Yu Qingtang met his gaze, still not quite processing what was happening.
“Huh?”
The young man chuckled and shook his head helplessly, a trace of pity entering his eyes.
“Good grief. Have you studied yourself stupid? At this rate, how long would it take you to pass the minor exam?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
His expression turned strange.
What an rude guy. Why was he making personal attacks now?
Yu Qingtang pursed his lips. “Can you pass it?”
“Of course I can.” The young man smiled oddly. “Otherwise, why would I have the leisure to laugh at you?”
“What’s your name?” Yu Qingtang looked him up and down. “I’ll have someone check later and see whether you really pass every time. If you’ve ever failed yourself and still dare stand here laughing at other people...”
He made a threatening face.
The young man froze, then doubled over laughing.
“Interesting. Very interesting. Little fool, do you really think I came over just to make fun of you?”
Yu Qingtang looked at him strangely.
“Then what exactly are you...”
“I merely saw how troubled you were and kindly [N O V E L I G H T] decided to save you.” The young man sighed softly, watching him with an ambiguous smile as he shook his head. “Want to pass?”
“Of course.” Yu Qingtang leaned closer. “You have a way?”
He looked the other man up and down.
“You look pretty young. You don’t exactly seem like some famous teacher.”
The young man scoffed. “Even a famous teacher wouldn’t dare guarantee you’d pass. But if you knew what questions would be on the exam, all you’d have to do is memorize the answers until you knew them by heart. Naturally you’d pass.”
Yu Qingtang reflexively objected, “What if I can’t memorize them?”
Young Man: “...”
“Wait.” Only then did Yu Qingtang finally catch on. He lowered his voice nervously. “Y-you have the answers?”
The young man sighed, his eyes full of pity.
“You finally figured it out.”
He glanced toward Scholar Xiao’s retreating figure and reminded him quietly, “The fewer people who know about this, the better. Don’t call your companions. Follow me.”
He took a couple of steps.
Yu Qingtang hesitated.
“Hey, wait!”
The young man stopped and looked back impatiently. “If you’re too scared, or you don’t want to pass anymore, then stay there.”
“That’s not it!” Yu Qingtang hurried after him. “I meant, could you at least let me eat something first? I came out on an empty stomach.”
“Tch.”
The young man glanced at him, pulled an oil-paper parcel from inside his robes, and tossed it over.
“What a pain. Eat this or something.”
“Oh!” Yu Qingtang brightened. “You even brought food?”
He deftly opened the parcel.
Inside were two baked buns, still slightly warm.
Yu Qingtang looked up.
“These aren’t leftovers you couldn’t finish, are they?”
The young man turned his head.
“Are you eating them or not?”
Yu Qingtang tore a small piece off one of the buns and held it out.
“You eat this first.”
The young man stared at him in silence.
Yu Qingtang looked perfectly justified.
“I’m afraid you poisoned them.”
“Heh.”
The young man scoffed, stuffed the morsel into his mouth, and gave him a sidelong glance.
“You may be stupid, but at least you’re cautious.”
“Of course.” Yu Qingtang nodded solemnly. “If I were both stupid and careless, how would I ever have survived this long? I value my life, you know.”
“Oh, right. I forgot to ask. I’m not taking your academy’s regular minor exam. I came to visit Academy Head Wen. Can you get the answers to that examination too?”
The young man raised his eyebrows slightly.
“You’re an outsider?”
He looked Yu Qingtang over.
“No wonder. I was wondering why I’d never seen you around the academy before.”
Yu Qingtang muttered, “Do you know everyone else in the academy?”
“No.” The young man lifted his eyelids. “I haven’t been here long. I barely know most people.”
“Then you’re awfully bold.” Yu Qingtang looked at him curiously while quietly memorizing his face. “I heard Four Books Academy is extremely strict about cheating. If you’re caught, won’t they throw you out?”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll rat you out afterward?”
“I would be if you didn’t buy.” The young man smiled faintly, the tear-shaped mole at the corner of his eye especially conspicuous. “But once you buy from me, we’re grasshoppers tied to the same rope. What would I have to fear?”
“That makes sense.” Yu Qingtang nodded along. “But you’re not even going to ask whether I have enough money?”
The young man led him farther and farther into the quieter parts of the city.
At last, he slowed down and pushed open the door of a small house. He turned back with a knowing smile.
