Chapter 56

When Song Yi was flung away by the Hunter, her arm still broke. Her current body was too fragile. There was no helping it.

Fortunately, it was only a minor injury. After swallowing a few healing pills, she was basically fine. It would not even leave behind aftereffects like the time she had used the forbidden art before.

Lin Ze and Li Wenwen were so worried that they wished they could stuff every pill they had into Song Yi’s mouth with a bang, bang, bang.

In the end, Song Yi had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender. “If I eat any more, I’m really going to die.”

Not dying at the Hunter’s hands, only to die because the accumulated medicinal power made her explode, would be way too unjust.

To stop them from continuing to care way too much, Song Yi had no choice but to deploy the grand art of changing the subject. “So? After seeing me make a move just now, wasn’t I kind of cool?”

She did not insist that they had to learn the sword Dao like her, but if she could take this chance to spark their interest in the sword Dao, that would be ideal.

Unexpectedly, the moment this topic came up, the two of them were no longer sleepy at all.

They started giving Song Yi pointers on her moves. “Actually, I recorded that scene for you just now. It feels like it was missing something.”

“Right, right, Little Yi, look here. It would be cooler if the sword light flared up and gave off rainbow-colored light.”

“And the way you fell out didn’t look very good. Pay attention to your posture next time. We originally wanted to upload it to the Spirit Net, but we were afraid it would affect the image of sword cultivators, so we didn’t.”

Song Yi’s face went wooden. What did they mean, they were afraid it would affect the image of sword cultivators? Was she that embarrassing as a sword cultivator?

These little cubs did not understand at all. The strongest sword moves were often the most plain and unadorned. Gather momentum in secret, then kill with one strike.

If you spent ages putting on special effects before attacking, people would have noticed you long ago, and it would waste spiritual power besides.

As for her falling posture not looking good? What she cared about most was what posture would minimize her injuries and make it easiest to gather momentum again. Who would care whether it looked good?

Lin Ze and Li Wenwen asked tentatively, “Then... should we upload it now?”

Song Yi said with a stern face, “No need.”

There was no helping it. Their aesthetic was very likely representative of most of the current cultivation world’s aesthetic.

Shallow was shallow, but the aesthetic reflected in publicity really was very important.

Song Yi was an ancestor who kept up with the times. In the past, she would not have cared how others talked, but now she had already realized the importance of the “public opinion battlefield.”

What if she went through a series of ferocious operations, only for everyone to say sword cultivators were tacky? Wouldn’t that ruin everything?

Alas. Even someone as powerful as her had no choice but to lower her head before modern aesthetics.

The disturbance in the Nine Heavens Python area drew the staff over.

Seeing the mess on the ground and sensing the remaining fluctuations from the spatial passage being opened, his expression changed drastically. He immediately called for help and rushed toward the two people and one beast sitting nearby.

Song Yi and the others had already cleaned themselves up neatly, as if the mess everywhere had nothing to do with them.

But credit was credit. They still had to claim it.

Lin Ze was the best at talking. After reorganizing his words, he described the battle scene at the time in such a spectacular way that it had landslides, the earth cracking, the sun and moon losing their light, as if several great powers had fought a fierce life-and-death battle here.

The staff member listened in a daze, then reached two conclusions. First, the Hunter had run away. Second, the children were fine.

As for the remaining content, there was too much exaggeration mixed in. He would just listen and leave it at that.

After confirming their condition, the staff member let out a breath of relief. The Hunter escaping was not good news, but the children all being fine was the best news.

Other staff members rushed over quickly to handle the aftermath.

Then they received a strange piece of news: the Hunter had already been arrested in Cloud City.

Upon learning this, everyone was a little stunned. Didn’t the Hunter never return to urban areas? Because he had no way to hide in the city at all. How could he have been arrested in Cloud City?

But the Cloud City side did not have any reliable news that could answer their questions either. They only gave a vague answer about him “walking right into the trap.”

Song Yi and the others’ homeroom teacher arrived at the first possible moment too. When he heard that Song Yi and the others had run into the wanted criminal Hunter, his heart nearly leaped into his throat.

Only after he checked them up and down again did he finally relax.

However, he understood these students better than the staff here did. “Mr. Zhang Xuan from the Police Bureau sent me a message. Did you send the Hunter over to them? Tell me exactly what happened before that, from beginning to end.”

Zhang Xuan and Li Xiu did not know much either. They had inexplicably received a “delivery.”

