On the way back to Qingteng Villa District, Li Yunxian received an invitation to a class reunion.
This gathering was to be held at Yu Qiyao’s villa.
They didn’t meet often as a cohort; the last time was that night when Su Wenjing came looking for her.
Seeing this message, Li Yunxian immediately felt that something good must be happening over at Yu Qiyao’s side.
Of course, she had to go.
Li Yunxian took a slight detour to the dining area and bought some barbecue and marinated snacks before heading to Yu Qiyao’s villa.
When she arrived, she knocked on the door, and the villa door opened.
“Yunxian.” Yu Qiyao called out joyfully, her brows and eyes full of delight, stepping aside, “Come in, come in.”
Li Yunxian stepped inside, greeted by a very cozy living room.
It was obvious that compared to Li Yunxian’s place—which used whatever was available and hadn’t changed much since—Yu Qiyao’s villa was carefully decorated.
The others who had already arrived in the living room, upon seeing the food Li Yunxian was carrying, exclaimed excitedly.
Li Yunxian found it amusing and placed the barbecue and marinated snacks on the table. “What’s there to be so amazed about?”
Everyone happily explained the reason: “Everyone who came brought something different!”
Li Yunxian glanced at the items on the table and found it to be true, and she couldn’t help but laugh along.
This really was something to be happy about.
Everyone sat down and immediately began chatting noisily.
They talked about everything under the sun, and soon Li Yunxian overheard the topic turning to herself.
More precisely, to Hua Shunyu.
“There’s an ‘Introduction to Swordsmanship’ course over by Building Three. Have you heard? It’s taught by that assistant instructor named Hua.”
“Yeah, I heard. Someone said once the formal term starts, they’ll rush to sign up right away.”
“Yuwan, Yunxian, you both use swords, do you want to sign up?”
“Yuwan’s fine, but Yunxian, do you even need an introductory swordsmanship course?” someone teased.
The girl pointed at, hands on hips, retorted, “What do you mean Yuwan’s fine and I don’t? My swordsmanship’s pretty decent, thank you very much!”
“Alright, alright, I was wrong.” The speaker begged for mercy, “But you really should go. Even though the class has over thirty people, it’s almost one-on-one instruction.”
“The assistant instructor is at least a Golden Core True Person. Since it’s an introduction to swordsmanship, they probably specialize in the Sword Path.”
“If it’s really close to one-on-one, you don’t even need to worry about whether you’re a beginner or not.”
“And this assistant instructor’s schedule is perfect.”
“The course is only available until our school starts; once the semester begins, the new courses will be up for grabs.”
“If you don’t sign up early, you won’t even get a spot.”
Li Yunxian listened nervously without saying a word.
Seeing the others convincing the other sword-using girl, preparing to persuade her next, she quickly changed the subject.
“All right, all right, talking about something a month and a half away is way too early.” Li Yunxian finished and looked at Yu Qiyao. “Since you called everyone here today, Qiyao, is there some good news?”
At her words, everyone chuckled, already guessing.
Someone reached out and patted Yu Qiyao: “Qiyao, now that everyone’s here and you’ve been brewing this for so long, it’s about time. Tell us!”
Yu Qiyao’s face flushed, her expression a mix of excitement and nervousness. “I was at the Offline Task Center earlier, discussing a mission about planting spirit materials.”
“That mission takes place in the breeding area.”
“Today, when I went there to water the spirit materials, I ran into a professor. She asked me some questions and said she wanted to take me as her student.”
This kind of student was different from those who simply picked courses and attended classes.
It was more like becoming a direct disciple.
Back when Duan Qiu first met Li Yunxian, that was exactly what she wanted.
“You agreed?” Li Yunxian asked, watching Yu Qiyao’s expression.
Yu Qiyao shook her head. “No, I said I don’t understand this stuff and hope to learn more before giving an answer.”
***
Sudden windfalls from the sky aren’t always good things, Yu Qiyao knew that well.
After she finished, Yu Qiyao looked at everyone sheepishly. “I want to trouble you all to quietly ask the senior students you know about Professor Chen Bujian…”
Upon hearing this request, some immediately patted their chests, promising they’d ask their contacts tomorrow.
