Chapter 437: Chapter 435: The Three Wonders of Silver Blood - Le Yin
"Damn it, we’re taking exams all day long. If it’s not you, it’s me. What the hell are we testing for anyway?"
Le Yu, eating in the pigsty cafeteria, couldn’t help but smile knowingly upon hearing the students’ complaints. In absolute time, he had only been out of university life for less than a year, but looking back now, those university days felt like they happened in a past life—four lifetimes ago, to be precise.
Growth doesn’t come without a cost. Although Le Yu no longer had to take exams and was making money hand over fist, with golden handcuffs of a wife, a house, and land at home, living a carefree life, he had also lost many worries.
After finishing his meal, Le Yu cleaned up the dishes and took them to the sink for washing.
Even though the dishes would eventually undergo centralized disinfection—sunbathing—that initial cleaning was to be done by the teachers and students themselves.
As for how to get teachers and students to voluntarily wash the dishes, Cha Huan didn’t advocate it himself, nor did he lead by example (he had a private cook), instead opting for a most shameless reward and punishment system: anonymously reporting students who didn’t wash their dishes would, after covert observation confirmed it, earn the informant one academic credit while the reported student would be forced into dishwashing duty every noon for the next month.
There were indeed cases where students preferred not attending school to not accepting the punishment... But Cha Huan would send Lou Yinhai on a house call at noon.
Because Lou Yinhai had to nap for an hour every noon, unchanging for decades, not a minute more, not a second less, his house call time was tightly scheduled, essentially rushing in—taking the student—throwing them into the cafeteria—and going back to sleep in the dorm.
As for whether anyone dared to stop a pillar of the Imperial Academy from taking away a student at noon, well, there were, but Lou Yinhai, urgent for his nap, was heedless in his restraint.
After Lou Yinhai casually crippled several family members of troublemakers, and several sons and daughters of high officials had their heads pressed into washing dishes for a month in the cafeteria, no one dared to skip dishwashing again.
While washing dishes, Le Yu couldn’t find a brush by the sink. Just as he was about to look for one, someone suddenly handed one over from beside him.
"Thanks." Le Yu was about to take it when he saw it was being handed by Niruo, and suddenly retracted his hand: "On second thought, never mind."
"Afraid there’s Luminous Firepowder in it?"
"Afraid you’re Qianmian."
Niruo sighed: "I used to be as cautious as you, but later I realized, as long as you live in a community, you inevitably need to accept help from others. Even if what Qianmian says is true, it’s an open scheme, not a conspiracy—he can always find an opportunity, he will always get what he wants."
"That’s true." Le Yu found it reasonable, so he handed the tray and chopsticks to Niruo.
"Hmm?"
"In case you are Qianmian, just deceiving my face with a brush would be too much of a loss; at least help me wash the dishes."
Niruo shoved the brush and tray back into Le Yu’s hands without expression: "Scram."
"Nice, you’ve proven you’re not Qianmian." Le Yu dutifully wiped the dishes: "If it were him, he wouldn’t pass up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, do you need anything from me?"
"Can’t I just look for you without a reason?"
Le Yu looked at him expressionlessly, then moved a step away from him and answered, "No, you can’t."
Facing Le Yu’s antics, Niruo wasn’t upset, but rather approvingly nodded: "Indeed, you can’t. By the way, I’m attending your class this afternoon, that’s all."
With that, Niruo walked away, as if he really was just idle and came to chat with Le Yu. Le Yu shook the water off the dishes, watching Niruo’s departing back, lost in thought.
In tonight’s Platinum Tower defense battle, there were actually several neutral units Le Yu couldn’t control: the Sword Sheath.
The forces behind the assassination attempt on Qin Le Yin were largely the employers of these Sword Sheaths, and it could even be said they were accomplices in tonight’s attack. However, Le Yu was sure that other Sword Sheaths would not get involved in the assault tonight—because they were also targets of the attackers.
