The Star Plucking Assembly had weathered several upheavals but finally drew to a smooth close. Yan Zhen secured the top spot on the General Star List—a position that wouldn’t budge for quite some time.
The academy’s rules were clear: the number one spot only faced challenges from the top ten. Those in the top ten only accepted challenges from the top fifty, the top fifty from others on the list, and only rankings fifty-one through one hundred eight opened the door to challengers from outside the list.
After Yan Zhen had drawn his sword, he had displayed strength that utterly overwhelmed Wen Canglan. None of the other top ten would dare challenge him anytime soon. They all had more pressing goals ahead—
Breaking through to the Mystic King Realm!
In Mystic Academy, anyone who advanced from Mystic Practitioner to Mystic Scholar within three years earned the right to study at Holy Land Academy.
Holy Land Academy’s requirements were a touch more intricate:
Those still at Mystic Master after five years had virtually no shot at Jialan Holy Land, unless the sacred land happened to need more menial disciples. Most ended up as mentors at various Mystic Academies or joined other sects and powers.
Reach Mystic General within five years, and entry to Jialan Holy Land still required passing an assessment. Succeed, and you’d become a named disciple; fail, and plenty chose to stay on as Outer Academy mentors at Holy Land Academy.
Achieve Mystic King within five years, and Jialan Holy Land welcomed you directly. Once your background checked out clean, you became a formal disciple. Standouts like Gu Tiange might even catch the eye of sacred land elders or peak lords, taken directly as true disciples.
Though Yan Zhen now wielded battle power on par with a Mystic King, he still couldn’t graduate and enter Jialan Holy Land. After all, much of that power stemmed from his Extreme Flames, while his actual cultivation lingered at One-Star Mystic General.
The restrictions of the Emperor Flame Technique meant he couldn’t raise his cultivation until he refined his fourth Extreme Flame.
That fourth flame was the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire atop the Firmament Nine-Story Tower.
According to the script, Yan Zhen would request a month’s leave, return to Garo Kingdom, and head to Cloud Heaven Palace to fulfill his Two-Year Battle Pact with his fiancée, Huangfu Wenqing.
After defeating Huangfu Wenqing, he would be unmasked as the killer of one of Cloud Heaven Palace’s outer sect elders, drawing the palace’s full pursuit. Fortunately, Long Ying would recover her strength and help him break through the encirclement. With help from his good big sister Ji Ya, he would escape smoothly, holing up at the Golden Jade Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Along the way, he’d help her clean house, rooting out her rivals.
Yet Cloud Heaven Palace’s Second Palace Lord would order Yan Lie’s kidnapping, using the elder as bait to lure Yan Zhen into surrendering himself.
Frantic, Yan Zhen would rush back to Garo Kingdom with Long Ying—only to fail in rescuing Yan Lie and nearly lose his own life in the process.
Once again, Sister Ji Ya would save him and Long Ying.
The pair would flee all the way back to the academy. Devastated by his grandfather’s death, Yan Zhen would teeter on the edge of demonic possession. Ignoring pleas from Elder Yu Yan and his own master, he would charge straight into the thunder pool atop the Firmament Nine-Story Tower, forcibly refining the Wind-Thunder Crystal Fire and nearly perishing in the attempt.
From then on, Yan Zhen grew taciturn, devoting himself single-mindedly to cultivation. Upon entering Jialan Holy Land, he would reach the Mystic Lord Realm. During the Heaven’s Chosen Ceremony for selecting the Saint Son, he would clash head-on with a horde of Mystic Ancestor experts despite his lower realm, seizing the Saint Son title through sheer dominance.
Soon after, Cloud Heaven Palace would meet its doom. Yan Zhen would slaughter every last person involved in Yan Lie’s kidnapping and his own attempted assassination.
He and Yun Xiu would drift apart as strangers. Only much later, during the Seven Great Sacred Lands’ joint Demon Extermination Operation, would they reunite.
“Yun Xiu.”
The script’s “first love,” the reality’s so-called “secret lover.”
“It’s been over a year since we last met. Wonder how she’s doing? That outer sect elder was supposed to be my kill, but some enforcement elder swooped in and stole it.”
Now, the only lingering grudge with Cloud Heaven Palace was his Two-Year Battle Pact with Huangfu Wenqing. But even that pact had veered far from the script.
