Chapter 81: Collective Cheating

“Master Wu, we’ve known each other for so many years—you must help me this time! What’s the answer to the third question? Just give me a little hint!”

“Don’t even mention it! My sect’s four elders and I studied it together all night and couldn’t even solve the second question. Why don’t you tell me the answer to that one first?”

“Sigh, that Fellow Daoist Yun—no, I mean Instructor Yun—her exam questions are just too difficult. I even used a recording talisman to capture her entire lecture and listened to it more than ten times, and I still can’t solve the problem.”

“Huh? You’re Elder Kui from the Shadow Mountain Sect, right? Aren’t you a specialist in formations? Even you couldn’t figure it out?”

“These questions are too profound. I’ve searched through every ancient text I could find, and not one of them helps. They’re so hard I’m beginning to doubt whether there even are correct answers!”

“Hall Master Xu, are you there? How are you doing? Your Tianshi Hall is full of experts, and you’ve sent dozens of people to attend this class. With that many brains, how many of the ten questions have you solved?”

“Shameful to admit… only three. I can’t make sense of the rest at all!”

“You solved three! Hall Master Xu, why not share your answers so the rest of us can study them too?”

“Yes, yes! I’ve only done two. Every extra answer helps!”

“And me! Don’t forget me! Our Tiancheng Sect has always supported Tianshi Hall!”

“And my Pu family! Hall Master Xu, don’t play favorites. Let’s, uh, discuss them together.”

“Fellow Daoist, don’t forget the Duyie Sect!”

“The Taiyun Sect also requests a discussion!”

“And—”

For a while, the message talismans buzzed with overlapping voices.

“Uh… discussing is fine, but has everyone forgotten that Fellow Daoist Yun said you have to answer at least six questions correctly to pass?”

“……”

The transmission went silent. A heavy awkwardness spread through the group.

After a long pause—

“Sigh… these questions are quite advanced. In the entire Tianshi Hall, it seems only Elder Jiao solved six of them. He specializes in formations and had previous contact with Fellow Daoist Yun, so he understands more. But—”

“What! Six questions! Hurry, hurry, where is Elder Jiao? Let’s discuss with him together!”

“He’s still in his room working on the rest! No way, I asked him this morning—he absolutely refused! Said Fellow Daoist Yun made it clear everyone must complete them on their own.”

“Fellow Daoist Jiao, that’s not right. Aren’t we all members of the same sect of cultivators? We should help one another!”

“Yes! Elder Jiao’s behavior is disappointing. He’s already solved them and still won’t share for the good of all?”

“Exactly! And to think he has so many disciples—how selfish!”

“Traitor!”

“Old scoundrel!”

“Stingy miser!”

Their accusations grew louder and louder, as if they were condemning some heinous criminal instead of a classmate who refused to let others copy his homework. Finally, Elder Jiao’s furious voice erupted through the transmission:

“Bah! You shameless old geezers! You don’t solve the questions yourselves and dare slander me! I was planning to finish a few more before sharing, but now—hmph! Enjoy getting zero points!”

The group fell silent again. Then came a flood of panicked pleas.

“Elder Jiao, don’t be angry! We were only joking—don’t take it seriously!”

“Yes, yes! Elder Jiao has always been generous. We know that!”

“Elder Jiao, I’ve got a hundred-year-old ginseng root here. The weather’s getting cold—how about I send it to you as a tonic? Just copy your answers for my Taiyun Sect, just six will do!”

“I’ve got a century-old snow lotus too—please share a copy with me!”

“I have ten mid-grade pills!”

“I’ve got three high-grade talismans!”

“I have—”

In an instant, the chat turned into a massive bribery scene. No one expected full marks anymore; they just wanted to pass. Then a calm female voice suddenly broke through:

“I say… did you all forget that I can also hear everything in this chat?”

Everyone: “……”

(Д≡Д)

The grand bribery scene turned into a public exposure on the spot!

The group chat fell dead silent.

Is it too late to pretend we’re not here?

The next second came the sound of frantic rustling. The once-glowing communication talismans went dark one after another. The lively group of over four hundred participants all went offline—without exception.

Yun Jiao: “……”

Looks like the homework load was too light. They still had time to cheat off one another!

(╰_╯)#

She sighed and raised her head toward a certain person who had been staring at her all morning, exuding pure resentment. Compared to those students trying to copy answers, this one was even harder to deal with.

“Grandmaster… if you have something to say, please say it directly, alright? Staring at me like that doesn’t help—I can’t read your mind.” And it’s not even mealtime!

Ye Yuan’s expression darkened. After a long pause, he finally spoke in a deep voice:

“Are you planning to take new disciples into the temple?”

Yun Jiao instinctively shook her head. “No.”

He cast a look at the communication talisman in her hand, his expression growing darker.

“Oh, that!” Yun Jiao blinked, then explained quickly, “They’re not new disciples—just cultivators from various sects who want to study formations.” She explained the whole remote-teaching project, making sure to emphasize that it was paid.

Upon hearing that they were only studying for a month, Ye Yuan’s expression relaxed slightly, though he still seemed dissatisfied.

“Grandmaster doesn’t want Qingyang to have more disciples?” Yun Jiao asked curiously. That didn’t seem to fit his reputation for benevolence.

His brows furrowed even tighter. He glanced at his little disciple before answering, “It’s not that. As long as they’re not noisy, it’s fine.” Ideally, disciples like this one—quiet, capable, and not stupid—were best.

Noisy? Fine. Next class, she’d pick a room farther from the tower.

“And also…” He looked at her again, hesitating, before finally saying gravely, “Qingyang should not accept female disciples.”

“Huh?!” Yun Jiao blurted. “But I’m also—”

“You’re different!” He cut her off immediately, as if afraid she’d misunderstand. In his haste, he even seemed to drag her verbally out of the “female” category, adding, “You’re more like a man than the male disciples!”

“……” Was that a compliment or an insult?

_-|||

Wait—so he stood here brooding for half the morning just to say that?

Yun Jiao’s face darkened. She barely restrained the urge to commit a master-slaying offense when he continued:

“And also—no demons allowed. Male or female.”

She immediately thought of those three gluttonous chicken demons from a few days ago. Ah, so that’s what this was about. If she hadn’t stopped him, those three wouldn’t have just been beaten back into their original forms—they’d have been obliterated entirely. After that, Grandmaster had been so disgusted he swore off chicken soup and switched to mushroom broth instead. That’s how deeply traumatized he was.

Yet those three chicken demons still hadn’t given up. Even after being turned back into chickens, they kept clucking outside the temple, desperate to get in—probably to be made into soup. In the end, Yun Jiao had to drag Bai Yu over to draw memory-erasing talismans, wipe their memories of Ye Yuan, and send them back to the demon realm—just to prevent a species-wide massacre.

No doubt about it—if pushed too far, Grandmaster would absolutely annihilate the entire chicken race.

Yun Jiao glanced at her grandmaster. With looks like his, it was understandable that he attracted too many admirers. But really, her grandmaster was… well, a “sister,” after all. With such preferences, romance was impossible.

As for the demon king… hmm, he was probably just too ugly for Grandmaster’s taste!

“I understand, Grandmaster!” Yun Jiao nodded earnestly, deciding she would be a good “sister” indeed.

“Good.” Ye Yuan nodded too, pleased. What a sensible little disciple—far better than any man.

Once again, the two of them reached that strange, unspoken harmony.

(End of Chapter)