Lin Nan thought about it and said, "It seems that only we came here today at the request of the associate dean of Longyu College. He told us to set off as soon as possible and gather outside the city." After hearing what Mu Tian said, Lin Nan realized that it was indeed strange.

"What did you do in the examination?" asked Murong Xue.

"Speaking of the examination, I find it very strange that we only had a spiritual power test. Nothing else. And the associate dean checked our spirit roots to find out our aptitude," answered Wu Xiaomei. She saw the associate dean's weird look when he was checking their spirit roots and it somehow gave her goosebumps.

After the examination, the associate dean asked about their families and Wu Xiaomei noticed the delight in his eyes when he heard that they were all orphans. She had been a sensitive person who always worried about her own performance since her childhood, so she liked to observe people. During the few hours spent with the associate dean, she felt disappointed, but she did not overthink it. She just thought that the associate dean was just that kind of person.

"But why did he ask me not to go with you? Isn't it strange?" asked Murong Xue.

"Probably because of Mr. Lan Zun. The associate dean said that you needed to stay with Mr. Lan Zun to cultivate as his student," Zhao Qi repeated what the associate dean said.

Murong Xue's eyes grew cold. She said to Lin Nan and the others, "You guys go back to the inn and rest. Don't go anywhere before I come back. I need to see my mentor now." After leaving the instruction, she left for the bamboo forests.

Strangely, the bamboo forests that kept Feng Ziling out let Murong Xue go in. She just walked into the forests effortlessly.

Murong Xue pushed the door open and saw Lan Zun sitting in the bamboo chair and drinking tea peacefully. She sat down next to him without bothering to greet him first. She asked, "Master, who is that associate dean?" She felt very thirsty after running here, so she took away the teacup in his hand to pour herself a cup of tea and drank it.

Lan Zun froze and reminded her, "That's my teacup."

"Miser, it's just a cup of tea. Are you going to keep a record of it? You don't answer my question." Murong Xue took a look at him in disdain and her face was saying that he was a skinflint.

Lan Zun did not understand her question and why it was a matter of generosity. He answered her question by asking, "What's wrong with the associate dean?" According to his memory, he vaguely remembered that the associate dean was a terrible-looking man about 50 years old whose level was low.

Murong Xue asked again, "What kind of person he is?"

"Just an old man." Lan Zun held up the teacup to drink, but then he thought of Murong Xue drinking from it. He froze for a while and put it down without taking a sip.

Murong Xue felt speechless. "I know he is an old man. I mean his character."

"Do I look like someone who's interested in that kind of old man?" Lan Zun squinted at her.

Murong Xue raised her voice at once. "So you don't know?"

"I'm not in charge of anything in the college. I just stay here because nobody bothers me."

Murong Xue now found her mentor useless as she came here and got nothing. She rose up immediately and wanted to leave.

Lan Zun held her up very easily and asked, "Where are you going?"

"Let me go. I'm going back to the inn. You can't help me anyway." She struggled in the air.

Seeing her struggling like a rabbit, Lan Zun frowned and asked, "Why do you end up like this now?"

"What? Put me down first." Murong Xue wondered why people always kept lifting her up. She disliked that they were taller than her.

"Quiet!"

"Put me down. Put me down. Put me down," repeated Murong Xue.

Lan Zun could not stand it and shook her off, but he used his spiritual power to protect her from falling to the ground hard. Murong Xue landed safely.

She cursed, jumping up, "You b*st*rd. J*rk."

After half an hour, Murong Xue lowered her head when she saw the scratches on Lan Zun's dark face. She twisted her fingers and took a peek at her mentor. When she met his cold eyes, she lowered her head again. Looking down, she noticed Lan Zun's torn clothes, so she raised a flirty smile and said, "Well, my dear Master..."

Lan Zun still remembered that she called him b*st*rd and j*rk, so his face only went darker.

"Alas, I was joking." Murong Xue put her little finger up when speaking, which made her look like a pimp.

"Joking?" Lan Zun's voice was cold.

Hearing this, Murong Xue trembled. Then she poured a cup of tea and served it to her mentor in a flattering way. "My dear Master, don't be mad at me. Look. I got your tea service to apologize to you."

Looking at his grinning student, Lan Zun was not in the mood for the tea without sincerity. It only upset his stomach and he even had the rare feeling of sickness. He frowned and refused her, "You drank from it."

Hearing this, Murong Xue froze. She tried very hard to stop herself from throwing the cup of tea at him. However, thinking of what she had done, she knew it was her fault. She compromised, "Wait. I'll find a new cup for you." She searched the whole room, but she found no cup.

Now she knew that her mentor was really poor and she could understand why he did not give her anything as a gift of greeting. She guessed that the hairpin was one of the few precious things he had.

That day, Murong Xue came back and checked the hairpin as Lan Zun made a big deal about it. However, the hairpin remained unchanged even when she dripped her blood on it or pronounced the spell. Then she felt that he tricked her and almost threw the hairpin away, but she just moved it to a corner of the Space when she thought of Lan Zun's fickleness.

