Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Cover the Heavens

"It's not hard to tell—you college students have a different look in your eyes from other people." Li Zhi explained with a smile.

"What's different?" That male classmate seemed intent on getting to the bottom of it.

"Your eyes as college students almost all carry a hint of clear stupidity—very easy to spot." Li Zhi said in a joking tone.

"Clear stupidity? Haha, Ye Fan, I never thought we'd come across like that in the boss's eyes." The burly boy beside him said.

"Boss, you've got good eyes." Ye Fan gave Li Zhi a thumbs up.

Li Zhi said, "You two classmates, you should be this year's freshmen at Ke University, right?"

The burly boy said, "Boss, you guessed wrong there. We're sophomores now."

"Pang Bo, have you decided what gift to buy?" Ye Fan said to the burly boy.

Li Zhi immediately said, "You two classmates, if you're picking out a gift for a girlfriend, I suggest you head over to the Dynasty Series accessory section over there. There are Tang-style hairpins, Song-rhyme earrings, Ming and Qing pendants—all good gift options. Quite a few couples from Ke University have bought things from my little shop."

Pang Bo didn't seem good at picking gifts, so he asked Ye Fan, "Ye Fan, what kind of gift do you think I should pick for Kong Shengyi?"

Ye Fan pointed at a Pixiu bracelet inside the glass counter and said, "I think that Golden Pixiu Bracelet is pretty good."

Pang Bo said, "Wouldn't giving a Golden Pixiu be a bit tacky?"

Ye Fan said, "Trust me on this. That Miss Kong of yours is famously money-hungry. If you want to win her over, you've got to be willing to spend, or she won't even give you a second glance."

Pang Bo said, "Alright then, I'll go with that. You've got more experience than me in this area—listening to you is the right call."

Ye Fan said, "Honestly, I don't think you and that Kong Shengyi are a good match. Instead of spending so much chasing her, you'd be better off picking another target."

Pang Bo said, "You don't get it. Shengyi is the only girl who's ever made my heart race. If I don't go all out and pursue her boldly, I'll regret it later."

Ye Fan said helplessly, "Whatever makes you happy."

Then, Pang Bo called out to Li Zhi, "Boss, wrap up that Golden Pixiu Bracelet for me."

But Li Zhi seemed to have lost his soul, as if he hadn't heard Pang Bo at all.

His eyes were vacant, staring at the street outside the door, his mind seemingly hooked by something.

Yet deep inside, a storm was already raging.

"Ye Fan, Pang Bo..."

This world was not a parallel timeline Earth, but the Earth of the Shrouding the Heavens world.

Li Zhi, who had planned to coast through life, suddenly found his thoughts growing very complicated.

New book uploaded, welcome all readers to bookmark, follow, rate, and vote.

Original creation failed, returning to fan fiction again—hope everyone enjoys it. This will be a Shrouding the Heavens story from a brand-new perspective.

Seeing off Ye Fan and Pang Bo, Standing at the shop entrance, Li Zhi watched them disappear around the street corner.

The pedestrians on the street were still there, but he could no longer calmly appreciate the worldly atmosphere.

Back in the shop, he lay directly down on his lazy chair.

But he hadn't been lying down for three seconds before he stood up.

Putting down the Peach Wood Prayer Beads he had subconsciously been spinning at lightning speed, he picked up a large thermos he usually used for brewing tea from the side table and walked to the storage room at the back.

Just as he picked up the kettle, he found it completely empty.

Then he pulled out a bottle of Wahaha purified water from under the table, poured it gurgling into the kettle, switched on the power, and started boiling water.

Watching the temperature display on the kettle rise gradually from 23°C.

Normally, he would wait for the water to boil before leaving, but today he seemed unusually impatient.

The water temperature had just reached 40°C when he picked up the kettle, poured the water into the thermos, and walked toward the shop entrance, drinking as he went.

He swept his gaze back and forth across the street but didn't spot Ye Fan or Pang Bo. Having bought their gifts, they had probably already returned to school.

Turning back into the shop, Li Zhi realized that in just those few dozen seconds, the thermos he had just filled with warm water was empty again.

The tea water, which no longer held any fragrance, had been downed in one go by him.

That was 596ml of bitter tea water.

If it were any other day, he would have dumped out the bitter tea water and carefully selected new tea to brew.

But now, he couldn't afford to bother with all that.

Back in the storage room, he boiled another pot of water.

Li Zhi hurried out of the shop and ran straight to the public restroom eighty meters away.

Two minutes later, he came out of the restroom, shaking his wet hands.

