On the Road

"What if there were something more on your legs...?"

Xiao Yu blinked and pressed the question, two blushes blooming on her fair cheeks.

"Cough, cough. I meant that if you added something like knee pads, they should be more practical."

Qin Yu calmly made up an excuse, secretly rejoicing that he had reacted quickly enough.

He had nearly blurted out something as outrageous as, "It'd be perfect if you wore black stockings on your legs."

"Knee pads?"

"Yeah. After all, the legs are an important point of exertion in battle. There's no harm in protecting them properly."

Qin Yu nodded solemnly and shamelessly forced the topic toward cultivation.

Xiao Yu stared at Qin Yu for a while, then suddenly chuckled, though she did not pursue the matter any further.

The two headed toward the center of the encampment together, where dozens of new students had already gathered, chatting in small groups.

Instructor Ruo Lin stood at the very front, with several enormous Griffin Beasts behind her.

These magical beasts were huge, with broad backs capable of carrying twenty or thirty people at once. They were Canaan Academy's standard means of long-distance student transport.

"Everyone, board according to your groups. Do not make loud noises along the way, and do not fool around on the backs of the magical beasts."

Instructor Ruo Lin's voice was not loud, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.

Qin Yu was assigned to the second group. Xiao Yu, Xue Ni, and the boys who had previously copied him by cultivating barefoot were also in it.

"Big Brother Qin Yu, what do you think Canaan Academy is like?"

As soon as she settled onto the Griffin's back, Xue Ni leaned over and asked eagerly.

"Big, lively, and filled with experts."

Qin Yu gave a rather plain assessment.

"Isn't that obvious..."

A boy named Lu Renjia muttered softly beside them. He had been the first person to take off his shoes and imitate Qin Yu.

"Then you tell us."

Xue Ni immediately turned on him.

"Uh... big, lively, and filled with experts?"

Lu Renjia scratched his head and squeezed out the exact same answer Qin Yu had given.

The people around them immediately burst into laughter.

The Griffin flapped its wings and soared into the sky. Wutan City rapidly shrank from view, becoming a tiny dot on the ground.

Qin Yu withdrew his gaze and closed his eyes to rest.

Without contact with the earth beneath his feet, the Earth Origin Formula's cultivation efficiency indeed dropped considerably.

During the flight, Instructor Ruo Lin occasionally patrolled between the groups, answering the new students' questions.

The Griffins flew quickly, but the journey from Wutan City to Canaan City would still take nearly two months.

"Two months?"

As soon as the news came out, quite a few new students wailed.

Sitting on a Griffin's back for two months—just thinking about it made their butts hurt.

"If you think it's too far, you can walk there yourselves. I won't stop you."

Instructor Ruo Lin added with a smile, and all the new students immediately went quiet as mice.

When she passed by Qin Yu, her steps paused slightly.

"Student Qin Yu, thinking about cultivation again?"

"Yeah, it's a habit."

Ruo Lin nodded, a hint of approval flashing through her eyes.

During the first few days of the journey, the novelty had yet to wear off, so the new students remained quite excited.

They chatted and cultivated on the Griffins' backs during the day, then landed at towns or relay stations along the route to rest at night. The days were not too difficult to endure.

And as expected, Qin Yu's cultivation efficiency on the Griffin's back was far inferior to what it was on the ground.

The core of the Earth Origin Formula was drawing Earth Power into the body, but hundreds of zhang above the ground, suspended between heaven and earth, where could he find any Earth Power?

"Looks like I can only reverse my schedule."

Fortunately, the Griffins often needed to stop and rest, so Qin Yu simply reversed his body clock.

During the day, he rested or chatted casually with Xiao Yu and the others.

At night, when the group landed at a relay station, he would find a secluded place, stand barefoot on the earth, circulate the Earth Origin Formula, and absorb Earth Power.

Still, the journey limited the amount of time Qin Yu could cultivate on the ground.

It was not until half a month later that Qin Yu felt the Battle Qi Vortex in his dantian had filled to its limit.

"I'm about to break through."

That night, he found an open patch of land far from the relay station, planted his feet deep into the soil, and circulated the Earth Origin Formula with all his strength.

Earth Power surged into his body like a tide, rushing through his meridians toward his dantian and driving the Battle Qi Vortex into a mad rotation.

The vortex spun faster and faster, its volume continuously expanding until it reached a certain critical point.

"Bang."

With a soft sound only Qin Yu himself could hear, the vortex suddenly contracted, becoming more condensed and heavy than before.

Three-Star Fighter.

Qin Yu opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. Feeling the power within him grow even more robust, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Big Brother Qin Yu, are you... cultivating again?"

Xiao Yu's voice came from behind him.

Qin Yu turned his head and saw the girl standing some distance away in casual clothes, studying him by moonlight.

"Yeah."

Qin Yu looked down at his bare feet, but he did not feel embarrassed in the slightest.

"You broke through again?"

Xiao Yu took a few steps closer. Sensing the stronger Dou Qi fluctuations around Qin Yu, surprise flashed through her eyes.

In half a month, he had advanced from a Two-Star Fighter to a Three-Star Fighter?

She had clearly been cultivating these past two weeks as well, so why could she not even break through Nine-Stage Battle Qi?

Qin Yu had only reached One-Star Dou Practitioner at eighteen, which meant his previous cultivation speed had not been much faster than hers. It might even have been slower.

So why had he become so fierce the moment he advanced to Dou Practitioner? Could it be that Qin Yu possessed some peerless family cultivation technique?

"Good luck."

"...Then your luck is a little too good, isn't it?"

Xiao Yu muttered softly, sat down beside him, drew her legs together and bent them up, then wrapped her arms around her knees.

Moonlight spilled over her fair calves, giving them a faint sheen.

Hiss. They weren't black stockings, but those flesh-colored legs... were pretty eye-catching too.

Noticing Qin Yu's gaze, Xiao Yu's lips curved slightly upward. She slowly lowered her bent legs, adjusted her posture, and crossed them together.

Qin Yu looked up and saw Xiao Yu's expression, which clearly said, "Just as I thought." He decided not to pretend anymore.

I, Qin Yu, just like looking at legs. What's wrong with that?

Quit barking. You'd look too if you were here.

"Brother Yu, do you think... we'll end up in the same class?"

Xiao Yu cautiously changed the way she addressed him and observed Qin Yu's reaction.

"What does it matter if we aren't assigned to the same class? Even if we are in the same class, it doesn't necessarily mean we'll know each other that well, right?"

In his previous life, even by the time he graduated from university, there had still been several classmates whose names he could not match to their faces.

If Canaan Academy did not have any group activities organized by class, the outcome would probably be no different.

Seeing that Qin Yu had no reaction to her change of address, Xiao Yu scooted a little closer. Her grandfather's earlier words echoed repeatedly in her mind.

Observe first, then befriend him, but do not be too proactive.

After spending this time together, Xiao Yu believed she had observed enough. It was time for the next step.

Hmm... why did this suddenly feel kind of thrilling?