Star Odyssey

Chapter 2249: Fairy Miao

Back in Virtue Archives, Lu Yin quickly checked his cosmic ring. 100 billion. How painful! He had just burned through 100 billion star essence! Just how much would it cost to Possess Semi-Progenitors? Or further, when he could Possess Progenitors? He was too terrified to even consider the matter.

Was there even enough star essence in the Fifth Mainland and the Perennial World combined to pay for what Lu Yin needed? Where else could he acquire more funds?

Regardless of the costs, Lu Yin needed to keep rolling his die. He wanted to Possess someone from Star Alliance so that he could free those people from the restriction that controlled them.

Lu Yin’s mind raced, and even as he worried about the costs and potential benefits, he could not help but look forward to the possibilities. He tapped the die. Three pips. He tapped again. Four pips. He was done.

The fourth roll was Timestop, and Lu Yin willingly entered his Timestop Space, spending the entire time practicing the Cosmic Art and reciting the Origin Sutra. Nearly a year later, he emerged from his Timestop Space. He needed to wait another ten days before he could roll his die again.

Unfortunately, he was not given the opportunity, as ten days later was when the students would head for the Higher Realm to start their exchange program. Naturally, Lu Yin was summoned by Headmaster Wen.

It had taken a month for the list of participating students to be finalized. Over the course of the last month, Mr. Tang and Prof. Wei had worked on helping the students raise their strength, but Prof. Hao Yu had not yet shown up. He had to be present for at least the last ten days.

Lu Yin would simply need to find an opportunity to roll his die again.

…

Not everyone had the opportunity to see the Mother Tree up close.

Under the ladder, the God of Food smiled as he watched many students comment in amazement. These students had never seen the Mother Tree up close.

Most of the students who could pass Virtue Archives’ entrance exam were the most talented descendants of various powerful families, as the requirements were too steep for most geniuses. However, there were also always some exceptionally talented independent cultivators who had no resources, and they were also allowed entrance into the academy.

All of the twenty five students selected by Headmaster Wen were independent cultivators. The students who could not be taken to visit the four ruling powers were actually the descendants of the various powerful families, as they were all completely submissive to the four ruling powers.

As for students of various families not of the four ruling powers, Headmaster Wen did not take many of them. These students would only adopt a submissive attitude when visiting the four ruling families.

When Virtue Archives arrived at the Mother Tree, the Smokecloud Sect had already prepared a cloud for their exclusive use, and they were even generous enough to not insist on the standard procedure of examining the contents of the students’ cosmic rings, which was practically unheard of.

Even Lu Yin was surprised by the treatment that they received.

"The four ruling powers are making a point to show their goodwill towards the academy," Mr. Tang said, sounding quite worried.

Lu Yin asked, "Is that something that you don’t want, Professor?"

Mr. Tang looked conflicted. "I would love to see the academy remain the same as always."

Before the four ruling powers had started interfering with Virtue Archives, the academy had not had nearly as many faculty members, as neither Wu Taibai, Prof. Bai, nor Prof. Wei had been instructors. However, the academy had expanded, which meant both more students and more instructors in the academy. Of the new instructors, it was clear that Wu Taibai and Prof. Bai were part of the four ruling powers, but no one knew just how many of the other instructors were also part of the four ruling powers.

Mr. Tang had been an instructor at Virtue Archives for a long time, and just like Prof. Zheng, Mr. Tang never wanted to see the academy change. Unfortunately, that was nothing but a dream.

The four ruling powers would never be willing to allow the existence of other powerful organizations outside of their control, especially something like the academy that had a Mountain and Sea.

"There are certain things that are outside of human control. Don’t think too much about such things, Professor. Since certain things are unavoidable, we just need to do what we should," Prof. Wei said with a smile.

Mr. Tang nodded. "Young people like you are more adaptable than us. It’s true that I’m simply voicing the headmaster’s concerns and that such things are outside of our control. We should focus on taking care of our students."

The God of Food did not say a word, though he listened to the conversation. There were indeed certain things that were no longer in his control.

A short distance away, Xia Shenguang and several others appeared indifferent to everything. They did not actually care about Virtue Archives in the slightest, and instead, they were preoccupied with the recent developments within the four ruling powers. They could not help but feel like a dark shadow was looming over them.

