Chapter 671: 吴阳子

"Can't go?" Luo Qiqi frowned, looking at her best friend. "Why not?"Trials are certainly full of various dangers. The teacher is so wise and powerful; if he goes, he will undoubtedly ensure everyone's safety. Why is he unwilling?

"He, he... he'll harass people!"Yu Fei-er gritted her teeth.

"Harass people? You're overthinking it. He won't be interested in you..."Luo Qiqi shook her head, wondering what other reason there could be.She had great faith in the teacher's character.Aside from anything else, her own beauty was definitely one in ten thousand, no less striking than Princess Yu Fei-er's. Even with such beauty and her fervent admiration for him, he hadn't even given her a second glance.With your capriciousness... it's even less likely!

"..." Everything went black for Yu Fei-er, and her body swayed.What did that mean? What did "he won't be interested in me" mean?Wasn't she good enough?As a dignified princess, she hadn't even said she wasn't interested in him, yet he was supposedly not interested in her...

"Qiqi is right," Xing Yuan nodded. "This Teacher Zhang has extremely high standards. I've also met his student, Wang Ying, who is much prettier than you, and he was completely unaffected. He probably wouldn't be interested in you..."He liked Yu Fei-er, and seeing how excellent Zhang Xuan was, and the many connections he had with her, he couldn't help but ask around about him.Not only did Teacher Zhang have students prettier than Fei-er, but he was also pursued by many princess-level women, yet he remained unmoved.Although Fei-er was very pretty, her temper was truly awful; only he could accept it. Anyone else... definitely wouldn't even consider it.

"What did you say?"Yu Fei-er's teeth ground "clack, clack!", her eyes widened, and she glared, openly radiating killing intent: "Xing Yuan, say that again if you dare...""I..."Xing Yuan trembled.

Seeing him so scared, Wu Zhen, on the side, chuckled, but before his smile could fully form, Yu Fei-er glared at him coldly: "What's so funny? Believe it or not, I'll beat you up again...""..." Wu Zhen swayed.You guys fight your fight, I'm just watching the show, what's it to me...?

"Alright, stop arguing. I'm going to invite the teacher. Fei-er, you'd better not say anything. If you make the teacher angry, I'm afraid he'll make you pay again, or make you pour wine and massage his legs!"Seeing that they hadn't even found the underground palace entrance yet and they were already arguing, Luo Qiqi shook her head.Hearing "pay money" and recalling her status as a maid, Princess Fei-er clenched her teeth, unable to say anything further.

Stopping the argument, they looked ahead. By this time, Zhang Xuan's battle with the spirit beasts was almost over.Over thirty spirit beasts lay on the ground, groaning miserably, one after another.This time, the hunters hadn't followed, otherwise, they'd probably be lying there too, just like the beasts.

"Teacher!"After knocking down all these large creatures, Zhang Xuan clapped his hands, just about to leave, when he heard a shout and saw Luo Qiqi approaching."Little Qiqi!" He smiled slightly.He had seen this group arrive earlier.Since he was saving them anyway, whether they saw him or not didn't really matter.

"Teacher, your student has an impolite request!"Coming closer, Luo Qiqi bowed."Hmm?"

"We'd like to invite you to participate in the academy's trial with us..." Luo Qiqi explained her idea."Trial?" Zhang Xuan waved his hand: "Never mind, I still need to go back and meet up with Teacher Hong and the others to head to Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy..."

"Teacher Hong? They've already left!"Luo Qiqi said, surprised."Left?" Zhang Xuan frowned.He was still here, having finished first, yet they had already departed?

"Yes, to avoid delaying the start of school, they used the Spirit Feather Royal Family's flying ship and took everyone. Teacher Hong saw you hadn't returned and specifically consulted Hall Master Mo, only leaving after receiving his approval..."Luo Qiqi replied, seemingly very knowledgeable about the matter.

"Flying ship?"Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

"Yes, it's a means of transportation unique to empires, usually used in various wars. It's piloted by dozens of spirit beasts working together, and hundreds, even thousands, of people can ride in it!"Luo Qiqi looked at her pill-forging teacher with a hint of surprise, seeing that he hadn't even heard of such a thing.Any Master Teacher from an empire knew about flying ships. How could someone so knowledgeable, with such a powerful teacher, have never heard of it?

Zhang Xuan nodded.He had previously wondered how, given the vastness of an empire, reinforcements could be sent during a war; it couldn't possibly take soldiers years to walk!So, this kind of thing existed!Piloted by dozens of spirit beasts, capable of carrying a thousand people at once... perhaps only an imperial royal family would have such ambition.

"Oh, right, Teacher's students were also taken by Teacher Hong and the others. They seemed to say that since you were with Teacher Yang, there was no need to worry about your safety, and they would wait at Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy first..."Luo Qiqi continued.

Zhang Xuan gave a wry smile.He hadn't expected so many things to happen during his three-day unconsciousness.Everyone thought Teacher Yang was powerful and that being with him guaranteed safety, but they couldn't have dreamed that... this incredibly formidable Teacher Yang was a figment of imagination, simply nonexistent!

