Yun Fei stood up abruptly from her chair and shouted at Mu Lingxi in annoyance, “Mu Lingxi—! What do you mean by that? Am I that kind of person? I…”
“But you came back earlier today looking completely drunk… How could you have returned alone in that state? Someone must have gotten you drunk, did something to you, and then sent you back!”
The more Mu Lingxi spoke, the more she felt she had uncovered the truth.
Everything was clicking into place!
Listening to Mu Lingxi’s self-rationalized delusions, Yun Fei felt her vision go dark.
Mu Lingxi’s wild imagination was utterly destroying her reputation.
She even started to suspect that the rumors in the outside world—claiming she was capable of every possible evil—had actually originated from Mu Lingxi.
“Shut up! I am the dignified Young Lord of the Demon Realm, how could I possibly do such a thing? Ugh—fine, I’ll tell you. You know the Demon Capital Commerce Association, right? The General President there is my… my sister!”
Yun Fei originally wanted to say aunt, but the word changed to sister right as it reached her lips.
“Oh… is that so… But do you even have a sister? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Never mind that! If I call her sister, then she’s my sister!”
Yun Fei grew a bit frantic and could only toss out a random excuse.
But at that moment, Mu Lingxi seemed to think of something, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
“What are you doing?”
“Hehe~ Since you have money now, I won’t force you to cook for me anymore. After all, those are just trivial physical desires… However, you see, I gave you that guide and helped you out a big favor. Could you… also call me sister?”
“Huh?!”
Yun Fei was dumbfounded. she obviously hadn’t expected Mu Lingxi’s train of thought to go there.
Even though Mu Lingxi’s age was appropriate for the title, how could there be any logic in calling her mortal enemy “Sister”?
“No way!” Yun Fei strictly refused.
“No! You have to!”
Mu Lingxi’s negotiating attitude took a sudden turn.
“I helped you, so you must repay me today. My demands aren’t high: either call me sister, or let me beat you up once without you fighting back!”
“You! Don’t push your luck!”
Yun Fei stared with wide, disbelieving eyes at the suddenly aggressive Mu Lingxi.
She truly couldn’t understand what had crossed the Saintess’s mind now.
“Hmm?”
Mu Lingxi’s tone suddenly became dangerous.
The pressure of her Shattered Void Eighth Realm gradually bore down on Yun Fei, and small ice crystals began to condense slightly in her hand.
The sudden chill in the air made Yun Fei shiver instinctively.
Certain places on her body that had been beaten before began to throb with faint pain.
“Tsk… Sis… Sister.”
“Mhm~ Not loud enough~ But never mind~ Your sister is magnanimous, so I won’t hold it against Little Sister Yun~”
After saying that, Mu Lingxi stood on her tiptoes, gently patted Yun Fei’s head, and left the room without looking back.
Yun Fei stood there dazed, covering her head with her hand.
Watching the door being gently closed, she couldn’t help but purse her lips as if lost in thought.
What kind of fit was Mu Lingxi throwing?
Is she that happy just from being called sister?
If I call her sister on the field in a month, will she lose her composure and let me sweep her off the stage with one strike of my spear?
“Young Lord, please think twice! Do not be deceived by that woman. I suspect this is her plan for reformation, intended to erode Your Highness’s majesty!”
Just then, the Magic Mirror hanging from Yun Fei’s waist spoke up, interrupting her thoughts.
Reformation? That really was a possibility.
Yun Fei seemed to be awakened by the Magic Mirror’s words, and the fog before her eyes cleared instantly.
“But… Magic Mirror, my mastery of language isn’t that deep. This word ‘reformation’… isn’t the target usually a villainous character?”
“Exactly… Ah, no, no! Your Highness! I didn’t mean it like that! You said yourself your mastery of language isn’t high, so you’ve misunderstood. How could it possibly mean that? Hahaha…”
“I feel like you’re still badmouthing me… Whatever, forget it.” Yun Fei shook her head, her mind gradually calming down.
“A pity… Mu Lingxi didn’t end up crying and begging me to cook for her like I imagined. Instead, because I ran my mouth, she managed to turn the tables on me.”
Sighing slightly, Yun Fei opened the window.
With a small push of her hands and a jump, she flipped herself onto the roof.
The sky was completely covered by the curtain of night, with two bright full moons hanging opposite each other in the north and south.
The one in the north was, naturally, the Demon Moon.
The vast majority of its brilliance shone upon the Demon Realm, showering down moonlight saturated with demonic energy.
Yun Fei sat cross-legged on the roof ridge, gazing at the Demon Moon in the north.
She reached out her right hand toward the horizon and made a grasping motion, as if trying to catch it.
“Young Lord… are you homesick?”
The Magic Mirror again…
Yun Fei’s eyes darkened.
“Shut up. My thoughts don’t need to be speculated upon by a broken mirror like you.”
The Magic Mirror went silent.
It watched Yun Fei as she closed her eyes and entered a meditative state, letting out a silent sigh.
“When will Your Highness ever fix this stubborn, sharp-tongued personality…”
***
The night passed in silence until the rising morning sun broke through the eastern horizon, gradually revealing itself and bringing light to the world once more.
The orange morning light shone diagonally across Yun Fei, casting a long shadow.
Feeling the change in light, Yun Fei quietly opened her purple eyes.