It wasn’t the young man’s battle to wash away humiliation, nor the girl’s fight for freedom. It was simply a battle over who would top and who would bottom.
“…”
What had once felt Mystic now seemed utterly tacky!
Yan Zhen was at a loss for words.
The real issue was that he no longer had any major beef with Cloud Heaven Palace.
“What if they don’t chase me down after the fight?”
—Right!
Inspiration struck Yan Zhen. He could just kiss Yun Xiu right in front of Huangfu Wenqing. That would expose his two-timing ways and his wolfish ambition to feast on a master-disciple pairing. No way the Cloud Heaven Palace higher-ups wouldn’t hunt him down then.
“…”
Even the pursuit felt tacky now.
One misstep led to more, and the plot kept derailing further. No matter how adept Yan Zhen was at smoothing things over, his fixes were starting to feel increasingly forced.
“Something’s gonna go wrong. System-chan still won’t respond. It’s been upgrading forever—I’m done with it. In this time, other people would have laid eggs and hatched ’em already.”
He grumbled inwardly about System-chan, but it stayed silent. Yan Zhen suspected it might be broken. Unfortunately, in his past life, he’d only been an average software drone, versed in basic coding but helpless to fix this busted system.
Late into the night, unable to sleep, Yan Zhen lay in bed lost in thought, his mind racing until drowsiness eluded him entirely.
Long Ying slumbered soundly beside him, though her sleeping posture left much to be desired. She clung to his arm, her entire body wrapped around him, drool even trickling onto his skin.
Huangfu Wenqing, lying on his other side, was far more composed—no drool, pristine and serene, the picture of a sleeping beauty. The only issue was—
“Yan Zhen, Long Ying’s asleep.”
“Uh, I don’t think she’s out cold yet.”
“She’s sleeping deeply. Let’s practice kissing. Mwah~”
“Smack, smack, smack.”
Before he knew it, he and Huangfu Wenqing had become a genuine engaged couple. They’d tried every form of intimacy short of crossing that final line.
For instance, after Zi Ji departed, Huangfu Wenqing had used the excuse of celebrating his top spot on the General Star List to help him bathe. Things nearly went too far, but his iron will kept him from succumbing to his fiancée’s allure. Regrettably, he hadn’t escaped her oral “celebration”—she’d still drained him dry.
At this point, Yan Zhen wavered on whether to provoke her into calling off the engagement.
—Forget it. We’ve built up to this for so long; might as well give it a shot. If even I, the protagonist, give up now, the story’s done for. This world might as well end in a whimper.
Yan Zhen gently stroked his fiancée’s hair, exhaustion finally claiming him as he closed his eyes.
The next day, Yan Zhen headed to the Outer Academy, spending the day with the four women there and getting them thoroughly drunk. He then paid a visit to Dean Little Aunt and Mentor Aunt, confirming that Dean Little Aunt’s strange condition hadn’t recurred. Only then did he return to the Inner Academy and borrow his private flying boat from Elder Great-Aunt.
Elder Yu Yan, as a veteran of the trade, owned more than one private flying boat. Upon hearing Yan Zhen’s request, she handed one over without hesitation, even tossing in a hundred Mystic Crystals as fuel—”Consider it a reward for topping the General Star List.”
Mystic Crystals were crystallized mystic qi, essential for Mystic Lord Realm experts and above, serving as both cultivation resource and high-end currency.
Above them lay the pinnacle Heaven Crystals, produced only in spatial rifts, exceedingly rare and valuable. Mystic Venerables cultivating with Heaven Crystals could deepen their comprehension of spatial power.
A hundred Mystic Crystals would suffice a Mystic Ancestor expert for a month’s cultivation—or power Yan Zhen’s flying boat for several round trips between Holy Land Academy and Garo Kingdom. Elder Great-Aunt was generous indeed. After gifting them, she even personally taught him how to pilot the small flying boat.
“Thanks, Great-Aunt. I’ll head back as soon as things are sorted.”
“Mm. Be careful on the road. If anything urgent comes up, use a messaging talisman to contact me.”
“Alright, we’re off then. Goodbye, Great-Aunt.”
With that farewell to Elder Great-Aunt, Yan Zhen boarded with Long Ying and Huangfu Wenqing, departing Holy Land Academy for Garo Kingdom!
