Tang San: How Is This Picture Moving?

Early the next morning, a crowd packed the backyard of Perching Swan Academy.

When Dean Feng Yanqiu saw the courtyard wall of the Class A single room that had been smashed through, he showed no distress. Instead, his face glowing, he directed the servants to help Qin Zhaoye move into the more spacious private courtyard next door.

"Zhaoye, that Class A room was too cramped. It's beneath someone with your skills now!"

Feng Yanqiu thumped his chest, his voice loud enough for half the academy to hear. "Tuition and fees are still completely waived, and the academy will give you an annual stipend in goods on top of that. Medicinal bath ingredients will be sent straight to your room, at the same allowance as the chief instructor!"

Du Hengzhou stood beneath a tree with his arms folded. Hearing this, he snorted. "Old Miser Feng, who was it just a few days ago who complained he was taking up a bed and signed an order in the middle of the night to strike his name off the rolls?"

"Old Du, quit talking nonsense! I burned that order for kindling ages ago!"

Feng Yanqiu's weathered face reddened, and he waved to the servants. "Quick, bring up the plaque!"

Two servants carried a large black-lacquered plaque with gold trim up the ladder. The ink on its four characters, "Academy's Greatest Treasure," was still wet; Feng Yanqiu had inscribed them himself.

Not trusting the servants, Feng Yanqiu lifted his robes and climbed onto a tall stool himself. He shifted the plaque half an inch to the left, climbed down and squinted at it, then climbed back up to straighten it a second time.

When a servant was about to hammer it in place, he called for him to wait, climbed up, and straightened it with his own hands a third time. Only then did he climb down and clap his hands in satisfaction. "Hang it securely! From now on, whoever dares touch our Perching Swan's greatest treasure will have to answer to this dean's plaque first!"

After settling into his new courtyard residence, Qin Zhaoye went out for some air. He had just reached the academy gates when he saw a soul tool carriage from the city lord's residence parked by the roadside.

Cen Ao, the young master from the city lord's residence—the one who had been disarmed of his spear in three moves at the Soul Fighting Arena—was waiting obediently beside the carriage shafts.

That morning, Cen Ao had heard that even the level-thirty-five Li Chuan had been beaten until he spat blood and fled over the wall at Perching Swan Academy. Remembering how Qin Zhaoye's finger had stopped just half an inch from his throat at the Soul Fighting Arena that day, he felt as though blue smoke must have been rising from his ancestors' graves.

The moment he saw Qin Zhaoye come out, Cen Ao hurried forward and steadily lifted the soul tool carriage's curtain with both hands.

His back slightly bowed and arms held level, he held the curtain with a formality that put a welcoming official's salute to shame. "Going out, Brother Qin? As it happens, my carriage is empty. Would you do me the honor of taking a ride?"

The eyes of the passing Perching Swan students nearly fell out of their heads.

"No need. I'm just going for a walk."

Qin Zhaoye waved him off and turned back to his new residence, but Cen Ao remained where he was, still holding the curtain in perfect form. He let out a long breath. "Good thing I came early. That ought to have made my attitude clear enough!"

Inside the new residence, the two chests of Soul Condensation Grass and medicinal bath ingredients supplied by the academy had already been carried into the storeroom. Qin Zhaoye leaned by the window and opened the bronze scroll. The lingering heat from last night's counterkill topic had brought in some earnings.

[Golden notice: The counterkill of the enforcement squad continues to stir discussion. The group owner has earned 200 conversation points.]

On the public screen, the three descendants were reviewing the counterkill livestream post transcribed by the Group Hub the previous night, frame by frame. A four-era animated sticker battle was raging.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: The frame-by-frame remastered edition of last night's iconic scenes is out! First up: "Li Chuan Does the Splits and Shouts 'Pope'.gif"! Second: "Vice Captain's Silky-Smooth One-Knee Kneel.gif"!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Hahahaha! The frame rate on the vice captain's sliding kneel is so silky-smooth. I hereby declare this a mandatory sticker for the group's daily check-in!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: To be fair, that kneel dissipated thirty percent of the shockwave. As a way to stay alive in actual combat, it was quite a decisive kneel.]

On the public screen, the image of the vice captain sliding onto one knee played on a loop, with the words "Handing the Boss a Blade" written above his head in ornate lettering.

At Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy, in a dormitory.

Tang San stiffened all over as he watched the screen. His feet shifted, and he took half a step backward. Blue light surged in his right palm, and he nearly summoned his Blue Silver Grass on the spot.

After staring at the looping image of the kneeling figure for quite a while and confirming that no Soul Power fluctuations were coming out of it, Tang San withdrew his Soul Power and typed a line in the group.

