Chapter 51

Song Yi had been turned into a tool by her crafty old teachers.

Li Wenwen and Lin Ze had plenty of experience slacking off, but their social experience was still shallow. They had been following Song Yi’s lead, and once Song Yi got led astray, they had almost forgotten their own character settings too.

The three children were nearly wrung dry.

Once they came back to their senses, they decided to raise the great banner of giving up.

Lin Ze and Li Wenwen were old hands at this sort of thing. The one who needed transformation was Song Yi.

First, they had to drag their feet.

Anyone who did things too enthusiastically had something wrong with their head.

Song Yi had a bit of compulsiveness and disliked procrastinating. But this time, she had to overcome her inability to procrastinate.

Second, their mental state could not look too good.

If you spent all day holding your head high and brimming with energy, one glance would tell the teachers that you did not have enough homework. If they did not give you extra, who else would they give it to?

They had to look weary and limp, showing that they had already given it their all and could not squeeze out a single drop more.

Song Yi learned from them and collapsed into a puddle on her chair.

The next second, she could not help springing up from her seat again and saying, “How can cultivators like us behave this way?”

This kind of mental outlook did not resemble a sword cultivator at all.

However, her struggle was jointly suppressed by Li Wenwen and Lin Ze. “Cultivators like us should behave exactly this way.”

“This is what a human life should be.”

Thinking carefully, this period really had kept them terribly busy. It had indeed been very fulfilling, but it was completely inconsistent with their original plan!

The final step was to make their “we gave it everything we had” performance even more convincing. They even had to copy a little less classwork.

“Teacher, we’re too tired. We don’t even have time to do our homework.” The three children stood crookedly in front of their homeroom teacher, looking weak, breathless, and listless.

The homeroom teacher: …

Do not think I do not know you three have never properly done your homework in the first place!

The three of them believed their acting was excellent, their salted-fish aura perfectly natural. In reality, their rolling eyes had long since exposed their true condition.

The homeroom teacher looked concerned. “Oh dear, why do you all look so awful? That won’t do. I’ll take you to the infirmary for a checkup.”

The three little ones immediately shook their heads like rattle-drums.

Once a medical cultivator examined them, well, their condition would turn out even better than most people’s. How were they supposed to keep acting then?

“Teacher, I already asked. There’s nothing seriously wrong with us. We’ve just been under too much pressure recently and need a proper rest,” Lin Ze said at once.

Li Wenwen immediately followed up. “That’s right, Teacher. Little Yi’s appetite has even dropped by half lately. Look, hasn’t she gotten thinner from hunger?”

Song Yi lowered her head and said nothing. Because there had been too much to do recently, her appetite had not decreased but increased.

But after another thought, lowering her head made her double chin too obvious. She quickly lifted her head, tightened her face, and tucked in her jaw.

The homeroom teacher said unhurriedly, “What a shame. You’ve all been working so hard lately, and I was thinking of treating you to a big meal as a reward. If you have no appetite, then I can only forget it.”

Song Yi and the others immediately exchanged looks with their eyebrows and eyes. Wouldn’t it be a bit of a loss not to mooch this meal? But it would not look good to change their story right after saying that.

“Teacher, we’ll be fine after resting for a few days. Can you treat us to a meal then?”

The homeroom teacher laughed. “Fine, fine, fine. I’ll let you rest for a few days. You don’t need to do the other tasks, but you must finish your homework.”

They really had done quite a lot over the past two days. The homeroom teacher wanted to squeeze out their potential, but he also valued the method of sustainable squeezing.

More specifically, Song Yi and the others’ performance had already exceeded his expectations. He had originally wanted to let them rest long ago, but unfortunately, Song Yi had performed too outstandingly, looking as if she were saying, “I can still keep going,” which made it impossible for him to resist continuing to explore where the limits of her talent lay.

It would be better not to let them know this truth. He was afraid the children’s minds would not be able to bear it.

