The night deepened, and the liveliness in the small restaurant gradually died down.

"Senior Brother Piao."

As they were heading back together, Su Zhi looked at Liu Junpo and hesitated. "Can you... maybe leave a little later?"

Seeing Liu Junpo’s curious expression, Su Zhi clenched his fists.

"I know this is an unreasonable request, and you must have a lot to do at school..."

"But, could you at least wait until I win the city league championship before you leave?"

"What are you talking about? I’m on summer break."

Su Zhi: "?"

Liu Junpo gave a mischievous wink. "I’ve been free ever since I secured my spot in the graduate program. Besides, coming back to be your sparring partner lets me get my social practice requirement stamped for free. How great is that..."

"Damn it, you can just go die..."

"AHAHAHAHA~"

Liu Junpo patted Su Zhi’s shoulder and said earnestly, "As for what you said about wanting to bring home the championship... do you remember what you told me when we first met?"

"You said you didn’t care about winning or losing, only about the battle, the reflection, and the review."

’Actually, I just care about the stat points...’ Su Zhi tucked his hands in his pockets and nodded.

"Then forget everything and enjoy your matches. Anxiety only leads to stagnation; acceptance allows things to fall into place naturally."

"Do everything you can, and leave the rest to time."

"Mhm!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

After the dinner, the students from both years asked a waiter to help take a group photo.

Finally, the upperclassmen gave their final blessings to the underclassmen and waved goodbye.

"Do your best in the tournament! We’ll be cheering for you when the time comes!"

"Goodbye, seniors!" "Goodbye, seniors!"

Su Zhi watched Liu Junpo’s figure gradually recede, disappearing into the darkness outside the small restaurant.

"Goodbye, Brother Shu! Good luck in the city league!"

After walking out of the restaurant together, Liu Yuhang and Su Zhi bumped fists in farewell.

Su Zhi asked curiously, "You’re not heading home?"

"Nah."

Liu Yuhang smiled faintly and dangled the key to the school gate in his hand. "Xue Li and I still have training tonight."

"So dedicated..."

Su Zhi nodded. "Keep it up! Where there’s a will, there’s a way!"

"Yeah!"

Liu Yuhang picked up Xue Li, waved goodbye, and with a leap, vaulted over the wall into the grounds of No. 1 High.

Su Zhi was completely dumbfounded... ’So what was the point of you having the school gate key?!’

Yu Bao wagged its tail and looked at Su Zhi. "Woof."

"Yeah, we should get going too." Su Zhi bent down and stroked Yu Bao’s head.

After saying goodbye to one person after another, his surroundings fell quiet once more.

Gathered, they were a ball of fire; scattered, they were a sky full of stars. They celebrated for a moment, then each set off on their own path.

"Want to walk together?"

A clear, bright voice sounded from beside him.

The girl with long, bright white hair tilted her head slightly. Her azure eyes twinkled in the darkness.

Su Zhi hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I want to make a trip to Fengyun Arena to see Hall Master Yan and Senior Peng Kai."

"They took great care of me these past few days while my classes were suspended. Now that I have a ticket to the city league, I want to share the good news with them."

"So..."

Shao Ya blinked and cut in, "So I have to go home by myself?"

Su Zhi looked up. "So, can you come with me? Then we can head home afterward."

Shao Ya covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, her eyes curving into crescents.

After a moment of secret delight, the girl cleared her throat and put on a helpless expression.

"Alright, alright. Seeing as you’re so sincere, I’ll mercifully agree."

·

「Fengyun Arena.」

"Sa?"

On the arena platform, Diya, who had just finished a set of Flame condensation training, spotted a familiar face.

Wasn’t that its good brother Yu Bao, a kindred spirit?

"Woof!"

Yu Bao wagged its tail and ran toward it. BLING BLING!

"Sa!" Diya’s eyes lit up when it saw the bag of spicy sticks in Yu Bao’s mouth, and it floated over with a WHOOSH.

’What a true brother!’

"..." Xiaoyue had been a little excited to hear there was a Pet Beast from the national team...

Seeing Diya and Yu Bao hitting it off immediately, it instantly lost all desire to get acquainted.

"Yo? Fellow Daoist Su, you’re a whole new person now, aren’t you?"

