The bell rang, and students trickled out of their classrooms, stretching as they headed into the corridor for some air. Su Tingxue walked among them like a proud peacock, her head always held high, radiating an air that kept strangers at bay.
She had every right to.
Even after knowing her for two years, some classmates were still captivated by her beauty and couldn't help turning to look. Countless students at school secretly admired or openly pursued her, including plenty of rich young heirs.
Su Tingxue was famous at No. 2 High School for her looks and grades. Rumor had it that she came from an extraordinary background, that her family was fabulously wealthy, and that luxury cars chauffeured her to and from school. Others maliciously speculated that she was promiscuous, because a different car picked her up every time.
None of those rumors were true.
In reality, she was a registered Celestial Master of Dragon-Tiger Mountain. Those luxury cars belonged to wealthy people who hired her to deal with demons and ghosts.
Unlike fraudulent charlatans, being registered meant she was an inner disciple of Dragon-Tiger Mountain, possessed genuine cultivation, and had inherited her sect's authentic teachings. Having made real progress in the Dao, she was qualified to leave the mountain in its name to slay demons and vanquish evil.
Those plagued by demons and ghosts treated her as an honored guest. Wherever she went, people fawned over her.
Only she knew that beneath all that glory, an unresolved burden had been troubling her.
It had happened two years ago, shortly after she enrolled. She heard that the old dormitory building was haunted, and her sense of responsibility as a Celestial Master drove her to step forward.
She tried to deal with the malicious ghost in the old dormitory building. Unfortunately, she had only just begun cultivating back then. Her cultivation was low, and she lacked experience. The ghost toyed with her until she fled in disgrace, a humiliation she never forgot.
She swore then that she would deal with that ghost and avenge herself.
To that end, she trained diligently and immersed herself in talismans and rituals. Her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, displaying her talent to the fullest. Her senior disciples at Dragon-Tiger Mountain heaped praise on her progress, admitting that they could not compare.
The materials required for talismans and rituals were all unusual. They were difficult to collect in Chang'an City and even harder to buy online, where authenticity was difficult to verify. She was better off asking her senior disciples at Dragon-Tiger Mountain to mail them to her.
Once the materials arrived, she would visit the old dormitory building again and finally put this burden to rest!
Suddenly, Su Tingxue stopped. As she passed Class Three of the senior year, she sensed a trace of cold that did not belong there!
She knew that chill all too well. It was the distinctive cold of a malicious ghost!
What was going on? Was this place haunted?!
"Tingxue, why did you suddenly stop? Come on."
Her best friend called to her, but she paid no attention. She circulated her spiritual power and used a secret art of Dragon-Tiger Mountain to activate the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye, examining Class Three.
One glance was enough to make her feel as though she had plunged into an ice cellar, cold seeping through her entire body!
A white-robed malicious ghost drifted through the room amid sinister yin energy and spreading ghostly energy. Her ghost domain enveloped the entire classroom, meaning she regarded it as her territory.
From time to time, she blew on a student's back and smiled eerily. Through the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye, the entire classroom appeared several shades darker than the world outside!
Yet the students noticed nothing, chatting and laughing freely.
It was the ghost from the old dormitory building!
She had left the old dormitory building!
Su Tingxue's expression turned grave. This unexpected development caught her completely off guard. The ghost felt even stronger than before!
Under these circumstances, she could no longer wait for the materials to arrive from Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
She also noticed that the ghost was chatting with a student in the class. Su Tingxue vaguely remembered him. They had been schoolmates for two years; if he were a cultivator, she would have discovered it long ago. That meant he was an ordinary person.
Ordinary people should not be able to see malicious ghosts, let alone chat with them.
Even Qi Refining cultivators could not see ghosts. She was an exception because she possessed the Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye.
The Yin-Yang Heavenly Eye was a closely guarded secret of Dragon-Tiger Mountain. Other Qi Refining cultivators did not know this technique.
An ordinary person who could see ghosts-every sign pointed to him being bewitched by the malicious ghost.
That had to be it. The ghost wouldn't appear here for no reason. This student must have gone to the old dormitory building on a dare and been bewitched and possessed. The ghost had followed him to Class Three and claimed it as her territory.
