16. Before Tomorrow
“So… you’re really not a scammer?”
Leng Yuli’s next words almost made Gong Yiling faint.
Walking ahead, she turned around, attempting a cool pose, her hands behind her back, her body slightly bent, like a white goose, tilting her head with a smile. “What do you think, Miss Leng?”
Leng Yuli looked away awkwardly and huffed, “Regardless, thirty high-grade spirit crystals is unreasonable.”
“Is that so?”
“But…” Leng Yuli couldn’t help but mutter, “The 160 Great Hammer my grandfather mentioned… does such a technique, one that can forge without spiritual arts, really exist?”
“If I say I do, would you believe me?”
“No—well…” Leng Yuli, having already expressed her disbelief, mumbled awkwardly, “But if you can guarantee it, I suppose I could… temporarily… believe you.”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Gong Yiling took out the fan she used for posing and chuckled. “So you do believe me, after all?”
“If I say I believe you, then I believe you!” Leng Yuli stomped her foot, slightly annoyed. “It’s not like I have anything to lose…”
This incredibly awkward way of speaking… wasn’t this the legendary… tsundere?
Gong Yiling scrutinized the blushing girl, then opened her fan and chuckled. “Then, before you pay, I’ll allow you to observe for free. Consider it a free trial.”
“But if you want to learn, you’ll have to pay. I’m not running a charity.”
Leng Yuli immediately retorted, her face flushing, “What? I never said I wanted to learn! You’re just talking to yourself!”
“So, I’m just asking for a little bit of your time, Miss Leng.”
These words seemed to please Leng Yuli. “Since you put it that way, then just wait for me to find you!”
Gong Yiling readily agreed. “Yes, yes.”
If it were a matter of status, no young lady would dare to act so arrogantly in front of Miss Gong.
However, Gong Yiling couldn’t be bothered with such airs, and as long as the other young ladies weren’t too annoying, she didn’t mind.
It could even be considered a cute quirk.
She walked back to her room, but before entering, she noticed Leng Yuli entering the room next door, the one Yan Chuyue and Little Heehee were in.
—So she’s the roommate who was out?
Gong Yiling: “Psst, psst.”
Leng Yuli: “Huh? Are you calling me?”
Gong Yiling: “Good night, Miss Neighbor.”
Leng Yuli: “Who wants to… good night.”
—
—
This was their first night at Qian Yue Academy. Gong Yiling lay spread-eagled on her bed, watching the two girls’ peaceful sleeping faces in the dim moonlight, feeling drowsy.
However…
It had been almost two months since she left home. She wondered if her mother had spent a lot of effort looking for her after she ran away with just a note.
She didn’t want to worry her, but if she didn’t do something, things might head in a direction she didn’t want.
—Maybe I should have left a note with Uncle Ghost in Yanlie City to give to my mother?
Of course, it was too late for that now. She didn’t know where Ghost Lord Nine had gone. He was a serious man and would surely investigate the threat of the Cloud Rainbow Sect thoroughly.
Surely he wouldn’t… have also infiltrated Qian Yue Academy?
These thoughts, mere speculations, swirled in her mind as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
That night…
Two uninvited guests landed outside Qian Yue Academy.
“Are you sure they’re in there?”
A woman, exuding a regal aura, stood on a high mountain, looking down at the dimming lights below.
“My puppet left a trace of aura on one of them. Before it dissipated, its last location was here, Qian Yue Academy.” A man with a scar on his face said with some hesitation, “Palace Master, are you really going to go in and see for yourself?”
“Why not?” Gong Muzhi glanced at him coldly. “It’s not like I haven’t been here before.”
Not just “been here”… the last time she was here, she left with a souvenir in her belly. But besides Gong Muzhi, no one knew who the child’s father was, and no one dared to ask.
The only thing they knew was that Gong Yiling’s father must be a member of the Daoist sects.
“But with the same method, Qian Yue Academy won’t be fooled again. And after so many years, Palace Master, you’ve—”
“What?” Gong Muzhi’s expression changed, her usual quirky, foolish demeanor returning. She punched Ghost Lord Nine in the face. “Are you saying I’m old?”
“That’s not what I meant—ouch!” Ghost Lord Nine rubbed his face, exasperated. “And Palace Master, we agreed, no hitting the face.”
“You dare to make demands?” Gong Muzhi’s anger flared. “The Yanlie City incident was all your doing! If you had informed me, the Cloud Rainbow Sect wouldn’t even have had a chance to start a fire.”
However, mentioning this only made Ghost Lord Nine angrier. “Don’t even talk about it! If it weren’t for those Myriad Demons Palace bastards interfering, I would have already captured that so-called Immortal Master’s disciples and used them to lure her out. This wouldn’t have become so troublesome.”
“I’ll have to deal with the Myriad Demons Palace. That old fool needs to give me an explanation. They’re currently investigating the matter internally.”
“But it seems it was his son who acted on his own.”
“That little brat Tian Shangque is a troublemaker! If it weren’t for him—”
Gong Muzhi silenced him with a hand gesture. If he continued, the entire Qian Yue Academy would hear his thunderous voice.
“Save your complaints.” Gong Muzhi took out a set of Daoist robes from her Universe Bag and put them on, looking surprisingly elegant and intellectual.
“What are you…?”
“If I can’t be a student, then I can be a teacher, right?”
