Seeing the strange, flickering expression on Mu Lingxi’s face, Yun Fei’s lips curled up slightly at the corners.
However, she immediately put on an extremely concerned look.
“Xier, what’s wrong? Is it not sweet?”
“Ah—no, no! It’s very sweet!”
Mu Lingxi chose not to tell Yun Fei the truth, deciding to silently endure this flavor herself.
After all, she had so brazenly promised to finish it just moments before.
A vow made mere seconds ago absolutely could not be regretted so quickly.
Besides, it was just bitter gourd.
She could tough it out.
It was definitely better than that explosively spicy rabbit meat from a few days ago.
Thinking this, Mu Lingxi suddenly felt the bitter gourd tanghulu wasn’t so bad after all.
Seeing Mu Lingxi finish the entire stick of tanghulu with an expressionless face, Yun Fei began to feel a bit of admiration for her endurance.
That look of being about to bite down but hesitating was truly amusing to watch.
The night passed just like that.
On the way back using Sword Kinesis, Yun Fei felt like she had forgotten something.
But on second thought, since she could forget it, it probably wasn’t anything very important, so she let it go.
In a place Yun Fei couldn’t see, an Immortal Crane wandering outside the city suddenly seemed to sense something.
It looked up at the sky, seeing the two figures flying away on their swords.
It showed no discernible emotion, simply spreading its wings and flying towards the mountain peaks within the academy on its own.
There were still four days left in this week, all without classes.
Yun Fei holed up in her room, cultivating diligently for a full day and night.
Her cultivation level only increased by a tiny, almost imperceptible amount.
She had always been a restless soul.
Things like secluded cultivation and meditation were definitely something she couldn’t persist in for long.
Perhaps this was also why, despite being a Heavenly Pride with top-tier talent from both realms, she had fallen so far behind Mu Lingxi.
Thinking about it, the number of times her cultivation had improved through honest, steady cultivation was few.
Most of her improvements came during experiences in the field or when being chased and beaten by Mu Lingxi.
Given her current mode of interaction with Mu Lingxi, the opportunities to be treated like she was when she was still a boy—being chased and beaten by Mu Lingxi—were essentially non-existent.
Therefore, the best approach was still to go out and have some fun!
Before the academy-wide competition at the beginning of next month, she needed to raise her realm a bit more.
Thinking this, Yun Fei decided to first go register at that Mission Hall, then see if there were any suitable field missions that could be completed in about three days.
She just needed to be back before classes started next week.
—
Weiming Peak, Mission Hall.
Since all students only had classes on the first two days of the week, with the rest of the time left for them to arrange freely, the Mission Hall was particularly crowded now.
However, there were still more senior students.
Most first-year students had just stepped onto the path of cultivation.
The number who could actually reach the Moon-Seizing Realm in their first year and be eligible to take on missions was less than ten percent.
Although the Mission Hall was packed, there weren’t many people at the front desk.
After queuing for only about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, it was her turn.
The student on duty at the front desk was a graceful young man.
At first glance, he seemed unremarkable.
It wasn’t until she got closer that Yun Fei caught a faint, familiar scent of Demonic Power on him, making the young man before her seem somewhat familiar.
But after scanning through her memories once more, Yun Fei still couldn’t remember who he was.
However, she roughly knew he was one of the several Demons who had come with her.
As for which family he was from, his name and surname, she had no impression whatsoever.
“I want to register as a Field Duty Student. This is my Student Token.”
Yun Fei only pondered for a moment before dropping the thought, handing her token over for him to see.
However, the guy didn’t react for a long while, leaving Yun Fei puzzled.
“…Oh! Right, Your High—ah, no, Student Yun Fei.”
Clearly, this guy was a bit nervous.
He had probably recognized her.
After all, when they arrived at the academy, she had been sitting directly on the head of the Wind-winged Dragon.
The teenagers on the deck had naturally imprinted that image in their minds.
“Don’t be nervous, just proceed as usual.”
Yun Fei glanced behind her, confirming there was no one else in line and no one around paying attention to them; everyone was gathered around the mission boards.
“Which family are you from? What’s your name? Why are you working here?”
“Um… Your Highness.”
The young man lowered his voice slightly.
“I’m from the Chu family of the Frigid Winter Domain. My name is Chu Yanfang.”
The Frigid Winter Domain was the northernmost region of the Demon Realm, closest to the North Sea Abyss.
Its northernmost front line was also the main battlefront against The Void.
“Chu Yanfang… You’re from the Chu family?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Grand Marshal Chu is my grandfather. I’m the youngest child in the Marshal’s residence. My talent isn’t as good as my older brothers and sisters, so my grandfather… sent me here… Also, I’m just covering a shift today. The senior who usually mans this desk lives in the same residential area as me. He recently needed to go into seclusion and offered me a fourth-grade protective talisman as payment to cover his shifts for a few days. Once the shift coverage is over, I will cultivate diligently and definitely not hold Your Highness back!”
“…Mmm, good. You have the right attitude, young man. You should know, if you follow me, you won’t end up worse off than your older brothers and sisters in the future!”
