Yanjing, Vermilion Bird Alley.

"These professors gave us tests every damn day, every damn week, what the hell are they even testing?!"

As soon as Li Ying got home, she flopped onto the lounge chair like she gave zero fucks about ladylike behavior. She kicked off her shoes, used her toes to peel off her long socks, then unfastened her corset in one swoop. With her fan waving and her complaints on full blast, she managed to complete the whole transformation from "studious schoolgirl" to "pajama bum" in ten seconds flat—Qian Yuya hadn't even finished closing the door yet.

Kui Nianruo, never one to miss out, copied her move and undid her own chest band too. At first she'd been all shy, even giving Li Ying this look of disdain, but after she tried it once—damn, she was hooked.

After all, Yanjing's peak summer heat was seriously brutal. After holding it in all day, coming home and ditching your underwear before gulping down a glass of icy sour plum juice became the highlight of her day.

Lin Xue and Qian Yuya didn't seem to struggle as much with the heat. Lin Xue was someone whose heart was calm as a lake—in this world where Spiritual Power could literally bend reality with light, "peace of mind brings coolness" was the tried-and-true summer survival tactic for all Huiyao folk. Lin Xue's tranquility worked as her own personal AC.

And don't even get started on Qian Yuya. To put it in their PE teacher's flowery language, she was pretty much cold-blooded by nature, never sweating a drop even in midsummer, her veins running with literal chill.

"Final exams—what's so weird about that?" Lin Xue headed for the kitchen to make sour plum juice, "And the finals are over already, what are you even whining about now,"

"Finishing exams isn't the end!" Li Ying groaned, yanking at her collar to fan her chest, "In a couple days we'll get our grades, and that's when the real judgment day hits."

"Huh, you really care about your grades?" Even scaredy-cat Kui Nianruo managed to throw some shade at Li Ying.

"Of course I care, you have no idea how stressed I was during the exams. These past few days I crammed so many practice problems and read so many books, I thought it was gonna kill me!"

Qian Yuya sat down to take off her shoes, saying, "Why so stressed? Is it because seeing all those top-notch classmates finally made you realize you can't just screw around forever?"

"Kinda, yeah." Li Ying nodded, "My stress comes from the fact that I can't just happily settle for being a cute, pretty piece of deadweight."

Kui Nianruo, "I think there's a huge difference between you two…"

"So, how did you guys do?" Lin Xue brought over four glasses of sour plum juice, smiling, "I didn't ask before 'cuz I didn't wanna mess with everyone's mood, but now that we're done, let's have it—spill."

Li Ying, "I think I probably did fine. I should at least pass."

Kui Nianruo, "I was really nervous during the test, didn't double-check a bunch of questions, a lot of them I totally guessed on… I probably bombed it…"

Lin Xue crossed her legs and nodded, "Yeah, this round was especially tough. I guess this is the Royal Academy's standard? Way harder than Star Engraving County. I couldn't get used to it at all… Honestly, I don't think I did that well."

Qian Yuya took a sip of plum juice—the water was icy well water even without ice cubes, and it went down soooo smooth. "Mediocre."

Li Ying immediately cheered up, "If none of my girls did that great, whatever, let's NOT talk about depressing stuff! Let's plan out what awesome shit we're doing on break!"

Qian Yuya, "Training."

Lin Xue shrugged, "I already made plans with the Bashan Sword Arena. Gotta spar and train with them for the next few days, zero time for fun."

Kui Nianruo hugged her glass and said, "I… I, um, met Senior Sister Sima not long ago, so I'm planning to ask her about Wolf Eagle Fist while I have some time off…"

"Hey—are you guys just leaving me out now—" Li Ying said, looking pitiful, "What the hell am I supposed to do then?"

"Read books, read the news, listen to opera, hear some stories, play mahjong, kill some time with games—your break'll fly right by," Lin Xue said, "Of course, you could also join us for training. The more you learn, the more you see. No way you'll regret it."

"So I gotta keep grinding even during break? Then what's even the point of going to school?" Li Ying smacked the chair arm hard, "School is for learning time, vacation is for party time! Anything else is just making all the teachers' hard work go to waste—"

Knock, knock.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Qian Yuya got up to open it. With her hand on the doorknob, she glanced back at Li Ying, "Xiao Ying."

"It's just Big Sis Nai, right? Just women here, what's there to be freaked about." Li Ying waved dismissively, skirt hiked up, belly exposed, legs wide open for max airflow. "We've even scrubbed each other's backs before! No need to be shy."

Qian Yuya opened the door, voice cool, "Good evening, Teacher Wei."

"Evening, students,"

Thud, thud!