“Mhm~ Another day to look forward to~”
Yun Fei stood up and stretched lazily, only to look down and see a young girl practicing her sword under the old locust tree in the courtyard.
The girl stopped her movements and looked up, clearly noticing Yun Fei standing on the roof.
She offered a slight smile, then closed her eyes and resumed her sword practice, as if she had seen nothing at all.
“Sigh… Sometimes I really don’t understand Mu Lingxi… One moment she’s practicing her sword so seriously, and the next she has that punchable look on her face.”
A beautiful day began to crumble the moment she saw Mu Lingxi.
Thinking back to Mu Lingxi’s inexplicable behavior at the end of their last meeting yesterday gave Yun Fei a headache.
She even felt like they were from completely different worlds; Mu Lingxi’s logic… simply couldn’t be understood from a normal person’s perspective.
Yun Fei exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, expelling the impurities from a night of cultivation.
A feeling of transparency swept through her entire body—it felt wonderful~
Half an hour later, at Weiming Peak.
Yun Fei followed behind the crowd as they ascended this mountain.
Weiming Peak was the main peak of the Academy, and the concentration of spiritual energy here was much higher than on Mount Xuanqing.
Compared to Mount Xuanqing, the natural atmosphere here was much thinner; instead, there were far more palaces and halls.
Almost the entire mountain, aside from the necessary paths, was covered in buildings.
“New students of Mount Xuanqing, please follow behind me. The paths of Weiming Peak are complex and intricate, so don’t get lost~”
The senior leading them held a folding fan high, waving it in the air to signal the freshmen to keep up with her pace.
“This Weiming Peak is the main peak of our Academy. After the College Allocation today, aside from professional courses held on specific peaks, all other mandatory courses will be held here—for example, Introduction to Cultivation Methods and Overview of Ten Thousand Years of Mystic and Demon, among others.”
Yun Fei seemed to hear something interesting.
She nudged Mu Lingxi, who was walking beside her holding her sword with a leisurely air, with her elbow.
“What is this Introduction to Cultivation Methods? Is it possible there are people here who haven’t started cultivating yet?”
Mu Lingxi rolled her eyes at Yun Fei’s question.
“Of course. Dawn Academy’s recruitment range is extremely broad. We don’t have the strict, multi-layered assessments of those great sects. Ordinary people who haven’t formally stepped onto the path of cultivation can enroll as long as they sign up and pass the initial, most basic inspection—which is simply checking if they have the potential to cultivate.”
“Therefore, unlike those of us brought in through the Prodigy Plan, most of the new students here are in the Qi Ming Realm, and some haven’t even begun cultivating.”
“Oh… I see.”
It seemed the lives of her fellow Demon Race members who entered with her wouldn’t be too bad; at least they wouldn’t be bullied into hiding.
She didn’t want to have to clean up those kinds of messes.
Under the senior’s guidance, the group finally stopped before the long staircase leading to the summit of the peak.
“This is the Five Thousand Steps of Ever-bright leading to the main hall of Weiming Peak. It is also a warm-up test you must undergo before your talent assessment. Its main purpose is to see where your limits lie. Rest assured, no one will lose their qualification for enrollment here.”
“Now then, everyone, step forward when you are ready. This is not as simple as just climbing stairs; there are many trials ahead~ Well, my task is complete. Hopefully, we will meet again in the future~”
After speaking, she opened her folding fan, which turned into a streak of red light and flew off to an unknown destination.
After the senior left, a wave of commotion broke out among the quiet crowd.
“This… five thousand steps? You’ve got to be joking. Is this even possible to complete?”
“Brother, what are you afraid of! Didn’t she say we won’t lose our qualifications like in those sects? Just do it!”
“Oh, true.”
As if encouraged, the crowd stepped onto the Five Thousand Steps of Ever-bright after a brief moment of hesitation and retreat.
“Mu Lingxi, want to race? Let’s see who gets to the top first?”
Yun Fei watched the people around her step onto the stairs one by one, then nudged Mu Lingxi again, who was staring at the steps lost in thought.
“Race? Is Your Highness so certain you can reach the top? In the decades since Dawn Academy was founded, no one below the Heaven Burning Realm has ever passed these five thousand steps.”
Mu Lingxi seemed to hear something hilarious and couldn’t help but chuckle behind her hand.
“Ha? That exaggerated?”
“Mhm. I heard from my Master that these Five Thousand Steps of Ever-bright were formed fifty years ago from the Ever-bright Lock, an immortal tool owned by the Principal’s Dao companion. Even though the immortal spirit has faded and its power has declined, its foundation as an immortal tool is still there.”
Yun Fei’s eyes immediately lit up.
“An immortal tool? Then I definitely have to try! Besides, I am the genius known as a once-in-ten-thousand-years rarity in the Demon Realm. This little thing might not necessarily stop me!”
Yun Fei patted her slightly developed chest with a confident look, her eyes radiating a burning fighting spirit.
“Once-in-ten-thousand-years rarity? What a coincidence. I am also the once-in-ten-thousand-years genius of the Profane Realm~”
“Ha? You… fine, you do deserve that title.”
Yun Fei was surprised for a moment, but she quickly thought of her own miserable encounters at Mu Lingxi’s hands.
It was acceptable for one ten-thousand-year genius to be suppressed by another.
If Mu Lingxi were only a once-in-a-millennium talent, then Yun Fei’s reputation would truly be in the gutter!