Early the next morning, Long Haochen got up to attend class.
He dragged Bai Xi along with him.
“The teacher said to bring you along. He must think you have talent and wants to teach you cultivation.”
Long Haochen cheerfully pulled Bai Xi up Odin Mountain, even more enthusiastic than she was.
“You’re here.”
Long Xingyu had been waiting on the mountain for a while. As soon as they arrived, he tossed an ordinary wooden sword to Bai Xi and pointed to the Spiritual Power testing device nearby.
“Test your Spiritual Power. Both of you, test it.”
“Let me go first.”
Long Haochen picked up the wooden sword and demonstrated for Bai Xi.
When he swung the wooden sword forcefully at the wooden block, the stone bead in the stone trough would bounce with a “thump,” and the height of the bounce would determine the level of Spiritual Power.
Long Haochen’s Spiritual Power stopped at the 36 mark, and a pleased expression appeared on his face.
“Chenchen, you’re amazing!”
Bai Xi politely clapped for him.
“Xixi, do it just like I did.”
Long Haochen, feeling a bit embarrassed, handed the wooden sword to Bai Xi and taught her some details.
“If possible, just strike the wooden block with that sword technique from yesterday.”
Long Xingyu added, wanting to know just how talented Bai Xi was.
“That sword technique from yesterday was just a coincidence, something I managed in a moment of urgency. I can’t do it today—it’s too difficult.”
Bai Xi shook her head, looking at the wooden block while calculating how much strength she should reveal.
She didn’t trust this “Teacher Xingyu.” He gave her a strange feeling.
Long Haochen had mentioned that among their batch who passed the Squire Knight assessment, the highest Spiritual Power was his own, exactly 16.
“Then let’s go with 16.”
Thinking this, Bai Xi gripped the sword and struck the wooden block.
The stone bead instantly leaped up, much faster than before, but it only stopped at the 18 mark.
“Miscalculated. Used too much force.”
As for the number 18, Long Haochen very politely showed an expression of surprise.
“Xixi, you’re incredible! You haven’t even trained, yet you can reach such a high level. I always said Instructor Bazar shouldn’t have passed you over. You’re more talented than I am, and it turns out I was right.”
Every year, the Odin Sub-Temple selects children who might become Knights for training, but only boys are considered.
A year ago, an instructor named Bazar took Long Haochen away but rejected Bai Xi because she was a girl.
“No girl has ever become a powerful Knight. Female practitioners are rare across the continent. Your sister isn’t that one-in-a-hundred genius, so it’s better not to waste resources.”
Back then, Bai Xi didn’t pay much attention to Bazar’s words, but Long Haochen, the doting older brother, remembered them to this day.
“Just average, just average. As long as I didn’t hold you back.”
Bai Xi was pleased by Long Haochen’s praise. As for shyness or embarrassment—that didn’t exist.
“Teacher, how is my sister’s talent? She should have passed the Squire Knight assessment too. Does she have a chance to become a powerful Knight like me?”
After praising Bai Xi, Long Haochen wanted Long Xingyu to join in.
Looking at Long Haochen’s face, Long Xingyu couldn’t bring himself to say anything too discouraging, so he kept his cold expression.
With his experience, Long Xingyu could naturally tell that Bai Xi was hiding something, but he considered himself a tactful adult, so he didn’t expose her.
“Not bad.”
The words “not bad” were quite an effort for him to say.
“Better than when you first started, but still not enough. When you came to me, you were a second-level squire knight. In just a week, you’ve already reached third-level squire knight.”
Long Xingyu certainly didn’t say this without reason.
He deliberately pointed out Long Haochen’s progress, hoping to make Bai Xi envious and persuade her to become his disciple as well.
But Bai Xi didn’t catch on. She simply smiled warmly at Long Haochen, silently praising him.
Long Xingyu suspected she was doing it on purpose—and he was right.
Because Bai Xi was inwardly grumbling about him: “It’s just from 29 to 36, averaging one level per day. And you gave him so many resources on top of that. His talent was already good…”
In short, she thought: Don’t take all the credit for yourself.
“Would you like to become my disciple too? Train alongside Long Haochen under me. That way, you can keep up with his progress and not hold him back.”
Seeing that Bai Xi wasn’t taking the hint, Long Xingyu had to directly offer to take her as his disciple.
But Bai Xi refused, which completely caught Long Xingyu off guard.
“No, no. If Chenchen isn’t home, I need to stay home. I have to take care of Mom and keep her company.”
Bai Xi shook her head like a rattle drum, making her refusal perfectly clear.
“That’s just an excuse.”
Long Xingyu’s voice grew two degrees colder.
At his words, Bai Xi seemed frightened and grabbed hold of Long Haochen’s sleeve.
“Teacher, Xixi is timid. You scared her.”
The doting brother, for his sister’s sake, even dared to speak to his revered teacher like this.
Long Xingyu could hardly bear to watch.
“Let me talk to Xixi. She listens to me the most.”
“Heh…”
Long Xingyu couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh.
Meanwhile, Bai Xi felt a bit embarrassed inwardly.
“Chenchen, when it comes to becoming a disciple, even your words won’t work!”
And so, after Long Haochen’s attempts at persuasion, Bai Xi only became more determined not to become a disciple.
Truly effective persuasion.
Long Xingyu was so exasperated he almost laughed, while Long Haochen felt somewhat awkward. He’d forgotten his sister was as stubborn as a mule.
“It seems she doesn’t listen to you that much after all.”
Though Long Xingyu’s tone remained normal, there was a hint of mockery aimed at Long Haochen.
“Do you not want to become a disciple, or do you not want to train at all?”
As an adult well-versed in human nature, Long Xingyu quickly pinpointed the key issue.
“I don’t want to become a disciple.”
Bai Xi answered bluntly. “You’re too fierce. I’m afraid you’ll hit me.”
She added the last part too quickly. Long Haochen tried to cover her mouth, but it was too late.
Two pairs of large blue eyes stared innocently at Long Xingyu.
Combined with what she had just said, Long Xingyu couldn’t even bring himself to get angry.
“Fine, you don’t have to become a disciple. You can come as an auditor. For Long Haochen’s sake, you may attend as an observer and train alongside him. That way, he’ll have company.”
Long Xingyu ultimately compromised and didn’t force Bai Xi to become his disciple.
After all, his original intention was simply to instill certain ideas in her. Whether she audited or became a disciple didn’t make much difference.
As long as those ideas took root, and both Bai Xi and Long Haochen grew to hate the Demon Clan, that was enough.
And so, Bai Xi became an auditor on Odin Mountain.
The first lesson was all theoretical, meant both to help Long Haochen review and to catch Bai Xi up to speed.
Although Long Haochen had already recounted all of this to Bai Xi in detail on their way here, and she had remembered it, gaining a deeper understanding of this continent, hearing Long Xingyu emphasize the Demon Clan and the hatred between humans and the Demon Clan gave Bai Xi a strange feeling.