"Oh, what a wonderful day! I can sleep in again tomorrow!" Lan Yue returned, happily carrying Silver Snow.
Yes, just before leaving, she had suddenly received a special pardon: Elder Duanmu had said she could come over later!
Sure enough, although Elder Duanmu looked like her high school homeroom teacher, he was much more considerate!
So she must have been mistaken before. How could Elder Duanmu possibly be her homeroom teacher?
"By the way, Little Fruit, do you remember Elder Duanmu giving you homework before we left?" Recalling his instructions, Lan Yue suddenly poked the little seedling on her shoulder.
The drowsy little seedling raised its head, looking rather dazed.
"Chirp?"
"You still have homework! Elder Duanmu told you to draw two different formation diagrams!" Lan Yue held up two fingers.
Only after seeing her gesture did the little seedling realize what she meant. It hurriedly hopped down to draw its diagrams, utterly absorbed in the task.
Lan Yue chuckled and opened the system again.
"Huh? Why do I have more melon seeds?"
[System: You can earn them by following juicy gossip without using the system, too. You just receive fewer melon seeds.] [Lan Yue: How exactly are these melon seeds calculated? Is there a formula? Tell me about it. Maybe I can get some more melon seeds.]
Lan Yue was dying of curiosity. Could it depend on her emotions? Did she earn melon seeds because she had such a good time feasting on gossip?
At that question, the system fell silent instead.
[System: Confidential.]
"Fine, fine. You're above it all, and your secrets are confidential!" Once Lan Yue heard that it was confidential, she stopped pressing.
Anyway, her attitude was to muddle along and take things as they came. Whatever worked.
"So, does that mean I can raise my cultivation again?" Lan Yue glanced at her panel thoughtfully.
"Ah, this really is a happy sort of trouble. I barely worked at all, just feasted on some gossip, and my cultivation is going up again."
Lan Yue rolled over on the bed and clicked to convert everything. Before long, streaks of golden light surrounded her system panel.
A familiar warmth circulated through her body, and Lan Yue couldn't resist hugging Silver Snow and nuzzling it.
When the warmth faded, she felt that her eyesight had improved dramatically. She could see the veins in distant leaves, and even observe an insect's compound eyes with perfect clarity.
"Is this late Qi refining?" Lan Yue took stock of her current condition and felt that it closely resembled the description of late Qi refining in the Cultivation Manual.
"This is a little too fast. I haven't done anything, and I've reached this level in just a few short months. If word gets out, they're bound to notice something's wrong."
Lan Yue, who had been overjoyed just a moment ago, suddenly grew a little worried.
So these were the troubles of an overpowered protagonist? Was a minor cannon-fodder character like her going to have them, too?
"Don't you have ten-thousand-year cold jade on you? What are you afraid of?" the system suddenly spoke.
This time, the system made an actual sound instead of responding inside Lan Yue's mind, giving her a fright.
"You're right! I still have ten-thousand-year cold jade! It's good stuff-it can hide my cultivation!" Lan Yue's eyes lit up.
"Besides, even without ten-thousand-year cold jade, I would help you. It does cost melon seeds, though," the system explained unhurriedly.
"I already helped conceal your previous increase in cultivation."
"So you're actually this nice, System! Boohoo, I'm sorry. I called you mute before, but from now on, I'm the mute one!" Lan Yue was overcome with shame.
So the reason nobody had noticed when she reached middle Qi refining was that the system had hidden it for her. It had actually done so much for her in silence!
She really deserved to die. To think she had even found fault with the system before!
"No need to thank me. I already deducted the required melon seeds for you, along with a brokerage fee," came the system's utterly flat voice.
Lan Yue: "????"
What? Say that again?
No wonder she had always felt that the number of melon seeds was a little off. It had been the system's doing all along!
"System, prepare to die! Deducting the cost was one thing, but you actually charged a brokerage fee, too!" Lan Yue sprang up, her face turning green with fury.
But the system fell silent again, refusing to respond no matter how she called for it.
"Junior Sister, Junior Sister, what are you doing?"
A familiar voice transmission suddenly drifted in through the window.
Lan Yue froze for a moment when she heard it.
It's so late. Why is Eldest Senior Brother here?
"Junior Sister, are you sleeping well?" The voice carried over by the cold wind sounded a little distant.
"Very well! It's nice and warm here. I was just about to go to sleep!" Lan Yue also used a spell to send her voice over.
"By the way, Eldest Senior Brother, why are you on Spirit Moon Peak?"
"Junior Sister Lan Yue, haven't you forgotten something?" The voice carried by the night wind held a trace of resentment.
"Huh? Did I forget something? Did I forget to do my homework?" Lan Yue looked down and saw that the little seedling had already finished one diagram and was diligently drawing the other.
"My homework's almost finished. Everything's fine!" Lan Yue had great faith in the little seedling's abilities. After all, not every spirit plant could earn the recognition of such a grandmaster of formation arts.
"Junior Sister Lan Yue, have you forgotten about me? You said earlier that I could stay on Spirit Moon Peak for a while, too!" Even through the night wind, Li Bai's voice sounded rather aggrieved.
"I've been waiting here so long that the wind's practically blown me senseless. Where's the house I'm supposed to stay in?"
Lan Yue's smile suddenly froze. She seemed to have-apparently, indeed-promised today that she would find Eldest Senior Brother a house to stay in, hadn't she?
So where exactly was Eldest Senior Brother right now?
Before you continue