"Hello, Ningning?"

The moment Lu Anning answered the phone, a woman’s voice came from the other end.

Lu Anning froze for a moment. She instantly recognized it as Liu Shiyu’s voice—a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time. However, the tone wasn’t as lively as she remembered; instead, it had a deathly stillness to it. The uneasiness in her heart refused to dissipate as she asked:

"Hello, it’s Ningning. Shiyu, where have you been all this time?"

"Oh, I went abroad with my dad. I was living at school, so I never had a chance to contact you. I just got back, so I called you right away."

The Liu Shiyu on the other end of the line seemed to be getting used to the sweet girl voice, her cadence and emotions growing more and more natural. Lu Anning’s tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed.

The moment Lu Anning answered the phone, Su Xing had already sat down beside her, silently eavesdropping.

When the impostor "Liu Shiyu" mentioned going abroad with her dad, Su Xing’s heart seemed to stop for half a beat.

This was the very same lie he had casually made up to trick Lu Anning and cover up the fact that he’d killed Liu Shiyu. Now, the person on the other end was using it. It made Su Xing wonder if this was intentional or just a coincidence.

But Su Xing didn’t say a word, just continued to listen in silence.

The two girls chatted about all sorts of things, from school to cute boys, and from cute boys to underwear and other random nonsense.

There were some topics Lu Anning didn’t want to discuss in front of Su Xing, but the impostor "Liu Shiyu," as if trying to put her at ease, kept her talking about these things. It wasn’t until a certain sentence came from the other end of the line that Su Xing’s attention snapped back to the voice.

"Ningning, didn’t my dad say I was going to come visit you?"

"Yeah."

Hearing this, Lu Anning instinctively glanced at Su Xing. He gave her a reassuring look, and only then did she hear the impostor "Liu Shiyu’s" somewhat excited voice slowly come through the phone:

"Then let’s pick a place to hang out."

"Huh? Pick a place? You’re not coming to my house?"

Lu Anning asked, confused. This was different from what that man had said before. ’Or,’ she wondered, ’has Liu Shiyu already found out I’m not at my own home?’

Su Xing had the same suspicion. ’Perhaps this High Priest has already been to Lu Anning’s house and found it empty.’

"Oh, come on, what’s fun about staying at home? Let’s go shopping instead. How about Wealth Plaza?"

Wealth Plaza was the largest public square in Cang City, packed with a huge number of restaurants and shops, and the flow of people was endless.

Lu Anning breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the location. She felt that by choosing such a place, the other person probably didn’t have any strange intentions.

’Could it really be that Liu Shiyu is back?’

Su Xing rested his chin on his hand, contemplating the proposed location.

’Honestly,’ he thought, ’if I hadn’t seen her head get sent flying by my own sword, I’d probably think Liu Shiyu was really back too.’

’Otherwise, why choose a place with such a huge crowd? Is the Spiritual Sect planning to start a massacre in front of so many innocent people?’

At this thought, Su Xing’s brow furrowed. He suddenly recalled the Corpse Assistant Priest tearing off an ordinary person’s head right on the street. ’If an Assistant Priest could do that,’ he reasoned, ’then it’s not impossible for a High Priest to start a massacre in the plaza.’

"Wealth Plaza... Okay, sure. It’s not every day you come back to the country, Shiyu, so you can decide this time."

After settling on the location, the two girls chatted for a little while longer. They then set a time: "two days from now." They would meet at Wealth Plaza in two days, and they would both come alone.

After hanging up, Lu Anning sat dazedly in her chair, lost in thought.

After a long while, she finally snapped out of it and looked at Su Xing beside her. "Coach Su," she asked, "do you still think something’s wrong? I’m starting to feel like I might have overreacted before..."

"It’s fine. Go have a good time. I’m going back to my room."

Su Xing stood up and stretched, acting as if he hadn’t noticed anything unusual at all.

He couldn’t possibly tell Lu Anning that he had already killed Liu Shiyu. All he could do now was reassure her, let her go to the meeting, and then secretly follow her.

’It’s more advantageous to hide in the shadows than to stand in the open.’

With that in mind, Su Xing’s eyes narrowed. He ducked into his room, flicking on the light with a CLICK. He then walked a few steps to the desk, sat down, and leaned back in his chair, bathing in the clean, white light.

He casually opened the "Are You Drooling Yet?" app and ordered a clay pot rice, then pulled up his system panel.

[Sword Saint Profession System]

[Name: Su Xing]

[Age: 22]

[Profession: Swordsman, Sword Hall Coach]

[Profession Skills: Myriad Swords Return to One lv1 (258/30,000), Pierce lv2 (128/3,000), White Edge Stance lv1 (976/30,000), Mundane Sword lv5 (76/70,000)]

[Sword Dao Points: 12]

After Su Xing’s round-the-clock grinding, the sword skill [Pierce] had finally broken through to Lv. 2. This further enhanced its power and "Grievous Wound" effect. However, because [Pierce] was still a Tier Two Sword Skill, just leveling it up once didn’t provide a significant boost to Su Xing’s physique. As a result, his muscles had barely grown, and he maintained his lean, slender build.

Still, at the end of the day, it was a decent improvement.

As long as he kept up the constant grind, he could raise [Pierce] to the level of a Tier Three Sword Skill through sheer effort alone. That way, it wouldn’t fall too far behind his other skills.

The thoughts about [Pierce] passed through Su Xing’s mind, and his focus returned to his [Sword Dao Points]. Allocating points was the most crucial task at hand. The 12 Sword Dao Points were enough to level up Mundane Sword one more time.

He wouldn’t be able to handle what was coming next without sufficient strength, which made every single level precious to him.

"System, allocate points."

Su Xing sat in his chair, his right hand propped on the desk. His light, faint voice drifted through the room.

On the Sword Saint Profession System panel, the twelve points in the [Sword Dao Points] column suddenly vanished, turning into a big fat zero as if they had never been there at all.

At the same time, a searing energy flowed from his eyes and poured into the Sword Saint Profession System panel.

The[Mundane Sword] skill in the Profession Skills section immediately felt this energy, and its dark text began to blur.

The numbers following [Mundane Sword] began to jump wildly, by hundreds at a time. In just a few breaths, the full seventy thousand proficiency points were filled. The blurred "Lv. 5" text gradually sharpened, transforming into "Lv. 6".

SWOOSH!

Su Xing’s vision blurred for an instant, and the system panel reappeared before him.

[Your Profession Skill "Mundane Sword" has gained +700,000 Proficiency]

[Your Profession Skill "Mundane Sword Lv. 5" has been upgraded to "Mundane Sword Lv. 6 (Mastery)"]