhuai Hall was the sect's main hall, with all the classic Celestial Spirit Sect architectural traits:

Big, empty, and bare-bones.

In other words, it was a huge room with no furniture and drafts coming from everywhere. Even the sect's own disciples avoided the place—it was usually only used for hosting VIPs.

(VIPs: ...?)

Last time, they'd gotten it ready to receive Su Xin, but he'd bolted, and the hall had been empty ever since.

Today, though, disciples were coming and going, with some hanging around outside to watch the commotion.

A bored disciple overheard Mo Xi and answered, "Senior Brother Mo, you haven't heard? The Millennium Villa folks are here, cutting a big deal with Second Senior Brother!"

"A big deal?!" Mo Xi blurted out, surprised.

He'd been holed up in the Water Mirror Pavilion for days, busy dealing with the outside world, so he really hadn't heard about the secret realm opening.

He couldn't picture his Second Senior Brother—the guy was so proper he could be enshrined in a temple—having anything to do with business.

Seeing Mo Xi really didn't know, the disciple filled him in on everything.

As he listened, the smile on Mo Xi's face completely disappeared.

*

"Master, I heard you handed the secret realm over to Second Senior Brother?!"

Fifteen minutes later, Mo Xi flew into Zhou Hui's cave on his sword.

Zhou Hui was studying the Thought Pavilion he'd gotten last time. Hearing Mo Xi's accusation, he looked at the kid, confused: "Weren't you standing right there when your Second Senior Brother got the secret realm to acknowledge him as its master?"

Did the kid bump his head somewhere?

"Okay, that was Second Senior Brother's own skill, I'll give him that," Mo Xi said urgently, "but this whole business approach—you taught him that, right?"

Ugh, his revenue had just been blown past by "efforts" in an instant.

This was totally cheating!

Mo Bei, who'd followed behind carrying the tea, sensed her brother's thoughts and couldn't help but roll her eyes:

What imaginary enemy was this dumb brother of hers fighting?!

"Business?" Zhou Hui couldn't quite follow the mess of thoughts in Mo Xi's head either. "I did have him open up the secret realm, but that's just a 'test'—to see if we can make good use of it again and give everyone a better place to learn and explore."

"Effective reuse?" Mo Bei repeated, confused by the unfamiliar term.

Zhou Hui didn't explain right away. He raised a hand, summoned two meditation cushions to float in front of his desk, and gestured for his two disciples to sit.

Oh no, Master's about to give a lecture!

Mo Bei and Mo Xi thought at the same time.

But Master had made it clear they weren't leaving—especially since Mo Xi still wanted an "explanation." The twins reluctantly sat down at the other end of the desk.

Zhou Hui moved the Thought Pavilion paper model (X) aside and pulled out another set of colorful paper models (X) from under the desk.

From the shape, it was clearly the Qian Xing secret realm.

"I've been studying the Thought Pavilion's structure lately and tried making this," Zhou Hui said.

"As expected of Master—you only needed a quick look to replicate it perfectly," Mo Xi said sweetly, even though he felt wronged.

But his resentment rubbed off on Mo Bei, who unconsciously flashed the same sweet smile and said, "As expected of Master—at your age, still putting in so much effort."

Mo Xi immediately pinched Mo Bei's arm: "What the heck are you saying?!"

Mo Bei pouted, sulking.

She couldn't help herself.

Whether it was something innate to the twins or something the Fallen Immortal Palace did to boost their product's appeal, Mo Bei and Mo Xi had a sort of telepathic link—they could hear each other's thoughts, and when they were close, their behavior influenced each other. They'd unconsciously make the same faces, the same gestures, and even say lines that sounded scripted.

In moments like that, Mo Bei, who had fewer emotional ups and downs, was more influenced by the emotionally charged Mo Xi.

At least, thanks to the Fallen Immortal Palace's training, Mo Bei would let herself sync her expressions with Mo Xi's.

The exact same silly grin.

