Chapter 30 (continued)

"What are you dawdling out there for?" Si Kui's voice rang out directly in his mind.

Feng Yiqiao shuddered and said, "Teacher, there's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Come in."

"O-okay."

The wooden gate to the small courtyard swung open without a breeze. The courtyard was simple and tranquil, and Si Kui reclined in a wicker chair, lost in thought.

Feng Yiqiao wasn't actually afraid of Si Kui. After coming to Zhongdu Military Academy at seventeen, he had joined the Agronomy Department. Back then, he hadn't been Si Kui's student, but had studied under a Fourth Grade instructor.

The Fourth Grade instructor had met him only once and never given him a single lesson before rushing off to the Astral Realm battlefield that very night. More than half a year later, nearly all the Agronomy Department's teachers had died in battle. Only one returned.

At the time, all the Agronomy Department's students had chosen to transfer to other departments. Only Feng Yiqiao stayed.

Si Kui had gone into seclusion for several months. When she came out, she saw Feng Yiqiao working hard to grow mutated wheat.

"Your teacher is dead."

"..."

"From now on, I'm your teacher."

Feng Yiqiao knelt and kowtowed heavily. "Thank you for taking me in, dean."

Later, Lü Shunshun and Xia Putao were reassigned to the Agronomy Department, one after the other.

At first, Si Kui had tried to teach them something, and all three had tried hard to learn, but it had been an exercise in mutual torment.

After leaving them to their own devices, Si Kui went straight to the academic affairs office and dropped a single sentence: "Stop reassigning students to the Agronomy Department."

Niu Qianqian said helplessly, "Then the Agronomy Department's funding..."

Si Kui sneered. "Don't need it."

Niu Qianqian knew she didn't want to teach students herself, so Niu Qianqian settled for the next best thing. "How about I assign you a few teaching assistants?"

Si Kui was even more succinct. "Don't want them."

Niu Qianqian couldn't afford to offend this great god and could only agree. "All right."

And so, the Agronomy Department became what it was today.

One holdout, two hopeless cases, and a dean who spent the entire year in seclusion yet had never managed to break through to Ninth Grade.

More than a decade had passed. Never mind the students-even the younger generation of teaching assistants had forgotten the Agronomy Department existed.

Until this year, when something changed.

Feng Yiqiao had lain awake all night. Whenever he thought of the Agronomy Department being shut down, his heart clenched as though a knife had been plunged into it.

No! The Agronomy Department can't be shut down!

And Li Yang is the hope I've found!

At that thought, Feng Yiqiao plucked up his courage again. He raised his phone and played the video. "Teacher, Li Yang really does want to join the Agronomy Department. Look at this."

The video began with the Star Support Department's teaching assistant offering to "cover all her expenses until graduation," followed by the Pill Department's second-class dormitory privileges and the Forging Department's growth-type Star Weapon...

Si Kui watched without expression until Li Yang's voice rang out.

"..."

Feng Yiqiao paused the video and said earnestly, "Teacher, she turned down the generous terms offered by the seven major departments and firmly chose the Agronomy Department."

Si Kui looked at him. "So?"

Feng Yiqiao swallowed dryly. "So we can't treat her unfairly either, can we?"

How could Si Kui not understand what Feng Yiqiao meant? She said indifferently, "As long as she's worth nurturing, none of that matters."

Feng Yiqiao hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. His teacher had actually agreed on the spot.

But on second thought, it made sense to him-

For one thing, those so-called generous terms were nothing to his Eighth Grade teacher; for another, his teacher probably didn't want the Agronomy Department shut down either. She hoped a student could make it into the top hundred... At that thought, Feng Yiqiao's eyes filled with tears again.

"Clean out that room for her to live in." Si Kui raised her hand and pointed to the courtyard's east wing, a room that had always stood empty.

Feng Yiqiao exclaimed, "Okay!"

Before he had even asked, his teacher had taken the initiative to arrange a room for Li Yang in the courtyard. Sure enough, his teacher did want to take on students, and she didn't want the Agronomy Department shut down.

Si Kui said, "Anything else?"

Feng Yiqiao said, "No!"

The moment the word left his mouth, Feng Yiqiao felt a breeze sweep over him. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing at the edge of the fields.

Lü Shunshun and Xia Putao looked at him expectantly. "Senior brother, how did it go?"

Feng Yiqiao beamed. "No problem! Teacher said Li Yang can live in the east wing!"

Lü Shunshun and Xia Putao weren't jealous in the slightest. They simply clapped their hands. "That's wonderful! Wonderful!"

They had lived in the courtyard once too, but the Starlight there was so dense that if their cultivation couldn't keep up, they would lie awake night after night.

When Si Kui stopped trying to nurture them, they had been positively jubilant to move out of the courtyard.

But their junior sister was different.

Their junior sister was extraordinarily gifted. She could surely hold on to that heaven-pouring fortune of Starlight!

Not a word of the trio's conversation at the foot of the mountain escaped Si Kui's ears.

