Su Wenjing recalled once again those who had crossed paths with Li Yunxian during this period.
Su Wenjing:
“He probably can guess exactly how many of those ‘one billion little points’ there are.”
Su Wenjing didn’t say anything further, and Li Yunxian didn’t mind. At this moment, the meeting had officially started, and she was fully focused on listening to the academy’s senior officials speak.
The summary was that whether cultivators or mortals, meetings were basically all the same.
They began by sharing some good news.
Some professors with outstanding achievements were praised, then they talked about the promising progress of various school projects, and finally, they moved on to the exchange arrangements among the four major academies.
Only then did Li Yunxian realize that teachers among the academies were not absolutely fixed; about a dozen professors were regularly arranged to teach at other academies for a year.
But the decision on who would be assigned was probably decided before the meeting—the meeting itself was just a formality to announce it.
Half an hour in, Li Yunxian began to feel bored listening to these administrative matters.
She glanced around and found no surprises or excitement. Good—all the assistant instructors around were all playing on their phones.
Li Yunxian was pondering whether she should join in when suddenly the topic of the meeting shifted.
“This year, the number of graduates is only a little over two thousand, the lowest graduation rate among the four academies.”
“Looking at the cultivation levels of current students, there are 1,341 students at the Great Completion of Qi Refinement and 3,398 students at Qi Refining Ninth Layer… From the data, our academy does not lack high-level Qi Refinement students.”
“This shows that our teaching methods aren’t the problem.”
“It’s likely that we haven’t sufficiently tempered the students’ mentality. After some internal discussion, the academy has decided to reopen the Xuanwen Secret Realm to arrange for students to go inside for training.”
Li Yunxian sat up straighter.
A secret realm!
She had been to secret realms before and there were always plenty of good things inside.
This was especially suitable now when her pockets were empty.
Then she heard the leaders continue, “The Xuanwen Secret Realm has not been used for nearly ten years. We’ll trouble the Qi Method Department with its repairs. Last time the secret realm was opened, some parts were damaged and need to be restored.”
“And regarding the various spirit materials and treasure artifacts, as well as blessed lands within the secret realm, professors are asked to pick some from the school warehouse and place them inside.”
Li Yunxian:
Wait a minute, didn’t this sound a bit off?
Was this really a secret realm?
Li Yunxian quietly asked Duan Qiu, “Is this Xuanwen Secret Realm man-made?”
Duan Qiu hadn’t expected the meeting to cover this topic either. But since Li Yunxian had already heard it, there was no point hiding it.
She didn’t think Li Yunxian’s mentality would be rattled by a mere Foundation Establishment difficulty.
Duan Qiu nodded, “Yes, it’s a special magic tool. The environment inside isn’t much different from a normal secret realm, and once activated, the user cannot control anything inside.”
“It can be said to be a huge space that can contain living beings.”
“However, since it’s an Earth-grade artifact, it has the properties of a magic tool. For example, you won’t truly die inside. Instead, the artifact will expel you directly.”
“The secret realm will keep behind a corpse, which contains all the possessions of the eliminated.”
“You just need to know this; don’t tell others.”
“If you tell others, the training effect will be lost, and it will only harm them.”
Li Yunxian nodded but was still puzzled. Since this was a secret realm for their own academy students, it didn’t seem particularly dangerous or capable of giving much training effect.
But the next arrangement from the leaders gave Li Yunxian the answer.
“Assistant instructors are requested to find some Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment beasts from the dense forest and release them inside.”
“For the assistants outside, we will distribute Xuanwen Tokens to them, and they will figure out how to enable the Hunters to obtain them…”
So there were enemies.
And these enemies were deliberately arranged to force students to fight to the death inside the secret realm.
Li Yunxian’s eyes brightened.
Now this was interesting.
She wanted to participate.
She didn’t plan to compete for the resources the academy gave to the students.
She wanted to snatch from the Hunters.
Their Storage Artifacts must contain good stuff.
If not, Li Yunxian could put some in there herself.
These were supplies she had exchanged from the game, a perfect opportunity to slip into their Storage Artifacts in reality and clear a path forward.
Li Yunxian began to listen intently as the leaders detailed how the academy would distribute the Xuanwen Tokens to students.
They wouldn’t just hand one to everyone.
That would be pointless and wouldn’t achieve the academy’s goal of tempering the students’ mentality.
The struggle to acquire these resources was part of the training.
A total of 500 tokens would be released, a number that even students at the Great Completion of Qi Refinement could not all obtain.
But the overall plan…
Li Yunxian listened thoughtfully. It seemed the distribution favored those with higher cultivation levels, making it easier for them to get the tokens.
Duan Qiu noticed Li Yunxian’s focus and gently patted her, “Stop thinking about it, you’re not enrolled yet. You can’t participate in these projects.”
Hearing this, Li Yunxian finally understood.
No wonder she hadn’t heard any arrangement of Xuanwen Tokens for the Practice Arena.
- The arena was the only academy project that their batch of new students could participate in.
- Among them, the more combative ones had already been fighting for several days in the arena.
So after the leader’s polite conclusion of “Any objections from the teachers?”, Li Yunxian stood up.
“I have an objection,” Li Yunxian said.