[Tang San: How is this picture moving? Is it some kind of illusion?]

The public screen fell silent for a moment, then erupted in a string of laughter.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Pfft! Grand Ancestor, were you really about to summon your Blue Silver Grass? It's not an illusion, it's an animated sticker. You put a series of consecutive images together and play them on a loop!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Sorry, I forgot they didn't have these in the first era. I almost gave you a fright, Grand Ancestor! Here, let me send you "The Pope's Shadow Sends the Enforcement Captain Flying with One Slap.gif" to calm your nerves!]

[Tang San: ...No need. Watching it makes me dizzy.]

On the soft couch by the window, Qin Zhaoye saw how lively the group was and opened the red packet tab on the group owner's panel himself. He allocated a sum of conversation points, which the system converted into a lucky-draw red packet rain containing function vouchers, information vouchers, and some small cultivation bonuses. With a tap of his fingertip, he pressed "Send"!

[Group owner: The counterkill topic is doing well, so here's a red packet rain. Be quick or miss out.]

Red-and-gold packets instantly filled the light screen. Whether one was a founding ancestor or a descendant of later generations, when it came to grabbing red packets, seniority and hand speed were in complete inverse order!

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: The group owner sent a red packet rain! Charge!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Damn! How come all I got was one basic historical records search voucher?!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: One half-hour meditation acceleration voucher. It should work in the second era too.]

[Tang San: I got a small cultivation bonus voucher. Can I use it just by crushing it?]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Hahahaha! Look who's the luckiest! A double cultivation bonus voucher and an information voucher! @Tang San, look, Grand Ancestor, your grandson got the biggest packet!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: You beat the Grand Ancestor to it, and you're proud of yourself?]

Tang Wulin was delighted. Seeing that Tang San had only gotten a small packet, he immediately opened the cross-timeline delivery window, stuffed an entire chest of third-era specialties into it, entered Tang San's name, and pressed send.

With a smack, a red-bordered box popped up on the light screen, and the large chest was returned just as it was.

[Group Hub: Delivery rejected! Group rule five: Only objects may be delivered across timelines, not people. Each delivery is limited to an amount one person can carry. The entire chest exceeds the limit.]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Huh? I packed an entire chest of third-era specialties, and the whole thing got sent back?!]

After struggling with it for a long while, Tang Wulin could only put the lightweight voucher he had just grabbed into the channel. This time it went through, but the moment the voucher reached the first era, the writing on it turned gray. After all, red packets grabbed by descendants only took effect on the descendants' side.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: A chest of specialties turned into a useless voucher. Group Hub, you're way too stingy!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: Count your blessings. If you were really allowed to dump whole chests into the first era, the history books would be obsolete tomorrow.]

Meanwhile, in an office at the Spirit Hall Suotuo Branch Hall.

Holding the report of defeat Li Chuan had submitted, the branch hall administrator paced three circles behind his desk with his hands behind his back.

The squad had been wiped out, Li Chuan was gravely injured, and they had encountered a lingering image that looked strikingly like the Pope in her youth. If he reported all of this truthfully, his official's cap would be knocked off his head on the spot. But the reason he had held his position in Suotuo City for more than a decade was his skill at keeping the books.

After completing his third circuit, the branch hall administrator sat back down, buried the report of defeat at the bottom of a drawer, took out a fresh sheet of official paper, and rewrote it:

"The enforcement captain led his squad on a night patrol, lost his footing, and fell into a ravine. Personnel have been dispatched to search and rescue."

He calmly stamped it with the branch hall's great seal and handed the document to a messenger. "Prepare a separate document and send it to Spirit City for the archives. Tell Li Chuan to keep his mouth shut while he's in bed. If he dares let so much as half a word slip, he'll be dealt with for colluding with outside enemies."

The gaping hole in his case remained, but by changing the accounts, he had bought himself some breathing room.

At the same time, in an inn in the south of the city, Luo Tan's padded Night Owl Terrace report was being sent out for the first time as well.

She wrote only one line in the dossier: "Qin Zhaoye, academy genius, clean background, nothing suspicious."

She sealed it in a copper tube and released a carrier pigeon. From that point on, the Night Owl Terrace's records and the real person went their separate ways.

That afternoon, in the new residence at Perching Swan Academy.

Qin Zhaoye leaned by the window, turning the pages of the bronze scroll. He was enjoying a rare quiet day when the Group Hub's notification suddenly blared!

[Group Hub: "Qian Renxue," a party to a related topic, has been detected. The automatic recruitment countdown has officially been set in motion!]

In the group member list, Bibi Dong's avatar flashed brightly, then went dark again.