Li Ying was so shook she fell right out of her chair. Wei Wei glanced at her with an expression that said it all. He boomed, "I've heard that in ancient times, when people saw their elders they'd do the full three kneelings and nine kowtows. Never thought my own student cared so much about tradition! Just, next time, remember to check your own attire—or the whole neighborhood will think your teacher's failed to raise you right!"

"Wei—Wei, good evening, Teacher Wei," Li Ying stammered out a forced laugh as she scrambled to fix her outfit. "What brings you out for a home visit this late?"

"Not at all, not at all, just a simple favor for a friend," Wei Wei said with a smile, "As you all know, I'm pretty close with Miss Nai Qingni. She had something urgent tonight and couldn't come home, so she asked me to personally relay an important message for Miss Qian. So, Miss Qian, would you mind taking a walk around the neighborhood with me for a bit?"

"Ooooh—" Li Ying craned her neck, "Teacher Wei, asking out a girl student in the middle of the night—"

"You're all welcome to come if you wish," Wei Wei said, "I just thought it'd be a bit improper for me to barge into a place that's women-only. Plus, Miss Li, with your current outfit, it'd be improper for any men to be within five paces of you."

For the first time ever, Li Ying lost a banter match—and Lin Xue actually stood up, "Teacher Wei, I happen to have some academic questions I wanted to ask you."

"For a teacher, nothing's more joyful than a student eager to learn," Wei Wei headed outside, "Please, follow me,"

"Just look at the ugly faces of these straight-A demons. Nianruo, forget it, let's go shower."

"I, uh, don't really wanna shower with you…"

Lin Xue and Qian Yuya locked up and followed after Wei Wei. As soon as they caught up, they heard him ask, "Are your questions about that stalker you encountered the other day?"

"Yeah."

Wei Wei, "Everything Miss Nai Qingni could tell you about that person and his organization—she already did. As for the rest, I can't say much. Too many interests tangled up. It's better if you just ignore it. All I can say is that it's deep waters, full of powerful players. If you know, you know. If you don't—you really should stay not knowing."

Qian Yuya said, "What we want to know isn't all the details about that guy or the organization behind him."

Wei Wei, "So what DO you want to know?"

"We figured—the stalker couldn't possibly be older than thirty. Hell, he's probably about our age," Lin Xue said seriously, "But he took on four of us—hell, even when we ambushed him—he handled us with ease, fought back smooth as ever, and never gave up a single clue. We couldn't even tell what Cultivation Technique he used; he just neutralized us with plain, basic skills."

"That's already above the Entry realm. We're guessing he's at least an Integration and Mastery-level Martial Artist, and… he probably understands the vast majority of Combat Techniques, even if only to some degree."

Qian Yuya, "What we want to know is, for someone his age to have that much power, is it just talent, or is there some external force we could also tap into?"

Lin Xue nodded, "Just during the Combat Technique exam a couple days ago, we thought even if we weren't top-ranked, at least we were strong, right?"

"But among our peers, seriously, there are way too many absolute monsters."

"Even Li Ying feels the pressure, so how can the rest of us not look for ways to get stronger?"

Wei Wei fell silent for quite a while. As they passed a small bridge, they saw kids by the river setting off fireworks. Whoosh—colorful sparks exploding across the water's surface.

He suddenly pointed at the fireworks and said, "Right now, the Royal Academy's cultivation method is already the fastest track available to any ordinary Martial Artist. Anything else—those unusual techniques—they're all like fireworks: quick, dazzling bursts of glory, fueled by burning through your life in a flash."

"Time doesn't wait, Teacher Wei," Qian Yuya shook her head, "Even if WE don't use them, that doesn't mean nobody else will. If they do, they get ahead, and then we fall behind—failure's right there."

"I read this word in a newspaper—involution. The article said that after a flood of Sky District refugees poured into Dongyang, there was way too much labor for too few jobs. People competed so fiercely, they'd slash their wages, even sell themselves into slavery, because if they didn't, they'd die."

"It's a heavy-handed explanation, but it's not wrong either. In any place with limited resources, if there's a way to boost your power—even at your own expense—if you skip it but someone else uses it, you'll lose out."

"We can protest, we can complain, but we'll still get kicked out of the game."

Wei Wei smoothed his salt-and-pepper hair, "Sometimes I wonder—if even bright, promising kids like you are already thinking about burning yourselves out, doesn't that make us adults pretty damn useless?"

"Life's just too harsh," Lin Xue tried to lighten things up, "But even if you don't want to teach us, at least you could tell us about it. Otherwise, next time we run into these people, we'll have no clue at all—we'll be screwed from the get go."

