Li Yunxian logged out of the game with ease.
The next day during class, Li Tianying couldn’t help but glance at Li Yunxian a few extra times.
She could sense that Li Yunxian seemed unusually relaxed today.
There was no way she had actually finished the homework, right?
Li Tianying looked at Li Yunxian suspiciously, but it still seemed unlikely.
The questions she had assigned this time were actually subtly beyond the knowledge she had taught Li Yunxian.
The difficulty of these single problems was two levels higher than the ultimate problems that students majoring in Artifact Crafting in the academy faced only when they were about to graduate.
Judging by Li Yunxian’s past homework, there was absolutely no way she could finish these.
She was expecting Li Yunxian to fail, so she could then patiently explain the parts that Li Yunxian didn’t know or understand.
That’s what being a teacher and student is all about!
One-to-many teaching means setting exams that test the overall middle-to-upper level of the students, just to get a feel for what they know.
One-on-one teaching means setting tests that determine what the student can and cannot do, to find the gaps in their knowledge.
There’s no such thing as Li Yunxian, who can handle any exam no matter what!!
From the moment Li Yunxian started attending her classes, Li Tianying had noticed that Li Yunxian’s approach to artifact forging was somewhat unusual.
But could Li Yunxian really pull off using those strange methods every single time to cover up all her weaknesses?
Li Tianying maintained a calm expression but was inwardly on edge throughout the class.
***
In the afternoon, at the workshop.
Li Tianying struggled desperately as she looked at Li Yunxian, took a deep breath, and then took the homework.
As she read, Li Tianying let out a soft “huh” and her expression grew serious.
After finishing, Li Tiansuo remained silent but went over to operate a machine.
Upon confirming that what Li Yunxian had written in the homework was indeed achievable, she glanced at Li Yunxian’s homework in surprise.
“Who taught you this?” Li Tiansuo asked directly.
Li Yunxian wore an innocent, pitiful look. “Well… I couldn’t finish the homework, so I asked some netizens.”
“Everyone was discussing it together last night.” Li Yunxian answered frankly.
Li Tianying glanced at her. Her already throbbing headache worsened.
She had already assigned the ultimate problems, and yet she had no idea what kind of homework she should give Li Yunxian next.
She couldn’t tell Li Yunxian that her purpose in assigning homework was to have her fail, at least not to complete it the very next day.
But for now, that wasn’t the important thing.
What she cared about was who Li Yunxian had asked for help, and whether Li Yunxian genuinely understood it or was just pretending.
Holding the homework, Li Tiansuo immediately started questioning Li Yunxian about various points.
When she saw that Li Yunxian could answer why each step was done that way and grasp the overall thought process, she didn’t say anything further.
Setting down the homework, Li Tianying said with slight approval, “Your netizens seem to have very solid practical experience in Artifact Crafting.”
“Communicating more with them will be very helpful.” It was always a good thing when students expanded their knowledge outside class.
If Li Yunxian had told her that a single netizen taught her, Li Tianying would have wanted to meet that person immediately.
But since it was a whole group spending a lot of time discussing, she let it slide—she wasn’t short on experience herself.
She was busy with many things and didn’t have much spare time.
As the most skilled artifact repairer in Xuantong Academy, many high-grade artifacts needed her maintenance.
For example, the Xuanwen Secret Realm, and the Blood Pool of Tongtian, where no one had yet figured out what was causing the energy loss in the Qi Cultivation Zone.
These were all projects led by Li Tiansuo.
Hearing this, Li Yunxian responded softly, knowing she had at least passed the “get someone else to do the homework” stage.
So she boldly asked Li Tiansuo, “Teacher, how did you find out?”
Li Tiansuo looked at Li Yunxian with a half-smile.
How did she find out?
That was obvious at a glance.
Li Yunxian’s past homework had been a mix of the orthodox academy style she taught and Li Yunxian’s own bizarre, chaotic methods.
But today’s homework was like a picture: the front half was realistic, the back half was abstract, and in the middle suddenly appeared a wild, beast-like section.
