Li Yunxian was just lost in thought when the person who had greeted her already skipped over, let out a cheer, and hugged her tightly.
A crowd of people followed excitedly, gathering around her, though clearly they held back much more than they would have in-game.
After all, a crowd in a game won’t cause trouble, but in reality, accidents could happen.
But right now, Li Yunxian had no mind to care about such details.
When the other hugged her, Li Yunxian froze.
She felt little sparkling points of something around her, flooding into her body.
Or rather, flooding into her soul.
Something very familiar to her.
It was the Golden Light of Merit.
Ever since she accepted everyone calling her “Boss,” the Golden Light of Merit had appeared.
Her broken soul was nourished once again.
Li Yunxian had considered that by choosing to accept the exchange, she might find a way to obtain Golden Light of Merit, but she never imagined it would be so simple.
“Boss, are these your companions?” As Li Yunxian was lost in thought, she heard someone nearby ask curiously.
Li Yunxian pulled herself back for a moment and turned her gaze toward Su Wenjing, Duan Qiu, and the others.
She clearly saw the shocked and bewildered expressions on her companions’ faces.
“Yes.” Li Yunxian replied.
Everyone let out a collective “wow.”
Most of the people here were Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators, with a few scattered Golden Core among them.
No matter the world, these groups always made up the majority.
Apart from Li Yunxian, the rest of those here for the exchange had untraceable cultivation, which made everyone feel that the online speculation about Li Yunxian being from some hidden noble family was suddenly all the more convincing.
But for those present, none of this was the main point.
People grabbed at Li Yunxian and her companions, faces all filled with excitement.
“Boss, come inside and see! This time when we rebuilt Qingxing, we followed Silver Sea City’s design!!”
Facing a strange enemy, they could hold their weapons tightly, ready for battle at any time. But facing such overwhelming warmth and hospitality, everyone felt a little at a loss.
Before long, all of them were pulled away by the people of Qingxing.
They saw a vast complex of buildings and encountered people who, upon hearing they were Li Yunxian’s companions, stuffed all sorts of things into their hands.
Su Wenjing and the others looked up.
They saw billboards bearing Li Yunxian’s likeness hanging outside many shops.
Something like “Exclusive License by the Li Family.”
The words after the asterisks were written very small; on closer look, they were phrases like “such-and-such star,” “such-and-such city,” and so on.
There was no doubt that the “Li” referred to Li Yunxian.
They wanted to ask Li Yunxian some questions, but right now…
Looking around, they finally spotted Li Yunxian in the far, far distance.
She was completely surrounded, with no space for them to squeeze in.
***
In the end, everyone turned their questions toward Duan Qiu.
They all still remembered how close Duan Qiu and Li Yunxian seemed before they set out for the exchange.
Duan Qiu, buried under a pile of questions but knowing nothing herself:
She recalled the days when Li Yunxian was still “Assistant Instructor Hua.”
In the end, it was Su Wenjing who saved Duan Qiu.
“Let’s have fun first. We’ll talk when everyone’s together tonight.” As the team leader, he made the decision.
It was just what everyone needed.
A new world! Of course they wanted to experience it properly.
And so, by evening, one after another, everyone arrived at Qingxing’s most luxurious hotel, their wallets now empty and their steps drifting.
This was arranged by the Guild Chamber of Commerce of Qingxing for Li Yunxian and her group.
The top two floors were reserved for them.
As for how the notifications went out…
With Su Wenjing around, as long as everyone was in the city, getting the word out was no problem at all.
The last one to return, unsurprisingly, was Li Yunxian.
After finally bidding farewell to the many online friends seeing her in real life for the first time, she returned to the hotel, opened the door to the supreme suite on the very top floor,
And was met with a wave of gazes all fixed on her.
Clearly, her eventful day was not yet over.
But Li Yunxian did not choose to explain. Instead, she tossed out a shielding array to block prying eyes, turned to Su Wenjing, and directly asked the question she cared most about.
“Can you get in touch with home?”
Obviously, an ordinary phone wouldn’t support interstellar communication—only Su Wenjing had a dedicated communicator.
Su Wenjing nodded and explained the situation to Li Yunxian.
“Got through. This is Qingxing, located between our planet and Kuixing.”
“The teleportation array malfunctioned, so they arranged for us to land at Qingxing first.”
“Fixing the array will take at least a month. Until then, we can only stay on Qingxing.”
Li Yunxian let out a sigh of relief.
So, it wasn’t another world-hopping incident.
But then, the thought that her own world and the world of Wanwu Accessor existed in the same universe made her feelings all the more complicated.
“How did the teleportation array break?” Li Yunxian pressed.
Su Wenjing replied calmly, “They said they don’t know. By theory, the array could handle a Tribulation-stage cultivator with no problem.”
Li Yunxian looked at Su Wenjing.
Su Wenjing looked back at Li Yunxian.
This “they don’t know”—the two of them clearly understood the truth.
Was the array’s carrying capacity really calculated based on the strength of the soul?
Was that appropriate?!
Li Yunxian was left speechless. Finally, she asked, “It seems like the people here still don’t know where we came from.”
If the arrays here worked like those in Wanwu Accessor, the teleportation location should have shown up.
