"I never asked you to help me organize your father's Teaching Syllabus, nor did I ask you for the martial arts manual for the Falling Goose Sword. You gave me all of that voluntarily, and you were the one who approached me. I understand that you like me, and I gave you a chance to pursue me, but you failed to seize it. That's your own lack of ability."
Lianshan Xin had formulas, so he solved problems quickly.
Dai Yueying had no formulas, nor even a mother formula.
She was so furious she wanted to kill someone.
"Lianshan Xin, you can't be this shameless!"
She had thought that, with their previous friendship and the natural seductive charm of her Born Bewitching Physique, winning over a mere Lianshan Xin would be as easy as reaching out and taking him.
First, she would bewitch Lianshan Xin and make him worship at her feet. Then, through him, she would get close to Qi Shiyun and complete the task her master had assigned her.
Every part of the plan was ready.
Yet a problem had cropped up at the very first step.
She had never known someone so utterly shameless could exist in this world.
Lianshan Xin picked at his ear and quipped, "Classmate Dai, your vocabulary is awfully limited. Clearly, you don't work hard at your studies."
She couldn't even vary her insults.
Dai Yueying laughed in fury. "I earned my place at White Deer Grotto Academy through my own hard work, and you're saying I don't work hard enough?"
"Really? Congratulations, congratulations."
Lianshan Xin genuinely was a little surprised.
As he remembered it, Dai Yueying had indeed excelled in academic subjects. After all, Teacher Dai surely gave his own daughter special tutoring in private.
But Dai Yueying's martial aptitude had seemed fairly ordinary too. Like him, she had only been a martial artist in the first realm, the Body Tempering Realm.
She had actually passed the entrance exams for White Deer Grotto Academy?
"You advanced to the second realm, the Meridian Opening Realm?"
"Of course."
Dai Yueying raised her long, swanlike neck.
"Impressive."
Lianshan Xin cupped his hands in acknowledgment.
That was a realm he had yet to reach.
"I really envy you. If I could break through to the Meridian Opening Realm too, I wouldn't have to take the recommendation route and become the only student in this year's intake personally chosen by the Heavenly Sword to join White Deer Grotto Academy. If I could, I'd love to slog through those miserable exams with the rest of you."
Lianshan Xin gave a long sigh of regret.
Dai Yueying: "..."
When she had approached Lianshan Xin before, she hadn't realized he was this shameless.
Now it seemed her judgment of people was still far too poor.
Taking a deep breath, Dai Yueying forcibly reined in her emotions and returned to her tender, gentle demeanor. "I could tell back then that you weren't a fish destined to stay in a little pond, Brother Xin. Sooner or later, you would soar into the sky. It looks like my judgment of people was pretty accurate after all."
Lianshan Xin was somewhat surprised that an eighteen-year-old girl could keep her emotions this steady.
She was far better at it than he had been at eighteen in his previous life.
But that alone wasn't enough to move him.
In fact, Lianshan Xin was starting to grow wary.
The Dai Yueying of before had stirred nothing in him. But the current Dai Yueying made Lianshan Xin sense something slightly amiss. She seemed to have improved a little too quickly-even her looks had improved a little too quickly.
They said that after three days apart, one should view a person with fresh eyes, but Lianshan Xin still felt that the current Dai Yueying was rather unfamiliar.
"Classmate Dai, did you come to see me today just to rekindle our old relationship?" Lianshan Xin asked.
A perfectly measured look of bashfulness appeared on Dai Yueying's pretty face. "Brother Xin, now that we've both gotten into White Deer Grotto Academy, if we work hard together and study books and martial arts together, perhaps one day we could become an immortal couple of the martial world."
"Let's forget about that. You got into White Deer Grotto Academy through the regular exams. You're simply not worthy of a heaven-favored prodigy like me, who got in through a recommendation."
Lianshan Xin didn't actually think that, but he had said it deliberately.
If Dai Yueying were a normal girl, she ought to turn and leave upon hearing that, tossing out a line before she went: "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west. Don't you dare look down on a girl just because she's poor now!"
Then Lianshan Xin would immediately slide to his knees and apologize, turning an enemy into a friend. He would never create a female Xiao Yan as his enemy.
But Dai Yueying didn't.
Instead, she said confidently, "Brother Xin, your martial aptitude is poor. Once you're in the academy, your grades might not be better than mine."
Lianshan Xin narrowed his eyes slightly.
That reaction was a little too wrong.
Even a lovesick lapdog wouldn't grovel this much... ahem, actually, that was hard to say.
But based on what Lianshan Xin knew of the old Dai Yueying, he didn't believe she would be a lovesick lapdog.
The current, even more outstanding Dai Yueying should be even less likely to act like one.
Is she deliberately trying to get close to me?
Was yesterday's publicity at the Qu Family really that effective?
It makes logical sense, but isn't this taking it a little too far?
If Teacher Dai had come before Lianshan Xin today, willing to let spit dry on his face without wiping it away, hoping to arrange a match between Lianshan Xin and his daughter, Lianshan Xin could have understood such a reaction.
A middle-aged man of forty would bow his head for the sake of making a living to a degree many people couldn't imagine.
But an eighteen-year-old girl shouldn't.
"Did you see me throwing my weight around outside the Qu Family's gates yesterday?" Lianshan Xin asked.
Dai Yueying shook her head. "Brother Xin, what's between us didn't begin yesterday. We were already very close back in my father's private school."
"But you gave up that relationship yourself," Lianshan Xin said calmly.
"It wasn't like that. I was just focusing on my studies then."
"Once I enter White Deer Grotto Academy, I'll be focusing on my studies too."
"Brother Xin, what will it take for you to accept me?"
Dai Yueying stamped her foot, revealing a trace of girlish petulance and indignation.
But Lianshan Xin remained unmoved. Instead, he grew increasingly wary, and his words became even more formulaic. "Classmate Dai, if you really like me and want what's best for me, you should choose to give up. You can't stop me from running toward someone better, can you?"
This punch shattered Mount Buzhou!
Dai Yueying's pupils widened, her red lips parted, and she froze in utter shock.
She had never seen this formula before.
"You..."
"Classmate Dai, you can leave now."
Lianshan Xin dismissed her.
He had actually tried to use his innate ability to examine Dai Yueying.
Unfortunately, perhaps because it had activated too many times yesterday, it hadn't activated today.
But Lianshan Xin wasn't someone who relied entirely on his innate ability.
He made up his mind to keep a close eye on Dai Yueying from now on.
This girl gave him a sense of danger-but not much.
He should be able to handle her.
Dai Yueying left in a daze.
Like a drenched chicken.
The Dai Yueying of this moment, on the contrary, felt familiar to Lianshan Xin.
This was how an eighteen-year-old girl ought to react.
After Dai Yueying left, Lianshan Xin prepared to return to his room for a rest.
Then he saw two spectators who had been enjoying the show emerge from his room.
He Miaojun glanced at Lianshan Xin, then at Lianshan Jingcheng, her tone curious. "Husband, did you teach him that?"
Lianshan Jingcheng immediately cleared his name. "Wife, you know me. I've always been pure and kind by nature, and I'm clumsy with words. I certainly don't possess such eloquence."
He Miaojun thought it over and agreed.
So she turned back to Lianshan Xin and said earnestly, "Little Xin, when you're dealing with a woman stronger than you in the future, remember never to talk like that. You could easily get beaten to death."
Before you continue