Peng Kai joked, "I remember you leaving here all by your lonesome. Haven’t seen you for two days, and you’re already bringing family along."

Su Zhi’s face turned beet red. "We’re just deskmates! It’s completely innocent..."

Shao Ya stepped forward. "That’s right, I’m Su Baby’s mom!"

Su Zhi: "...?"

Peng Kai squinted, pointing at Su Zhi as he laughed.

Just then, Yan Dingyi came out of the breakroom.

Seeing Su Zhi, he nonchalantly took a sip of his tea first, lowering the water level to a point where it was less likely to spill.

Shao Ya waved. "Hi, Uncle Yan!"

"Ah, Xiaoya, you’ve really grown up."

Compared to Su Zhi, Shao Ya actually knew these big shots much earlier because her father held a position in the Common Defense Alliance.

"So, how was it, Xiaosu? Did the qualifiers go smoothly?"

"Yeah!"

Su Zhi nodded with a smile. "I got a spot! Thank you for your guidance these past few days, senior!"

"It’s your Pet Beast that’s amazing; I just gave you a little push."

Peng Kai laughed and patted Su Zhi’s shoulder. "Way to go, Fellow Daoist Su! We’ll be waiting for you to seize the crown at the city league and dominate the competition!"

"But you can’t get careless."

Yan Dingyi reminded him, "While you were training with Xiaokai, Fang Yuan was also training extremely hard. He’s still a very strong competitor."

Peng Kai waved his hand dismissively. "Uncle, let me put it this way. Fang Lihai’s son is strong, but there’s an eighty percent chance he can’t beat Xiaosu."

"And your reason is?"

"My national team intuition."

"...You’re full of shit."

Yu Bao and Diya sat side-by-side watching the show, each munching on a spicy stick.

When there were only two sticks left, Yu Bao made a "hold on" gesture and stopped Diya from eating them.

"Woof." It indicated that they were for Big Brother Xiaoyue.

So Diya watched with longing as Yu Bao offered the last two spicy sticks to Xiaoyue.

"Woof!"

’Big Brother Xiaoyue, these are for you!’

The Huajing Cat is a Wood Element Pet Beast. It is close to nature and prefers all kinds of natural food, disliking anything highly processed.

Xiaoyue glanced at the spicy sticks, didn’t even bother to sniff them, and waved its paw.

"Meow."

’Big brother isn’t hungry. You guys can have them.’

"S-ha!" Yu Bao thanked its big brother, took the spicy sticks back in its mouth, and offered them to a completely incredulous Diya.

’Go on, eat! Big Brother Xiaoyue gave them to us!’

"Sa..." Diya took the spicy sticks, stunned.

’It couldn’t believe that a Pet Beast could give up such a delicacy.’

"Woof woof..."

’Big Brother Xiaoyue is a really good person! He might seem cold and a little tsundere, but he’s actually very gentle and warm, and takes great care of me...’

Yu Bao chattered on and on to Diya, so much so that it didn’t even notice Diya had already eaten the second stick.

Diya ate the spicy stick, looking at Xiaoyue with deep emotion.

’He really is a great big brother. A big brother like that... I want one too!’

"..." Looking completely fed up, Xiaoyue got up and ran back to Shao Ya’s side. BLING BLING!

"Since you’re already here, how about a match?" As they chatted, Peng Kai started rubbing his hands together, eager to go.

’But we still have to go home together...’ Su Zhi was about to decline when he saw a familiar figure running toward them from a distance.

"Cao Mingyu?"

Seeing the boy stop, panting heavily and looking somewhat disheveled, both Su Zhi and Shao Ya raised their eyebrows in curiosity.

"Xiaoyu, perfect timing!"

Peng Kai laughed and walked forward.

"To be honest, I’m a little tired of playing with Su Zhi. Let’s you and I have a go!"

But Cao Mingyu, who was usually a social butterfly, didn’t agree.

Seeing his eyes flashing with anger and his tightly clenched lips, Peng Kai frowned.

·

·

Day three of updating 10,000 characters daily. The Fang character won’t be written off so easily. He’ll be brutally taken care of at an appropriate time, so please be patient~

I have a low-grade fever today and couldn’t really write. I lay in bed thinking for a long time, but still got up and finished it... Let’s just consider this an extra Chapter!

Current debt: 24,000