Return to Heaven Dou Royal Academy

Under the dim streetlights, a young girl sat on a chair outside a tavern. The establishment had long since closed, and she was the only one left on the empty street.

The girl wore a tight-fitting black outfit that outlined her perfect figure. A clear red mark marred her fair cheek, and her back, turned toward the street as she downed cup after cup of wine, seemed to exude a sense of loneliness. Some of the liquor spilled, trickling down her neck.

Qingxi stopped in her tracks, fell silent for a moment, and walked straight toward her.

"Why are you sitting here drinking alone? Aren't you all supposed to be in a team match tonight..." She pulled out a chair and sat down across from Zhu Zhuqing, her voice trailing off as her gaze landed on the slap mark on the girl's face.

Zhu Zhuqing looked up to see a familiar smiling mask. "Why is it you?"

"Who hit you?" Qingxi thought for a split second, a realization dawning on her. "Just because you lost a match?"

"I'm not wearing a mask right now, how did you recognize me?" Zhu Zhuqing didn't answer Qingxi's question, instead pouring herself another drink.

She looked out at the deserted street and the pitch-black night, her cold eyes filled with a hint of bewilderment.

The feeling of being ostracized was not easy to bear; what would tomorrow bring?

"That mask of yours only covers your eyes—is there any difference between wearing it and not?" Qingxi grabbed a bottle of wine, her fingers pressing against it as she turned it. "Who hit you? I'll help you teach him a lesson."

She certainly didn't like Shrek, but she disliked men who hit women even more.

"No need, it was my own fault." A trace of surprise flashed in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes; she hadn't expected her to say such a thing.

"It was your teacher, wasn't it?"

She could tell that the members of Shrek shared a deep bond; it couldn't have been one of them. The only possibility was the teacher in charge.

Zhu Zhuqing's eyes flickered with astonishment, and she lowered her head to drink her wine in silence. "I didn't follow the teacher's instructions. I was supposed to use hidden weapons to defeat you, but I wanted to win fair and square..."

"Hidden weapons?" Qingxi giggled, as if she had just heard a massive joke. "Forget about hidden weapons; even if you all came at me together, I wouldn't be afraid."

"Do you even know what a hidden weapon is?" Zhu Zhuqing looked up at the arrogant person across from her. She had seen the attack power of the Zhuge Crossbow. "Once I use the Zhuge Crossbow, even a Spirit Ancestor above level forty is no match for me."

"Of course I know what a hidden weapon is. They're just crooked, underhanded tricks, trash that can't even compare to mecha-craft or puppetry. Only rats in the gutter would use hidden weapons for a sneak attack," Qingxi said with a smile.

In her previous world, there was a sect in the martial arts world that loved using hidden weapons, just like rats in the gutter.

She hadn't expected this world to have them too; they must have been brought here by that soul from another world.

"You!" Anger flared on Zhu Zhuqing's face as she slammed her hand on the table and stood up. "How dare you insult Third Brother!"

"Insult? Your hidden weapons are coated in poison, aren't they?"

"How did you know?" Zhu Zhuqing's pupils dilated slightly.

"Aren't hidden weapons usually poisoned? Otherwise, why would they be called tools for cowards?" Qingxi stood up and looked at Zhu Zhuqing. "If that's the reason you were hit, then next time you run into me, use your so-called hidden weapons. Let's see if you can kill me."

Qingxi raised her hand, injecting a trace of spiritual energy into Zhu Zhuqing's cheek, gradually fading the red mark before she stopped.

"Go back early, or your little friends will worry. Next time we meet, don't be soft-hearted."

She turned and left, though she didn't go far; she hid in the shadows and only departed once she saw Zhu Zhuqing return.

Back at her residence, Qingxi took out a pile of spirit tools and retrieved all the rare metals.

As if sensing something, the Universe Staff appeared on its own. It wiggled happily as it looked at the rare metals scattered on the floor, making a move to dive right in.

"Wait a second!!" Qingxi grabbed the little staff, picked out a few pieces of higher quality from the pile, and only then let it go. "I'm keeping these for forging; the rest are yours."