They thought the homeroom teacher definitely understood the situation better, so they went straight to him to ask. They even joked, “Could it be that the pocket realm’s specialty product is wanted criminals? Then send us two more.”

But the homeroom teacher was even more bewildered than they were. Sorry, you really found the wrong person. I truly know nothing.

He was still waiting for these children to clear up his confusion!

Facing the homeroom teacher, Lin Ze could no longer make things up wildly, so he could only honestly tell him the process of how they had set the trap.

As the homeroom teacher listened to their thrilling self-rescue plan, he could not help sighing with emotion. With such careful and meticulous planning, the Hunter’s defeat at their hands was not unjust at all.

Song Yi’s plan was interlocked from start to finish. Even if one link had gone slightly wrong, the next link would have made up for it in time.

Of course, Song Yi felt that the most crucial point in their success was this: he had treated them as harmless children, but Song Yi was an experienced old hand whose life-and-death experience was no less than his.

He was ruthless, but compared with the ruthless people Song Yi had seen before, he was just so-so.

“You did very well.” The teacher patted their heads. Before the children could lift their smiling faces, he made a turn. “But according to what you said, you had the chance to contact me. Why didn’t I receive even the slightest message?”

Obviously, the children had thrown all of his instructions to the back of their minds.

At a thrilling time like that, who had time to care about the homeroom teacher’s nagging?

If the teacher and the staff had gone clack, clack and seized the person, they would have had no room to perform.

How else was Song Yi supposed to repay the favor?

“Also, you said you discovered there was a problem with the food, so you destroyed it. Why was the demon beasts’ food in your hands?”

The teacher’s smile gradually became nuclear-kind.

As expected of a Literature and History teacher, his ability to grasp the key points was not ordinary.

Some tiny “details” they had wanted to quietly gloss over with selective wording were all awkwardly dug out.

Song Yi said with a face full of righteous conviction, “Because we felt that, for the sake of the long-term friendship between demon beasts and humans, it was necessary to investigate the current state of demon beast food safety!”

Teacher: ...

A young, tender voice joined the conversation. The iron-eating beast cub raised a paw. “Be-because other beasts’ food tastes better!”

Song Yi, who was suddenly backstabbed: ?

They were shocked. “You can talk?”

Demon beasts being able to talk was nothing rare. It was quite common for high-level demon beasts to learn human language. This was especially true for demon beasts that could take human form; the average beast mastered one foreign language.

But wasn’t this cub still little? Although it had understood them along the way, it had only hummed and whined. Any normal person would have thought it still could not talk.

Facing two pairs of wide eyes, it asked timidly, “Am I not supposed to talk?”

The homeroom teacher was truly gentle toward the iron-eating beast cub. “You did very well. Can you tell us in detail?”

It was still not very good at talking. It stuttered a little, and its pronunciation was unclear, but it carefully recounted all the “good deeds” Song Yi and the others had done.

Stealing a little food was not enough. They had to eat through every household’s rations.

The many staff members listening in: ...

If you said what Song Yi and the others did was wrong, then without them messing around like this, perhaps the Hunter’s plan would have succeeded. But if you said what they did was right, this did not seem like something a person should do either, did it?

How were they supposed to write the publicity draft like this?

The staff member from the iron-eating beast area was also in the crowd. Of course she remembered the cub Song Yi. At the time, she had even thought Song Yi was especially well-behaved and had fed her snacks.

Looking back on it now, the only silly, sweet, naive one had been herself. Song Yi had clearly been trying to lure her away so she could mooch food and drink!

The most devastated person was definitely the Hunter. His plan, which he thought was meticulous, had been wrecked into pieces by a few naughty children. Hopefully, his psychological trauma would not be too great...

After the iron-eating beast cub finished speaking, it proudly concluded, “Little Yi, super amazing!”

Then it wanted to stick to Song Yi and claim credit. Look, all those amazing things you did, I helped you remember them all!

Wasn’t it amazing too?

Song Yi felt all kinds of complicated gazes on her. Her hand, which was stroking the cub’s head, trembled slightly. This cub was just like its coloring, wasn’t it? White plus black!

The homeroom teacher was overjoyed. Lin Ze and Li Wenwen were both equally crafty little children. Whatever he could not get out of Song Yi, he also could not get out of them.

Now that this iron-eating beast was here, things would be much easier.

He guided it patiently. “Then do you know any other major things they’ve done?”

The cub tilted its head and thought for a moment, then said with certainty, “Automatic homework! Automatic exams! Then you never have to worry about studying again!”

