"Why are they fighting?"
On a nearby apartment building, the Red King used binoculars to spy on the rooftop of No. 2 Middle School's classroom building.
Earlier, the Red King had thought Chu Xiaoyao had spotted him, giving him quite a fright. Luckily, the professor had stayed calm and analyzed the situation, saying the Red King was scaring himself. If Chu Xiaoyao really had spotted him, it would be Chu Xiaoyao speaking on this end now, not the Red King.
After taking two fast-acting heart pills, the Red King decided the professor had a point.
He might only have scared himself, but it had still served as a warning. Watching Chu Xiaoyao through binoculars with half his body exposed had been far too obvious.
A barrier ran around the apartment building's roof. The Red King used his ability to bore a hole through it, stuck his binoculars inside, and lay flat on the ground to observe like a sniper.
"If she can fight that female ghost, Su Tingxue must be a cultivator too. Have you confirmed her identity?"
The Mind Master opened the report and briefed him. "Yes. We staked out her neighborhood for two days, disguised ourselves as scavengers, and spent two days going through her family's trash. We discovered that some of Su Tingxue's packages came from Dragon-Tiger Mountain."
"Following that lead, we found out she's Dragon-Tiger Mountain's youngest registered Celestial Master, qualified to represent them outside the sect in subduing demons and exorcising monsters. Her cultivation is at late Qi refining, and she's quite famous among the younger generation."
"Late Qi refining at her age? That counts as talented among cultivators. No wonder she became a registered Celestial Master of Dragon-Tiger Mountain," the Red King commented indifferently.
The organization had always considered Kunlun Mountain and several other major powers their greatest enemies in returning to Huaxia, and had thoroughly investigated their internal affairs.
"The female ghost poked Su Tingxue in the forehead, and she dropped to her knees? Is she that spineless?" The fight had ended in the time it took the Red King to turn his head. He hadn't even seen what happened.
"But how did they end up fighting?" The Red King still couldn't work it out.
A Celestial Master fighting a vengeful ghost was normal, but a vengeful ghost knowing when to stop was clearly suspicious.
Not to mention Zhou You and Calamity sitting together to watch.
"I have a theory," the Mighty Warrior said in his rumbling voice.
"Let's hear it."
"Calamity met Zhou You after leaving the organization. By now, their relationship speaks for itself."
"Zhou You played with Su Tingxue's feelings and even forced her to kneel. Those two are obviously very close as well."
"Out of jealousy, Calamity wanted to teach Su Tingxue a lesson, but she didn't want to fall out with Zhou You. So she sent the female ghost she keeps to put Su Tingxue in her place."
The Red King mulled it over and found the Mighty Warrior's analysis very convincing. He hadn't expected this hulking brute to actually have such a good head on his shoulders.
"In that case, Zhou You matters even more to Calamity than we originally thought."
The Mighty Warrior knew when to hold back and didn't claim all the credit. "It wasn't all my doing. The Mind Master helped too. He was mainly responsible for gathering intelligence."
The Mind Master smiled modestly. "Zhou You has a classmate named Wei Hang, the president of the School Newspaper Club. He's the one who spread the news about Zhou You and Su Tingxue's relationship."
"After hypnotizing him, I obtained plenty of information about Zhou You and Su Tingxue. The source is extremely reliable."
The Red King patted both of them on the shoulders. He hadn't expected them to be so skilled at gathering intelligence, on top of raiding tombs and translating ancient texts.
"Good analysis. Go write a report on Zhou You's relationship with Calamity. I'll take it back for the professor to read."
"I shouldn't need to explain the fonts and formatting. Follow the official standards. It's a good habit the professor picked up in Huaxia, and he takes it very seriously."
Speaking of female ghosts suddenly reminded the Red King of the Ghost King Zhenyue.
The professor had found traces of the Ghost King Zhenyue in a pile of ancient scrolls. According to those records, the Ghost King Zhenyue had made his name during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, risen rapidly amid the wars, and proclaimed himself king. He had later been defeated by the White Rainbow Dao Lord, the strongest in the world at the time.
The White Rainbow Dao Lord was the last recorded owner of Humanity's Supreme Treasure.
"Come to think of it, where did the Ghost King Zhenyue go? Did Calamity finish him off?"
"So this is a spirit stone."
Back in the classroom, Zhou You kept turning the spirit stone over in his hands. It was satisfyingly weighty, with a solid feel to it, and he could sense the abundant spiritual power within.