"Do you know this person?" Su Tingxue asked her best friend.
Since they were in different classes, her best friend could not immediately recall his name. After thinking for a long while, she said hesitantly, "I think he's called Zhou You?"
Su Tingxue nodded and entered Class Three.
Her entrance drew everyone's attention, not merely because students rarely visited other classes, but because she was Su Tingxue.
"Hey, stop sleeping. Look! Su Tingxue's in our classroom."
"Quit messing around. What would she come here for..." The student rubbed his eyes, then froze when he saw her.
"Why would she come to our class?"
"No idea. Maybe she's looking for someone?"
The lesson had just ended, and everyone had been drowsy, slumped over their desks asleep. The moment Su Tingxue arrived, they perked up. Sleep forgotten, they whispered and speculated among themselves.
Unconcerned by their stares, Su Tingxue walked straight toward Zhou You, who was secretly chatting with Nuomi.
Every step Su Tingxue took was precisely measured. Anyone knowledgeable would have recognized Dragon-Tiger Mountain's Heavenly Stem Eight Trigrams Steps, which could build momentum and suppress evil spirits.
By the time she reached Zhou You, her aura had risen to its peak. Her cool voice carried an unquestionable authority.
"Zhou You, she's bewitched you. You must leave her."
Zhou You, who had been happily chatting with Nuomi, froze.
Bewitched?
By whom?
A string of questions popped into Zhou You's mind, none with an answer.
"Su... Tingxue?" Zhou You could not process what was happening. He barely knew Su Tingxue at all. All he knew was that Class One had a very pretty girl, and he was not even used to saying her name. Why would she come looking for him?
"It's you, you rotten rice-thrower!" Nuomi bared her teeth and waved her hands. Two years ago, she had been innocent and ignorant, curious about everything, and Su Tingxue had thrown glutinous rice at her.
She would remember that for the rest of her life!
"That's right. It's me. It seems you still remember what happened two years ago." Su Tingxue nodded, admitting it openly without caring about the strange looks around her. Her voice was calm, her expression as still as an ancient well.
Seeing Nuomi again after two years filled Su Tingxue with conflicting emotions. Perhaps this was fate, letting her encounter Nuomi outside the old dormitory building and urging her to deal with her, finally resolving the burden in her heart.
She had not set foot in the old dormitory building once in those two years, putting off her rematch with Nuomi again and again. Was that not the lingering trauma from their first encounter, keeping her from daring to face Nuomi?
Su Tingxue was the Daoist Nuomi had mentioned?
Noticing the tense atmosphere between the human and the ghost, which looked ready to erupt into a fight at any moment, Zhou You hurried to smooth things over. "Uh, could there be some misunderstanding here? Why don't we sit down and talk?"
Chu Xiaoyao had gone to the restroom, leaving the seat beside Zhou You empty.
Since this was a matter between Su Tingxue and Nuomi, and much of it was awkward to discuss here, Zhou You added, "Or shall we talk outside?"
Both the human and the ghost were angry. Clearly, neither supported Zhou You's suggestion.
"Zhou You, she's the one who threw glutinous rice at me back then. She's a bad person!" Nuomi stamped her feet. She had considered finding Su Tingxue afterward to settle the score, but after searching for three months without finding her, she finally gave up.
Now that the opportunity had presented itself, she was not about to let it slip away!
Su Tingxue likewise refused to yield an inch. Instead, she pressed forward, her cool gaze intensely intimidating.
Back then, she had just descended from Dragon-Tiger Mountain, brimming with confidence. She never expected such an embarrassing defeat, unable to beat even an unknown little ghost at school. For a while, she had wondered whether her training was inadequate.
Fortunately, after repeatedly helping people subdue demons, vanquish evil, and exorcise ghosts, she gradually regained her confidence.
Reviewing the encounter afterward, she concluded that Nuomi had exploited her inexperience and caught her off guard.
She had been outmatched. The defeat was fair, and she accepted it.
"I was inexperienced back then, and you took advantage of that. I accept it. For these past two years, I've thought about you every single day. I think it's time we settled things between us."
Although she spoke calmly, Zhou You could hear the emotions she could barely keep suppressed. He would not have been surprised if she attacked right there.
