Chapter 522: Further Study? It’s Not That Simple!

Noon, east district of Hua City, near the 8-Day Express Hotel.

Second floor of the McDico‑K fast food restaurant.

A staff member finished clearing a table, carrying a tray filled with packaging boxes toward the trash can. His gaze swept casually across the corner, then he continued forward, but suddenly halted, his eyes darting back quickly to rest on the man and woman in the corner, frowning.

What’s up with those two?

They seem… not feeling well? he thought.

That pair was just too strange, their whole bodies exuding a gloomy, dispirited aura.

Just by sitting there, they made that little corner seem as if an illusion had appeared, the light dimming.

For different reasons, both Huá Sāng and Li Xuan, who had been tormented almost the entire night, finally looked a bit like senior brother and junior sister now.

Those pale faces, haggard expressions, heavy dark circles under their eyes…

One look and you could tell they were from the Demonic Sect!

Li Xuan pushed the three servings of creamy mashed potatoes and one strawberry sundae on the table toward Huá Sāng, speaking weakly, “Eat.”

After saying that, he leaned back in his chair, as if subconsciously trying to keep some distance from her.

“……”

Huá Sāng glanced at Li Xuan, then at the unopened mashed potatoes on the table, remaining silent.

Through the messy hair hanging over her forehead, Li Xuan caught a glimpse of her resentful gaze. Suddenly realizing something, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he pressed his hand to his forehead, rubbing his aching brow.

Damn it, why!?

Why did I have to suffer because of her, pay for the hotel repairs, and now even have to open the mashed potato lid for her!?

Am I a slave?

Li Xuan thought angrily, silently opened the lid of the mashed potatoes, stuck in a spoon, and handed it back to Huá Sāng.

“Thank you.”

Huá Sāng softly murmured her thanks, then picked up the mashed potatoes and began eating on her own.

Small bites, chewing slowly, swallowing sluggishly, like a chipmunk.

“I bought you a plane ticket for four thirty this afternoon. After you land, transfer to a high-speed train, then take a taxi and you’ll be right at the foot of the sect’s mountain.”

“Here, just follow the route on this card, don’t wander off, got it?”

As Li Xuan spoke, he pulled out a small card with the route written on it and handed it to Huá Sāng. The moment she reached out to take it, his hand jerked back as if shocked by electricity.

Huá Sāng was slightly stunned, but then acted as if she hadn’t noticed Li Xuan’s odd little gesture, responding calmly, “Mm, got it.”

“My Night Corrosion Level hasn’t fully faded yet, I’m feeling terrible, so I can’t see you off. I’ll find a colleague to take you to the airport later.”

“……” Huá Sāng nodded, was silent for two seconds, then added, “Actually, it’s not necessary to go to all that trouble.”

“What?” Li Xuan looked puzzled.

“You could just buy a large suitcase, pack me inside, and courier me straight back to the sect.” Huá Sāng glanced at Li Xuan. “That’s what I used to do when I went out alone.”

There’s a rookie courier station at the mountain top, deliveries go straight through, saves a lot of walking and effort… Huá Sāng added silently in her heart.

Li Xuan pressed his forehead, “……”

Do I look like some kind of serial killer who dismembers people?

That kind of “delivery” could never get through security, right? Besides…

If you ran into violent handling and got hurt again, you’d probably end up killing several people at the courier transfer stations, Li Xuan thought.

Although he’d already consulted his Shifu about Huá Sāng’s situation early this morning and knew his own experience was a very rare case,

But just thinking about the astonishingly high Night Corrosion Level in Huá Sāng’s body, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

It wasn’t that he disliked this junior sister or had any prejudice, he was just simply a bit scared.

It’s like, even if a time bomb is almost impossible to explode, as long as people know it’s a bomb, most will still be afraid of it.

“……”

As if seeing through Li Xuan’s worries, Huá Sāng pondered for two seconds, then said slowly, “Senior brother, if you’re worried about my Spirit Pattern losing control on the way and hurting others, there’s really no need.”

Li Xuan, “……”

“Although my Night Corrosion Level is very high, I’ve always kept it under control.”

It really was just an accident. I don’t know why, but for a moment my Spirit Pattern lost control badly. I wanted to ask that mysterious senior in the ferule, but didn’t get the chance.

Huá Sāng thought, paused, then added with certainty, “Really.”

