Yan Zhen didn’t recognize these guys at all. The badges on their chests marked them as students from the introductory class, so they must have some connection to Yan Meng’er.
“Kid, stay away from Yan Meng’er. She’s not a girl you can touch!”
The leader, with his ash-gray hair and a total Kill Matt punk look, jabbed repeatedly at Yan Zhen’s shoulder. His tone dripped with arrogance.
“Beauties belong to the strong. Only I, Temasha, can be the boyfriend of the new campus belle.”
Yan Zhen stared at him in disbelief. What kind of playground trash talk was this? He half-wanted to grab a roll of duct tape and stick the guy to a lamppost.
Mindless villains, and this one was just a Three-Star Mystic Practitioner. In front of Yan Zhen, he was pure cannon fodder.
The real issue was that these extras didn’t even appear in the script. With no one around to witness it, there wasn’t even any face-slapping payoff.
Yan Zhen looked at them with utter disdain.
“Let’s find a quiet spot to talk.”
Temasha smirked smugly.
“Oh ho, you’re a smart kid. Let’s go.”
And so, under the “escort” of the group, Yan Zhen made his way to the back of the school building.
The moment they arrived, Yan Zhen struck.
One punch per person, like swatting kids around. In no time at all, only Temasha was left.
He was tough-skinned and thick-muscled. He took Yan Zhen’s punch without passing out right away but tumbled to the ground. Horror filled his eyes as he stared at Yan Zhen, who was wreathed in Gold-Silver Dual-Color Flames like a demon of fire. Temasha wanted to run, but his legs wouldn’t cooperate.
Yan Zhen delivered a second punch to his impassive face.
“Extras who don’t appear in the script shouldn’t ad-lib. Otherwise, I’ll cut your box lunch for real!”
After dealing with the Kill Matt mob, Yan Zhen returned to the classroom. Yan Ruyu and Mi Xue’er were already there, flanking his seat from both sides. They didn’t stand to let him in when he approached.
Yan Zhen pursed his lips. What were they mad about? It wasn’t like he had stopped them from going to find Meng’er. He circled behind them, gave a light tap with his toes, and hopped neatly into the space between the two girls before settling in.
Mi Xue’er immediately giggled.
“Little Brother Yan Zhen, where did you and Meng’er eat? We didn’t see you two in the cafeteria.”
Yan Zhen casually pulled out a pen and paper from his storage ring as he replied offhandedly.
“We found some quiet spot or other.”
Yan Ruyu sniffed the air suspiciously.
“You didn’t do anything weird to Meng’er, did you?”
Yan Zhen rolled his eyes at her.
“This is the academy. What kind of stuff is in that head of yours? Wind?”
“I—”
Yan Ruyu knew she was in the wrong and fell silent with a huff.
Mi Xue’er rolled her eyes playfully and tried a different tack.
“Then did Meng’er do anything weird to you, Little Brother Yan Zhen?”
“Does a kiss count as weird?” Yan Zhen tapped his cheek. “If it does, then yeah.”
Both girls froze at his words.
—That Meng’er really sneaked a bite!
—You little brat, didn’t we agree to do it together…
Mi Xue’er went on high alert.
She hadn’t seen Yan Meng’er as real competition before. In her previous life, Yan Meng’er had started off as a total loser, with their cousin relationship never progressing beyond that. She never imagined that in this life, Yan Meng’er would reconcile with Yan Zhen and even try to make a move!
She had some real moves, that one.
Meanwhile, Yan Ruyu remembered how her cousin had already kissed Yan Zhen’s cheek during the Shangyuan Festival, while she could only watch enviously. She still hadn’t made any real progress herself.
Did Meng’er think she was dragging her feet too much and decide to ditch her?
Thinking it over, it was always Meng’er who had been setting her up with perfect assists, letting her get closer to Yan Zhen.
Sure, her cousin always pushed her into bold moves that left her feeling mortified at the time. But looking back, those moments were sweet.
Without Meng’er leading the way, how could she have gotten any closer to Yan Zhen?
Just now, for example—she’d opened her mouth and annoyed him right away. If Meng’er had been there, she surely would have said something to smooth things over.
In that instant, Yan Ruyu realized just how crucial Meng’er’s assists were. She inwardly regretted being such a burden, feeling like she’d let down her cousin who only wanted the best for her.
Maybe she needed to be more proactive?
Yan Ruyu gazed at Yan Zhen’s profile, lost in thought.
After mulling it over, she bit her lip and quietly scooted her hips closer until her elbow brushed his forearm. Then she pretended not to notice and buried her nose in her book.
Mi Xue’er figured it was time for her to get serious too. Otherwise, Meng’er would beat her to the punch, and there’d be no crying about it then.
“Little Brother Yan Zhen, you still drawing this? Is it done yet?”
As she spoke, she naturally draped an arm over his shoulder. Her touch was light, not enough to disturb his talisman drawing. Her pretty face leaned in close as she peered curiously at the talisman patterns Yan Zhen was sketching, her long lashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
Yan Zhen was focused on outlining the Fire Symbol and paid no attention to the girls’ little maneuvers.
Once he fully immersed himself, the System popped up the skip prompt again.
The skip function was actually a hassle—it only activated after he entered a trance-like state with no outside interaction.
It was fine for learning scenes like this, but for grueling ones like breaking through to the Mystic Gate, he had to endure the pain for a bit first before skipping.
He chose to skip. The scene before his eyes gradually blurred, then sharpened again. In his mind, a complete memory of drawing the Fire Symbol formed, along with a deep wave of fatigue.
He blinked and found himself walking home from school, Yan Meng’er’s arm tightly looped through his. The familiar softness of her 36D figure teased at his restless heart.
“Cousin, what’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing.”
Yan Zhen shook his head to dispel the disorienting snap back to reality.
“Cousin, want to go shopping before heading back?”
“Not today. I want to go cultivate.”
“Oh…”
Yan Meng’er bowed her head in disappointment, still clinging to his arm without a word, looking just like a sulky puppy.
Yan Zhen’s heart softened instantly.
“I’ll take you shopping in a couple days when I’m free.”
Her face lit up right away.
“Really? Then in two days, right? How about the afternoon after tomorrow? It’s getting hot—Meng’er wants to buy a thinner skirt~”
Watching her pull a drama queen face-change like that, Yan Zhen was speechless. This cousin of his had a whole bag of tricks, impossible to guard against.
Back at the house, Yan Zhen shut himself in his room and entered the Crystal Stone Space. Under the watchful eye of his beautiful master, he failed three times in a row before finally drawing a complete Fire Symbol using yellow paper and cinnabar!
As soon as the Fire Symbol was complete, the yellow paper ignited on its own, turning to ash that scattered silently.
Chen Xi nodded in satisfaction.
“Three or four days to master the Fire Symbol—you have real talent for talisman patterns, Zhen’er.”
Yan Zhen gave a modest smile, listening to the task completion chime in his mind before claiming the reward on reflex.
【Special Trump Card: Circle Curse—Draw a circle casually to curse your opponent. Curse type is random, and its power scales with cultivation gap.】
It felt like another gimmick he wouldn’t use anytime soon. Yan Zhen pocketed it as usual, planning to build a proper deck once he had more trump cards.
Right now, he only had Flame-Headed Sanzang as a “monster card.” The rest were “magic cards” or “trap cards”—not great for heavy lifting.
When would he get a headliner dragon?
“Alright, now that you can draw a complete Fire Symbol with yellow paper and cinnabar, we’ll move to the second stage—draw a complete Fire Symbol using only plain paper and black ink, and make it self-ignite.”
