It was August 6th on the fifteenth Sunday of the semester.

　　This was a special day: it was the start of a countdown to the second week. That was to say, the high school summer break would start after the final exams ended next week.

　　In fact, a lot of regular high schools were already on holiday, but cultivation high schools had a different schedule, and usually had their break from August 15th to October 15th. Like regular high schools, however, It was a two-month break.

　　Wang Ling was a lot more relaxed when it came to the final exams this time, and wasn’t as stressed as he had been with the midterm exams. He had been secretly studying the whole time during the summer camp, and had already come up with an extremely thorough revision scope, spotted exam questions, and memorized all the literary poems… In any case, exams for Wang Ling were all about manipulating his scores, which couldn’t be any easier for him.

　　As long as he revised well, he could easily adjust his grade for the position he wanted.

　　As for the exact score itself, that had to wait until he entered the exam room. After all, not everyone adored studying the way he did.

　　Like Super Chen and Dopey Guo, for example, as well as the people reading this novel, most chose to cram in the last two days before the final exams.

　　A saying put it well: “he who has bread in hand has no fear in his heart.” The difficulty in manipulating exam scores lay in the fact that there were definitely a number of ways in which a problem could be solved.

　　It just so happened that Grade One had a summer camp at this time. Since it had taken up time that could have been spent revising, Wang Ling was guessing that a lot of student grades would drop, so it shouldn’t matter if he did a little more poorly in the exams this time…

　　When Wang Ling left the house, he saw Grandfather Wang watering the plants in the garden.

　　Wang Ling didn’t know if he was mistaken, but he somehow felt that the old man’s physique seemed a lot more robust. Grandfather Wang was wearing an apron, a pair of loose exercise pants, and nothing else…

　　Thus, Wang Ling saw Grandfather Wang’s large and solid pecs.

　　He knew that the old man had been making preparations all this time for the showdown with the sect leader of Kitchen Knife Sect, Jiang Haifu. But in the week that Wang Ling hadn’t been home, what on earth had the old man gone through?

　　“Ling Ling, you’re going out? Just to let you know first, I’ve invited Jiang Hiafu here on August 16th for the fight,” the old man said as he lifted his head to look at Wang Ling and smile.

　　“Mm.” Wang Ling nodded.

　　Actually, he had already known since yesterday.

　　That was the first day of the summer break, and he would be at home.

　　Yesterday, Father Wang had told him that he had to be at home as part of the judging panel, while Jiang Haifu would bring his son Jiang Bai with him.

　　Wang Ling still had a vague impression of Jiang Bai, who was a student in the ordinary class.

　　At the sports meet back then, Jiang Bai had demonstrated his exquisite body outline-tracing archery technique… Wang Ling remembered secretly helping Jiang Bai overcome his trauma.

　　Unfortunately, while Wang Ling might remember Jiang Bai, there were a lot of people who probably had already forgotten who he was.

　　Blame the author for his slow updates!

　　…

　　Wang Ling was going out today on Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal’s invitation, to help meet with a sect investor.

　　The first thing Odd Zhuo did after receiving the news that Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal wanted to set up a new sect was tell Wang Ling. He also hinted that Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal planned to invite Wang Ling to be an honorary sect leader.

　　But Wang Ling shook his head as soon as he heard this. Forget honorary leader, even a division leader or whatnot was too eye-catching and out of the question for him.

　　But Wang Ling’s eyes lit up at what Odd Zhuo said next.

　　Because Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal planned to open a recreation hall.

　　And this so-called recreation hall would be a convenience store inside the sect, which would sell… Wang Ling’s favorite… he he he.

　　He had no reason to turn it down.

　　And so, Wang Ling could only agree to this proposal.

　　No matter what, he should go take a look.

　　Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had arranged to meet in a place that wasn’t unfamiliar to Wang Ling: it was a branch of Midnight Dining Hall, run by Boss Tan’s younger brother. After they rescued him from Immortal Mansion back then, he testified as a witness against Cheng Yu, and then ran Midnight Dining Hall with his older brother. Very quickly after that, he opened this branch.

　　This branch was pretty close to the Wang family’s small villa.

　　Thus, when Father Wang wanted to eat lao tan pickled cabbage beef noodles, he didn’t have to go very far for it anymore. Even if he didn’t feel like going out, ordering takeout didn’t take long, given the distance – fifteen minutes at most!

　　When Wang Ling reached this Midnight Dining Hall branch and pushed open the door, he found Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal already sitting inside after being welcomed by Boss Tan’s younger brother, Tan Qian.

　　Tan Qian had been incited by Immortal Mansion at the time to stir up trouble at the Wang family’s small villa. Wang Ling hadn’t been home, so Jingke had smacked Tan Qian around for a bit. It was only when Boss Tan later delivered a takeout order of beef noodles that he recognized this failure of a brother.

　　Back then, Tan Qian had cultivated the Panwu Immortal Martial Arts, which led to a dramatic change in his physique and made him larger. But the shortcomings of this martial arts technique was also very clear: while it could upgrade a person’s realm in the short term, it drew forcefully from their lifespan. If Wang Ling hadn’t intervened back then, Tan Qian would have long turned into an abnormal titan several dozen meters tall.

　　“Brother Ling, over here!” Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal waved as he greeted Wang Ling from a distance.

　　Tan Qian also had a smile on his face as he gazed at Wang Ling with deep reverence. “Sir Benefactor honors me with your presence, and brings light to my humble shop.”

　　Calling Wang Ling his benefactor wasn’t wrong at all.

　　“Sir Benefactor, please sit.” Boss Tan gestured in invitation. “Since Sir Benefactor and Senior Immortal are here to discuss business, I’ve already closed the shop beforehand, and will only reopen after you’re done with your discussion. No one will bother you during this time, and all the refreshments in my shop are free of charge for Senior Immortal and Sir Benefactor.”

　　“Mm.”

　　Wang Ling responded lightly as he pulled out the chair next to Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal and sat down.

　　Soon after that, Tan Qian presented with a flourish a dessert that Wang Ling would definitely like — a sweet and spicy crispy noodle snack flavored slushie!

　　Wang Ling’s eyes lit up when he saw this slushie piled up as high as a small mountain in the middle of the tray.

　　From what he could see, this brother had promise…

　　To err was human; it wasn’t too late for a young man who had taken a wrong turn to step back from the edge of the precipice!

　　Just as Wang Ling scooped up a spoonful of the slushie, a figure suddenly appeared at the shop entrance.

　　Wang Ling half-turned his face, his expression extremely solemn all of a sudden.

　　Because this aura felt very familiar.

　　More importantly…

　　This aura was tinged with the same flavor as Wang Ling’s…