Who wouldn’t notice?
Only Li Yunxian, a newcomer, wouldn’t realize how absurd that homework was.
But Li Tianying wasn’t going to tell Li Yunxian that.
She glanced at Li Yunxian with a smirk and said, “Guess.”
Li Yunxian:
“Teacher!” Li Yunxian loudly protested.
***
Not far away, a few people watched Li Yunxian with a somewhat spoiled expression and sneered quietly.
“So that’s the new student Professor Li is rumored to have taken in? So delicate.”
One noticed that Li Yunxian’s cloak was temperature-controlled.
She was already at Qi Cultivation stage six, yet still afraid of cold and heat, daintily draping an artifact cloak.
“Shut up.” An elder at the front snapped.
The speaker silenced everyone immediately, but the others, including her, looked somewhat indifferent.
They naturally believed they were superior to those who could only switch to Artifact Crafting.
However, the commotion caught the attention of both Li Tianying and Li Yunxian.
Li Yunxian looked at these few people and realized she didn’t know a single one.
She had been studying at the workshop with Li Tianying for nearly half a year.
She knew every teacher, student, and assistant at the academy’s workshop.
When Li Tianying was busy and Li Yunxian couldn’t help, she would lend a hand to others in the workshop.
—Since there wasn’t much else to do there.
Plus, with her personality and the backing of academy celebrities, she got along pretty well with most people in the workshop.
No one would think Li Yunxian was delicate or spoiled.
When people mentioned Li Yunxian, they only thought of the Du Family, the Silver Ginkgo Fairy, associating her with ferocity.
“Who are they?” Li Yunxian asked her teacher.
Li Tianying glanced and answered, “This year it’s Wenwu Academy’s turn; these should be their exchange members.”
“The Four Great Academies exchange students annually, but the timing isn’t fixed.” Li Tiansuo recalled, “The meeting you attended mentioned this.”
Li Yunxian thought for a moment, vaguely recalling the meeting had briefly mentioned the exchange.
Li Yunxian nodded clearly and saw those few people walk in, so she stopped talking and quietly stood beside Li Tianying.
“Oh.”
“Professor Li, sorry to disturb you during your visit.”
A Wenwu Academy teacher smiled and greeted Li Tiansuo. “I’m Qi Ke from Wenwu, here with my students to visit the workshop.”
Li Yunxian behaved obediently, not wanting to cause trouble for Li Tianying.
But Li Tiansuo was not a patient person.
She was the kind of teacher who would secretly follow her student and then suddenly appear to swing a hammer the moment she heard Li Yunxian refuse and the other party still persisted.
“Hmm, I know it’s an inconvenience. Next time, remember to bring someone quieter.” Li Tiansuo said coldly, without any politeness.
Qi Ke looked embarrassed.
He knew that with the distance, the event that just happened couldn’t escape the perception of those at the Spirit Splitting stage.
Qi Ke wasn’t like Du Rong, who blindly defended others. He pushed the one who had spoken a moment ago.
“Pei Dongyuan, apologize.”
Pei Dongyuan pouted.
Usually, those who switched to Artifact Crafting were at least two years into their studies.
It was now halfway through the new semester.
So at minimum, two and a half years.
In a five-year system, only having reached Qi Cultivation stage six, Pei Dongyuan believed the other was just too fragile and weak to endure hardships, hence the low cultivation.
But Pei Dongyuan also knew that no matter what he thought, saying this in front of someone’s teacher was inappropriate.
So he obediently lowered his head toward Li Yunxian.
“Sorry, I spoke nonsense.”
Li Yunxian sized him up, noticing his attire wasn’t shabby, then reached out her hand.
“Where’s your apology?”
Her teacher had already stood up for her, expending Spirit Splitting energy.
If she lightly said “it’s nothing,” wouldn’t that ignore her teacher’s effort?
Pei Dongyuan was stunned, not expecting Li Yunxian to say that.
But Qi Ke reacted quickly.
He immediately laughed and took out a jade token, placing it into Li Yunxian’s hand.
