Chapter 38: Master, Surprise?
“Teacher Freya, why do you insist on taking me as a disciple?” Xia Feng asked, confused.
“Because you’re a genius, and it would be a waste not to learn swordsmanship.”
No, I’m not a genius, I’m just a cheat. Xia Feng thought of something, and said with a serious face, “How about this, teacher? Although I won’t officially become your disciple, I can recommend another equally formidable genius to you.”
“Equally formidable?” Freya’s interest was piqued. “Who?”
“My fiancée – Mu Qingtong!” Xia Feng said with utmost sincerity and confidence, “Teacher, she’s actually a genius too. You’ve all been fooled by her appearance!”
May fellow disciples die so that I may live. Mu Qingtong, sorry!
“Were you just talking about me?” At this moment, a gentle, leisurely low voice sounded from behind, carrying a faint smile.
Xia Feng’s shoulders stiffened slightly, and he slowly turned his head to look back.
A woman in an elegant black suit dress walked in from around the corner of the door. She had a gentle smile on her lips and nodded politely at the two professors, “Teacher Freya, Teacher Chen.”
“Oh, it’s Little Mu,” Chen Xingdao nodded. “So Xia Feng is your fiancé?”
“Yes.” Mu Qingtong glanced at Xia Feng, pursed her lips with a hint of embarrassment, and said helplessly, “Teachers Chen and Freya, please don’t mind him. My fiancé has a restless personality and will say anything to achieve his goals. Please don’t take it to heart.”
“Mmm,” Chen Xingdao nodded faintly. He didn’t believe Xia Feng’s words. After all, he had supervised Mu Qingtong during her first year. She had taken three days just to draw a basic triangular spirit particle structure, and by her second year, her spirit pressure index was still below the passing line of 60 VOC. She couldn’t be called stupid, but she was just a regular student. How could she be a genius?
As everyone knew, spirit pressure index could not be faked. No one could escape the detection of a spirit pressure meter.
Freya also nodded politely, indicating that she understood Mu Qingtong’s meaning.
Mu Qingtong had attended a few of her swordplay classes this semester. She had also tested Mu Qingtong’s skills. Her spirit pressure was unstable, and her understanding of spirit particle structures was below average. However, her foundation was solid. If she was willing to learn, coupled with some good fortune, it wasn’t impossible for her to advance to the second or third stage in the future.
“Little friend Xia, I didn’t expect you and Little Mu to have this kind of relationship.”
Chen Xingdao had a good relationship with the Mu Clan and was considered an elder to Mu Qingtong. Seeing the situation, he earnestly instructed, “Since that’s the case, it’s perfect. Little Mu’s spirit construction is average. If Little friend Xia has time in the future, you can teach her more.”
“Huh?” Xia Feng was startled and quickly said, “No – I didn’t say that, she’s a ge—”
“Little Mu, you too. Learn more from your fiancé in the future, okay? Ask him if you don’t understand anything.”
Xia Feng felt that this scoundrel of a Taoist priest was acting exactly like the nagging aunts and uncles during Chinese New Year. Except this time, he was the child from someone else’s family.
And Mu Qingtong…
Her delicate eyebrows curved slightly, and her voice remained gentle, “I know, Teacher Chen. I will learn more from Little Feng.”
Little… Little Feng?! Xia Feng hunched his shoulders, his eye corners twitching as he glanced at the woman.
Chen Xingdao nodded at the sight and looked at Xia Feng, “Since your fiancée is Little Mu, I won’t persuade you further. Of course, if Little friend Xia changes your mind, you can still come to me.”
After speaking, he waved his sleeve and left with a hint of regret.
Freya looked at Xia Feng, wanting to say something but stopped. In the end, she sighed helplessly, “Alright, student Xia Feng, as I said before, I will always be waiting for you.”
Xia Feng: “…”
The remaining two stood in place, silently watching the receding figures.
After a long time.
Xia Feng turned his head back and spoke first, “Miss Mu, I have to say, you’re really good at pretending!”
“?” Mu Qingtong’s beautiful golden eyes were filled with confusion. “Mr. Xia, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“…” Xia Feng rolled his eyes. Fine, as expected of you, still denying it even at this point.
But honestly, this World-Ending Witch was indeed a master pretender. If he hadn’t had his x-ray vision, he wouldn’t have been able to tell that Mu Qingtong was a peerless genius.
However, what Xia Feng couldn’t understand was how this woman managed to fool the spirit pressure meter test?
It couldn’t be her spirit robe, as he knew everything she knew.
Then, a spirit artifact?
Yes, it was very likely a spirit artifact!
At this thought, Xia Feng’s eyes lit up. By the way, what level was Mu Qingtong’s spirit artifact?
Could it be A-class? Or even S-grade?
Damn it! Xia Feng became excited at the thought of S-grade. For a World-Ending villain like her, it wouldn’t make sense if her spirit artifact wasn’t S-grade, right?
“No, that’s not right either. I already have Alpha-class, so maybe she’s Alpha-class too, after all, she’s the World-Ending Witch.”
