Chapter 30: Azure Cloud (8)

In fifteen days, Zhang Duixue had practically worn off a layer of skin from head to toe. His hands and feet were covered in blisters. After popping them and applying medicine, he wrapped them in gauze. A few more rounds of this, and calluses would form.

His once extremely long and smooth hair, tangled in impossible knots due to the small braids, had been cut off by himself.

Now his hair was uneven, the ends extremely messy, blown into a frenzy by the wind. He looked like a claw-baring cocklebur, stumbling and rolling onto someone, sticking fast.

Xie Xuanxiao tugged at him but couldn’t pull him off. Instead, his fingertips came away with a layer of dust.

The Young Palace Master of Yuanchen Palace had mysophobia, very severe mysophobia. He had always been spotless, his clothes clean and white without a speck of dust. At this moment, looking at the dirty handprints pressed onto his clothes, his gaze darkened for an instant.

“How did this happen?” Xie Xuanxiao took a deep breath, reached out to wipe the dirt off Zhang Duixue’s face, and saw that the teenager’s fair face was not only dirty but also covered in quite a few bruises.

Zhang Duixue’s gaze wandered, feeling a bit guilty.

It rained the day before yesterday. Their group had been tormented for several days and it was finally about to end. As proud young sword cultivators who had been kneaded like dogs, they were naturally unconvinced. So, while they still had a bit of strength left, by tacit agreement, everyone attacked the assessing senior brother’s courtyard under the cover of night. They twisted their swords, rushed into the dark, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat for a long time. Although they didn’t win in the end, they did leave marks on the face of the caught-off-guard Sword Pavilion senior brother. Although they didn’t gain much advantage in the end, they all managed to escape.

On the last day, they went to training as if nothing had happened, only to be pressed into the back mountain sword array by the sneering Sword Pavilion senior brothers and beaten probably a hundred and eight thousand times. Everyone practically rolled in the muddy water until the very last second of the fifteen-day deadline passed before they were released to eat.

Everyone was coated in a layer of mud. In the past fifteen days, the time for eating was ridiculously scarce. They practically crawled back. The small kitchen still had the usual cold, hard steamed buns. The three of them, green with hunger, wolfed down a plate, finally feeling alive again.

“Young Palace Master, I passed!” Zhang Duixue’s voice was a bit small. “Pass the final test, and I can officially enroll.”

He looked up at the person, his eyes bright, like a clingy puppy, revealing an inexplicable joy.

Xie Xuanxiao’s heart softened. His gaze swept back, past the two mud people, and the cold, hard steamed buns on the plate on the ground. He sucked in a breath of cold air, looked at the mud person in his arms again, his eyes aching. He pulled the person into an embrace and took him away without saying a word.

Zhang Duixue stumbled from the pull, quickly caught up, and looked back repeatedly, waving at He Tingtong and the others, meaning he would be back later.

He Tingtong bit into the steamed bun, nodded as if nothing had happened, signaling him to go.

Fu Fengyan chewed and chewed on the steamed bun. Squatting beside him, he asked in a low voice, “What do we do next? That white-faced steamed bun looks very angry. Based on my experience, I feel like he’s going to take the person back and lock him up.”

He Tingtong dusted the crumbs off his hands and stood up. “This is Azure Cloud Academy, not Yuanchen Palace. Does he think he can cover the sky with one hand?”

“Besides, it’s the end of March,” He Tingtong sighed.

He glanced at the mountains of Azure Cloud Academy. Recently, the rain had gradually increased, sunny for a few days, cloudy for a few days. The temperature rose gradually, water gurgled, and in the clouds and mist further away, peach blossoms burned bright red.

Patting Fu Fengyan on the shoulder, he whispered, “Our teacher should be getting ready to come and teach. This time, he should be able to find a few good seedlings for sword practice.”

At the end of March, in the Shangxuan Realm, Guili Peak of the Sword Sect, spots of bright color appeared among the verdant mountains. Qin Tan seriously packed his things, preparing to descend the mountain.

Shangxuan Realm was not far from Azure Cloud Academy; it was a three-day journey by sword. He would be gone for four years. Upon returning, he had taken the Heart Cleansing Pill and then began closed-door cultivation. Sword cultivators carried heavy killing intent and were most easily tainted by evil karma, thus prone to inner demon tribulations. Countless sword cultivators throughout history had fallen at this hurdle. This time, after taking the pill, his heart was cleared of filth, and the foul blood aura in his sea of consciousness and heart domain was swept away. The breakthrough was simpler than he had imagined.

It might also be because Su Tan had been murmuring in his head. When he was in closed-door cultivation, he was very annoyed, only wanting to finish quickly to shut this person up.

In just over ten days, he broke through the bottleneck in one breath. The accumulated spiritual power could no longer be controlled, rising three realms consecutively. His sea of consciousness and heart domain expanded again, causing ten thousand swords in the Sword Sect to chime in unison.

However, the first thing he did after breaking through was to sink his spiritual consciousness, seek out that noisy voice, and pull. A spiritual consciousness was dragged over by him, landing in the Forest of Ten Thousand Sword Steles.

Su Tan, who was bargaining with the system about the plot: “…”

System: !!!!!

The twenty-one-year-old university student had semi-long curly hair dyed very pink, a fair and scholarly face, clear and bright eyebrows and eyes revealing an innocent stupidity about worldly affairs. He tilted his head to look at him, “How did you do that? We can actually meet?”

Su Tan escaped a disaster. Qin Tan stood opposite, his face as calm as water.