As the Cloud Shuttle drifted upwards, Lu Yin stared down at the shrinking Middle Realm. He looked upwards and saw that the Higher Realm’s soil was already within reach. It was possible that it was the sight of this soil that had forced the four ruling powers to banish the Lu family. They had also wanted to look down on the entire Perennial World, instead of looking up and seeing the land that the Lu family stood upon.

For most of the students, this was their first time visiting the Higher Realm. Even if most of the students came from powerful families, that did not equate to being able to step foot on the Higher Realm.

Someone approached the exchange program’s students from the distance. They smiled as they approached, and then went straight up to the God of Food and offered a respectful bow. "Wang Miaomiao1 greets Senior God of Food."

Everyone stared at the woman, and many were stunned by her sight. She was a truly beautiful woman.

Lu Yin observed at Wang Miaomiao. There was no denying that she was beautiful, and she was actually comparable to Yan'er. Wang Miaomiao had a graceful demeanor, and there was something almost ethereal about her movements, though there was also a hint of maturity. She should be quite young, though it was impossible to determine her age from just her appearance.

When Wang Xiaofan noticed who was greeting them, his eye twitched, and he started staring.

"So it’s Fairy Miao who’s greeting us. I’m surprised to see that the Wang family actually sent you. Aren’t you still under house arrest?" The God of Food was clearly quite surprised to see the woman, and he did not sound nearly as brusque and cold as when he usually spoke with people from the four ruling powers. Instead, he sounded like a kind elder who cared for a junior. This was highly unusual.

Wang Miaomiao offered yet another bow as she looked at the God of Food and gave the old man a playful smile. "Aside from me, no one else in the family deserves to be acknowledged by you, Senior. Also, they’re all afraid of being scolded by you."

The God of Food laughed. "I wouldn’t dare to scold members of the Wang family, but it's still good to see you. It’s been a very long time."

The smile slowly disappeared from Wang Miaomiao's face. "Not since the Lu family disappeared."

The God of Food sighed. "Let's not talk about that. Let’s go to your family’s homeland. I haven’t visited that place for a long time."

"You haven’t visited since our homeland was moved from the Middle Realm to the Higher Realm," Wang Miaomiao replied.

The God of Food had no choice but to respond, "I already said that we should drop that subject. It looks like you want to remain under house arrest."

Wang Miaomiao rolled her eyes, and a mischievous smile returned to her lips. "It doesn't matter if I get locked up again or not. If Senior returns, the elders will still send me back out here to play hostess for you, as they want to leave a good impression."

The God of Food was left speechless.

Within the crowd of students, Bai Weiwei shifted over next to Wang Xiaofan. "Hey, is that the Fairy Miao that you’ve always talked about dreaming of? She really is beautiful."

Wang Xiaofan frowned. "Don't spout nonsense."

A lewd smile crept across Bai Weiwei’s face. "Stop pretending. We've known each other since childhood, and you've mentioned her a lot. You only stopped after you grew up. What? You don’t even dare to admit it anymore?"

Wang Xiaofan turned to stare at Bai Weiwei. "I told you, don't spout nonsense."

On the other side, Nong Siniang exclaimed, "I actually saw Fairy Miao! I thought that the Wang family would keep her under house arrest forever."

"What happened to her?" Lu Yin asked.

Nong Siniang gave him an odd look. "You don’t know, Professor?"

Lu Yin replied, "I never really had much of an interest in what happened outside of Yu City."

Nong Si Niang pursed her lips. "A hundred years ago, Fairy Miao was the most talented descendant of the entire Wang family. Despite being from one of their branch families instead of a direct descendant, she surpassed all of the direct descendants, and she even earned the same position as Wang Su within the family. However, even with her talent and status, she’s been under house arrest for years because of her relationship with the Lu family. In fact, after the Lu family was exiled, she even scolded Wang Fan, the Wang family’s Progenitor."

Lu Yin was stunned. "She scolded Wang Fan? Is that true?"

Nong Siniang shook her head. "I don't know, but those are the rumors that have spread around in the outside world, and she’s been locked up ever since that day, not allowed to leave. I really didn’t expect her to be sent to greet us. They are giving face to Senior God of Food."

Lu Yin turned to look at Fairy Miao. Whether the rumors were true or not, even if the woman had not scolded Wang Fan, she had clearly done something to be locked up for so long. It was possible that she really had been bold enough to scold a Progenitor.