The attackers formed a multi-faction alliance. For instance, Niruo was a Sword Sheath for one faction, but in the eyes of other forces, Niruo and Qin Le Yin were essentially the same—as long as they weren’t one of their own Sword Sheaths, they were enemies to be eliminated!
Had it not been for Ming Shuiyun and Qin Le Yin being exceptionally prominent this time, forming this alliance would have been difficult: attacking the Imperial Academy was too costly. When the goal of ’attacking Qin Le Yin’ barely filled the expense, did they lay the foundation for an alliance, except that since they were paying such a high price, they hoped for more results, thus adding more costs...
It’s like wanting to buy a computer, thinking since you’re spending all that money anyway, you might as well add funds till it reaches thirty-eight grand, aiming to not only play Minesweeper but the world’s greatest masterpiece instead... Qin Le Yin is the Minesweeper, and Cha Huan is the masterpiece.
Thus, Le Yu had no intention to recruit the neutral Sword Sheaths—it’s impossible for a Sword Sheath to become an ally, they would immediately turn into enemies!
If the attackers merely wanted to cripple Qin Le Yin as a side gig, then the Sword Sheaths sincerely hoped for Qin Le Yin to completely drop offline and exit the game.
Without Qin Le Yin, even if Ming Shuiyun was a skilled trainer, she would lose the qualification to seek the Sword Master’s throne!
Originally, Le Yu thought ’Yin’ could hint him, given his daily online simping behavior, was already the best he could expect. Unexpectedly, Niruo’s conduct was the epitome of Sword Sheath virtue.
Although Niruo didn’t say much, his reserved and conflicted demeanor had already made everything clear—due to his position, he couldn’t say much and could only subtly hint, hoping Le Yu would understand.
How did such a big man act like a girlfriend? Fortunately, Le Yu understood.
As he was leaving, a team of Flame Unit officers entered the cafeteria. Le Yu glanced at them, but Xianci Chenchun—Raccoon Slave was surely out enjoying good food elsewhere.
The Flame Unit officers appeared in the Imperial Academy, naturally responsible for proctoring. For these three days, midterm academic exams were one after another, and students weren’t surprised. After the precedent of the Eye of Omniscience exam, everyone was accustomed to the Flame Unit officers monitoring exams.
Of course, this was just the surface reason. In reality, Cha Huan had advanced the midterm exams on purpose, so the Flame Unit officers could have a legitimate reason to be stationed in the Imperial Academy. Come nighttime, who knows how many officers were hiding in the shadows of the academy?
Ten minutes later, Le Yu arrived at the small courtyard near Wanxiang Forest, where Qian Yuya and Shi Wen were already studying and training inside. Usually, when he had class, this private tutoring session would be canceled, but he chose to have class early today.
"Hello, Teacher Qin!"
"Hello, Teacher Qin—old... er!"
Every time Shi Wen would drag the ’old’ in his greeting, and each time, Le Yu would reward him with a kick as a greeting gift.
After Le Yu kicked Shi Wen to roll a few times on the ground, Qian Yuya stopped her Combat Technique practice and took out a box from the side: "Teacher, would you like to try my new creation?"
"A new creation?" Le Yu opened the box and found six translucent green dumplings inside. He picked one up; it felt squishy and elastic, and when eaten, it tasted like sweet glutinous rice with the texture of jelly.
"Mm, pretty tasty." Le Yu finished one after another: "What is this?"
"It doesn’t have a name yet," Qian Yuya said. "The curator once mentioned a dessert he had a long time ago, and following his description, I looked for lots of ingredients but never quite succeeded. This is the closest I’ve gotten, and I plan to let him taste it this afternoon."
It sounded like Cha Shiyin bestowed a quest on Qian Yuya, and upon completion, she would gain mastery in legendary dessert-making... Thinking of Cha Shiyin, Le Yu suddenly realized Cha Huan seems to have Cha Shiyin as a distant relative.