This was public data.
It was a question Su Wenjing could answer: “Our planet hasn’t been included in the interstellar map yet and doesn’t have an official name. The teleportation display just shows a blank.”
As for whether anyone leaked information among their group—
Anyone chosen for the exchange wouldn’t be lacking in brains; everyone had been given many warnings and a thick handbook of dos and don’ts, what could and could not be said—everyone was well aware.
Especially under such unfamiliar circumstances.
After saying this, Su Wenjing turned the question back to Li Yunxian: “Are you really the person they recognize?”
If it was a mistake, the warmer people were to them now, the harsher the backlash would be later.
Li Yunxian nodded and, having moved to sit on the sofa among the group, finally spoke of how she had accidentally picked up the Wanwu Accessor system.
As Li Yunxian spoke, everyone’s gaze fell upon the unremarkable chain on her wrist.
Those who had a vague sense of the “catch” behind Li Yunxian’s selection for the exchange:
So her bizarre encounters had started that early?
And among them, there were indeed some who knew a thing or two.
That person rubbed their forehead, speechless: “About two years ago, Kuixing agreed to send three Wanwu Accessors over. But when the teleportation was complete, only two arrived.”
“Later, Kuixing sent another to make up for it.”
So the missing one had, somehow, ended up in Li Yunxian’s hands.
Li Yunxian listened with an impassive face.
When her soul had been in a muddle after transmigrating back, she’d just picked it up by chance—what fault was that of hers!
But…
Li Yunxian asked doubtfully, “Didn’t anyone use the Accessor after you received it?”
The other replied, “I think so, but…” He looked at Li Yunxian helplessly. “No one would have thought that you’d be the Li Yunxian from Wanwu Accessor.”
It’s not as if that’s a rare name combination.
Besides, the number of people in the Interstellar side was even bigger than in Shenzhou—there could be millions named Li Yunxian.
And someone able to get a Wanwu Accessor wouldn’t be an academic teaching at a university; they wouldn’t know what the real Li Yunxian looked like.
At most, they might have heard there was some guy who made public a medicinal bath recipe with that name.
So that big mix-up happened.
The other looked at Li Yunxian with great curiosity: “Where did you learn all those skills?”
Everyone had spent the day exploring various shops and had seen the effects of all those things.
“Miraculous” wasn’t enough to describe them.
“That’s a secret. I can’t tell you.” Li Yunxian replied directly, then pointed a finger at Su Wenjing, “But he knows all about it.”
Seeing that Su Wenjing knew, everyone nodded in understanding, accepting that it must be classified at the highest level.
Only Su Wenjing, still wearing his completely cool expression on the surface:
What a huge mess just landed on him for no reason.
“What do I know?!” Su Wenjing asked Li Yunxian via sound transmission, disbelief written all over his face.
Li Yunxian replied, “Don’t you know I traveled to other worlds? Of course I learned it all there.”
Su Wenjing was speechless: “So that means I know everything?”
“That’s not the point.” Li Yunxian ignored Su Wenjing’s retort.
While she answered the others, she also quietly spoke to Su Wenjing about her own main concern.
“I heard the name Qingxing before in Wanwu Accessor.”
“This planet went through a long-lasting beast tide that lasted about a year.”
“I’ve heard people say that if it weren’t for those things I licensed, Qingxing probably couldn’t have held out.”
“And this morning, when we landed on Qingxing, after I answered their call, the planet responded to me.”
“I received the Golden Light of Merit.”
“The amount is no less than what I got when I saved the world.”
“You know what that means.” Li Yunxian’s voice was heavy.
Of course Su Wenjing knew.
It meant that, by accident, Li Yunxian had destroyed some scheme that could have wiped out the entire planet.
If it was really just a natural beast tide, that would be one thing.
But if not…
Then Li Yunxian’s appearance this time would certainly draw the other party’s attention.
“And that’s not all.” Li Yunxian went on.
“You know, whenever new technology spreads, it means old technology will be pushed out.”
“Plenty love me, and plenty hate me to the bone.”
“There are even those who want to control me, to get everything in my head directly, not just watch others make a fortune from my authorized products.”
Back when it was only a medicinal bath, it already attracted the covetous eyes of other races outside Jin City. Now, in this situation, it would draw far more than a handful of Golden Core cultivators.
“They certainly wouldn’t believe I’m the only one with this knowledge.”
Li Yunxian said.
In fact, Li Yunxian really had turned this knowledge into jade slips and put them into the Wenwu Library.
Hearing Li Yunxian drop bombshell after bombshell, Su Wenjing:
From the moment he heard Fu Ling suggest he join the exchange, he suspected something big would happen.
But he never expected that after just one day, he’d have to face something this huge.
And not just huge—there were a lot of things.
Su Wenjing silently stared at Li Yunxian’s face, which seemed to declare innocence with every line.
He’d actually thought earlier that Li Yunxian pushing the blame onto him was an issue.
“So what now?” Su Wenjing said helplessly.
Li Yunxian glanced at Su Wenjing.
She hadn’t expected his first reaction would be to handle all this trouble together with her.
Li Yunxian smiled.
“Let’s draw out the ones hiding in the shadows first,” Li Yunxian said.