Chapter 130: The First Day of School

Everything was settled. Qin Ye grasped the fragment of the King of Hell's Seal, and just as he was about to leave, Su Dongxue’s soft voice sounded: "Please stay a moment, my Lord."

"Something the matter?"

Su Dongxue seemed to hesitate for a long time. After transforming into a Yin-official, she had acquired a true physical body, and at this moment, her gentle biting of her rosy lips made the hearts of the seven surrounding men flutter. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and said, "Actually... this humble servant woke up long ago."

A spark of realization flashed in Qin Ye's eyes, and he immediately understood that by waking up, she meant regaining consciousness inside Song Jiafang's body.

"This humble servant saw everything Li Jiankang did... While I was still alive, there were still some Yin-officials in the mortal realm, and back then, the Underworld must have fallen only recently. I have seen them, so I know... what he is doing is inviting heavenly retribution."

She gently closed her eyes, her raven-wing-like eyelashes fluttering: "Therefore... this humble servant tried every possible means to warn him a few times. However, because I had not fully awakened, Song Jiafang's soul still maintained the initiative, and I could not continue."

"Oh?" Qin Ye raised his eyebrows slightly, feeling entirely indifferent.

Su Dongxue seemed to have made up her mind as she slowly, inch by inch, pulled down her Yin-official uniform. Before the others could even express their surprise, a surge of Yin energy suddenly erupted, and then... the uniform fell to the ground, and a petite black cat unexpectedly appeared in its place!

"You are..." Qin Ye blinked, dumbfounded, and blurted out, "An elite of the beast cultivation path?"

Didn't Aris say that beast cultivators were extremely rare? To think he would actually encounter one!

"Yes..." The black cat spoke with a human voice, obediently licking its paw. "My Lord, this humble servant did not mean to deceive you. The lives of beast cultivators are exceedingly miserable; deep mountains and ancient forests are constantly being encroached upon, and beast cultivators capable of taking human form are few and far between, with many still bearing traces of their animal bodies. After death, we possess no special skills, and according to my elders... most end up performing in the Fengdu City Zoo and circus... This humble servant... this humble servant didn't distrust you, my Lord, but I simply couldn't bear to imagine... living a life in a zoo..."

Qin Ye closed his eyes.

The final piece of the puzzle regarding the Li family was now complete.

What was that black cat?

Li Jiankang said it was there, while Yellow-Hair said it wasn't. For a time, Qin Ye even thought it was merely an illusion of Li Jiankang's. But in truth, it had indeed existed; it was simply that Yellow-Hair could not see it.

"Just focus on doing your duty well." Yin energy flowed into the fragment of the King of Hell's Seal, and Qin Ye's figure gradually faded away. "The New Underworld will not set up any zoos. Even beast cultivators, as long as they have the capability, will be treated equally by this official."

Su Dongxue prostrated herself on the ground, remaining motionless long after Qin Ye's figure completely vanished.

Minutes later, Qin Ye had already reappeared in his dormitory at Anhui University.

"So exhausting..." He collapsed onto his bed, feeling utterly fatigued. Right now, he was practically suffering from a split personality. In the mortal realm, he was the delightful and charming s9527; in the Underworld, he was the impartial, reincarnated King of Hell.

He didn't want to overthink it anymore; when the boat reached the bridge, it would naturally straighten itself out. Seizing the opportunity, he fell fast asleep, only to be awakened the next day by a frenzy of phone calls.

"Hello?" He grabbed his phone with sleep-laden eyes and asked with dissatisfaction.

Anyone who dared to disturb his sleep deserved capital punishment!

"Bro, I'm calling you my brother." Lin Han's voice was low and filled with helplessness. "Can you check what time it is?"

Qin Ye glanced lazily at his phone. "Nine o'clock, what's wrong? Oh, right, bring me some breakfast on your way back. Anything is fine, I'll transfer the money to you later."

Lin Han remained silent for two full seconds. "Professor Tao's public lecture for the Fine Arts Department started this morning..."

Qin Ye bolted upright from the bed as if stung by a needle, only to collapse lazily back down a second later. "You don't say—that old professor is waiting just for me, haven't they all never even laid eyes on me?"

Lin Han replied flatly, "No, he took attendance."

"Oh."

"I answered for you."

Qin Ye felt as though countless hands on the bed were pulling him back down, and his eyelids began to droop. "And then?"

As a student of a prestigious university, you couldn't even claim to have truly experienced college life if you hadn't skipped a class or two!

Hadn't he merely brought his future schedule forward by a little bit? What was there to be nervous about?

Lin Han spoke gloomily, "And then the God of Killing Zhou was auditing from the back row."

Qin Ye hung up the phone instantly, washed his face and brushed his teeth with the greatest speed of his life, and sprinted wildly out of the dormitory. The hallway was still echoing with the sound of League of Legends blaring from a cheap speaker. Ignoring the campus life of Anhui University entirely, he rushed into the teaching building like Kaisa utilizing her ultimate.

Only then did he realize he hadn't even brought his books.

"Where are you sitting?" Ten minutes later, he pressed his back tightly against the wall of the lecture hall, panting as he typed out a WeChat message.

"Near the back door..." Lin Han's tone seemed somewhat hesitant.

"I just love teammates with such foresight. Open the door, I'll sneak in!" Without waiting for Lin Han's reply, Qin Ye locked his phone screen, staring intently at the back door like a thief casing a joint.

Half a minute later, the door silently cracked open just a sliver.

Not too wide, just enough for a single person to squeeze through.

Qin Ye tiptoed, crouching low as he slipped inside, immediately spotting Lin Han's towering frame, which served as a magnificent shield. There was an empty seat right beside him.

Perfect!

