'Sword Quest for Position' will begin during the second semester at the Royal Academy. Spring is the first semester, autumn is the second, and there's almost a month until Yue officially starts the job.
Additionally, Li Wei needs to help Yue with the employment procedures. Although he's just an elective course teacher, not a single step can be skipped, even for a substitute teacher; after all, the school doesn't belong to them.
This is the first test of 'Sword Quest for Position'—Sword Seekers can of course directly become students of the academy through the back door, but if the Sword Holders don't even have the qualifications to sneak in as faculty, they can only run a small shop outside the school.
Originally, Yue wanted to cultivate some rapport with his "Sword Person"—the owner of the Sword Holder—early on, discuss some tactics, and ideally use this month for special training to form battle combos like 'Mirror Sound Twins', 'Black Wind Twin Demons', 'Water Mirror Dual Wonders', and then easily sweep the other teams in the Sword Quest. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Aside from that, Yue is quite confident in his combat prowess. After all, the combat power of Sword Holders is limited to the Integration and Mastery realm; he doesn't claim he will definitely win, but he certainly won't lose.
I have faced off against the veteran strongman Mr. Iron (referring to throwing the divine spear from afar),
engaged in direct confrontation and counter-struck Qin Le Yin (referring to defeating with a system hack),
Is it an exaggeration to say I'm half a step into the Peak of Perfection realm?
Is it over the top to say I could easily overpower other Integration and Mastery realm as if they were children?
As far as his body's performance goes, it's superior; as long as the other pilot doesn't mess things up too much, Yue feels this round of Sword Quest is already in the bag.
Even though Yue was reluctant when he took on this task, since he's already here, he could only think about whether he could gain benefits from it.
Then he realized that as long as he did well, the rewards could be boundless.
What's the highest return investment in this world? Qin Le Yin had discussed this issue with him before and gave the answer—invest in the emperor.
As long as he could support his Sword Seeker to victory, it would be equivalent to having the merits of following a dragon and sharing hardships, then asking the emperor for an idle position like 'Director of Heaven and Earth Secret Realm Investigation'. Thus, he could live comfortably and stably until the Glory Dynasty completely collapses.
After a few years, Yue estimates he might have children; maybe even find the Divine Demon Well. By then, he could assess the situation and respond accordingly.
However, the risk for Yue is also significant—if the Sword Seeker he supports doesn't succeed, he doesn't believe the new emperor would treat himself, as the Sword Holder of a competitor, kindly.
The better scenario is having his political rights stripped for life,
the worse is being exiled from Yanjing,
and the worst, of course, is being thrown into prison, brutally tortured, and then beheaded.
High risk, high reward, high returns, but worth a gamble.
However, Bai Yu refused his 'eager for battle' request.
The reason is simple—the Sword Holders for other Sword Seekers haven't appeared yet either.
"The Sword Quest for Position has actually already started." Bai Yu said, "The Sword Seekers are safe for now, because once a Sword Seeker dies, the Sword Holder will directly choose a Sword Seeker to inherit the Holy Sword Radiance. It turns from 'competition' to 'lottery', which no confident Sword Seeker would want."
"But Sword Holders have no such guarantee; everyone can target a Sword Holder before they enter the academy. In fact, since the day 'Sword Quest for Position' got out, thirteen Integration and Mastery Martial Artists died in Yanjing, geniuses who were faintly approaching the Peak of Perfection realm, and over a dozen more died later until Integration and Mastery realm martial artists began fleeing, bringing an end to the slaughter."
"Not just letting you contact Sword Seekers, we wouldn't even let Sword Seekers know of your existence—if the other side leaks it, you can wait for death."
At first, Yue thought the Sword Quest for Position was a relatively harmonious game, but Bai Yu made him realize the harsh reality—it's a game for Sword Seekers, but life and death for the tools.
It hasn't even started, yet a large number of martial artists with the 'qualification' to become tools have already died, truly a case of 'if I can't have it, no one can'.
At that moment, Yue suddenly realized something and asked: "As soon as I came to Yanjing, Li Wei gave me such an important task. Could it be because..."
Bai Yu said nothing, just raised two fingers.
Li Wei had two martial artists who could become Sword Holders, and they too died in blind sniping.
The reason they chose Qin Le Yin is not only because Qin Le Yin's body is quite superior, but also because their options were limited.
On a darker note, maybe Li Wei feels the Sword Seeker they're supporting has little chance of victory, so they let the newcomer who was just transferred to Yanjing take on this enviable position—if they win, Li Wei naturally benefits greatly; if they lose, with the special status of the Glory Four Guards, Li Wei need only discard Yue, a sacrificed pawn, to protect themselves.
Thus, Yue can only allocate his time this month himself. Although Bai Yu suggested focusing on training and lesson preparation, Yue obviously won't do that—training is impossible, he can only rely on the Ice Blood Physique's automatic combat to sustain life.
But Yue did make preparations for lesson planning.
He came up with an ingenious idea,
prepared a highly promising outline,
then handed it to Qin Yueyang to fill in a few details at the end.
At other times, Yue is reconnoitering Yanjing's terrain and investigating various intel.
Or as they call it, "shopping."
"The recipient is Dongyang District, Xuanzhu County, Editor-in-chief of the Youth Daily Qing Lan, right?"