“……” Li Xuan hesitated to speak, an awkward smile on his face, looking a bit uneasy, like someone whose guilty secret had just been discovered.

“This, junior sister, you misunderstood, I actually…”

“It’s fine, senior brother.” Huá Sāng interrupted with a smile. “More importantly… could you buy me two more puddings and two more mashed potatoes? If I eat enough now, I won’t bother eating on the road.”

People who get along well, once they know you have a “serious illness,” will immediately become cold and distant, or treat you like fragile porcelain… Huá Sāng was long used to this.

She only explained more because of Li Xuan’s care these past few days and their fellow disciple relationship. If it were someone else, she wouldn’t bother.

Anyway, even if she explained everything in painstaking detail, even if she was about to explode the next second, she could still control her Night Corrosion Level in that moment, ensure no psychic energy pollution leaked out, not even a drop of blood would splatter half a meter away, and others still wouldn’t believe her.

People always believe what they want to believe; changing that is very difficult.

Huá Sāng didn’t have the energy for that.

Saying too much is just exhausting!

After bidding farewell to “Mr. Lu Xun” and leaving the main path of Gate No. 4, Lu Yibei wandered around the small grove along Cherry Blossom Avenue, where the headless senior sister occasionally appeared, and near the men’s bathhouse, but still didn’t see any sign of her. He had no idea where she might be hiding.

“Tsk, not being able to use Ley Line Energy to search really is troublesome… Wait!”

Lu Yibei muttered to himself, but halfway through his words, his expression suddenly changed, and his mood grew heavy.

He could be sure that before entering the special space, no external haunting had entered Hua City, but he couldn’t guarantee that, during the time he was in the special space, no outside haunting had slipped in.

If a haunting had taken advantage of that period to sneak into Hua City and then hid itself well, then with the tiny amount of Ley Line Energy left after repairing the special space–barely enough for early warning–it was indeed possible that he wouldn’t be able to detect the haunting’s traces.

Although this was just a guess, if it really happened, the consequences could be very serious, and he had to be on guard.

But…

He couldn’t find the senior sister at all right now, and without knowing the specifics, he could only deal with the matters at hand first. He’d have to wait until he found the senior sister later, ask her what exactly she was afraid of, and then make plans.

With that thought, Lu Yibei ruffled his hair, temporarily set aside his worries, and hurried toward the College of Liberal Arts office.

……

When Lu Yibei arrived at the College of Liberal Arts office, Professor Ma, who had been waiting for quite a while, was already showing signs of impatience.

Seeing Lu Yibei, Professor Ma snorted coldly, bent down, took a stack of documents from the desk drawer, tossed them onto the table, then put on a sour face and sipped his tea in small gulps.

……

Tsk, do people all get this cranky when they’re old?

When I get old, I definitely can’t be like this.

I want to be a kind and amiable old man… Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly as he flipped through the documents Professor Ma had given him.

After skimming the contents, he paused, realizing he’d misunderstood Professor Ma’s intentions.

He wasn’t trying to freeload off me–he was trying to let me freeload off him?!

That thick stack of documents, about two hundred pages, was carefully bound into a booklet.

And inside, it was all the key knowledge points for every major course this semester, with detailed annotations in smaller font next to some of the more obscure points to help with understanding.

“Professor, this is…” Lu Yibei hesitated, casting a puzzled look at Professor Ma.

“What are you looking at?” Professor Ma said gruffly. “Didn’t I tell you I had something good for you? What, did you think I called you here to put you to work?”

Wait, so the professor is actually the tsundere type? Lu Yibei complained inwardly, quickly denying, “No, absolutely not!”

“Hmph, you brat.” Professor Ma snorted lightly. “Tell me, how many days has it been since you last came to school?”

“Uh, about ten days?” Lu Yibei replied weakly.

“As long as you know.” Professor Ma said, his chest rising and falling slightly as if his anger was subsiding, and his expression softened a bit.

“This whole time, you’ve been off dealing with some haunting incident again, haven’t you?”

“Uh… sort of.”

Hearing this, Professor Ma straightened his back and said solemnly, “Lu Yibei, I know the things you do are good for most people. In some ways, it’s even more admirable than true acts of bravery.”

“N-no, not at all!” Lu Yibei scratched his cheek, his eyes uncertain. “Hearing you say that is really kind of embarrassing.”