Su Tingxue had never forgotten Nuomi, using her as a goal to spur herself onward. After losing to Nuomi, she had taken three months off school to train intensively at Dragon-Tiger Mountain. Only when she needed to catch up with her coursework did she return to school.
After returning, she had not relaxed in the slightest. She spent her free time either vanquishing demons or cultivating diligently, making astonishing progress.
To her, this was revenge two years in the making!
"What do you want to do?" Zhou You asked Nuomi. After all, he knew her better, and it was thanks to her that the classroom was so pleasantly cool.
"Fight her one-on-one, of course," Nuomi huffed. "I beat her to a pulp two years ago, and I can do it again!"
Su Tingxue sneered. She still thought she was that novice Celestial Master from two years ago? She ordered Nuomi, "Leave him first. This is between you and me. He has nothing to do with it."
By now, Zhou You had more or less figured things out. Su Tingxue mistakenly believed Nuomi had possessed or bewitched him. No wonder those had been her opening words to him.
"Uh, Su Tingxue, I think you've misunderstood our relationship."
Seeing that Su Tingxue remained unmoved, Zhou You awkwardly added in a low voice, "There's also something else I should probably remind you of. Ordinary people can't sense Nuomi. Shall we talk outside?"
"What of it?" Su Tingxue did not understand why Zhou You was saying this.
Zhou You had no choice but to remind her again in a whisper. "Try imagining how that conversation sounded just now without Nuomi."
"Hm?"
Only then did Su Tingxue notice that the entire class had fallen completely silent, staring fixedly at her and Zhou You.
With her outstanding looks, Su Tingxue was already accustomed to being watched, but this time, something about everyone's gazes felt very wrong.
To the class, the conversation had gone like this.
Su Tingxue marched straight into Class Three, bristling with aggression, utterly unlike her usual self. Clearly, she had come for a serious reason.
She went straight to Zhou You. "Zhou You, she's bewitched you. You must leave her."
The entire class perked up. Her very first sentence set their imaginations running wild. Was Su Tingxue trying to persuade Zhou You to leave another woman?
Had Zhou You secretly gotten himself a girlfriend?
Chu Xiaoyao?
Who could sleep now? Time to sit up and watch the show.
"Su... Tingxue?" Zhou You was clearly surprised by Su Tingxue's arrival and pretended not to know her very well.
Su Tingxue nodded and openly acknowledged it, looking at Zhou You with a complicated gaze full of conflicting emotions. "That's right. It's me. It seems you still remember what happened two years ago."
Two years ago? Zhou You and Su Tingxue had known each other two years ago? Had something happened between them?
Judging by Su Tingxue's words, whatever happened two years ago was very unusual. Some of the more imaginative students began looking at them strangely.
Could it be...
"Uh, could there be some misunderstanding here? Why don't we sit down and talk? Or shall we talk outside?" Zhou You tried to persuade her, looking as though he was denying everything.
He had volunteered to talk outside, which meant he knew what Su Tingxue was referring to. It was something that could not bear the light of day.
"I was inexperienced back then, and you took advantage of that. I accept it. For these past two years, I've thought about you every single day. I think it's time we settled things between us."
Su Tingxue refused to fall for it and brought up what happened two years ago in front of everyone. Though she did not explain exactly what had happened, those few words and her attitude were enough to set imaginations running wild.
It sounded as though Zhou You had wronged Su Tingxue, and she had been unable to forget him for two whole years before finally resolving to make him take responsibility.
A lovers' quarrel. It had to be a lovers' quarrel!
"What do you want to do?" asked Zhou You, the scumbag, looking utterly free of guilt.
"Leave her first. This is between you and me. She has nothing to do with it." Su Tingxue was telling Zhou You to break up with his girlfriend.
The students, eager for more drama, began clapping and shouting.
"Uh, Su Tingxue, I think you've misunderstood our relationship." The scumbag Zhou You offered a feeble defense.
After Su Tingxue had gone this far in front of everyone, how could there possibly be any misunderstanding?
Pah! Scumbag.
Realizing why the entire class was looking at her so strangely, Su Tingxue's pretty, frosty face gradually flushed red, all the way to her ears. Unable to meet Zhou You's eyes, she guiltily lowered her gaze and wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
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