Chapter 127: Exam Results

Luo Qi stood by the edge of the pit, while Du Zhengyi, Majiang, and Guan Xinyue stood on the other side, waiting for him with anticipation. He glared at them in shame, thinking sarcastically that he felt as if he had returned to the day he first learned to walk upright, with his whole family gathered around him expectantly, ready to applaud him for taking a single step.

Du Zhengyi had explained the essentials to him; it was true, Du Zhengyi was a Mage who was better at controlling objects with his mind than Majiang. Of course, Majiang was a Mage who was better at controlling brains with his mind than Du Zhengyi.

Thinking that the secret technique came from the First War God of the Qionglin, the most talented Mage of this generation, Luo Qi felt a bit more confident. Du Zhengyi's teaching method was always more practical than what was taught at school; perhaps school textbooks focused more on theoretical study and the cultivation of habits, but Du Zhengyi cared more about actual results. Luo Qi stared at the mound of dirt that Majiang the pangolin had dug up, analyzed and calculated the mass of the soil and the angle of the pile, and silently concentrated all his attention, imagining the soil moving.

In legends, Ancient Mages could move planets with their minds; all he had to move was just a part of a planet.

Luo Qi focused all his attention on the mound, imagining the power of a swirling gale wrapping around the dirt. He closed his eyes and quietly let that power pour down; the dust fell with a rustling sound along the pit walls.

He opened his eyes, and Guan Xinyue was already squatting on the ground out of boredom, her head tilted and her chin resting on her hands. He looked at the deep pit in front of him in astonishment; the pit was still as deep as the one that idiot Majiang had dug. He looked at the mound in despair; the mound was still as solid as Majiang's grave.

"Where are Du Zhengyi and Majiang?" Luo Qi asked.

"They were shattered by the shockwave you sent out," Guan Xinyue said.

"Huh?" Luo Qi's eyes widened.

Guan Xinyue rolled her eyes at him. "Du Zhengyi is inside drinking tea, and Majiang probably went back to take a nap."

"What?" Luo Qi said. "They gave up on me that quickly?"

"It's been twenty minutes, boss," Guan Xinyue said sharply. "I thought you were a donkey that could sleep standing up."

"I wasn't sleeping, I was concentrating. You're the stupid donkey!" Luo Qi said, stung by her words, and began bickering with Guan Xinyue across the pit.

Guan Xinyue had been battling him for a long time and had mastered the techniques to deal with the enemy; she didn't accept his pathetic retorts and said disdainfully, "Give me a shovel, and even if I am a sickly girl, I would have finished filling the hole in twenty minutes. What is the use of a Mage like you?"

"Damn it, where are you sickly?"

"Wait, for this little bit of dirt, I think I could have leveled the mound by now with a spoon," Guan Xinyue said with a smile.

"Luo Qi, stop talking nonsense and cherish your time," before he could retort, Du Zhengyi's voice came from the house.

Luo Qi turned his head and saw that the four doors of the main room were all wide open; Du Zhengyi was sitting leisurely on a mat on the floor by the doorway, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand.

Guan Xinyue felt supported, stood up triumphantly, stretched, and walked toward Du Zhengyi, saying, "Exactly, if you don't hurry up, you'll be pushing dirt here until your hair turns white. Don't you feel like a dung beetle?"

Luo Qi clearly heard Du Zhengyi let out a laugh. He whipped his head back to look at Du Zhengyi, wanting to catch the traitor in the act. He saw Du Zhengyi lowering his head and using his teacup to cover his face, while that little girl Guan Xinyue walked to Du Zhengyi's side, sat in the lazy sofa she had just bought, and leaned toward Du Zhengyi flatteringly, "Brother."

She actually called him brother! Luo Qi watched her defensively.

"Brother, you always speak so old-fashioned, you sound like an intellectual. Luo Qi went to the same school but is completely useless. Brother, what was that old-fashioned word for the opposite of 'cherish time'?" Guan Xinyue asked.

Luo Qi frowned and glared at her.

"The evening scenery of the mulberry and elm trees," Du Zhengyi answered lightly.

"Haha." Guan Xinyue laughed, glanced back at Luo Qi, stuck out her tongue, and then picked up a Mage's book with an affected air, leaning back into the sofa to read.

Luo Qi was so angry he turned back around, facing away from them to continue struggling with Majiang's grave mound.

"Brother," Guan Xinyue, who had nothing to do behind him, started chatting with Du Zhengyi again, "Brother, how do you plan to exchange information with the people in the Qionglin? Do you still need to meet them? Nothing good ever comes from meeting them; can't you just call them?"

"We don't use phones; most of the time we rely on the Public Post Station to transmit non-instant information," Du Zhengyi replied.

"Instant? Instant information is like sending text messages or WeChat, where it's visible immediately, right? Is non-instant information like the letters we used to mail? I read about the Public Post Station in a book, but I didn't quite understand it," Guan Xinyue asked curiously.

"The Public Post Station is a Mage post office spread across various places, where you can leave letters, voice messages, images, or text through a Secret Language. There are Energy Crystals in the Public Post Stations, and there are an unknown number of them in this world, forming a postal network," Du Zhengyi said.

"I'm reading that part of ancient history now." Guan Xinyue handed the book in her hand to Du Zhengyi and pointed to a passage. "Are all your books like this? The ancient history section is almost entirely mythology, but I've discovered that many parts of Mage culture were determined since the age of ancient mythology. For example, the Public Post Station seems as if Mages just happened to discover their existence, rather than Mages building them."

"It is written like that in all the books; the Public Post Stations were created by Ancient Mages," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi turned his head and said, "It's also possible they are purely natural products, and Mages just happened to know how to utilize this natural phenomenon."

"Luo Qi, concentrate," Du Zhengyi said bluntly.

Luo Qi looked at Guan Xinyue with resentment. Guan Xinyue smiled slyly and turned to Du Zhengyi, "Brother, do you want some tea snacks? I bought many varieties yesterday; do you want to try them together?"

"You are not allowed to eat the durian-flavored ones!" Luo Qi hurriedly turned back and ordered Guan Xinyue.

"Busybody," Guan Xinyue said in a low voice.

Luo Qi was so angry he turned his head back again. What was most infuriating was that he saw Du Zhengyi and Guan Xinyue exchange a look, their expressions showing mutual agreement. He turned back in a rage and kicked Majiang's grave mound. To his surprise, even Guan Xinyue let out a small cry in the house behind him.

It was as if an invisible force had swept across the mound, tossing the dirt like a tornado into the flower field on the opposite side of the pit, where Majiang's seeds had already sprouted. Du Zhengyi stood up and walked out to look at the flower seedlings ruined by the flying sand and rocks.

The window of a bedroom was pushed open with a "bang," and Majiang's head appeared outside. He frowned and looked around, looking for trouble. "Why is there such unstable energy flow?" Then he saw the land he had worked so hard to cultivate. "Luo Qi! You motherf..."