Chapter 40: Tangzang's Hidden Spy

At this moment, the male student from the Artificing Department had likely already lost his mind from panic and was now hiding under one of the tables inside the wooden building.

Lin Xi couldn't tell Associate Professor An and the three black-robed lecturers that, like Dean Zhang, he possessed the shocking ability to turn back time by ten minutes once per day. That was how he knew the student was still inside the burning building. Even if he did tell them, no one would believe him—they would think he was spouting nonsense.

But time was extremely tight if he wanted to save the Artificing student, so Lin Xi had no choice but to use the most direct method.

…

"What are you doing!"

The three black-robed lecturers shouted angrily the moment they saw Lin Xi charging toward the burning building from the slope. A student barging into the fire at this time was nothing but a disruption.

But to their shock, Lin Xi didn't stop—he ran even faster. Lacking the power to break through the thick wooden walls, he dove straight in through a window.

An indescribable wave of heat instantly engulfed Lin Xi. Flames surrounded him on all sides!

He couldn't even open his eyes. The choking smoke and blazing fire filled the air, blinding and suffocating him. Still, he forced out the breath held in his lungs and shouted, "I'm here to save you! Where are you?!"

No response.

Outside, people were shouting constantly—calling his name.

Within just a few breaths, Lin Xi could no longer endure. He couldn't breathe. Every part of his body, inside and out, burned with pain. But he gritted his teeth and pressed on, groping along the wall using his initial sense of direction.

Crack!

A burning timber slammed onto Lin Xi's back, sending a surge of searing pain through him and knocking him stumbling forward.

But that very stumble caused him to collide with a desk—and his foot hit something soft.

"He's here."

Lin Xi immediately realized what it was. Instinctively, he reached down to grab the student. But as he bent over, an overwhelming sense of suffocation and dizziness washed over him. Though he was still conscious, he could no longer control his body.

Crash!

At that moment, even as his eyes could no longer open, Lin Xi's lips curled into a faint smile of relief—he heard a wall nearby shatter, followed by a wave of pale blue cold light rushing in.

A thin, elongated ice blade swept away all the flames ahead like a tyrant's spear. A black-robed female associate professor with slightly disheveled hair appeared beside him.

"You finally came... Looks like I can only last this long in here now. How pathetic."

With that thought, Lin Xi peacefully passed out, collapsing into the soft arms of the female professor.

...

To the east of Qingluan Academy stood a mountain.

Compared to the other peaks on campus, this one was slightly lower. A few traditional-style courtyard homes were scattered across it, hidden among clean, golden ginkgo groves.

As Lin Xi collapsed into Professor An's arms, morning mist still lingered at the summit. Wisps of fog floated like ribbons through the tall ginkgo trees.

A professor walked naturally through the grove. His collar and cuffs were embroidered with silver stars.

Lin Xi and most students at Qingluan Academy had never seen this professor before. His long black hair was unbound, his face smooth and jade-like with no sign of age. He was tall and striking, his eyes clear as autumn water and his demeanor relaxed—yet between his brows shone a solemn radiance, almost like reverence.

He stepped lightly through the gold and gray leaves, approaching a courtyard with black tiles and green bricks.

The pinewood gate of the courtyard was tightly shut. The professor raised his hand to knock—but stopped just short, frowning slightly.

"You shouldn't have come, Nangong Mo."

An aged, calm voice spoke from within the courtyard. Though the professor hadn't pushed the door, it opened on its own.

Inside was a simple pond, a few sparse bamboo stalks… and an old, one-armed man—Associate Dean Xia.

"But I've come anyway," Nangong Mo said, bowing slightly with a composed expression.

Although they were now enemies, the old man's experiences and identity still earned his respect.

Associate Dean Xia lowered his remaining arm and turned slightly. Under the morning sun, the old eaves behind him gleamed solemnly. Looking at Nangong Mo on the steps, he spoke with pained regret: "You've been at Qingluan Academy for over a decade… yet in the end, you still couldn't resist coming here."

"I've risked everything—killed and sacrificed many comrades—all to reach this place," Nangong Mo replied coldly. "A man must have convictions."

"Well said!"

Clapping erupted from the grove. The wild, ageless "Madman Qin" stepped out, laughing with unrestrained joy. He held a green sharkskin-sheathed sword. "Though you've caused many deaths by passing messages out of the academy all these years, I admire you for that sentence alone."

Nangong Mo frowned, but didn't reply. His gaze shifted—not to Qin, but toward his left.

From the cliff outside, an elderly black-robed man with snow-white hair climbed easily up the steep face.

At the same time, the one-eyed black-robed instructor—familiar to Lin Xi and Bian Linghan—appeared atop a distant ginkgo tree. He gave Nangong Mo a cold glance, then vanished.

On his back was a black longbow—Dean Zhang's legacy weapon, "Little Black."

Nangong Mo, unlike the students, knew far more. He knew this one-eyed instructor was more terrifying unseen than in plain sight. Yet even as these formidable foes appeared, his expression only grew calmer—his earlier flickers of emotion vanished.

"So you've known my identity all along… But you still let me start the fire and didn't send people to rescue the students early. Just to make sure I'd come here without suspicion? Don't you care about their lives?" he asked Associate Dean Xia.

Xia's face remained cold. "An Keyi went. With her strength, there shouldn't be any casualties."

Nangong Mo fell silent.

"Not just your Tangzang Kingdom—even the other academies of the Yunqin Empire want access to this courtyard," Xia continued. "Since you've stayed at Qingluan Academy so long… I'll let you in. But there's nothing inside."

"Nothing?" Nangong Mo, the Tangzang spy who had hidden as a professor, trembled.

This courtyard, forbidden even to the Yunqin royal family, sealed away Dean Zhang's secret legacy and divine weapon. And now… he was being told it held nothing?

He had sacrificed so much over the years, all for a phantom?

The blow struck him like thunder. Even he, with his unshakable will, couldn't help stepping forward in disbelief to see for himself.

But at that instant, a powerful sword aura surged from the grove. Golden ginkgo leaves filled the air.

Madman Qin pointed forward—his longsword let out a sharp screech as it burst from its sheath in a flash of light, aimed straight at Nangong Mo's back.

A flying sword!

What Lin Xi had most cared about since meeting that earnest, stubborn girl beneath the arch in Lulin Town—it now appeared in the hands of this wild-haired Warfare Department professor!

Even the screech from its unsheathing revealed its terrifying speed.

And Nangong Mo—at his most vulnerable—had seemingly let his guard down.

But it was all an act.

As the sword flew, its cyan blade gleaming like autumn water, Nangong Mo's left hand flipped. A short golden staff, barely a foot long, appeared in his grasp.

The incoming sword strike met the gold staff head-on. The impact rang with a teeth-clenching screech as metal clashed.

Nangong Mo frowned slightly—but used the force to propel himself forward even faster, like an arrow. His right hand extended straight toward Associate Dean Xia beside the pond.

His right hand shimmered black—holding a pitch-black, smooth, and slender spike.