Mainly, for those haunting incidents, I basically have to take some responsibility… Lu Yibei quietly added in his heart.

“Don’t pretend to be modest in front of me,” Professor Ma rolled his eyes and said, “As far as I know, the recent outbreak of a new type of influenza A in Hua City was actually Nocturnal Syndrome, wasn’t it?”

“I have an old friend who works at the hospital, and he told me that those symptoms are nothing like any ordinary disease.”

“So, those ten days of yours were spent dealing with this, right?”

“Well…” Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, then said seriously, “You really misunderstood, it didn’t have much to do with me.”

Although I was indeed somewhat involved in this, and I really wanted to act cool about it.

But the main reason the outbreak was contained was thanks to silver horn risking his life for the results. I really can’t take the credit for myself.

Yeah, that’s right, that’s exactly what I wrote in my investigation report–if the higher-ups believe all of it, at the very least, silver horn deserves a little banner in recognition… Lu Yibei thought.

Not much to do with you, which means you were involved, right? Professor Ma thought to himself, seeing through it but not exposing him. He changed the subject, “But even if you have a good reason, you can’t neglect your studies, right?”

Handling haunting incidents doesn’t conflict with studying. Back in the day, the guy who used to go on adventures with us would still find time to study ancient pictograph rubbings while tomb raiding!

That kind of studious spirit had a deep impact on me and benefits me to this day.

Thinking of this, Professor Ma shifted his gaze to the files in Lu Yibei’s hands, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Take those back with you and study them well!”

“Although I’ve never agreed with studying just for exams, and I hate the idea of ‘key points’ even more–knowledge is knowledge, there’s no such thing as more or less important.”

“But in your case, you can only focus on the more practical parts.”

As expected of my tsundere professor–even giving key points sounds so clear-headed and unconventional! Lu Yibei thought to himself, put away the files, and said to Professor Ma, “Thank you, Professor. I’ll make sure to study hard!”

As he spoke, his face remained calm and unruffled, making it hard to tell if he was sincere or just pretending.

“Hmph!” Professor Ma snorted coldly, waved his hand, and said, “Get lost, just looking at you makes me angry!”

With Professor Ma issuing the “order to leave,” Lu Yibei didn’t linger, turned, and walked out of the office.

Then.

Just as he reached the office door and pushed it open, a tall, thin guy with messy hair, holding a stack of files, suddenly darted out from the corridor and bumped right into him.

At the moment of collision, he vaguely caught a very special, faint scent that piqued his curiosity.

Before he could figure out what that scent was, the guy had already lost his balance and fell backward.

“Ouch!”

The guy landed on the floor with a soft cry, and the files in his hands scattered all over.

Jin Yecheng? A new face? Lu Yibei glanced at the guy’s name badge, silently memorized his appearance and name, then crouched down to help pick up the scattered files and helped him up.

“Are you okay?”

The guy glanced at Lu Yibei, and when he saw his cold, indifferent face, he froze for a moment, quickly lowered his head, took the files handed to him, and replied softly, “I-I’m fine.”

“That’s good. Sorry about earlier.”

Seeing that both were fine, Professor Ma relaxed his brows, put down his teacup, and introduced them, “Lu Yibei, this is your senior, a new graduate student this semester.”

“Yecheng, this is the talented junior I mentioned to you, Lu Yibei.”

“Senior Jin?” Lu Yibei extended his right hand to Jin Yecheng, expressionless, and said, “Please take care of me from now on.”

“Ah, oh…” Jin Yecheng snapped back to his senses, shook hands with Lu Yibei, and said softly, “Let’s learn from each other.”

As he spoke, he kept his back hunched and head down, eyes darting away, clearly not good at social interaction.

Seeing his two students standing at the door, Professor Ma rubbed his forehead, feeling a throbbing headache.

One is a thick-skinned facial paralysis, the other has social anxiety–unbelievable!

……

When leaving Professor Ma’s office, Lu Yibei glanced out of the corner of his eye at Jin Yecheng, who was talking with Professor Ma, and frowned slightly.

What exactly was that scent on him?

It felt familiar, but he just couldn’t recall it at the moment.

Weird, why am I paying attention to a man’s scent anyway? It’s about time to check in with Meow Meow-chan. Lu Yibei thought.

——–

2:30 PM.

Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau, Office “V”.

