Page 14

Sang Ji couldn't help but laugh out loud in exasperation.

However, before he could react to this clumsy attempt at a scam, a thunderous shout erupted at the classroom door.

A young cultivator stood at the entrance, holding a ruler, and coldly reprimanded, "This is a place of learning. How dare you make such a ruckus? Have you no sense of propriety? What are you all doing?"

When Sang Ji looked up and saw the cultivator's face, his eyelids drooped in resignation.

Mouthing the words "Old Dong" silently to himself, Sang Ji reluctantly clasped his hands and replied, "Teacher, we were just playing a game."

"A game?" The young cultivator snorted coldly. "With such improper conduct and posture, how can you focus on your studies now that you've embarked on the path of cultivation? You should all..."

His words trailed off as his gaze fell on Yan Luoyue, who was lying on the ground.

The young cultivator took two steps forward, his eyes wide with shock. He stammered, "Wh-what is this? Where did this little girl from the Turtle Clan come from?"

He quickly crouched down to check Yan Luoyue's breathing, his face turning pale with alarm.

"She's barely breathing!"

The young cultivator sprang up like a coiled spring. "What happened? Who could be so cruel as to beat an innocent child to the brink of death?"

In an instant, all eyes in the class, including those of Sang Ji's lackeys, turned to Sang Ji.

Sang Ji's lips twitched in disbelief.

"Wait, Teacher Dong, you should investigate the facts first. I only nudged her lightly with my leg. She's from the Turtle Clan, how could she possibly..."

How could she be so fragile?

Although the Turtle Clan can take human form, their physical strength is worlds apart from that of ordinary humans.

For example, in the animal kingdom, it's not uncommon for a panda mother to fall from a tree and land on her cub, or for a macaque mother to fight her child for food and then sit on the baby like a cushion.

But try doing that to a human child.

Without the protection of cultivation, a human child treated like that would surely perish on the spot.

If even mammals like pandas and macaques are so resilient, how much more so the Turtle Clan, known for their robust health and long lifespans?

At fourteen years old, Sang Ji had never encountered a turtle like Yan Luoyue, who collapsed at the slightest touch as if on the verge of death. He simply couldn't believe it.

If the teacher punished him for "forming cliques" or "being unruly," Sang Ji would accept it without complaint.

But to suddenly be accused of "beating a weak little girl to near-death in class"? That was a charge Sang Ji couldn't swallow, no matter how he looked at it.

"What? This girl is from the Turtle Clan?"

The young cultivator latched onto only one point in Sang Ji's defense.

He was even more shocked. "You managed to injure even a member of the Turtle Clan? Just how hard did you hit her?"

Sang Ji: "..."

Huh? How did you arrive at such a wildly incorrect conclusion using perfectly logical reasoning?

He wasn't taking the blame for this!

Only now did Sang Ji fully understand the meaning behind the little girl's earlier mouthing of words to him.

—She had said, "You're in trouble now."

Indeed.

Sang Ji now deeply felt that his injustice and frustration were beyond redemption, even if he jumped into the Yellow River.

At this moment, Sang Ji's face was filled with indignation, and he wanted to argue further, but Yan Gan had no patience for debate.

He shoved Sang Ji aside and stepped forward, carefully lifting Yan Luoyue and cushioning her head with his knee.

Sang Ji couldn't help but laugh. "What, Brother Yan? Are you two running a scam together now?"

Yan Gan shot him a fierce glare.

"My sister has been frail and sickly since birth. Everyone in our clan knows this. If anything happens to her today because of you, I'll..."

"Hey," Sang Ji said, noticing Yan Gan's serious expression. His laughter gradually faded.

He swallowed hard and muttered, "You're serious?"

Yan Gan exploded in anger. "Who would joke about something this serious?"

Sang Ji hissed through his teeth, biting his tongue.

So there really was such a fragile member of the Turtle Clan. Today was truly an eye-opener for him.

Originally, whether a Turtle Clan child was healthy or not was none of his business. But just now, uh, just now...

Had he just sent this particularly delicate little turtle flying with a swipe?

