At this moment, Wang Ling's skill at passive and awkward silences re-emerged, and the WeChat group was once again lost in bewildered silence.
Even Old Antique wasn't able to say a word, the photo was just that lethal.
As Wang Ling's deskmate, Master of Dopey Hero Guo had always felt that his ability to create awkward silences was no less deadly than weapons of mass destruction, it was really just too scary.
Everyone had clearly been shocked by this wooden sword, and were starting to doubt life.
...
Old Antique in the end was Old Antique, a man who had experienced the storms of life. After five endless minutes, he shook himself out of his slack-jawed state, fixed his eyes on the flexi-keyboard in the virtual void, and anxiously typed several words: "Student Wang Ling… you, are you being serious?"
"Mm." Wang Ling's reply was brief as ever and didn't waste words.
"…" Even Old Antique had utterly nothing to say after that.
As for the others, they were all having different thoughts.
Super Chen: I never imagined that Classmate Wang Ling's family situation would be so tough… no wonder he's usually so low-key, and Classmate Lotus Sun is so concerned about him. It turns out I was thinking too much. Classmate Wang Ling really needs more care and concern!
Master of Dopey: I never imagined that under Classmate Wang Ling's cold and aloof appearance would be such a tenacious heart… to arrive at this point after so many years really can't have been easy for him! I should show him more care and concern from now on!
Feather Lin: It's time to find Classmate Wang Ling a boyfriend to love him!
Lotus Sun had cupped her chin in her hands and was considering whether to organize a love donation in the name of Huaguo Water Curtain Group — to raise money to buy Classmate Wang Ling, who lived in the outskirts, a pink magic sword brimming with love!
Wang Ling: You guys, enough!
...
Spirit swords made out of peach wood may have been very popular a decade ago, but were now completely obsolete. As stronger materials for making more powerful swords started to emerge on the market, peach wood spirit swords became as cheap as cabbage. At present, only a small number of manufacturers still produced a fixed amount of peach wood swords each year, which they sold wholesale to education institutions, kindergartens, preschools and primary schools for use in introductory spirit sword education.
Looking at Wang Ling's small wooden sword, Old Antique thought that Student Wang Ling must have had an unhappy childhood!
Parents would normally be especially serious when it came to their children's first spirit sword. This could be seen with Super Chen, Lotus Sun and the others.
In contrast, this peach wood spirit sword was really too cheap.
However miserable we are, we should never let our children be miserable; however poor we are, we should never be poor in the education of our children.
In an era when even a malicious ghost could evolve, who would still use a peach wood spirit sword? Even if you hung it right by the bed, it wouldn't do anything to exorcise evil!
Looking at the photo projected into the void, Old Antique sighed in his heart; it looked like it was time for him to speak to Teacher Pan, and pay Student Wang Ling an important home visit!
Wang Ling: "…"
...
It was eight o'clock in the morning on Tuesday of the third week of school.
Everyone gathered on time at the school entrance to take a bus to No. 59 High School for the four-day student union exchange.
They traveled light, as everything that needed to bring had already been stored in the pockets of their school uniforms.
Wang Ling got on the bus and found a seat in the last row.
Master of Dopey and Super Chen got on the bus and anxiously looked at him sitting in the last row. They eyed each other for a bit, and then like door gods, they sat one on each side of Wang Ling.
Wang Ling: "…"
After he had shared his small wooden sword in the WeChat group yesterday, Super Chen and the rest had all felt that they needed to show Classmate Wang Ling care and concern, beginning with the little things.
This wholeheartedly terrified him.
His low-key high school life wasn't going according to plan, and instead had deviated wildly from his expectations. After all, the people on the bus with him now had at one time been on the list of people around whom he needed to be vigilant.
God knew what kind of ill fate this was…
Wang Ling must have offended this year's
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lotus Sun and Feather Lin sitting nearby and holding hands. He didn't need to read Feather Lin's mind to know that this veteran fujoshi was most likely
The bus was spacious enough for fifty people, but in the end all five of them occupied the back row, leaving Old Antique to sit at the front with the bus driver. Fortunately, he didn't mind; as long as he could ensure the safety of his students, it didn't matter if he was a little lonely. Also, there was a whole warehouse of snacks in his pocket for him to slowly enjoy.
...
This was the first time that Wang Ling had been closely surrounded by a tight-knit circle of people, and he kept silent as he quietly listened to the discussion around him.
Because he was incompatible with electronic products, almost everything he knew about the latest news was gleaned through reading minds. In this way, he ensured that he wasn't too disconnected with what was currently happening in society.
Master of Dopey and Super Chen were having an extremely absorbing chat.
Master of Dopey pushed up his glasses. "Have you heard, an ancient tomb was recently found on a construction site. According to experts, it's probably a fake tomb set up by one of the two Ancient Almightys."
The Ancient Almightys…
As soon as he heard this, Wang Ling knew they had to be talking about Han Li and Wang Lin, the two "old demons" of the cultivation world.
Before the founding of Huaxiu nation, these two were the luminaries; there were records of them in ancient texts dating back to before even the Great Battle Qi era, and they were considered the forefathers of cultivation. But now they were forever silent, having gone down in history along with their magnificent deeds of old. They were a popular topic in Old Antique's history lessons; additionally, Han Li's Cultivation Theorem and Wang Lin's assessment scale were compulsory test components in advanced mathematics, which students both loved and hated.
There had always been rumors that Old Demon Han and Old Demon Wang hadn't actually died, since to this day, all the ancient tombs that had been found in Huaxiu nation that were supposed to belong to them had all been fake. What was more, it was likely that it was these two living fossils who had left these tombs behind as a diversionary tactic of some sort.
But there wasn't the slightest basis for this sort of talk, since according to historical records, both Almightys had indeed failed the last step toward attaining immortality and had been struck down on the Heavenly Way.
Super Chen nodded. "This matter did create quite the ruckus." It was a big deal, so naturally he had heard of it.
"Of course it did! Because there are a lot of doubts about it."
Master of Dopey said mysteriously, "According to expert appraisal, it was Old Demon Wang's tomb that they found. But what's strange is that fragments of Old Demon Han's Sky Bottle was found in the tomb. You know the origin of the Sky Bottle, right? According to historical records, Old Demon Han used this treasure to make panaceas mature quickly in a short time."
"Then why would it appear in Old Demon Wang's fake tomb?" Lotus Sun couldn't help asking curiously when she heard what they were talking about.
"That's why it's strange."
Master of Dopey spread his hands. "Now, Old Demon Han's fans, the Han Family Army, are saying that the fake tomb is actually Old Demon Han's. But Old Demon Wang's fans, the Wang Family Army, disagree, and think that Old Demon Wang may have forged the fragments while he was still alive to deliberately mislead everyone."
"But if this is just a fake tomb, what is there to argue about?" Feather Lin completely didn't get it.
"You really don't understand…"
At this point, Master of Dopey shrugged. "This is like the war between salty and sweet bean curd; people have been quarreling about it for thousands of years, but there's still no consensus, right? It's the same with the Han Family Army and the Wang Family Army now. They clearly know there isn't going to be a conclusive result, but they're still making a lot of noise in order to draw attention to it on Weibo; even if it's only a passing mention of their idols, they don't want to lose out."
Everyone: "…"