In the Windward Post Office, the manager adjusted his glasses and stared at the hooded and mysterious figure before him.
"Yes."
"According to the latest regulations in Yanjing, posting requires the sender's information... oh?"
Before the manager could finish speaking, Le Yu pulled out a gold coin from his pocket and offered it.
"An address and a name are necessary..."
Another gold coin.
"...but at least there must be a name." The manager pocketed the two gold coins. "Of course, we are just a post office and don't have the means to verify the authenticity of the names and addresses."
Le Yu thought for a moment and wrote down one of his pen names—
"Mr. Tree-man."
Leaving the Windward Post Office, Le Yu took off his hood and went to play cards as usual.
Contrary to his previous decision, Le Yu rewrote a letter and requested Qing Lan to stay in Xuanzhu County and keep in touch with him by letter. Unless notified, she shouldn't come to Yanjing—if she is still in Xuanzhu County.
Once 'Seeking Sword Competition' begins, Le Yu would truly be dancing on the edge daily. If he accidentally died, wouldn't Qing Lan enjoy having an extra husband... no, wouldn't Qing Lan have to get used to his new persona again?
The worst-case scenario is that Le Yu doesn't die, but loses the Seeking Sword Competition. By then, it would be troublesome to escape Yanjing with Qing Lan, who would be a burden; it's better to let her manage herself in Xuanzhu County well first.
If Le Yu's investment succeeds, Qing Lan can come to enjoy wealth and glory;
If Le Yu's investment fails, it will be his turn to cling to Qing Lan, the wealthy lady.
To enhance stress resistance, Le Yu believes a dual-income household is more suitable.
Moreover, if Qing Lan arrives, Le Yu truly doesn't have a proper way to accommodate her.
Bringing her home wouldn't sit well with Qin Yueyang and Qin Yueshi—they've seen the corpse of Zhengwei, and would think Le Yu has some peculiar hobby like Cao Cao. Although Le Yu wants to sever these two ties, he doesn't want to break them this ugly.
If discovered by White Night, it would be even more troublesome; in fact, Qing Lan coming to Yanjing would inevitably involve White Night's power.
When White Night finds Qing Lan with Qin Le Yin, Le Yu believes there are three possibilities:
①Respect for free love;
②Zhengwei's corpse is not yet cold—what a pair of despicable lovers;
③Could it be that Qing Lan and Qin Le Yin have had an affair, jointly drugging Zheng Daren?
Even if Le Yu doesn't consider himself, he should at least consider Qing Lan's reputation, especially given that Qing Lan must accept Le Yu's new persona 'Red Hair White Snow Lord.'
If Qing Lan can't accept it and comes intending to drug Qin Daren, then Le Yu can only sigh, 'So love can disappear, right?'
Based on various considerations, Le Yu found delaying Qing Lan's arrival in the capital by half a year is beneficial:
First, by then, the Seeking Sword Competition will be over, Le Yu's new persona will mostly be settled, saving Qing Lan the trouble of changing husbands twice;
Second, although the secret of "Death and Substitute" cannot be revealed, Le Yu thinks he can introduce several new stories like soul exchange or soul transfer, improving Qing Lan's acceptance capability and creating revenue for Youth Daily, such as adapting 'Your Name,' 'Back to the Past to Become a Cat,' while letting Qing Lan clearly understand that her beloved next to her really is still alive;
Third, he can use this half a year to separate from the Qin siblings, striving to be an orphan, allowing him to happily continue a world of two with Qing Lan in the future.
The only flaw in this plan is that long-distance relationships are overly dangerous, so Le Yu also proposed many suggestions to Qing Lan in his letter, such as selling new-style women's lingerie, publishing a comic newspaper, opening a public debate message board—Let's be a 996 entrepreneur, Qing Lan CEO!
Too much work leaves no time for love, which is the reality Le Yu learned in his past life.
While contemplating the various details of the long-distance relationship plan, Le Yu unknowingly arrived at the "Perfect Battle Card Arena."
Unlike Xuanzhu County, which has only one Battle Card hall, Yanjing has a total of eight battle arenas, each having its own point system. Each year, these eight arenas send their strongest player to participate in the "Yanjing Battle Card Invitational Tournament," where players represent their respective arenas to compete for the championship. The winner will receive a generous prize jointly funded by the eight arenas.
Three battle arenas are most proximate to the Qin family: Haofang, Yao Yao, and Perfect, but since Perfect was the champion arena last year, Le Yu chose to become a member of the Perfect Battle Card Arena—look, this is the effect of winning the championship, ordinary players are more willing to pay to become members of the championship arena.
While waiting for the qualifiers, Le Yu suddenly felt a bit cold.
Ice Blood encountered stimulation... Le Yu slightly lifted his eyes, silently observing the bystanders in the arena.
These days, Le Yu occasionally finds Ice Blood undergoing stimulation, indicating someone harbors malicious intent in monitoring him—this new "detect malicious intent" ability recently emerged, which Le Yu believes arose as his Spiritual Power reached a certain level, causing the "Ice Blood Physique" to evolve along with it.
But unlike previous times, Le Yu felt increasingly cold, showing that the observer wasn't merely glancing but intensely spying on him with strong malice.
Is it White Night?