Lu Yibei sat at the square office desk, resting his chin in his hands, gazing a little absentmindedly at Jiang Li on the other side, who was carefully reading the investigation report.

That feeling was like a young boy experiencing his first crush, secretly watching the profile of the girl he liked as she focused in class, his eyes filled with admiration and a hint of shyness.

After finishing the report, Jiang Li turned to look at Lu Yibei. Noticing his gaze, a flush of pink appeared on her cheeks. She glanced around nervously and cleared her throat, “Ahem!”

This is a public place, please restrain yourself!

Only after Lu Yibei withdrew his attention did she speak, “I’ve finished reading it. It’s well written.”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment and said in surprise, “Really? That’s it?”

Just like that? I thought I’d have to revise it several times at least!

“Of course.” Jiang Li nodded calmly. “But, the premise is that you truly admire Secretary Silver Horn and Miss Huá Sāng, just as you wrote in your report.”

Otherwise, the catastrophe-class psychic responsible for reviewing it will definitely focus on discerning those parts.

After all, you wrote it a bit too exaggeratedly. If the two involved saw it, they might be so embarrassed they’d want to beat you up, Jiang Li thought.

“How could it be fake?” Lu Yibei patted his chest and promised, “I really admire Silver Horn! The Great Pure Palace is also a place I’ve always longed for.”

Whether it’s Silver Horn, who dared to swallow the extract containing the Beast of Inheritance, or Huá Sāng, who can lie on the roadside all day without moving, they’re both true iron-blooded men in my heart!

My admiration is like the surging river, endless and unceasing, Lu Yibei thought secretly.

“Mm…” Jiang Li pondered for a moment, tilting her head. “I didn’t expect you to yearn for the Great Pure Palace so much?”

“Yeah!” Lu Yibei nodded firmly.

I’ve been thinking lately about how to sneak in without anyone noticing!

Hearing this, Jiang Li smiled faintly, showing a “child, you’ve finally grown up” expression. “Since that’s the case, you can try applying for the Midnight Watchers Society’s spring operator training and see if you can get a spot.”

If he could go to the Great Pure Palace for training, Lu Yibei would have one more solid card to play when he tries to clear his name in the future.

Most importantly, I might also need to go for Spirit Pattern advancement soon. If he goes for training, someone can keep an eye on him so he doesn’t cause any trouble.

One becomes red by being near cinnabar, black by being near ink, Jiang Li thought, momentarily forgetting that Lu Yibei was the “ink” who might corrupt the training class.

“Huh? Is the training location the Great Pure Palace?” Lu Yibei asked in surprise.

Is someone handing me a pillow just as I want to sleep?

Is my luck finally turning around?

But if I go directly to the Great Pure Palace, won’t I be exposed on the spot and get caught? Lu Yibei wondered.

Jiang Li shook her head gently and explained, “Not exactly. The training base is near the Great Pure Palace, and during the training, elders from the Great Pure Palace will come to teach.”

With your identity, if you really set foot in Zhenwu Mountain’s gate, you’d be discovered immediately, Jiang Li thought to herself.

Hearing this, Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully.

The Great Pure Palace, as one of the “talent reserves” for the Midnight Watchers Society, also holds many high-tier spell formations, talisman crafting methods, and secret techniques like Visualized Diagrams. It’s reasonable for the training base to be nearby.

I can use this opportunity to get close and make further plans.

Observing up close is always better than trying to imagine things from Hua City, thousands of miles away.

“Here, take a look at this.”

While Lu Yibei was pondering, Jiang Li silently logged into the Midnight Watchers Society’s intranet, searched for the spring operator training brochure, and turned the computer screen toward Lu Yibei.

Glancing over the brochure, Lu Yibei frowned and pointed at the bottom right corner, at [Remaining spots 19/20], “Why is there only one spot left?”

Jiang Li rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei, pointed at the deadline on the brochure, and said quietly, “Look at the deadline.”

Lu Yibei followed Jiang Li’s finger and was stunned, “Today’s the last day?”

“Mm-hmm, so if you want to apply, hurry up. With your provable performance in Tang City last time, it should be easy to get in.”

As soon as Jiang Li finished speaking, Lu Yibei, who had been staring at why the screen, watched as [Remaining spots 19/20] turned into [Full].

Damn! I knew it wouldn’t be that simple!

“Boss, can you check again?”

Jiang Li glanced at the screen and fell silent, “……”