Jiang Lai and Zhang Suannai

As they were talking, the front door opened again.

A baby-faced young man with short, tousled hair came in carrying bags of all sizes. When he saw the two peering out from the living room, he hurriedly stopped, pressed his lips together, then said with some reserve, "Hello."

"Hello, hello."

Meng Chunqiu sounded enthusiastic.

"Huh?"

The young man froze at the sound of his voice, then glanced at Chen Shu. Evidently, he had thought Meng Chunqiu was there to accompany Chen Shu through registration.

"Hello." Chen Shu greeted him first, then pointed to the door beside him. "There are three rooms in total. I just picked room two, so this is the only one left. Take a look. If you like room two, we can swap. I haven't unpacked yet; I only just put my luggage inside."

"This one's fine!" the young man said quickly.

He had already passed the entrance to room one, so he doubled back, swiped his card to open the door, and carried his bags inside. He soon came out again.

"You two..."

"I'm Chen Shu. Chen as in the character made of 'ear' and 'east,' Shu as in 'comfortable.'" After introducing himself, Chen Shu glanced at Meng Chunqiu beside him. "He's a guy. He lives in room three."

"I'm Meng Chunqiu. Meng as in the imperial family, Chunqiu as in 'the grand dream of spring and autumn.' A pleasure."

"Jiang Lai. Jiang as in 'ginger,' Lai as in 'come and go.'"

"So you're Brother Jiang. What a fine name..." Meng Chunqiu stood and cupped his hands toward Jiang Lai. "A pleasure, a pleasure."

"Uh..."

Jiang Lai looked at Chen Shu in confusion.

Chen Shu merely nodded at him.

So Jiang Lai hurriedly cupped his hands too, rather clumsily, and said to Meng Chunqiu, "Please look after me from now on."

"Where are you from, Jiang Lai?"

"The Jade Capital."

"You're both from the Jade Capital?" Chen Shu said. "I'm from Yuanzhou. I came all this way, so you two had better look after me."

"I don't know the Jade Capital very well either." Jiang Lai scratched his head.

"No problem, I do. I know it inside out! If you run into any trouble in the Jade Capital, just come to me!" Meng Chunqiu repeated, "As long as you're in the right, I can settle it!"

"Brother Meng, you really are..." Chen Shu cupped his hands. "Badass."

"Brother Chen, you truly are... forthright with words."

"Which college are you in, Jiang Lai?" Chen Shu asked. Compared with Meng Chunqiu, he still felt Jiang Lai was a little more normal. "Sit, sit. Don't stand there."

"The Martial Arts College." Jiang Lai sat down, too embarrassed to sit very close to them.

"The Martial Arts College? Which department?"

"The Martial Artist Department. I'm majoring in Modern Combat."

"Impressive!" Chen Shu gave him a thumbs-up and immediately said, "If anyone bullies me at school, I'll come find you!"

"Well..." Jiang Lai hesitated, then scratched his neck. "If you get on someone's bad side, I can take a beating for you. I'm good at taking beatings."

"Perfect!" Chen Shu slapped his thigh. "That's exactly what I need!"

"..."

Jiang Lai looked at Chen Shu, then at Meng Chunqiu.

He opened his mouth, then thought better of it.

After a moment of silence, he decided it would be bad to let the conversation die on their first meeting. He racked his brains and finally found a topic. "Does your college have an entrance test?"

Only after asking did he remember he had not asked which colleges they attended. He looked at them both expectantly.

Meng Chunqiu answered first. "We don't. There isn't much to test in the College of Arts."

Chen Shu replied, "I saw on the forum that we do. I'm in the Traditional Cultivation College, studying Spell Principles Studies. They test Spiritual Power Aptitude and Cultivation Rank. What about you?"

"They only test our physical fitness."

"So you're pretty good in a fight?"

"I'm all right..."

That meant he was very good in a fight.

Chen Shu could tell Jiang Lai was a modest young man.

Beside them, Meng Chunqiu frowned and looked from Chen Shu to Jiang Lai—

One appeared to study Spell Principles, but everyone knew that meant pursuing the ways of Ancient Cultivators. The other was a martial brute through and through. As a modern man of letters, well read in classical poetry and fond of sweeping his brush across the page to compose verse and couplets, he felt rather out of place.

What was Yujing University thinking when it assigned this dorm room?

Jiang Lai fell silent again.

Chen Shu took out his phone. The courier company had just texted him: his last package had arrived.

There was also a reply on Feixin from Teacher Shi Qian.

Shi Qian: Have you registered?

Shi Qian: It's confirmed that I'll be teaching your class Spell Principles Studies. The timetable's out.

Shi Qian: Scared yet?

Chen Shu: /trembling

After sending that, he opened the delivery app.

More than a dozen packages.

All essential daily necessities.

Chen Shu did a quick calculation. There was no way he could carry them all by himself—not because they were heavy, but because he did not have enough hands.

After a moment's thought, he glanced at Jiang Lai and Meng Chunqiu.

Then the two saw him suddenly rise and cup his hands toward them, speaking in the same manner Meng Chunqiu had earlier. "Brother Meng, Brother Jiang, meeting is fate. You've both only just arrived, haven't you? Why don't the three of us go for a stroll around campus, admire the scenery, and get to know the school ahead of time? Wouldn't that be delightful?"

Jiang Lai stared blankly, not quite catching on.

Smack!

Meng Chunqiu slapped his thigh. "Excellent! Though I've visited Yujing University many times already, Brother Chen speaks wisely. I'll take you around the school right now... Come to think of it, the Founding Emperor loved visiting Gardenia Garden back in the day. That jacaranda in front of the administration building was planted by his own hand."