“This is our Wenwu pass. You’re welcome to come visit us anytime.” Qi Ke said.
Li Yunxian hadn’t expected such a gift.
She glanced sideways at Li Tianying’s expression.
Seeing Li Tiansuo nod slightly at her, Li Yunxian retracted her hand and sweetly looked at Qi Ke.
“Thank you, Teacher Qi.”
Qi Ke keenly noticed Li Yunxian’s small gesture and was a bit surprised.
He had subconsciously assumed Li Yunxian was a slightly spoiled and capricious girl who needed to be pampered.
That was why his earlier tone had been coaxing.
But now, it seemed not.
Her reactions were sharp to a startling degree.
Moreover, she was quite used to going along with their misunderstandings, habitually maintaining her disguise.
This was no ordinary intelligence.
No wonder… after many years without taking students, Li Tianying suddenly accepted her.
Qi Ke felt a bit regretful about Li Yunxian’s cultivation.
With her reflexes, if she had some innate talent, she would definitely be a formidable fighter.
After chatting a bit more with Li Tiansuo and exchanging contact info, Qi Ke reluctantly parted ways with Li Tianying.
As Qi Ke left the workshop, Li Yunxian finally asked Li Tiansuo, “Teacher, what’s this for?”
Li Tiansuo answered casually, “Xuantong’s Blood Pool strengthens the body, Wenwu’s Heavenly Ladder refines the mind, Pingnan’s Battle Valley tempers the will, Jifa’s Xianpu cultivates the spirit.”
“What you’re holding is a pass for the Heavenly Ladder.”
Li Yunxian frowned.
Just one sentence, yet the return gift was so expensive.
She wanted to enter the Blood Pool of Tongtian; that required at least 500 academic credits.
Right now, Li Yunxian only had 20 points from the Qingteng Class annual credits, plus 5 points per month from the Arena Top Hundred, totaling only 50 points.
Academic credits were truly precious.
—As for why it required a minimum of 500 points…
Naturally, it was because… she didn’t know if Su Wenjing would still let her enter the Blood Pool.
Thinking of this, Li Yunxian suddenly realized something was off.
“Is Wenwu trying to do something?”
“Nothing.” Li Tianying waved her hand dismissively.
“Our Xuantong Academy graduated a few hundred people all at once these past months. Wenwu’s in a hurry, wanting me to help repair their Wenwu Tower.”
“Not every academy has an artifact repairer at the Spirit Splitting stage.”
“But I’m busy, so I refused.”
“They’re just trying to get a foothold with you; it’s no big deal.”
“The Xuanwen Secret Realm has such a big breach, it’s not going to be fixed so soon. And they haven’t found where the Blood Pool leaks yet…” Li Tianying complained one sentence after another.
“Wenwu can wait.”
Listening to Li Tianying, Li Yunxian behaved very obediently.
Her expression clearly said, “What you said has nothing to do with me.”
When Li Tianying spoke, she suddenly remembered something.
Oh, since she didn’t know what homework to give Li Yunxian, she could just let her take on a project.
She could keep Li Yunxian busy too.
Now that Li Yunxian’s knowledge was sufficient, it was time to try letting her work independently on a project.
Thinking this, Li Tianying glanced at the workshop’s task board, accepted a task with a beep, and assigned it to Li Yunxian.
“This wind-element fan isn’t very difficult; I’m leaving it to you.”
“Learning how to communicate with people, understand their needs, and customize weapons based on their capabilities is something you have to practice,” Li Tiansuo said.
Meanwhile, she would take the time Li Yunxian was being pestered by the client to think about Li Yunxian’s new homework.
Li Tianying never imagined that in just half a year of teaching a student, she would have exhausted her years’ worth of question bank.
Li Yunxian had no objections.
She lowered her eyes to read the task details and, as she looked, felt the weapon requirements… seemed a little familiar.
The next day, Li Yunxian looked calmly at Shen Bofeng.
Shen Bofeng’s expression twisted completely as he stared at the specially invited artifact master.
“Why is it you!!”
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