Once he confirmed that repeatedly practicing the pen-gripping motion actually worked, Zhou You felt greatly encouraged. He repeated it with growing enthusiasm, which looked increasingly bizarre to the classmates around him.
"Yo, Zhou You, is this a new activity for your Carefree Sect?" Classmates kept walking past, laughing and tossing out a joke or two.
Chu Xiaoyao was quietly reading, so now it was Zhou You's turn to act up. Could chuunibyou actually be contagious?
"Shoo." Zhou You rolled his eyes. He was engaging in serious cultivation; it was only natural that mortals couldn't understand.
Carefree Sect?
Lian Yi caught the key piece of information. She had asked around everywhere and couldn't find a single shred of info on Carefree Sect even on the Immortal Cultivation Forum, yet how was it that the whole class seemed to know about it?
"What's this Carefree Sect everyone keeps talking about?" Lian Yi asked her deskmate in a low voice. Her deskmate was an easygoing sort who loved nothing more than having someone talk to her.
"Oh, Carefree Sect? That's exclusive to our class. Hold on, let me look for it."
Her deskmate rummaged through her desk for quite a while before unearthing a newspaper from under a stack of test papers.
Lian Yi saw the paper's name. "No. 2 High school newspaper?"
"'Congratulations to Class Three of the third year of our school on the founding of Carefree Sect: Grand Elder Chu Xiaoyao, Sect Master Zhou You, Deputy Sect Master Nuomi.'
"'Among them, Sect Master Zhou You possesses the strength of an ox and can twist off bottle caps with one hand'?"
By the end, Lian Yi couldn't keep her voice from rising, at a total loss for words with an overwhelming urge to roast them.
People always said that founding a sect required publishing an announcement in the papers to declare it to the world, but what was the deal with running it in the high school paper?
And going by the description, wasn't this an acrobatic troupe? Who on earth could tell this was the founding of an immortal cultivation sect? The description was absurdly careless! Did they really not use even a hint of cultivation-world cant?!
Just what was going on with this Carefree Sect?
A mortal served as Grand Elder, a Qi Refining cultivator as Sect Master, and a vengeful ghost as Deputy Sect Master. Why were their status and cultivation attainments completely inverted?
Could it be that in Carefree Sect, the lower your cultivation attainment, the higher your status?
Lian Yi had gotten the intel on Carefree Sect she wanted, but she was only left with even more doubts.
How should she put it? The way they announced the sect's founding felt far too amateurish.
Yet the powerful Dao-protector, the modernized spell that had forced her to buy stone bollards, a Qi Refining cultivator capable of having his soul leave the body, a mortal who could see vengeful ghosts... The depth and background they revealed didn't look like an amateur outfit at all.
"Could this be the so-called 'great hermit conceals himself in the city'?"
Lian Yi reflected on the classmates' attitude toward Carefree Sect—none of them even realized it was a cultivation sect. Even when misunderstood, Zhou You and Chu Xiaoyao didn't care in the slightest. Didn't that correspond exactly to the Daoist ideal of living as a great hermit in the city?
"Carefree Sect... is truly not simple."
Lian Yi had never imagined that, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she would actually learn something from a mortal and a Qi Refining cultivator.
"Do you want to join my Carefree Sect? I can stamp you with the jade seal," Chu Xiaoyao offered, still wholeheartedly dedicated to expanding Carefree Sect's territory and roster.
Even though Zhao Zhuo and Ma Changcheng at the desk in front wouldn't join, having other classmates join was fine too. It was just that the other students' desks weren't connected to theirs, so Carefree Sect's territory wouldn't form a contiguous block.
That was called an enclave; Chu Xiaoyao understood these things.
Seeing the design of the jade seal, Lian Yi's heart squeezed violently, leaving her almost suffocating.
In the span of a single morning, her composure had nearly broken three times.
She had only ever seen traces of that jade seal's design in an ancient manuscript—the kind that was extraordinarily precious in its own right, a damaged, unique surviving copy.
The manuscript's author was a world-renowned grand cultivator who had once been fortunate enough to see White Rainbow Dao Lord wield the Hereditary Jade Seal, recording that precious scene.
Later, that grand cultivator perished in the demonic calamity a thousand years ago, and the manuscript was subsequently lost, passing through many hands before ending up in Lian Yi's possession.
It couldn't be... Was that the Hereditary Jade Seal? Or an imitation?
Lian Yi didn't dare inspect it with her divine sense, afraid of exposing her identity.
Chu Xiaoyao was idly toying with it, seemingly not caring at all. No matter how highly Lian Yi estimated Carefree Sect, she couldn't bring herself to believe that what Chu Xiaoyao held was the real thing.