As he passed Zhou Mei's clothing store, Zhou Mei suddenly stepped out, grabbed his arm, and said, "What's wrong with you just now?"

"I didn't pee on my hands—I just forgot to bring tissues, so I came out without drying them after washing." Li Zhi seemed preoccupied and, without clearly hearing what Zhou Mei was asking, answered instinctively.

"Tch! Who asked if you peed on your hands? No shame." Zhou Mei gave Li Zhi a flirtatious glare and then continued, "I'm asking you, why are you so spaced out? You've been in and out three times already, haven't you? That's not like you at all."

On a normal day, Li Zhi would rather lie down than stand, and even if a customer came in, he'd just go with the flow.

He didn't actively introduce the goods in the shop to customers, maintaining a completely indifferent attitude of buy or don't buy.

And he never haggled.

But just now, Li Zhi had rarely stepped out of his shop and come to the doorway.

And not just once.

Zhou Mei was very curious about this—who exactly were those two college students just now, that they could make Li Zhi, usually as immovable as an old turtle, turn into a wary cat?

"Old turtle" was Zhou Mei's private summary of Li Zhi.

"Sister Mei, I still have water boiling in the shop, so I'll head back first." Li Zhi seemed to remember the kettle was still on the stove, immediately pulled his hand free from Zhou Mei's grip, and hurried back into the shop.

Zhou Mei clicked along in her small heels, following closely behind.

After entering the shop, she noticed that Li Zhi's peachwood prayer beads, which he never let out of his hands, had actually fallen to the floor. Concerned, she asked, "Little Li, are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Not at all." Li Zhi held the now-boiling kettle in one hand and a thermos in the other, pouring water as he spoke.

Zhou Mei saw the hot water fall into the thermos without releasing the rich fragrance of tea, and asked curiously, "Why didn't you put in any tea leaves today?"

Only then did Li Zhi realize he hadn't dumped out the tea leaves in his thermos that had already been steeped to bitterness.

"I'm planning to drink bitter tea today." Li Zhi forced a smile at Zhou Mei.

"How strange." Zhou Mei muttered under her breath, then said, "Don't order takeout tonight. I've made soup at home, and I'll have some sent over soon. You can have some with me."

"Sister Mei, I still have things to do. I'll need to close up early." Li Zhi said apologetically.

He needed to go back and be alone to think things through.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo, who had suddenly appeared in his life, were far more than just two college students.

Their arrival meant the gears of fate had already begun to turn.

This world would soon cease to be ordinary.

The idea of living out his life in peace and happiness was almost impossible now.

Although the cultivation world on Earth wasn't as prosperous as the Northern Dipper.

That didn't mean there were no cultivators on Earth. It was just that, due to the Age of Dharma Decline, they all hid within formation barriers, rarely setting foot in the Mortal World.

But thirty years later, when Ye Fan returned from the Northern Dipper and took the broken Immortality Ascension Cauldron from the Kunlun Immortal Pool, Earth's Age of Dharma Decline would end, ushering in a new golden age of cultivation.

And by then, he would be less than sixty years old, with another thirty or forty years of life ahead of him.

But by that time, he would already be old and frail. Even if he wanted to step onto the Path of Cultivation, it would likely be a slim possibility.

Li Zhi was now twenty-five, the same age Ye Fan would be when he embarked on his cultivation journey.

This was his last chance.

As his emotions churned, Li Zhi suddenly recalled a few words his father in this life, Li Daqiang, had spoken to him on his deathbed.

They made his eyes light up.

And his father in this life, Li Daqiang, had died very suspiciously back then. It wasn't a sudden illness or an accident. In the prime of his life, for no reason, he called Li Zhi back, said his time was near, and then passed away peacefully in his sleep a few days later.

"Sister Mei, I'll treat you to a drink another day." Thinking of this, Li Zhi quickly set his thermos and kettle down on the glass counter, not even caring if the hot water spilled onto it.

After saying that, he pulled a backpack out from the cabinet under the counter.

Then he grabbed his phone and keys from the lazy chair and hurried out of the shop.

Once outside, he started locking the door, not even giving Zhou Mei time to react, nearly locking her inside.

After pulling down the rolling shutter, Zhou Mei grabbed Li Zhi's arm, her face full of concern. "Little Li, are you really okay?"

Li Zhi smiled. "I'm fine. I just suddenly remembered something important that needs my attention."

Then he gently removed her hand and said, "Sister Mei, I'll explain later. I'm off now."

He strode quickly out of the pedestrian street and into the parking lot.