"Brother Meng, you certainly know your history."

"You flatter me, Brother Chen. It's written on the sign at the entrance to Gardenia Garden."

"I see."

Meng Chunqiu and Chen Shu walked out of the dorm room, with Jiang Lai quietly following behind.

The two talked and laughed as they went. They even agreed that Meng Chunqiu would treat them to lunch on the shopping street later. What a delightful outing it was.

That delight would last all the way to the entrance of the parcel station.

Ling'an Academy's campus layout differed from Yujing University's, but the dorm conditions were the same. They had been built at the same time, and even the floor plans were much alike.

Ning Qing arrived at her dorm room.

She swiped her card and went in.

A young woman was sprawled on the living room sofa. At the sound, she sprang up and turned toward the door.

Ning Qing met her gaze with a calm expression.

The young woman had a strikingly beautiful face. Her bangs were parted three to seven, and her medium-length hair was tied into a casual ponytail at the back of her head. She wore a cropped tank top and loose dark-green cargo pants, leaving her slender waist bare. Her legs were long and strong. Dressed for the heat, she had an air of dashing confidence.

As Ning Qing studied her, she studied Ning Qing in return. Her eyes lit up, and she spoke first.

"Oh! You're so pretty! Do you live in this dorm?"

"Yes."

"Then we're roommates."

"Hello."

"Hello, hello! So polite! Let me introduce myself. I'm Zhang Suannai. You can also call me, affectionately..." Zhang Suannai gave her a friendly smile. "Grandma."

"..."

Ning Qing frowned slightly. Her instinct was not to engage with this sort of joke, but she remembered Chen Shu's advice, and her stern expression softened a little.

Still, she stared at Zhang Suannai without a trace of expression.

"Ning Qing."

"Ning Qing? Nice name."

"..."

"Oh! You're a cool one! Not a hint of new-student shyness..."

As Zhang Suannai spoke, she walked closer and took a good look at Ning Qing. The more she looked, the prettier she found her new roommate—almost as pretty as herself. She nodded inwardly, quite satisfied. At the very least, the dorm's average looks would not suffer.

"What year were you born?"

"2000."

"Me too! But I skipped a grade. I'm a sophomore this year, one year ahead of you." Zhang Suannai reached out to pat Ning Qing's shoulder. "You should call me senior."

Ning Qing did not dodge her hand, though given her personality, she naturally disliked being touched like that.

She had met plenty of people who acted overly familiar, but her face usually came with its own field of resistance. Never before had anyone been so oblivious as to pat her shoulder on their first meeting.

Even so, she said nothing.

Chen Shu had told her to be a little gentler.

She soon saw how gentleness was repaid.

Zhang Suannai grinned at her. "Pick a room! There are three altogether. I've already taken room three, the best one. Rooms one and two are left. They're about the same size and face the same direction. I suggest room two. You can't really tell with room one right now, but the renovation was badly done. When it rains hard, water seeps through cracks in the wall. The senior who lived there last year reported it for repairs several times, but nobody came. I think someone came to fix it over the break, though I don't know whether they actually did."

"Thank you."

So Ning Qing chose room two, carried her things inside, and gave the room a quick tidy.

She did not come out until half an hour later.

Zhang Suannai was still waiting outside. With her hands behind her back and her head lowered, she paced back and forth through the living room, looking thoroughly bored.

But the moment Ning Qing opened her door, Zhang Suannai lifted her head. A smile bloomed across her face, warm and almost grandmotherly.

"All done?

"Hungry yet?

"You haven't eaten, right?

"Come on! Grandma will take you to the cafeteria!"

"..."

Ning Qing looked at her impassively. She badly wanted to settle the matter with violence.

But she held back.

Seeing this, Zhang Suannai said in surprise, "Huh? You've got a pretty good temper!"

"..."

So she knew it made people angry. She was not just being obnoxious without realizing it.

Ning Qing grew even angrier.

Zhang Suannai stared at Ning Qing for a moment, then scratched her head and said without a care, "The way you're looking at me, it's like you want to hit me..."

"A little."

"Don't be like that. We're roommates."

"..."

"All right, all right. I don't really mind. Lots of people want to hit me; one more won't make a difference." Zhang Suannai rolled her shoulders. "The reason I cultivate so hard is to make sure none of the people who want to hit me can beat me. So far, it's become a big part of what drives me to improve."

"Does it work?"

"What do you mean, does it work? As motivation? Absolutely. If I don't cultivate hard, I'll get beaten to death. I work really hard now." Zhang Suannai added, "See? I'm still in one piece."

"Oh."

Ning Qing turned her head, her gaze indifferent.

"The Sword Sect..."

She had already guessed where Zhang Suannai came from.

The Sword Cultivation system had arisen over four thousand years ago, inheriting Spiritual Cultivation and paving the way for Martial Cultivation. The Sword Sect had pioneered the system and was its foremost sect.

After taking up the mantle of "leader of the cultivation world" from Spiritual Cultivation, Sword Cultivation led the entire cultivation world for nearly a thousand years. It held sway longer than any other cultivation system in history. Not even the Buddhist Order or Daoist Order, bolstered by faith, could match it.

Only a little over three thousand years ago did Martial Cultivation displace Sword Cultivation from its dominant position.

The foremost sect changed from the Sword Sect to the Bright Sect as well.

In later years, the Sword Sect remained one of the country's major sects and showed signs of resurgence many times. But its reputation was too poor, and every attempt failed.

Bow and show cleavage!