Occasionally, children had to feel that their little tricks had succeeded. This was more beneficial to building harmonious teacher-student relationships.

In the office, Song Yi and the others had to keep maintaining their dispirited image. Once they left the office, they were no different from demon beasts let loose. Where was there even the slightest drooping, wilted look?

“Yes!”

“We’ve regained our freedom!”

Song Yi had not expected turning over and becoming her own master to be so easy. It was as if the doors to a new world had slowly opened before her.

The reason she had developed her compulsive “no procrastination” habit was connected to her past experience of “fall behind and get beaten.” But her current experience was telling her: standing out too much would make her suffer, while giving up would let her live very comfortably.

So what exactly had she been working so hard for before?

The more Song Yi thought about it, the deeper she sank. Then she quickly shook her head and threw the terrifying thought out of her mind. No, her Dao heart could not be corroded!

Just then, a piece of good news swept through Cloud City Cultivation Elementary School. “According to reliable information, the time for this year’s pocket-realm trial has been set!”

“Great! This time we’re going to the Mystic Wonder Secret Realm. There are lots of huge treasures there. I’ve wanted to go and see it for ages! Hehehe!”

Pocket-realm trial?

“We’re going too?” Song Yi asked.

“Of course! Why would we be so happy if we weren’t going?”

Looking at the two of them beaming with joy, Song Yi frowned in confusion. If this world truly treated young cubs kindly, why would it make first graders with hardly any martial ability participate in a trial?

Anything with the word “trial” attached was never simple, just like Heavenly Fate Trial class. Because it was the most difficult, no one was willing to choose it. Only later, after it gained the nickname Outdoor Cooking Class, did more people start signing up.

In the end, a trial was a form of fighting over something.

According to Song Yi’s experience, in a place like a pocket realm, once it involved treasures and trials, it would absolutely turn into a blood-soaked storm.

Although the absolute-spirit zone Song Yi and the others had visited before had been peaceful, there had been no major treasures inside. Naturally, it was different from a true pocket-realm trial.

A “huge treasure” that even Li Wenwen, a child who had seen the world and did not care much about most heavenly treasures, would shout about was definitely not simple.

When a treasure of this level appeared, it was only normal for rules and order to collapse.

Song Yi wiped the sword in her hand and reminded the two of them, “Now isn’t the time to be happy. We have to raise our realms. Otherwise, I’m afraid that when the killing starts, I won’t be able to protect you. No matter how good the treasure is, the worst thing would be not being alive to enjoy it.”

After speaking, she prepared to search the Spirit Net again for information on this Mystic Wonder Secret Realm.

Now that news of the pocket-realm trial had been announced, the string in Song Yi’s mind had already gone taut.

She felt that she had still been too careless and had almost let temporary safety go to her head. There were many preparations she had to make.

Although self-defense magical artifacts could be bought with spirit coins, and Lin Ze and Li Wenwen both had some on them, those things were external objects. Anything could happen in a pocket realm, so they were not secure enough.

If she kept to herself like before, it would be much simpler.

But looking at the two innocent faces in front of her, Song Yi did not want anything to happen to them at all.

Then she looked at the other classmates in the class. Although Song Yi was not familiar with them, still…

The study committee member Lu Shan had taken the blame with her. Li Wenwen’s desk mate Chen Zhen had let her copy homework. The student sitting in front of her had secretly eaten her snacks, then secretly stuffed their own snacks into Song Yi’s desk…

In her sea of consciousness, the inner demon laughed. “Fine, you want to protect those two little brats. Don’t tell me you’re planning to protect the whole class too? Do you really think you’re still the Tribulation Transcendence great power you were back then?”

Song Yi remained silent.

According to her former way of doing things, she only needed to draw a clear line between herself and these people and matters that had little to do with her.

But what she was thinking now was: were they really people who had nothing to do with her?

