Su Wenjing took on the aftermath work, but didn’t really do much—he simply used his divine sense to pay closer attention to Liang Xuan’s situation.
Li Yunxian’s “don’t let her die a miserable death” was easy enough for Su Wenjing to understand; it simply meant, in a physical sense, not to let her die.
Two cultivators who’d crossed mountains of corpses and seas of blood didn’t have so much compassion. If someone wanted to seek death, they’d never step in to stop them.
Otherwise, with Liang Xuan’s abilities, she’d never have been able to slip the token to Li Yunxian.
This was a magic tool only the alien races used. Since she used it on her own kind, there was always going to be a price.
Neither of them felt any sympathy for Liang Xuan.
Liang Xuan, on the other hand, had no idea she’d been exposed from the very start; she simply couldn’t contain her excitement.
As for nearly tripping while walking, Liang Xuan didn’t think much of it.
How could she, a Qi Refining ninth layer, make such a mistake? It had to be because she was too excited.
Liang Xuan was also in the Ivy Class. She went straight back to her villa.
After closing the door, she began pondering the spellcraft problem that had been bothering her.
Liang Xuan was brimming with confidence.
She had luck even greater than Ling Zhou’s—how could a mere spellcraft problem trip her up now?
Full of self-assurance, Liang Xuan dove into research, oblivious to the day and night changing outside her window. When she came back to her senses, it was already noon the next day.
Opening her eyes, excitement was obvious in her gaze.
As expected, all the difficulties that had plagued her were resolved.
Her mind had never been so clear—it was as if…
Liang Xuan raised her hand slightly. Every metallic object in the villa began to hum.
It felt like the entire world was within her grasp.
So this was the world Ling Zhou saw?
Suddenly realizing something, Liang Xuan immediately restrained her thoughts, calming herself to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy.
Before long, she felt her bottlenecked aperture, stuck for months, finally loosen.
Moments later, countless streams of spiritual energy poured in, opening her 360th aperture.
She had reached the peak of Qi Refining.
Liang Xuan clenched her fists tightly.
So this was what she’d been missing—all she needed was a little luck!
Liang Xuan knew the Fortune-Turning Token she used wouldn’t last long, so she had to seize every minute and second.
After breaking through to the peak, Liang Xuan immediately signed up for several advanced courses and hurried out toward the academic building.
Not far from her villa, Liang Xuan saw students from Tiantong.
She swept her eyes over them anxiously, not seeing Li Yunxian among them, but she did hear his name in their conversation.
“Why haven’t we seen the captain today? No news from the dorm, the arena, or the academic district. It’s so quiet—strange, isn’t it?”
Liang Xuan slowed down, puzzled.
Why was quietness in those places strange?
But aside from Liang Xuan, none of the other Tiantong students seemed to find the remark odd.
Someone answered directly, “She has an Immortal Waterfall Entry Scroll. She went to the Immortal Waterfall early this morning.”
Everyone had a sudden realization.
“I wonder how many days she’ll stay in the Immortal Waterfall,” someone asked curiously.
“She probably thinks she won’t be able to leave the Immortal Waterfall for ten or fifteen days, so that’s why she went to the arena early yesterday to beat people up, right?”
The Tiantong group fell silent at those words.
That… actually sounded pretty likely.
Liang Xuan was left in a daze at this news.
As a Ji Law student, she knew how important and momentous it was to enter the Immortal Waterfall.
Yet at this crucial time, she had switched luck with Li Yunxian.
Liang Xuan stood rooted to the spot for quite a while, not even noticing when her Tiantong classmates left.
When she snapped out of her panic, she gritted her teeth and forced herself not to dwell on it.
The Fortune-Turning couldn’t be canceled, and she hadn’t intentionally timed the switch with Li Yunxian.
Now that things had reached this point, her best option was to make the most of every second.
Liang Xuan continued on to the academic building.
But by the time she arrived, she was already over ten minutes late for class because of the earlier delay.
What’s more, the teacher was not the one she’d registered for, but a substitute.
The late Liang Xuan overheard her classmates whispering beside her.
“Doesn’t Zhao Professor usually teach this class himself? Why is there a substitute today? So unlucky.”
Liang Xuan paid no mind.
She’d only had a day of luck—no way she’d be unlucky.
She was destined to be favored by fate.
She listened attentively to the substitute professor’s lecture.
As expected, the substitute taught just as well. Liang Xuan felt she understood everything.
As soon as class ended, she rushed excitedly to her next classroom.
***
Meanwhile, Li Yunxian sat calmly in the Immortal Waterfall, quietly feeling the elemental energies wash over her body.
She possessed dual gold and wood spiritual roots; except for those two, all other impurity elements lingering in her body were swept away by the Immortal Waterfall.