She looked at the Blood-Devouring Lotus in the pool, tapping her fingers lightly against the wicker chair. "Who could it be..."

Si Kui had lived so long. How could she be as naive as her young disciples at the foot of the mountain?

Nine times out of ten, someone had deliberately arranged for Li Yang to get close to her.

Who had sent her?

It had been nearly thirty years. Had these people finally run out of patience?

Even if Feng Yiqiao hadn't brought it up, Si Kui wouldn't have left such an unpredictable factor at the foot of the mountain. She would bring Li Yang under her nose and take a good look at her.

If she really was just a good child who loved agronomy, Si Kui naturally wouldn't treat her unfairly.

If someone with ulterior motives had deliberately arranged this... Hah, she would see just who was pulling the strings.

On the day of department selection.

The freshmen didn't need to gather again. They only needed to make their selections on the school app.

They had to submit an application and wait for it to be reviewed. Once it was approved, they could report to their respective departments.

The department selection portal officially opened on the school app at eight in the morning.

Li Yang planned to report to the Agronomy Department and harvest wheat after choosing her department.

At eight sharp, Li Yang opened her phone, found the department selection portal, entered her name and ID number, and selected the Agronomy Department.

The process was quick and easy. In less than a minute, Li Yang had submitted her application.

A little while later, a message popped up on her school app: "Congratulations to Li Yang of the 301st incoming class on your admission to the Agronomy Department of Central Capital First Military Academy."

Only now did she finally count as a student of Zhongdu Military Academy.

Li Yang looked around the fourth-class dormitory and thought for a moment. "Forget it. Even if it's free, I'm not staying. If I move to the Agronomy Department sooner, maybe I can harvest wheat tonight too!"

She didn't have much luggage and finished packing with little effort.

Meanwhile, the school forum had exploded.

The department selection results were published in real time, and everyone was watching the noticeboard eagerly, scanning it for that name.

Would Li Yang really go to the Agronomy Department?

The biggest mystery of the 301st incoming class was about to be solved!

Not long after department selection opened, the first batch of admissions was published. Among the string of names from prominent families, Li Yang's stood out in particular.

Name: Li Yang.

Department: Agronomy Department.

The freshmen on the forum shrieked. "She really went to the Agronomy Department?"

"Did they put her on such a high pedestal that she couldn't climb down?"

"See? If you don't court death, you won't die!!!"

"Holy shit, I bet she wouldn't go to the Agronomy Department. I've lost big this time!"

Li Yang had just finished packing when her phone rang. The caller was Zhong Kun.

Zhong Kun's shock came through loud and clear over the phone. "Li Yang, are you crazy? You're really going to the Agronomy Department?"

Li Yang answered in the affirmative.

Zhong Kun grew anxious. "If you go to the Agronomy Department, you'll lose out on a lot! Your cultivation might be rising quickly now, but that's only because you're First Grade. Once you enter Second Grade, it'll be more than ten times as difficult, and breaking through to Third Grade will take dozens of times more resources...

"Think about it, Li Yang. Why do Star Wielders place so much importance on the legacies of prominent families? Because it takes the resources of an entire family to build up a Master-level Star Wielder!"

A Master wasn't necessarily Ninth Grade. Once someone broke through Sixth Grade Peak and entered Seventh Grade, they were called a Master.

As for Ninth Grade... that was a Grandmaster, a Supreme, a pillar holding up all of Huaxia!

Zhong Kun's outlook was much like Fang Chuyun's.

They both worried about Li Yang from their own perspectives, so she patiently explained things to Zhong Kun as well.

After listening to her, Zhong Kun was stunned for quite a while. "All right. Everyone has their own aspirations."

Li Yang said calmly, "I was an ordinary person to begin with. Being able to become a Star Wielder was already a stroke of good fortune from heaven. As for how far I can go, I'll just let nature take its course."

After hanging up, Zhong Kun felt a sense of loss.

"Poverty. It's poverty that's limited her horizons!" Zhong Kun had found the reason. He couldn't help wringing his hands again. "Why didn't that astonishing talent fall to me?!"

By the time Li Yang arrived at the Agronomy Department, a crowd had already gathered.

The freshmen were still busy choosing departments and waiting for approval, with no mind to come watch the excitement. The people gathered around the outskirts of the Agronomy Department were all Grade One High Stage upperclassmen.

They craned their necks curiously and passed judgment. "I always thought this golden wheat was part of the school's landscaping."

"Is that the Agronomy Department's holdout? I think I've seen him before. I thought he was a support worker from the main cafeteria."

"What does the Agronomy Department cultivate? Surely they don't really grow mutated crops, do they?"

"Don't underestimate crops. Unless you reach Master level, you still have to eat, and these mutated crops are good for assisting cultivation..."

"But the Pill Department doesn't cultivate by learning how to grow herbs."

"Come to think of it, it's pretty mysterious..." someone said in a lowered voice. "I wanted to look up what the Agronomy Department was like decades ago, but guess what..."

"What?"

"I couldn't find anything! Nothing at all! It said I didn't have sufficient authorization..."