The Prodigy Who Made It into a Bachelor's Program Was Back!

The seventeen kingdoms of the Southern Wilderness.

Divided among the Nine Sects.

Among them, Xu Kingdom was the heart of the Qiwu Sword Sect.

The Qiwu Sword Sect was a sect of sword cultivators, formidable in strength. It had once led the Nine Sects, with a Nascent Soul Cultivator presiding over it two thousand years ago.

After that Nascent Soul Cultivator passed away, the Sword Gate slowly declined. Even so, among the Nine Sects of the Southern Wilderness, the Qiwu Sword Sect held third place and had its sights on second. It remained a mighty force, one of the top three sects.

"The Sword Gate has deep foundations. It has six Golden Core True Persons! Golden Core True Persons! A three-foot sword in a case upon their backs, ready to show the heavens those who have been wronged!"

Li Changqing went on and on, plainly yearning to join the Qiwu Sword Sect.

Chen Zhuo played the part of a good listener, listening closely at his side.

"The Qiwu Sword Sect, huh..."

Chen Zhuo was also weighing whether to join a sect himself.

Compared with the Qiwu Sword Sect, Cloudford Market City was surely a tiny witch before a great one. In both Spiritual Qi and resources, the Qiwu Sword Sect far surpassed Cloudford Market City.

But if he joined the Qiwu Sword Sect, he would have to be even more careful when traveling to and from the Immortal Estate, lest someone uncover his secret.

After all, the World-Breaking Pearl was his greatest asset.

After an inner struggle, Chen Zhuo drew a deep breath and thought, If I keep looking ahead and behind, how will my path to immortality ever be clear?!

I'll go!

With a Spiritual Root whose spiritual energy sensitivity measured twenty points, he would probably only become an outer disciple. As long as he stayed careful, it would be little different from living in the Market.

Having made up his mind, Chen Zhuo looked at Li Changqing and said, "Out with it. Why did you bring all this up to me?"

Li Changqing scratched his head and said earnestly, "Senior, your divine arts shake the world and your power knows no bounds. If you enter the selection, you'll surely be chosen by the great sect. Once you become its disciple, I hope you'll look after my sister and me someday..."

Chen Zhuo glanced at Li Changqing.

Even with the help of his pills, Li Changqing's Spiritual Root aptitude was decent in its own right.

But he was only at Qi Refining Second Layer.

Even if Chen Zhuo brought him pills every month for the next three months, Li Changqing would, at most, reach the threshold of Qi Refining Third Layer.

So if the siblings wanted to enter the Qiwu Sword Sect, they would either have to rely on their innate talent and Spiritual Roots or wait for the next selection in ten years.

It seemed Li Changqing was counting on the latter.

Chen Zhuo nodded slightly.

"Perhaps."

Chen Zhuo said no more on the subject. "Start saving Spirit Stones. Otherwise, your pills will run out next month."

With that, Chen Zhuo rose and left.

Seeing him stand, Li Changqing immediately got to his feet and cupped his hands respectfully. "Farewell, Senior."

Beside him, Li Yao copied her brother and said in her young voice, "Farewell, Senior."

After leaving, Chen Zhuo went straight back to the Market and bought a Bronze Token.

Flush with funds this time, he paid for three months outright!

Including the extra bribe for the guard cultivator, it cost thirty-two Spirit Stones in all.

Though Chen Zhuo now had over a hundred Spirit Stones to his name, spending more than thirty at once still made his heart ache.

But it was necessary.

After all, the Spiritual Qi concentration in the Market's Cave Abodes was almost ten!

For Chen Zhuo, that was practically the same cultivation environment enjoyed by the privileged children of cultivators in the Immortal Estate World!

It was well worth the price.

This was not the same Cave Abode as last time, but its layout was much the same.

Just the same stone bed, stone table, and stone stools.

Chen Zhuo sat cross-legged and quietly cultivated.

For a while now, he needed to keep a low profile.

