The person in the lead charged up the stairs with an aggressive air, heading straight for Class Seven.
They looked a bit annoyed, clearly unsure if the people from Class Seven were still around, and if not, where they should go to block them instead…
“If we don’t show them who’s boss on the first day, then I—” She’d only gotten halfway through her sentence when He Muman caught a glimpse of someone rushing at her from the corner of her eye.
She didn’t even have time to react, couldn’t even pull out her staff, before someone swept her legs out from under her.
As she fell, weightless, that person grabbed her by the throat and slammed her hard to the ground, lifting her head up by the neck.
The people with her only reacted now, each instantly pulling out their staffs and aiming them at Qu Weichen.
One of them shrieked, “Do you even know who she is? How dare you do this!”
It all happened so fast that the students who hadn’t left yet, seeing this on the first day, didn’t dare get involved.
They all hurried off down the other staircase.
Only a few elves stayed behind to watch the show.
“So, who is she?” Qu Weichen asked calmly, genuinely curious.
As she spoke, she threw a bad luck curse on the person she was holding.
Even though the curse was called “draw a circle and curse you,” it didn’t seem to require actually drawing a circle.
“Do you know who I am? Don’t move, don’t make me crush your throat.”
The last sentence was directed at He Muman, who was trying to struggle.
Qu Weichen glanced around but didn’t see anything she could smash.
Whether it was the wall or the floor, breaking anything would probably mean having to pay for it, so she gave up on showing off her strength.
“Let go! She’s He Muman!” The people behind her looked tense and upset.
They never expected that just trying to throw their weight around would land them with a run-in with a lunatic who attacked without warning—and what luck…
“Am I supposed to know her?” Qu Weichen tightened her grip a little, and He Muman’s face turned red as she instinctively tried to struggle.
Qu Weichen loosened her hold a bit and whispered in her ear, “Guess if I could smash your head in with one punch?”
He Muman: “…”
She immediately stopped moving.
“You and I have no beef… If you want Yuanlang, I can give it to you.” He Muman managed to choke out, “I’m the daughter of General Pingyuan.”
“General Pingyuan? Is that impressive?” Qu Weichen wasn’t being sarcastic; she genuinely didn’t know if General Pingyuan was a big deal.
Constance never told her anything about the Empire’s politics.
He Muman: “…”
The people behind her: “…”
“Then, how does that compare to the Warden of the Prison Sanctuary?” Qu Weichen asked softly.
As soon as she said it, the faces of the hangers-on across from her changed.
He Muman’s face also darkened.
She racked her brain to recall what the person who’d just taken her down looked like, but despairingly realized she hadn’t seen anything at all.
She shot a fierce look at her followers, and one of them, catching her eye, hesitated before saying, “Of course… General Pingyuan is more impressive.”
He Muman: “?”
“You’re here to assassinate me for the Prison Sanctuary?” He Muman gritted her teeth.
“You dare do this in the academy? You’ve got some nerve! Is that woman really going to burn all her bridges?”
“…Didn’t you even check what I look like before coming to cause trouble?” Qu Weichen thought, what the hell is this? She sighed.
“I’m Qu Weichen.
Nine rounds of body tempering, first-rank martial artist.
See, when I said I could smash your head in, I wasn’t lying, was I?”
“You’re Qu Weichen?!” The hangers-on were shocked.
Qu Weichen was supposed to be a vagrant, rumored to be plain-looking, with a poor, rustic air and always looking dirty! But this… this?
“Apologize to the Warden, and swear you’ll never bother me again, and I’ll let you go.” Qu Weichen put on a cold sneer, her tone menacing.
“I’ve got nothing to lose anyway.
If I die, taking down a general’s daughter with me isn’t a bad deal.”
What the hell is going on here!
He Muman had never regretted anything so much, nor been so humiliated.
She gritted her teeth.
“I can leave you alone.” But apologize to that Warden? Dream on!
“You don’t want me to step on you, do you?” Qu Weichen asked helpfully.
“That’d be pretty embarrassing, especially with so many people watching.
Or how about you tell me what you were planning to do to show me who’s boss, and I’ll return the favor?”
He Muman’s expression froze.
She’d planned to corner Qu Weichen somewhere quiet and humiliate her, make her kneel, slap herself, and beg for mercy, maybe even curse out that Warden a few times.
If Qu Weichen didn’t cooperate, someone in their group could use light healing magic—hurt her, heal her, and torment her for a while.
Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs again.
Qu Weichen turned her head and had to look up to see that it was Constance who’d arrived.
Constance paused as soon as she reached the floor, staring at the “masterpiece” in front of her, at a loss for words.
She’d thought… Qu Weichen would be getting beaten up, but instead, she’d pinned He Muman to the ground?
He Muman’s eyes instantly reddened when she saw who it was, from sheer anger.
“Are all of you at General Pingyuan’s house this dumb?” Constance hesitated, then could only sigh.
