The Eve of the Typhoon

Most of a person's life is actually spent in a state of boredom. Just like now, aside from cultivating his relationship with Gu Yuena, Long Yuan spent his time handling mundane daily affairs.

Of course, the class advancement tournament was proceeding steadily. With Tang Wulin's exceptionally high stats, Class Five had already defeated Class Three and Class Two. Now, only the final match remained.

Naturally, such upsets were extremely rare at East Sea Academy. In fact, ever since Class Five defeated Class Three, they had attracted a large crowd of students to watch their matches.

The academy seemed happy to oblige, simply scheduling every match for after school in the afternoon.

However, the spectators were unable to watch the final match because it was interrupted by the weather.

"Attention, teachers and students. Please listen to an emergency announcement. According to meteorological department warnings, a strong tropical storm will strike tonight, expected to last for over a week. Therefore, for the coming week, please do not leave the academy grounds lightly. All classes are suspended; please remain in your dormitories. The class advancement tournament is suspended and will be rescheduled after the typhoon passes."

In the morning, the broadcast echoed throughout East Sea Academy, and sirens even wailed across the entire East Sea City.

Within minutes, a bustling crowd poured out of the teaching building and split into several groups.

Some were heading back to their dorms, while others wanted to take advantage of the final afternoon hours to buy supplies.

Gu Yuena sat in the classroom, not in a hurry to leave.

"Big Sister, aren't you leaving yet?" A scrawny boy in the classroom asked in a low voice.

His name was Wang Jinxi, the very Bone Dragon King Great Spirit Master that Long Yuan had once taken note of.

Not far from him, two other boys stood cautiously, not daring to make a sound.

They were Wang Jinxi's good friends: Zhang Yangzi and Wei Xiaofeng.

They had been friends since childhood and were all Great Spirit Masters. Originally, they had been quite unconvinced that Gu Yuena, a one-ring Spirit Master, could surpass them to become the top genius of Class One. However, shortly after school started, they were soundly taught a lesson by Gu Yuena—after she defeated all three of them in a row, they were completely convinced.

Their form of address for her had also changed to "Big Sister."

Of course, Gu Yuena didn't care how they addressed her; or rather, aside from Long Yuan, there were only a handful of people she cared about.

Zhang Yangzi suddenly spoke up: "For the upcoming match against Class Five, are you really going to participate, Big Sister?"

Although his name contained the word "ostentatious," he was actually the most level-headed of the three, and both Wang Jinxi and Wei Xiaofeng deferred to him.

Before Gu Yuena could speak, Wei Xiaofeng couldn't wait to interject: "Big Sister, although that Class Five managed to beat Class Two, they are definitely no match for us. A mere three one-ring Spirit Masters—winning three matches is already their limit!"

Although Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi didn't speak, one could tell from their expressions that they felt the same way.

Gu Yuena didn't even lift her eyes. She had expected Wei Xiaofeng's reaction; after all, since Class Five only fielded three people, the rules dictated that Class One could only field three as well.

And since Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi possessed a martial soul fusion skill, the one who would inevitably be benched was Wei Xiaofeng. How could the always competitive Wei Xiaofeng accept that?

However, what did that have to do with her? He could only blame himself for being too weak.

"Are you all so confident that you can beat those three from Class Five?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Wei Xiaofeng blurted out.

Gu Yuena shook her head: "It seems you haven't understood your opponents at all."

With that, Gu Yuena put away her last book, turned, and left the classroom.

"This... what do we do?" Wei Xiaofeng asked.

Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi exchanged a glance, walked over to him, and patted his shoulders firmly.

"It's just tough luck for you, brother!"

Wei Xiaofeng's face turned ashen.

"You're back?"

"Mm, I'm back."

Gu Yuena walked into Long Yuan's dormitory and replied while changing her shoes.

Suddenly, her face flushed. Why did that dialogue feel a bit off?

"You heard it too, right? The typhoon is coming, so we're on break." Long Yuan was studying the blueprints in front of him.

"Mm, I know." Gu Yuena walked to his side, leaned over, and looked. "Why are you studying mecha design?"

Long Yuan sighed: "Na'er, you know that for beings like us who live forever, we must learn to find things to do, otherwise it is extremely detrimental to one's temperament. Furthermore, mecha design, or rather, spirit guidance technology, is indeed a vast field of study. If one can learn something from it, it will certainly be of great benefit."

"Alright." Gu Yuena sat down next to Long Yuan and just watched him.

"Brother Yuan, are you staying at East Sea Academy for these few days?"

After a long while, Gu Yuena suddenly asked.

"Perhaps. If there's nothing else, I'll stay here a bit longer." Long Yuan took out another blueprint and said while looking at it: "But I have a premonition that East Sea City won't be very peaceful lately."

"Hm? Why do you say that?" Gu Yuena was a bit puzzled.

"Heh, what kind of typhoon stays in one city for a whole week?"

Long Yuan rolled his eyes. Logically speaking, even a slow-moving typhoon would only linger for two days; even if it lasted longer, it wouldn't reach seven days.

Someone was definitely up to something, though he didn't know what.

In theory, only the Plane Master could cause such a massive change in celestial phenomena, but Long Yuan had already asked the other party and ruled out that possibility.

As for Tang Hao, that usurper, he was still locked in a struggle with the Plane Master, so he naturally lacked the ability.

Furthermore, there are the sea soul beasts. Those with profound cultivation seem to possess the ability to influence celestial phenomena, especially the Deep Sea Demon Whales. Whether it was the Deep Sea Demon Whale King from twenty thousand years ago or the Demon Emperor, both had the power to trigger tsunamis and even shroud vast areas of the ocean in gloom.

After hearing Long Yuan's words, Gu Yuena reacted instantly.

"Are you saying that this typhoon is more than just a simple change in weather?"

"Whether it is a natural disaster or man-made, who can say for sure?"

Gu Yuena nodded. "Should I have Yao Ling keep an eye on the situation in East Sea City?"

As one of the Ten Great Fierce Beasts, although Yao Ling's combat strength was not considered top-tier, he was still equivalent to a rank 98 Super Douluo. Moreover, he excelled at concealment, making him the perfect candidate to gather intelligence.

Long Yuan thought for a moment before agreeing to the idea. "Tell him to be careful and not to expose his tracks."

Yao Ling's existence was known to few; an unexposed trump card was certainly more valuable than one that had already been revealed.

"Alright, I will arrange it right away."

Gu Yuena picked up the Soul Guidance Communicator and called Yao Ling.

Regarding the power settings of the Fierce Beasts, they are limited to this book; please do not nitpick.

Yao Ling, Zi Ji, and Chi Wang are all rank 98 Super Douluos, but they cannot reliably defeat a rank 98 with Three-Word Battle Armor.

King of Ten Thousand Monsters and Xiong Jun are similar in strength, at the demigod level, but they are no match for a demigod equipped with Four-Word Battle Armor.

Bi Ji is a quasi-god, but she is not skilled in combat and can only rely on her sheer scale to suppress those at the quasi-demigod level.