If the Tiantong Blood Pool refined the physical body’s strength, then Ji Law’s Immortal Waterfall, by its cleansing, gave the body an effect approaching Shen Bofeng’s Immortal Bones—namely, greater affinity for spiritual energy.
In other words, it improved spiritual energy absorption efficiency and control over spellcasting.
The longer one stayed in the Immortal Waterfall, the greater the transformation and enhancement.
But any transformation came with pain.
Li Yunxian heard the wails of the people around her.
Her expression was calm; this pain was nothing compared to what she’d endured in the Blood Pool.
Li Yunxian mused inwardly that exchanging luck really made a difference.
Everything went so smoothly it felt unnatural.
She’d come in quietly, no staff questioning how she’d gotten the entry scroll.
Apparently, this refinement didn’t even require a change of clothes—no embarrassing hunts for a changing room, no stumbling out disheveled.
Not even the sort of scenario where, with one misplaced step, a Primordial Spirit would appear, saying it wanted to leave with her.
So peaceful, so comfortable…
When the last trace of impurity was washed away, Li Yunxian felt all her meridians and apertures shining as bright as jade.
Each breath left her feeling completely renewed.
Her entire body felt much lighter.
Li Yunxian knew this wasn’t an illusion.
In this state, even without actively absorbing it, spiritual energy flowed naturally into her body, making her feel weightless.
Li Yunxian took a moment to adjust, and as she stepped out of the Immortal Waterfall area, she couldn’t help glancing back.
She… really just walked out like that, nothing happened?
She actually… just walked out?!
Li Yunxian stared at the Immortal Waterfall in silence for a long time.
She’d always thought her luck was a bit abysmal.
But not this bad, right?
It had to be… that Liang Xuan’s luck was just too good.
Thinking this, Li Yunxian took out her phone and dialed Su Wenjing’s number again.
“Liang Xuan’s still alive, right?” Li Yunxian asked with a hint of guilt. “Nothing happened to her?”
Su Wenjing, hearing Li Yunxian’s tone, laughed outright.
Who was it who’d just said, “It’s not that bad”?
It felt like the person calling him now was a completely different one.
Then, even over the phone, Su Wenjing sensed a murderous aura from the other end.
He gave a light cough and quickly withdrew his divine sense from Li Yunxian’s location.
He could feel that Li Yunxian was searching for him.
He did not want to get hit again.
Once done, Su Wenjing replied, “She’s alive, nothing major happened.”
“If something was going to happen, the environment would matter. The academy is safe—she’s just having some unlucky incidents.”
“Like the book she wants being unavailable, or it’s just been borrowed by someone else.”
“Or, after waiting in line for ages to buy something, it runs out just as it’s her turn.”
“Or she goes out in the rain, and it clears up the moment she enters a building.”
“Or during a sparring match, if the opponent has several attack options, they’ll always pick the one that works best against Liang Xuan.”
“These sorts of unlucky things wouldn’t happen to Li Yunxian.”
“The first is at Wenwu. When others find out, someone would bring it to Li Yunxian, and as a bonus, give her several jade slip versions of books she might find useful.”
“As for queuing…”
“With divine sense, Li Yunxian always knows the queue status. If not, she’s so self-aware of her luck she’d never do such things in the first place.”
“Li Yunxian is so popular, if she doesn’t get something, people will often invite her to share theirs.”
“As for battles, Li Yunxian never gives her opponents any chance to choose.”
“She relies on her strength to make sure her bad luck never takes effect.”
“But clearly, Liang Xuan doesn’t have Li Yunxian’s level of skill.”
“But she hasn’t realized yet that her luck has turned bad,” Su Wenjing said with a chuckle.
“Actually, she thinks her luck is especially good now.”
This time, Su Wenjing wasn’t laughing at Li Yunxian, but at Liang Xuan.
“Hmm? How so?” Li Yunxian was curious.
She’d really spent half a month in the Immortal Waterfall—after so many days of Su Wenjing’s examples, how could anyone still think their luck was good?
The answer was…
“After getting your luck, she feels capable of anything—so she really can do anything.”
“Her mastery of spellcraft has advanced a whole level, her cultivation broke through to peak Qi Refining, and her ranking in the arena entered the top 100—she reached 87th.”
“Confident that teachers would like her, she boldly went to ask several professors questions.”
“She was active, straightforward, and understood all the answers given.”
“So over this half month, professors really started to like her. Someone is even considering taking her as a student.”
A string of question marks appeared over Li Yunxian’s head.
Seriously?
She was both amused and exasperated.
“She must have been excellent to begin with,” Li Yunxian said, a little ruefully.
Probably like Commissioner Chen in Jincheng—her temperament was lacking, so she got stuck.
