"...This time, it seems like I've messed things up." The old man wearing a straw hat looked at Ah Qing and the others running into the distance, sighed deeply, and complained:
"Youngsters these days are too impatient. They didn't even give me a chance to speak. I was still thinking of saying a few words to introduce myself and showing off my leaf-flower flying technique..."
Wang Yang took off the straw hat from his head, gritting his teeth while scratching his head, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and made a call to his master, saying:
"Master, is it you? I failed the task. I didn't even get the chance to say a couple of words before she ran off. The speed was incredible, almost like a smoke dragon trailing behind her..."
"No wonder she caught your eye, Master. Naturally a martial arts prodigy with exceptional skills."
As Wang Yang was reporting his work, a look of admiration appeared on his cheeks.
When it came to Ah Qing's martial arts talent, Wang Yang was full of admiration and envy.
Without any special training, she could, in a moment of chaos, send a thief flying with a slap, making him spin in the air and slide several meters upon hitting the ground.
Ah Qing... was simply a martial arts genius.
When his master saw that segment of surveillance footage while browsing on a social media app, he was so shocked that he crushed a teacup in his hand, jumped up from the chair, and loudly proclaimed wanting to take her as a disciple.
"Failed?"
"How could you fail? Didn't you showcase a glimpse of our 'Wu You Temple' penetrating skill?"
On the other end of the line, a girl dressed in a Taoist robe, writing a thesis in a Taoist temple on Zhongnan Mountain, showed a look of astonishment upon hearing Wang Yang's report.
"I... just started speaking and she ran off." Wang Yang said helplessly, "Don't even mention showing a skill. If I dared to reach out to stop her, they would have called the police."
"Master..."
"Do you think our leaf-flower technique can cut a bullet in half?" Wang Yang curiously asked.
The girl writing the thesis was stunned, then cursed aloud, "What nonsense are you talking about? Copper and gunpowder, by nature, are powerful objects. Once combined, they become the strongest thing under the heavens, meant to break mystical arts."
"Is your leaf-flower technique faster, or is a heavy machine gun's firing rate faster? You keep thinking about nonsensical things every day!"
"In our practice, we cultivate the heart and the character. You keep talking nonsense that can get you on a wanted list, be careful or I'll report you."
Liu Lingyu rolled her eyes. If it weren't for Wang Yang donating millions for temple repairs, she wouldn't even consider taking this rogue on as a disciple.
Every day asking about mystical arts and whether it can defeat firearms.
If you want to beat firearms so badly, why don't you join the army instead of coming to our Wu You Temple, escaping to become a hermit practitioner.
"Ahem ahem..." Wang Yang coughed twice, seemingly used to his master's irritability, and switched topics, asking:
"Well... Master, what should I do now? Your future excellent disciple is more wary of me than a thief."
"Gather your senior brothers and sisters to follow her and protect her in secret. I'll rush over as soon as I finish this thesis..." Liu Lingyu glanced at her thesis on 'Cave Foundation Piling Techniques and Load-Bearing Research', gritting her teeth as she said.
Her advisor was pressing hard, calling every few days to urge corrections to the thesis.
Meanwhile, the inherited Taoist temple was in disarray. Some evil cultivators recently came from Sichuan and Chongqing, fighting from the south to the north, kidnapping skilled hermits upon encountering them, looting the temple and pharmaceutical factories like bandits, preaching about becoming immortals.
Although Liu Lingyu reported to the police, the Public Security Bureau replied that it was recorded and would be passed to a professional department.
All these infuriating matters flooded her life.
Liu Lingyu originally planned to accept a disciple, bringing the peculiarly talented Ah Qing back to the mountain for training.
But now, she couldn't even think about that. If the thesis and model aren't revised and submitted promptly, the advisor might flay her alive.
Even though she was extremely busy...
Given the recent events with the evil cultivators and Ah Qing's public identity as a streamer, Liu Lingyu had to send her disciples down the mountain to protect Ah Qing.
"Cave, cave, damn your cave! Just fill it with C140 concrete, and if not enough is used, hang the workers up as bell ringers!" Liu Lingyu grew more irritable the longer she modified the thesis, almost flipping a table.
Upon encountering a cave, can't you just reroute? Why must you insist on dealing with that damned cave to death?
......
On the way back to Xinxing Agricultural Science College.
"That old man just now... what was that about?" Momo, sitting in the back of a tricycle, asked Ah Qing with a puzzled look, "He seemed to be looking at us?"
"Scammer!"
Driving at high speed, Ah Qing confidently told her classmates, "As soon as he stopped me, he said my brow was dark and I'd encounter trouble soon. He was about to show me a QR code."
"But I've rehearsed this scenario at home many times, so I ran before he could show the QR code."
Ah Qing showed a confident expression, as avoiding scams from the villagers and roadside charlatans were almost compulsory lessons in Xia Dong's childhood curriculum.
To this day, aside from being deceived by Xiaolan's cuteness, Ah Qing had never been successfully scammed by any grand master.
"... Well, that's terrible." Hearing this, Momo promptly called the Public Security Bureau to report the charlatan.
Verifying if the charlatan is real is simple—see if they can escape from the security officer's hands.
If they can escape, they must be quite capable.
After filing the report on the grand master, the group didn't take the event by the field seriously and went back to school by car.
"Yingyingying～"
Upon returning to the dormitory, a white little fox suddenly appeared on the bed, wagging its tail and producing a clear, charming cry, looking extremely cute.
"Xiaolan woke up?"
Ah Qing, skipping a few steps, laughed as she affectionately rubbed the fox's chin, saying, "Although I really want to hug the little fox, I need to take a shower first. I'm all sweaty from the field."
"I haven't been sleeping; I was lying here scrolling through my phone, using 30% of the battery..." Ansheng proudly told Ah Qing about his activities.
"Oh, and I'm going to eat at Fat Cat's place tonight, so you don't need to bring me food from the cafeteria."
Ansheng actually stayed in the dormitory, wanting to greet Ah Qing when she returned, to say that he might come home late tonight so she wouldn't worry.
Ba Mountain Mosquito and the giant salamander were ready, poised to search the mountains for those bandits at any time.
Though they weren't spirit beasts, Ansheng still cared quite a bit about them.
"Leopard Head" was stationed at Da Xing'an Ridge. Meanwhile, Master Fuli acted as the chief engineer in Chang'an City.
Some hooligans looted and destroyed in his territory openly, and Ansheng wouldn't allow such audacious bandits to stay a night.
As the owner of the Longevity Club, people would need to greet him respectfully as "Master" when they saw him, yet now a few bandits dared challenge him by slamming tables.
Ansheng wouldn't tolerate this.
Of course, having Wish Power would be even better.