Yun Fei was quite satisfied with his reaction.
It was about time she gathered more trusted aides.
Those who followed her before were all death warriors cultivated by the Demon Palace.
She hadn’t had much contact with people from established families with status like this.
“By the way, let’s exchange Spirit Talisman contact information first. I’ll give you a task. I’ll create a Demon Realm group chat later. You get everyone you can contact to join. For the girls, I’ll have my maid take care of it. For those without contact info, you need to find them in person. Understood?”
Hearing this, Chu Yanfang agreed with exceptional enthusiasm and even swore an oath that he would never slack off on the task assigned by His Highness, or else he would fall on his sword and return to the heavens.
“Your Highness, this is your Field Duty certification. Let me explain it to you. The Field Duty Student certification has four grades, from highest to lowest: Class A, B, C, and D. Advancing from D to C requires 100 experience points. Each subsequent grade jump requires the square of the experience points needed for the previous grade. Missions themselves aren’t graded, but each mission has a note specifying the minimum realm required to accept it. The experience points for completing the mission are also marked on it, so you need to read carefully. Regarding the academy’s recent policy allowing experience points to substitute for Third-class Battle Merit as a graduation requirement for advanced students, one needs to reach Class B Field Duty certification. But I believe, for Your Highness, earning Battle Merit is no problem at all!”
“…Alright, I understand.”
Yun Fei ignored Chu Yanfang’s somewhat flattering remarks.
After giving him a few more instructions, she headed straight for the mission boards.
The Mission Hall was vast, densely lined with dozens of boards.
Each board had over a dozen mission slips.
When a mission slip was torn off, a new one would fall from a slit in the ceiling to fill the gap.
As for where so many missions came from?
According to Chu Yanfang’s earlier introduction, the academy’s Mission Hall covered areas wherever there were people in both realms.
However, most people preferred missions close by.
The farther ones, even those requiring travel to the Demon Realm, were mostly taken by intermediate and advanced students without strict course requirements.
For such missions, just the travel time took a long while, making them impractical for elementary students with classes.
Yun Fei really wanted to take on Demon Realm missions.
After all, it had been too long since she absorbed genuine demonic energy, and her heart itched for it.
But considering her studies, she suppressed that thought.
After pondering various irrelevant things, Yun Fei began seriously reading the mission contents.
“Mission Location: Southern Region of the Profane Realm, Qingzhou City”
“Mission Client: Lord of Qingzhou City”
“Mission Content: Esteemed Immortals, pardon the disturbance. I am Zhao Tuqin, Lord of Qingzhou City. Recently, a rather bizarre case has troubled me for some time. In a small village called Stone Village under Qingzhou’s jurisdiction, all the villagers mysteriously vanished overnight. Initially, I suspected demonic activity and recruited a few Moon-Seizing Realm and Star-Plucking Realm rogue cultivators—the most powerful practitioners this small city of mine could muster. However, after they entered, there has been no news. The Spirit Talismans I spent a considerable sum to purchase for them beforehand cannot establish contact either. Therefore, I can only seek assistance from you esteemed Immortals!”
“Note: After evaluation by the Mission Hall Elders, this mission is restricted to those at the Shattering Void Realm or above. Additionally, the client has not ascertained the specific situation. Students are advised to accept with caution and act according to their capabilities.”
“Addendum: Due to the slightly complex situation, this mission requires team participation. All students who accept this mission are to assemble at the foot of Weiming Peak at noon today. The academy will arrange a small flying boat to the destination, Qingzhou City.”
“Mission Experience Points: 30”
After reading the contents of this mission slip, Yun Fei’s eyes lit up.
‘Vanished into thin air overnight? Such a thing exists? Interesting. This is the one.’
Having made her decision, Yun Fei immediately stepped forward, tore off the mission slip, ran to the front desk to register the mission information, and then set off for the foot of the mountain.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Yun Fei found several people already waiting near the mountain gate.
Each held a mission slip in their hand, clearly people who had accepted the same mission.
However… why was Mu Lingxi here too?
How could such a coincidence exist in this world?
This was truly unbelievable!
After scanning the group, Yun Fei suddenly spotted Mu Lingxi’s figure.
The mission slip in her hand unmistakably declared her purpose for being here.
Mu Lingxi seemed to sense a familiar, intense gaze.
She looked up slightly and saw Yun Fei standing frozen in place, seemingly lost in thought.
Yun Fei also held a mission slip!
She remembered there was only one team mission today. Could it be…?
Mu Lingxi’s eyes brightened, a faint smile curling at the corner of her lips.
But then she suddenly remembered there were others present and immediately straightened her expression.
Because of this, from Yun Fei’s perspective, Mu Lingxi had only given her a brief, indifferent glance.
Yet, that glance seemed to contain a thick, dense sense of joy.
Yun Fei sighed silently in her heart, involuntarily beginning to doubt whether her recent connection with Mu Lingxi had become too deep.
Why did Mu Lingxi have a part in everything she encountered?
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