Even though Principal Pingnan was thinking about it, he still maintained a calm expression.
After confirming that Li Yunxian was indeed the current master of the Foundation of Battleground, he got straight to the point.
“How did you take control of the Foundation of Battleground?”
Li Yunxian ignored some ‘unimportant’ details and recounted, “After I received the reward, I gained a huge amount of energy, and my cultivation advanced uncontrollably.”
“My dantian was completely shaped by this energy. I’m not entirely sure why; it felt like I was fused with the Foundation of Battleground at the time.”
“Afterwards, I felt that I could control the Foundation of Battleground.”
Principal Pingnan listened, frowning.
Pingnan had produced geniuses before, and dantians shaped by the Foundation’s energy had also appeared.
Back then, it was crudely named Foundation of Battleground, but many later found it unpleasant and gave it the common name Mixed Yuan Foundation.
But he’d never heard of a cultivator with a Mixed Yuan Foundation being able to control the Foundation of Battleground!
“May I check?” Principal Pingnan spoke up.
Li Yunxian had plenty of secrets. If it were anyone else, he might not worry, but with Principal Pingnan being in the late-stage Integration realm, Li Yunxian couldn’t be sure if the other party could see through her situation.
Li Yunxian didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to look at her own teacher, her eyes pleading for help.
-If someone has to check, I don’t trust him. Teacher, you do it.
Li Tiansuo was, of course, protective, and said directly, “What’s there to check? She’s nineteen, blessed with golden merit. What bad things could she possibly do?
“The real issue is that you Pingnan folks didn’t keep proper watch over the Foundation of Battleground, which is why this happened.”
“The Wenwu Academy handled the Sky Ladder promptly, didn’t they.”
These words made Principal Wenwu, Fu Ling, feel everyone’s gaze land on her.
Everyone here had cultivated for hundreds, even thousands of years, and immediately caught the hidden meaning in Li Tiansuo’s words.
Fu Ling glanced at Li Yunxian. As her collaborator, given the current situation, she chose to support Li Yunxian.
Fu Ling spoke briefly, “Back then, the Sky Ladder also wanted to follow Li Yunxian, and I happened to be at the Academy.”
Just one sentence, but it was enough for everyone to imagine the rest.
Everyone looked at Li Yunxian with complicated expressions.
So she actually had a prior record!
Principal Pingnan actually felt relieved at this.
What he was worried about was whether today’s incident would happen again in the future, so he wanted to take precautions.
Since it was just a matter of Li Yunxian’s constitution, it wasn’t a big issue.
However, since the Foundation of Battleground was of such importance, any possible risk was unacceptable. Principal Pingnan still tried to persuade Li Yunxian.
“It’s just a check. All four headmasters are here, your teacher is present too. I couldn’t possibly do anything to you,” Principal Pingnan reasoned with Li Yunxian.
Heartfelt.
Before Li Yunxian could respond, Su Wenjing spoke up first as Principal Pingnan finished.
“Then let me do it.” After addressing Principal Pingnan, Su Wenjing turned to Li Yunxian and reached out his hand, “Me, surely you’ve nothing to worry about?”
No one expected Su Wenjing to volunteer. They were stunned for a moment, but no one voiced any objection.
Su Wenjing’s divine sense was at the Tribulation Crossing level; nothing could escape his perception.
He was willing to help—this was undoubtedly the best option.
As for trust or mistrust… The four academies’ cherished students had only survived thanks to someone showing restraint when things exploded last time.
Trust or mistrust, it was meaningless to discuss.
Li Yunxian looked at Su Wenjing’s slender, distinct-fingered hand, glanced up at him, and placed her hand onto his.
“Then I’ll trouble Professor Su.” Li Yunxian said obediently, but in her ear came Su Wenjing’s questioning voice.
“How should I report it?” Su Wenjing asked directly.
He was clearly prepared to help Li Yunxian cheat.
Li Yunxian: Did Su Wenjing really think she’d cheat?
“Just report truthfully,” Li Yunxian said.
She had nothing to feel guilty about.
Skipping the front and middle, she was indeed telling the truth.
