The door gently closed.
Outside the door, Li Yuan remained kneeling even after passing out.
A female teacher in her forties happened to pass by at that moment. Seeing this from a distance, she could not help shaking her head and murmuring, “Ah, young people these days...”
She quickly took a picture, then went to discuss the romantic love story of the young teacher Li Yuan and Xie Min with her friends.
Inside the room, Fan Xiwen chuckled and glanced at Xie Min, who was still breaking through in the inner room. Interesting, interesting.
Half an hour later, Xie Min, sitting cross-legged on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes. The small world around her trembled slightly. However, the tremor was so faint that, aside from Xie Min herself, only Fan Xiwen noticed it.
Xie Min quietly got out of bed. At this moment, her bearing seemed even more otherworldly, yet also more heroic.
The delight between her brows could not be concealed no matter what.
Ten years of accumulated experience and countless nights of vexation had all vanished with this single breakthrough.
“Congratulations, Teacher. Your cultivation has risen to another level.”
Fan Xiwen said to Xie Min with a beaming smile, but that smile seemed rather forced.
Xie Min raised an eyebrow at Fan Xiwen. “I know you look down on it. There’s no need to pretend to be so delighted.”
Indeed, the reason Xie Min had been able to break through was that she had gained enlightenment after taking a single look at the artistic conception Fan Xiwen had created. Without Fan Xiwen, she had no idea when she would have crossed this threshold. It had once seemed within easy reach, yet Xie Min had not known how to extend her hands and touch it.
“It’s not as exaggerated as you make it sound. I’m genuinely happy for you, Teacher.”
Fan Xiwen chuckled. “After this enlightenment, the three thresholds of Internal Force, Grandmaster, and Divine Realm will no longer exist for you. If you train diligently, your cultivation will surely advance by leaps and bounds. Once you become a Divine Realm expert, you’ll have no rival in the martial arts world. You might even become a female Alliance Leader.”
The artistic conception within that calligraphy was created by Fan Xiwen. Setting aside his identity, given that his cultivation and insight had once reached the Pseudo God Emperor level, if the artistic conception he created could not ensure that Xie Min would face no further cultivation obstacles, it would be far too beneath his dignity.
Xie Min could now be understood as having consumed a Great Realm-Breaking Pill personally refined by a God Emperor. Even a Grand Golden Immortal could rely on it to break through a bottleneck, let alone a mere martial artist who was only slightly stronger than an ordinary person.
“So, are you going to say, ‘Teacher is mighty, may she live for ten thousand years and unify the Jianghu’?”
Xie Min glared fiercely at Fan Xiwen, but then felt that such a reaction was inappropriate, so she softened her tone slightly and said, “Fan Xiwen, what kind of person are you, exactly?”
“I’m just me.”
Fan Xiwen grinned at Xie Min, then cautiously asked, “About taking leave?”
“How long do you want to take off? And what are you going to do?”
Xie Min threw out two questions in succession. It was only natural that she should at least know Fan Xiwen’s plans.
“I’ll come back to school when I have nothing else to do. As for what I’m going to do... Teacher, have you ever heard the saying, ‘The world is so big, and I want to see it’?”
Fan Xiwen had undergone transmigration many years later, at a time when “I want to see it” had been extremely popular online.
However, after hearing what Fan Xiwen said, Xie Min’s eyes immediately widened.
“Do you mean to say that you plan not to come to school for your entire Senior year of high school?”
Fan Xiwen smiled. “I’ll still come over when necessary, for things like exams.”
After all, Fan Xiwen still needed to use this to make his parents happy.
“No. Don’t even think about it.”
Xie Min felt as though she were about to go crazy. Aside from exams, he did not plan to come to school for the rest of his Senior year of high school? Did he think he owned the school?
“Then I’ll find someone else to negotiate with.”
Fan Xiwen turned around and left without the slightest hesitation.
“Come back.”
Xie Min shouted from behind him in exasperation. “Fine, consider it a favor I owe you. You can take leave, but you must promise me one thing: your grades cannot fall too far behind. Also, you must take the next monthly exam. Otherwise, there’s nothing to discuss.”
Originally, Xie Min had expected Fan Xiwen to retreat in the face of difficulty. In her eyes, staying away from school for years while maintaining his grades was simply impossible.
Unexpectedly, Fan Xiwen smiled faintly. “All right, then it’s settled. If my grades fall behind, our agreement is canceled immediately.”
That condition was laughable to Fan Xiwen.
“I’m not joking with you. And don’t think that once you leave school, you can simply ignore whatever happens afterward. I’ll call your parents.”
Xie Min still felt that this was somewhat unreliable, but Fan Xiwen nodded firmly. “When I give my word, I keep it.”
..
“All right, I won’t concern myself with how you arrange things. It’s settled, then. Goodbye.”
Fan Xiwen pointed toward the door. “Oh, right. There’s someone outside kneeling and proposing to you. He seems extremely sincere.”
