At sunrise, the morning glow painted the sky in brilliant colors.
The warm sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bamboo, shining on Bai Yujing's incomparably handsome face and dyeing his pupils a golden-yellow.
Zhuang Xun raised his hand, spreading his fingers slightly to block the light in front of his eyes.
“I actually pulled an all-nighter.”
Ever since he became a martial artist, his energy had grown more abundant by the day. Without even realizing it, he had cultivated through the entire night.
“But at least my progress on weaving the neural network is finally nearly half complete.”
The youth suddenly smiled, like a gentle spring breeze brushing against one's face.
Once the newly woven neural network connected throughout his entire body, he would become a Seventh Rank martial artist. By then, he would be considered a rare expert in the Zechuan City area.
The head instructor of the Outer Court was only at this realm, and some gang leaders in Zechuan City hadn't even reached Seventh Rank.
As for the Outer Court instructors, their cultivation was generally around Eighth Rank.
“Hmm... it'll probably take another half a month or so. In any case, breaking through before the master-apprentice ceremony is impossible.”
“That's enough for today. Time to sleep. Although I'm not tired, it feels weird if I don't sleep.” Zhuang Xun walked slowly toward the Sparse Bamboo Residence, enjoying the scenery along the way.
Arriving at his dormitory, he boiled some water, took a bath, and lay down to rest.
An hour later.
Having had his fill of sleep, an energetic Zhuang Xun controlled Yan Pingsheng to get out of bed and head to the Seventh Courtyard's martial arts field with his roommates to temper their strength.
Meanwhile, Bai Yujing continued to cultivate in the clearing deep within the bamboo forest.
Ever since Bai Yujing became a martial artist, Zhuang Xun rarely controlled him to go to the martial arts field, mostly finding a quiet place to train on his own.
He had informed Instructor Huang in advance, and Instructor Huang hadn't said much about it.
Soon, as noon approached, Zhuang Xun packed up his things and headed toward the dining hall.
Seeing this, Zhang Tie and An Dafu quickly packed up their things and followed.
After the Grand Competition ended, their motivation to cultivate plummeted. In fact, it wasn't just them; most people in the Seventh Courtyard were the same.
With a quick glance, Zhuang Xun saw that quite a few people were already preparing to head to the dining hall, some even leaving earlier than him.
When they returned to the dormitory after eating, Li Zigeng was miraculously back even earlier than them.
He sat on his bed with a deeply worried expression, staring at an exquisite brocade pouch.
“Yo, Zigeng, back so early today? What's wrong? Why the long face?” Zhang Tie asked as he plopped down on his bed, pulling off his tall boots.
Li Zigeng put away the brocade pouch and sighed. “Senior Sister Chen wants me to deliver this brocade pouch to Senior Brother Bai, and she also instructed me to ask him out tonight.”
Huh? Zhuang Xun, who was slipping a bath towel under his clothes to wipe away his sweat, looked over at Li Zigeng.
Zhang Tie gasped. “Holy crap! Is Senior Sister Chen issuing a challenge to Senior Brother Bai?”
An Dafu rolled his eyes. “This is Senior Sister Chen trying to express her feelings to Senior Brother Bai. Senior Brother Bai is about to become the Chief Senior Brother. They won't be able to see each other every day in the future, and they might not even see each other at all.”
“Hey, I was just joking. Couldn't you tell?” Zhang Tie grumbled.
Knock, knock.
A knock suddenly sounded on the door.
“Ah, coming, coming!” Li Zigeng quickly ran over to open the door.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready. Youlin, let's go.”
“Mm.” The youth outside, who had his arms crossed over his chest, gave a flat reply. His gaze swept over Zhang Tie and An Dafu before stopping on Yan Pingsheng, and he suddenly nodded.
Zhuang Xun was taken aback for a moment, then nodded in response.
Cui Youlin—that was the youth's name.