“You definitely do. I can tell.”
“Come in.”
The room before him was pitch-black.
Yu Qingtang felt an uneasy flutter in his chest and did not immediately follow.
“Why make this so mysterious?”
He quietly reached into his storage ring and took something out, lingering at the doorway.
“I only want to pass an exam. You’re not planning to take my life, are you?”
“Get in here.”
The young man had clearly run out of patience. He reached out and grabbed Yu Qingtang by the collar, yanking him inside.
But the instant his fingers touched the fabric—
Flames erupted and illuminated the room, nearly singeing his eyebrows clean off.
Yu Qingtang jumped inside, proudly holding up an Evil-Warding Pearl.
“How about that! Got you!”
But the figure before him melted into the flames like a sheet of paper.
“Hm?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in astonishment.
Before he could take a closer look, the door slammed shut behind him.
“Hey!”
He spun around warily and slapped the door.
There was even a seal on it.
His expression became strange.
He’d been locked in?
Had he walked into a trap?
No way.
He peered around and suddenly noticed two teleportation formations on the table.
They ran in opposite directions.
One was marked with a price—
Twenty thousand spirit stones.
The other had nothing written beside it.
Yu Qingtang finally understood.
Remote payment?
Had that person just now been nothing more than bait too?
No wonder he had vanished like a paper doll without leaving anything behind.
Yu Qingtang felt around in his pockets.
After hesitating for a while, he ultimately decided not to pay. He would simply squat here and wait for the others to rescue him.
He pulled out the two buns while he was at it.
Remembering how that man had just vanished like a paper figure, he no longer dared eat them either. He could only set them on the table and sigh mournfully.
“Brother Xiao, hurry up and come save me...”
...
Meanwhile, Scholar Xiao had just finished buying the braised food.
The moment he turned around and discovered that Yu Qingtang had vanished, his face changed drastically.
“Oh no. Brother Yu is gone. If Brother Ye finds out, what am I going to do?”
He questioned the nearby vendors.
Fortunately, Yu Qingtang was distinctive enough that several people remembered him. They said he had left with a young man dressed like a scholar who looked like a Four Books Academy disciple.
“Strange.”
Scholar Xiao fell into thought.
“Brother Yu shouldn’t know any other male disciples from Four Books Academy. He’s normally cautious too. He wouldn’t just follow some stranger away. Could it be...”
He was hesitating over whether to go back and tell the other two first when his gaze swept across the street.
Yu Qingtang’s figure flashed past.
Scholar Xiao froze, then looked delighted.
“Brother Yu!”
But Yu Qingtang seemed not to notice him at all.
Instead, he turned and struck up a conversation with another academy disciple who looked utterly miserable.
Scholar Xiao sensed that something was wrong and did not immediately follow.
He remained where he was, observing from a distance.
The academy disciple appeared deeply conflicted.
After “Yu Qingtang” said a few words to him, the man finally made up his mind and followed him away.
Scholar Xiao narrowed his eyes and studied the pair closely.
That person was unmistakably Yu Qingtang.
And yet somehow, he felt strangely unfamiliar.
Just as Scholar Xiao was about to follow, a hand silently approached him from behind.
He spun around and snapped out his folding fan.
“Who’s there!”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow at him.
Beside him, Chi Yantian stood with his arms folded.
“What took you so long just buying some food?”
“Huh?” Scholar Xiao looked pleasantly surprised. “Brother Ye, Brother Chi? Why did you come out?”
Ye Chenyan waved the red cord in his hand.
“Before you left, you said you were taking him to the west side of the city for food. But just now, he suddenly ran all the way to the east side.”
“Unless something unusual happened, you two wouldn’t have made that big a detour.”
“Where is he?”
Scholar Xiao pointed toward the figure that had just disappeared around the corner.
“He’s right over—”
For a moment, Ye Chenyan’s expression turned strange.
“No.”
“He’s clearly on the east side of the city. How could he be here? And...”
Chi Yantian scratched his head.
“Is it just me, or does he look a little different?”
Ye Chenyan pointed to the corner of his own eye.
“There’s an extra tear-shaped mole.”
“And he doesn’t make expressions like that.”
He clicked his tongue.
“Using his face to swindle people... that’s irritating.”
He was about to follow when Scholar Xiao grabbed him.
“Hey, wait. Calm down. Brother Ye, think about it. Should we chase this one first, or rescue Brother Yu first?”
