Ye Futian played the guqin for a long while before he stopped. He sighed with a particular sadness. He felt empty deep inside after his fox was gone.
"Stop your fake sadness. The City of Qingzhou belongs to East Sea Prefecture, and the City of Donghai is the capital. You can get there simply by sailing through the East Sea, and I don't believe that you don't know this." Hua Fengliu looked at Ye Futian and said, "I know you'll leave once you reach the Glory Plane. With your talent and effort, it would be several months at most. Don't tell me you have no interest in this."
"Uh…" Ye Futian blinked his eyes and looked at Hua Fengliu. "As much as you already know, could you please just save me some honor? To reveal my plan like this makes me sound like a horrible person."
"How far did you go last night?" Hua Fengliu asked Ye Futian with a smirk.
Ye Futian felt really embarrassed and stressed. He had finally realized there was a difference between a professor and a father-in-law. Apparently, Mr. Hua was transitioning between the two roles smoothly.
His embarrassment actually made Hua Fengliu laugh. He told Ye Futian, "Just stay here until you reach the Glory Plane. You'll make it soon."
"Sure, Pro— father-in-law." Ye Futian understood Mr. Hua's plan. Now his professor was supervising him on behalf of his girlfriend, and the only way to regain freedom was to reach the Glory Plane.
"You glib-tongued boy," Hua Fengliu smiled at him and said, "I will teach you the songs I gave you before."
"Yes, sir." Ye Futian nodded. Since this man was going to be his father-in-law, there was no reason not to obey his orders.
Time passed by and the students of Qingzhou Academy came back to school after the break. Yu Sheng went to Mr. Hua's place to look for Ye Futian. Sometimes they went to Mount Tianyao for cultivation, sometimes they practiced songs in the yard.
One day, Ye Futian was sitting in the pavilion with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he felt that something was happening in his soul. He focused and all the fire-element Spiritual Qi of the universe gathered into a scarlet form around his body.
It was dusk, and the orange sunlight fell on his body. Ye Futian started freedom meditation to perceive the vast essence of the universe. Soon after, constant flames concentrated over his body. It was not merely just Spiritual Qi at all. In fact, it had taken solid form, and the space around Ye Futian was turned into flaming territory.
"Now his Spiritual Qi comes into form." Hua Fengliu happened to pass by and noticed the new progress made by Ye Futian. He smiled, genuinely pleased and proud.
Ye Futian opened his eyes. He laughed and mumbled, "That's the Glory Plane of Sorcery for me."
"Professor," he greeted Hua Fengliu.
"Since you have reached a new level of sorcery, the next step should be to break through in your martial arts," Hua Fengliu smiled and told him, then gave Ye Futian a letter. "Hua Jieyu sent it."
"Fox sent me a letter?" Ye Futian's eyes twinkled. He snatched the letter and could not wait to open it.
The letter said, "You lecherous boy, I dare you not to flirt, or even talk, with other girls while I am away. I know it's just unfair to you that I had to leave. But I promise you that when you come to Donghai city, I will compensate you for everything, big time."
"Compensate me for everything?" Ye Futian felt excited about this "everything." He could not stop thinking about Hua Jieyu's beautiful face and her curvy body that he saw the night before she left. In fact, he almost wanted to leave now.
This girl knew him so well that she was throwing him a daring temptation.
"How do you want to reply?" Hua Fengliu smiled at Ye Futian.
"Professor, you peeked at the letter before giving it to me, didn't you?" Ye Futian demanded when he saw Hua Fengliu's eyes. On the envelope of the letter was written: "Ye Futian's eyes only."
"Huh, why do you think that I would do that?" Hua Fengliu tried to sound harsh.
However, it didn't work at all. The way Ye Futian looked at him indicated that he didn't believe him at all.
"The messenger bird is still here. Reply soon, or I'll let her go," Hua Fengliu changed the topic. Ye Futian was frustrated. His professor was shameless too.
"Help me reply and just say 'Fox, wait for me,'" Ye Futian told Hua Fengliu because he didn't dare add anything else to the reply, since it was apparently being monitored by his father-in-law.
