Changing Faces

In early spring in Ningdong, the weather is still very cold. In the early morning, icicles still hang on the treetops in the mountains, creating a beautiful, crystal-clear scene.

Luo Jun arrived at the academy early in the morning. Today was the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, and most of the teachers and students were still at home celebrating the New Year, making the academy unusually quiet.

Holding a jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe), I strolled leisurely to the college's gymnasium, munching on it as I went.

There were already six people waiting inside.

Lao Miao Miao, Ling Xin, Lu Fei, Xiao Tian, Lei Tianyang, and... a short-haired girl I don't recognize.

"Oh my, you've all arrived so early?"

Luo Jun ate the rest of the jianbing guozi in one bite, threw the wrapper into the trash can, clapped his hands, and walked over.

"You're too late!" Lao Miao Miao rolled her eyes at him. "We agreed to meet at eight o'clock, and it's been ten minutes already."

"I bought a jianbing guozi on the way, which delayed me a bit..." Luo Jun scratched his head sheepishly and looked at the unfamiliar girl next to him. "This is... I remember there were seven spots in total, and wasn't the Last One senior Chao Tianxiang?"

"Yes, you're a freshman and don't know her." Lao Miao Miao shook her head. "Let me introduce you. This is Zhai Xixi, a year ahead of you. She's an exchange student from the Ningdong Academy sent to Tianjing University. Normally, she's still on exchange, but if she wants to participate in the Exchange Meeting, she should still use one of our school's spots..."

"Oh!" Luo Jun understood. "So, Senior came back and competed against Chao Tianxiang, and eliminated him?"

"Is there even a need for a competition?" Lu Fei laughed. "That kid Chao Tianxiang was so scared when he heard that Zhai Xixi wanted a spot that he withdrew from the competition on his own initiative... Before Zhai Xixi went to the exchange program, they were both in Class A of the previous year. That kid was already traumatized by being beaten so badly."

"So amazing?" Luo Jun looked at Zhai Xixi: "Looks like I'll have to rely on you for guidance, Senior."

"I've heard of you too." Zhai Xixi smiled at Luo Jun, her eyes crinkling into crescents. "The genius boy who solved the most difficult Tier A Mission in history... These past few days, the forums have been flooded with news about you."

"Just luck, nothing more than good luck," Luo Jun said, scratching his head sheepishly.

Speaking of which, with such a big event happening on Xia Yue Island, Luo Jun thought it would definitely be all over the news. But what happened? A whole day has passed since he returned, and there's not a single word on the forums. The official channels seem completely unaware of the event, and they even have time to update New Year's greetings and launch an early Lantern Festival event...

If I had to say something, the news that a treasure had been lost in Yingzhou reached the country, but this was not a big deal in the eyes of the cultivation world of Zhendan. Apart from a few dozen posts of schadenfreude, the post was quickly buried.

In short, everything was as calm as if it had never happened... But Luo Jun knew that the Thirteenth Door to Xia Yue Island must have been successfully opened. The reason it hadn't been announced to the public yet was probably because it wasn't stable enough, or perhaps an official team had already gone in to explore it.

Since that's the case, he's not in a hurry anymore. He'll wait for the official announcement.

"Oh right, since Senior Xixi was an exchange student sent out, there must have been some who came back from the exchange, right?" Luo Jun asked curiously, "Those who can exchange with Senior Xixi must not be ordinary students, right?"

"Oh, that guy dropped out of school less than a month after he switched schools." Xiao Tian said through gritted teeth, somewhat unwillingly, "I challenged him several times but he wouldn't take the challenge, and then he just went home without any explanation!"

"Taking a leave of absence from school?" Luo Jun asked curiously, "Who is it?"

"You wouldn't recognize him even if I told you." Lao Miao Miao glanced at the time impatiently. "Honestly, all the students are here, but why isn't the tutor here yet?" With that, she took out her phone and dialed a number.

"There's another mentor?" Luo Jun Outer Dao. "Isn't Senior Sister Miao the team leader?"

"Of course we need mentors," Lu Fei said with a smile. "We can't let the students be in charge of such a big event."

"Then who is our mentor?" Luo Jun truly knew nothing about the matter.

"Who else could be so unpunctual..." Lei Tianyang shook his head.

Just then, Lao Miao Miao answered the phone, "Hello? Professor Yu, you're still not up! If you don't get up soon, I'm going to drag you out of bed!"

It really is that Emperor Jue...

While Lao Miao Miao was unleashing her furious attacks on Yu Qiudi, Ling Xin approached Luo Jun and asked, "Did your senior sister go back?"