Sang Ji: "!!!"

Wait, if he knelt down now and begged this little girl not to die, would it still be in time?!

For a moment, Yan Luoyue lay with her eyes closed, maintaining her fragile, near-death state; the two students argued heatedly, their words sparking with tension; the entire class crowded around to watch, their whispers merging into a cacophony...

The chaotic scene made the young cultivator's head spin.

He thought despairingly, "When I was sent down the mountain by my sect to teach, who could have guessed that the hardest part of the mission wouldn't be 'teaching,' but 'babysitting'?"

Just as the young cultivator was at his wit's end, a voice as clear and refreshing as a mountain stream suddenly rang out.

The voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it carried a soothing, watery essence. Like a wisp of cloud drifting freely in the mountains, even from a distance of a thousand feet, it was still distinctly perceptible.

"Junior Brother Dong, what's going on here?"

The young cultivator's shoulders relaxed instantly, and his buzzing head cleared for a moment. He stood up with relief and bowed. "Senior Brother Jiang. Thank goodness you're here."

Yan Luoyue cautiously cracked open an eye, peeking through her dark lashes to catch a glimpse of the newcomer.

From her angle, she could only see the hem of a moon-white robe fluttering slightly. It looked somewhat familiar.

The fabric of the moon-white robe was neither too thick nor too thin, devoid of any ornate embroidery, simple yet elegant. Its owner was striding quickly toward her.

The man placed his cool fingers on Yan Luoyue's wrist, carefully assessing her pulse. After a moment, Jiang Tingbai exhaled softly in relief.

"She'll be fine. Just give her this pill."

Yan Gan hurriedly took the pill. "Thank you, Teacher."

A single healing pill instantly restored Yan Luoyue's health to full.

Unlike the medicines from her inventory, the pills produced in this world didn't cause any overflow effects.

This discovery made Yan Luoyue breathe a long sigh of relief.

After dealing with her little mishap, the only ones left to handle were Sang Ji, the instigator, and Yan Gan, who had brought his sister to school.

Yan Luoyue shuffled a couple of steps away and picked up her wooden hairpin. As she tucked it back into her hair, she had a vague feeling that someone was watching her.

Alert, she turned her head and saw Jiang Tingbai looking at the hairpin, a faint trace of doubt flickering across his face.

Yan Luoyue blinked rapidly.

Ahem, surely Teacher Jiang hadn't noticed anything, right?

Recalling how she had sneaked into the school that morning, it seemed she had been spotted by Mr. Jiang. And just now, in the staged accident, she had even managed to get a pill from him.

Yan Luoyue rubbed the tip of her nose, then transformed back into a little turtle and slowly crawled into Yan Gan's sleeve, tucking her head into her shell.

…………

"Hey, listen up," Sang Ji nudged Yan Gan with his elbow as they were being led to the disciplinary room, "when the teacher asks later, just put all the blame on me."

"!!!"

This was so unexpected that Yan Gan couldn't help but give Sang Ji a startled look.

Sang Ji chuckled, his lips barely moving as he whispered through the gap:

"You're new to the school, so you wouldn't know. Teacher Dong is a real stickler. Any student who falls into his hands gets the harshest punishment."

"I didn't expect your sister to be so fragile. I owe you one for this, so I'll make it up to you."

"When they ask later, whether it's about you breaking the rules by bringing a young one to school or almost getting into a fight with me, just say I threatened you."

Yan Gan coldly turned his face away, but his tone was no longer as stiff as before.

"A turtle takes responsibility for its own actions. Even if I'm punished, I won't lie."

"Hey, you..." Sang Ji raised an eyebrow, "You really have some backbone."

In the few moments it took to exchange these words, they had already been brought to the disciplinary room by the stern and irritable young cultivator.

The teacher surnamed Dong turned around and scolded sharply, "You've made mistakes and still refuse to reflect on yourselves, whispering behind my back. How can you two be so stubborn and unrepentant?"

"Junior Brother Dong." Mr. Jiang, dressed in a moon-white sword robe, gently pressed his junior brother's shoulder, "You go ahead and attend to your duties. I'll take care of these two."