What about Cha Huan’s other family members?
Were they mostly gone because in his reckless youth, adhering to a ’never compromise’ principle, Cha Huan already avenged them, growing stronger with each revenge, gaining power with each family member lost?
Could it be that Cha Shiyin was placed in such a dead-end curator position just so this distant relative could live peacefully under his protection?
While Le Yu contemplated, Shi Wen sneaked over and ate one dumpling. Le Yu gave him a disdainful look and extended his hand: "Yours?"
Shi Wen’s face turned crimson, and with trembling hands clad in ’Bloodthorn Fishbone’ bracelets, he gingerly held out a lunchbox. Le Yu lifted its lid and pointed at the black mess inside: "What’s this?"
"Egg fried rice."
"Not bad, Shi Wen, you’re getting worse? You used to at least make something passable, now it’s so bad even the trash can has standards."
"It’s not my fault! I’m wearing the Fishbone Bracer on my right hand now!" Shi Wen raised his constantly trembling right hand, his face drenched in sweat. The dozens of spikes inside the bracer had already deeply pierced into his arms. Every time he moved, every time he used his Spiritual Power, he felt the pain of a thousand needles stabbing his hands.
Just when Shi Wen had barely adapted to the left-handed bracer, Le Yin didn’t give him a moment to rest, immediately making him wear the Fishbone Bracer on his right hand too, instantly plunging his quality of life to rock bottom.
"Aren’t you always saying, ’If you don’t succeed it’s because you’re not trying hard enough’?"
Le Yin said lazily, "I heard that after you adapted to the Fishbone Bracer on your left hand, you kept challenging the Imperial Academy students, using the Bloodthorn martial arts I taught you to defeat them, humiliating them by saying that even an audit student like you is better than them, and scolding them for being weak because they don’t put in the effort? So why do you have so many excuses when it’s your turn?"
Shi Wen’s face changed immediately, and Qian Yuya quickly pleaded, "Teacher Qin, Shi Wen made a mistake, but he just wanted to prove himself, to prove that you didn’t waste your time teaching him, so he... "
"Qian Yuya!" Shi Wen cut her off sternly, stood straight, and said, "Yes, I did cause trouble. With my increase in strength, I went to settle scores with those who offended me before, one by one! I have no excuses. Punish me however you like. Make me eat this box lunch with my nose or shove it in from the back, whatever you say!"
Qian Yuya knelt down right away, tugging on Shi Wen until he reluctantly followed suit. Le Yin didn’t even look at the two youngsters, but lowered his head to finish the dumplings in the lunchbox, suddenly asking, "Did you win or lose?"
Shi Wen was slightly startled, but quickly replied, "Won!"
"If you were to fight now, would it be the same result?"
Shi Wen glanced at his trembling right hand, thought for a moment, and shook his head, "No."
"Since you already have the entire Bloodthorn Fishbone Set, whenever you feel like causing trouble in the future, be mindful and put on the new Bloodthorn Fishbone."
Le Yin leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees, and stared at Shi Wen saying, "I’ll let it slide this time. If I hear again that you’ve learned a bit of martial arts and are causing trouble, but don’t wear the new Bloodthorn Fishbone, or if you lose the fight, I guarantee it won’t be as simple as eating with your nose or using the back end."
Shi Wen’s eyes flickered, and he asked back, "If I wear the new Bloodthorn Fishbone and still win, then do I avoid punishment?"
"If you can do that, not only will you avoid punishment, you won’t even need me as a teacher," Le Yin said. "That’s not just talk. I’ve already taught you all there is about the Bloodthorn martial arts. If you can adapt to the Bloodthorn Fishbone on your own, even without me, you can continue on this path."
Qian Yuya promptly said, "We can’t do without a teacher!"
"For Shi Wen, sure, but Qian Yuya, I’ve hardly taught you anything. All the Sword Master techniques were something you practiced on your own. I just answered your questions and corrected your posture... Not that I don’t want to teach you anymore, but I have already served my role as a guide. My significance to you lies more in protection and supervision. How far you can go depends on yourselves."