Headmaster Wen had been impressed at how rude “Yu Hao” had been to Semi-Progenitor Xia Ziheng, but if Wang Miaomiao really had scolded Wang Fan, then she had to have a million times more courage.

The Wang family had sent a vehicle to collect the students for the exchange program. It was a large boat that had been formed by folding white paper.

After everyone had climbed on board, Wang Miaomiao guided the boat to a place dedicated for the Wang's family’s training: the Tri-Petal.

"The Tri-Petal?" Nong Siniang shouted again.

Bai Weiwei, Xia Shenguang, and Wang Xiaofan were surprised. In fact, even the God of Food was taken aback. "The Tri-Petal? The Wang family is actually willing to open the Tri-Petal for my students?"

Wang Miaomiao smiled. "That's right. As long as they’re able to, they can break through the Tri-Petal by working together, though I’d suggest that they do so one by one in order to maximize the benefits."

Mr. Tang spoke up, "The Wang family has really spent a great deal of resources on this exchange program if they’re willing to even open the Tri-Petal."

Lu Yin was completely confused, but he stayed quiet.

Prof. Wei then spoke up. "According to the legends, every member of the Wang family, regardless of whether they are part of the direct line, is allowed to enter the Tri-Petal. It holds battle techniques, resources, and cultivation arts. In the lowest petal, there are power vessels good enough for Explorers, comparable battle techniques and such, but nothing too special. If people are able to reach the middle petal, they can gain access to the Wang family's famous cultivation arts, if they’re capable enough. As for the top petal, there aren’t just battle techniques, but also secret techniques, tribulation crystals, and cultivation arts there.”

"All of the Wang family’s descendants dream of being allowed to enter the Tri-Petal."

Mr. Tang added on, "There are rumors that Fairy Miao herself was able to surpass everyone else from her generation due to the opportunities that she obtained in the Tri-Petal. Supposedly, she obtained the family’s Sit and Forget, a secret technique, and other inheritances that were no worse than what the most talented descendants of the Wang family’s direct line are given, and she ended up surpassing all of them. The Tri-Petal is the best opportunity for the descendants of the side branches of the Wang family to catch up to the descendants of the direct line, but I’ve never heard of the Tri-Petal being opened to outsiders.”

"This is a place where even the Lu family would have had to pay a steep price to give their children access to back when they were in power."

Lu Yin's eyes flickered. The participants of the exchange program had been greeted by Fairy Miao, and their cosmic rings had not been inspected when they had arrived at the Cloud Shuttle to enter the Higher Realm. And at this moment, they were being told that they were even being given access to the Tri-Petal. The Wang family was being far too generous to Virtue Archives’ students. It seemed as though they were purposely favoring the students, and Lu Yin was suddenly reminded of Prof. Zheng's warning. Just what were the four ruling powers trying to accomplish?

When the rest of the students learned that they were being granted access to the Tri-Petal, their eyes lit up, and they immediately started excitedly discussing this opportunity.

Wang Miaomiao shook her head and chuckled. "The Wang family’s hoping to steal away Virtue Archives’ students by offering them the chance to enter the Tri-Petal. You should be able to see through their intentions, Senior."

The God of Food could only say, "So what if I can? My academy doesn’t forbid our students from joining other powers. Provided that they are willing, all of my students are allowed to join the Wang family."

Wang Miaomiao replied, "If all of these students join the Wang family, then will Virtue Archives still remain an academy? The four ruling powers want to use this exchange program to steal away all of your students so that they can finally gain control of the academy. Looking at how insidious this plan is, it’s probably something that the Xia family came up with."

God of Food laughed. "You're too blunt."

"That’s just because they’re all too sneaky. Not many are able to resist the temptation of the Wang family's training opportunities. Senior, you should try to find a way to get away. If all of your students join the four ruling powers, your academy will no longer be yours," Wang Miaomiao warned.

The God of Food gave a bitter smile. What could he even do about the situation? Virtue Archives was a special place, and just like the procedures for the exchange program, instructors chose their students, while students also chose their instructors. Control of the academy was not held purely by the faculty members, as the students also had the right to make certain decisions. If all of the students joined the four ruling powers, then Virtue Archives would not be able to remain the same academy that it had been for so many years.

[1] Hopefully some of you remember that Forgotten Ruins God's name is Wang Miaomiao, however, it's important to note that this Wang Miaomiao (王妙妙) does not have the same name in Chinese as Forgotten Ruins God (王淼淼). ☜