As the only Outstanding Student she had ever encountered in her career as a teacher, Li Xueli met Xu Chuyao’s expectations with twelve-tenths of her effort.
Take the Goya Book Collection she brought back this time, for instance; she had spontaneously traveled to several cities and visited countless libraries before she finally managed to purchase it.
This was no easy feat.
In the early years, when the Reiki Resurrection first began, the world changed completely. In that era of chaos, people felt that the old science was wrong and useless in the new age, causing many works and theories to be lost.
Later, due to the discovery of the physical properties of the Three Defenses and the theological properties of the Four Stages, people proposed a new Version 0 Theory.
This theory suggested that the new era was built upon the foundation of the old, and that the things of the past were still useful. This sparked a cultural renaissance, and all sorts of old knowledge were gradually recovered.
That being said, if you were to ask how much had actually been recovered, one could only say they were doing their best to search.
‘Whatever,’ ‘eventually,’ ‘as soon as possible,’ and ‘doing one’s best’—truly the most difficult words in the world to define.
“Xu Chuyao, look. I have two boxes of books here. This box is about geology and the physical properties you wanted to discuss. This other box is literary; you mentioned finding things for philosophical inquiry.”
Li Xueli excitedly unzipped a suitcase to show a book, but the girl reached out and pushed it back.
“Let’s put them aside for now; there’s no time to talk out here,” Xu Chuyao said with a hint of awkwardness. “Teacher Li, if you have some time recently, could you come on a business trip with us for a while?”
“A business trip? Where to?”
“Emmm, anyway, it’s not in the mortal world.”
“Huh? Not in the mortal world?”
What did “not in the mortal world” mean? Was there anywhere else?
Li Xueli was left dizzy by Xu Chuyao’s words, not understanding a thing. But at that moment, the white-haired girl stepped forward and placed a hand on her forehead.
“Student Shen Ning? What is this?”
The girl remained silent. She simply raised her other hand and crushed the soulstone held in her palm.
Crack!
“Wait, wait! What’s happening? Don’t do anything rash!”
“It’s fine, Teacher Li. Just think of this business trip as a vacation. I’ll come find you when I have time.”
Xu Chuyao waved goodbye to Li Xueli, who had already been pulled into the door.
Afterward, she walked out of the hall and met up with her Head Teacher, who was waiting outside. Others aside, since this trip to the Council was for a life-and-death struggle against the Ghost Party under General Chu, Yu Jie insisted on coming along no matter what.
“Let’s go.”
It was a simple flight, and the cabin was quite empty; one person more or less didn’t make a difference. The only inconvenience was that there was an extra person sitting in the front. Director Long had a hard time finding a private moment to whisper with Xu Chuyao.
“There’s really no need. The Head Teacher isn’t an outsider,” Xu Chuyao said, opening her eyes to glance at him. She gestured toward Yu Jie in the front row. “It’s fine to chat openly in front of everyone.”
Long Feng was tempted, but he ultimately shook his head. “Forget it, it’s better if we keep this between us. How do you view the current situation within the Council?”
Xu Chuyao tilted her head. ‘How do I view it?’
“I mean, although Marshal Wen has asked you to handle things several times, he always had a legitimate reason. It wasn’t like you were doing his personal bidding. So, I feel like you don’t necessarily have to stand on this side. You should consider it carefully.”
Xu Chuyao understood. Long Feng felt the waters in the Council were too deep, and since the strength of the two factions wasn’t clear yet, he was advising her not to rush into picking a side.
These were indeed words that could only be said in private. He truly treated Xu Chuyao as a trusted confidant and spoke for her own good.
“Director Long, you don’t favor Marshal Wen’s side?”
“It’s not that I don’t favor them. It’s just that, as you said before, General Chu has the advantage. You helping Marshal Wen only makes the two sides roughly equal. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be easier if you stood on the other side?”
Theoretically, that made sense, but Xu Chuyao sighed. “It can’t be calculated that way. Whether the Four Stages fight to the death doesn’t matter; what matters is what the two behind the scenes look like when they fight.”
Even a total victory at the Four Stages was useless. Even if every member of the Ghost Party was killed, if General Chu himself defeated Marshal Wen, he could simply wipe everyone out from top to bottom.
Beneath the gap of a major rank, everyone is an ant.
After thinking it over, Long Feng felt that Xu Chuyao had a point. He asked one final question: “Who do you think will win if Marshal Wen and General Chu fight?”
Xu Chuyao gave a cute eye-roll. “How would I know?”
She wasn’t lying, but she did have an answer in her heart—’Shen Ning, obviously!’
That was how the original story was written.
At this moment, however, Shen Ning was still in the Crystal World, taking Li Xueli around for her first visit.
Teacher Li usually studied natural science and literature; when had she ever seen such an eerie place? She nearly fainted when they reached the main attraction, the Naihe Hall.
“Am I… am I about to be reincarnated?”
Shen Ning gave her a curious look. “You aren’t even dead yet. Why would you say that?”
After much persuasion, Li Xueli finally understood. This was likely a pocket dimension that the girl could somewhat control. Although the people inside didn’t look human, and technically weren’t, they were all good people with hearts of gold.
Someone had even caught her when she almost collapsed earlier.
“Teacher Li,” Shen Ning decided to get down to business. “Xu Chuyao asked you to give me a lesson about stones.”
Li Xueli composed herself and took a book out of her suitcase.
“Student Xu Chuyao said there were things to discuss, but since she isn’t here yet, let’s start with some general knowledge. First of all, you should know that the essence of these soulstones belongs to the pumice category, much like the jade you are familiar with…”
The plane landed, and the group took a specialized car for about twenty minutes before finally arriving at the Spired Building.
Long Feng handed Xu Chuyao two keys with room numbers on them and then departed on his own. He wasn’t participating in the war between the two bosses above; as a mere recommender, it was better for him to stay away.
There were many rooms in the Spired Building, but not all of them were occupied. One room was for Xu Chuyao and the other was for Yu Jie, both being experts of the Four Stages or higher.
“Head Teacher, you rest first. I’ll go to my room and wait. I expect someone will want to chat with me soon. I’ll call you if anything happens.”
Xu Chuyao’s guess was not wrong at all. Just after she entered the simple little room, put down her luggage, and made the bed, someone knocked on the door.
“Miss Xu, please come with me.”
‘They’re here.’
The person spoke politely, but the content was rather blunt—it was a notification that completely disregarded personal will. Xu Chuyao wasn’t angry; she knew what kind of place this was. It was to be expected.
She followed the secretary—a woman who was no longer young but still possessed a certain charm—along the corridor outside the small rooms to the elevator at the corner of the hall. Xu Chuyao asked casually, “Did Marshal Wen only invite me, or are there other teammates?”
The secretary smiled. “Miss Xu misunderstood. It is the Council Speaker who wishes to see you.”
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