Lin Wan stuffed the rejection letter along with the love letter into an envelope, letting out a sigh of relief as he pulled out a stack of assignments from his backpack.
The exam was over, but the homework remained.
The teachers, eager to make the most of the half-afternoon break after the exams, assigned a mountain of homework without hesitation, determined to fully occupy the students' time.
In the past, Lin Wan might have fretted over this pile of assignments, but times had changed. He was no longer the underachiever he used to be; he had undergone a rebirth after intensive studying and had transformed into the top student Lin Wan!
Lin Wan quickly finished all the homework left by the teachers. Looking at the neatly stacked assignments, he still felt unsatisfied, even wanting to tackle another pile.
In the end, he abandoned this terrifying thought.
Reluctantly, Lin Wan packed the homework back into his bag and got up to head to the training room.
When it comes to cultivation, if you don't advance, you regress.
Although his soul had already reached ascension-level strength, his body hadn’t caught up, greatly limiting his soul's use and mobilization.
If he didn’t resolve this problem soon, it would always remain a hidden danger.
Frowning in deep thought for a while, Lin Wan suddenly remembered something.
In his space, there was a special training room.
Time passed much slower in that room than in the outside world. As long as he was willing to throw in enough natural treasures, he could adjust the time ratio to any desired level.
It was something Lin Wan had accidentally created when he once used Han Ning's power to draw a spirit-gathering array in a cabin on a whim.
During the early to mid stages of his cultivation, Lin Wan had used the small room quite a bit. At that time, he was eager to improve his strength in this dangerous world, spending a long period almost entirely in that room.
Later, as his cultivation improved and he gained some ability to protect himself, the time required for each session became longer, and the amount of natural treasures consumed became painfully high. Lin Wan rarely used the room anymore.
Now, Lin Wan decided to reactivate the small room.
Han Ning’s power was the core of the room’s operation, but it didn’t require Han Ning's help to start it up. The key was something else — Lin Wan’s spirit weapon, the Nebula Silk, a peculiar weapon that was proud, delicate, loved cleanliness, and whose color changed with its mood.
Thinking of his Nebula Silk, Lin Wan paused, then suddenly realized a serious problem.
Where was his spirit weapon?
His ever-clingy, long Nebula Silk — where had it gone?!
Sensing its master’s call, the drowsy Nebula Silk reluctantly awakened.
From the center of the space, in the small lake known for its nourishing and healing effects, a dim ribbon-like object slowly emerged.
The ribbon was entirely pitch black, covered with fine cracks. Its surface, once twinkling like stars, was now incredibly dull.
Leaving the lake, it shook awkwardly, then identified its direction and, feeling wronged, dived into Lin Wan's arms.
Seeing his once lively, clingy spirit weapon now curled up weakly, the segment of the ribbon wrapped around his wrist no longer shiny or soft, Lin Wan felt his heart break.
"Jiaojiao, what happened to you? How did you get hurt like this?"
Upon hearing this, Nebula Silk instinctively wanted to curse, but for some reason, it swallowed its words and instead snuggled up to Lin Wan, whining and acting spoiled.
The Nebula Silk was Lin Wan’s spirit weapon, and they shared a connection through which they could communicate mentally.
The little creature was always sweet and silly in front of him, so Lin Wan clearly sensed its hesitation and guilty anger.
What exactly happened?
Lin Wan felt a familiar energy on Nebula Silk, something he seemed to have encountered before but couldn’t quite recall.
"Jiaojiao, what's going on?"
Hearing Lin Wan’s serious inquiry, Nebula Silk hesitated and struggled for a long while, eventually just vaguely replying that it couldn’t say for now.
Seeing Lin Wan's furrowed brows, Nebula Silk pitifully tied itself into a knot, then started whining and acting spoiled again, trying to divert his attention.
"Hm? You say there's a sword in the lake?!"
Yes! That sword is so bad, always bullying it!
Now that its master was backing it up, Nebula Silk dropped its previous gloom and reported the situation happily.
Lin Wan raised his hand and summoned the sword from the lake. As soon as he saw its appearance, his brows furrowed.
It was an ancient, fierce-looking heavy sword exuding an aura of brutality.
The sword, too, was dim and covered with cracks. It not only looked miserable but also strangely familiar.
...Why was Luo Zixuan’s spirit weapon here?!
Seeing the two spirit weapons in equally pitiful conditions, Lin Wan frowned even more deeply.
He had a feeling that this situation wasn’t simple.
Buzz—
Just as Lin Wan was pondering, the heavy sword in his hand began to hum on its own.
