Bibi Dong's attempt to demand a review had failed,
Once the higher-ups in the Heaven Dou Empire's education department learned that a powerful expert stood behind Ye Qiong, they all backed down.
Not only had this review of the students' aptitude failed to cause trouble for Omphalos Academy,
it had instead strengthened the official endorsement behind it.
When the news reached the Crown Prince's Mansion, the corners of Xue Qinghe's mouth curved faintly.
"Looks like that woman has her eye on the fat piece of meat that is Omphalos Academy."
As she spoke, she picked up a cup of fine tea and took a slow sip.
"Too bad her methods are so crude. Cutting off supplies, reviewing aptitude, challenging Soul Masters... She's trotted out the same three tricks one after another. What's the point?"
After thinking for a moment, Xue Qinghe summoned She Long.
"Send people to keep an eye on the Soul Fighting Arena. Don't let anything happen to anyone from Omphalos."
"Understood."
After receiving the order, She Long disappeared at once.
Xue Qinghe walked to the window and gazed toward Omphalos Academy in the distance.
"Bibi Dong, you think that money and power can drive people into a corner. But some people only grow tougher the harder you push them."
In the middle of the second month, challenge letters against Omphalos Academy began to arrive at the Heaven Dou Great Soul Fighting Arena.
Those issuing the challenges were ranked between levels forty and fifty-nine. They were all high-ranking Soul Masters whom the Spirit Hall Branch had recruited through various channels. Some were retired military instructors; others were lone experts who had wandered the world for years.
Ye Qiong observed the situation for two weeks, but didn't call it off.
He did only one thing: draw up the match schedule.
He assigned students to face their opponents based on each opponent's Soul Power Level and fighting style.
The weaker opponents, between levels forty and forty-five, were assigned to Wang Sheng and four other students.
Those between levels forty-five and fifty-five were assigned to all the Chrysos Heirs except Phainon.
Opponents above level fifty-five would face Phainon, the strongest of them all.
As a result, everyone made rapid progress.
Wang Sheng improved the most.
After constant refinement in Soul Fighting matches, he could probably hold his own against Dai Mubai now.
The others had improved a great deal, too.
As for the Chrysos Heirs, their progress wasn't particularly noticeable.
There was no helping it. They were far too powerful. Even against opponents ten levels stronger, they could still hold their own with ease.
Keleradra in particular toyed with her opponents every time, making it almost laughably easy.
Phainon faced much stronger opponents than the others, but thanks to his Martial Soul—which only grew stronger as he fought—he still racked up one astonishing victory after another.
By the third week,
Bibi Dong finally caught on.
She sat in the great hall, listening to the report that had come back, her expression darkening by the moment.
"So far, a total of twenty-seven matches have been arranged."
The messenger Soul Master lowered his head and spoke cautiously.
"Omphalos... won every one."
The moment those words fell, a deathly silence filled the hall.
Bibi Dong leaned back in her chair, her gaze resting on a distant candle flame.
After a long while, she sighed and slowly spoke.
"Enough. Call them back. Tell the Heaven Dou Branch to pretend none of this happened for the next three months. Don't target Omphalos Academy again."
In the end, the Spirit Hall withdrew all its pressure.
No new challenge letters arrived at the Soul Fighting Arena.
Standing on the steps outside the academy, Ye Qiong stretched.
A settlement notification appeared in the system panel's task list. He glanced at the number. The final reward for the resistance task was 7,200 Star Jade. (District-level: 20%)
Ye Qiong did the math in his head.
Three months had passed.
"Daily training check-ins give each person ten Star Jade a day. With thirteen students for exactly ninety days, that should add up to 11,700."
"And on top of that, there are the rewards for everyone's Soul Fighting ranks going up..."
Ye Qiong calculated for a moment.
"All told, the settlement comes to 215,700 Star Jade!"
Ye Qiong immediately opened the system panel, thrilled.
There, beside the Star Jade balance, was exactly that number.
Seeing it, Ye Qiong sucked in a sharp breath.
"Damn, I've made a killing!"
Phainon had risen from Silver Soul Fighter to Gold Soul Fighter: 10,000.
Keleradra's rank was about the same as Phainon's, so she brought in another 10,000.
Anaxa and the Castorice sisters, counted as one group, had each leaped from Bronze Soul Fighter to Gold Soul Fighter, earning 15,000 apiece.
Mydei, Wang Sheng, Bai Chenxiang, Jiangzhu, Huang Yuan, and Jing Ling had all risen from Iron Soul Fighter to Gold Soul Fighter, earning 16,000 each.
Aglaea, Feng Jin, and Cipher had joined later, so they had only risen from Iron Soul Fighter to Silver Soul Fighter, earning 6,000 apiece.
Finally, there was the additional bonus from the system for district-level aptitude.
That was how the total had come out to this number.
Looking at the Warp interface, Ye Qiong's lips curled up.
Two hundred and ten thousand Star Jade meant more than 2,100 pulls. Even if every one went to pity, he could still get over forty five-stars.
Before this, he had always spent everything in one go.
But with this many Star Jade, Ye Qiong was sure that pulling too much would leave him with a surplus of resources in the short term.
So this time, he didn't plan to use it all at once.
Instead, he set aside 50,000 Star Jade and did fifty ten-pulls.
Five hundred pulls, bought with 50,000 Star Jade.
Golden light flashed eleven times.
When the golden light faded, the silhouette of a young woman appeared on the character card.
Seeing her, Ye Qiong's lips lifted.
"Keleradra, your fish has arrived."
That's right, Ye Qiong had finally pulled Hysilens for Keleradra.
In the world of Honkai Star Rail in his previous life,
the entanglement between Hysilens and Keleradra ran deep.
He wanted to see whether they would settle the score from their past, and what kind of sparks would fly when they met again.
But to his surprise, after Hysilens appeared, no other characters showed up. All ten of the remaining pulls had been Soul Bones.
Only after he checked the banner details did he understand.
He had already pulled every character in the Chrysos Heirs banner.
Tribbie, Phainon, Keleradra, Anaxa, Castorice, Mydei, Aglaea, Feng Jin, Cipher, and Hysilens.
There were only these ten characters in the banner.
Ye Qiong had assumed March 7th and Dan Heng would be in the banner, too,
but it seemed the system hadn't put them in the Chrysos Heirs banner at all.
But then, that made sense. The two of them were still doing just fine aboard the Express.
He just didn't know when he'd get back to the Express.
He was starting to miss Mom Himeko's coffee.
That stuff was amazing for helping him sleep.
He remembered how soundly he'd slept every time he drank it.
Ye Qiong's thoughts drifted back through old memories.
Suddenly.
[The host has collected all Chrysos Heirs from the current version, and the academy's development level has met the requirements. The system is about to begin the upgrade process.]
[The upgrade will not consume Star Jade. Basic functions will operate as normal during the upgrade. New modules will be unlocked afterward.]
[Confirm upgrade?]
Ye Qiong stared at the word "Confirm" hovering on the system interface and paused.
"Of course I want to upgrade."
It was time to open As I Wrote, too.
Before you continue