Fairy, please step aside, I've taken a liking to your man.

As students from the top high school in Beijing bid farewell, Jiangbei No. 1 High School was filled with laughter and joy, because the holiday had begun!

In fact, today is already the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, and there are only two and a half days left until the Chinese New Year.

The students, who had worked hard for a year, were eager to let loose. Even though their teachers repeatedly reminded them that the second mock exam would be held on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, they didn't take it too seriously.

Even if you work your hardest, how much progress can you make in just seven and a half days?

So at that moment, everyone rushed out of the school gate like madmen. Shen Bai was about to leave when Yang Xiao called out to him, "Shen Bai, come with me to the principal's office!"

Shen Bai immediately understood that the school was going to reward him.

Sure enough, when I arrived at the principal's office, a group of big shots were sitting inside.

Mo Qingfeng, principal of Jiangbei No. 1 High School, and Li Hongfei, principal of Beijing No. 1 High School.

Zhuang Songnian and Qi Sisi, the senior grade directors of the two schools.

Du Haiyang, deputy head of the Jiangbei City Enforcement Hall, and a man wearing a black and gold uniform.

Upon seeing that unique black and gold uniform, Shen Bai immediately understood that this man came from the legendary Night Fiend Hall.

An Li was also sitting to the side.

"Shen Bai, come and sit down!"

Seeing Shen Bai enter, Du Haiyang greeted him first, "You kid, last time you helped catch Lu Yan, and this time you helped catch Pan Li. I don't know whether to praise your good luck or your bad luck!"

Shen Bai nodded and greeted each of the powerful figures in the room. When it was the turn of the man from the Night Fiend Hall, he spoke first: "Deng Zhi, Deputy Hall Master of the Night Fiend Hall in Jiangbei City!"

"Greetings, Master Deng!"

After greeting Du Haiyang, Shen Bai sat down in the chair next to him.

Mo Qingfeng looked at Shen Bai and said with interest, "I heard that your cultivation level was only at the sixth level a month ago?"

Shen Bai nodded: "Yes, I was about to break through to the seventh level at that time, and then I ate better for a month, and then I broke through to the eighth level."

"You eat better, and you've broken through to the eighth level in just one month? I see your acupoints are full, and your aura is steady and doesn't leak out. It won't be long before you step into the ninth level of the Unleashed Realm! My kid eats better than you every day, has more resources than you, but his cultivation is a complete mess! It's really infuriating to compare yourself to others!"

Mo Qingfeng shook his head and laughed, but he wouldn't bother to find out what secrets Shen Bai might have, since every cultivator has their own opportunities.

Shen Bai smiled broadly, pretending that he didn't know why he was able to cultivate so quickly.

"This time, you and An Li have done a great service! Without the two of you, the students from both of our schools would have been in serious trouble! Zhuang Songnian, if it weren't for Shen Bai, even losing your head wouldn't be enough to atone for your sins against the parents!"

Mo Qingfeng glared sharply at Zhuang Songnian, making him break out in a cold sweat: "It was indeed my dereliction of duty!"

Deng Zhi sneered, "Principal Mo, are you trying to slap me in the face?"

Mo Qingfeng neither confirmed nor denied it.

Shen Bai stood aside, keeping his eyes down and his mind at ease. The big shots were exchanging cryptic remarks; he could just listen and leave it at that.

An Li felt the same way; knowing she couldn't get a word in edgewise, she might as well just listen quietly.

With Shen Bai's help, Night Fiend Hall captured the female cultivator Lu Yan. Despite knowing that there would be unorganized new talents infiltrating the White Dragon Secret Realm, more than a dozen students were still killed by the other party without anyone noticing. Mo Qingfeng seemed to be cursing Zhuang Songnian, but in reality, he was cursing Night Fiend Hall.

This time, the joint exchange between Jiangbei No.1 High School and Didu No.1 High School was supposed to be a good thing, but it went wrong, putting both principals under a lot of pressure.

Fei Zhou from Didu No.1 High School left, but Li Hongfei stayed behind to handle the aftermath of the incident, since several students from Didu No.1 High School had also died.

