CHAPTER 310: CHAPTER 310 WE’RE BACK

The frenzied dash and exclamations brought some vitality to the otherwise slightly gloomy school. He raced from the back mountain towards Wangxue Building, shouting as he ran.

"What’s wrong with that teacher? What is he yelling about?"

"The Dean’s shining? The Dean isn’t even bald, so how could he shine?"

WHOOSH! Eld Di and a group of experts led by the Qing Emperor instantly appeared before the tactical instructor.

"Ma Ji, what’s the matter with you? Making such a fuss."

"It’s lit, Dean! The Nine-layer Pagoda is lit again! This time it’s not the seventh floor, it’s the fourth!" Ma Ji shouted excitedly.

Instantly, the expressions of Eld Di and his group turned solemn. Eld Di quickly stamped his foot and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The Qing Emperor also disappeared in a flash, leaving the group behind him staring at each other in dismay.

"The fourth floor? Weren’t they all evacuated?" Doubt flashed in Nangong Meng’s eyes, quickly replaced by elation. Could it be that Student Yu Ruoyun and the others are unharmed?

News that the Nine-layer Pagoda was suddenly lit again spread like wildfire throughout the academy. Most students were merely curious and not overly concerned, but a small portion of them began discussing it fiercely.

The clicking of Sun Li’s high heels sounded once again as she approached Jiang Xinyu’s door. Just as she was about to knock, she heard Jiang Xinyu excitedly talking on the phone inside.

"Are you serious? It’s lit again? Okay... okay, I’ll go check it out right away..."

Jiang Xinyu eagerly pulled open the door, only to see Sun Li standing outside, hand raised as if to knock.

"Mrs. Sun."

"What happened? What’s going on?"

"The Nine-layer Pagoda is lit again! There might still be people inside. The Dean and some teachers have rushed over, and I’m planning to take a look too," she said, then dashed towards the distant staircase like the wind.

It’s lit again?

「Inside the Nine-layer Pagoda, at the exit.」

"So, the Nine-layer Pagoda is closed, just as I thought... When will they open the gates again...? I’m starving..." Wang Lan grumbled, lounging bored on a tree branch near the entrance to the first floor of the pagoda. Yu Ruoyun sat cross-legged beneath the tree, practicing the Qi Cultivation Chapter of the Immortal Cloud Mysterious Green Record.

"It still feels a bit off. Wang Lan, could you please be quiet? Your voice is disturbing my focus. The academy must know there are still people in the pagoda; I’m sure they’ll open the gates soon."

"Hmph? Is Princess Yu’s Dao-heart so easily disturbed?" By now, Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun’s relationship had deepened to that of close friends, comfortable enough for casual banter and teasing without reservation.

As he got to know her better, Wang Lan found Yu Ruoyun to be no different from any other girl. Her supposed aura and the pressure she exuded? All self-imposed, he thought. To him, Yu Ruoyun was just a bit more knowledgeable and prone to lecturing, making her a tad wordy. Otherwise, she was quite nice.

"Heh. Though you can’t shake my Dao-heart, it’s definitely better for you to be quiet than to drone on. Speaking of which... aren’t you cultivating? The path of cultivation is like rowing upstream; even with exceptional talent, you should seize every available moment to improve yourself.

"The world is never short of hardworking people, nor of those who are both talented and diligent," Yu Ruoyun began to lecture again.

"Stop! Master, please stop chanting!"

"Master?"

"No, my mistake. I meant Abbess!"

"You! Blockhead! Even though it’s just the basic Qi Cultivation Chapter, being able to increase Star Power without relying on Soul Beads is significant. If you cultivate it to a profound level, it’s like constantly absorbing a Soul Bead. Don’t you realize how much that would help your improvement?

"Even if your emotions were in turmoil after surviving that ordeal, an hour has passed. It’s time to calm down..."

BLAH BLAH BLAH...

Listening to Yu Ruoyun, Wang Lan’s eyes glazed over.

"Sis, I surrender! I was wrong! I confess, I’ve already learned it..."

"Learned it?" Yu Ruoyun paused, looking up at Wang Lan in astonishment. "When... did you?"

"I learned it back in the main hall. This breathing technique and energy circulation is a gradual, painstaking process. During this, one opens the body’s twelve major meridians, allowing for the natural conversion of Star Power.

"You managed to open two meridians in an hour—that’s already heaven-defying, you know? Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Take it easy."

"Then what about you? What does that make you?"

"I’m naturally gifted; all my meridians were open from birth, so I didn’t need to go through that process of unblocking them like you. Of course, I learned it instantly. But that’s all. Ten minutes of absorption this way doesn’t even yield as much Star Power as a single low-grade Soul Bead."

If Wang Lan were an NPC, Yu Ruoyun would probably have seen +1, +1, +1 floating above his head as he spoke.

For others, cultivating the Qi Cultivation Chapter of the Immortal Cloud Mysterious Green Record was about enhancing Star Power, absorbing the ambient Star Power between heaven and earth for their use. But for Wang Lan, it seemed he was just gaining experience points.

While it was true that his "mana bar" would replenish if depleted, Wang Lan didn’t even need to cultivate the Immortal Cloud Mysterious Green Record; his energy reserves refilled automatically anyway.

Yu Ruoyun shot Wang Lan a disdainful look and finally fell silent.

BOOM!

Suddenly, a loud BOOM resounded from the sky, like thunder. Yu Ruoyun sprang to her feet with a WHOOSH, and Wang Lan tumbled from the tree branch with a THUD.

The previously illusory space before their eyes slowly split open, revealing a crack. Amidst the distortion, the great gates of the Nine-layer Pagoda gradually materialized before them.

