"Teacher Li, I’m sorry! I didn’t do it on purpose!"

The office.

Chen Che quickly apologized. Using Divine Sense to scan someone in a private space was forbidden. It was considered an invasion of privacy.

In serious cases, it could even be classified as ’malicious provocation.’

"Be more careful in the future."

Li Xiaoshuang adjusted his seat and leaned back. It wasn’t surprising. Students who had just awakened their Divine Sense were always curious for a while and tended to cause a little trouble.

However...

The strength of his Divine Sense surprised him a little:

"Your Divine Sense... hmm, I just sensed it. It’s already at the Foundation Establishment Second Layer. How did it grow so quickly? When Divine Sense first awakens, it’s like a seedling and needs careful nurturing. You can’t force your cultivation too much, or you’ll risk ruining your progress by being too hasty!"

"Yes, I understand."

Chen Che nodded.

’The Concentration Incense nourishes the Divine Soul, so of course it’s not a problem.’

"The semester is almost over. I called you here to discuss a few things."

Li Xiaoshuang nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the well-behaved and sensible Chen Che:

"The first matter is about the class monitor position. Your current cultivation has already surpassed Huang Zhongfei’s. By the rules, the position should be yours next semester. I’d like to hear your thoughts on it!"

"Let Huang Zhongfei keep the position."

Chen Che said without a second thought.

"That’s what I was thinking too. I was just worried you wouldn’t be happy with it."

Being class monitor involved too many daily chores. As the homeroom teacher, he’d rather Chen Che use that time to rest and sleep. "The second thing is about the competition. I plan on introducing you to a few people..."

"Huh?"

Chen Che was taken aback. "Who?"

"Some old classmates of mine are also teachers now. They have students who qualified for the competition too. Since we all know each other, I figure you should all get acquainted beforehand. If you run into trouble during the competition, you might even be able to team up."

Li Xiaoshuang opened his Micro Crystal Brain and smiled at the bewildered Chen Che.

"If the students from Fifth Middle School can do it, why can’t we? The person I’m contacting now is named Weng Dazheng. He was my college roommate."

"We were close—we were even bunkmates. He always used to trail after me, calling me Brother Li. Now he’s a homeroom teacher at He City Eighth Middle School and has a very impressive student in his class. I’ll introduce you two in a moment."

"You could say he and I are fellow disciples. The students we teach are practically from the same lineage! Brothers in arms, dear friends and family!"

’So it’s He City!’

Chen Che had a moment of realization. He City was the provincial capital, and Eighth Middle School was a top-tier institution.

At best, Six Continents City only sends one or two students to the Four Greats each year, and some years, none at all. But Eighth Middle School produced five or six students for the Four Great Daoist Schools annually. The difficulty of qualifying in the He City competition was at least ten times greater than in Six Continents.

A prospect like Xiao Yang, who was considered a sure bet to qualify, would have less than a ten percent chance in He City.

BEEP BEEP...

"Hello."

Just as he finished speaking, the Micro Crystal Brain connected. Data streamed across the surface of the Eight Trigrams Mirror, forming the image of a pot-bellied, bald man in his thirties.

"Weng Dazheng!"

Li Xiaoshuang greeted him excitedly.

"Mm."

Weng Dazheng, however, looked unconcerned. "Oh, it’s Xiaoli. What’s up?"

Li Xiaoshuang’s expression froze at the name, but he pressed on:

"I saw on your social media feed a few days ago that you have an impressive student who qualified. What a coincidence, my student qualified too! I was just thinking we should get them acquainted beforehand, to avoid any friendly fire if they meet during the competition!"

He turned to Chen Che and said,

"Chen Che, say hello."

Chen Che said obediently, "Hello, Teacher Weng!"

"Mm, I’ll keep that in mind."

Weng Dazheng’s tone was lukewarm:

"I’ll mention it to my student later... I’ve got a meeting to get to. We can talk later when I’m free. Hanging up."

Before Li Xiaoshuang could react, the projection vanished.