Ye Chenyan frowned slightly.
“This is ultimately a problem involving my academy,” Scholar Xiao said with a smile. “Leave this side to Brother Chi and me. You go find Brother Yu first.”
“Oh, right.”
He hurriedly shoved the food into Ye Chenyan’s hands.
“When you find him, give him something to eat first. Don’t let him go hungry.”
“Fine.”
Ye Chenyan answered, gave the fake Yu Qingtang’s retreating back one final deep look, then turned and headed east.
...
Yu Qingtang was sprawled over the table in utter boredom, holding two spirit stones as he agonized over his decision.
It was true that you had to spend bait to catch the wolf...
But what if you spent the bait and still didn’t catch anything?
This was twenty thousand spirit stones!
“Qingtang...”
In a daze, he thought he heard Ye Chenyan calling him.
Still lying on the table, Yu Qingtang stared blankly into space.
“They say one day apart feels like three autumns. Don’t tell me I’ve only been separated from him for a little while and I’m already imagining his voice?”
“Ugh.”
He patted his cheeks.
“I can’t get this sappy.”
“Qingtang!”
The call came again.
Yu Qingtang shot upright.
It wasn’t his imagination.
Ye Chenyan really was calling him!
“Here! Over here!”
Yu Qingtang hurried to the door.
“I’m in here!”
“There’s a barrier on the door. I tried opening it earlier, but I couldn’t.”
He looked somewhat embarrassed.
“Sorry. I never studied formations or barriers very seriously back then.”
Outside the door, Ye Chenyan relaxed the moment he heard his voice.
He laughed.
“Don’t worry. I studied properly. I’ve got this. Step back.”
Yu Qingtang had barely moved aside when—
Boom!
Both door panels went flying.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He stared blankly at the two doors lying on the ground, then at Ye Chenyan, who had just lowered his leg.
“You call that breaking a barrier?”
Ye Chenyan looked entirely justified.
“It opened, didn’t it? Who said I had to use a spell?”
Yu Qingtang: “...You didn’t study properly either!”
“Ahem.”
Ye Chenyan cleared his throat and chuckled, handing him the food.
“Are you hurt? Starving? Hurry up and eat.”
“I’m a Nascent Soul cultivator now, you know.” Yu Qingtang spoke with great solemnity. “Missing one meal might make me miserable, but it won’t kill me!”
He craned his neck to look.
“What did you bring? This looks like the stuff Brother Xiao and I bought.”
“Mhm. He told me to bring it to you.”
Ye Chenyan looked around the room.
“You ran into the person selling cheating answers?”
“Mhm!” Yu Qingtang looked up indignantly. “He said I looked like someone who needed them. Isn’t that outrageous?”
Author’s Note:
Yu Qingtang: “I look pretty smart, don’t I?! I’m just slightly less smart in practice!”
Ye Chenyan: “?”
Chapter 166: Points
Ye Chenyan let out a muffled laugh.
Yu Qingtang pinched his cheeks and lowered his voice threateningly.
“What’s that supposed to mean, Brother Ye? You think it’s funny?”
“No. I think he’s funny.” Ye Chenyan immediately put on a serious expression. “He has eyes but failed to recognize greatness. He couldn’t tell that you’re merely hiding great wisdom behind a foolish exterior.”
“You’d better mean that.”
Yu Qingtang gave him a sidelong look and tossed him the two buns.
“That guy gave me these.”
Ye Chenyan’s expression turned strange.
“You robbed him?”
“He gave them to me.”
Yu Qingtang stuffed a piece of braised food into his mouth and frowned thoughtfully.
“I said I was hungry, so he handed me two buns. But I didn’t dare eat them. I was afraid something might be wrong with them.”
“So...”
He looked expectantly at Ye Chenyan.
“Why don’t you try one? I’ll judge by your complexion.”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
“Don’t worry.” Yu Qingtang patted his chest reassuringly. “I made him take a bite first, so he could prove they weren’t poisoned...”
His voice gradually weakened.
“But then he turned into a little paper figure, so I still can’t be sure whether the buns are safe.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow.
“And you still dare ask me to eat one? You’re not afraid I’ll die?”
“How could that happen?”
Yu Qingtang solemnly patted him on the shoulder.
“You have to believe your life is tough enough to survive!”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
“Hehe. I’m kidding.”