He opened the door and left in an utterly carefree manner.
Xie Min stared dumbfoundedly at Li Yuan, who was kneeling there with his eyes closed, her mind a complete mess.
Without concerning himself with how Xie Min handled Li Yuan, Fan Xiwen walked slowly along the tree-lined path on campus with both hands in his pockets.
“The most pressing matter now is cultivation. As for spiritual energy, I can only search for a Paradisiacal Grotto. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to set up a Spirit Gathering Array. Besides that, there’s Body Tempering. I must merge this body with my divine sense as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will become a hidden danger.”
Fan Xiwen had many methods for Body Tempering. Previously, he had used the Power of Lightning contained in that section of Yuan Sheng Wood buried beneath the orchard to temper himself. Unfortunately, with the weather as it was now, there seemed to be no sign of lightning suddenly appearing.
“How about finding a secluded place and deliberately drawing down the lightning of the nine heavens?”
After thinking it over, he realized that, no matter what, he had to leave the school first.
However, before leaving school, Fan Xiwen still had one more thing to do. It could be considered one of his regrets from his early years.
A girl’s love is always poetry; a boy’s love is often repressed.
After Fan Xiwen’s family had suffered a calamity, he had been depressed for a long time. Whenever he had time in the afternoon, he liked to come to the track and field stadium and stare blankly into space. That period had been extremely dark for him. Yet, during those years, Fan Xiwen happened to meet a girl—a girl who, like him, always liked to sit on the small mound and stare blankly into space.
The girl had a beautiful smile, which caused ripples to spread across Fan Xiwen’s heart, previously as still as stagnant water.
The girl did not come to the track and field stadium at a fixed time every day, but whenever she arrived, Fan Xiwen would inexplicably feel his mood improve.
Because the two of them often stared blankly into space together, they gradually became familiar with each other. They occasionally chatted, but most of the time, the girl spoke while Fan Xiwen listened. She talked about many things, all of them concerning places beyond Dragon City. Occasionally, she would even quote a few foreign philosophers, leaving Fan Xiwen both confused and impressed.
During their conversations, Fan Xiwen learned the girl’s name: Tang Qingrou.
The two became friends and even arranged to meet beneath the tree every day.
Unfortunately, good times always passed so quickly. In just half a month, the two had gone from strangers to friends, and then Tang Qingrou vanished without a trace.
Later, after entering university, Fan Xiwen obtained Tang Qingrou’s contact information through various connections.
Only then did Fan Xiwen learn that Tang Qingrou’s father had been promoted and transferred to the provincial capital, and she had transferred schools with him. Furthermore, Tang Qingrou herself had enrolled at Yanjing University a year later.
The vast difference between them made Fan Xiwen feel ashamed of his own inferiority. As people would later say, meeting the most wonderful person during one’s most miserable years was truly regrettable.
“Hmm. My luck has always been pretty good.”
In this life, that regret would not happen. His identity was not a problem; all he needed to do was move forward bravely.
Following the image of Tang Qingrou in his memories, Fan Xiwen spread his divine sense. Before long, he found the sentimental girl at the school’s track and field stadium.
..
The track and field stadium had been built many years ago. At the time, no one had imagined that Second High School would expand again and again, leaving the stadium increasingly far from the teaching buildings. As a result, everyone went to the newly built basketball court for physical education classes. Apart from the annual sports meet, the track and field stadium rarely hosted any large events. It had more or less fallen into disuse, and aside from students coming to stroll during lunch breaks and in the afternoons, few people usually visited.
A girl in a blue-and-white school uniform sat beneath a large tree, hugging her knees and gazing up at the sky, lost in thought.
The girl was very beautiful. Sitting there quietly as sunlight filtered through the treetops, she looked like a beautiful painting of the mortal world.
“Little girl, skipping class to sit here and stare blankly into space isn’t something a good student should be doing.”
Fan Xiwen approached at an unhurried pace with his hands behind his back, wearing a handsome and confident smile.
Hearing him, Tang Qingrou came back to herself and let out a giggle. “I’m a little girl? Then what are you?”
That familiar smile appeared once more, and Fan Xiwen could not help feeling a surge of happiness.
“I’m a canary trapped by this school.”
As he spoke, he sat beside Tang Qingrou with complete naturalness, as though he had always belonged there.
Tang Qingrou had not thought that deeply about it. Instead, she said with a laugh, “What kind of canary are you? At most, you’re an immature peacock.”
A peacock spread its tail to attract a mate. By using a peacock to describe Fan Xiwen, the meaning was already quite obvious.
In fact, a girl like Tang Qingrou truly had countless admirers.
“What are you troubled by?”
Fan Xiwen asked softly.
“There are many things to worry about. For example, I didn’t do well on this exam, and both the teachers and my classmates have been talking about it. For example, I’ve never cared about being first in the class, but the teachers always expect me to maintain that position.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
Fan Xiwen was stunned. “The troubles of a top student?”