"All right," Wei Wei nodded, "But really, there's nothing much to teach."

"White Night has figured it out already: every regular 'operative' in that organization is super strong—some even have legendary records of victory. That's not something random techniques can build. Most likely, they hold some kind of Divine Weapon that works for groups. An unbeatable advantage you just can't imitate."

"Besides that, some of their members might also train in Forbidden Battle Techniques."

Qian Yuya, "Forbidden Battle Techniques?"

Wei Wei pulled a gray hair, "For example—Hidden Sword Technique—that's a Forbidden Battle Technique too. And it totally exemplifies what makes these things forbidden—cruelty."

"Either cruelty to yourself,"

"Or cruelty to others,"

"Or just cruelty for everyone."

"That's where the 'forbidden' part comes in. Whether you're torturing yourself or someone else—the cultivator's mind twists. At best, you become obsessed and arrogant; at worst, your whole personality fractures."

"If normal Combat Techniques are about the hardship of training, the joy of growth, the thrill of 'Crossing the Tribulation'—all that making you stronger little by little…"

"Then Forbidden Battle Techniques are all about teaching yourself to take pain, to treat suffering as pleasure, to push through countless disasters until you finally earn some freaky set of special powers."

"So I'll never teach you any Forbidden Battle Technique," Wei Wei said softly, "Because I'm a victim of one myself. I know damn well—it's a miracle to even stay sane after going through that."

"It's real damn tough."

Lin Xue and Qian Yuya exchanged looks. They'd steeled themselves for a harsh shortcut, but reality was even rougher than they'd imagined.

"If I joined that organization, would I get those benefits their members get?" Qian Yuya suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Wei Wei smiled, "But most of the time it's veterans leading newbies, and you'd have to completely win over your mentor first. So it's damn hard to get in."

"Fact is, pretty much every member is exceptional, proud, obsessive—plus, most carry some twisted little aesthetic you'll never understand."

The two of them went quiet, lost in their own thoughts.

The three walked around the neighborhood until they were nearly back to Vermilion Bird Alley. Suddenly Lin Xue asked, "Didn't you have something urgent to tell Xiaoya, Teacher Wei?"

"Oh yeah, almost forgot," Wei Wei smacked his head, "Actually, it's not a huge deal."

"About the funding you received, Qian Yuya: we already sent someone to Xuanzhu, Dongyang to check things out, and we can confirm two facts—"

"First, the one sending you money is the current president of the Xuanzhu County Silver Blood Association—Zhengwei."

"Second, Yin Yinyin is already dead. The so-called 'Yin Yinyin' in Xuanzhu County now is actually Zhengwei's woman—Qing Lan—in disguise."

Isn't that a big deal!?

Lin Xue nearly faceplanted from not watching her step, while Qian Yuya just froze for a second before calmly asking, "Yin Yinyin's really dead?"

"Someone from Xuanzhu's White Night group actually saw his corpse."

"That doesn't make sense," Qian Yuya shook her head, "Zhengwei, Qing Lan… I've never even heard those names, and I seriously doubt my brother would be connected to anyone in far-off Xuanzhu County."

"If it were Yin Yinyin, I could see him helping me out of some sense of guilt, sending money for my tuition."

"But those other two—why the hell would they send me cash?"

"No idea," Wei Wei shrugged, "Maybe Yin Yinyin knew them? He died in Dongyang, and since they're willing to use his name, they've definitely got some sort of connection."

Qian Yuya fell silent for a moment, then suddenly changed subjects, "In a serial novel from Dongyang's newspaper, I saw a story."

"It had three main characters. One of them—their experience, personality, even their goals—matched my brother exactly."

"Unless it was my actual brother writing under a pen name, or a close friend who knew him inside out—there's no way just words alone could make me feel like my brother was alive again, right in the story."

Wei Wei shot her a curious look, "So you're saying…?"

"My brother didn't die. Or Yin Yinyin didn't die," Qian Yuya said firmly, "Zhengwei and Qing Lan—they know the real story!"

"I'm going to Dongyang!"

"Not so fast," Wei Wei smiled, "Thing is, Zhengwei and White Night are allies right now, working together to reform Dongyang. We can have Xuanzhu's White Night group test the waters—who knows, maybe we'll get the answer that way."

"Worst case, you wait for Dongyang's reforms to finish, then go with White Night to confront Zhengwei face to face."

"Zhengwei's not going anywhere—he might even end up running all of Dongyang. He isn't about to drop dead overnight; we've got plenty of time."

Qian Yuya nodded silently. In her heart, she now had one more name to remember.

Qian Yuliu.

Yin Yinyin.

Zhengwei.