Song Yi’s sense of crisis instantly surged up. She immediately covered the iron-eating beast’s mouth and shook her head like a rattle-drum. “Not me. I didn’t. Don’t talk nonsense.”

Their whole background was about to be sold clean! There was a traitor among them!

She revealed a sweet, good-child smile. “Teacher, I like studying the most. Studying makes me happy.”

Homeroom teacher: Like I’d believe your nonsense.

When ordinary children said things like this, they might just be daydreaming, but these children would genuinely think of ways to put it into practice. They could not be underestimated.

“It’s fine. I’ll pay extra attention to your homework in the future.”

Don’t even think about using “assembly-line” homework to fool him!

The three children showed identical expressions, like three salted fish that had lost their dreams.

So what if they had caught the Hunter? They still had to worry about homework.

The staff members nearby could not help laughing. They felt that these children, who had tragically suffered persecution at the hands of their homeroom teacher, were a little pitiful.

The focus right now was not homework. It was that they had made a major contribution!

They smiled and said, “All right, today you’re great heroes. You should celebrate properly. After the Hunter’s bounty is verified, it will be issued to you. Maybe there will even be a medal reward. That’s a very important honor.”

Honor was a minor thing. Practical usefulness was the major thing.

Song Yi raised her hand and asked, “Then can I exchange the reward for one year without homework?”

“Uh, I’m afraid not.”

“Then one semester?”

The staff member spread his hands regretfully. “Although I’d really like to agree, unfortunately, I’m not your teacher.”

Song Yi’s little body slumped down again.

Of course, there were direct benefits too. The three of them could visit Mystic Wonder Secret Realm for free for life. Also, they no longer needed to keep stealing demon beast rations. The management had packed a portion of every kind of food for them. “You’re welcome to taste and evaluate them.”

Actually, the children felt that the fruits of victory obtained through their own efforts—causing trouble—were a bit more delicious.

But they still had some sense in their hearts. Words that begged for a beating like that could not be said casually.

The Hunter had walked right into the Cloud City Police Bureau’s trap, but Mystic Wonder Secret Realm had played an important role in this matter, such as providing the venue, so they still needed to cooperate with the publicity.

To prevent Song Yi and the others from being targeted by lawbreakers, their personal information was not announced. Instead, they were referred to as several Cloud Elementary students.

The official version was: several quick-witted Cloud Elementary students discovered a bad person’s conspiracy, remained fearless in the face of danger, and cleverly devised a plan that brought the Hunter to justice.

As for the specific details like “stealing beast rations because they were greedy,” those could be omitted.

There were many more versions spreading among the public. It was said that these demon beasts’ specially made foods could make elementary school students suddenly become stronger and beat bad guys like crazy.

Some people also said that elementary school students were a very terrifying group. Rumor had it that in Cloud City Prison, an unrepentant criminal had completely turned over a new leaf because of one sentence from an elementary school student.

In any case, in those increasingly outrageous rumors, Song Yi could no longer recognize herself.

The urban legends had some effect too. For some reason, everyone became a little more polite and respectful toward elementary school students these days. They no longer dared to casually treat them like little brats.

This was a story for later, so it would not be mentioned for now.

These rumors had no effect on Song Yi. She leisurely munched on nuts. These were blue sparrow rations sent over by the pocket realm management.

A classmate who knew good stuff had his eyes light up. “Little Yi, where did you buy this?”

“The pocket realm gave it to me.”

The classmate’s eyes grew even brighter. “They can give this away?”

“Uh, normally, no. But we went to steal the demon beasts’ rations...” Before Song Yi could finish speaking, the classmate immediately nodded excitedly. “So that’s how it is. I get it!”

The classmate grabbed his little friends and ran off.

Song Yi turned back to glance at Li Wenwen and Lin Ze, then said hesitantly, “Does this count as me tricking them?”

The two children laughed heartlessly. “Hurry and follow them. Let’s record what they look like making fools of themselves!”

People’s joys and sorrows are not shared. You think it’s sad. I just think you aren’t crying loudly enough.

Without a doubt, several children who believed the “rumor” and went to steal food from demon beast nests without following any basic rules were chased all over the place.

After discovering that this was false information, the children did not settle down either. Since they had been tricked, of course they had to get even more people tricked along with them. “The iron-eating beast’s bamboo-tube rice is especially tasty. Iron-eating beasts are very silly. If you can’t even eat that, then you can only blame yourselves.”

“No way, no way. Surely nobody came to Mystic Wonder Secret Realm and hasn’t even tasted the white tiger’s rations, right?”

...

