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The new semester arrived.
An Lin was relocated to the White Wing School District, a school district dedicated to second-year students.
The new cohort of students arrived at the university in an endless stream; their faces all brimming with a look of youth and vigor.
A day before the new semester began, An Lin arrived back before the gates of the university. Taking in this familiar view, he sighed with emotion.
Before he knew it, one year had passed…
When he first arrived here, he was still a mere mortal who understood absolutely nothing.
It was here, before these gates, that he met his first-ever cultivation friend, Xu Xiaolan.
Thinking back to the farcical scene at that time, where he spoke mandarin and she spoke the strange Taichu language, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
He continued walking forward and arrived at a small plaza. This plaza wasn’t large, yet there were thousands of students crowded in and around it.
An enormous slab of black stone rested among the crowd and it occasionally emitted rays of white light.
M-hm… This was the stone slab which measured one’s cultivation base.
Casting his mind back, this was where he received his renowned title of “most connected backdoor entrant”.
An Lin smiled faintly. He was already a cultivator of the Spirit Nurturing Stage now. Although his skill tree had gone a bit awry—what with him condensing a beast core instead of forming a spirit root—he had still turned his own fortunes around.
It was a pity though… At that time, no one leaped out to belittle or trample him. Otherwise, he would be able to seek sweet revenge and humiliate them now.
A dazzling white glow radiated from the black stone slab, and gigantic words appeared upon it: “Dao Body—Tenth Stage!”
There was a stir among the crowd and all kinds of remarks were thrown about. They were none other than exclamations of surprise such as, “Wow! So impressive!”, “Wow! What a prodigy!”, and the likes.
“Yao Xiu, Class One!” A deep voice boomed.
“Oh, yeah!”
A female dressed in green started cheering excitedly.
Even though she knew that she would definitely make it into class one, she still couldn’t hold in her emotions as she cheered excitedly to express her joy.
This girl was pretty and adorable, and her skin was fair as snow. She had twin ponytails and looked to be full of vigor and vitality.
It was extremely rare for female cultivators to sport twin ponytails, so An Lin couldn’t help but glance at her a few more times.
Right at this moment, another burst of dazzling white light radiated from the black stone slab. Immediately afterward, the surrounding crowd descended into a frenzy.
This was because the words on the stone slab read: “Spirit Nurturing Cultivation Base—Initial Stage!”
“Yao Mingxi, Class One!” The deep voice once again boomed.
“So he’s Yao Mingxi, Black and White Sword Sect’s number one prodigy!”
“Yao Xiu and Yao Mingxi are siblings, right? Their talents are so freakish! It’s genetics, isn’t it?”
“They’re famous throughout the Spirit Sword State already. They’re both prodigies who can communicate with the Ancient Sword Monument.”
“The aptitude test has already reached the tail end. I thought that our cohort was so miserable that we didn’t even have a single cultivator of the Spirit Nurturing Stage. Luckily there’s still Yao Mingxi…”
“Kyah~~~ Yao Mingxi is so handsome!”
Some fangirls couldn’t help but shriek in excitement.
Yao Mingxi was handsome and he wore a cold expression. He was dressed in black robes and appeared difficult to approach.
With an indifferent expression, he walked out of the large crowd.
Yao Xiu ran over excitedly and cheerfully grabbed onto his arm. “As expected of my brother. You’re definitely going to be the strongest of our new cohort!”
Yao Mingxi smiled warmly, yet his eyes gazed into the distance. “Yao Xiu,” he said gently, “we must look beyond just our own cohort. We need to cast our sights over the entire university!”
A glimmer appeared in Yao Xiu’s bright and beautiful eyes. “Brother is correct,” she said enthusiastically. “Wang Xuanzhan has reached the Soul Formation Stage and he’s still only in the fifth year! Supremely talented people like him are the targets that we must strive for!”
Yao Mingxi smiled faintly. “Wang Xuanzhan is indeed very powerful,” he said indifferently. “But do you know, there’s a legendary student at this university? You’ve just arrived so still haven’t heard of him yet. He’s the one that I admire and worship…”
Hearing this, Yao Xiu asked, “Who is it?”
