"Alright, stop laughing, your face is about to fall off," the Dean glared at Xu Yi below him, though inwardly he was extremely pleased.
Xu Yi had not disappointed him, actually fulfilling the hundred-year pact.
Speaking of which, there was another person who had also made a hundred-year pact with him. However, that person had yet to show up, and he didn't know how much they had comprehended.
"Dean, the agreement from back then..." Xu Yi chuckled.
Xu Yi's first action upon returning to Kunlun Academy was to rush to the Dean's thatched cottage to deliver the good news and also to remind the Dean not to forget his promise.
"Tell me, what condition do you want me to agree to?" The Dean raised a cup of tea, took a slow sip, and said leisurely.
Xu Yi opened her mouth, a troubled expression on her face. "I haven't thought of it yet, can I owe you?"
The Dean choked, "You're rushing to tell me the news without having thought about it."
Xu Yi quietly agreed with her head down, not arguing, in an excellent mood.
The Dean scolded Xu Yi a few more times, his smile slightly subsiding. "You are now a cultivator at the Integration stage and have met the requirements for graduation from Kunlun Academy. What are your thoughts?"
Xu Yi was taken aback.
She had indeed forgotten about this.
Kunlun Academy had a rule that once a cultivator reached the Integration stage, they had to leave Kunlun Academy.
This was why many disciples preferred to remain stuck at the late stage of Soul Severing rather than advance further.
Xu Yi thought of something and suddenly asked, "Even if I leave, the agreement will still stand, right?"
After speaking, she stared expectantly at the Dean, her face showing undisguised worry.
The Dean: ...
"I won't go back on my word."
"Then I'm relieved." Xu Yi let out a long sigh and stated her plan. "I should probably return to Xuanji Sect."
Speaking of which, she hadn't returned to the sect in a long time and missed the elders and disciples dearly.
Now that her cultivation had reached the Integration stage, she had completed her small goal, and Xu Yi felt it was time to relax for a while.
The Dean nodded, not commenting on her answer. Instead, he said, "Since you are ready to leave, you can participate in the graduation assessment. Go back and prepare for a few days."
Xu Yi: ?
"Graduation assessment?" Xu Yi's eyes widened. "Dean, I've never heard that graduation requires an assessment!"
The Dean glanced at Xu Yi indifferently. "There are many things you don't know. Go back, and I will summon you."
With that, the Dean waved his sleeve lightly, and Xu Yi was instantly sent outside the thatched cottage.
Xu Yi stood stunned, her heart filled with awe.
When she first entered Kunlun Academy, she couldn't sense the Dean's cultivation. Now that she was an Integration stage cultivator, she still had no resistance. Could the Dean's cultivation have reached the Mahayana realm?
A Mahayana ancestor serving as the Dean of Kunlun Academy?
Xu Yi glanced at the thatched cottage again and turned towards Courtyard Forty-Four.
She hadn't told Yu Xiaoyu and the others that she was back today, and she didn't know how many people were in the courtyard now.
While Xu Yi was looking for her friends to catch up, the Dean's figure slowly dissipated from the thatched cottage.
In the stone chamber of the Time Realm, Lu Zaiye opened his eyes. "There are still three years left until the hundred-year pact."
"I know, I'm not here to remind you of that. Xu Yi is back, and her cultivation has reached the Integration stage."
Upon hearing Xu Yi's name, Lu Zaiye's heart stirred. "Her talent is outstanding, and with the assistance of the Time Realm, reaching the Integration stage within a hundred years is not surprising."
The Dean's figure appeared in the stone chamber at some point, gently fanning himself with a folding fan. "Therefore, I've decided to prepare a unique graduation assessment for her."
Lu Zaiye's brow furrowed. "You value her greatly, why?"
"You ask me? Then why are you willing to live incognito by her side?"
Lu Zaiye was speechless.
The Dean sat cross-legged opposite Lu Zaiye, a profound smile on his face. "Actually, my goal and yours are quite similar. I also want to know how many unknown surprises Xu Yi still holds."
"Xu Yi is from my Xuanji Sect," Lu Zaiye said in a cold voice, as if warning.
The Dean chuckled. "I know she is from your Xuanji Sect, but she is also a cultivator of the Nine Provinces Continent. If the Nine Provinces Continent is in trouble, she will have to help."
The Demon Clan and the Monster Clan were stirring, and their activities had become more frequent recently.
The Five Great Sects had already begun to mobilize their forces to monitor the movements of the Monster Clan and the Demon Clan. Kunlun Academy naturally could not be unaware of this.
"How much do you know?"
For the first time, Lu Zaiye found the Dean's mysterious demeanor irritating.
The implication in the Dean's words was that if a racial war were to break out in the Nine Provinces Continent in the future, Xu Yi would be a very important member.
Lu Zaiye was confused. What secrets did Xu Yi hold that not only made the one who ascended at the end yearn for her, but also made the Dean of Kunlun Academy, who was only one step away from ascension, treat her with such importance?
"When you finally comprehend the Law of Time Reincarnation, you might be able to glimpse the secret."
The Dean did not speak directly but subtly reminded Lu Zaiye before disappearing decisively.
"The Law of Time Reincarnation, I will definitely comprehend it."
Lu Zaiye cast his gaze upon the stele inscription and once again immersed his mind into it.
...
"Bei Xinghan and Bai Shan are out for training, Hong Jing has been recalled by the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect, and Lu Zaiye is in secluded cultivation. So, in Courtyard Forty-Four, only you and Xiong Zhuangzhuang are left?"
At the stone table in Courtyard Forty-Four, Xu Yi and Yu Xiaoyu sat opposite each other.
Yu Xiaoyu nodded. "Yes, since you left, Courtyard Forty-Four has become increasingly deserted."
After seven years, Yu Xiaoyu had become much more composed and steady. The shy expression that used to be on her face was gone, and she now exuded the demeanor of the Young Sect Master of the Daqi Sect.
Xu Yi sighed lightly with some disappointment.
She was about to undergo the graduation assessment, and after leaving Kunlun Academy, she didn't know when she would see them again.
However, she quickly composed herself and shared her experiences from outside with Yu Xiaoyu. She also showed Yu Xiaoyu the square box she had obtained from the Ancestor of the Jian Family and the Nine Dragon Cauldron she had snatched from Jing Qiu.
Yu Xiaoyu was very interested in the material of the square box. However, after she and Xu Yi studied it for half an hour, they couldn't figure out what kind of ore it was made from.
The two of them decided to take the square box to Teacher Jing of the Artifact Refining Hall tomorrow to ask for advice.
As for the Nine Dragon Cauldron, Yu Xiaoyu praised it immensely.
The Nine Dragon Cauldron was a supreme treasure of the Mingyue Pavilion, a rare level-eight magic treasure on the Nine Provinces Continent, and a comprehensive magic treasure that combined alchemy, offense, and defense.
Even Yu Xiaoyu, who came from a sect specializing in artifact refining, felt envious.
While Xu Yi and Yu Xiaoyu were enthusiastically discussing the refining techniques of the Nine Dragon Cauldron, Xiong Zhuangzhuang returned.
"Xiaoyu, I heard Xu Yi is back, is she here?"
His voice arrived before he did.
"Xiaoyu?" Xu Yi raised an eyebrow, a slightly ambiguous smile appearing on her lips.
She remembered that Xiong Zhuangzhuang used to call Yu Xiaoyu "Fellow Daoist Yu."
Had something happened between them that she didn't know about?