Luo Jun was taken aback, then nodded and said, "Ah, I'm going back. She wasn't originally from Ningdong, but I've become quite famous lately, so she stopped by to see me and give me some pointers on my cultivation..."

Ling Xin nodded. "What realm are you at now?"

"Heart Refining Realm..." Luo Jun thought for a moment, then added, "First stage."

"I know," Ling Xin nodded. "I was asking about your level of Foundation Establishment."

"This..." Luo Jun didn't expect Ling Xin to ask this, and he hesitated for a moment.

If we say his skill level is too high, his exposure to Yuan Qi is too short; if we say his skill level is too low, his demonstrated strength is too great.

"Five layers to strengthen the foundation, three layers to cultivate vitality," Luo Jun replied after a second of thought.

"Considering how long you've been exposed to Yuan Qi, this progress is astonishing," Ling Xin praised.

"Hurry up, it was worth it with my life." Luo Jun laughed, "That time at Medicine King Valley, it directly opened up my meridians and pushed me to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Otherwise, with my progress, I would still be stuck in the Body Refinement Realm."

Ling Xin nodded. "Then do you want to participate in the Heavenly Origin Tournament?"

Luo Jun was slightly taken aback. "How did we get to this?"

"Is it strange?" Ling Xin smiled. "Students who perform well in the domestic Exchange Meeting have the opportunity to participate in the International Exchange Meeting, and the best performers in the International Exchange Meeting will receive a spot in the Heavenly Origin Tournament. This Exchange Meeting, anyone with ambition is aiming for the Heavenly Origin Tournament, right?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Jun looked at Ling Xin and asked, "So, you are too?"

Ling Xin nodded. "Of course I want to prove myself, so I'd like to know, what are your thoughts?"

"I..." Luo Jun thought of the prizes of the Heavenly Origin Tournament, the Kiss of the Life Goddess that could heal everything, and Wan Guiyuan's entrustment to him... This Heavenly Origin Tournament was no longer a matter of what he wanted to do; he had to go!

"Of course I want to participate too!" Luo Jun nodded.

"Then you'll have to work hard." Ling Xin smiled slightly, "Don't slack off or skip training."

"Huh?" Luo Jun was slightly taken aback. "What do you mean by that...?"

Before the words were finished, a languid female voice came from the doorway.

"Good morning, students... Ahhhhh... Good..." Everyone turned to look and saw a magnificent horse standing at the entrance of the stadium, with a large, fluffy hamster perched on its back, its slender hand reaching out from its fur to greet everyone.

"This is..." Just as everyone was wondering, Lao Miao Miao walked up angrily and pulled the hamster off the horse. It turned out to be Yu Qiudi, who was still wearing animal pajamas.

"Professor Yu!" Lao Miao Miao said angrily, "There are only ten days left until the Exchange Meeting, we can't afford to slack off!"

"That's your Exchange Meeting, what does it have to do with me..." Yu Qiudi muttered before her eyes were fully open.

"Of course it's relevant, you're our mentor!" Lu Fei said helplessly, "Moreover, you were the best participant in the Exchange Meeting ten years ago, your valuable experience is an important reference for us."

Upon hearing this, Yu Qiudi finally opened her eyes. "Really?"

Seeing that she was interested, everyone's eyes lit up, and they quickly began to flatter her. "Of course! Your heroic figure when you won the championship back then is a role model we all admire!"

"To be honest, whether I attend the Exchange Meeting or not is secondary. I worked hard to get this spot mainly because I wanted to see Professor Yu in person."

"Exactly! With your experience back then, Tianjing University and Puhua Mountain Academy are just stepping stones on our path to progress!"

Seemingly spurred on by everyone's praise, Yu Qiudi perked up and waved, "Then come with me."

Everyone followed Yu Qiudi towards the lounge with great anticipation...

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

"This... this is Professor Yu's training method?"

Seven students sat in a row in the lounge, with a television opposite them showing a video of Yu Qiudi's competition ten years ago. Yu Qiudi was lying on a bench behind them, snot bubbles already forming on her nose.

"That's not the experience we're talking about!" Lao Miao Miao roared, pulling Yu Qiudi to her feet. "You have to give us a proper training session today!"

Amidst the commotion, the door to the lounge opened, and a tall figure walked in, slightly taken aback by the scene inside:

What are you doing?

When everyone looked up and saw that it was Tie Jingang who had entered, they were all moved to tears.

"Finally... finally a reliable teacher has arrived!"