“But if it’s really Alpha-class, that would be troublesome…”
Xia Feng’s mind raced. After all, his [Divine Mirror Without Stand] currently couldn’t replicate spirit artifacts of the same level.
“What are you staring at me for?” Mu Qingtong asked, feeling puzzled by Xia Feng’s intense gaze.
Xia Feng blinked. “Have you awakened your spirit artifact yet?”
“No,” she shook her head.
“What level is your spirit artifact?” Xia Feng continued to ask, confused.
“I said no.”
“Could it be S-grade?”
“I said, I haven’t awakened it!” Mu Qingtong’s tone grew slightly heavier, and her beautiful eyes under the half-frame glasses revealed a look of helplessness. “Mr. Xia, if you want to replicate my spirit artifact, you can try.”
“You’ll find out when you try that I really haven’t awakened a spirit artifact, nor am I the genius you’re talking about.”
Xia Feng didn’t expect Mu Qingtong to be so forthright and willing to let him replicate her spirit artifact?
But… unfortunately, the condition for him to replicate a spirit artifact was to touch the target spirit artifact or be attacked by it.
Without finding the true form of Mu Qingtong’s spirit artifact, he had no way to replicate it.
“So, are you going to replicate it?” the woman in the black dress asked with a smile.
“Forget it, forget it.” Xia Feng waved his hand. “I can only replicate once a day, maybe next time~”
With that, he left the room without looking back. The last sentence was overheard by the staff outside.
The onlookers immediately took out their phones to chat in their groups, spreading the news about the limitations of Xia Feng’s spirit artifact ability.
“First-hand news! Xia Feng’s replication has a 24-hour cooldown! But no one knows how long the replicated spirit artifact will last.”
“And I suspect he probably can’t replicate multiple spirit artifacts at the same time.”
“What? Only one replication slot? Then the limitations seem quite significant. I don’t think it’s worth A-class, QAQ.”
“Nonsense! This still isn’t worth A-class? It’s already very buggy!”
“…”
Xia Feng listened to the fragmented discussions as he walked out of the crowd.
His replication skill didn’t actually have a cooldown; he could replicate whenever he wanted. However, there was indeed a limit to the number of replication slots.
Currently, there was only one slot, which greatly hindered many of his tactics.
However, the good news was that replication slots could be increased. As long as he advanced to the second stage, he would gain an additional slot, and so on.
It was a pity that advancing to the second stage was not an easy task. Xia Feng glanced at Mu Qingtong, who was following closely behind.
“Miss Mu, what is your spiritual attribute?”
“Wood, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, just wanted to know what materials you need to advance to the second stage.”
Gold, wood, water, fire, earth. Everyone had their own spiritual attribute.
The materials needed for advancement to the second stage varied depending on the spiritual attribute, as did their rarity. For example, spiritual materials with a wood attribute were much rarer and harder to find.
“I’m still a Novice Spirit Master. Why are you considering second-stage materials?” Mu Qingtong asked, confused.
“It’s nothing, I’m just asking~~” Xia Feng waved his hand, acting nonchalant as if he was just casually inquiring.
Mu Qingtong: “…”
Although he knew her spiritual attribute, Xia Feng had no intention of helping her find advancement materials.
First, her spirit pressure value had not yet reached the standard for advancement. Second, Mu Qingtong seemed to have good fighting spirit right now, and it was highly likely she would gather the materials herself and advance in secret.
He didn’t need to worry about it at all. He was indeed just asking casually to get a general idea.
His main concern now was the ‘unborn wife’. Xia Feng felt his pocket, where the Pingshan Pocket Watch he had snatched from Yan Xujia was. His mind was filled with doubts.
“Um, Miss Mu, I have something else to do, so I’ll be leaving now~”
Mu Qingtong silently stared at Xia Feng’s departing back. Her feigned look of confusion faded, and a mysterious, soft smile slowly curved her lips.
!
“Master, what are you thinking about?” Maid Fei appeared behind her at some point.
“Fei, have you noticed that he’s also growing very rapidly? Just like me, he can quickly decipher the spirit robe structure of D-class if he wants to.”
Mu Qingtong found that the more she studied this fiancé, the more she felt a strange sense of… looking in a mirror.
This unprecedented feeling made her tremble with excitement, like a reflection in her mirror, possessing the same sharpness but from a different angle.
This made her truly feel that she was not the only star in the night sky.
She was not alone.
*
When Cha Nai Xue emerged from the Moon Dew Lotus Pool, she received a message from Yin, saying that Panda had a surprise for her.
“A surprise…”
Cha Nai Xue actually disliked the word “surprise” because it often implied unpredictability.
However, it was also the kind intention of her subordinate knight. Excluding the unpredictability inherent in the word itself, she was satisfied and looking forward to it. It would be good to relieve the boredom brought on by her seclusion.
After five days of seclusion, Gu Yue’s cultivation remained slow. That final 1% of the critical point was still agonizingly close.
This was just the beginning, and it was already so difficult. She couldn’t imagine how frustrating each subsequent critical point would be.