Yu Qingtang gave two foolish little laughs.
“I memorized what that person looked like. If I see him again, I’ll definitely recognize him!”
He frowned in confusion.
“Still, his cultivation technique must be incredibly unusual. He actually managed to turn into a sheet of paper...”
“It is rare.”
Ye Chenyan nodded lightly.
“We can ask Scholar Xiao later. Did that man look like someone from the academy?”
“Yeah.” Yu Qingtang nodded. “He even said he’d only arrived recently and wasn’t familiar with the others, which was why he dared sell answers so openly.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow but did not comment.
Even if the man knew very few people, this was still Four Books Academy. He probably wouldn’t dare conduct this kind of business using his real face.
Besides, they had just seen another “Yu Qingtang” on the west side of the city.
From the looks of things, even if Yu Qingtang identified the academy disciple who had led him away, they still might not catch the real person behind the scheme.
“There’s also this formation.”
Yu Qingtang pulled him toward the table.
“Can you figure out where it teleports things? If you can, maybe we can follow the trail back to whoever’s behind it.”
Ye Chenyan lowered his head, studied the formation, then looked at him innocently.
“You already know I’m not very good at this.”
“Then what do we do?” Yu Qingtang slumped over the table. “I don’t know how either.”
“Wait for Scholar Xiao.”
Ye Chenyan casually opened the food Scholar Xiao had bought and spread it across the table.
“For now, eat.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced sideways at him.
“Not hungry?” Ye Chenyan looked back.
“I am.”
Yu Qingtang nodded honestly and obediently picked up his chopsticks.
“Heaven and earth are vast, but eating comes first.”
...
About the time it took an incense stick to burn later, Scholar Xiao and Chi Yantian finally hurried over.
“Hey! You two already started eating?”
Chi Yantian strode inside with his arms folded, dropped heavily into a seat, accepted the food Yu Qingtang handed him, and stuffed his mouth full.
“That fake Yu Qingtang turned into a sheet of paper and disappeared too. No idea what technique that was.”
His words came out muffled.
He jerked a thumb behind him.
“It happened on Four Books Academy’s turf, so we left the rest for them to investigate.”
“As expected.” Ye Chenyan was not surprised. “Same thing that happened to Qingtang.”
“He did memorize the person’s face. Is there any point having him identify the man?”
“Of course.” Scholar Xiao nodded seriously. “A clue is still a clue.”
Yu Qingtang pointed at the teleportation formations on the table.
“And this. If you can trace this formation to the other end, maybe you can find whoever’s collecting the money.”
“Let me see.”
Scholar Xiao leaned closer and examined it thoughtfully.
“If we wait until it activates, I might be able to trace the direction of the spiritual power.”
Yu Qingtang’s thoughts took a sharp turn.
His guard immediately went up.
“Huh? We have to give him twenty thousand spirit stones?”
“Think carefully, Brother Xiao. This sounds exactly like a scam!”
“Naturally, I’m not going to pay out of my own pocket.”
Scholar Xiao laughed helplessly.
“Since Four Books Academy is investigating the matter, we can simply hand the clue over to them.”
“Of course, if there’s anything within our ability to help with, we should lend a hand...”
He leaned closer to the three of them and lowered his voice.
“At Four Books Academy, contributions to the academy can earn you bonus points on your exams.”
“Oh!”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up.
“That’s an option? Does Four Books Academy have any other odd jobs we can help with?”
“Rather than hoping the three of us can actually pass, we might as well do enough work to scrape together the points.”
Scholar Xiao hesitated.
“There probably are some, but...”
“Are you really not willing to try a little harder? Studying and taking exams can be quite enjoyable, gentlemen...”
“No studying!”
All three answered in perfect unison.
“Ah.”
Scholar Xiao shook his head helplessly.
“Fine. Later, I’ll take you to Four Books Academy and find some commissions that award points.”
“But there’s a limit to how many points you can use. You can only add twenty bonus points to any one exam. You need fifty points to pass, so you’ll still have to earn at least thirty on your own.”
Yu Qingtang looked up gloomily.
“Thirty points...”
“Only thirty!” Scholar Xiao looked exasperated by their lack of ambition. “You could get that much just by guessing, couldn’t you?”
Yu Qingtang blinked.
“When you put it that way, I suddenly feel more confident.”
