The Dead Last Became Hot Property Overnight

As soon as Qin Zhaoye sent that message, the group erupted.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Wait, Grandmaster, before the Pope joins the group, could you teach me the trick to applying force in Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track?]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: And how do you wrap Blue Silver Grass around someone without it breaking? Our Third Era textbooks don't match the First Era!]

In his excitement, Tang Wulin fired off two messages in a row, dragging the subject of Bibi Dong joining the group a hundred and eight thousand li off course.

How had they gotten onto this? Qin Zhaoye watched the screen stray further and further from the subject. Too lazy to say more, he tapped his group leader permissions directly on the scroll with a fingertip.

[Group Hub: Group rule three: one discussion per session. Going off topic will result in a mute. Member "Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion" has strayed from the current topic and is muted for thirty breaths.]

A little bronze lock appeared beside Tang Wulin's avatar at once, and the group, so noisy a moment ago, grew considerably quieter.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Damn, the group leader really went in hard, tossing him straight into the little black room!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: @Group Leader, hang on, I wanted to see who the big shot was, but why is the profile card still blank when I tag you?]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: Quit prying and watch your mouth, unless you want to go in and sit for thirty breaths too.]

Qin Zhaoye ignored Lan Xuanyu and casually turned past the group tier page.

The first tier was lit, glowing faintly. Further down, the final eighth tier was called "Eternal Collection · Gate Across Lines," followed by two gray words: "Sealed away."

Sealed away it was. He had no occasion to puzzle over it now. He looked away and opened the group creation gift pack he had left untouched.

[Golden Notice: Group creation gift pack opened.]

[Golden Notice: One, Soul Power cultivation raised across a major threshold. Current level: 17.]

[Golden Notice: Two, granted first Historical Records Soul Ring, "Historical Brush Errata," with a thousand-year equivalent.]

[Golden Notice: Three, granted primary cultivation technique, "Ever-Bright Bamboo Slip Art."]

[Golden Notice: Four, granted one Suotuo City Hundred-Year Historical Materials Pack.]

The instant the golden words settled, he felt a warm current surge from his palm through his entire body.

The level-ten bottleneck that had held him back for three whole years broke with a crack. The Soul Power in his body shot up stage by stage, only stabilizing when it reached level 17.

Immediately afterward, a ring of purple light emerged from the scroll and merged into his body. The circulation route for the Ever-Bright Bamboo Slip Art was also imprinted in his mind.

Qin Zhaoye clenched his fist, and his knuckles gave a series of crisp cracks.

Early the next morning, at the rear training ground of Perching Swan Academy.

Today was the placement test, and even auditors had to go through it one by one. The dean, Feng Yanqiu, stood beneath the corridor with a purple clay teapot in his hands, not even raising his eyes toward Qin Zhaoye.

"Old Du, hurry it up." Feng Yanqiu blew the tea froth aside. "That auditor who's been on the rolls for three years-put him through the motions and strike his name off. That'll free up a bed for a full-paying new student next month."

Chief instructor Du Hengzhou walked over, his face cold. "When I test someone, I do it by feeling their bones. Stop hounding me with that wretched abacus of yours."

Despite his words, Du Hengzhou frowned deeply when he looked at Qin Zhaoye. "Hold out your hand. You haven't advanced an inch in three years. Let me make this clear: if you're still stuck at level ten today, pack your bedding and leave at once."

A dozen or so students nearby folded their arms, waiting to laugh at the academy's number one good-for-nothing.

Qin Zhaoye calmly held out his right hand.

Du Hengzhou placed two fingers on his wrist, and his expression abruptly froze.

"Something's wrong." Du Hengzhou gave a low shout, clamped all five fingers around his wrist, and sent Soul Power probing along his meridians.

The next instant, a purple Soul Ring rose abruptly from beneath Qin Zhaoye's feet. The Wordless Ancient Scroll hovered at his side, and level 17 Soul Power rippled outward.

The students watching the spectacle fell silent at once. Two in the front row even took an involuntary half step back.

"Purple? His first ring is already a thousand-year ring?" someone cried out.

Du Hengzhou gripped Qin Zhaoye's wrist tightly and probed for a long while before letting go. He stepped back half a pace and looked him up and down. "Level seventeen? When did you break through?"

"Last night."

"Strange! You didn't budge for three years, then jumped seven levels in one night, and there's no instability at all. The foundation of this Soul Power is unnaturally clean!"

Under the corridor, Feng Yanqiu nearly dropped his purple clay teapot when he heard the words "thousand-year."

When he heard "level seventeen" and Du Hengzhou's assessment clearly, the dean who had just wanted to clear out a bed took the steps in a single stride.