Even the Sect Master of Mount Kunlun wouldn't dare treat the Hereditary Jade Seal with such an attitude.
Even if it was an imitation, for it to serve as Carefree Sect's official seal meant the rank of this magic treasure was frighteningly high.
By evening, after a full day of training, Zhou You was already able to project his soul and pick up a mechanical pencil.
"A fruitful harvest," Zhou You felt that his full day of training hadn't gone to waste. Though he was occasionally misunderstood by classmates, as long as he made progress, it was well worth it.
"Want to punch me?" Chu Xiaoyao thought it was fun and crooked a finger at Zhou You.
How could Zhou You possibly take that provocation? He immediately projected his soul, struck out swiftly, and landed a punch right at Chu Xiaoyao!
Nothing happened.
The fist landed on Chu Xiaoyao like playful flirtation between a couple—a girlfriend tapping her boyfriend's chest. No, the force was even lighter than that.
"Tch, is that it?"
"Just you wait. Let me practice some more," Zhou You talked tough and resumed cultivating.
At dinnertime, Tang Shiyin asked for leave and left; no one knew what she went to do.
After evening self-study ended, Zhou You said goodbye to Chu Xiaoyao and headed home from school.
The residential compound Zhou You lived in was similar to Ji Sen's—both were older neighborhoods, six or seven stories tall, with no elevators and a low occupancy rate. Walking through the compound at night, one rarely saw a soul.
Zhou You was used to it and wasn't afraid.
At the entrance of the building, numerous large boxes were stacked in neat, orderly rows.
"Is someone moving?"
Stepping inside the building, the dim lighting stretched Zhou You's shadow long, then compressed it short.
When Zhou You reached the sixth floor, a somewhat familiar figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Tang Shiyin?"
Tang Shiyin was struggling to carry a box half the height of a person against the wall, so that when she grew tired, she could prop it against the wall to take a brief rest.
Her petite figure looked stubborn yet resilient in the narrow stairwell.
Hearing someone call her name, Tang Shiyin turned around abruptly, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
It seemed to be her classmate? But she couldn't remember his name.
"I'm Zhou You. We're in the same class." Zhou You's explanation put Tang Shiyin at ease.
"Here, let me help you carry that." Zhou You easily took the large box; to him, a box like this felt hardly heavier than Styrofoam.
"Th-thank you." With the box taken and her hands suddenly lightened, Tang Shiyin thanked him a moment late, her voice still very soft.
When Tang Shiyin reached her apartment and opened the door, Zhou You realized they lived right next to each other—directly across from his place.
"You live here? Did you just move in?"
From Tang Shiyin's halting explanation, Zhou You got the general idea: her parents worked out of town, and she had moved from the county to the city for school, living by herself. Since rent near the school was cheapest here, she chose this place. The moving company, seeing she was on her own and an easy target, simply dumped the boxes downstairs and took off. She had asked for leave from evening self-study and had been hauling boxes all evening.
"That can't be easy," Zhou You thought. Since they were classmates, he might as well help where he could.
He dropped his backpack at home and called out, "Mom, my classmate just moved in across the hall. I'm going to help her move her things."
"Should I come too?" Mother Zhou asked. "What should we bring as a gift—tea?"
Zhou You waved a hand in refusal. "Her parents aren't here. It wouldn't be appropriate for you to go."
Zhou You kept carrying luggage from downstairs up to the apartment, and soon had moved almost everything.
During the process, Zhou You took a quick look at Tang Shiyin's apartment. It was a bit smaller than his, with peeling wall paint and scribbles left behind by the previous tenant's children. It did have basic furniture, and the air conditioner barely worked.
"Thank you, thank you so much." Tang Shiyin thanked him repeatedly, and feeling that the mood was just right, offered a sincere invitation: "Would you like to come in and sit for a while?"
Coincidentally discovering that he was neighbors with a pretty new transfer student, helping her fragile self move, her feeling frightened in an unfamiliar environment and developing a sense of dependence on the person who helped her—it was the ideal opportunity to foster a connection. Lian Yi was certain no one would turn down such an invitation.
"No, no, I have things to do." Zhou You decisively declined Tang Shiyin's invitation, giving up the chance to get closer to his pretty female classmate.
What was the point of that? It wouldn't boost his grades, nor would it increase his cultivation attainment. He would be much better off going home and browsing the forum a bit longer.
*Bang!*
Before leaving, Zhou You thoughtfully shut the door, leaving behind Tang Shiyin, who was still about to urge him to stay.
Chapter 50