**Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram**: "North River, what do you mean by this? You're seriously pushing it too far! Next month on the night of the full moon, at the peak of the Forbidden City, are you brave enough to show up?"
"Sure, why would I be afraid of a fake diviner like you? But I won't be free on the night of the full moon next month; how about we set it for three months later instead?" **Hermit of North River** replied readily. "Also, how will I find you then? With so many identities, I wouldn't even recognize you if you stood right in front of me."
Not only was **Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram** 'skilled' in divination, but he was also adept at disguise—everyone in the group speculated that he must have been chased around for making wrong predictions in the past, forcing him to change his identity to escape. Over time, he had honed his skills in make-up and transformation.
"Three months it is! Just make sure you're at the peak of the Forbidden City waiting for me. I'll recognize that infuriating face of yours even if it's turned to ash!" Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram declared angrily.
"Then it's settled!" North River replied calmly, as if he had already secured victory over the Master Diviner.
When **Immortal Sage of Yellow Mountain** saw this, he suddenly sent a smiley emoji and said, "It looks like North River is on the verge of a breakthrough and needs a good fight to kickstart it. You've been stuck at the fifth-tier Spirit Monarch level for quite a while; it's time for you to break through. If I can find the time, I'll come to the peak of the Forbidden City on the night of the full moon to oversee your duel. I might even prepare some little gifts for you two."
"True Sage, you really do understand my heart!" North River exclaimed, suddenly losing his calm. After all, the Immortal Sage of Yellow Mountain was an old-timer, and whatever he prepared would definitely not be mere 'little gifts.'
For these younger generations, anything that slipped through the fingers of such experienced seniors would be considered a treasure of serendipity!
"Since the True Sage mentioned it, I won't let North River suffer alone. I was actually planning to let him stay at the peak of the Forbidden City, freezing in the midnight breeze," Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram said leisurely.
"..." North River.
Damn it!
This guy truly lived up to his reputation for playing with people's hearts through divination; he had such a devious mind!
At that moment, North River silently vowed to beat Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram so badly that even the True Sage wouldn't recognize him three months later!
With that settled, the group chat quieted down for the time being.
...
...
After reading through the chat logs, **Scholar Song** felt a bit worried: Would Master Diviner of the Copper Hexagram and North River really go to the peak of the Forbidden City for a duel in three months? Given their personalities, they might indeed do something so foolish. What if they got caught by the authorities?
He made a mental note to remind them before leaving the group to avoid damaging national artifacts, as that would be illegal.
After closing the group chat, Scholar Song opened the website for the Jiangnan University Town to see what news there was today.
The headline on the campus website reported on the mysterious thunderstorm that had occurred that afternoon, and just as Scholar Song had guessed, it had struck H City.
Due to the unexpected thunderbolt, several areas in H City and the surrounding Jiangnan region experienced power outages, resulting in a series of incidents; thankfully, there were no casualties.
There were also scattered bits of news about the Jiangnan University Town. For example, updates on the rankings of the campus beauty and handsome boys; which academic achiever had once again dominated the national scene with impressive results in a nationwide competition; and even tales of a senior's used bedding fetching a high price at an auction—topics like these.
Scholar Song wasn't particularly interested in any of that; he just skimmed through to have some common ground for chatting with others.
Next, he searched for information on signing up for driving lessons. The cost for regular manual transmission car lessons was 2,500 yuan, which was a student-friendly price. In Jiangnan, once you stepped outside the school, driving lessons started at ten thousand yuan.
He noted down the contact number, planning to learn the theory well and then sign up for driving lessons soon. Although the driving school offered a standardized theory class, it would be quicker to self-study the theory first before applying for driving tests.
Ding dong—
A new update popped up in the campus chat, piquing his curiosity.
Just ten to twenty minutes ago, a group of delinquent youths wandering in the alleys around the university town had been taken down by an unknown master, wiped out in seconds.