"Oh! I knew this boy Zhaoye had been building up his strength for a sudden breakthrough!"

Feng Yanqiu rushed over in three strides as though taking two, shoved Du Hengzhou aside, and grabbed the only chair with a back beside the instructor's desk. He scrubbed it hard twice with his sleeve and pushed it behind Qin Zhaoye.

"Come, come, Zhaoye, you've just broken through. Sit down and rest!"

Feng Yanqiu pressed Qin Zhaoye down by the shoulders, then seized the white porcelain tea set on the table that he normally let no one touch. He poured a full cup of hot tea himself and held it out to him.

"You stayed in the communal dorm before because we wanted to test your character! Tonight you'll move into a Grade A single room. All your tuition and fees will be waived, and you'll receive the chief student's monthly allowance!"

Du Hengzhou rolled his eyes. "Old Miser Feng, that wasn't what you said yesterday when you signed the order to throw him out."

"Nonsense! That was a provocation to spur him on!" Without a blush or a skipped heartbeat, Feng Yanqiu turned back and offered the tea with a smile. "Zhaoye, the tea's just the right temperature. Wet your throat."

Qin Zhaoye picked up the cup and took a sip. At that moment, the Wordless Ancient Scroll in his sleeve trembled slightly.

He lowered his head under cover of drinking and glanced at the group interface. Over at Nuoding Academy, Tang San, who had held back all night, could finally sit still no longer.

[Tang San: @Group Leader, in that Official History of the First Era, apart from my father's origins, what else does it say happened afterward?]

[Tang San: What happened to my father later? And where did I go after I left Nuoding?]

Qin Zhaoye tapped a fingertip against the rim of his teacup and leisurely typed a reply.

[Group Leader: This historian records only hard evidence. The price is a separate matter.]

[Group Leader: If you want to read the history that follows, bring bargaining capital or something of equivalent value to trade. No freeloading.]

In his Nuoding dormitory, Tang San stared at the words "the price is a separate matter," his brows tightly knitted. The group leader was treating his future as a commodity, yet he had no bargaining capital at all right now.

At that moment, Tang Wulin, whose mute had long since expired, finally appeared.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: That was killing me! I won't go off topic anymore. Let's talk about where Grandmaster went after graduation!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: According to the official history, Grandmaster went to Suotuo City to enroll at Shrek Academy after graduating from Nuoding. But now that the secret's out early, whether he'll still go to that lousy village is another question!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: True. If Grandmaster takes a different path, this part of the official history won't match anymore.]

No sooner had he spoken than a golden frame appeared in the center of the scroll.

[Group Hub: Core divergence detected in the First Era timeline. Historical wager opened. Betting question: "Will Tang San still enter Shrek as recorded in the history books?"]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Holy shit, you can open a betting pool on this? I'll put five hundred bargaining capital on Grandmaster not going. He already knows where the pitfall in his future is, so who'd be dumb enough to jump into that lousy village?]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Nonsense! Grandmaster will definitely follow the official history! I'll bet eight hundred that Grandmaster enters Shrek as usual!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: I'll also bet seven hundred on him entering as usual, because there's a reason he has to go to Suotuo City.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: @Tang San, Grandmaster, give us a hint, won't you? Tell us whether you're going so your descendants can earn a little pocket money!]

In the blink of an eye, the prize pool had climbed to two thousand, but Qin Zhaoye himself hadn't put a single point of bargaining capital into it.

Over in Nuoding, Tang San watched his descendants enthusiastically bet on his future and didn't reply with a single word. He had never even heard of Shrek, so how could he answer?

[Golden Notice: First day's interaction activity settled. Including income from scattered pieces of hard evidence, the group leader has accumulated 2,000 bargaining capital.]

Night fell, in the Grade A single room.

Qin Zhaoye opened the Suotuo City Hundred-Year Historical Materials Pack and copied the locations of the hidden operatives and the records of connections belonging to the city lord's residence and several major families in the city onto paper, one by one. He tucked the notes into a hidden pocket close to his body.

He had just blown out the half-burned candle on the table when a tremendous crash suddenly came from the academy's front courtyard.

A retainer from the city lord's residence slammed a gilded letter of challenge onto the gatehouse desk at Perching Swan Academy and sneered. "I hear your Perching Swan has a good-for-nothing who saw the light overnight? Tomorrow at the Soul Fighting Arena, someone will come and test what this good-for-nothing is made of!"

The old gatekeeper picked up the challenge and, upon seeing the name on the signature, was so frightened that his calves cramped. Everyone at Perching Swan knew that name.

At the same moment, the countdown to Bibi Dong joining the group ticked down another notch in the upper right corner of the group interface.