“Tsk. This gentle-looking world is the most terrifying one, isn’t it? First it makes you lower your guard, then it strikes to kill. This routine hasn’t changed at all.” The inner demon sneered. “If you want to save the whole class, you might as well save the whole school.”

The inner demon was of course not supporting Song Yi. She was purely mocking her: if she could not even give up these classmates who were only chance acquaintances, then she might as well risk her life to save the whole school. During this period, aside from the students in her own class, she had also interacted with many students from various clubs.

Song Yi only said, “I’ve never thought of sacrificing myself to save them. But if I still have the spare strength…”

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll stab you in the back?”

“I won’t give them that chance.”

While the thoughts in Song Yi’s mind were churning like rivers and seas, Li Wenwen and Lin Ze were both stunned because of Song Yi’s words. Huh? What did she mean?

What did she mean by “when the killing starts” and “not being alive to enjoy it”?

They felt that the aura around Song Yi had changed.

Lin Ze had never seen Song Yi like this, but Li Wenwen found it somewhat familiar. Back when Song Yi suspected someone had entered her home, she seemed to have this kind of aura too.

At the time, Li Wenwen had found it exciting and had not paid much attention. Later, Song Yi’s hand had even been injured!

She scratched her head in confusion, not quite understanding Song Yi’s logic. Why did going to a pocket-realm trial require being this on guard?

After the two dumbstruck children came back to their senses, they pressed Song Yi down again and stuffed the sword in her hand into a storage pouch.

“Who still works hard at cultivating before a trial? The most important thing now is to go shopping.”

“Little Song Yi, you’re not preparing more snacks and are grinding your sword here instead. Don’t tell me you’re planning to just rob people when the time comes?” Lin Ze covered his storage pouch. “I’m telling you, not bringing snacks is fine, but stealing by force is not allowed. At most, I’ll give you a discount.”

Song Yi: ?

After their banter interrupted her, Song Yi’s focus shifted a little. She could not help widening her eyes and saying, “I helped you earn so much money, and you still want to charge me for snacks?”

She would remember this!

Lin Ze cheerfully draped an arm over her shoulder. “This is called even brothers settling accounts clearly.”

Song Yi took a deep breath. Now was not the time to quibble over such trivial matters. “The most important thing right now isn’t snacks. Do you know what a pocket-realm trial is?”

“We know. It’s a spring outing.” The two of them answered smoothly. “We were just about to talk to you about that. Why are you so nervous?”

This time, the stunned one became Song Yi.

Although she did not know what a spring outing was, it sounded like it had nothing to do with trials or life-and-death struggles.

“What exactly do you do on a spring outing?”

Li Wenwen clenched her fists, her eyes shining with expectant light. “It’s a whole day when we don’t have to study at all! We just play to our hearts’ content! The pocket realm for the trial is different every year. I’ve wanted to visit this year’s Mystic Wonder Secret Realm for ages! There are lots of rare demon beasts inside.”

“Then we’re going to hunt those demon beasts?”

Lin Ze and Li Wenwen were so frightened that they hurriedly covered Song Yi’s mouth. They looked left and right, and only after confirming no one else had heard did they let out a breath of relief.

They had already grown used to Song Yi occasionally blurting out lawless-criminal remarks, but it would not be good if other people heard such words.

“Hunting rare demon beasts is a crime! Little Yi, you mustn’t do anything reckless!”

Song Yi: ?

She could understand killing people being a crime, but since when did they have to be merciful even to demon beasts? They had eaten plenty of demon beast meat during this period too, and no one had said they were guilty.

Li Wenwen and Lin Ze understood. This was another blind spot in Song Yi’s knowledge, so they explained to her. “A very long time ago, demon beasts reached an agreement with humans. Humans are not allowed to eat two types of demon beasts. One type is those that can undergo Transformation into human form, and the other is rare demon beasts.”

“Mutual hunting or cooperation between individual humans and demon beasts won’t be stopped. But overall, there is peace. Large-scale massacres won’t happen, like beast tides from the old days. In some fields, the two sides even cooperate.”