Before the gates fully stabilized, two figures appeared before them. Eld Di and the Qing Emperor immediately spotted Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun standing at the entrance, their tense expressions finally relaxing into long-absent smiles.

"Are you two all right?"

"Great-grandfather. Uncle."

"Dean, we’re fine. It’s just that Speedy Wind and Bai Ji..."

"It’s good that you’re unharmed. That’s all that matters. Come with us for now."

The four of them exited the Nine-layer Pagoda one by one. Although they had anticipated their reappearance would cause a stir and perhaps a large reception, they hadn’t expected such an immense scene.

The moment they stepped out of the Nine-layer Pagoda, countless piercing gazes fixed on them, accompanied by a terrifying pressure like an icy gale. At first glance, everyone present was a prominent figure.

This was especially true for several military figures, their shoulder boards glittering with dazzling gold stars: General, General, Senior General, Senior General... Heavens!

There were only seven Senior Generals in the entire Jade Country and just over thirty Generals. Yet, before Wang Lan’s eyes, there were a dozen such high-ranking officers combined.

"Wang Lan—!" A cry came from the back of the crowd. Instantly, a slender figure sprinted towards them from a distance, her long, dark hair flowing behind her like silken ribbons. Jiang Xinyu’s delicate face was streaked with heart-wrenching tears.

Wang Lan opened his arms, and Jiang Xinyu flew into his embrace like a swallow returning to its nest, burying her face deeply in his chest.

"I knew you were still alive... I just knew it... I knew you had to be alive," Jiang Xinyu murmured, feeling Wang Lan’s strong, steady heartbeat.

In full public view, under the watchful eyes of so many prominent figures, the two of them shamelessly engaged in a public display of affection.

Meanwhile, Yu Ruoyun was also surrounded by people.

"Thank you all, uncles and elders, for your concern. I’m fine. This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s find another location, and I will recount everything that happened in detail," Yu Ruoyun said, though her gaze kept drifting to the embracing couple, who seemed almost like a backdrop to the current scene.

A hint of envy flickered in her eyes. How nice, she thought.

After Wang Lan comforted Jiang Xinyu and her emotions settled, Nangong Meng came looking for him.

"Wang Lan, quickly now. Many people are waiting for you."

"Xinyu, I have to go for now. We’ll go out for a good meal later. You look so haggard; you haven’t been eating properly these past few days, have you?"

"Of course not! If I had died in there, do you think you’d be able to eat?" Jiang Xinyu retorted, pinching Wang Lan hard.

"Well, that’s not entirely certain. Isn’t there a saying? ’Channel grief and indignation into appetite’..."

"Get lost—!"

WHOOSH! The brand-new cell phone he’d bought just that summer vacation flew towards him like a projectile.

Following Nangong Meng to Conference Room One, Wang Lan found the atmosphere serious but not oppressive. Yu Ruoyun was already seated in the main position at the head of the conference table. When Wang Lan entered, Eld Di gestured for him to sit next to her.

"Great-grandfather, esteemed uncles and elders," Yu Ruoyun began. "The experiences of our four-person team—Wang Lan, Yue Jifeng, Bai Ji, and myself—were quite extraordinary. Allow me to start from when we entered the Nine-layer Pagoda.

"After we joined the main group on the fourth floor, everything proceeded as expected. Once we exterminated the Golden Winged Fire Scorpion, we encountered the Scorpion King’s self-detonation. Yue Jifeng and I were both seriously injured. Fortunately, Wang Lan possesses remarkable healing abilities, and we recovered quickly.

"It was then that we began to encounter unusual circumstances. Three Star Martial Warriors from the outside had infiltrated the Nine-layer Pagoda with the intent to assassinate Student Bai Ji."

"Wait, their target was Bai Ji? Not you?" Yu Huailong suddenly interrupted.

"Yes, it was Bai Ji."

"King Ning, please refrain from interrupting Princess Yu Ruoyun. If you have questions, kindly wait until she has finished speaking," Zuo Ming said coolly.

"Once we confirmed their target was Bai Ji, and after we dealt with them on the spot, we suspected there might be security flaws in the Nine-layer Pagoda’s management. However, this didn’t raise our immediate alarm, as we planned to report it to the academy upon our exit.

"After the Golden Winged Fire Scorpion was eliminated, we still had four days remaining. We decided to hunt another type of creature. We chose The Death Valley because, apart from their terrifying Star Martial Toxins, the Ghost-eyes there possess minimal combat capabilities.

"Our teammate, Wang Lan, happens to be a natural counter to Star Martial Toxins. While Wang Lan was gathering components for an antidote, we discovered a metal box in the forest on the outskirts of The Death Valley, apparently left there fifteen years ago. Inside this box was a large quantity of Space Stones.

"We speculated that someone had been secretly pilfering Space Stones from the Nine-layer Pagoda. In retrospect, however, this discovery might have also been a part of the hidden mastermind’s scheme.

"We successfully created the antidote and eliminated a large number of Ghost-eyes. Everything was proceeding very smoothly. However, while we were collecting our spoils, we discovered a mining pickaxe deep within The Death Valley.

"Its manufacturing date indicated it was made at the end of last year. This led us to believe that someone among the current entrants was secretly mining Space Stones. Therefore, we decided to investigate. Sure enough, in the deepest part of The Death Valley, we found a deep, artificially excavated tunnel.

"However, we didn’t expect that this tunnel contained no Space Stones at all; it was merely a trap set for us. When we reached the bottom of the excavation, we saw large piles of Space Stones.

"Upon seeing us arrive, they activated the Space Stones, intending to annihilate us within the turbulent spatial currents. However, what no one anticipated—likely not even they—was that the activated Space Stones would tear open a passage to another dimension. All four of us were pulled into the resulting spatial rift."