It was just that Mo Bei's words tended to be gloomier, which is why their names were "Bei" (Sorrow) and "Xi" (Joy).

Even now that Mo Xi had changed his Cultivation Method and body, the twins still put on the same act in public.

Zhou Hui was used to their "comedy act" by now.

"Exactly because I'm older, I need to learn and observe more," Zhou Hui said good-naturedly. "And I've only scratched the surface."

With that, he lifted a corner of the paper model (X) of the secret realm.

As you could see, the paper model not only recreated the secret realm's layout but also showed little paper figures hopping around inside, showing the real-time action of the exploration within.

Because of that, everything was crystal clear.

Every trial taker had red and blue lines floating above their head. Clicking on them pulled up a ton of data, including HP and MP that Mo Bei and Mo Xi had no clue about, along with stats like attack, speed, and defense that they could sort of make sense of.

Mo Xi had a "lightbulb moment": "Master, you're gathering intel on disciples from other sects, right?"

Mo Bei shot Mo Xi a cold look, figuring the Celestial Spirit Sect wasn't gearing up for a fight with other sects, so why would the master need all this?

Zhou Hui's thinking was way bigger than Mo Xi gave him credit for: "Not just them—other creatures too." With that, he casually pulled up a panel on a demon beast.

"Back in the day, folks roughly lumped these creatures into nine grades and thirteen ranks, and during fights, they just winged it. I think we need way more precise data," Zhou Hui said.

This was a bit of a quirk he'd picked up after experiencing another world!

Think about it—when you launch a rocket, you can nail the decimals down to five digits, but here in life-or-death fights, you get stuff like "roughly at the Deity Transformation Stage," "the power of the thunder tribulation is about what a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator can withstand," or "this herb can probably treat Golden Core Stage injuries." It's just... ugh.

Kids raised in this world just couldn't wrap their heads around Zhou Hui's way of thinking.

Mo Xi was definitely a numbers guy—his best subject was "Mathematical Classics"—and he asked, puzzled, "What's the point of knowing these numbers?"

"It lets us simulate the secret realm environment as accurately as possible."

Zhou Hui didn't dive into the complicated theory right away. Instead, he grabbed a piece of paper, folded it up, and tossed it into the secret realm.

In an instant, the folded paper turned into a Bi Fang bird, strutting around proudly, while a few cultivators spotted it. After a tough fight, they won, and light orbs scattered all over the ground.

A fake bird like that obviously wouldn't drop real materials, so the virtual rewards in the loot were way more appealing, and those cultivators naturally ditched the Bi Fang materials.

Mo Xi's eyes lit up: "That's genius! You strip the whole secret realm clean, and illusions can keep it going. Plus, you can control how strong the demon beasts are. Throw in a shop or something where trial takers can use spirit stones to buy weapons and pills—wouldn't that rake in way more cash than annual or monthly passes?" So why did the master hand such a killer idea to Second Senior Brother! If it were him, he'd bleed other sects dry in no time.

Little did he know, Zhou Hui was getting a kick out of Mo Xi too.

He'd already handed the kid a whole mineral vein, so why was he still so hung up on money?

It seemed like this kid shouldn't be allowed anywhere near online game currencies or finance without supervision—it wouldn't end well for him or this world.

"Why drain the pond just to catch the fish?" Zhou Hui guided Mo Xi. "How do you know I'm not sending these cultivators into the secret realm to help it grow?"

"Nurture?" Mo Xi was confused.

He just figured that with all this burning, looting, and killing, the secret realm would be toast soon.

Zhou Hui asked, "Remember the first lesson I taught you, about where spiritual energy comes from?"

Mo Xi dreaded this more than anything from Zhou Hui, but he still answered straight:

"One Qi births all things; the five organs produce five Qi."

Qi here means spiritual energy.

In other words: everything comes from spiritual energy, and the five organs create spiritual energy.

"Correct," Zhou Hui nodded.

This was also the biggest difference between the cultivation world and that other world.

