There is a park to the north of Pinglu City, not far from the academy.
Inside the park stands a pavilion called "Wangdai," where sitting allows one to gaze out over the distant mountain ridges, the view extraordinarily wide.
"I used to co sit here sotis by myself. When my eyes can see far, my mood relaxes too."
Shi Jingyi brought Guan Tong into the pavilion and, staring into the distance, said this.
Guan Tong nodded.
When he used to live on Mingdao Mountain, he would walk on the slopes every day and take in the far view; it was a great way to relax and relieve stress.
"After leaving the academy, where do you plan to go?"
"Not decided yet." Guan Tong answered, then added, "I might go collect so debts."
"Collect debts?" Shi Jingyi laughed, "I still owe you hundreds of thousands of Ascension Coins."
Guan Tong paused, then shook his head: "That's not what I ant. I have so enemies from before. I plan to clean them up this ti."
Killing Jiang Lanying was just the start. Guan Tong intended to settle scores with four parties at least.
First, those who once sared him, spreading rumors that he attacked Prince Lado's convoy;
Second, those in Andai State who sent a special forces unit to attack his Sakura Prayer Country faction to seize the Kimos Star fragnts he held;
Third, Yelanka's brother from the Xisiya Empire, the one who sent people to threaten him, who threw a dead bear's head into his bed and even ordered attempts on his life.
Fourth, Lucifer in the Tulip Federation. With Lucifer, things were currently at the point of no reconciliation. So Guan Tong wondered why he should remain on the defensive instead of taking the initiative to eliminate these threats.
These four people—or rather these four factions—Guan Tong intended to settle with one by one.
He was the kind of person who held grudges. He might not seek imdiate revenge, but he would not forget; once free, he would deal with matters thodically.
"Enemies, huh." Hearing this, Shi Jingyi seed to recall sothing and sighed softly.
"What is it?" Guan Tong couldn't help asking.
"I just thought of so past events... Guan Tong, I rember when we first t, you identified
as being from Guiyun Martial Arts School just by my clothes."
"Yes."
"Do you know about a major news event that happened to Guiyun Martial Arts School?"
Guan Tong felt a stir inside and said, "Do you an that challenge incident? Soone went to challenge your school and was beaten to death on the spot."
Shi Jingyi nodded: "That was the one. The person who ca to challenge was an old enemy of our schoolmaster and my master, soone who had caused trouble for them for over thirty years."
"…"
Guan Tong said nothing. He suspected that Shi Jingyi bringing this up now indicated there was more behind it.
"That man had held a grudge after being defeated by my master in his youth. For decades he nursed resentnt and repeatedly challenged him, always failing. Later my master contracted a rare illness and grew weaker. When that man learned of it, he took the chance and ca to challenge the school."
"But even though he thought my master's strength had dropped because of the illness, he was still defeated by my master. That pushed him into a total fury. After failing he refused to leave and even insulted my master verbally, so..."
"So your master, in a rage, beat the challenger to death?"
Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong: "It wasn't my master who beat the challenger to death. It was ."
Guan Tong was taken aback.
"I couldn't stand that man coming to pick on my master while he was ill, nor could I stand him continuing to harass us after losing. I was only in my teens at the ti—hot-headed and easily enraged. In a burst of anger I struck with everything I had and shattered that man's heart pulse."
"…"
"Later, my master took the bla for
and told
to take care of the others at the school. But I betrayed his trust; now Guiyun Martial Arts School has only
left."
Guan Tong looked at Shi Jingyi's sowhat dazed expression and his thoughts flashed back to the scene at the Yunhua industrial park ruins.
He rembered Shi Jingyi had gone there to rescue a martial arts disciple trapped in a warehouse. She arrived too late; the disciple had been killed by the living dead, and the corpse was transford into a living dead by the Matriarch Converter.
"Over the years I've thought, grudge and hatred can really change the trajectories of both people's lives forever," Shi Jingyi said, gazing into the distance. "So I try not to make enemies. I just don't want to go through more loss."
"…Are you telling
to let go of my hatred?" Guan Tong asked.
"No." Shi Jingyi replied, "I only feel that people in anger can do irreparable things."
Guan Tong suddenly asked, "If you could go back to that day, would you still have killed your master's enemy?"
Shi Jingyi was silent for a mont: "I don't know either. All I know is that choices made cannot be changed."
"Right. We just accept the consequences of our choices, whether good or bad... Also, I took care of the main culprit who used long-range firepower to bomb us and caused your injuries."
Shi Jingyi looked surprised: "Soone capable of mobilizing that kind of weapon in Beixing must be a very big figure. You found them so quickly?"
Guan Tong's voice turned cold: "No matter how big, I won't spare anyone who does that. She was an old enemy of mine; I've been looking for her for a long ti."
"Will there be follow-up trouble?"
"I don't know. If there is, we'll deal with it as it cos."
"Don't forget to ask
if you need help." Shi Jingyi said, "That's the kind of trust friends should have."
"…Of course."
"By the way, I have sothing for you."
Shi Jingyi pulled a small portable hard drive from an inner pocket of her clothes.
Guan Tong took it and asked, "What's inside?"
"Do you rember when I called last ti and told you I was in seclusion? I thought about optimizing the Mind Power Flow and put my findings on the hard drive. You can reference them."
Guan Tong was eager to see it. Shi Jingyi was a leading figure in this field; her latest insights would surely be precious and valuable.
"Then I'll accept it."
The ring on his finger flashed, and the hard drive stored inside it.
Shi Jingyi looked a bit surprised: "A storage ring?"
"Yes, got it by chance."
"Nice. I rember anything related to space or ti concepts is ridiculously expensive. To be honest, when I saw you wearing a ring earlier I thought you'd found a girlfriend."
Guan Tong was speechless: "Is this an era really fit for finding a girlfriend?"
Shi Jingyi smiled: "Why not? You've been a lecturer for months; haven't you noticed the number of couples at the academy?"
Shi Jingyi was not wrong.
The academy often had couples walking hand in hand. In terms of quantity, it might even seem more than in universities before.
Guan Tong had not paid much attention before, but thinking about it now, it made sense.
In the age of the Doomsday Rules, the old constraints no longer existed.
There were no concerns over how much money one had or what job one held; people generally didn't consider childbearing. So marriage beca less consequential.
Now, the only consideration in being together is mutual liking. If there is mutual liking, there is no need to worry about anything else.
Plus, because of the uncertainty of the Doomsday Rules, people tend to "live in the mont." If they like soone now, they try; it's better than silently pining and then being separated by a rule.
Shi Jingyi looked at Guan Tong, who was lost in thought, and asked, "Thinking of soone?"
Guan Tong snapped back and denied it: "No."
Shi Jingyi said nothing further, only smiling faintly as she turned to look at the verdant distant mountains.
"It's already November, yet it doesn't feel like winter at all."
Guan Tong watched her long braid hanging down her back and faintly sensed a subtle scent of grass and wood.
Is that the sll of orchids? he wondered, and said, "Yes. I heard that because of the secondary disasters caused by the earthquake rules, temperatures this winter will be much higher."
"I've seen so climate experts' analysis too. It seems the earthquakes caused both ice cap lting and volcanic eruptions, producing a dual effect that is rapidly warming the globe," Shi Jingyi said with a trace of concern in her tone. "Whatever the case, I hope everyone can get through this winter safely."
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