Chapter 90

The edge of the Human Realm was only a general term. Every continent had its own extended defensive lines, and the conditions beyond different lines could be worlds apart.

One point was universal: human laws might not necessarily apply anymore.

It was not that people could do whatever they wanted outside the Human Realm. Rather, there were two conditions for someone to face judgment.

First, there had to be evidence. Out here, without the layers of restrictions and protections found inside the Human Realm, destroying the body and erasing the evidence was much easier.

Second, you had to be able to find the person.

Of course, that did not mean the flame of civilization was completely extinguished, or that people would utterly let themselves go the moment they arrived outside. Education in morality and law was not just empty words on paper. For a normal person to shed the clothing of civilization, they still needed some kind of trigger.

Slightly stepping over the line and walking in the gray zone was normal, but far fewer people would take that step even farther. After all, many people still had to return to the Human Realm to continue living. Life inside the cities was much more comfortable.

And once some roads were taken, there was no turning back. Even if you did it flawlessly this time, could you guarantee you truly would not do it again next time?

People who tasted the sweetness of it often took desperate risks again and again, until they could no longer return to the realm of civilization, until they were brought to justice.

There were also small-scale settlements or supply points outside. Cultivators from the City Defense Department would patrol past, and there were many explorers and others as well. Dangerous people existed too… all sorts of people gathered there, forming chaotic zones.

This time, Wang Yisheng and the others were heading to the outskirts of Sand City, the westernmost city of the East Continent. They first teleported to Sand City, then boarded the large spirit-energy car Teacher Wang had reserved long ago and left the Human Realm.

The spirit-energy cars here were rather different from the ones Song Yi had seen before. Most of them adopted a higher levitation design, and the underside had deeper, thicker protection.

“The yellow sand here fills the sky, and the road conditions outside are even worse. Ordinary spirit-energy cars get damaged very quickly,” Teacher Yuan explained.

Before they left Sand City, the guards conducted a strict check and verification of their identities before letting them go.

The spirit-energy car drove away from Sand City. Song Yi looked back and saw a transparent giant wall connecting heaven and earth, rising majestically as it blocked the dangers from outside the Human Realm.

Even more memorable were the torches burning atop the extremely tall watchtowers they had built, their crimson flames leaping.

This was a sight that could only be seen in edge towns. Ordinary inner cities did not have such things.

“This is called the flame of civilization. As long as the town still stands, it will not go out, whether by day or by night. For the adventurers outside, it is like a kind of hope: ‘Hold on a little longer. You’ll be home soon.’”

As Song Yi listened to Teacher Yuan’s explanation, she understood in her heart: this was also a warning, reminding the people outside not to release the beasts within their hearts.

Inside the spirit-energy car, Old Wang’s classmates looked enviously at the children in the back row.

In the end, only their wounded world had been achieved: Song Yi and the others had still come, while only their things had been confiscated.

They were certain that if they had done this sort of thing in first grade, they would definitely have been smacked down with one slap. Yet these children had gotten what they wanted. This was way too unfair!

There really was a difference between teachers.

They glanced at Teacher Wang, then pitifully went to Teacher Yuan. After currying favor for ages, they finally asked, “Teacher Yuan, do you want to take on another class?”

“Right, right, our class has pretty good grades. We’ll definitely save you a lot of trouble. We’re different from the little first-grade kids. We heard lower grades are more naughty and the hardest to teach, right?”

Good grief. Was stealing teachers trending now?

Stealing teachers was one thing, but did they have to step on them while doing it? Was that appropriate?

The children’s eyes were spitting fire.

The seniors were not afraid of these tiny little kids. Although Song Yi and the others were very famous at school, rights had to be fought for by yourself.

They only wanted a good teacher to teach them. There was nothing wrong with that, right? Their demands were not high either. Just bringing them along to play on weekends would be enough. Just thinking about it felt awesome.

How could Teacher Yuan not know what these kids were thinking?

He said with a beaming smile, “Sure. My requirements aren’t that high either. If you can get into the top ten clubs in the Hundred Clubs War, or produce especially notable research results in some field, I can make a special application to bring you out for field practice.”

The students were stunned. This was called not having high requirements?

But after thinking carefully, Song Yi and the others had satisfied the requirements.

Damn it. So privileges did not come just from acting like little terrors. The students drooped dejectedly.

Teacher Wang did not forget to twist the knife. “Haven’t you heard of Teacher Yuan’s great reputation for persuading people through virtue?”

“What’s that?”

“Teacher, isn’t persuading people through virtue a good thing?”

Even Song Yi and the others curiously pricked up their ears.

“Persuading people through virtue includes persuading them through martial virtue. Before he became a teacher, he spent some time dealing with criminals. His catchphrase back then was that if your fists weren’t hard enough, you couldn’t deal with bad people. Once, he nearly beat someone into psychological trauma, but he defended himself with all kinds of legal clauses and avoided punishment… Don’t misunderstand. He generally doesn’t hit children. He’s afraid he won’t control his strength properly.”

