Volume 2, Chapter 57 – Qiyun’s Past Events

At 15:30, with a roar, the military transport came straight down onto the athletic field of Qizhou University.

Qiyun Circuit was the capital of Qizhou, and it wasn’t all that far from Chilong Circuit, so they arrived in the afternoon. There were plenty of students on the field, exercising and goofing around.

Right now, all of them had their heads tilted back, staring at the twin-rotor military helicopter, faces full of curiosity as they tried to guess which important figure was making such a flashy entrance.

Once the aircraft settled, Bai Xiang followed Xiang Xian out of the cabin and jumped down. The first thing she saw was a small cluster of students gathered together.

The moment those students saw her, their eyes all went wide with astonishment. Some even cupped their hands around their mouths to shout in this direction, but their voices were completely drowned out by the roar of the rotors.

Bai Xiang ignored them and went into a teaching building with Xiang Xian. They took the elevator up to a spacious office, where they met a sharp-faced old man with white hair.

“This is Principal Wang Lun,” Xiang Xian said, introducing him to Bai Xiang before turning to Wang Lun. “And this is my newly accepted disciple, Bai Xiang.”

“I know her!” Wang Lun cupped his hands to Bai Xiang with a big laugh. “That duel practically shook all of Qizhou! She’s a major celebrity around here now! Well? Did anyone stop you on the way and ask for your autograph?”

You could tell at a glance that Principal Wang had an easygoing personality, but his questions weren’t exactly top-tier.

Bai Xiang’s brows pinched slightly. “For a swordsman, this kind of fame isn’t a good thing.”

“Oh?” Principal Wang blinked.

Seventeen years old—she wasn’t even a university student yet, right?

And she could already see through the words “fame” and “fortune”? Was she truly this mature, or just putting on an act?

He glanced at Xiang Xian but didn’t dig into it further. After a bit of small talk, he called over an attendant and had them lead the two to a place where they could rest.

“How does it feel?”

On the way, Xiang Xian deliberately dropped half a step behind, sidling up close to Bai Xiang and asking quietly what she thought.

She must mean Qizhou University’s campus environment.

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Bai Xiang figured that was the only thing she could be asking about. She looked around and answered, “Impressive. Much better than Chilong University.”

That much had been obvious even before the transport landed.

From the air, Qizhou University’s footprint was fully five times that of the public side of Chilong University. The whole campus was wrapped in a ring of dense greenery, and once they were on the ground, she realized it wasn’t just any random saplings, but a whole row of tall, thriving phoenix trees.

Planting phoenix trees on a campus wasn’t an ordinary privilege. It was an allusion to “fine birds choose fine trees for their roost.” Only nine universities in the whole country had that kind of symbolic qualification.

Not to mention the broad avenue vanishing out of sight the moment they landed, and the streetlights everywhere you looked.

And those facilities and halls hidden beneath the shade—each one modern at its core, yet carrying eaves in the old style. All of it illustrated why Qizhou University was the best institution in Qizhou.

“Qizhou University’s history goes back nearly eight hundred years,” Xiang Xian said, breathing in the fresh air along the phoenix-tree road. She held one hand up, as if weighing a fragment of time in her palm.

“In those years, Qizhou was ravaged by famine. Yujing’s voice couldn’t reach this far at all. All the land in Qizhou was chaos.” She sighed.

“At the time, the academies associated with the Nine Daos each had their own armies. They even went to war with each other.”

“Take this place, for example. Back then it wasn’t called Qizhou University yet, but ‘Qiyun Academy’… One day, some students passed through Daze Circuit on their way out and got into a fight with students from ‘Taiqing Institute’—that’s what today’s famed ‘Qingze University’ in Zezhou used to be called. Things escalated until people died, and the two academies raised their troops and clashed, starting a twelve-year-long period of conflict and war between Qiyun and Taiqing.”

There was actually history like this.

Bai Xiang listened closely, genuinely astonished.

Universities with their own private armed forces…

It sounded far-fetched, but if this was a more ancient era, with the world in turmoil and imperial authority too weak to hold up, it wasn’t impossible at all.

In that kind of setting, people were dying everywhere. Corpses from famine, drifting refugees, bandits on every road. In the worst years, you’d even see “great famines where people ate one another.”

If, at that time, a force big and strong enough, with wide lands and its own garrisoned farmlands and grain stores, were willing to open its gates, refugees would swarm in. It would naturally become a local overlord.

So that ring of shadow I saw from above wasn’t just trees?

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Bai Xiang’s brows arched.

Surely that wasn’t a remnant ancient city wall.