In that other world, humans burn through energy and can't just make it out of thin air—they're stuck following the law of entropy.

But with spiritual energy, creatures aren't just "consumers."

A cultivator might pull spiritual energy from the air, but as it flows through their meridians and dantian, it gets stronger. In that case, the cultivator is actually making spiritual energy.

The stronger the cultivator, the more spiritual energy they crank out.

For someone like Zhou Hui, who's at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, even if he went to some barren island with zero spiritual energy and cultivated for years, that island would end up covered in spiritual herbs and crawling with spirit beasts. And the mineral vein under the Celestial Spirit Sect getting so rich—hard to say that's not partly thanks to Zhou Hui.

—But cultivators who just hunt demon cores, pick spiritual herbs, and pop pills to level up don't count. You could say they grab heaven and earth's stuff for themselves—taking without giving back. Sadly, with how things are going in the cultivation world, more and more cultivators are taking these lazy shortcuts.

The same goes for spirit beasts and spiritual herbs—they usually have a give-and-take relationship.

"Since you know spiritual energy comes from cultivation, you only saw the spirit stones—you didn't see the chance to steer how cultivators train?" Zhou Hui said.

He gestured for his disciple to look back at the little figures that had taken down the paper Bi Fang.

Little speech bubbles popped up over their heads. One said, "I got some spirit incense that helps with cultivation. If I start now, I'll get more out of it than usual." Another said, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

The little figures plopped down and started meditating. Mist-like spiritual energy rose off them and drifted down onto the Snow Glow Grass nearby. You couldn't see it, but slowly, those grasses would get thicker and healthier.

"Speaking of which, Master also made me practice sword forms while watering—so does the spiritual energy I use work the same way?" Mo Bei asked.

Zhou Hui nodded: "Good point."

"This method beats just sealing off the secret realm and letting the creatures inside grow at their own pace," Zhou Hui explained in detail. "Sealing it off just cuts cultivators out of the loop. But if we can guide them right, getting them to fight and cultivate in the best spots, we can not only cut down on demon beasts wasting resources but also grow the spiritual herbs and beasts we need better."

"If possible, we could even use this method to clean up the Demon God's ancient battlefield."

Zhou Hui let out a sigh, staring off into the distance.

Everyone knew the Central Region used to be the richest, most thriving part of this world. But thanks to the wars between gods and demons, that land got choked with chaotic energy, and mortals still can't live there.

Sure, cultivators explored that ancient battlefield, but most were just there for research or treasure.

But if they could apply this secret realm method, maybe they could turn the tables and reclaim the Demon God's ancient battlefield, bringing the Central Region back to life.

That's what Zhou Hui was hoping for.

Seeing this, Mo Bei smirked.

She figured it wasn't just her brother—her master's ideas were just as big.

"...Then you could've given it to me," Mo Xi said, still not letting it go. "Compared to Second Senior Brother, I'm way better at illusions and number crunching."

"If you're that interested, you can help your Second Senior Brother out," Zhou Hui didn't object.

"That's not what I mean. I'm saying, Master, by helping Second Senior Brother like this, he'll out-earn me in spirit stones in no time—it's not fair!" Mo Xi complained.

This way, the spirit stones he'd scraped together wouldn't even be worth bringing up to the master.

Mo Xi felt like he'd worked a whole summer job, saved up to buy the master some nice tea, only to find out the family hotel was being run by Second Senior Brother—and the tea he bought wasn't even worth one glass of their wine.

Zhou Hui had no clue what Mo Xi had done—though if he wanted to, he could see it. But in principle, Zhou Hui believed in respecting his disciples' privacy.

He figured Mo Xi was just being petty about his allowance.

But with a whole mine already, what was the kid so greedy for? Zhou Hui glanced at Mo Bei, who looked spaced out, and suddenly remembered.