Under Lin Wan's wary gaze, the sword, which looked extremely fierce, buzzed a few more times before gently rubbing against his palm, enthusiastically sending out a signal of affection.
???
Why was Luo Zixuan’s spirit weapon so friendly toward him? Could it be that this sword just looked similar but wasn’t actually the same?
Regardless, he needed to confirm the sword's identity first.
Stopping the sword from trying to cling to him, Lin Wan soothed the angry, coiled-up Nebula Silk and carried the sword to find Luo Zixuan.
"Hm? This sword? Yes, it’s my spirit weapon." Luo Zixuan nodded in affirmation in response to Lin Wan’s question.
"If it's yours, take it back already!"
After seeing Luo Zixuan nod and then act as if this matter had nothing to do with him, Lin Wan felt a little exasperated.
"Do you even know how important a spirit weapon is to a cultivator?!"
"Isn't this the gift I gave you before?" Luo Zixuan froze in confusion.
Lin Wan was stunned by Luo Zixuan's surprising train of thought.
"??? Of course not, why would I need your spiritual weapon?"
Seeing Lin Wan's expression of resistance, Luo Zixuan paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "So if I give it to you now, would you take it?"
"…"
Giving up on further communication with Luo Zixuan, Lin Wan shoved the heavy sword into his arms and said with a blank expression, "Take care of it yourself. If you lose it again, I won't care anymore."
Then, without hesitation, Lin Wan turned and left, ignoring the regretful gaze of Luo Zixuan.
As Lin Wan walked out of his small room, Luo Zixuan, disappointed, frowned at the sword in his arms and said, "Why are you so useless?"
He had originally planned to make the spiritual weapon look better and use it as an excuse to visit his future partner more often. But his plan was discovered before he could even carry it out.
Looking at the spiritual weapon in his arms, Luo Zixuan sighed in frustration.
The heavy sword, which had behaved so obediently in Lin Wan's hands, now bared its teeth ferociously at its master.
Its intention was clear: "You're blaming me for being useless? How dare you!"
With a swoosh, the sword left Luo Zixuan's arms and angrily returned to his storage ring to recuperate.
---
Meanwhile, Lin Wan stood in front of the door of a small sealed training room.
He looked at the Nebula Silk, now dim and shrunken into a small piece of fabric wrapped around his wrist, his gaze full of pity.
Jiaojiao used to be so beautiful. Even though it had some bad habits that normal spiritual weapons didn’t have, it was beautiful, and Lin Wan was willing to pamper it.
Now, however, it had been bullied into this state without him even realizing it.
Thinking about how his Nebula Silk had been in deep sleep for a while and he hadn't noticed anything wrong, Lin Wan couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed.
Am I... kind of a jerk?
For the first time, he began to reflect on himself.
"Chirp~"
At that moment, the little furball, having finished absorbing the negative energy from Wang Youqian’s house and taken a nap, woke up.
It skillfully bounced through the barrier of the Nebula Silk and dove into Lin Wan's arms. Rubbing its big eyes against Lin Wan, it sneakily reached its short legs towards the Nebula Silk.
"Chirp..."
Feeling the furry softness in his hands, Lin Wan instantly forgot his earlier self-reflection and focused entirely on cuddling the furball.
After enjoying the furball’s fluff for a while, Lin Wan used the Nebula Silk to unlock the seal on the small room, patted both creatures on the head, and reminded them as usual, "Get along and no fighting, okay?"
"Chirp."
As before, the Nebula Silk and the furball stood side by side, looking very harmonious.
Seeing this, Lin Wan felt reassured and stepped into the small training room to begin his journey of becoming stronger.
Once he entered, however, the two creatures immediately separated. Glaring at each other, their eyes were filled with intense battle spirits.
Come at me!
With Han Ning still in deep sleep and the top rival out of the picture, the other spiritual pets were itching for a fight.
It was time to determine who was the most favored by their master!
"Swoosh—"
The two spiritual pets tumbled together, fiercely pulling at each other’s hair in an energetic battle.
---
In the math office—
"Old Li, come here! Look at your class’s scores!"
After half a day of grading, some of the exam results were already out.
"Your student, Lin Wan, I remember their scores used to be pretty bad, right? They scored 147 in math this time! Tied for first place in the grade with Yao Jia from the honors class!"
The teacher sitting diagonally across from Old Li glanced at the scores in disbelief.
"Old Li, how did you manage to tutor him? He was ranked 37th in the grade last time, but now he’s jumped up almost an entire grade level!"
"I’ve been teaching for so many years, but I’ve never seen a student improve this much in such a short time. It’s unbelievable!"