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"Chen Rong, Zhang Jingjing?"

"How are you two here..."

Tao Dapeng and Jiang Ran exchanged a glance, both looking a little awkward.

Dapeng was embarrassed because he had let his mouth run loose just now.

As for Jiang Ran, it was because...

The other party was Zhang Jingjing.

Zhang Jingjing was the acknowledged class beauty of Class One at Pingjiang No. 1 High School, as well as one of the strongest contenders for school beauty.

She was strikingly beautiful, an outstanding student, and came from a well-off family.

With all three combined, Zhang Jingjing naturally became the object of countless male students' admiration.

But most people felt they were not worthy of the school beauty, or believed someone like Zhang Jingjing would be extremely difficult to pursue.

As a result, Zhang Jingjing actually did not have many suitors.

Back in their second year of high school, Jiang Ran had been egged on by that bunch of classmates from Class Three who loved watching the world burn. In the end, he had actually worked up the courage to confess to Zhang Jingjing.

The result needed no imagining. He had been mercilessly rejected.

And that still was not the worst of it. Something even more absurd came afterward.

Who knew what kind of love potion those "bad classmates" had fed the original owner? He stubbornly believed that one failure meant nothing, and that if he persisted, Zhang Jingjing would one day be moved by his sincerity.

What happened afterward only grew more ridiculous.

Jiang Ran's confessions became a daily quest. He went once every two or three days, more or less.

Ninety-nine times. Over a single year, he confessed ninety-nine times, just one short of the glorious achievement of being rejected by the school beauty a hundred times.

Not only Classes Three and One—even many people across the school had heard of such a bizarre existence.

Yet the students who had fanned the flames and egged him on behind the scenes had quietly vanished from the story in comfort.

Jiang Ran rubbed his brow, feeling a headache coming on.

He truly could not understand how the original owner had been foolish enough to reach this point.

Was being rejected once not humiliating enough? He had to fill up all one hundred slots with humiliation...

In his eyes, Zhang Jingjing was indeed exceptionally pretty, but she was absolutely not beautiful enough to be called a celestial fairy.

"What rotten luck..."

Jiang Ran had not taken the matter to heart. After all, more than a year had passed, and those instigators had long since lost interest.

As long as he simply gave up and acted as though nothing had happened, Zhang Jingjing, being a girl, naturally could not possibly turn around and cause trouble for him.

Who could have imagined that, in such a huge school, the two of them would run into each other here?

"Tao Dapeng, watch your language!" Chen Rong said angrily.

"This is a public place. I can talk however I want..." Tao Dapeng muttered a couple of words, clearly unwilling to stir up trouble.

"What did you say?" Chen Rong frowned, not quite hearing him.

"Nothing!" Tao Dapeng waved a hand. "Beautiful Chen, take your time eating. We'll head over there."

After saying that, he gave Jiang Ran a look, signaling him to follow.

Chen Rong was Zhang Jingjing's best friend, and also one of Class One's top students. Her grades were exceptionally good.

In high school, top students were practically protected animals. If Dapeng quarreled with a student like Chen Rong, he would definitely be the one to suffer in the end.

"Wait!" Chen Rong suddenly called out.

"Jingjing..."

Chen Rong and Zhang Jingjing exchanged a look, seeming to convey some unspoken emotion.

"What now?" Tao Dapeng said impatiently.

"Ahem..." Chen Rong cleared her throat.

"Jiang Ran, don't you have anything to say?"

Jiang Ran, who had been quietly edging away, froze at once and had no choice but to turn around.

"Me?"

"What could I possibly have to say? Nothing." He found it rather baffling.

A loser who had been rejected ninety-nine times should know enough to stay far away at a time like this, shouldn't he?

"You..." Chen Rong was left speechless.

Beside her, Zhang Jingjing set down her glass of water, her delicate brows knitting slightly.

"Chen Rong, don't say any more."

Zhang Jingjing seemed to want to dissolve the awkward situation before them, but Chen Rong appeared unwilling to let it go.

"Jiang Ran, I'll be blunt with you."

"Jingjing is a good student. She'll definitely get into one of the top ten prestigious schools in the future. You people aren't walking the same road."

"Jiang Ran, unless you can get into one of the top ten prestigious schools too, you'd better kill this thought as soon as possible."

Chen Rong's fingers trembled slightly. She felt that her words had been quite harsh.

Although Jiang Ran was very handsome, they all knew he was a poor student whose grades had always ranked near the bottom. There was not the slightest possibility between him and Zhang Jingjing.

"Oh, got it."

Jiang Ran nodded, then turned and left expressionlessly.

That suited him perfectly. From now on, they should have nothing more to do with each other, sparing him countless troubles.

"For your last confession, you don't need to..."

"Hey, why did he leave..." Chen Rong looked confused, unable to react in time.

"Jingjing, what did Jiang Ran say just now?"

"He said he understood," Zhang Jingjing replied softly.

Watching Jiang Ran's retreating figure, her feelings were exceedingly complicated.

"No, why was he like that?" Chen Rong's heart was filled with confusion.

"Jiang Ran likes you so much. He never gives up an opportunity to talk to you. Why did he just leave like that today?"

"Was I... too harsh just now?"

"Maybe..." Zhang Jingjing's fingers tightened around her glass without her realizing it.

The matter with Zhang Jingjing was only a minor interlude.

Jiang Ran devoted all his attention to cultivation.

The speed at which refining True Qi increased his cultivation was practically like riding a rocket.

Around thirteen catties of Icebound Spirit Water could yield one complete strand of Ice-Lake Spirit-Water Qi.

Thirteen catties of Icebound Spirit Water cost roughly seventy thousand yuan. In other words, if Jiang Ran wished, he could now produce Ice-Lake Spirit-Water Qi in batches.

If those cultivators of Black Dragon Mountain learned of this, their jaws would likely drop to the ground.

However, Jiang Ran did not act rashly and did not frantically refine True Qi.

The main reason was that he was still a high school student and was about to face the college entrance examination.

The highest cultivation level permitted for candidates in the college entrance examination was Qi Refinement Level Three. Exceeding it would automatically disqualify one from the examination.

With Jiang Ran's current circumstances, he was confident that he could break through once more within a month.

But for the college entrance examination, he still had to exercise restraint and control the pace of his cultivation.

"The maximum is Qi Refinement Level Three. That means as long as I don't break through to Qi Refinement Level Four, I'll meet the standard." Jiang Ran made his calculations.

He had already figured out one thing: Tianlu's finest immortal cultivation inheritances all lay within the ten great sects, and the only way to enter those ten great sects was to test into one of the top ten prestigious schools.

—Behind every prestigious school stood a super sect.

The top ten prestigious schools were every candidate's dream, and the number of students admitted each year was extremely limited.

To get into those schools, Qi Refinement Level Three was almost the bottom line.

Raising his cultivation was not difficult for Jiang Ran now, but he had to make the increase in his cultivation seem reasonable.

For a poor student with a Low-Grade Spirit Root, cultivating to Qi Refinement Level Two and even entering the top five hundred in his grade would not be too outrageous.

But if he soared too high all at once and broke through to Qi Refinement Level Three, that would be somewhat impossible to explain.

"I need to find a chance to switch to a better spirit root," Jiang Ran pondered continuously.

"Better yet, I need to make my source of funds presentable."

Just then, his heart suddenly stirred as he sensed some peculiar change within his body.

"Essence Nourishment... is about to reach completion."