She’d thought she was here to clean up the mess.
“Alright, enough.
You’re all classmates now.
Why are you pinning the general’s daughter to the ground?”
“My bad.” Qu Weichen let go quickly and walked over to stand beside Constance.
She whispered, “You said someone would come looking for trouble, but they didn’t even know what I looked like.”
Constance was speechless.
She hadn’t expected people to be so sloppy about picking a fight.
“You go on ahead.
Your dorm is 1A-346, single room.
Everything’s been set up for you—go see if you need anything else.” Constance handed her a spatial ring.
“There’s a three-month stipend inside.
Just use your mind to access it.
I’ll handle things here.” Constance smiled at He Muman.
“Come on, you know the drill.
Let’s go to the Prison Sanctuary and have your dad come pick you up.”
Qu Weichen fiddled with the spatial ring, surprised that Constance had prepared all this for her.
So, was not telling her about Class Seven this morning a test, or did she just forget…?
Qu Weichen didn’t dwell on it.
She glanced at Tu Weierxi and her friends, and they all hurried downstairs together.
“You’re amazing.
I thought you were going to duel them.” Tu Weierxi couldn’t help but marvel, since Qu Weichen didn’t seem like the type to have a mean bone in her body.
“These are my good friends: Olona, Gexifei, and An Xiaonan.”
Each time Tu Weierxi introduced an elf, the little elf would bow gracefully.
They looked incredibly elegant.
“This is my new human friend, Qu Weichen.” Tu Weierxi said, glancing at her poised and proper friends with a bit of annoyance.
“Alright, alright, we all know you’re ladies.
Can’t you be a little more lively in private? Tell me, are there any interesting people or things in your magic class? The martial artist class is so boring—the teacher didn’t say anything and just told us to fight for territory ourselves.”
“Oh, it’s only the first day, what interesting people or things could there be? I don’t even know everyone’s names yet.” Olona waved her hand, twirling her golden hair around her finger.
“But there are a few good-looking ones, so it’s not all suffering.”
The elves quickly started chatting.
Qu Weichen didn’t join in, just listened.
But after a while… she realized these elves were all obsessed with looks.
Just listen to what they were talking about—nothing about the academy or cultivation, just marveling at the attractiveness of the various races in their class.
They even said they were tired of the typical elven look, and were surprised to find a giant in their class who looked pretty good.
Someone else said the cat-eared beastkin girl’s ears looked really soft, but since they’d only exchanged names and weren’t close yet, they’d wait until they were friends to try touching them.
Qu Weichen listened with mixed feelings and said to Number Nine in her heart, “I was wrong, I was so wrong.
I shouldn’t have had stereotypes about elves.”
Aside from their looks and talents, elves were no different from humans! Elves were so lively, so enthusiastic.
Qu Weichen listened to their nonstop chatter all the way to the academic office, with no sign of stopping.
The topics just kept coming, from class gossip to grade-wide discussions, then to the whole academy, even talking about how some teacher was a real beauty.
Qu Weichen started to suspect that the elves had a secret ranking of looks, and every elf kept it updated in their mind.
And… elves were already naturally good-looking as a race.
Then they started talking about the unique charms of each race, giving examples for each one.
At first, Qu Weichen just listened quietly because she wasn’t familiar with them, but later she realized she was completely outclassed and could only listen respectfully to the elves’ insights.
After picking up their books and putting them in their storage items, they headed to their dorms together.
But the dorms were divided by race, and the elves’ building was number three, so Qu Weichen had to go a different way.
She said goodbye to her elf sisters and headed for 1A-346.
Little did she know, as soon as she left, the elf girls started chatting excitedly.
“That human girl is so interesting.
She was so quiet the whole way, looked a bit shy listening to us, but when it came to fighting, she was ruthless.
Striking first—so cool.”
“Her skin doesn’t look that delicate, and there are calluses on her hands.
Her hair should be nice, but it’s not that smooth—she should eat better.
But from her background, she’s probably had a tough time.
Things will get better.”
“But her features are nice, even if she’s not fair and delicate.
She’s not the fragile type, which is just how I like it.” Gexifei paused, then couldn’t help but sigh, “But what’s up with that general’s daughter?”
“You’ll get used to it.
I think all those people in Uweno who hate the Prison Sanctuary Warden aren’t too bright, who knows why.” Tu Weierxi sighed.
“As far as I know, whether it’s General Pingyuan’s daughter or nobles from the Third Prince’s faction, their kids are all dumb as rocks.
They’re always looking for trouble, but never dare make a fuss in front of the Warden, just use underhanded tricks—and they’ve been called in for tea at the Prison Sanctuary more than once.”
It’s strange, really.
This kind of embarrassing thing keeps happening, but those people don’t care.
Even the Third Prince in the capital never scolds his embarrassing subordinates… Tu Weierxi thought she really couldn’t understand the “scheming” of Uweno’s humans.
The ones who went up against the Warden seemed downright brainless.