The system mediated cautiously, “You are not people of the same world, you can’t touch each other. Since you two can’t settle accounts now anyway, why not coexist peacefully? Do tasks together. Once finished, Su Tan goes home, and Immortal Lord Qin Tan, you continue to be your sword cultivator and walk your path to ascension. Isn’t it the same?”

The two agreed on three rules and finally established a set of regulations, barely managing to coexist peacefully.

In the following days, Qin Tan repaired the restrictions in the mountains, wrote down his experiences of descending the mountain for training, killing a few evil Daoists, destroying a few demonic sects, compiled his battle achievements into a booklet, submitted it, packed a few pieces of luggage, and was ready to go directly to Azure Cloud Academy to be a teacher.

He had always been withdrawn in the Sword Sect and had no friends. His master was even more withdrawn than him and was currently in life-or-death closed-door cultivation. However, their Sword Holding Lineage of the Sword Sect had always had this attitude, coming and going alone, very arrogant and aloof.

Closing the mountain gate restriction, he then went to bid farewell to the Sword Sect Leader.

The Sect Leader was talkative and indecisive. Qin Tan hated listening to lectures the most. His consciousness sank, squeezing Su Tan out to replace him.

Su Tan was dizzy and couldn’t understand. Listening and listening, his consciousness sank, pushing Qin Tan up again.

The tall young man stood in the main hall, holding his sword, head lowered and motionless, looking very calm. In reality, two souls inside his body were bobbing up and down like they were fighting.

The Sword Sect Leader, with crane-white hair and a youthful face, holding a whisk in his arms, looked like an immortal. After finishing his speech, he quietly looked at the unresponsive young man in front of him, his brows looking both worried and sad.

Qin Tan was pushed up by someone. Looking up, he saw the Sect Leader staring at him with a hesitant look. It made him angry, and he said impatiently, “Speak if you have something to say.”

The Sword Sect Leader frowned enough to kill a fly. He said earnestly, “Xiao Qi.”

Qin Tan interrupted, “Call me by my name.”

Sword Sect Leader: “Qin Tan, did you remember what I just told you?”

Qin Tan: “Remembered.”

Sword Sect Leader: “Then repeat it?”

Qin Tan: “…”

“I knew you wouldn’t listen.” The Sword Sect Leader sighed. “I’ll repeat it again. Azure Cloud Academy is not like our Sword Sect. The children there are delicate. After you go over, you can’t fight all the time. You must leave some leeway in doing things. If you accidentally kill some young master, and others come to trouble us, your Uncle-Master can’t afford to pay!”

Qin Tan said expressionlessly, “Oh.”

Sword Sect Leader: “…Swear it!”

Qin Tan raised his hand, fingers together, swearing to the heavens, “Qin Tan of the Sword Holding Lineage of the Sword Sect swears by his Dao heart that upon entering Azure Cloud Academy, he guarantees not to beat anyone to death.”

The Sword Sect Leader wiped his tears. “Alright, you go.”

He turned his back, his tone heavy. “To be honest, I really don’t dare to let you go teach. You, the only seedling of the Sword Holding Lineage, don’t even have fellow disciples. Since childhood, you’ve either been practicing swords or killing people. What are you going to teach with?”

“Xiao Qi,” the Sword Sect Leader turned around, “why don’t you reconsider…”

There was no one behind him. Qin Tan had already gone far.

Zhang Duixue went and didn’t return for five days.

The final test required entering a secret realm trial. Everyone would perform individually in the secret realm, and academy teachers would watch from outside through recording stones. If they took a fancy to someone, after passing the trial, they would be selected by the corresponding teacher.

Of course, if one didn’t participate in this secret realm trial, it was basically equivalent to forfeiting.

“See, I said that evil-hearted white-faced steamed bun imprisoned him.” Fu Fengyan looked at Xie Xuanxiao surrounded by the crowd and whispered in He Tingtong’s ear.

He Tingtong’s gaze swept past, not seeing Zhang Duixue. He lowered his eyes, searched left and right, and saw Yue Qianxun eating in the corner.

After the re-test, there was a seven-day rest period. There was nothing to do in these seven days, just waiting for the Dean to open the secret realm.

It was said that the young master of the Fu clan felt bored and idle. Thinking that drinking was better than sleeping, he booked a street of restaurants outside the academy, redecorated them, and invited all students who passed the re-test to have fun together.

Of course, having fun was more about roping people in. The main purpose was to invite the Young Master of Yuanchen Palace and the Young Master of the Xiangli clan to gather. In this academy assessment, the three of them had the highest status and top cultivation, so naturally, they gathered together, along with a crowd of lackeys attracted to them.

The aroma of wine overflowed, and celestial music never ceased. It was noisy inside. He Tingtong observed for a few rounds; Xie Xuanxiao didn’t bring Zhang Duixue.

“Should be locked in the Langhuan Pavilion.” He Tingtong turned and left, then turned a corner, picked up Yue Qianxun who was mooching food. The three dusty people squeezed into the crowd, extremely inconspicuous.

Yue Qianxun held a skewer of roasted meat, with a cup of fruit wine at hand, eating until his lips were red. Looking at He Tingtong who suddenly popped up from behind, he smiled with curved eyes, “Are you two also here to mooch food?”

He Tingtong stared at him, took the skewer from his hand. “Are you full?”

Yue Qianxun rubbed his belly: “Eighty percent full.”

So He Tingtong smiled. “Xiao Yue, there’s something fun. Do you want to come?”