"Speaking of which, it's not fair to only give Qian Xing a piece of the pie. That Qian Xing Hall... pfft, cough, that Qian Xing Hall is sitting there empty too," Zhou Hui said, looking at the tea in Mo Bei's arms. "I remember a certain girl who really liked certain foods... Bei'er, would you and A Ran want to start a little business to earn some pocket money, so you don't go saying I'm playing favorites?"

“Regarding how to manage…” Zhou Hui lifted his jade-white fingers and drew out two clusters of memories from his mind—one labeled “snack street,” the other “movie theater.” He handed both to Mo Bei. “You can use these for reference.”

“Master?!” Mo Xi protested in indignation.

*

That night, when Ran Deng crawled back to her cave dwelling, she saw a transparent glass cup placed on the low table.

Inside the cup was a drink (?) layered in bright red, golden yellow, and vibrant green, with bits of fruit pulp settled at the bottom—pretty to look at.

Her junior sister was holding an identical cup, filled with what looked like milk (?), sipping it through a straw with an expressionless face.

“What is this drink?” Ran Deng asked curiously. “It’s rare for you to think of me.”

“Allowance,” Mo Bei replied.

“What allowance… mmm, this is tasty.” Ran Deng took a sip and beamed.

She had just felt like her brain was being squeezed dry, exhausted enough to sleep for three days straight. One sip of the sweet drink, and she felt like she could last another three days.

“Master gave us these. Yours is fruit tea; mine is milk tea,” Mo Bei said, sipping her milk tea, looking quite pleased with it herself. “Master said we could sell them at the Thousand Star Hall. Whatever we earn counts as our allowance. Do you think it’ll be popular?”

“It’ll definitely be popular—at least, I couldn’t resist it myself.” Ran Deng affirmed.

She found a soft cushion and flopped down, sipping her fruit tea while thinking about how to slack off. “But opening a shop sounds like such a hassle… hmm, it would eat into my cultivation time. Why don’t you ask your brother to find a couple of people to help us?”

That’s Ran Deng for you—even making money felt like too much trouble.

Mo Bei suspected that Mo Xi’s claim of “Senior Sister always thinks of you when something good comes up” was purely because the senior sister didn’t want to do too much work herself.

Mo Xi shook his head at the thought. “I’m afraid not. Mo Xi is practically green with envy right now. But we can get some tea leaves from him—that fool bought enough to last us a hundred years.”

“Why did he buy so much tea? What a waste of spirit stones. Well, no matter—can’t exactly involve him anyway. Besides, Master gave us girls some private pocket money; having the junior brother meddle wouldn’t look right,” Ran Deng said lazily. “Good thing the sect’s recruitment drive is starting soon. I’ll ask Second Senior Brother for a few spots and pick some female disciples to handle it.”

And yet you’d still end up bothering the other senior brothers.

Mo Bei continued her silent commentary, sipping her milk tea.

“That’s helping each other,” Ran Deng said, not even looking at Mo Bei but as if reading her thoughts. “No need to be so formal between fellow disciples. For instance… wait a minute. I come back in this state, and you don’t even bother asking what I did?”

“What did you do?”

“Hmph.” Ran Deng let out a dissatisfied snort before continuing, “Yezi actually had a clever idea for once—thought of a way to honor Master, so he asked me to help make a 【】.”

“【】?!” Mo Bei widened her eyes in rare surprise, repeating the word Ran Deng had just said.

“That’s right,” Ran Deng said, satisfied with the doll-like junior sister’s shocked expression. “Given your Fourth Senior Brother’s stubbornness, it’s a miracle he came up with such a genius idea, right? Considering he’s unlikely to have another bright idea like this in his lifetime, I gave it my all.”

Ran Deng snuggled deeper into the cushion, her voice growing drowsy:

“But first the Thousand Star Hall, then the 【】—I think I’m going to die.”

The sleepy Ran Deng naturally didn’t notice Mo Bei’s complex expression as she looked toward their master’s cave dwelling:

Whether the senior sister would die, she didn’t know, but Mo Bei felt that her silly younger brother was probably about to die of anger.