For Spirit Stone transactions, it would be best to focus on Talisman-Making College and set his pill-dealing business aside for now.

Getting seventy or eighty Spirit Stones each time felt great.

But Cloudford Market City was only so big. Once or twice might pass unnoticed, but if he kept supplying high-quality pills, how could the local big guns fail to notice him?

Last time, it had only been the local small fry, whom he had dealt with easily.

But if he kept this up and people learned that a Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivator had such deep pockets, even someone at Qi Refinement Peak—or a Foundation Establishment Cultivator—might be tempted to rob him.

Chen Zhuo completed a Greater Celestial Circuit and felt refreshed. Then he went out to buy Spirit Bamboo.

In the Immortal Estate World, three-hundred-year-old Spirit Bamboo was extremely rare.

But here...

It was not exactly uncommon.

Still, it was not so plentiful that he could buy it cheaply.

Chen Zhuo nearly talked himself hoarse bargaining in the Market before he finally bought a three-hundred-and-seventy-year-old stalk of Purple Spirit Bamboo for seven Spirit Stones.

Only after that did Chen Zhuo activate the World-Breaking Pearl and return to the Immortal Estate.

"Whew."

Chen Zhuo breathed out, opened his Spirit Message Jade Slip, and checked whether anyone had contacted him.

He had thought he was practically invisible and that no one would have any reason to contact him.

But this time, he found quite a few unread messages.

[Meng Yan: Zhuo, are you there? Got time lately? Could we have a chat?]

[Counselor Yuan, Pill Appraisal Department, Alchemy College: @everyone, meeting in Classroom 7.]

[Sijing: Junior, junior! Senior Sister Dong, our college's outstanding graduate, who succeeded in the Junior College-to-University Transfer, is back at school for a promotional talk these next few days. She's also going to mingle with the common folk afterward, and she's brought plenty of good stuff. If you're interested, I'll introduce you to her this weekend. Her stuff is really pure!]

Chen Zhuo: ???

This many messages?

While in the Ancient Immortal Realm, Chen Zhuo had returned to the Immortal Estate every other day to check his Spirit Message Jade Slip, lest he miss anything important.

Yet after this trip there and back, so many messages had come in!

They had all arrived at once!

First, Chen Zhuo replied to Meng Yan and politely declined.

Meng Yan was a ticking time bomb. There was no telling when he might go off.

Chen Zhuo had secrets of his own. He did not dare get tangled up with a ticking time bomb like Meng Yan.

Then he sent "Got it" in the department group chat.

Honestly, he had been enrolled for half a year.

Chen Zhuo had never even met his counselor.

This would be the first time, and he had no idea what required everyone to meet.

Last came Senior Sister Sijing.

She already considered Chen Zhuo one of her own and was about to introduce him to a core member of her little circle: Senior Sister Dong, who had succeeded in the Junior College-to-University Transfer!

Senior Sister Dong's full name was Dong Xuejiao. When Chen Zhuo enrolled, she had completed the Junior College-to-University Transfer, entered the Alchemy College at Qingwu Immortal Academy, and become a proud undergraduate!

It was only a second-tier university, but compared with a junior college, it was like heaven and mud!

The only problem was that Qingwu Immortal Academy was in Qingwu City, another city in the Taiqing Domain.

In short, a proud capital local had been admitted to some lousy out-of-town school.

That put Senior Sister Dong at a serious disadvantage in Junior College-to-University Transfer circles!

She was in a different league now.

And why did Chen Zhuo know so much?

Because when he first enrolled, Senior Sister Dong's name and photo had been posted on the Honor Roll.

In any case, now that she had completed the Junior College-to-University Transfer, her channels for getting pharmaceuticals had to be even better.

He needed a new source for injectable drugs, too.

After a moment's thought, Chen Zhuo replied to Senior Sister Sijing.

"Senior Sister, thank you!"

"One more thing: I've sold all the drugs you gave me again. Should I give you the twenty Spirit Stones then as well?"