In the afternoon at Nebula Manor, starlight passed through the carved window lattice, sifting down into fine golden rays that fell across the hall laid with soft velvet cushions.
Lu Yuan was sitting at the desk, his fingertips lightly tapping the virtual light screen as he reviewed the detailed moves of Spinning Ice Sky Rush, his brows faintly furrowed, his expression focused.
Beside him, Su Yaqing was casually browsing the Campus Forum. As her fingertip slid across the screen, the anonymous post that had set the whole academy ablaze suddenly crashed into view without warning.
She froze at first. Then a complicated look flashed through her eyes. Her fingertip paused on the screen, and after a moment of silence, she walked softly to Lu Yuan's side and held the screen of her Virtual Watch in front of him.
"Lu Yuan, look at this."
Lu Yuan raised his eyes. His gaze landed on the light screen, sweeping over the post's revelations about his perfect-score assessment and his apprenticeship under Hua Rong. His expression remained calm, without the slightest ripple, as if he were looking at some trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.
Su Yaqing blinked her fiery-red eyes. Her long lashes trembled lightly, and her gaze was filled with concern and hesitation as she spoke in a soft voice. "Lu Yuan, can you... really become Mentor Hua Rong's disciple?"
She asked this with particular caution.
Rationally speaking, she knew very well that this matter was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.
In the academy's ten-thousand-year history, even the legendary senior who had likewise entered with a perfect score had been flatly rejected when he went to ask to be accepted as a disciple. Mentor Hua Rong was proud and aloof by nature and had never taken disciples.