Li Xiaoshuang’s smile froze on his face. He mulled it over for a moment, then turned to Chen Che and said, "Remember this. That man’s student is named Jiang Jingyuan. If you run into him in the provincial tournament, find an opportunity and take him out."

Chen Che: "..."

After that, he contacted six or seven more people. The rest were quite enthusiastic, even bringing their students on camera to get acquainted.

"Alright. Now that you’ve all been introduced, the competition should be a little easier."

After the last student introduction, Li Xiaoshuang let out a long sigh and rubbed his stiff face:

"Oh right, there’s one more thing!"

As he spoke, he pulled up a list on his Micro Crystal Brain, rummaged through a pile of study materials for a moment, and sent over a compressed file.

"Teacher Li, what is this?"

Chen Che was curious. The compressed file was a whopping 900 terabytes.

Even with Earth Element Star’s internet speeds, it would take the better part of a day to download.

"I’ve spent the last while collecting data on every student who qualified through the combat trials in each city. It includes each student’s cultivation and realm, along with some combat videos. I’ve already filtered out some of them. The ones that are left are the people you need to watch out for."

Li Xiaoshuang unscrewed his thermos, took a gulp of tea, and said nonchalantly,

"Take a good look at them so you’re prepared."

"Thank you, Teacher Li."

Chen Che was deeply moved.

Even though a teacher had more resources than a student, gathering this much information on so many people couldn’t have been easy.

"Don’t thank me. Making it through the provincial tournament will be the best reward you can give me."

With that, Li Xiaoshuang turned and sat down:

"Go on back."

"...Yes!"

Chen Che nodded and turned to leave.

RING RING RING~

Just as he stepped out of the office, the exam ended.

As the proctor walked out with the exam papers, a huge crowd of students surged out of the classroom.

"Old Chen, want to hang out after school?"

Winter break was just around the corner, and many students were making plans to hang out before the holiday. As Chen Che was packing his bag, Lin Yi called out to him.

"Sure!"

Chen Che hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

’He’d been so busy for so long, he really did need to unwind.’

The streets and alleys were filled with the clamor of people. The roads were choked with heavy traffic, an endless stream as far as the eye could see, and neon signs glittered along the sidewalks.

It was a scene you’d never see in Yunzhou.

’Hu Yao said that in that other world, the territories governed by Golden Core masters are also incredibly prosperous. I wonder when I’ll get to see one...’

Just as he was lost in thought, Qi Fengzhu slung an arm over his shoulder:

"What did Old Li want with you? I saw you were in his office for two or three hours. You didn’t turn in your test early and get chewed out, did you?"

"No way, it must have been about making Old Chen the class monitor!"

Lin Yi said with a laugh.

"...Yeah. Old Chen’s cultivation is the highest now, so he has to be the class monitor," Qi Fengzhu nodded.

Chen Che glanced at the dejected-looking Huang Zhongfei in the crowd, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Huang Zhongfei is still the class monitor. He’s been managing the class for so long and knows everyone well. I wouldn’t be as good at the job as he is."

Huang Zhongfei’s eyes lit up, and his gaze toward Chen Che filled with gratitude. It was as if he’d been brought back to life.

"I’ll treat everyone to Spirit Tea at Bifeng Tang!"

"YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!"

"Our class monitor is so generous!"

Everyone cheered.

Chen Che also smiled. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Suddenly, his gaze froze, fixing on the side of the street.

He saw a boy in a school uniform with his hands in his pockets, trailing behind his parents and glancing around with a bored expression. All of a sudden, the boy seemed to sense something and turned his head to look in Chen Che’s direction at the exact same moment.

For an instant, their eyes met.

"Ye Zhihan, let’s go!"

A voice called out from up ahead.

The boy answered and quickened his pace to catch up.

Meanwhile, Huang Zhongfei, who was walking at the front of the group, turned around and saw Chen Che still standing there, stunned:

"What’s wrong?"

Chen Che frowned slightly and said pensively,

"I just saw a very strong student..."