Morning.
Vice Dean's Office.
Seven little gourd boys... No, seven students from the junior martial arts class stood in a row, heads bowed as they faced the desk.
"Confess! You'll be treated leniently if you come clean, but harshly if you resist!" Vice Dean Ye Sheng slammed his hand on the desk, making his white beard quiver.
After two days of investigation, they had finally found the suspects responsible for driving the horned sheep in the Trial Grounds to extinction.
In truth, driving the horned sheep to extinction wasn't the main reason they'd been hauled in.
The real reason was that these little brats had dug pits all over the Trial Grounds. Nearly half the students at Sacred Orchid Academy had fallen into one, and the mailbox was about to burst with complaints.
Xian Wu and Vice Dean Ye Sheng had a bit of a connection, so he stepped forward and took all the blame. "Reporting to the dean: I dug the pits and killed the sheep. You can beat me or punish me however you like. It has nothing to do with them."
Ye Sheng was only the vice dean, but calling him the dean wasn't wrong—and dean sounded a lot better than vice dean.
"Nonsense!" Ye Sheng knew Xian Wu was taking responsibility for the others, but could he really bear the blame for something this serious all by himself? He might even be expelled.
"Could you have dug all those pits by yourself? Come on, let's go to the Training Ground. Dig some for me and show me!" Ye Sheng got to his feet.
Just then, Nie Li stepped forward and quietly tugged at Xian Wu's sleeve.
Nie Li cupped his hands toward Vice Dean Ye Sheng. "Reporting to Vice Dean Ye Sheng: we dug the pits together. If we're going to be punished, punish all of us."
As the big brother of the group and Xian Wu's adoptive father, he couldn't let Xian Wu take the blame alone. That would be far too disloyal.
"That's right. We dug them together," Lu Piao said, stepping forward.
"That's how it happened, Lord Ye Sheng."
"Exactly."
"We dug them together."
The other boys all chimed in.
Ye Sheng's brow twitched. These boys are pretty loyal to each other.
"Fine!" Ye Sheng sat back down, picked up the Ram Horn Pen, and said as he wrote, "The Alchemist Guild is short-handed. I'm sentencing all seven of you to work there for four days. Any objections?"
"None!" Nie Li replied.
The others nodded.
"Good." Once he'd finished writing, Ye Sheng folded the paper, slipped it into an envelope, and handed it to Xian Wu.
"Take this letter to the Alchemist Guild and find Director Yang Xin. Off you go!" Ye Sheng patted Xian Wu on the shoulder and opened the door to see them out.
On the way, Wei Nan, who was usually quiet, spoke up.
"Don't worry, everyone. I've been helping my family gather herbs since before the school year started, and I've worked at an apothecary. Working at the Alchemist Guild will just mean sorting ingredients and grinding them into powder. I'm good at that, so ask me if you don't know how."
"Thanks, Wei Nan," Xian Wu said gratefully.
Who would've thought that short, taciturn Wei Nan had a skill like that? You couldn't judge a book by its cover—or measure the sea with a bucket.
"No need to thank me. It's nothing." Wei Nan scratched his head with a sheepish grin.
The Alchemist Guild was a sprawling complex of buildings. A grand hall stood at the front, with alchemists in robes of every color coming and going. Behind it were courtyards and pavilions where the alchemists practiced their craft.
"Hello, kids. What can I help you with?" A young woman in a gray robe came over. She worked at the Alchemist Guild's front desk.
Kids? Xian Wu and Nie Li wore odd expressions.
Xian Wu was actually five or six years older than her, while Nie Li was old enough to be her great-great-great... grandfather.
Xian Wu took out the letter Vice Dean Ye Sheng had given him and handed it over.
Lu Piao asked with a lecherous grin, "May I ask your name, miss, and how old you are?"
"Just call me Xiao Lan. As for my age, that's a secret. You shouldn't ask a girl her age—it's very rude," Xiao Lan said, lecturing them.
Xiao Lan? Then I'm freaking Shinichi Kudo! Xian Wu grumbled to himself.
To be honest, Xiao Lan wasn't his type. She was flat as a board, and he wasn't interested in the slightest.
Xiao Lan didn't open the letter. She turned it over in her hands, then said, "Wait here in the hall. I'll go find Director Yang. Don't wander off. Big Sister will be right back."
"Big Sister?" Zhang Ming blinked his big, sparkling eyes and stroked his chin as he stared at Xiao Lan's retreating figure, lost in all sorts of wild thoughts.
Zhu Jun Xiang knew Zhang Ming fairly well. Zhang Ming liked older girls, and he also liked... flat-chested girls.
It was a very strange preference.
"Godfather, what are you thinking?" Xian Wu whispered in Nie Li's ear. Nie Li had been silent the whole way there, and Xian Wu had no idea what he was pondering.
Nie Li didn't answer directly. "You'll find out soon."
Before long, Director Yang Xin of the Alchemist Guild appeared.
The seven boys were stunned. Director Yang Xin was incredibly beautiful, in her twenties and at the height of her bloom. Every gesture radiated the charm of a mature woman, especially the pair in front of her chest... They were the biggest Xian Wu had ever seen.
"Gulp." Xian Wu swallowed.
I'm going to marry Yang Xin. Not even Jesus can stop me. That's my final word!
Xian Wu made a secret vow in his heart.
Perhaps because Soul Force tempered his body, he was now only half a head shorter than Yang Xin. Among the seven boys, he stood out like a crane among chickens. It was no exaggeration to say that if he stuck on a beard, he could pass for their father.
"What are you trying to do, you brat?" Nie Li pinched Xian Wu and quietly scolded him. "Isn't Xiao Ning'er enough for you? Now you want to go after Yang Xin too? Don't be such a flirt!"
Xian Wu curled his lip in disdain. "A flirt? Watch your wording. I call it having a big heart. Besides, it's perfectly normal for men to have three wives and four concubines in the City of Brilliance. Even the City Lord has two wives."
If he liked the look of a girl, he'd marry her and bring her home.
"You're talking nonsense!" Nie Li grew agitated at the mention of Ye Ziyun's father. "Ye Zong only took another wife after Zi Yun's mother passed away. That's completely different from what you're doing."
In his previous life, Ye Zong had fought and bled for the City of Brilliance, eventually sacrificing himself during the demon beast horde's attack.
He had devoted his entire life to the City of Brilliance. He was a great man, a pure man, a man free of vulgar interests. Nie Li wouldn't allow Xian Wu to slander his father-in-law like that.
"What's the difference?" Xian Wu scoffed. "What emperor in history didn't have a harem? It's a fact that the City Lord married two women."
"Unreasonable!" Nie Li angrily flung his sleeve.
No matter what other people did, he was a man who loved only one woman. In both his previous life and this one, he loved only Ye Ziyun.
For some reason, after hearing Xian Wu's opinion, Nie Li felt an inexplicable sense of danger.
He had to keep a close eye on his precious Zi Yun. He couldn't let Xian Wu, that shameless womanizer, steal her away.
If Xian Wu knew what Nie Li was thinking, he'd have scoffed. Even if Ye Ziyun offered herself to him, he wouldn't want her.
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