Li Yunxian’s sword blade, under the astonished gazes of everyone present, cut through the swirling wind force around Shen Bofeng without a single ripple.
Shen Bofeng gritted his teeth and folded his fan, using it to block Li Yunxian’s sword.
At this very moment, it was just like that time.
Back during the Qingteng Ranking competition, when the two had fought, the scene had seemed much the same.
Only back then, Shen Bofeng had spread open the fan’s surface to block Li Yunxian’s sword, but the fan had barely resisted at all—it had been pierced through.
This time, Shen Bofeng had learned his lesson.
The strength of the Wumian Gold Fan withstood Li Yunxian’s sword.
The force transmitted through the fan sent a painful shock up Shen Bofeng’s wrist.
But he held firm!
Shen Bofeng’s eyes gleamed brightly as he looked at Li Yunxian with pride and excitement.
He had done it!
Suddenly, Shen Bofeng felt a warmth on his wrist that wasn’t his own.
Only then did he notice that Li Yunxian’s other hand was gripping his.
The next second, a tremendous force landed on Shen Bofeng’s waist and abdomen.
Like the wind itself, Shen Bofeng was kicked out of the arena at high speed.
Li Yunxian retracted her foot.
At this moment, the windstorm caused by her previous sword strike surged behind her.
Magic cultivators and sword cultivators engaging in close combat, focusing only on weapons—it was simply too careless.
On the arena, the referee declared the victory.
The arena rankings changed immediately.
- Li Yunxian, Qi Refining Sixth Layer
Li Yunxian stepped down from the arena and stood beside Shen Bofeng, who was still lying motionless on the ground.
She took out her notebook again.
But this time, she wasn’t jotting down any data; instead, she swiftly wrote a list of material names on it.
***
After finishing, Li Yunxian handed the sheet to Shen Bofeng. “Material list. Buy these for me.”
Shen Bofeng remained lying there but raised his hand to take the paper.
He stared at it blankly for a long while, not absorbing a single word.
Watching Li Yunxian not even spare him a glance, Shen Bofeng suddenly understood, vaguely, the determination Ying Qian had shown to beat him once.
He didn’t want to lose to Li Yunxian.
He wanted to win against Li Yunxian once!
Shen Bofeng pressed his lips tightly, but his mind went completely blank.
This time, unlike before, the direction he had previously thought to improve in seemed utterly meaningless against Li Yunxian.
Gazing at Li Yunxian’s indifferent face, Shen Bofeng involuntarily asked, “What should I strengthen to be able to beat you?”
Li Yunxian hadn’t expected Shen Bofeng to ask her and paused for a moment to think.
After a long while, she hesitantly answered, “Mindset?”
Shen Bofeng was stunned.
He had assumed he would be told to solidify his spells or improve his physical techniques.
But this answer was something he had never expected.
“How so?” Shen Bofeng sat up from the ground, looking at Li Yunxian in surprise.
Li Yunxian felt Shen Bofeng’s question was rather pointless.
“As long as you don’t get stuck because of your mindset, with your talent, you’ll Foundation Establish in one year, form a Zhujidan in three years, reach Nascent Soul in five, Fenshen in ten, and ascend within a hundred years,” Li Yunxian said, speaking in a jumbled mess.
“You can’t beat me at Qi Refining, but Foundation Establishment still can’t beat me? If Foundation Establishment can’t beat me, what about Zhujidan?”
“Even if you can’t beat me no matter what, once you ascend, you’ll definitely beat me!” Li Yunxian said confidently.
Shen Bofeng:
“Why is it that except for the last sentence, all the others say I can’t beat you?” Shen Bofeng said with a deadpan expression.
Li Yunxian smiled.
Of course, that was because she was telling the absolute truth.
Besides ascension, even if she couldn’t win in the Transcendence Stage, by sacrificing herself, she could still forcibly take one opponent down.
“You just can’t beat me.” Li Yunxian put away her notebook and answered calmly.