Apart from Wang Xuanzhan, there didn’t appear to be any other students who were of the Soul Formation Stage. Who was it that had her proud brother in admiration and worship? She was extremely curious.
“Let me tell you about his deeds.” There was a passionate glow in Yao Mingxi’s eyes, and a yearning look surfaced on his cold face. “My idol… When he entered this university, he had a cultivation base of Zeroth Stage Dao Body.”
Hearing this, Yao Xiu was momentarily dazed. She blinked her large watery eyes in surprise.
“In the short span of a year, guess what rank he’s on now?”
Yao Xiu recovered slightly from her daze and she guessed the highest rank she dared to believe. “Tenth Stage Dao Body?”
Yao Mingxi shook his head. “It’s Spirit Nurturing Stage!”
“S-Spirit Nurturing Stage?” Yao Xiu finally lost her cool, and her petite chest rose and fell.
He rose in rank from the Zeroth Stage Dao Body to the Spirit Nurturing Stage in merely a year?
With him as a comparison… it was as if she, a prodigy of the Spirit Sword State, had wasted away eighteen years of her life!
“This is only one of his many achievements,” Yao Mingxi continued. “Do you know, when he took part in the free-for-all battle, he was only of the Dao Body Stages. However, with a single finger, he defeated Wang Xuanzhan who was ranked first on the Immortal Rankings Board at the time!”
“He defeated Wang Xuanzhan with a single finger?” Yao Xiu stammered in disbelief.
“That’s not all. When he descended into the mortal world on a mission, the Dark Wing Tribe’s Dark Night Monarch suddenly appeared. However, he slew her with a single stroke of his sword!” Yao Mingxi became increasingly animated as he spoke.
“Members of the Dark Wing Tribe who can be referred to as monarchs are all supreme beings of the Return to Void Stage… Heavens!” Yao Xiu quivered in shock and she fell into a daze.
If these words weren’t uttered by her serious and solemn brother, she definitely wouldn’t believe them.
“Yao Xiu, what do you think? Is this senior an absolute legend? Is he worthy of our worship and admiration?!” Yao Mingxi’s eyes burned with fervent passion and his breathing quickened in excitement.
Yao Xiu could barely contain her feeling of worship any longer. “Brother, who exactly is he?”
“His name is An Lin,” Yao Mingxi replied. “He’s a senior in the second year!”
There was a look of excitement on Yao Xiu’s face. “Senior An Lin, is it? Let’s go look for him today! Let’s become friends with him!”
“That’s what I was thinking too,” Yao Mingxi nodded. “However, we can’t act too rashly. We must leave our senior a good first impression!”
Yao Xiu pondered for a moment and suggested, “Why don’t we perform a sword dance for him?”
“But does he enjoy watching sword dances? Yao Xiu, you’re really good at singing. How about I perform the sword dance and you sing for him? That way, we’ll have succeeded as long as he enjoys one of our performances!”
“What if he doesn’t like either one of them?” Yao Xiu asked anxiously.
“Doesn’t like either one…? Then we’ll use force!” Yao Mingxi’s eyes burned with raging passion.
“What kind of force?” Yao Xiu’s pretty face flushed red in excitement.
Yao Mingxi gritted his teeth. “Even if we can’t become friends, we definitely still need to make him remember us…”
“We can ask him what he likes first, then we can try to tailor to his taste. If he still rejects us, then we’ll follow him around everywhere. We’ll pester him until he accepts us!”
Yao Xiu’s eyes lit up. “We still need to ask for a signature, take a group photo, and exchange voice transmission talisman details!”
“Yes, that’s exactly right!” Yao Mingxi nodded. “Let’s head off to the White Wing School District now!”
“Yes, brother!” Yao Xiu was unable to wait any longer.
Just like that, the brother and sister duo were full of zest as they dashed toward the White Wing School District.
Next to where they initially stood, An Lin grimaced as his expression darkened.
He had caught every single word of their conversation just then.
His mood went from initial triumphant to his current vexation.
After a moment of silence, he decided to head off in the direction opposite to where the siblings were heading…