Although everyone is supposed to be equal, the capital city is not like Jiangbei, and the people there are much harder to appease.

Qi Sisi mediated, saying, "It's no use saying more now that things have come to this. I also bear a lot of responsibility in this. Fortunately, with the help of Shen Bai and An Li, we were able to stop the damage in time and reduce casualties."

"Now, let's talk about how to reward the two of them. I heard that Shen Bai's family isn't well-off. He just mentioned that he advanced because he's been eating better for the past month. I feel that such a promising talent should be nurtured."

The men were quite heated, but with the beautiful director mediating, things immediately calmed down a lot. Du Haiyang, who had been the mediator in the previous incident, immediately mentioned the compensation from Bai's Pharmaceutical Company and concluded by saying, "An Li, needless to say, is basically confirmed to be able to enter the two Holy Academies."

Shen Bai already has a first-level breakthrough pill. I feel that with a little effort, he should be able to break through to the tenth level before the college entrance examination.

I heard that his humanities scores are also very good. Given his current state, it shouldn't be a problem for him to get into the top ten of the Hundred Colleges and Hundred Schools in the college entrance examination.

If they perform well, the two Holy Academies should also have a considerable chance, so I feel that everyone should just go with the flow.

Du Haiyang didn't say what he was going to do by going with the flow; he passed the question on to the other bigwigs.

Mo Qingfeng and Li Hongfei exchanged a glance, both having some thoughts.

Mo Qingfeng brushed his hand over his storage ring and took out two pills: "These are first-tier breakthrough pills, which will make it easier for the two of you to break through to the Innate Realm."

Shen Bai and An Li's eyes lit up. These pills, which can help improve one's cultivation level, especially for breaking through major cultivation levels, are generally priceless and extremely difficult to buy.

Although the First-Order Breakthrough Pill does not allow a martial artist to directly advance to the next realm like the First-Order Barrier Breakthrough Pill, the two are not comparable. After all, a martial artist's advancement is a breakthrough of a minor realm, while the breakthrough from the Acquired Realm to the Innate Realm is a breakthrough of a major realm, which is an extremely difficult process.

Many people with lower aptitude get stuck at this stage and never advance in their lifetime.

Conversely, progressing from the Innate stage to the Qi Refining stage is a natural progression, requiring no elixirs. This is because the boundary between the Innate and Qi Refining stages is not very clear; the Innate stage is more like a transitional period between the Qi Refining stage and a martial artist.

Therefore, this first-tier breakthrough pill is worth at least twelve thousand spirit stones.

"Thank you, Principal Mo!"

Shen Bai and An Li accepted the pills without hesitation and happily put them into their backpacks.

"Old Mo is so generous, I can't be stingy!"

Li Hongfei took out two sword blanks from his storage ring: "These are two sword blanks made of star iron. After you enter the Qi Refining Realm, you can use your essence and blood to nurture them and forge your own flying swords."

"This...this is too much trouble!"

Shen Bai was overjoyed. The principal from the capital was much more generous than the principal from Jiangbei. Compared to this sword embryo, a mere Breakthrough Pill was nothing.

Cultivation is all about financial resources. This isn't so obvious at the martial artist stage, but once you reach the Qi Refining stage, you have to spend money everywhere. The tuition fees that Bai's Pharmaceuticals paid for me weren't even enough to buy this sword embryo.

Generally, cultivators at the fourth level of Qi Refining can refine their own flying swords, but many cultivators only start to have their own flying swords when they reach the later stages of Qi Refining. Most people use talismans to fight in the early stages, since talismans are cheap.

Standard flying swords are generally not expensive, but crafting a flying sword that perfectly suits one's own needs is quite costly.

Among the many sword embryos, the Star Iron Sword Embryo is already considered a medium-grade sword embryo. With the addition of some other metals later, the two of them will be able to possess a superior flying sword that is compatible with their spiritual power!

This alone puts them ten steps ahead of others in the Qi Refining stage!

"Li Hongfei, are you trying to slap me in the face?"