At this moment, Su Wenjing didn’t care what Li Yunxian was saying at all. Upon probing her dantian, he was immediately stunned.
“How high a cultivation did you kill??” How could a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator’s dantian be like this?
This dantian was so huge, it was almost ready to form a Nascent Soul!
“Golden Core,” Li Yunxian replied, “but I grabbed onto the reward source and just absorbed a teeny bit more.”
The Foundation of Battleground’s reward came in one big burst. If the opponent’s cultivation was too high, it could make you explode.
But not Li Yunxian.
She’d simply grabbed onto the crack in the Foundation and absorbed it.
Continuously and steadily absorbing.
Lasting, harmless, and so much more convenient than the hassle of killing enemies.
As for how much she’d absorbed in total… Li Yunxian wasn’t even sure herself.
Just a whole lot.
Su Wenjing was speechless.
Absorbed a teeny bit more? As expected, the Foundation of Battleground’s recognition was all thanks to Li Yunxian’s own initiative.
Su Wenjing withdrew his hand.
He’d spent several seconds investigating—quite a long time for someone at his cultivation level.
He must have discovered something.
Everyone realized this, and all looked toward Su Wenjing.
Su Wenjing calmly described the ‘anomaly’ in Li Yunxian’s dantian.
When they heard it could already contain a Nascent Soul, everyone:
Previously, their attitude was that they’d seen plenty of Mixed Yuan Foundations.
Now, their attitude was—no one had ever seen such a massive Mixed Yuan Foundation before.
Everyone looked at each other, their gazes complex as they stared at Li Yunxian.
She was only nineteen, yet already guaranteed that, as long as she kept cultivating, she’d definitely reach the Nascent Soul stage.
Everyone had no further objections to Li Yunxian’s situation.
However, Li Tiansuo was quite displeased with everyone’s attitude.
Or rather, in any negotiation, someone had to play the bad cop.
Su Wenjing had played the good guy ahead of time, so naturally she had to be tough.
Li Tiansuo gave a cold laugh and said discontentedly, “Since everything’s confirmed, let’s hurry and get the Foundation of Battleground back to you.”
“As if our Tiantong students are so desperate for your Foundation of Battleground.”
The Pingnan teachers all wore awkward expressions and didn’t dare utter a word.
But Principal Pingnan had a thicker skin.
He smiled and said to Li Yunxian, “Then could you please unlock the Foundation of Battleground control, so I can insert my divine sense?”
Li Yunxian kept her obedient face on, “Alright.”
The group moved up above the Foundation of Battleground.
Everyone could sense Li Yunxian relaxing her control over it.
Principal Pingnan’s consciousness instantly entered the Foundation of Battleground.
He wasn’t repelled.
This was because Li Yunxian was deliberately controlling it.
***
Very soon, Principal Pingnan’s consciousness reached the control hub of the Foundation.
The core of the entire Foundation of Battleground.
His divine sense spread out, preparing to imprint his mark.
He was very careful at first.
According to Li Yunxian, she’d just formed her foundation, and her divine sense should be weak.
He didn’t want Li Yunxian to suffer any backlash.
But…
He failed.
Principal Pingnan’s divine sense slipped smoothly right out of the Foundation’s core.
Principal Pingnan: “???”
For a moment, he didn’t realize that he’d failed to seize control.
He just thought he’d made a mistake.
Luckily, nobody noticed.
So he thought, and tried again, applying a little more force to imprint his mark on the control center.
It slipped off again.
Principal Pingnan: “……??? ”
He opened his eyes wide.
He felt something completely beyond his imagination had occurred.
In everyone’s understanding, what would prevent Principal Pingnan from retaking the Foundation would be the Heaven-grade artifact itself.
As someone in the Integration stage, he wouldn’t have an easy time bypassing the Foundation’s defenses, and he wasn’t willing to damage it.
No one thought a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Li Yunxian mattered.
But now…
Everyone except Li Yunxian and Su Wenjing was confused.
They looked at Principal Pingnan.
More than a minute had passed, why hadn’t this farce ended yet?