However, fortunately, although her previous calculations regarding Xia Feng had been seriously off, she still had a fallback.
As long as she showed sincerity and apologized, she believed Xia Feng would forgive her.
But before that, she had to go see Panda’s surprise.
Following the navigation, she arrived at the arena. The audience had already dispersed, and only a few scattered staff members remained in the corridor. She walked all the way to the waiting room, her confusion growing.
Why were these staff members looking at her so strangely?
Upon opening the door, she saw Panda and Yin sitting at opposite ends of the sofa. Yan Xujia was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing Cha Nai Xue arrive, both of them immediately stood up and bowed respectfully, “Master.”
“You said Yan Xujia was having a duel with someone. Is it over? Did he get into trouble again?” Cha Nai Xue casually took off her beret and walked toward the sofa.
“Well… not exactly.” Panda smiled. “Master, Knight Yan actually performed a meritorious deed this time.”
The woman gracefully crossed her long legs beneath her snow dress, gently stirring her black tea with a silver spoon, and nodded as she spoke softly, “Oh? Tell me about it.”
“Your cultivation has been troubled by binding lines for a long time, so we…”
Panda recounted the events of the past few days. Of course, he didn’t mention the assassination attempt on Xia Feng in the Evil Dragon Forest.
As Cha Nai Xue listened, the movements of the spoon stirring her black tea became slower and slower, eventually stopping.
The swirling vortex of deep red tea slowly dissipated, and the surface returned to calm. She remained silent, her strangely eerie purple eyes serene.
The long silence made Panda feel uneasy. He swallowed and tentatively asked, “Master?”
Her purple eyes slightly lifted, and the woman said calmly, “You’re saying Yan Xujia went to find Xia Feng to get back the token of love I gave him?”
“Yes, but he failed to get it back.” Seeing that his master had finally spoken, Panda breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Master, it’s ultimately best for him to not have the childhood memento in Xia Feng’s hands, as it might linger his feelings for you. So I supported Yan Xujia.”
“You’re saying Yan Xujia also slapped Mushroom?”
“Yes, mostly. Mushroom is Xia Feng’s only friend, so this would maximally instigate his hatred towards Yan Xujia and towards you.”
Panda felt that slap was a stroke of genius. If only they could have given him a few more slaps.
Cha Nai Xue picked up her black tea, took a sip, and gently put it down. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. “It’s a bit bitter.”
“Ah? Your subordinate will brew a new pot.” Panda quickly stepped forward.
“No need.”
Cha Nai Xue waved her hand, her cold gaze lifted slightly, and she asked again, “You’re saying Yan Xujia also wanted to castrate Xia Feng?”
“Yes, after castrating him, he would use a healing spirit robe to recover. It wouldn’t cause any real harm, but it would definitely maximize his hatred!”
At this point, Panda sighed. “It’s a pity that Yan Xujia failed. Xia Feng was unexpectedly powerful. But the outcome isn’t too bad. Xia Feng must have developed quite a bit of resentment towards Master, which should help dilute many of the binding lines.”
“Mmm,” Cha Nai Xue nodded thoughtfully, her purple eyes calm. She asked softly, “So, Panda, was this your idea?”
Panda froze. Just as he was about to say that part of it was.
But as he looked up into his master’s eyes, he was startled! His round face suddenly lowered, and cold sweat ran down his spine.
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Where, where did I go wrong? Is my line of reasoning incorrect?
Panda’s heart was filled with fear. He quickly blurted out, “No, no, it wasn’t. This was Yan Xujia’s idea. I didn’t stop him.”
Cha Nai Xue leaned back on the sofa, quietly staring at the knight covered in sweat, her tone growing colder:
“Knight Panda, is this the surprise you were talking about?”
As expected, the word “surprise” was still so detestable! Cha Nai Xue’s gaze was icy.
Panda’s breathing hitched.
Yin stood by the side, looking confused at the silent, chubby Panda. She didn’t quite understand what was happening. She was a bit hungry and wanted to eat.
“Knight Panda, do you know what my purpose is for coming out of seclusion this time?”
“Wh—”
“It’s to cultivate Dual Moon.”
“!!!”
Panda’s pupils contracted, and his face instantly turned pale. So, so the problem was here!! Damn Yan Xujia! Son of a bitch! If it weren’t for him…
“Where is Yan Xujia?” The woman’s voice seemed to come from the Nine Netherworld, chilling to the bone.
Panda shivered and quickly replied, “He’s—he’s still in the infirmary, unconscious. He’s quite seriously injured.”
Cha Nai Xue tilted her head, looking at the dazzling sunlight outside, feeling a slight dizziness.
Yan Xujia, that idiot, didn’t die yet?
“What a shame.”
She shook her head, her long eyelashes trembling slightly as she lowered her gaze. She said calmly, “Report to the main court. According to the pact with the Justice Star God, Yan Xujia shall be banished to the Southern Border, and thus his position as Guardian Knight must be revoked.”
Panda was taken aback. “But what about the Marquis…”
“It’s fine.”
“Yes!” Panda quickly clasped his fists in response and quickly left.
