Chapter 2249: Fairy Miao
Back in Virtue Archives, Lu Yin quickly checked his cosmic ring. 100 billion. How painful! He had just burned through 100 billion star essence! Just how much would it cost to Possess Semi-Progenitors? Or further, when he could Possess Progenitors? He was too terrified to even consider the matter.
Was there even enough star essence in the Fifth Mainland and the Perennial World combined to pay for what Lu Yin needed? Where else could he acquire more funds?
Regardless of the costs, Lu Yin needed to keep rolling his die. He wanted to Possess someone from Star Alliance so that he could free those people from the restriction that controlled them.
Lu Yin’s mind raced, and even as he worried about the costs and potential benefits, he could not help but look forward to the possibilities. He tapped the die. Three pips. He tapped again. Four pips. He was done.
The fourth roll was Timestop, and Lu Yin willingly entered his Timestop Space, spending the entire time practicing the Cosmic Art and reciting the Origin Sutra. Nearly a year later, he emerged from his Timestop Space. He needed to wait another ten days before he could roll his die again.
Unfortunately, he was not given the opportunity, as ten days later was when the students would head for the Higher Realm to start their exchange program. Naturally, Lu Yin was summoned by Headmaster Wen.
It had taken a month for the list of participating students to be finalized. Over the course of the last month, Mr. Tang and Prof. Wei had worked on helping the students raise their strength, but Prof. Hao Yu had not yet shown up. He had to be present for at least the last ten days.
Lu Yin would simply need to find an opportunity to roll his die again.
…
Not everyone had the opportunity to see the Mother Tree up close.
Under the ladder, the God of Food smiled as he watched many students comment in amazement. These students had never seen the Mother Tree up close.
Most of the students who could pass Virtue Archives’ entrance exam were the most talented descendants of various powerful families, as the requirements were too steep for most geniuses. However, there were also always some exceptionally talented independent cultivators who had no resources, and they were also allowed entrance into the academy.
All of the twenty five students selected by Headmaster Wen were independent cultivators. The students who could not be taken to visit the four ruling powers were actually the descendants of the various powerful families, as they were all completely submissive to the four ruling powers.
As for students of various families not of the four ruling powers, Headmaster Wen did not take many of them. These students would only adopt a submissive attitude when visiting the four ruling families.
When Virtue Archives arrived at the Mother Tree, the Smokecloud Sect had already prepared a cloud for their exclusive use, and they were even generous enough to not insist on the standard procedure of examining the contents of the students’ cosmic rings, which was practically unheard of.
Even Lu Yin was surprised by the treatment that they received.
"The four ruling powers are making a point to show their goodwill towards the academy," Mr. Tang said, sounding quite worried.
Lu Yin asked, "Is that something that you don’t want, Professor?"
Mr. Tang looked conflicted. "I would love to see the academy remain the same as always."
Before the four ruling powers had started interfering with Virtue Archives, the academy had not had nearly as many faculty members, as neither Wu Taibai, Prof. Bai, nor Prof. Wei had been instructors. However, the academy had expanded, which meant both more students and more instructors in the academy. Of the new instructors, it was clear that Wu Taibai and Prof. Bai were part of the four ruling powers, but no one knew just how many of the other instructors were also part of the four ruling powers.
Mr. Tang had been an instructor at Virtue Archives for a long time, and just like Prof. Zheng, Mr. Tang never wanted to see the academy change. Unfortunately, that was nothing but a dream.
The four ruling powers would never be willing to allow the existence of other powerful organizations outside of their control, especially something like the academy that had a Mountain and Sea.
"There are certain things that are outside of human control. Don’t think too much about such things, Professor. Since certain things are unavoidable, we just need to do what we should," Prof. Wei said with a smile.
Mr. Tang nodded. "Young people like you are more adaptable than us. It’s true that I’m simply voicing the headmaster’s concerns and that such things are outside of our control. We should focus on taking care of our students."
The God of Food did not say a word, though he listened to the conversation. There were indeed certain things that were no longer in his control.
A short distance away, Xia Shenguang and several others appeared indifferent to everything. They did not actually care about Virtue Archives in the slightest, and instead, they were preoccupied with the recent developments within the four ruling powers. They could not help but feel like a dark shadow was looming over them.
As the Cloud Shuttle drifted upwards, Lu Yin stared down at the shrinking Middle Realm. He looked upwards and saw that the Higher Realm’s soil was already within reach. It was possible that it was the sight of this soil that had forced the four ruling powers to banish the Lu family. They had also wanted to look down on the entire Perennial World, instead of looking up and seeing the land that the Lu family stood upon.
For most of the students, this was their first time visiting the Higher Realm. Even if most of the students came from powerful families, that did not equate to being able to step foot on the Higher Realm.
Someone approached the exchange program’s students from the distance. They smiled as they approached, and then went straight up to the God of Food and offered a respectful bow. "Wang Miaomiao1 greets Senior God of Food."
Everyone stared at the woman, and many were stunned by her sight. She was a truly beautiful woman.
Lu Yin observed at Wang Miaomiao. There was no denying that she was beautiful, and she was actually comparable to Yan'er. Wang Miaomiao had a graceful demeanor, and there was something almost ethereal about her movements, though there was also a hint of maturity. She should be quite young, though it was impossible to determine her age from just her appearance.
When Wang Xiaofan noticed who was greeting them, his eye twitched, and he started staring.
"So it’s Fairy Miao who’s greeting us. I’m surprised to see that the Wang family actually sent you. Aren’t you still under house arrest?" The God of Food was clearly quite surprised to see the woman, and he did not sound nearly as brusque and cold as when he usually spoke with people from the four ruling powers. Instead, he sounded like a kind elder who cared for a junior. This was highly unusual.
Wang Miaomiao offered yet another bow as she looked at the God of Food and gave the old man a playful smile. "Aside from me, no one else in the family deserves to be acknowledged by you, Senior. Also, they’re all afraid of being scolded by you."
The God of Food laughed. "I wouldn’t dare to scold members of the Wang family, but it's still good to see you. It’s been a very long time."
The smile slowly disappeared from Wang Miaomiao's face. "Not since the Lu family disappeared."
The God of Food sighed. "Let's not talk about that. Let’s go to your family’s homeland. I haven’t visited that place for a long time."
"You haven’t visited since our homeland was moved from the Middle Realm to the Higher Realm," Wang Miaomiao replied.
The God of Food had no choice but to respond, "I already said that we should drop that subject. It looks like you want to remain under house arrest."
Wang Miaomiao rolled her eyes, and a mischievous smile returned to her lips. "It doesn't matter if I get locked up again or not. If Senior returns, the elders will still send me back out here to play hostess for you, as they want to leave a good impression."
The God of Food was left speechless.
Within the crowd of students, Bai Weiwei shifted over next to Wang Xiaofan. "Hey, is that the Fairy Miao that you’ve always talked about dreaming of? She really is beautiful."
Wang Xiaofan frowned. "Don't spout nonsense."
A lewd smile crept across Bai Weiwei’s face. "Stop pretending. We've known each other since childhood, and you've mentioned her a lot. You only stopped after you grew up. What? You don’t even dare to admit it anymore?"
Wang Xiaofan turned to stare at Bai Weiwei. "I told you, don't spout nonsense."
On the other side, Nong Siniang exclaimed, "I actually saw Fairy Miao! I thought that the Wang family would keep her under house arrest forever."
"What happened to her?" Lu Yin asked.
Nong Siniang gave him an odd look. "You don’t know, Professor?"
Lu Yin replied, "I never really had much of an interest in what happened outside of Yu City."