*

“A gift?”

Zhou Hui looked at his fourth disciple, Guan Ye, with great interest.

His reaction made Mo Xi, who had been rolling around and sulking all afternoon, feel another pang of envy: “Master never shows so much enthusiasm for my gifts.”

“Because your Fourth Senior Brother doesn’t have as many tricks up his sleeve as you do,” Zhou Hui said happily, looking at his disciple. For him, a gift from Guan Ye was a rare occasion indeed. “Has your cultivation level finally improved? Ah…”

Zhou Hui’s tone faded in disappointment.

He could tell at a glance that Guan Ye’s cultivation hadn’t improved—still stuck in the same state as before. Meanwhile, Mo Xi’s cultivation had advanced a notch, surpassing Guan Ye.

But there was nothing to be done about it.

In terms of spiritual root aptitude alone, Guan Ye had the worst—even worse than Zhou Hui himself. He had a waste spirit root, and his dantian was damaged, unable to store spiritual energy. That he’d reached Mid Foundation Establishment was purely due to his practice of Zhou Hui’s cultivation method and sheer hard work.

As a representative of the hardworking school, Zhou Hui was unwilling to and didn’t believe this disciple couldn’t cultivate. But while he found it easy to push himself, watching others trudge along slowly made him anxious—he even wished he could swap spiritual roots with his disciple.

Fortunately, this disciple had one specialty.

At the mention of cultivation, Guan Ye’s face also turned pale. “Forgive me, Master. This disciple hasn’t made progress…”

“No, it’s your master who’s too impatient. Just take your own pace.” Zhou Hui had no solution for a child who worked hard but saw no results.

Guan Ye said, “It’s not about cultivation, but I’ve gained some insights from studying the library illusion realm you gave us, Master. I’d like your guidance.”

“Library?” Zhou Hui asked, puzzled.

He’d assumed that after the library was restored, only Ran Deng would be in there browsing miscellaneous books. Could Guan Ye have read something too and written a book report?

Zhou Hui guessed inwardly. Given his earlier misstep, he didn’t dare ask directly.

But Guan Ye produced a box containing colorful paper cuttings.

“? Isn’t that Senior Sister’s paper cutting?” Mo Xi couldn’t help but say. “You didn’t build something like the Thousand Star Hall, did you? But wasn’t that mostly Senior Sister’s doing?”

“Well, I’m not that bright. That kind of structure—only Senior Sister could design it, so I had to ask for her help. But what’s inside is what I really wanted to show you, Master,” Guan Ye said nonchalantly, then looked at Zhou Hui nervously. “Master, would you mind if I placed something below your cave dwelling?”

Below Zhou Hui’s cave dwelling, there was nothing.

That was a strange thing to say.

In fact, Zhou Hui’s cave dwelling sat atop the peak of the highest mountain in the Celestial Spirit Sect, Tianling Peak. In the valley below lay the entire Celestial Spirit Sect, with the grand Xuhuai Hall for receiving guests being the most prominent structure in the middle.

Guan Ye’s question suggested he intended to place a structure in the air between Zhou Hui’s cave dwelling above and the Xuhuai Hall below.

That made one even more curious about what he’d done.

Mo Xi craned his neck to look for a long time, but it just seemed like ordinary plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum window grilles?

Zhou Hui didn’t ask either, letting his disciple keep the suspense. “Go ahead.”

Guan Ye sat up straight, pulled a small fan from his sleeve, and waved it at the paper cuttings before him.

—That move was beyond the capability of a Mid Foundation Establishment cultivator, so it was, as usual, prepared by Ran Deng.

The paper cuttings were blown away, growing larger as they flew.

In Guan Ye’s hands, they were mere scraps of paper, but in midair they swelled into massive chunks of land. By the time they reached their designated positions, some were covered in Snow Glow Grass, some in bamboo, some blooming with peach blossoms. The one common feature was that each had a spring in a different state.

And massive jade pipes coiled between the floating islands like soaring dragons.