The Universe Staff bent its body slightly, rubbing affectionately against Qingxi before happily diving into the pile of metal to feast.

Qingxi summoned the Chaos Fire Seed and sat cross-legged, using her divine sense to make the pieces of metal float.

Using one's inner fire as a furnace to forge weapons and refine spiritual herbs was a unique skill of the Daoist school.

On the other side, at Shrek Academy.

Ning Rongrong stood at the village entrance, pacing back and forth anxiously. Not far behind her, Oscar was dozing off.

"It's this late, why haven't they returned yet? This is truly going too far." Ning Rongrong's face was full of fury; she felt incredibly disappointed by Grandmaster's actions.

He had actually lied with a straight face, claiming that Zhuqing had skipped the final team match because she was in a bad mood after losing.

It was clearly he who had hit Zhuqing.

Ning Rongrong had originally held some sort of filter for Grandmaster, but now she only felt disgusted. If she hadn't known the truth, she would have actually believed his excuse.

But she had promised Zhuqing she wouldn't tell anyone.

Furthermore, Grandmaster wouldn't let anyone go out to look for Zhuqing, saying she would return once she had calmed down.

"Rongrong, Zhuqing just went out to clear her head, you don't need to be so angry." Oscar leaned against the fence, dozing off, thinking Ning Rongrong was angry at Zhuqing.

"You don't know anything!" Ning Rongrong glared fiercely at Oscar. "Do you think Zhuqing is that kind of person?"

Oscar didn't speak; after all, everyone had times when they were in a bad mood.

He remembered when Fatty lost a match, he had spent the whole night with a swollen face, ordering four women in a row to vent his frustration.

"Zhuqing!" As the morning light began to appear, Ning Rongrong finally saw the thin figure approaching from afar and hurried to meet her. "Are you alright?"

"Mm, thank you, Rongrong." Zhu Zhuqing remained cold by nature, but seeing Ning Rongrong's worried expression, she felt a sudden, inexplicable warmth in her heart.

"I'm glad you're okay." Seeing that the swelling on her cheek had faded, Ning Rongrong patted her chest in relief.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, two days and two nights had passed. Qingxi slowly opened her eyes and looked at the long whip hovering before her. Though it was a whip, it shimmered with a metallic luster. It was golden-red with black patterns, and the body was composed of thirty-six flat, razor-sharp segments that resembled dragon scales.

"An immortal-grade artifact?" Qingxi gripped the handle and lashed out casually at the table. In an instant, the table was shattered into pieces, and a long, deep gash was left in the floor.

She pressed the mechanism on the handle, and the main shaft retracted, instantly transforming the long whip into a fishbone-like sword.

"Not bad." Qingxi put away the whip and looked at the empty metal scraps in the room; the Universe had already returned to her body, playing dead within her sea of consciousness.

Damn it! She instantly sensed something was wrong; her soul power had automatically broken through to level thirty, yet she hadn't been cultivating it at all.

Qingxi summoned the Universe Staff and pinned it to the ground with her foot. After struggling for two seconds, the little staff lay motionless on the floor, looking like a dead stick.

"Who told you to break through?" She kicked the Universe Staff.

A faint, barely perceptible emotion drifted into her mind: Pre...cious... full...

Qingxi sighed, picked up the Universe Staff, and weighed it in her hand; the weight had increased just a little. She closed her eyes and probed the staff with her divine sense, revealing a world of dazzling metal. At its center, soul power pulsed slowly, and within that power, a glimmer of red light was gradually coalescing.

Qingxi withdrew her divine sense and looked at the staff lightly touching her fingertip, ultimately unable to bring herself to scold him.

Forget it.

She put away the Universe Staff and the whip, got up to change her clothes, washed up, and flew directly into the air, vanishing into the distance.

An hour later, Qingxi appeared in the vicinity of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

She did not fly directly into the school, but landed at the foot of the mountain and walked up on foot.

After climbing the long flight of stairs, she saw the main gate of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy; the solemn, magnificent architecture looked opulent at a single glance.

At the school gate, several students wearing goose-yellow uniforms were setting up drawing boards to sketch.