It would have been better if Teacher Wang had not added that last part. The moment she did, it felt even more terrifying, okay!

Teacher Yuan smiled and said, “The past is unbearable to look back on. Don’t bring it up to scare the children.”

“Even if he doesn’t hit children, the children afraid of him have never been few.”

Teacher Yuan corrected her. “That is called reverence, not fear.”

The way she said it made him sound like some kind of monster. He had always been very popular with students, all right?

The students silently moved a little closer to Teacher Wang. That felt safer.

Someone even quietly asked Song Yi and the others for information. “When you guys mess around like this, won’t he punish you?”

Was Teacher Wang describing things too exaggeratedly?

Song Yi answered without thinking, “He does.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Teacher Yuan is still very nice. As long as the speed at which he punishes us can’t keep up with the speed at which we make trouble, then overall, we’re still ahead. As long as our freedom isn’t restricted, everything else is negotiable.”

Think about it: make trouble once and get punished once, or make trouble ten times and get punished eight times. Which one was the better deal?

Since punishment was unavoidable—Teacher Yuan: Why don’t you try avoiding it?—then of course they had to choose the better deal.

They were winning so hard, okay?

Teacher Yuan clapped a hand over the child’s mouth. It was fine to keep saying the parts where she praised him, but as for the troublemaking experience afterward, she had better not go around teaching that nonsense.

After leaving Sand City, the sights before their eyes became all sorts of primitive scenery: undulating sandy land, spiritual plants growing wherever they pleased, demon beasts flashing by with a chunk of flesh in their mouths…

The scorching sun hung low, as if it had swollen many times larger than the sun in other places. The spirit-energy car remained cool and comfortable inside, but perhaps because of the environment, everyone inexplicably felt like drinking water.

The farther they got from Sand City, the more obvious the drought in the land became, and the fewer kinds of plants there were.

The spiritual plants that could survive in such an extreme environment were no easy prey. Song Yi saw a crack split open in the trunk of one spiritual plant, like a monster opening its mouth, and it spat out some strange fur and hide.

Because it was covered in strange mucus, Song Yi could not tell what kind of demon beast had left those remains behind.

If it could eat demon beasts, humans would naturally also be on its menu.

These were not the spiritual plants grown at school, which at their worst would only whip you a few times.

This spiritual plant basically had no leaves, only thin, long branches that rustled in the wild wind, as if selecting its next meal.

However, Song Yi and the others’ spirit-energy car never entered its attack range at all.

Teacher Wang was probably quite familiar with this area. After leaving the city, she did not use the spirit-energy car’s autonomous driving mode, but became the driver herself.

Autonomous driving was more suited to environments inside the city. It could not identify and avoid the many risks outside. But with Teacher Wang, this veteran driver, at the controls, the spirit-energy car nimbly leaped and slid under her manipulation, precisely dodging the monsters that tried to open their mouths.

Nearby spirit-energy cars leaving the city quietly copied her driving. Although those who dared to leave the city were generally not afraid of such small dangers, “avoiding danger in advance” and “resolving danger” were two different things.

The former was clearly more beneficial for surviving out here, and also required more skill.

There were even people who wanted to strike up a conversation with Teacher Wang and chased after her to ask for her contact information.

The children in the car loved this sort of drama most and all began hooting.

“Teacher Wang, this one is good-looking!”

“Teacher Wang, this one talks nicely!”

Although they might not necessarily understand, that did not stop them from expressing the simplest view of choosing a partner.

Even Song Yi shook her head at those words. Judging people by appearance? How could that be right?

Only, just as Song Yi tried to promote her old set of “Dao companion views,” Li Wenwen and the others grabbed her first.

Li Wenwen and the others were instead very worried about Song Yi. “Little Yi, cultivation and Dao aren’t that important. In the future, if you choose a Dao companion, you have to choose someone good-looking! Looks are very important!”

Faced with passersby trying to act cool and children making a racket, Teacher Wang had even more experience.

Expressionless, she controlled the spirit-energy car into a drift and cleared a roadblock. The person beside them, however, did not react in time and nearly plunged into a pit, almost getting dragged away by a spiritual plant—the risks outside were linked one after another to begin with.

“Here’s a survival tip for outside the Human Realm: focus on what you’re doing.” Teacher Wang’s habit of teaching and educating people flared up, and she even specially left behind a sentence before driving off in triumph.

The little students howled, “Teacher is still the coolest!” Then Teacher Wang’s next sentence frightened them into absolute silence. “How many spiritual plants and demon beasts did we encounter on the road just now? What are their habits? What were the terrain and landforms we passed along the way like? Hand in your homework when we reach the settlement.”

Damn it. Just now, they had only been watching Teacher Wang act cool. Who had paid attention to the surrounding environment?