“Qiyun’s Ten Prodigies and Taiqing’s Thirteen Swords all rose to fame during that period,” Xiang Xian continued, counting off that slice of history. “The two sides fought in deadly earnest all the way until Yujing stabilized again and the chaos across the provinces gradually quieted. They were still fighting. In the end, it took a personal edict from the Imperial House to force a mediation and put a stop to it.”

“So Qizhou University and Qingze University must still have a terrible relationship now,” Bai Xiang said.

“Exactly!” Xiang Xian tilted her chin. “When those two meet these days, their eyes go red~”

Master wouldn’t be telling me all this for no reason.

Bai Xiang glanced at Xiang Xian, wondering if the delegation coming to “observe the ceremony” this time included a team from Qingze University.

“Hey, don’t doubt it. It’s exactly what you’re thinking!”

Xiang Xian reached out and tapped Bai Xiang on the forehead.

Now that they were actually here, she didn’t bother being mysterious anymore and told Bai Xiang outright why they were here to observe—this all stemmed from the Shinu people’s land-clearing campaign in the south.

“The Shinu want to expand their reclamation zone into the southwestern region of Qizhou,” Xiang Xian said, nodding. “But the area is too big. They can’t manage it alone, so under the banner of ‘learning and exchange’ they’ve sent a delegation to Qizhou and are currently settled here.”

“And Zezhou apparently thinks this southwestern reclamation also concerns them, so they talked Qingze University into sending a team too. They’re already staying here as well.”

And this has what to do with us?

Bai Xiang looked at her, wanting to hear how she’d spin it.

“What?” Xiang Xian clearly disapproved of her attitude.

“This is a rare grand event!”

“The temptation of opening up new lands… All they really want is the leadership position. We might even see some old monsters fight each other to the death, and a bunch of young people will shine for the first time!”

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“Old Wang Ran over there is nervous and afraid of losing face, so he specifically asked me to hold the line. That makes this the perfect opportunity for the two of us, master and disciple, to really make a name for ourselves, doesn’t it?”

The more she talked, the less serious she sounded.

Bai Xiang couldn’t be bothered to respond. The two of them kept going like that, one talking and one listening, as the attendant led them to a small two-story building.

From the outside, the building was also in a faux-ancient style, with a row of courtyard walls and tiled eaves. But once inside, it turned out to be a standard modern layout with all the utilities and air conditioning in place.

The attendant handed the keys to Xiang Xian, gave them his phone number, and then excused himself.

Looked like they’d be staying here for the next couple of days.

Bai Xiang found a bedroom and saw that its layout was no different from a hotel room.

A double bed, an attached washroom, a desk in the corner with a TV on the wall above it, and a small fridge tucked under the desk.

My cheap master didn’t even tell me to bring a change of clothes… so the schedule’s going to be short?

Frowning, Bai Xiang headed next door to ask Xiang Xian if they’d be going back once the “observation” wrapped up tomorrow—only to find a purple palace dress and purple stockings strewn all over the floor, with the washroom already roaring with running water.

She really didn’t treat this place like it belonged to someone else.

Bai Xiang hadn’t sweated much on the way over, so she decided against a shower for now. She just pulled off her long boots and black stockings, changed into disposable slippers, and walked around the room.

Both their bedrooms were on the second floor. On one side of the floor there was a small door leading to an enclosed balcony. Through the window, you could see a small track field in the distance, where quite a few students were practicing sword formations.

Qiyun Circuit.

Qizhou University.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Bai Xiang felt a wave of emotion.

After resolving the grievance with the Chai father and daughter, she’d thought she’d have no real reason to ever come here again.

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Her plan was to finish investigating Qingyun Pharmaceuticals, then follow Xiang Xian to Yujing. If she enrolled, it would naturally be at Yujing University; she had no lingering ties to Qizhou University.

But by a twist of fate, this ended up being the first university she arrived at and the first she’d observe in person.

Since I’m here, I might as well settle in.

Hearing the water stop running in the back, Bai Xiang was just about to go ask Xiang Xian how long they’d be staying when she felt the phone in her sash pocket buzzing.

She checked the display. The caller ID read “Xu Xi.”

She really was a student at the Sword Institute here…

Bai Xiang paused a moment, then picked up.

“Xiang-nü!” Xu Xi’s voice came through, full of excitement. “You’re coming to Qizhou University—how could you not tell me ahead of time?”

She was still thinking about how Bai Xiang had “saved her life” and was desperate to repay the favor.

Bai Xiang frowned. “How did you know?”

“It’s all over the campus forums,” Xu Xi said as if it were obvious.

“You were already on both the Yao Xiang List and the Jinxiu List , and now you show up on a military transport… how could people not be talking?”

Yao Xiang List?

Jinxiu List?

Bai Xiang’s frown deepened.

She thought back to what she remembered university students liking to mess around with and suddenly had the feeling… she really shouldn’t have come with Xiang Xian.