"...Yes, Senior Brother."

Reluctantly taking a few steps out, Teacher Dong couldn't help but add,

"Senior Brother, you don't know this, but Sang Ji from the Zhen class is always causing trouble and never learns his lesson. I've caught him over a dozen times already. And as for Yan Gan, he just enrolled yesterday, and today he's already caused such a big mess. It's just..."

"Junior Brother Dong." Jiang Tingbai called out softly but firmly, "I said, leave them to me."

"...Yes, Senior Brother."

Once the door to the disciplinary room closed, Jiang Tingbai looked at the two nervous students with a gentle expression and gestured to the chairs opposite.

"Please, have a seat—and your sister, let her sit here as well."

As soon as Yan Luoyue was let out of Yan Gan's sleeve, she was presented with a small, delicate wicker chair that perfectly matched her current size.

The vines used to weave the chair still carried a few fresh droplets of water. Yan Luoyue followed the vines with her gaze and found that the other end was still connected to Jiang Tingbai's fingertips.

It turned out that this little chair had been woven on the spot by Jiang Tingbai using his magic.

After tying off the vine, Jiang Tingbai sprinkled a handful of candies onto Yan Luoyue's lap.

As he did this, his tone remained as calm and soothing as ever, making his gentle demeanor even more apparent:

"About what happened earlier, is there anything you'd like to tell me?"

Sang Ji and Yan Gan exchanged a glance.

After a moment, Yan Gan lowered his gaze and began recounting everything from how he had smuggled his sister into the school that morning, all the way to the incident where Yan Luoyue had fallen to the ground.

"...That's how it happened. I'm sorry, sir. I broke the school rules and committed a serious offense. I deserve to be punished. Whatever the punishment, I have no complaints."

Jiang Tingbai, holding a teacup, spoke slowly, "Your sister has a desire to learn and improve, and you have a protective instinct for her. These are not faults."

Yan Gan looked up in surprise, "Sir..."

Jiang Tingbai's tone remained calm, but there was a clear note of reprimand in his words.

"However, taking your sister away from home without considering whether your elders would worry—that was indeed wrong of you."

Jiang Tingbai didn't need to explain why the elders would be worried.

After all, the recent accident was still fresh in everyone's minds.

As a teacher, he knew all too well the kind of mischief students could get up to.

Yan Luoyue clutched the candies and nestled herself deeper into the wicker chair.

If she wasn't mistaken, Mr. Jiang had just glanced in her direction.

Clearly, part of that reprimand was directed at her as well.

Since Yan Gan had already laid out the whole story, Sang Ji only needed to fill in some details.

Regarding the incident involving Yan Luoyue, Sang Ji admitted his mistake without hesitation.

However, when it came to the part where he had pulled someone's sister out of a desk, taken her hostage, and threatened Yan Gan, Sang Ji was rather dismissive.

Before Jiang Tingbai could say much, Sang Ji defensively interjected,

"It was just a joke. I was sure I could catch her. I play like this with my younger brothers all the time at home—but I didn't consider that she might be so fragile."

"Oh? So that's how you see it."

Jiang Tingbai turned to Sang Ji. The young man's posture was obedient, but there was still a hint of defiance in his eyes.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Tingbai beckoned Sang Ji and led them all outside.

He asked in a calm tone, "I recall your family is from the Black-Snouted Crocodile Clan, correct?"

Sang Ji lifted his chin, "That's right. I'm a Black-Snouted Crocodile demon. It's true that I caused trouble for the little girl today, and I admit I handled it poorly. If something had really happened, I'd have given my life in exchange. So, sir, scold or punish me as you see fit."

Jiang Tingbai shook his head and chuckled, "I've heard of your reputation and know you're a clever boy. Don't worry, I won't scold or punish you—but I do want you to understand something by putting yourself in someone else's shoes."

Before Sang Ji could react, his piercing scream tore through the azure sky.

Jiang Tingbai had summoned a sword as white as snow, lifted Sang Ji into the air, and then abruptly let go, sending him plummeting from a height of a hundred feet!