Teacher Wang said coldly and mercilessly, “We’re here for practical field learning, not vacation. Do you only remember to observe your surroundings after I remind you every time? Without me, how are you supposed to survive?”

Li Wenwen and Lin Ze secretly laughed. These miserable upperclassmen were so pitiful.

However, Teacher Yuan patted them and said, “You’re this happy? Our first grade really is a little more enthusiastic about homework.”

The smiles on their faces froze. “Huh?”

“Since we brought you here, you don’t think you don’t have to do this coursework, do you?”

This was probably what people called the Heavenly Dao’s cycle of retribution.

Wang Yisheng’s classmates struggled to hold back their laughter. With the lesson right before their eyes, they did not dare show too much schadenfreude.

But now that these lower graders were not here purely for fun and also had to study just like them, their hearts immediately felt much more balanced. Even the homework did not seem so bitter anymore.

The same homework would definitely be harder for lower graders. There had to be some things they had not studied yet, right?

Thinking in this direction, bringing Song Yi and the others along did have benefits: if the little brats performed a bit poorly, it would make them look a bit more impressive by comparison. Then the teachers would have a harder time saying, “You are the worst cohort I have ever taught.”

Oh, you asked why they had already decided that Song Yi and the others would be at the bottom?

They were influential figures at school. It could even be said that their influence extended beyond the school. Everyone paid some degree of attention to their grades, so it was not exactly a secret.

Although the little brats did not directly have the words “bad student” welded onto their faces, it was not an exaggeration to say they had serious subject imbalances.

During final exams, Song Yi had an enlightenment in the exam room, yet somehow only got into the top ten of her grade!

It was not that this result was bad. It was just not on the same level as “enlightenment.” You could probably tie a pig there, let it have an enlightenment, and it would get about the same result. Probably.

But although these upperclassmen knew Song Yi had uneven subjects, they did not know which subjects she was uneven in.

This sort of “survival” homework? She was not afraid of it at all.

It was fine to watch the excitement, but she had to stay even more alert to the surrounding environment and situation.

After a brief moment of thought, Song Yi began reporting the answers. “From the time we left the city until now, we have seen a total of twenty-five kinds of spiritual plants. They are…”

Li Wenwen and Lin Ze wrote furiously, and the smiles on their faces returned.

Teacher Wang also began to feel that bringing Song Yi and the others along was pretty good. These children who had grown in age but not in memory really did need some stimulation.

“Look at Song Yi, then look at yourselves. Aren’t you embarrassed? You might as well go back and repeat first grade!”

Wang Yisheng’s classmates were already trembling. Sob. Other people’s kids were too powerful. They should not have brought Song Yi and the others along. It was extremely bad for everyone’s physical and mental health.

As for Wang Yisheng, he hid in the crowd and fished in muddy waters, listening to Song Yi’s answers as he filled in his homework.

But this was not over. After Song Yi reported all the answers in one breath, she asked the two teachers in return, “Teachers, do you know how many probing divine senses swept past us after we left the city?”

Uh, well… they really had not paid much attention.

Having just left the city, they would not be so cautious as to watch for that sort of thing. Unless obvious malicious intent was present, how could one person possibly pay attention to so many things?

“Ahem… that’s not important. Paying attention to all of them isn’t very realistic.” Old Wang and Old Yuan forcibly saved face.

“It’s not that it’s impossible. You’re just not putting your hearts into it.” Song Yi folded her hands into her sleeves and directly listed points to help them recall: the green spirit-energy car following to their right rear, the sword-riding cultivator in blue clothes on the left…

Teacher Yuan and the others might not necessarily have noticed the situation at the time, but with Song Yi directly helping them review their memories, they could still judge that Song Yi was not making it up.

That made things very awkward for the teachers.

“The natural environment is one part of survival, and relationships with other people are too. How is that not important? We’re here for practical field learning, not vacation. Without me, how are you supposed to survive?”

Song Yi sighed with her tender little voice, sounding old beyond her years.

Everyone in the car felt that these words were very familiar. Not long ago, Teacher Wang had used almost the same words to lecture the children.

How should they put it? The teachers felt that Song Yi was quite impressive, but also had the impulse to throw her out. What should they do?

The students made muffled pffft-pffft sounds as they tried hard to hold back their laughter but failed. No one knew which fearless soul said, “Sigh, this is the worst batch of teachers I’ve ever taught.”

That guy knew he was courting death. He deliberately put on a tone and even used some weird spirit artifact.

For a time, the car was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

After being completely defeated by first-grade children, Wang Yisheng’s classmates had originally felt a little ashamed, and the pressure had also been a bit high.

But now, the pressure had been passed to the teachers, and they felt they were all right again. It was not that they were no good; the opponent was too strong. Losing to an opponent on the same level as a teacher was not embarrassing. They should let the teachers take the field.

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