"Teacher," Qian Yuya cautiously asked, "Did something happen?"
Le Yin glanced at the blindfolded girl, shook his head, "No."
"If there’s anything needed, Shi Wen and I are willing to help," Qian Yuya said, pressing Shi Wen’s head down. "The teaching you’ve given us goes far beyond the scope of what you and Shi Wen originally agreed upon... We know the risks you take in teaching the Forbidden Battle Technique given our mediocre talent. Over the years, you’re the only one who has respected our aspirations and tailored our martial arts path. We’ve long considered repaying you."
"There will be plenty of opportunities for you to repay in the future. Focus on your training for now. At your current level, you don’t have the right to speak such grand words," Le Yin laughed. "Don’t overthink it, and don’t assume I won’t be looking out for you. If you bring such a meal again tomorrow, Shi Wen, you know the consequences—it certainly won’t be me eating it."
"Yes!" Shi Wen said through gritted teeth.
"Are you attending class this afternoon?" Le Yin suddenly asked.
Shi Wen was taken aback and replied, "I want to."
"I see..." Le Yin clenched his fist. "Then I’ll go easy on you today. Don’t worry, I’ll ensure you last through class before you need to see the Medical Bureau."
...
...
After the lunch break, as the warning bell rang, Le Yin and Shi Wen, who was bruised and swollen, prepared to head to class, while Qian Yuya went back to rest.
"See you tomorrow, Teacher," Qian Yuya waved goodbye, "I’ll bring tastier snacks!"
Le Yin glanced at her, "See you tomorrow."
Watching Qian Yuya’s departing back, Le Yin suddenly asked, "Shi Wen, have you ever thought about marrying Qian Yuya?"
"What?" Shi Wen was startled and then shook his head, "No!"
"I also think it’s difficult for your level of wisdom to be a match for her."
"What does wisdom have to do with it?" Shi Wen muttered, "Isn’t she just a bit nice..."
"Being able to make others think she’s nice is itself a reflection of wisdom," Le Yin laughed. "Someone as unpleasant as you stands as an excellent negative example."
"But I’m stronger than her!"
Le Yin was indifferent, leading Shi Wen to the close-quarters combat building, entering the largest lecture hall.
The classroom was already crowded, with no available spots, and some even standing at the back—Xian Chanchen and Niruo were both standing at the back, expressionless, waiting for the class to start.
Shi Wen quietly stood in the back corner of the classroom, trying to minimize his presence and kept a distance from Xian Chanchen and Niruo. He’s no fool, it’s clear these two were not to be messed with.
Le Yin walked up to the podium and scanned the classroom.
Lin Xue, Qian Yuya, Li Ying, Kui Nianr, Ming Shuiyun, and others were naturally present, along with other Sword Masters like Ming Shuangli, all gathered together. The slightly short Mie Tangya sat next to Ming Dailan like a younger brother...
Niruo attended class with his Serrated Sakura longsword on his back, as if prepared to attack if Le Yin’s teaching was unsatisfactory...
Cai Nu, Feng Lv, and Qian Mian likely disguised themselves and hid among the students...
’Yin’ might be hiding in there too...
Xian Chanchen stood at the back as if punished by Le Yin for not doing his homework...
Among them, how many hoped to survive the night? How many anticipated they wouldn’t see the sunrise?
Who knows, this might be Qin Le Yin’s final class.
Le Yin’s lips curled, picking up the chalk, writing a name on the blackboard.
"Today, we will continue from last lesson, analyzing the figures who once stormed through the Silver Blood Association."
"And in this lesson, we’re discussing one of those responsible for the downfall of the Silver Blood Association—"
Le Yin wrote the last stroke of "Qin Le Yin" and turned to say with a loud voice:
"One of the Silver Blood Trio, Qin Le Yin."