“This is… a spirit spring?” Mo Xi asked in confusion, then looked at his Fourth Senior Brother with even greater bewilderment. “How did you manage this?”

It wasn’t that Mo Xi looked down on his senior brother, but redirecting the flow of spirit springs—that was something not even the senior sister or Fourth Senior Brother could do, nor even the senior brother at the Deity Transformation Stage, should he be called upon.

In the cultivation world, there are two kinds of weight: the ordinary weight of an object itself, and spiritual power.

If it's the weight of the object itself, it's simple for cultivators—as long as one practices the right Cultivation Method, even women can gain the strength to move mountains. But to change the course of a spirit spring, one must possess spiritual power greater than that of the spring itself. Thus, even though cultivators can store an entire spirit spring in their mustard seed space, they cannot make it fly into the air, because that requires continuously outputting spiritual power equivalent to the entire spring.

Maybe... Master could?

Mo Xi looked at his master, thinking as much, but Guan Ye had clearly accomplished it too.

"Because I didn't use spiritual power," Guan Ye explained bluntly. "I changed the course of the spirit spring using pure physical methods, kind of like how other sects redirect spirit springs by altering the terrain."

"I don't think that's the same thing." Other sects had Nascent Soul Stage cultivators or higher reshaping the terrain, right? You're only at Foundation Establishment—you can't reshape terrain.

Mo Xi felt like he couldn't do it himself.

Zhou Hui was also shocked, but for a completely different reason than Mo Xi. He knew how Guan Ye had done it: "Tap water? You connected water pipes? And one of them leads to the secret realm?" That's an insane project!

Guan Ye didn't get why Zhou Hui was surprised. He just thought his master felt the work wasn't technical enough, so he blushed: "Yes, it's those water pipes from the library. There were ready-made pipes, and Shulong and I took them apart to check them out. We found they didn't use spiritual power, so they were perfect for channeling spirit springs. The only problem was finding suitable materials to hold the springs."

"Ah!" Mo Xi remembered now.

He had heard Guan Ye complain about this before, and at the time, he had mocked him for wasting time on that.

"I tried many recipes and finally found a material that worked using the refining method from the Ascension Platform," Guan Ye said, his face growing even redder. "Later, when we went to the secret realm and you said that ice spring was good for cultivation, I remembered you usually use spirit springs, so I went ahead and connected the pipes..."

"What did you do about the water pump?" Zhou Hui asked with interest. "And what about the pipe routes?"

"I built on the library's water pump design," Guan Ye said, pulling out blueprints. "Here's the design. Please take a look, Master."

Zhou Hui took the blueprints and found that it didn't look like a water pump at all anymore. It was huge, shaped more like a cauldron or alchemy furnace, and made entirely of purple gold. Even the principle was kind of related to a water pump, but not really.

Guan Ye had modified the pump's basic structure. On one end, he used pure physical water pressure to draw water from the spirit spring and ice spring, while on the other, he used spiritual mechanisms from artifact refining to maintain the pipes and keep the water quality up.

It was clear Guan Ye had fully put his artifact refining knowledge to use.

"Good, very good." Zhou Hui praised him.

Of course, what pleased him wasn't the aerial spirit spring his disciple had made for him—soaking in a bath up there would be a real test of self-esteem, so maybe it was better to have Ran Deng build a public bathhouse for the whole sect (Ran Deng: ...)—what truly delighted Zhou Hui was Guan Ye's learning ability.

This kid had never even studied basic physics!

He suddenly felt his worries about Guan Ye were unnecessary: even if this kid were dropped into another world, he would definitely get onto his research team!

No, teaching him in this world—today he could build a water pump, and tomorrow he might build a rocket.

Zhou Hui was extremely satisfied.

Guan Ye sensed this and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

And so, both of them completely overlooked Mo Xi's thoroughly reddened eyes:

Fourth Senior Brother, I thought you were an honest man!

You actually stabbed me in the back!