"Never mind!" He shook his head.He had originally thought that with Teacher Hong and the others leaving, and no one to look after them, Sun Qiang and the others might face some trouble.But now that they had gone to the Master Teacher Academy, he could just head there directly when the time came.No more worries.

"What kind of trial is this?"There was no point in returning to the Spirit Feather Empire, so Zhang Xuan stopped dwelling on it and couldn't help but look over.

"It's..." Luo Qiqi hesitated, then transmitted her voice: "It's... the underground palace of Wu Yangzi, a 6-star Artificer!""6-star Artificer?" Zhang Xuan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, this Wu Yangzi was an extremely famous Grandmaster Artificer three thousand years ago, whose artifact forging abilities were unparalleled! He was hailed as the foremost artificer in the Hongyuan Empire for ten thousand years. The national seal currently used by the empire was successfully forged by him."Luo Qiqi said.

"Since he was an artificer grandmaster from the Hongyuan Empire... how is his underground palace here?" Zhang Xuan wondered.The Hongyuan Empire was at least a million kilometers away from here. How could an artificer grandmaster have come all the way here?

"Well..."Luo Qiqi scratched her head, a little embarrassed: "He... was abducted!""Abducted?"

A dignified 6-star Grandmaster Artificer, whose strength had likely reached the Saint realm, was actually abducted... Is that true?Furthermore, artificers are backed by the Artificer Guild, which is one of the top-ranked professional alliances on the entire continent. Who would dare lay hands on their people... Who has such audacity?

"Yes, his artifact forging abilities were powerful... and coveted by others. He was probably captured to specifically help forge weapons! Because of this, the Master Teacher Pavilion and the Artificer Guild sent out a large number of experts, even searching through the entire Hongyuan Empire, but couldn't find him..."Luo Qiqi said: "It was only in the past few months that I consulted numerous ancient books and found some clues!"

"You?"Zhang Xuan was surprised.Countless experts hadn't found it; how could she, a 5-star Master Teacher at the early stage, a second-year student at the Master Teacher Academy, possibly find it? And critically, thousands of years had passed!

"Actually... it's just a conjecture. Not only am I skilled in pill forging, but I also really like artifact forging... I deeply admire this Artificer Wu Yangzi and specifically studied the Zither Forging Method he created... It's just that the lineage was broken, so I didn't learn it completely!"Luo Qiqi explained: "Later, I discovered that weapons forged using this method were appearing within the Spirit Feather Empire. I then traced them all the way back and, by chance, found a map of the underground palace. That's when I applied to the academy, which then offered this trial opportunity! Of course, whether this is truly Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's underground palace is unknown."

Zhang Xuan nodded.To be able to find clues from a forging method, this Luo Qiqi truly was a persistent person.Indeed, without such persistence, a top student in the second year of the Master Teacher Academy, a genius at the peak of Transcendent Mortal 6-dan, wouldn't have directly taken him as a teacher without any hesitation!

"Although Teacher hasn't reported to the Master Teacher Academy yet, you're already considered part of the academy and fully qualified to participate... Moreover, this trial is only to investigate whether the underground palace exists and if it's related to Wu Yangzi... The danger isn't great. If successful, you can also get two academic credits. This way... before Teacher even enters the academy, you'll already have an advantage!"Luo Qiqi laughed.

"Academic credits?" Zhang Xuan was puzzled.As a university librarian in his previous life, he had heard this term before. How did this Master Teacher Academy also have such a thing?

"Oh, academic credits are unique to the Master Teacher Academy, said to have been personally set down by Master Kong back then! There are specific evaluation standards, and students can use them to purchase better cultivation resources, higher-level courses... or even exchange them! Without them, it'll be impossible to get anywhere in the academy. You could say that once you're at the Master Teacher Academy, spirit stones and course jade tokens aren't precious; academic credits are the most important!"Luo Qiqi explained.At the Master Teacher Academy, all are Master Teachers, so they naturally wouldn't lack course jade tokens, spirit stones, and the like. Possessing more wouldn't have much meaning.

"Not enough academic credits... does that mean you can't graduate?"Zhang Xuan looked over with a strange expression.

"Of course not! Academic credits are merely assets for student exchange, not a prerequisite for graduation... How could insufficient credits prevent graduation!" Luo Qiqi said.Zhang Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.He had thought it was like universities in his previous life, a requirement for graduation. It seemed... only the name was similar, not the same thing.

"Teacher... do you want to come along? If this is truly Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's former underground palace where he was imprisoned, it's highly likely to contain his legacy!"Luo Qiqi continued.

"Legacy?" Zhang Xuan was startled, then his eyes lit up as if he suddenly realized something: "I've heard that artificers are all skilled in body cultivation. If there truly is his legacy, might there be some body cultivation techniques?"Although his spirit and flesh were now perfectly integrated, his physical strength was still somewhat weak. Once his soul body broke through the ten-meter limit, inconsistencies would definitely reappear. If he could collect body cultivation techniques, that would naturally be ideal.Artificers, constantly in contact with furnace fires, ores, and steel, needed extremely strong physiques and generally possessed unique body cultivation methods.