That evening, Zhou You took a hot shower to ease the exhaustion from school and cultivation, then opened the Cultivation Forum and clicked on Chang'an City. All sorts of local posts flooded his screen.
Looking for a local Artifact Refining Master to turn my bicycle into a Magic Treasure
"A truck hit me. The driver was entirely at fault. I'm fine, but my bicycle is wrecked, and it was my favorite bike. Could an Artifact Refining Master please fix it and turn it into a Magic Treasure?"
Help! I'm an Alchemist. After taking my medicine, my patient could walk like the wind, but their family insists it's a final rally before death. I'm furious. What should I do?
I want to open a Wildlife Park in Chang'an City. How should I go about bribing officials? (This post has been locked)
I want to open a Wildlife Park in Chang'an City. What procedures should I follow?
Zhou You felt that the Cultivation Forum wasn't very open to free expression. He was always seeing posts locked by the moderators.
If he became a moderator, he'd let people post things like this freely and say whatever they wanted. He certainly wouldn't interfere. At most, he'd lock yesterday's thread discussing Perfected Lord Wenchang going abroad.
Perfected Lord Wenchang was a respected elder. How could they talk about him like that? It was terribly rude.
While he was at it, he'd mute a few of the rude people who'd called his thought process bizarre.
Help! I feel like there's something invisible in my home
The poster's username was "Bamboo Shoots with Pork."
"Here's what happened. I live alone in a run-down apartment complex. I was so bored that I got a little black dog."
"One evening, I was walking my dog and passed an apartment building. The sound-activated lights inside were broken, and nobody had fixed them, so it was pitch-black in there."
"I also smelled a horrible stench, as if someone had dumped garbage inside. I covered my nose and tried to hurry past, but my dog suddenly stopped and started barking into the building."
"My dog is usually very well-behaved and hardly ever barks. I don't know what got into it this time, but it wouldn't stop, no matter how I tried to calm it down. It crouched low and barked in this deep, quiet voice."
"I used an Illumination Technique to light up the inside. There was nothing in the stairwell, but my dog kept barking."
"I felt something was wrong, so I hurriedly pulled my dog away. It kept looking back as we left. I turned to look too, but I didn't see anything."
"When I went to bed that night, I turned off the light and put my dog on the bed like I always do. But for some reason, it was really agitated and kept barking at the wardrobe."
"As soon as I turned on the light, it stopped barking. When I turned the light off, it started again."
"I took my Spirit Sword and carefully opened the wardrobe. There was nothing inside but clothes."
"Later, I got a few talismans, but they didn't help. Things actually got worse."
"Sometimes my dog barks at the empty bedroom. I can't sleep properly, and I always feel like someone is watching me."
"Could a fellow Daoist please help me? If this keeps up, I won't be able to sleep at all."
The post had only just gone up, so there weren't many replies yet. Those that were there weren't particularly useful.
"Scary."
"That scared me into tucking my feet under the covers."
"Why am I reading this so late at night?"
Zhou You guessed that the people replying were all Qi Refining Stage cultivators. After some thought, he sent the poster a private message.
Do You Swim This Week: "Are you there?"
The poster replied almost immediately.
During their private conversation, Zhou You learned that the poster's cultivation was slightly higher than his, at the middle Qi Refining Stage. If he could solve the problem, the poster was willing to pay fifteen pieces of spirit jade.
Zhou You mulled it over. Fifteen pieces of spirit jade could buy one and a half Spirit Stones. That seemed more profitable than the Poverty Ghost job, so he quickly agreed.
"When can you come?" After providing the address, the poster urged Zhou You to come as soon as possible.
"Tomorrow evening, if my teacher approves my leave."
The poster suddenly grew uneasy.
"You two want to take leave from evening self-study?"
Their homeroom teacher, Old Gao, swept a suspicious gaze back and forth between the Soul Separation Stage cultivator and the Free and Unfettered Female Emperor. Although neither had a guilty conscience, they still trembled with apprehension.
When Zhou You alone had asked to miss evening self-study before, he'd simply approved it. How had it become two people now?
Chu Xiaoyao steeled herself and said, "My lord... no, Teacher Gao, here's the thing. I've signed up for a tutoring class, and I'd like to use evening self-study time to get some extra lessons and catch up."
"I see."
Their homeroom teacher nodded. That was a reasonable explanation. Parents signing their children up for tutoring during senior year was very common. Chu Xiaoyao's grades were in the middle of the class, so she had plenty of room for improvement.
He looked at the other student, who didn't have much room for improvement.
"Zhou You, what about you? Did you sign up for tutoring too?" Their homeroom teacher had been having throat trouble lately, making his voice sound muffled. To the guilty Zhou You, it was no different from a thunderclap.
Under the invisible pressure exerted by his homeroom teacher, Zhou You fell silent for a moment, then decided to tell the truth.
"Yes, I signed up too. We get a twenty-percent discount if we sign up together."
"...All right."
After leaving the office, the two were still shaken and hadn't quite recovered.
"I thought we'd been found out." Chu Xiaoyao still felt rattled. She hadn't been this nervous even when facing powerful enemies on the Primordial Continent.
"Shh, don't talk about it outside the door." Zhou You grabbed Chu Xiaoyao and hurried away, only to run straight into Su Tingxue.
"What are you two doing here?" Su Tingxue was carrying a stack of freshly collected math papers to hand to the math teacher. She wondered why Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao were coming out of the math office.
"Asking for leave."
"Asking about math problems."
They answered simultaneously, completely out of sync.
"Why did you tell her the truth?!" Chu Xiaoyao demanded angrily.
"What's wrong with that?" Zhou You didn't understand. Su Tingxue wasn't an outsider. She was the one who'd introduced him to the forum.
Under Chu Xiaoyao's reproachful gaze, Zhou You briefly explained the plea for help he'd taken on through the forum.
Not the slightest sense of confidentiality. No wonder he could only be a Sect Master!
"I see. It sounds like a haunting. Can I come along?"
"That might not be a good idea."
"No."
This time, the two answered in perfect harmony. Their tones differed, but their meaning was the same.
Seeing Su Tingxue's slight surprise, Zhou You explained sheepishly, "I mainly took the job to earn some Spirit Stones. If you come too, I won't even earn a whole Spirit Stone from this trip."
Realizing that they'd misunderstood her, Su Tingxue said, "I don't want any Spirit Stones."
She had only been able to grasp the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye because Zhou You had relayed Chu Xiaoyao's advice. Yet Chu Xiaoyao had no cultivation herself, which meant her background must be extraordinary.
Su Tingxue had always been very interested in Chu Xiaoyao. If this was a chance to see her in action, what did a few pieces of spirit jade matter?
Chu Xiaoyao grew even more wary of Su Tingxue. She wanted to join them without even taking any spirit jade. Could she have some ulterior motive?
"How noble of you, Fellow Daoist Su." Zhou You admired Su Tingxue. As expected of a Celestial Master from Dragon-Tiger Mountain, her moral standards were high. She didn't even want payment for vanquishing demons and monsters.
By comparison, his own ideals were far too low. He was still struggling to earn a measly few Spirit Stones.
With that thought, Zhou You decided to do something for Su Tingxue to express his respect for the Celestial Master from Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
"Here, let me carry those papers for you."
Although Su Tingxue was at late Qi Refining and stronger than Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao combined, helping a classmate shouldn't depend on who was stronger or weaker.
Zhou You took half the math papers and returned to the math office.
"By the way, is Nuomi coming?" Su Tingxue asked one more question, still feeling uneasy.
"No, she's watching the house."
Chu Xiaoyao regretted leaving Nuomi to watch the house.
Before you continue