Invasion

"By the way, did you know? Xueyao will be going away on a study trip after she finishes her exam tomorrow morning."

Yang Xiaobing spoke.

"Huh? Why does she have so much freedom?" Xu Yuan's attention snapped back.

"She broke through to the Fifth Qi Refining Layer, and both the Nine Luminaries and Luofu have made it clear they want her."

"She could report to university early and train under a mentor right now, and no one would have a problem with it."

"But she said she wanted to spend more time with her family, so she didn't go."

Yang Xiaobing spoke.

"I see." Xu Yuan nodded.

"Oh, and did you know our class monitor's lost his mind? He's learning some Mad Demon Fist technique. He yells through every physical training class, so loud my eardrums hurt."

"And another thing..."

Yang Xiaobing chatted away with relish, and Xu Yuan chimed in from time to time.

Atop a skyscraper in the distance.

Jiang Xueyao stood on the railing, looking down over the city at night, her expression cool and remote.

"Xiao Bing is always so naive..."

She shook her head, then moved along the skyscraper's outer wall, her feet touching down lightly as she sped off in one direction.

She had come to say goodbye.

But she would still be taking the Monthly Exam written test tomorrow morning.

There was no need to rush.

The matter at hand was more important.

Several minutes later.

She landed at a Railway Bridge and stood in the treetop beside it without a word.

A few breaths later.

Those scruffy young men appeared.

They came this way cursing and grumbling, finally stopping in the Culvert beneath the Railway Bridge.

"Fuck. Can't even get barbecue without running into a cultivator. What rotten luck."

One of the