Famous overnight

Shen Leyan sprinted back to his quarters as though running a hundred-meter dash.

The Cloud Radiance Sect Outer Gate disciples shared rooms of six, sleeping on one long communal bed. When he returned, the others were still sound asleep.

Only one senior brother, who had gotten up to use the toilet, spotted him and let out a surprised cry.

"Guys, Shen Leyan's back!"

The people sprawled in all sorts of bizarre positions on the bed promptly raised their heads in perfect unison to look at him.

Shen Leyan: "..."

Half an incense stick later, five people had their arms slung around his shoulders, pinning him to the edge of the bed.

"Shen Leyan, spill it! What was that Voice Transmission Talisman yesterday all about?"

Apparently, the patrolling disciples hadn't exaggerated. The entire Cloud Radiance Sect really had heard the Voice Transmission Talisman he had used to call for help yesterday.

What traveled fastest in the world?

Gossip.

"I'd like to know what happened too..."

All he had done was ask Xiao Du for a Voice Transmission Talisman.

An ordinary Voice Transmission Talisman would only reach its intended recipient. It wouldn't broadcast its message for everyone to hear.

"First, tell me exactly what you saw last night."

Last night, rain had poured down amid flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder.

As the saying went, a dark, windy night was a night for sleeping.

Shen Leyan's roommates had been sleeping soundly, one person's legs draped over another, another person's hand covering someone else's snoring mouth.

In a flash, alarms had rung out from the sect's mountain-protecting formation, and the spreading fluctuations of spiritual energy had jolted everyone awake.

Cultivators at Foundation Establishment or above had grabbed their Magic Artifacts and rushed to the mountain-protecting formation, ready for battle.

Outer disciples like them had huddled in their quarters, trembling, afraid some demon would leap out of nowhere and swallow them whole.

Ripples had spread across the formation's dome of spiritual energy, growing increasingly violent—the mountain-protecting formation had been built through the combined efforts of several sect elders. Even ten Nascent Soul Stage cultivators striking it with their swords couldn't leave so much as a mark.

A few breaths later, a gap had torn straight through the mountain-protecting formation.

A talisman had shot inside with a whoosh, heading straight for the sect master's Cicada Song Pavilion at the summit of the Cloud Radiance Sect.

Half the Cloud Radiance Sect's disciples had been horrified: just how powerful was this talisman, to dare go straight for the sect master?

The other half had remained perfectly calm: with the sect master's cultivation, any demon that dared cause trouble would have its body and soul obliterated by a single stroke of his sword.

The talisman had glowed blue-green, conspicuous in the rainy night. As everyone watched, sword light had blazed outside the Cicada Song Pavilion at the summit.

The talisman had tried several times to force its way inside without success, then floated back down, looking thoroughly aggrieved.

The Cloud Radiance Sect's disciples had been elated: look! No matter how powerful that talisman was, it couldn't set foot inside the Cicada Song Pavilion!

The talisman had drifted above their heads, apparently hesitating.

After a few moments of hesitation, it had burst into glittering fragments. Then a young man's powerful voice, louder than thunder, had echoed through the entire Cloud Radiance Sect three times.

"Lu Yuanyi, there's a demon setting fires in a village below your Cloud Radiance Sect! Get down here and slaughter him!!!"

"That's pretty much what happened. The moment we heard that voice, we thought—hey, isn't that you? And you'd just taken a job helping villagers rebuild after a fire."

"After that, everyone learned it was only a Voice Transmission Talisman and wouldn't hurt anyone. The sect master summoned the Jiangxue Sword and sent a streak of sword light down the mountain, then sent Senior Brother Zheng Ziheng to deal with it."

"Nobody could sleep after all that, so we gathered around in the dorms to talk about it. Some disciples came to ask whether we knew whose voice was in the Voice Transmission Talisman, and we said of course we did!"

Shen Leyan rubbed his brow. "And then you sold me out?!"

"Even if we hadn't said anything, the sect instructors would've known it was you—and Senior Brother Zheng too. You met Senior Brother Zheng, didn't you?"

That was true enough.

He couldn't change his voice or appearance. Someone would recognize him sooner or later.

He nodded.

His roommates grew even more excited. "Then tell us! What exactly happened in the village last night? Where did you get such a powerful Voice Transmission Talisman?"

Naturally, he couldn't say he had transmigrated here and that the system had given him the Voice Transmission Talisman.

"It's a long story..."

He gave them a rough account of the truth behind the village fires, glossing over the Voice Transmission Talisman's origins with a single sentence.

"My parents gave it to me before they died. They said it could save my life."

Everyone knew he was an orphan, and they immediately stopped asking.

"...You must be exhausted after going through all that. Get some rest. If anyone asks us about you, shall we tell them you haven't come back yet?"

Shen Leyan thanked them. Too many thoughts crowded his mind, but he was utterly exhausted and had no energy to sort through them. He changed his clothes and wrapped himself in his bedding.

He slept from the early hours of the morning until the sun hung low in the west.

Crimson sunset light shone through the paper-covered windows onto the bed.

The cheerful chatter and laughter of passing disciples drifted in from the corridor outside.

Shen Leyan rubbed his eyes and pushed himself upright with both hands against the mattress. He had slept deeply, but nightmares had plagued him the whole time.

Now that he was out from under the covers, the cool breeze caught him. His inner robe clung to his back with sweat, making him quite uncomfortable.

He fetched water and bathed, then changed into clean clothes. Only then did he feel a little more refreshed.

There was a lunch box on the table in the room. He touched it and found it still warm, with a note tucked underneath.

"When we came back from class, you were still asleep, so we got you some food from the dining hall. Remember to eat when you wake up."

It was his roommate's handwriting.

Shen Leyan smiled, opened the lunch box, and dug in.

Braised chicken drumsticks, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and stir-fried Chinese cabbage—the food carried the aroma of firewood from the kitchen's large stoves, exactly to his taste.

Judging by the time, the Spiritual Root testing at the Spirit Perch Pavilion should be nearly over. He wondered whether his senior brothers and sisters had managed to discover Spiritual Roots as they had hoped.

If there was good news, his senior brother would probably come running to tell him.

The eggs were coated in tomato sauce, and the sweet, tangy flavor burst across his tongue. Shen Leyan's lips curved in satisfaction. With his hunger eased, he remembered the incident with the Voice Transmission Talisman.

"Xiao Du!"

"My dear host~"

"Why did the whole sect hear the Voice Transmission Talisman I sent to Lu Yuanyi?"

"The Cloud Radiance Sect's mountain-protecting formation blocks all outside spells. If I hadn't given you the very best Voice Transmission Talisman, you'd be human barbecue by now."

"The main issue was that the Voice Transmission Talisman could originally have reached Sect Master Lu's Cicada Song Pavilion, but his cultivation was so powerful that it couldn't get inside. It had to settle for the next best option and broadcast to the entire sect..."

Fair enough.

He really couldn't blame Xiao Du for that.

Shen Leyan's teeth ached as he wondered whether he should pray to a bodhisattva to get rid of his bad luck.

Xiao Du comforted him. "Don't be too upset, host. At least you got out of today's Spiritual Root test, didn't you?"

No sooner had those words been spoken—

A sudden clamor broke out in the corridor and courtyard outside.

"Wow! Look at that Spirit-Testing Stone! It flew over from above the Spirit Perch Pavilion!"

"Where's it going???"

"It looks like it's heading for this room!!!"