For example, this Mystic Wonder Secret Realm was a pocket realm on the edge of the Human Realm, jointly developed and built by the human race and the yao race.

Li Wenwen pulled up the Spirit Net information on the Mystic Wonder Secret Realm for Song Yi to see. The huge treasures she had mentioned earlier were of course not “kill people and seize treasures” treasures as Song Yi had understood them, but rare and exotic beasts they had either never seen before or had only seen on the Spirit Net.

The Mystic Wonder Secret Realm was almost fully open. Humans and beasts could come into close contact there, and it was known as “a witness to the friendship between the two races.” The demon beasts inside would not actively attack humans, but by the same logic, humans could not attack demon beasts either.

But if certain people were overheard saying they wanted to eat them, it was hard to say what consequences that might trigger.

They could not actively attack, but interactions between humans and demon beasts had never been limited to one way. Playing a little prank was still very easy. For example, if a flying-type beast pooped on your head, what could you do?

Seeing that Song Yi once again showed violent tendencies toward drawing her sword, Lin Ze said awkwardly, “I’m just giving an example. Under normal circumstances, those demon beasts wouldn’t do that. Unless it really hates you.”

It would have been better if Lin Ze had not said anything. The moment he did, the sword cultivator hated by both people and dogs felt gloomy. Being hated by demon beasts was far too normal.

This activity was targeting her.

However, a fierce light flashed in Song Yi’s eyes. Traveling all that way to look at demon beasts was already giving them face. Conversely, if they refused to give her face, then they could not blame her for being impolite.

Song Yi looked at the information and fell into deep thought. She had not expected the relationship between the human race and demon beasts to become like this.

It was far too normal for demon beasts to submit to the strong. The Dao of Beast Control was an important path among the Three Thousand Great Daos.

But the strong among demon beasts had always disliked humans, and they were even less willing to submit to them. They had never considered humans who tried to control demon beasts to be anything good. Had the human race now become so powerful that demon beasts had to yield?

“No. Yielding is impossible. Some demon beasts even think they’ve domesticated humans and that they’re humanity’s masters. This is mutual domestication. Each side relies on its own ability. It doesn’t violate the peace agreement.”

Song Yi slapped the table and shot to her feet. “How can this be! People nowadays are too disappointing. They’ve actually let demon beasts climb onto their heads!”

Li Wenwen had a different opinion. “But some beasts are fierce and cute at the same time. If one of them were willing to let me touch it, I’d be willing to let it throw its weight around for a while.”

Song Yi narrowed her eyes and temporarily did not refute anything.

These demon beasts had sinister intentions!

They definitely wanted to use temporary peace to corrode humans and invert the relationship between humans and demon beasts!

Song Yi seemed to see the outline of a huge conspiracy, but she had to gather evidence first and proceed gradually.

She remembered an important point. “Since we’re going to play, why is it called a pocket-realm trial? I thought there would be some danger.”

“It is actually very dangerous…” Lin Ze’s tone was grave, making Song Yi grow tense along with him.

He continued, “Because for the next several days, we’ll all fall into spring-outing syndrome and won’t want to attend class at all. This is a trial of our minds!”

Song Yi: …

If she ever believed Lin Ze’s deliberate mystification again, she would write her name backward!

“Little Yi, don’t listen to him. The teacher said we keep using this name to remind us that we’re not going there to play, but to learn and grow. Generally speaking, after this kind of group activity, there’s a sinful homework assignment: writing a long essay.” Li Wenwen’s expression was pained.

Going out to play was very happy, but the homework that followed gave people headaches.

This time, however, Song Yi did not hate writing an essay as much. She felt this was a good chance to expose the demon beasts’ conspiracy and set things right!

Song Yi stroked her chin. They had not even gone to the pocket realm yet, but her essay had already begun taking shape…

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