Now with confidence, she experienced a sudden surge, and the “evidence” of good luck reinforced it.
Layer upon layer, it had an interesting chemical effect.
Su Wenjing hummed his agreement. “She was sixth on the Ivy Roll in your previous year, from the same place as Ling Zhou.”
“That Ivy selection ranking is definitely impressive.”
“Do you want to end the luck exchange?” Su Wenjing asked.
Once the minimum time limit for the magic tool had passed, it’d be easy for Li Yunxian to break it.
Li Yunxian thought for a moment and said, “Since she’s enjoying it, let’s wait until after the exchange event.”
“That way it won’t spoil the mood for anyone.”
When the exchange ended, what came next would be Liang Xuan’s punishment.
As a teacher at one of the four great academies, Su Wenjing knew he couldn’t turn a blind eye to a student using an alien race’s magic tool.
He only asked out of respect for the victim’s opinion.
Li Yunxian understood this.
After all that had happened, she was well-versed in all the world’s rules and regulations.
Liang Xuan, a Ji Law student targeting a Tiantong exchange student, and using a Demon Path Magic Tool— even if it wasn’t fatal, it wasn’t a minor matter.
If it came to light, it would certainly affect the exchange between the two academies.
Li Yunxian, as the current exchange student leader, had to consider these things.
Anyway, it was only another half a month.
Li Yunxian herself… Well, it wasn’t as if she was losing out.
This was a peaceful, ordinary life without any bad luck~
Sensing Li Yunxian’s relaxation, Su Wenjing chuckled softly. “Alright, I’ll keep an eye on her for another half month.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Professor Su,” Li Yunxian replied with the full airs of a client.
“Mhm, not hard—just ill-fated,” Su Wenjing said.
Who told him to be Li Yunxian’s team teacher?
Originally, there were two jinxes—now, there was only him.
Li Yunxian laughed heartily.
As for Liang Xuan, when she heard Li Yunxian had come out of the Immortal Waterfall, she was shocked.
“That’s impossible!” Liang Xuan blurted out.
Ling Zhou frowned, looking at her oddly. “With her strength, what’s impossible?”
Confronted like that, Liang Xuan didn’t know how to reply.
She believed she’d exchanged luck with Li Yunxian.
With such terrible luck, how could Li Yunxian possibly stay in the Immortal Waterfall for so long?
Fifteen days.
How many students in history had lasted that long?
Even Ling Zhou had spent one day less than Li Yunxian.
Feeling guilty, Liang Xuan had kept herself busy lately, not daring to pay attention to any news about Li Yunxian.
In her subconscious, she thought Li Yunxian should have left the Immortal Waterfall ages ago.
How could she have lasted so long?
***
In the end, Liang Xuan forced a laugh. “I mean, Ling Zhou, you could stay in the Immortal Waterfall for half a month. She’s so strong, of course she wouldn’t leave early.”
After she said it, the more Liang Xuan thought about it, the more sense it made.
According to Ling Zhou, Li Yunxian was several times stronger than him.
By that logic, Li Yunxian should be able to stay for twenty days, maybe even a month.
Ling Zhou looked at Liang Xuan strangely; he hadn’t expected her to go on and on over one comment.
That wasn’t like her.
Ling Zhou frowned and asked bluntly, “You’ve changed a lot lately. Did something happen?”
In this world, the curriculum for young cultivators in every city was set with one to three elementary and secondary schools for cultivators, based on city size.
All the students in a school basically grew up together. Plus, these two were always top of the class, so Ling Zhou knew Liang Xuan well.
They were childhood friends.
He could sense how Liang Xuan had grown more proactive in all areas lately.
It was as if she’d truly learned to focus on herself.
Ling Zhou had thought she’d finally let things go, but hearing her strange reaction to Li Yunxian’s name gave him a bad feeling.
Being questioned, Liang Xuan immediately felt guilty.
It was as if Ling Zhou could see right through her.
That made Liang Xuan angry instead. She glared at Ling Zhou.
“So what if I improved?” Liang Xuan retorted angrily, using bravado to cover her guilt. “It’s not like you’re the only one in the world who can get stronger.”
Her reaction startled everyone.
Seeing that they were about to start arguing, the others quickly tried to defuse the situation and steered the conversation away.
“Alright, let’s not talk about that. Let’s keep discussing tomorrow’s hunt and how we’ll destroy the Foundation Establishment beast nest.”
“According to the previous plan, Ling Zhou will lead one team in from the west, and another team will follow the route here, circling around…”
Everyone smoothly shifted the discussion back to business.
Seeing Liang Xuan pursing her lips and listening seriously again, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as nobody brought up what upset her, Liang Xuan was easy to talk to.
Tomorrow’s hunt outside the academy looked like it would go smoothly.