“Exactly!” Scholar Xiao smiled. “Thirty points is very easy.”
“I mean I’m confident in my luck.”
Yu Qingtang rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Maybe I should practice my cultivation technique a couple more times before the exam.”
Ye Chenyan found that amusing.
“Don’t you hate cultivating too?”
“That was before studying gave me something to compare it to.” Yu Qingtang looked miserable. “Now cultivation suddenly doesn’t seem so bad.”
...
That afternoon, the group followed Scholar Xiao to Four Books Academy and received temporary student tokens so they could take commissions and accumulate points.
Chi Yantian was sent to the Painting School to serve as a model.
Apparently, all he had to do was stay still.
Yu Qingtang watched as Chi Yantian was arranged into an awkward pose and scratched his head.
“Can Brother Chi really do this? He’s never been able to sit still. And they picked this job for him?”
Scholar Xiao smiled at him.
“Would you rather do it?”
“I...”
Yu Qingtang scratched his chin.
“If they let me lie down and sleep, sure. Otherwise, I can’t hold one pose for that long either.”
“That’s not all.”
Scholar Xiao pointed toward the center with a smile.
“Look.”
A Senior Sister suddenly spoke up.
“Junior Brother, could you take off your clothes?”
“Huh?”
Chi Yantian looked baffled and scratched his head.
“Sure. How much?”
The Senior Sister replied with a perfectly serious expression.
“As much as you’re willing to take off.”
“Take off a little more, and Senior Sister will give you another five points.”
Chi Yantian’s eyes lit up.
He immediately flung off his shirt.
Yu Qingtang turned pale with shock.
“Brother Xiao! This is a respectable Painting School, right? I’m not going to see erotic paintings of Brother Chi flooding the Nine Provinces afterward, am I?”
“No, no. Senior Sister knows where to draw the line.”
Scholar Xiao smiled pleasantly, but still turned around and called out,
“Senior Sister, don’t go too far! He’s the holy son of Heavenly Fire Cult. If you paint anything too strange, you might cause a diplomatic incident!”
“The holy son...”
The Senior Sister’s smile became subtle.
“Ooh. Not bad. Inspiration just struck.”
...
Yu Qingtang was sprawled over the table in utter boredom, holding two spirit stones as he agonized over his decision.
It was true that you had to spend bait to catch the wolf...
But what if you spent the bait and still didn’t catch anything?
This was twenty thousand spirit stones!
“Qingtang...”
In a daze, he thought he heard Ye Chenyan calling him.
Still lying on the table, Yu Qingtang stared blankly into space.
“They say one day apart feels like three autumns. Don’t tell me I’ve only been separated from him for a little while and I’m already imagining his voice?”
“Ugh.”
He patted his cheeks.
“I can’t get this sappy.”
“Qingtang!”
The call came again.
Yu Qingtang shot upright.
It wasn’t his imagination.
Ye Chenyan really was calling him!
“Here! Over here!”
Yu Qingtang hurried to the door.
“I’m in here!”
“There’s a barrier on the door. I tried opening it earlier, but I couldn’t.”
He looked somewhat embarrassed.
“Sorry. I never studied formations or barriers very seriously back then.”
Outside the door, Ye Chenyan relaxed the moment he heard his voice.
He laughed.
“Don’t worry. I studied properly. I’ve got this. Step back.”
Yu Qingtang had barely moved aside when—
Boom!
Both door panels went flying.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He stared blankly at the two doors lying on the ground, then at Ye Chenyan, who had just lowered his leg.
“You call that breaking a barrier?”
Ye Chenyan looked entirely justified.
“It opened, didn’t it? Who said I had to use a spell?”
Yu Qingtang: “...You didn’t study properly either!”
“Ahem.”
Ye Chenyan cleared his throat and chuckled, handing him the food.
“Are you hurt? Starving? Hurry up and eat.”
“I’m a Nascent Soul cultivator now, you know.” Yu Qingtang spoke with great solemnity. “Missing one meal might make me miserable, but it won’t kill me!”
He craned his neck to look.
“What did you bring? This looks like the stuff Brother Xiao and I bought.”
“Mhm. He told me to bring it to you.”
Ye Chenyan looked around the room.
“You ran into the person selling cheating answers?”
“Mhm!” Yu Qingtang looked up indignantly. “He said I looked like someone who needed them. Isn’t that outrageous?”
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