The pocket realm management discovered with a headache that more and more immoral humans were coveting demon beast rations.

Perhaps immorality was contagious.

Regarding this, Song Yi firmly stated that she was just one innocent, spotless child. This kind of immoral thing absolutely had nothing to do with her whatsoever.

A happy and exciting day quickly passed, and the elementary school students also had to set off on the return trip.

Song Yi looked at the iron-eating beast clinging to her and was put in a difficult position.

The little cub’s voice was very tender. “You... you don’t want me anymore? I didn’t do it on purpose before. When that person praised you, you were very happy.”

Its little paw pointed at Lin Ze, indicating that it had learned everything from Lin Ze.

What bad intentions could a cub have? It simply could not distinguish which things were good and which things were bad.

“Ahem. Because some things need to be kept low-key and shouldn’t be publicized. But this isn’t your fault. I don’t blame you,” Song Yi said with no principles whatsoever.

She gave the fluffy fur one last stroke and was also very reluctant to part with it. “But I don’t have the authority to take you away.”

Just then, the homeroom teacher and staff walked over and said, “Student Song Yi, congratulations on winning today’s grand activity prize in the pocket realm. You have become the cub caretaker. From now on, we’ll have to trouble you to take good care of it.”

In order to find the extra person in the pocket realm, the pocket realm had also held an activity to test everyone’s identity, though at the time, they had not figured out what the grand activity prize would be.

But the Hunter had been dealt with by Song Yi and the others, and Song Yi and the cub were especially attached to each other. After the management communicated with the cub’s parents, they simply went with the flow and made this the grand prize.

“Really?” Song Yi looked as if she was about to jump up, her eyes shining.

“Mm. But there are still some procedures to handle. You’ll only see it a little later.”

“Yay!”

On the return trip, Song Yi waved hard at the cub, but compared with reluctance, there was more anticipation.

Cloud City.

The extremely vicious Hunter soon received the judgment he deserved. After the result came down, he was sent to Cloud City Prison.

He did not repent for his crimes. He only hated that he had failed to get rid of those hateful children.

Unable to accept reality, he spent several days in a row cursing Song Yi and the others.

The person immersed in his own emotions did not notice that while he cursed, a few extra eyes fell on him. Or perhaps he noticed but did not care, because every new inmate underwent evaluation after entering prison.

While others were choosing him, he was also choosing others.

He had merely been careless for a moment. If he were given another chance...

The Hunter’s gaze swept across the prison. He believed he could find an opportunity here.

He was used to working alone, but that did not mean he would not cooperate with others.

Only, before he could find a partner, he vaguely felt that he was being excluded.

Before he could figure out what had happened, he was suddenly surrounded in the activity area and beaten up. Then they cheerfully told the guards that they were engaging in routine exercise. What made the Hunter’s heart chill was that the guards actually did not intervene.

Prisons emphasized order, but if someone really wanted to take the risk of rule-based punishment to target a prisoner, of course it could be done.

The Hunter realized he had offended someone.

But who had he offended?

He did not know these people at all.

When under someone else’s roof, one had no choice but to lower one’s head. The Hunter smiled apologetically and admitted fault to the man in the lead, trying to show goodwill and saying there might have been some misunderstanding.

But the other party’s attitude remained cold. “You’re the one who said you were going to deal with Song Yi and the others, right?”

“Ah... yes?”

“Then there’s no mistake. You’re the one we’re beating.” Zhang Tao waved his hand. “The people here are all under her protection.”

The Hunter was dumbfounded. Subconsciously, he said, “Wait. Did you say that wrong? Shouldn’t you be protecting her?”

“I didn’t say it wrong.”

“Wait. Maybe we’re not talking about the same person?”

Another punch smashed into his face. “Cut the crap. I advise you to keep your eyes open. All of us will be watching you.”

Song Yi did not really come to the prison anymore, but the cooperation between the work-study club and the prison continued. The ten-percent share she had originally promised Zhang Tao had been diluted, but she was a person who kept her promises. She fought for a degree of freedom for them and did not let them suffer losses.

The current Song Yi was still their major patron.

Talking about killing Song Yi every time he opened his mouth—did he really think Zhang Tao and the others were good people who would not touch him?

Why would the prison guards turn a blind eye?

Because people’s hearts always had a bias.

Those little cubs were all familiar to them. If the little cubs had to face a threat from trash like the Hunter, it would be better to let the other prisoners properly teach him a lesson.

Hunter: ...

It was over. He seemed to be able to foresee what his prison life would be like from now on.

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