Everyone was stunned; no one expected someone to stand up and say such a thing. All eyes turned toward Li Yunxian in collective surprise.
Seeing her clearly, their expressions grew even more shocked.
…Who was she?
They weren’t mistaken, were they?
She looked like she was only at Qi Refining Third Layer.
Yet everyone seated around her were assistant instructors, and none seemed to mind her presence.
What was going on?
Li Yunxian paid no attention to their expressions and straightforwardly voiced her opinion.
“I believe that the Xuanwen Tokens given to the top-ranked students in the arena should also be allocated to all training venues within the academy. The arena should not be excluded.”
“Those who reach the top ranks of the arena are sure to graduate successfully. This should be their advantage, not a disadvantage.”
“The academy’s opening of the secret realm should not only focus on increasing graduation opportunities for more students but also ensure that stronger students don’t lose chances for advancement.”
“Both can be balanced.”
When Li Yunxian finished, the entire conference hall fell silent.
Duan Qiu deeply covered her face with her hand.
She never expected Li Yunxian to stand up and give such a speech.
Recalling when she first brought Li Yunxian in.
Interesting, right?
You wanted to see some drama?
Well, you just got a big show!
The hall was dead silent, everyone unsure how to respond.
Li Yunxian’s words made sense.
But they made too much sense.
They exposed that the academy’s arrangements were just a facade to cover up poor performance.
Su Wenjing silently watched Li Yunxian with a blank expression.
***
Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind—the night half a month ago when Li Yunxian smiled brightly and explained the theory of ‘being a tied-up cat, a lame horse, and redoing the Tribulation.’
That theory might not be entirely correct, but it was absolutely accurate about Li Yunxian herself.
Li Yunxian noticed Su Wenjing’s gaze and signaled him silently to back her up.
Su Wenjing withdrew his gaze, pretending not to see.
Li Yunxian looked at the senior officials in front of her, reading their thoughtful expressions. She sent a mental prompt to poke Su Wenjing.
Whether this succeeded or not, it was just a matter of giving people a way out.
But Su Wenjing refused to accept the mental message.
Li Yunxian watched the back of Su Wenjing’s head and quietly found the fragment of Divine Sense belonging to him.
She formed her Divine Sense into a hammer and tapped once.
Not too hard, but not soft either.
Su Wenjing’s expression twisted for a moment, and he took a deep breath before recovering.
However, when he looked up, all the others in the front row were staring at him, thinking he was going to take a stance.
Su Wenjing:
Going to talk with Li Yunxian that day was a mistake!!
He clenched his teeth silently, coldly saying, “Increasing the number of people in the Xuanwen Secret Realm is easy. Put the top hundred in the arena on the list as well.”
Such a minor matter, no one would dare disrespect Su Wenjing’s authority.
With that final word, the decision was settled.
“All right, so it will be as decided.”
The leader responded, then looked at Li Yunxian. “Assistant Instructor, do you have any further objections?”
The tone was gentle, as if still open to hearing more opinions.
Li Yunxian slightly nodded and respectfully said, “No, thank you.”
After the meeting ended, Li Yunxian smiled quietly, returning the gaze of those leaders who had been sneaking glances at her from all directions.
Once everyone had left the conference room, Duan Qiu finally felt she could breathe.
Looking at Li Yunxian’s unchanged expression, Duan Qiu gave her a thumbs-up and sighed sincerely.
“Sis, from now on, I’ll call you sis.”
Duan Qiu felt she had been fierce enough before, but now there was a real contrast that stung.
Anyway, Duan Qiu thought she couldn’t have calmly spoken like that under the gaze of those distractingly powerful Foundation Establishment and even Consolidation Stage veterans.
Recalling Li Yunxian’s current status, Duan Qiu said, “Hua Shunyu is really lucky to have you as a substitute teacher.”
You really can’t be greedy for bargains.
Cheap things always have hidden prices.
After today, Hua Shunyu’s name will surely thunder through the academy’s professors and leadership!
Exiting the conference room, Li Yunxian bid Duan Qiu farewell. Not far ahead, she spotted a certain cold-faced Fox waiting.
“It’s obvious they were waiting for me.”
Li Yunxian walked up, but before she could say anything, Su Wenjing spoke first.
“Didn’t you say before, after you asked that question, everything would be even?”
His voice was filled with restrained anger.
Li Yunxian nodded, seemingly not noticing Su Wenjing’s reproach, smiling gently, “Mm, thanks for earlier. Now it’s my turn to owe you.”
Su Wenjing’s words that he was about to say were blocked at the gate by Li Yunxian’s smooth counterattack.
Where was that arrogant attitude from their late-night talk?
Su Wenjing stared intently at Li Yunxian, looking at the face full of innocence and sincerity, suddenly feeling a pain in his chest.
Anger.
He knew that Divine Sense hammer he received earlier was wasted.
“Fine, just you wait,” Su Wenjing sneered and left the scene in front of Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian shrugged at the scene.
Pfft~ Who’s he trying to scare?!
Forget whether either of them had passed the Tribulation before; just look at their cultivation now.
One at Qi Refining Third Layer, the other mid-Consolidation Stage.
If he really wanted to deal with someone, would he have them wait?
This younger Fox is really childish.