He stepped inside, closed the door as softly as a falling leaf as if nothing had ever happened, and looked up—only to instantly turn to stone.

Zhou Xianlong, Li Tao, Xu Anguo, and professors from various departments of the school were all glaring sideways at this uninvited guest.

Their expressions were unfathomably profound.

Half-smiling, forced smiles, ambiguous... In short, deeply unsettling.

Spread out on their desks were books and notebooks, also located in the very back row, merely two or three meters away from his position...

"Ahem... Well..." Feeling thoroughly uncomfortable all over, Qin Ye awkwardly waved his hand. "Greetings, esteemed leaders?"

Not a single person acknowledged him. Almost in unison, they turned their heads back, and Zhou Xianlong, with a face as dark as iron, wrote furiously in his notebook: *s9527, unexcused tardiness, teaching points -1!!!*

After a moment of thought, he added an extra sentence: *Utterly lacking in academic spirit, attending class without textbooks or tools, teaching points -1 once again!!!*

A distance of three meters was a trivial matter for a cultivator. Seeing the three exclamation marks that seemed carved into the paper with formidable force, Qin Ye felt a phantom pain radiating all the way to his nether regions.

Wait a minute... Aren't you being a bit too casual with these point deductions? You're simply taking out your personal grievance on me, aren't you? What harm did my being late ever cause you?

"Why the hell didn't you tell me these executioners were sitting right next to you?! How could you pick such a suicidal spot?!" Qin Ye sat down with a flushed face, turning his head to gnash his teeth at Lin Han.

"How was I supposed to know!" Lin Han rolled his eyes at him. "I was just playing on my phone and listening to music when my earphones were suddenly yanked out. When I looked up and saw these deities, I was scared out of my wits, alright? Just use your brain—the front rows were all occupied by regular Fine Arts students. Since we're here to learn, we naturally had no choice but to sit in the back. And school leaders auditing a class can only sit in the back as well! I assumed someone as clever as you would have anticipated that!"

The underlying implication was: The door opened, so you just waded right in?

You saw a control ward in the bush and decided to go clear it anyway?

There were five hulking brutes lying in ambush in the brush waiting for you.

"...While I appreciate your compliment, it doesn't mean you couldn't have given me a friendly heads-up!" Qin Ye rubbed his temples in agony. A textbook pig-headed teammate! A classic pig-headed teammate!

"Ahem." Zhou Xianlong let out a measured, deliberate cough. Qin Ye and Lin Han rolled their eyes in unison, not daring to speak another word.

Overbearing as always, Qin Ye snatched a blank practice notebook from Lin Han, swiped a pen, and while feigning meticulous note-taking, quickly scribbled: *Has the God of Killing Zhou entered his menopausal phase? He manages the heavens, he manages the earth, and now he even wants to manage when I fart?*

Neither of them noticed that the handwriting on the notebook of Zhou Xianlong, who had been listening to the lecture with a placid expression, suddenly slanted violently, the pen puncturing through several layers of paper. His temples were throbbing wildly.

Qin Ye tucked the notebook under his arm, tilting it slightly. Lin Han cast a knowing glance, his mouth splitting into a wide, suppressed grin.

Lin Han scribbled furiously, and two seconds later slid the notebook back with the same posture: *Zero bearing of a Judge... I was honestly starting to think he was just a regular Yin-official.*

Zhou Xianlong leaned back in his chair, his smile growing even deeper.

Qin Ye and Lin Han, completely devoid of any sense of crisis, continued their written communication: *How on earth did he even become a Judge? He is completely different from the Judges I've met! Absolutely no presence whatsoever, and excessively petty!*

Lin Han: *Oh shit? You've actually met other Judges, Master Lord? Come on, tell me what they're like! I can't find a single shred of hope in the God of Killing Zhou.*

Qin Ye: *Aloof, proud, the kind of person who makes you want to choke them the moment they speak, always radiating an aura of 'the heavens are vast and the earth is great, but I am supreme.' Her aura completely crushes ten God of Killing Zhous!*

Lin Han: *Wait... Her? A woman? Can you introduce me next time? I have a twenty-five-year aged vintage wine that I'd love to offer her...*

Qin Ye: *Scum! You are already infinitely close to the rank of a grand wizard... Let's stop messing around, do me a favor and sneak me into the School of Architecture tonight? Aren't you hailed as the Tyrant of Daishan?*

Lin Han: *What for? Also! What the hell is that 'Tyrant of Daishan' nickname?!*

The entire class passed amidst their scribbling and sketching. As the instructor—whose face they hadn't even managed to clearly see—announced the end of class, the students began packing up their books and heading out.

Qin Ye and Lin Han simultaneously recovered an expression of serene composure, their brows furrowing slightly as if deep in thought, still seemingly wandering in the ocean of knowledge. Both of them were seasoned actors. After packing away their notebooks, the hundreds of auditing students, however, did not leave.

"Everyone." Li Tao stood up and smiled. "Perhaps you feel that you can't learn much knowledge here. That's right, our systems are different. However, what we need to learn are their teaching methods. How to guide students, how to simplify complex concepts—these are all things we must master."

"Teaching and executing ghosts are entirely different matters. At eight o'clock this morning, we issued invitations to major sects, hidden hermit factions, and various lineages across the country. The list of students should arrive by next month. Therefore..."

He smiled as he swept a glance toward Qin Ye. "I must ask everyone not to be late or skip classes, and to earnestly study teaching methods over these next two months. Even if your teaching points pass for this stage, the actual, hands-on teaching in the next phase... will also be tallied into your teaching points..."

As Li Tao and the others led the way out of the lecture hall, Qin Ye and Lin Han finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, before they could even relax, the notebooks of all the instructors flew toward Zhou Xianlong like winged creatures, rustling through the air.

What the fuck?!