Zhuang Xun had a slight impression of him: he was one of the few in the Seventh Courtyard who possessed six stone of strength, and he seemed to be quite a proud person.
The two didn't even know each other, so he hadn't expected the other party to greet him.
Zhang Tie chimed in to ask, “Zigeng, what are you guys up to?”
Li Zigeng replied, “Delivering a brocade pouch to Senior Brother Bai.”
“Let's hurry up. There are others waiting for us outside,” Cui Youlin urged with a frown.
He didn't want to waste time on people who couldn't even achieve a Grade A.
“There are others? Didn't Senior Sister Chen only instruct the two of us?” Li Zigeng was surprised.
“They're running errands for other senior sisters. They didn't dare approach Senior Brother Bai alone, so under the suggestion of Liang Wencai from the Fifth Courtyard, they decided to act together,” Cui Youlin said as they walked.
They need to form a group just to find me? Just how many people are there... Curiously, Zhuang Xun followed them out.
When he saw the dozens of people standing outside, he was instantly dumbfounded.
Wait, with so many of you asking me out at once, do you think I have some kind of clone technique to deal with you all?
Oh, wait. I actually do.
Zhuang Xun followed the crowd to the door of Bai Yujing's dormitory.
The dozens of people hesitated, freezing at the door and pushing each other forward. Not a single one dared to step up and knock.
In the end, Zhuang Xun couldn't take it anymore and controlled Bai Yujing to open the door himself.
The crowd outside was startled and scrambled backward, terrified of being the one standing at the very front.
Zhuang Xun: “...”
If I didn't know what you were here for, I'd think you were trying to play a prank on me... he grumbled internally as he watched the crowd, which seemed to instinctively want to flee.
“What is it?”
Cui Youlin looked left and right, then steeled himself to step forward. Presenting the brocade pouch with both hands, he said, “Senior Brother Bai, Senior Sister Chen asked me to deliver this to you. She also wanted me to tell you that she will be waiting for you by the Little Mirror Pond tonight.”
“Mm, I understand.” Zhuang Xun nodded slightly.
Seeing this, the others chimed in all at once: “Senior Brother Bai! There's also Senior Sister Liu, Senior Sister Li, Senior Sister Wang, Senior Sister Zhao, Senior Sister Qian...”
Hearing so many names, Zhuang Xun found it a bit hard to keep a straight face. He calmly pointed to a mountain of various gift boxes piled up in the corner.
“Just put them over there.”
“Yes.” The crowd let out a sigh of relief, stepping forward one by one to place their brocade pouches on top of the gift boxes.
Just then, someone accidentally knocked over a box with a clatter. His face turned deathly pale with fright, and everyone else's hearts clenched.
“Senior Brother Bai, I... I...”
“It is fine. Just put it back.” Bai Yujing's voice remained as quiet and serene as an ancient pool, showing no hint of anger.
“Yes, yes!” The person felt as if they had received a grand pardon and quickly set the box back in place.
The people who came up to place their brocade pouches afterward all moved with extreme caution, terrified of knocking over any boxes.
“Is there anything else?”
“No, nothing!” The crowd shook their heads like rattle-drums. Huddling close together, they tiptoed away. Only after they had walked a good distance did they finally begin to relax.
Cui Youlin looked back, placing his hand over his chest as he felt the lingering rapid pounding of his heart.
“Is this the pressure of the number one disciple in the Outer Court? Truly terrifying.”
“Man, when I knocked over that gift box just now, my heart stopped. I thought I was dead meat,” the person who had knocked over the box said, feeling like a survivor of a great disaster.
“But Senior Brother Bai is actually quite gentle. He didn't even scold me, just told me to put it back,” he added.
“Yeah, I've rarely seen Senior Brother Bai get angry with anyone. He's always been very amiable, just like he was with us just now,” the others agreed.
“Hey, let me tell you something about Senior Brother Bai, but don't go spreading it around...”
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