It would be a tremendous help to his cultivation.
Nuomi circled the spirit stone. Even now, she still thought it was spoils she'd won by defeating Su Tingxue.
Despite Zhou You repeatedly explaining that he'd bought it from Su Tingxue beforehand, Nuomi still didn't believe him.
"Sect Master, you don't have to go this far to spare that rotten rice-thrower's feelings."
The reason was simple. The Sect Master's little treasury held only fifty yuan. How could he possibly afford something that looked so expensive?
Still, saying that would hurt the Sect Master's pride too much, so she kept it to herself.
Nuomi felt smug about her own high emotional intelligence.
Chu Xiaoyao glanced at the spirit stone, utterly uninterested.
"Don't you want to take a look?" Zhou You offered it to Chu Xiaoyao. He'd thought she would grab it to inspect it right away.
"It's just a spirit stone. I've seen enough of those to last a lifetime." As the Free and Unfettered Female Emperor, Chu Xiaoyao maintained that there was nothing she hadn't seen. Mere spirit stones were things she'd long since tired of playing with.
"I have a bed carved from a single piece of top-grade spirit stone. I sleep on it every day. Even a chipped-off corner of that bed would be worth more than the spirit stone in your hand."
"A bed carved from spirit stone? Wouldn't that be uncomfortable?" Zhou You asked, puzzled.
"...Look at you, missing the point entirely. No wonder your reading comprehension scores never improve." Zhou You had no comeback for that. Chu Xiaoyao scored lower than him in every other subject, but Chinese was the exception.
Chu Xiaoyao ranked first in their year on every Chinese exam.
If she didn't come first, it could only mean she'd gone off topic in her essay.
After some serious thought, Zhou You reached a reasonable conclusion. "I've got it. The Female Emperor is a body cultivator. Her body is harder than spirit stone, so lying on it is no problem."
"Go on, go play with your spirit stone." Chu Xiaoyao shoved Zhou You away. You're ruining my fantasy of being a Female Emperor.
Zhou You had no choice but to study the spirit stone by himself.
Su Tingxue had taught him how to absorb it. By wrapping the spirit stone in his own spiritual power, he could gradually absorb the spiritual energy inside.
From Nuomi's perspective, Zhou You gripped the spirit stone, and a mass of blue spiritual power emerged from his body, like azure seawater brimming with vitality.
The azure spiritual power enveloped the spirit stone, drawing out its stored spiritual power strand by strand. It entered Zhou You's body, completed a full major circulation, and became part of him, strengthening his spiritual power.
"It works!" Zhou You could clearly feel how much the spirit stone helped his cultivation. If cultivating before had been like running, now it was like riding a high-speed train. The difference was worlds apart.
It didn't just help his cultivation; the improvement in his skin tempering speed was obvious too. Zhou You estimated that with a steady supply of spirit stones, he could enter Great Stone Lake in less than a week.
However, one spirit stone couldn't sustain his cultivation for long. By evening, a little under half of its spiritual power had been consumed. At this rate, it would be exhausted either tomorrow or the day after.
"Maybe I should take a bounty and earn some spirit stones?" Zhou You had seen plenty of bounties while browsing the Chang'an City forum. Back then, he hadn't known about spirit jade or spirit stones, so he hadn't paid them any mind.
Chu Xiaoyao had sharp ears and could hear even Zhou You's muttering clearly. "Then take me with you this time. I'll go with you."
The last two times, Zhou You had gone out with Su Tingxue. Just look how weak Su Tingxue was-she couldn't even handle Nuomi, yet she'd taken Zhou You ghost hunting. How dangerous. Going with Chu Xiaoyao was the safest option.
Zhou You thought it over. Although Chu Xiaoyao had lost her cultivation, she was still a Female Emperor with extraordinary knowledge. Bringing her along should be fine.
"Count me in too," Nuomi volunteered. She definitely wouldn't dare go alone, but with both the Sect Master and the Grand Supreme Elder going, what did she have to fear?
Zhou You relayed Nuomi's request to Chu Xiaoyao, who rejected it.
"What kind of sect would we be if everyone in the Carefree Sect went out? Stay behind and guard our territory."
"We actually have territory?" Nuomi asked in surprise. She'd always thought they had no fixed abode.
Chu Xiaoyao pointed at the two desk nameplates, which read "Grand Supreme Elder of the Carefree Sect" and "Sect Master of the Carefree Sect."
"These two desks are the Carefree Sect's territory."
Before you continue