"Professor Tie, please be our mentor!"

After listening to everyone's complaints, Tie Jingang sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm just the teacher on duty today, and I happened to be visiting the class... Professor Yu being your mentor was decided at the meeting, and I can't overstep my bounds."

"How could this happen?" Several students asked with regret.

"Although I can't directly guide you..." Tie Jingang raised his hand to suppress everyone's dissatisfaction, "I do have a way to cheer Professor Yu up."

"Huh?" The students looked on incredulously. "I'd rather believe you can convince the dean to change the advisor than believe you can get Professor Yu to take responsibility."

"Watch me!" Tie Jingang rolled up his sleeves, grabbed the hamster by the scruff of its neck, and dragged Yu Qiudi out of the lounge. A few seconds of silence followed outside the door, then a sharp cry rang out, "No... no... that's absolutely not allowed!"

"It's Professor Yu's voice!" Lu Fei's eyes widened.

"What exactly happened?" Lei Tianyang asked, equally shocked.

"I've never heard Professor Yu have such a loud voice before!" Lao Miao Miao was also shocked.

After the screams, the door opened, and Tie Jingang and Yu Qiudi walked in. Unlike before, Yu Qiudi walked back standing up, and her face was slightly flushed.

Everyone watched this scene with somewhat ambiguous expressions. Xiao Tian even said directly, "Professor Tie, even for our sake, you can't act like a hooligan!"

"Who's being a pervert!" Tie Jingang cursed, then looked at Yu Qiudi and chuckled, "Everyone has a past they don't want to remember, sometimes it's fodder for conversation, sometimes it's something to hold against them..."

"Stop talking!" Yu Qiudi glared at Tie Jingang: "After all these years, you still remember..."

Tie Jingang chuckled, "Well, that's because I was your homeroom teacher back then. Besides that incident, I also know..."

"Shut up!" Yu Qiudi immediately summoned a gorilla and covered Tie Jingang's mouth. "Okay, okay, I know... I'll work hard to train them, you go do your shift!"

Tie Jingang chuckled, "Don't slack off."

After he left, Yu Qiudi turned around and swept her gaze across the students in the room with an unprecedentedly cold look. "You asked for this... Let me make this clear beforehand, don't beg me for mercy when you can't handle it!"

Upon hearing this, for some reason, the group of people who had been gloating suddenly shuddered...

In the following days, Yu Qiudi seemed like a different person. She never dozed off during training again, and was even unusually diligent, assigning everyone an excessive amount of training tasks every day. Any slackening resulted in various punishments; she even conjured up two Whiplash Demon as instructors. If a problem was discovered, the flaming whips would lash out. Her methods didn't resemble training students at all, but rather treating enemies on the battlefield. It's hard to say whether there was an element of personal revenge involved...

Under such terrifying, Hell Devil Training, the students complained incessantly every day. They were initially so dissatisfied with Yu Qiudi's laxity, but now they missed the dozing-off Professor Yu even more...

Even more terrifying is that, thanks to the abundant supplies provided by the academy, even if you are tortured all day, bruised and battered, exhausted to the point of muscle soreness, and drained of every last bit of energy, you can be fully rejuvenated overnight, ready to face the next day's Hell training in top condition.

If we had to name the most relaxed person among them, it would be Luo Jun.

Yu Qiudi took it very seriously and made a very detailed training plan. She even differentiated the training content and intensity according to the different levels and abilities of each person. Even Ling Xin, who was a master whose strength was no less than that of the professor, was tortured by her training.

However, Luo Jun was the only one whose apparent level of cultivation was far from his actual strength. He could easily complete ordinary training, but when it came to ability training, he would let Ailongtan suffer for him while he hid away, enjoying a carefree and comfortable life.

And so, the days passed by, and the date of the Exchange Meeting drew near. In order to give the students, who had been subjected to Devil Training for more than ten days, a break, Yu Qiudi gave them a day off on the last day.

In the past, students would have definitely questioned whether Professor Yu was trying to slack off. But now, upon hearing this news, everyone felt as if they had been granted a pardon, and were even tempted to kowtow to Professor Yu.

Having been granted a holiday, Luo Jun did not stay in the school dormitory, but returned to his home in the city center. After a quick tidy-up, he disguised himself and went out.

Today happened to be the opening day of the Yuanqiang Black Market. Luo Jun originally wanted to invite Ling Xin to go with him, but even the Golden Edge Witch was exhausted after Yu Qiudi's Devil Training, so she simply told him how to enter the black market and let him go by himself...

(End of this chapter)