Now she knew that it was wrong for her to blame him, who probably could not afford good things.

He even didn't have a second cup.

She felt sorry for him.

But Murong Xue totally forgot that it was impossible that Lan Zun, a man at the top tier of the society on the Fengyun Continent, was poor.

"Master, well, forget about the tea. How about me giving your legs a relaxing massage?" She pushed him into the chair, ignoring his dark face.

Gathering her spiritual power, she gave him a massage softly and asked in a smug voice, "See, Master, isn't this good? You can never find a student as good as me."

The pleasant feeling brought by the leg massage eased Lan Zun's face. He asked, "Why do you ask about the associate dean?" He remembered her question and he wondered why someone would be stupid enough to mess up with his student.

"You don't know him. Never mind." Murong Xue felt that something was wrong with the associate dean, so she decided to stalk Lin Nan and the others tomorrow. She was not comfortable with leaving them alone in such a weird situation.

Lan Zun said coldly, "Say it."

Murong Xue found her mentor a cold man, who sounded cold whatever he said. Because of her misbehavior just now, she did not argue with him about it. She lowered her voice and told him what Lin Nan and the others told her.

With a slight movement of his finger, Lan Zun asked casually, "So what's your plan?"

Murong Xue confessed her plan with no cover-up, "I'll stalk them and check it out myself."

Lan Zun used his spiritual power to stop her massage. He knew that she was only faking it without sincerity and that all the work was done by her spiritual power, but he didn't say anything about it. He rose up and said, "You are really nice to them."

In Lan Zun's memory, she used to be someone who spent no time worrying about others except for that man who was the only reason for all her emotional swings.

"Sure, we are family." Thinking of Lin Nan and the others, Murong Xue raised an eye-catching smile.

Lan Zun's eyes grew cold. The next moment, he took her by the chin and pulled her face close to his. Murong Xue blinked and had no time to respond. When she realized what happened and tried to shake him off, he let go of her.

Lan Zun spoke coldly, "You go now."

The next moment, Murong Xue found herself outside the door and she saw the bamboo door close, her eyes widening. She could not believe that she was thrown out like this.

"So fickle."

Murong Xue made a face at the door and stormed out of the bamboo forests.

She had thought a mentor would teach his student how to cultivate and reach higher levels, but now she did not see what Lan Zun could do for her except for being her mentor.

She had been stuck at the beginning stage of purple-level for a long time and she had made no progress no matter how hard she tried.

She had asked Xiaobai about it and gotten a disdainful look. According to Xiaobai, anyone who cultivated would come to a halt, including those who became god-like, and it took time to solve this problem, for which she could only pray for an epiphany or go out to gain more experience.

She would hit the road, but she needed to know how her parents had been, which made her very anxious. She came to Lan Zun not only for Lin Nan and the others but also for her parents. She knew she should not be too hasty as Fengyun Continent was a big place where it would not be easy to find someone even with modern advanced technology.

At the same time, Lan Zun in the bamboo house looked at his fingers, thinking about something. Then he removed his silver mask and revealed a breathtaking face, with a fascinating red mole at the corner of his eyebrow.

He murmured, "Ruoyu."

It was the name King had said that day.

Going back to the inn, Murong Xue said nothing. She just gave Lin Nan and the others some pills and found each of them a befitting spirit weapon from the second floor of the Nine-stage Pagoda.

Since they had been with each other for a long time, they knew better than to refuse Murong Xue now. They kept their gratitude to themselves and stayed ready to stand up for her whenever she was in need.

The next day, Lin Nan and the others said goodbye to Mu Tian, and Mu Tian saw them off, waving.

After they just left, Murong Xue followed them up. The reason why she did not tell them was that she knew they would say no to her plan. Therefore, she decided to stalk them and she was sure that they would not notice her since she was at purple-level.

It was not long before they came to an intersection outside the city. Murong Xue chose to hide in a high tree thick with leaves, holding her breath.

Up in the tree, she could see their faces clearly. They were chatting.

The associate dean was not here yet. Murong Xue found the place very remote, so she wondered why they chose to gather here, where there were only trees without any birds. She found it weird.

Besides, she noticed that this place was so quiet that it became creepy.

It did not take long for the associate dean to show up alone. No students came with him. Different from the way he dressed in the college, he dressed all in black with the expression twisting his face now.

The associate dean said to them, "Let's go." Then he took the lead and moved fast as if he had been in a hurry.

Lin Nan and the others followed him silently.

Murong Xue followed them and kept a distance because she feared that the associate dean, who was at the ninth stage of purple-level, would notice her.

The further they went, the more puzzled she became. She found that the road they took led to the cliff in the Death Forest, a place few would visit usually. She knew this place because Xiaobai had introduced it to her before she entered the Death Forest last time, but she did not know the details.

As she went further in the direction of the cliff, she felt colder and colder, which gave her goosebumps.

The forest was spooky, and she did not meet one spirit beast on the way here, which was unusual.

Now she really wanted to know why the associate dean asked Lin Nan and the others to come here.