Chapter 258: Chapter 257: Second Senior Brother’s Admiration
Desperate times called for desperate measures. Zhai Song’s application was quickly approved, and Jiang Qiu boarded a special Hundred Machines Giant Kite with the Soldier Cultivation Academy’s contingent. Along with over twenty instructors and a thousand graduating students, he was heading to Gao Yuan City.
The special Hundred Machines Giant Kites were incredibly fast transports, designed specifically for such emergency deployments. Each of the major Martial Arts Universities owned several, with each capable of carrying over a thousand people. All eight major universities had dispatched their own.
The Soldier Cultivation Academy’s group was led by a vice-president at the Dao Entry Realm. Five department heads, all at the Peeping Dao Realm, led their respective instructors and graduating students.
The head of the Spear Cultivation Department was the president’s second direct disciple—Zhao Qian.
This was Jiang Qiu’s first time meeting his second senior brother. Zhao Qian rarely spent time at the university, as he was often needed to pioneer important Secret Realms and hadn’t been able to return for a long time. But now, with the war escalating, the pioneering of many Secret Realms had been halted, so he had come back. He was originally supposed to be one of the representatives speaking at the victory celebration, but it seemed that was no longer necessary.
"Junior Brother Jiang, you’re also going to support Gao Yuan City?"
After boarding, Jiang Qiu, as a Peeping Dao Realm prodigy and a direct disciple of the president, was seated in the very front row, right next to Zhao Qian. Hearing his second senior brother’s question, he replied, "I came from Gao Yuan City. Naturally, I have to go back to Gao Yuan City."
Zhao Qian’s gaze froze for a moment. He gave his junior brother a second look but didn’t ask anything further.
’When the president had suddenly accepted a so-called top scorer from the college entrance exams as his sixth direct disciple, Zhao Qian had heard the news. Logically, he should have come back to look after his new junior brother.
But he hadn’t returned during the break, only occasionally hearing about Jiang Qiu’s performance from Zhai Song’s reports.
To be honest, he had felt a bit uncomfortable about this freshman, who wasn’t even twenty at the time, becoming his junior brother. Admittedly, the kid’s talent was certainly good—he was the top scorer, after all.
But there were top scorers every year. Before Jiang Qiu arrived, the president had only five direct disciples in total, and most of them had been accepted only after reaching the Dharma Realm. Who, like Jiang Qiu, became a direct disciple of the president the moment he became a Martial Artist and entered the university?
Didn’t that just tell everyone that his senior brothers’ talents were inferior, that they had to reach the Dharma Realm just to be valued by the president?
He had even taken the initiative to ask their master, the president, why he insisted on accepting such a disciple, and whether it was unfair to everyone else.
But the president didn’t say much, just told him to wait for the seed to sprout.
Since his master had said so, he didn’t press the issue. And soon enough, Jiang Qiu proved his talent. As a first-year freshman, he had shattered the Test Stone during the Spirit Fusion Test—a peerless prodigy with Ninth Rank Jade Sinews!
In that moment, his attitude toward Jiang Qiu changed. When Junior Brother Zhai Song applied for the Flame Spirit Melting Fragrance on Jiang Qiu’s behalf, it was Zhao Qian himself who wrote the application form for the department head in charge of resources.
He had also paid close attention to the subsequent events: the assassination attempt by Feng Li during the rookie tournament, the Battle of North Border City, and Jiang Qiu’s selection for the Northern Wilderness Great Secret Realm. He truly felt how astonishing his new junior brother’s experiences were, and how rapid his growth had been.
And the most recent news about Jiang Qiu was a special notice sent from Grandmaster Zhu Weiyi of North Border City to the entire Northwest Province: protect Jiang Qiu with all available resources!
Why?
Because he had suppressed every peerless prodigy in the Dharma Realm across the globe, seized the Enlightenment Fruit, forged his Dragon Body, and achieved the magnificent Peeping Dao Realm!
It had even led Zhu Weiyi to give the exceptionally high praise that "he could surpass Luo Beixing in the future."
Zhu Weiyi and Luo Beixing were figures from the same era, old-timers who had lived before the resurgence of the Secret Realms. Their lives were the stuff of legend, and Luo Beixing was the only powerhouse in the entire Northwest Province to have reached the Peak of Dao Entry Realm.
According to the evaluation given by the Kunlun Demon Clan’s Demon Marshal, Beiming, Luo Beixing was born in the wrong era, and thus was stuck at the Peak of Dao Entry Realm.
This was also why the highest attainable realm in modern society was Grandmaster; the next level, the Fusion Realm, was simply unreachable...
Recalling all this, Zhao Qian sighed inwardly. ’As his senior brother, my talent truly is inferior to his. Elder Luo and Master were not wrong in their judgment.’
...
True Inheritance Apartment 18.
After Jiang Qiu left for the university with An Ling, Ice Lotus stripped off her clothes. Hugging her petite body, she stepped into the hot bathwater and quickly submerged herself.
’Maybe it’s because the water quality at Northwest Martial University is better, but the water here smells so sweet. It’s much more comfortable than the hot baths at the Xia Country Hotel back in North Border City.’
She gathered the white foam on the water’s surface with both hands, piling it up against her chest. Her small, fair face was flushed pink from the steam, and the damp wolf ears on her head twitched cutely.
Her entire body and mind relaxed.
’She had heard long ago that Xia Country was an extremely safe nation. It had the world’s strongest Martial Artists, and the population of any two of its cities could surpass that of North Border City, which stood alone in the Northern Wilderness. Yet here, no one slept in garbage heaps; there was always public housing to live in.
Back when she was a vagrant on the outskirts of North Border City, she could never imagine what the other three seasons in Xia Country were like. Now that she was here, she was amazed.
So, the sky didn’t always snow. So, the white clouds could float like cotton. The buildings here were so much taller, and the streets didn’t have the special heat-storing floors and Ancient Inscriptions like North Border City, yet the air was still warm.
Although many of the "passerby students" were full of malice the first time they saw her, no one had actually come over to kick her or spew insults.
It would be so nice to live in a place like this forever.
But she’d heard that large-scale wars had broken out in both the Northwest Province and on the East Coast. It might only be safe to settle down in the central provinces, like Jiangnan.
Many thoughts she’d never had before surfaced in Ice Lotus’s mind. The corners of her delicate lips curved up, and she hummed softly, "Mmm... wherever Brother Jiang Qiu goes, I’ll go."
When Jiang Qiu came back tonight, she could probably prepare a hot shower for him, just like she did during the time after the Battle of North Border City.
She was a little excited.’
Her steam-flushed cheeks suddenly dipped below the water’s surface. She pursed her lips and blew bubbles, as if venting some restless emotion brewing inside her.
Half an hour later, when the bathwater had cooled, she finally stepped out of the tub with bare feet. She grabbed a towel Jiang Qiu had used before to dry herself off and changed into a set of fleece pajamas.
’Thank goodness for the air conditioning. Otherwise, she’d be breaking out in a sweat again in these clothes.’
PATTER PATTER.
The oversized slippers enveloped her small ankles, making crisp sounds as they hit the bright floor. She stared at her own feet, walking in circles, her wolf tail swaying gently behind her, thoroughly amused.
"DING-DONG~"
A sharp doorbell rang suddenly. Ice Lotus’s wolf ears shot straight up, and her big eyes sparkled. "Is Brother Jiang Qiu back?"
’Having no family of her own and being in a completely unfamiliar place, her mind was filled with nothing but Jiang Qiu. She couldn’t think of anyone else who would come looking for her.
Besides, who else would even know she was here?’
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