She had lived for thousands of years after all. If she couldn’t even bully a nineteen-year-old kid, what was the point of it all?
Shen Bofeng stood up and stared straight at Li Yunxian.
“If I can’t beat you, then I can’t get past Foundation Establishment.”
He had always been the strongest among his peers.
In the past, and in the future.
That was his belief.
Li Yunxian looked at Shen Bofeng and said objectively, “You should learn to accept yourself in every state.
That’s a lesson every cultivator must learn.”
Shen Bofeng’s gaze hardened. “I won’t!”
Li Yunxian watched Shen Bofeng for a few seconds, then gave up on arguing with this stubborn and arrogant person.
She turned her head toward Pei Dongyuan and the others, who had already entered the spectator phase.
“Wenwu, here’s your assignment,” she said, pointing at Shen Bofeng. “Teach him!”
The Wenwu Exchange Students were stunned.
They had never imagined this had anything to do with them.
But seeing Li Yunxian, they immediately remembered her identity as Professor Li Tianying’s student, and that as exchange students, stirring things up was practically their job.
“All right!” The Wenwu Exchange Students laughed and responded briskly.
The Tiantong group was shocked.
No.
They had been wondering why everyone listened to Li Yunxian.
How come now you guys are even more obedient than them?!
The Tiantong group was greatly startled.
Li Yunxian was good at one thing—passing troubles to others.
She had no interest in battling Shen Bofeng repeatedly.
After dumping the problem, Li Yunxian returned to the workshop.
She needed to report to Li Tianying on her overall design ideas for custom weapons and the various materials she intended to use.
After all, this was an order accepted by Li Tiansuo.
- Li Yunxian had not yet passed the professional certification for artifact manufacturing, so she wasn’t qualified to take orders.
Once at the location, Li Yunxian found the Wenwu team’s lead instructor was also present.
Since Wenwu intended to build a good relationship with Li Tiansuo, the lead instructor naturally specialized in artifact manufacturing.
After finishing his team’s tasks yesterday and arranging the students, he had naturally joined the workshop here to work.
That was the best way to build good relations.
But currently, Li Tianying was busy with repairing the Xuanwen Secret Realm.
Seeing this, the instructor could only scratch his head in frustration.
Only when Li Yunxian arrived and Li Tianying took a break to enter teaching mode did he finally relax.
He then half-listened to Li Yunxian’s report to Li Tianying.
The more he listened, the more question marks popped up on his forehead.
Why did some parts feel like he could only barely understand by piecing together context?
Was this normal curriculum content for students in the academy?
It was completely beyond the standard!
And that fan’s strength… could it really be produced by someone at Qi Refining Sixth Layer?
If it truly could be manufactured, the strength of those materials would at least be mid-grade Xuan level.
Not to mention the Qi Refining students he had taught before, very few Foundation Establishment cultivators could forge at the Xuan level.
At least Qi Ke only forged his first Xuan level artifact when he was at the Zhuji Great Perfection stage.
Though Qi Ke wasn’t a main artifact manufacturing major.
But… judging from Li Yunxian’s reported methods and treatments, it seemed like it really could be completed during Qi Refining…
Qi Ke suddenly realized why he had seen the scene of Li Tiansuo doting on Li Yunxian so much.
Who else had a student like this that they could not help but spoil?
There was a huge difference between an ordinary student Li Tianying liked and a truly talented student.
Qi Ke, who had been scolded by Li Tianying for half a day for being a hindrance, looked at Li Yunxian and felt as if he had found a new direction.
The pass he had given her before was truly the right choice.
He turned to discuss with his fellow academy students how to “abduct” Li Yunxian during the exchange event—ah no, to let her willingly return with them to Wenwu Academy.
Such a young, still-learning child—what teacher would let her leave and interrupt her education?
When the time came, Li Tianying would definitely come to Wenwu Academy to catch the runaway student.
Since they’d already come, repairing their Wenwu Tower would be a convenient task as well!
Qi Ke began making plans in his mind.