Pear Blossoms Drift Before Your Window

One day later.

"Morning, Xiao Meng, and Xiao Bing."

"Good morning, Brother Xu!"

"Morning..."

Ice Empress had completely lost the initiative regarding such a nickname from Xu Qing.

There was no helping it; who told her to be named Ice Empress? It was too chuunibyou!

"Bing'er" was too ambiguous, and "Bingbing" was too intimate.

Xu Qing had no choice but to activate his high emotional intelligence and bestow the name "Xiao Bing," granting her equal status to Xiao Meng.

He stretched, looking around at the magnificent, gold-gilded surroundings.

This was the gift his good sister Xiao Meng had given him!!!

Located within the second ring of Ming Capital, just a stone's throw from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy—well, a hundred meters to the left after stepping out the door.

"A big house. Who would have thought that a country bumpkin like me would actually be able to live in the heart of the city."

"Living in the city is truly nice."

It was a hundred times more comfortable than the Body Sect!!!

He had completely forgotten his roots!

Xu Qing took a deep breath; it was refreshing to the heart and spleen!

The scent of money... So this was what it felt like to be showered with cash by a wealthy woman?

Bring on more.

Lord Xu felt he could still handle it.

What? You ask how he could be short on money when he held patents for so many injections and Protein Powder?

Then let me ask you, doesn't research and development require consumables? Don't experiments have costs?

That is why this guy, Xu Qing, was a pauper.

"Let's live in Ming Capital forever! Xiao Meng will support you!!"

The infatuated Xiao Meng grabbed Xu Qing's arm directly, dragging him along as they headed out to participate in today's entrance test.

And what about Ice Empress... no, what about Xiao Bing?

"Xiao Bing, you just stay here. Xiao Meng has already arranged a literacy teacher for you; you'll have to catch up starting from kindergarten."

Xu Qing waved his hand behind him and walked away without looking back.

Leaving the lonely maiden behind to guard the villa all by herself!

The illiterate scorpion could only watch like an incompetent wife as her husband followed the rich, beautiful girl...

The streets of Ming Capital were clean and tidy, with soul-guided streetlights every ten meters and high-rise buildings of over a dozen floors visible everywhere. In a daze, Xu Qing thought he had returned to some prefecture-level city from his past life.

Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy.

Standing before the wide gate, Xu Qing looked at the incoming and outgoing freshmen and sighed sincerely:

"It took Xiao Meng five minutes to walk to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, yet it took me eleven years."

"Alright, alright, Brother Xu, you're saying things I can't understand again."

Xiao Meng had let go of his arm at some point and was no longer holding onto him.

Hmm... she must be shy?

Not at all. If she kept making contact, Xiao Meng felt she might end up doing something inappropriate.

What if she scared the innocent Brother Xu?

"Brother Xu, let me introduce the general situation of the academy. We can talk as we walk."

"The educational resources and infrastructure of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy can be considered second to none. Especially in terms of infrastructure, it's countless times better than that Shrek Academy!"

She spoke of these things as if counting her family treasures, explaining them in detail:

"For example, the cafeteria. We provide basic meals for free, but if you want to eat things like soul beast meat that are beneficial to a soul master's body, you'll need to pay for it yourself."

"But it's very cheap. Oh, right, our cafeteria has chairs; you can sit down to eat."

"As for the dorms, there's even less need to mention them. Single rooms with independent bathrooms—I don't know how many times better than Shrek, where two hundred people fight over one toilet!"

"But you don't need to live in the dorms; you'll be living with me!"

That house was actually a birthday gift bought by Xiao Chen and Hall Master Jing for Xiao Meng. It had been repurposed to win over Xu Qing.

"Hmm... if you ask about the downsides, there are some. It's probably quite strict regarding the screening of new students."

Xiao Meng looked at the freshmen walking in the opposite direction from the teaching building, looking dejected, and sighed:

"The academy's minimum standard is to reach the level of a first-ring soul master before the age of twelve. It sounds low, but in reality, that's just the floor-tile level."

"Even with innate rank one soul power, one can still meet this requirement through diligent cultivation."

"Of course, this is mainly because the academy prioritizes soul tool master instruction; in the teachers' eyes, soul masters cannot defeat soul tool masters of the same rank."

"That is why many freshmen who meet the criteria flock here from all over the empire, causing the competitive pressure to rise accordingly."

"Yet in the end, the majority of new students admitted to the academy each year are still from Ming Capital."

The uneven distribution of educational resources, indeed.

"But none of this has anything to do with you, Brother Xu. Phew... we're finally here. Up ahead is the entrance physical examination."

Xu Qing nodded and followed Xiao Meng toward the classroom, but the moment he stepped into the teaching area, he caught a familiar scent.

Nine Dragons Potion?

Why is the smell so concentrated!?

No, I forgot about my own physical constitution. Tsk, but this still isn't right. A dosage strong enough to permeate the air like this...

"Knock, knock, knock..."

"Enter."

Standing on the classroom podium was a middle-aged man who shared the same build as Hall Master Jing, even wearing the same style of glasses and the same type of clothing.

An identification badge hung around his neck, which Xu Qing's keen eyesight could easily read.

Dean, Lin Jiayi.

"Dean Lin, I've brought Xu Qing!"

Xiao Meng's energetic voice rang out.

This teacher, who exhausted himself day and night, could only maintain his energy by consuming a Body Stimulant—Nitrogen Pump—to complete his high-intensity soul tool research.

He perked up a little.

He lifted his round face, marked by dark circles under his eyes, and said wearily:

"Ah... oh, it's you, Xiao Meng. You are..."

He shifted his gaze to Xu Qing, who was curiously looking around behind her, let out a long sigh, and said:

"You must be Xu Qing, right? The Dean has already made arrangements. You don't need to take the test. Once the freshman testing is over, I will take you directly to the testing area."

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow, not expecting things to unfold this way.

I thought the classic tropes would appear.

Some teacher dissatisfied with a nepotism hire, a hot-blooded youth filled with righteous indignation challenging authority, all of them challenging me only to be knocked back by a single punch.

Begging for mercy on their knees, then, while I'm off guard, hiring assassins to ambush me, only for me to slaughter them all in the end...

"Truly omnipotent..."

"This time, I've truly stumbled into the imperial family's territory."

"Indeed, pear blossoms drift before your window."

...Some students were still whispering complaints.

About half an hour later, all the freshmen in the classroom had finished their tests.

Only a handful had passed.

"The academy's entrance process is very cruel. Even though many of them traveled thousands of miles to get here, failing is failing."

Lin Jiayi was impartial and selfless, then waved at the two of them.

"Xiao Meng, Xu Qing, follow me."

The three of them walked toward the underground testing area.

Voice-activated soul tool lights flickered on one by one, gradually revealing the vast underground space.

"Xu Qing, soul power fluctuation at rank forty-four, yet your physical strength is at rank seventy-eight. You primarily cultivate a Mystic Ice Marrow martial soul, yet you still possess such heaven-defying physical stats."