The next morning, as the first rays of light from Qiming Star filtered through the window and fell upon Qin Feng’s chiseled face, he slowly opened his eyes.
There was no cold notification for a system mission. It was a long-lost luxury to be woken naturally by the sun.
He followed the routine from memory, washing up before heading into the kitchen.
His father, Qin Dahai, had already prepared a simple breakfast: two steaming bowls of noodles with shredded pork, each topped with a golden-yellow fried egg.
"You’re awake? Eat up. After you’re done, hurry and report to the school. It’s your first day on the job—don’t be late."
Qin Dahai pushed one of the bowls toward Qin Feng, his voice tinged with a mix of novelty and amusement.
Qin Feng smiled but didn’t say much, simply lowering his head to eat.
The familiar, rich flavor of the home-cooked broth was incredibly comforting.
After bidding his father farewell, Qin Feng once again found himself standing before the gates of Qiming First Martial Arts High School.
Decades had passed. The campus where he had once shed countless drops of blood and sweat felt both familiar and strange.
The architectural style of the main buildings was unchanged, but the exterior walls had been replaced with a memory alloy capable of Self-Repair.
Above the training grounds, several new floating, shielded combat arenas now hung in the air.
The students bustled about in uniforms of the same style, but their youthful, vibrant faces were no longer the ones he remembered.
He was no longer the student who had to fight desperately for every grade point, but a teacher, setting foot on these grounds once more.
After submitting his personal information to the HR department and completing the final iris and genetic authentication, Qin Feng officially became a member of the martial arts faculty at Qiming First High School.
His personal terminal immediately displayed his first assignment: teach an open class on basic body conditioning for the first-year students of Class Seven at 10:00 AM in Advanced Martial Arts Hall A-3.
With over an hour to go before his class, a staff member from the HR department respectfully guided him to the faculty conference room to rest.
As he pushed open the familiar conference room door, two familiar figures came into view.
One woman, dressed in an elegant white training uniform, possessed a graceful figure. Her face hadn’t changed at all in decades; in fact, due to a leap in her level of existence, she had gained an even more transcendent and otherworldly aura.
It was Master Lin Yue, who had shown him such great care all those years ago.
Her power had, shockingly, reached the Planetary level.
The other figure still wore his unchanging gray Martial Arts Uniform, the signature goatee on his chin as meticulously trimmed as ever.
Master Gu Yue. Time seemed to have been especially kind to the old man; everything about him was just as it had been yesterday.
"Qin Feng?"
"It is Qin Feng!"
Master Lin Yue reacted first, her face lighting up with unconcealable delight.
Master Gu Yue also rose slowly to his feet, his usually languid eyes now filled with a gratified smile.
"Master Lin Yue, Master Gu Yue."
Qin Feng took a step forward and gave his two mentors a standard student’s bow.
"Have a seat, have a seat! You silly boy, why didn’t you tell us you were coming back!"
Lin Yue warmly urged Qin Feng to sit, personally pouring him a cup of hot tea and showering him with questions about his well-being, as if he were still the same young student who had needed her constant care.
Master Gu Yue, meanwhile, stroked his goatee and sized Qin Feng up. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he nodded slowly. "Your foundation is solid, your aura restrained—a return to true simplicity. But I can faintly sense a boiling killing intent within you. Not bad. It seems you haven’t slacked off one bit during your years in Canaan."
After exchanging pleasantries, the conversation inevitably turned to the most crucial question.
"So, tell us, what’s really going on?"
Lin Yue’s smile faded slightly as she asked with concern, "Why did you suddenly decide to return to Qiming Star and become a teacher? Did you run into some trouble in Canaan?"
Qin Feng was silent for a moment before slowly delivering his prepared explanation.
"I grew weary of life at the university."
His tone was calm. "Every day was either closed-door cultivation or missions. My nerves were stretched too thin. On top of that, I hit a few bottlenecks in my training and started feeling lost. I figured I’d come back for a few years, for a change of scenery, to ground myself."
"The pressure at Canaan Star Martial Arts University... it’s just too intense."
The reason was half-truth, half-lie.
The bottlenecks were real, and so was his inner turmoil.
Hearing this explanation, Lin Yue and Gu Yue exchanged a look, each seeing a glimmer of understanding in the other’s eyes.
"It’s good for you to come back for a while."
Master Gu Yue smiled, taking a sip of his tea. "While we never attended Canaan Star Martial Arts University, we did graduate from other Starry Sky Martial Arts Universities."
"We know full well what places like that are like. The pressure to compete is immense."
His gaze grew distant, as if he were lost in memories of days gone by.
"Trillions of geniuses from across the Empire gather at those top institutions. Every single one of them trains like a Madman, desperately trying to improve their strength no matter the cost."
"And for what? All for a ticket to the Cosmic Genius Battle."
"Anyone who can distinguish themselves in that Battle has a chance of being noticed by the Ultramarines Chapter, thereby gaining the supreme resources needed to reach for higher realms."
"That path is a pyramid built on the bones of countless geniuses."
"Stopping to catch your breath and admire the scenery along the way is no bad thing."
Master Gu Yue’s words were like a warm spring, soothing Qin Feng’s heart.