And as they wondered, another minute went by.
Neither Principal Pingnan nor the Foundation of Battleground showed any response.
Only after ten minutes did Principal Pingnan finally, looking as if he’d lost all hope, move slightly.
He withdrew his divine sense from the Foundation.
His expression was between laughter and tears.
“The Foundation of Battleground refuses to recognize me, it’s clinging to Li Yunxian and won’t let go.” After ten minutes of effort, Principal Pingnan came to this conclusion.
Everyone: “Ah??”
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Principal Pingnan said in embarrassment and frustration, “Don’t believe me? Try it yourselves!”
The crowd was stunned and turned to Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian kept her obedient face on, “I’m fine with anything.”
Someone hesitated, glanced at Principal Pingnan, then at Li Yunxian, and finally tentatively extended their divine sense.
As expected, they failed.
Everyone was shocked.
Principal Pingnan’s outlandish words turned out to be true!
Soon, another person wanted to try.
And promptly gave a demonstration of “try and die.”
One round later, a field of shattered spears and broken sand.
Li Yunxian poked Su Wenjing, “You’re not going to try?”
Su Wenjing ignored her.
Never mind that Li Yunxian’s divine sense was even stronger than his—he might not be able to win, and if he lost, he’d never hear the end of it from her.
If he did win, he’d end up with this troublesome matter dumped on him.
He wasn’t stupid!!
Li Yunxian sighed regretfully, having failed to shift the responsibility.
A thousand-year-old fox truly wasn’t easy to fool.
***
In the end, the four headmasters and Pingnan’s high-level staff all stayed at the Foundation of Battleground, discussing how to handle this issue.
As a nineteen-year-old, no one expected Li Yunxian to do anything.
She’d just broken through to Foundation Establishment.
Li Yunxian was sent back to Pingnan Academy to stabilize her cultivation, and to spend some time there.
Li Yunxian had no objections.
After all, after forming her foundation, she’d have to leave the academy, and there wouldn’t be such abundant spiritual energy for cultivation outside.
She was more than happy to stay in Pingnan Academy a while longer, treating it as an exchange program.
Returning to her villa, Li Yunxian noticed a small box placed by her door.
Her divine sense scanned it—it contained several jade slips and some precious materials beneficial for Foundation Establishment.
Judging by the contents, these were from Pingnan.
Perhaps it was an apology for Principal Pingnan’s earlier interrogative attitude, or maybe a thank you for her cooperation.
Li Yunxian carried the little box inside.
She stored the treasures directly into her storage artifact, then picked up a jade slip.
Probing it, she found some cultivation techniques for the Foundation Establishment stage inside.
- Qi Refining students hadn’t even opened all their meridians yet, so cultivation techniques were irrelevant at that stage.
The techniques ranged from intermediate to top-tier.
- Students with insufficient talent or weak meridians simply couldn’t cultivate higher-grade techniques.
You could say that, besides snatching some of Tiantong’s usual duties, Pingnan’s staff was very considerate.
But Li Yunxian didn’t pay much attention.
She knew that in this world, cultivation techniques were public knowledge. Sending them to her was just to save her some effort.
Li Yunxian already had a top-grade technique she was comfortable with, so these were useless to her.
She set those jade slips aside.
The rest included information on the Mixed Yuan Foundation, as well as jade slips on artifact crafting and swordsmanship.
Li Yunxian continued sorting, setting aside anything she’d already seen at other academies, leaving her with ten jade slips.
Reading and cultivating at the same time, it’d take her four or five days to finish them all.
By then, Pingnan should have results from their research into the Foundation of Battleground, right?
The answer was…
No.
She didn’t get a visit from any Pingnan teachers, but instead from a student.
Having lingered in Pingnan for over a week, Li Yunxian opened her eyes.
She sensed Jiang Qiqing sobbing and knocking at her door.
Li Yunxian:
Opening the door, she looked helplessly at Jiang Qiqing, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Qiqing bawled, “I want to break up with Cui Cui! I’ll never speak to her again, I’m moving out of the dorm!”
“I want her never to find me again!”
“She’s gone too far!!”