Others, a bit embarrassed, said they’d been cultivating in the dorm recently and didn’t know any senior students.
Li Yunxian’s situation was different from everyone else’s.
In her contacts, there seemed to be no senior students—only assistant instructors.
– How she got those contacts is a story best left untold.
After a brief moment of thought, Li Yunxian spoke up: “You’ve already asked the senior students, right? How about I ask Assistant Instructor Duan Qiu?”
Yu Qiyao was surprised by Li Yunxian’s suggestion but then intrigued.
Students definitely didn’t know professors as well as teachers did.
They’d only met Duan Qiu once or twice and hardly talked, so it was hard to reach her.
But Li Yunxian’s suggestion…
Seemed doable.
Yu Qiyao recalled when she first arrived in the Capital City, how Duan Qiu handed Li Yunxian a Jade Token before leaving, and how Duan Qiu had followed the Jade Token to their first visit to the academy.
“Thank you so much.” Yu Qiyao said gratefully.
Li Yunxian didn’t delay and sent a message to Duan Qiu right away.
Within minutes, Duan Qiu replied.
Li Yunxian glanced at the message; it looked fine, so she didn’t say anything out loud.
After thanking Duan Qiu, she privately forwarded the message’s content to Yu Qiyao.
Yu Qiyao’s phone vibrated; she picked it up and saw the message from Li Yunxian.
A quick scan revealed several key points:
Position held at the bureau.
Early stage of Golden Core, gentle personality, easy to get along with, good reputation, already has two students who have reached Golden Core—one at the Academy Bureau and the other at the Special Administration Bureau.
Recently, it’s been heard that she intends to accept new students.
Yu Qiyao felt the unease in her heart dissipate.
Reading the private message, Yu Qiyao also appreciated Li Yunxian’s careful handling.
If it were an ordinary Nascent Soul Stage professor taking disciples, no one would think much.
After all, everyone present had taken part in the Qingteng Selection Exam, and it was common for assistant instructors or professors to pick students.
But Professor Chen’s qualifications, in every respect, were exceptional.
If she were announced openly, it would inevitably stir envy.
Yu Qiyao smiled gratefully at Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian returned the smile.
The lively gathering eventually came to an end, and Li Yunxian returned to her own villa, logging into Ten Thousand Things.
She needed to prepare for the upcoming Xuanwen Secret Realm.
Simply put, it was about making a big haul of game currency, exchanging as many spirit materials as possible into the real world, and then cleansing them.
Li Yunxian glanced at her current game currency count.
48,772.
Most of her income from Dan Yao still came offline; online production was only a small portion and not very profitable.
The sales of Symbol Talismans in her city were stable, with no significant growth at the moment.
Zhao Longhua was working hard to expand the new city pool, but progress was average.
– Mainly because the new city pool hadn’t experienced any creepy incidents yet.
This amount of money was neither much nor little, but when it came to the game’s exchange mall, buying a few mid- to high-grade spirit materials would wipe it out.
Not enough, not enough, not enough!
Li Yunxian looked at the various materials she’d accumulated in her warehouse over these days.
Then glanced at the 999+ messages from the talkative Sheng Yu, angrily asking about Miaoying.
The Guild War had just ended a month ago; the next one was still half a year away.
Right now, if she got angry, no one cared about the “Offline for Three Days” thing.
Come and fight!
Whoever chickens out is the loser!
The battles were intense and chaotic.
In the past half month, Sheng Yu had been forced offline for three days twice, giving Li Yunxian a brief moment of peace.
Hmm…
War was the perfect chance to make a fortune trading arms.
Based on her understanding of the Changguang Guild’s leadership and the Miaoying Guild’s attempts to hunt her down, Li Yunxian began listing the best military supplies for each guild.
She checked her warehouse, confirmed what materials she was missing, bought some from Zhao Longhua, and for the rest, went back to the Trading Market once more.
When people at the Trading Market saw Li Yunxian show up again, their eyes lit up.
They enthusiastically asked, “Boss Xiao Li, what new things are you bringing to sell this time?”
Everyone who had tried her Symbol Talismans online and taken her Dan Yao offline now knew that what Li Yunxian offered was all top quality.
Li Yunxian smiled: “Not selling today, I’m here to buy.”