These so-called delinquents were mostly students from the school, with a few dropouts among them. Most of them merely sported exaggerated hairstyles, had piercings all over, and snuck into alleys to smoke, acting out their rebellious youth.
Some even had a penchant for 'borrowing' money from timid juniors and weak seniors. For these delinquents, beating someone up was a hobby, while getting beaten up was just part of life. Since they didn't belong to any gangs, they couldn't even be called thugs.
It wasn't unusual for delinquents to get beaten up, but getting nearly a hundred of them taken down within a few minutes was something else entirely.
From the photos taken by students on-site, the delinquents' conditions looked tragic. Every single one of their faces was red and swollen, resembling performers in a Beijing opera with their various shades of purple and red. It was just like the saying goes—they had been beaten up so badly that even their mothers wouldn't recognize them!
The campus forums were buzzing with discussions.
Some were gleeful, saying: "Who did this? They were ruthless! Is it the Sanda club or the Taekwondo club? Or could it be the boxing club training their newbies to gang up on delinquents?"
Others, acting as informants, chimed in: "They were all knocked out and are now being sent to the hospital. No one has woken up yet, so we don't know who did it."
A deductive thinker suggested: "According to shopkeepers near the alley, there weren't any big groups of delinquents fighting each other. Even if there had been a fight, it wouldn't make sense for there to be zero survivors; it's impossible to be that coincidental. So it's likely that a master stepped in, and it could have been one person or a few who took out all the delinquents."
"A master? One person taking down eighty? Haha." Someone laughed, knowing that there weren't fewer than a hundred delinquents taken down in total. To take them all out in such a short time, it would take a hero from the movies to pull that off!
"Maybe it was an elite special forces soldier from the military? They say that kind of soldier can take down an ordinary person as if it were child's play, knocking out ten or so in a minute."
"The person above must be joking. Even if such a special forces soldier exists, they have their own missions. To have them deal with delinquents would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito!"
"Enough talk, we'll know who did it once the delinquents wake up." Someone else replied.
Scholar Song refreshed the webpage, casually glanced through the various replies, and then closed the news window.
After all, the delinquents' affairs didn't concern him at all.
Though Scholar Song was only 1.75 meters tall, he was quite strong. He didn't look like someone who could easily get 'borrowed' from and felt like he lived in a completely different world from the delinquents…unless something unexpected happened, he would likely never have any dealings with them in his life.
Stretching lazily, he shut down the campus website and leaned back in his chair, letting his mind drift.
The strange thundercloud from that morning lingered in his thoughts, and even in this empty mind, the echoes of thunder kept flashing through, preventing him from finding peace.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
The next day.
June 2nd, Sunday, sunny.
Scholar Song got up early. He had originally planned to pull an all-nighter, but the series of strange events from yesterday made him feel uneasy. For some reason, he lost the urge to stay up late and went to sleep early instead.
His dorm mates would be returning this evening.
After washing up, he habitually clicked on the chat software in the bottom right corner of his screen. His cousin, **Zhao Yay**, still hadn't replied, so it seemed he would have to wait a couple more days.
"If she doesn't reply in another couple of days, I'll just give her a call," Scholar Song thought to himself.
Then he opened the **Ninefold Land One** group—each glance brought a beautiful and uplifting mood.
But looking too much could lead to getting assimilated.
The first message in the group was from **Sable Seven**: "Sorry for worrying everyone. Little Sixteen had a minor mishap during her thunder tribulation, but I've already taken care of it. After the mishap, Little Sixteen threw a bit of a tantrum, but I managed to bring her back without any major incidents. Just so you know, in a certain area near H City, a few… well, several dozen unruly ordinary people were knocked out by Little Sixteen, but no one was killed. I'm going to take Little Sixteen back to the Su Clan's sect now, so I probably won't be online for the next few days. In any case… please don't worry."
This message had been sent at three in the morning today.