"Okay." Hua Fengliu smiled and left. This snooping had severely damaged the image of his greatness in Ye Futian's mind.
Bang, bang… Someone was stomping on the ground outside. Ye Futian felt like it was almost as strong as an earthquake. Soon, he saw it was Yu Sheng who was charging into the place. He was running so fast that his harsh steps actually cracked the ground.
"What's going on?" Ye Futian knew that there must be a reason for him to be in such a rush.
"A monster tide is coming." Yu Sheng was serious.
Ye Futian was shocked by this news. According to the historical profile, there had been several monster tides over the course of the city's history, and every one of them had been considered catastrophic. Countless people died because of these disasters. The tide stopped three hundred years ago when the nation was unified. In fact, the main reason that Qingzhou Academy was built near Mount Tianyao was to prevent the monster tide. Fortunately, a monster tide had not come once during the last three hundred years. It had been such a long time that people had almost forgotten how horrifying it was.
Hua Fengliu heard what he said, and he suddenly rushed to Yu Sheng's side. "Yu Sheng, are you sure that this is a monster tide?"
"Definitely," Yu Sheng nodded, "And it was possibly manmade. I actually saw some powerful sorcerers driving the monster herd."
"Man-made?" Ye Futian and Hua Fengliu felt terrible about this. The people who had started this monster tide were committing such a serious felony. If the monster herd in Mount Tianyao broke out of the restricted area, thousands of people would die.
"I will inform the academy. Ye Futian, go find General Qin and his daughter," Hua Fengliu commanded.
Ye Futian nodded. He knew that the Dark Kylin Knighthood under the command of General Qin was the most reliable force to help guard the city. If there was indeed a monster tide coming to the city, the force of Dark Kylin Knighthood needed to be activated.
They didn't even think about seeking any help from the City Lord. He had been nominated by the provincial government and was not a native of the city. It was possible he would be the first one to leave when such a crisis came.
Hua Fengliu hurried to the academy right after he made the command.
"Let's move," Ye Futian told Yu Sheng. They left the house, then ran to the location of the Dark Kylin Knighthood.
The official students and general students of Qingzhou Academy were located in different regions. The areas for the cultivation of martial arts and divination arts were also separate.
The School of Martial Arts was located on the mountainside. The arrival of Ye Futian and Yu Sheng quickly raised a lot of attention. They had become quite famous even among the official students. In fact, most of the students had witnessed the fight when Heiyan Academy intruded and challenged them.
"Why are you here?" someone asked.
"I'm here for Ms. Qin. Do you know where she is?" Ye Futian said.
"Looks like it's an emergency." The student looked at Ye Futian, "However, since you have quit the academy, you are not allowed to enter according to the rules."
"This is urgent," Ye Futian insisted.
The student realized that Ye Futian was here to warn of something serious, then he said, "I saw Ms. Qin go to the place of the Dark Kylin. I guess she was going to hone her riding and archery skills. Go ahead and find her."
"Thanks," Ye Futian responded, then ran to the practice area of the Dark Kylin Knighthood. However, on his way there, some people blocked him. Mo Lanshan looked at Ye Futian with contempt and said, "This is the School of Martial Arts. You are not allowed to enter this place. Leave now."
"I have an emergency for Ms. Qin. A monster tide is coming to the city." Ye Futian remembered this guy. The first time his natal spirit awakened, Mo Lanshan had invited Yu Sheng to join the Dark Kylin, and then tried to humiliate Ye Futian badly. A student from the School of Sorcery had once told Ye Futian that Mo Lanshan had feelings for Ms. Qin. It looked like he was jealous now.
"A monster tide hasn't occurred for more than three hundred years in this city. How could this be true without even a slight sign? Even if it was true, how are you the first one to see it coming? Stop trying to look for Qin Yi with such a lame excuse, boy," Mo Lanshan responded in a cold voice. When he was with Qin Yi, he had always talked maliciously about Ye Futian, but what Ye Futian had done just made him look like a total fool. Qin Yi had a bone to pick with him because of his contempt for Ye Futian.
What was intolerable for him was that Ye Futian used to flirt with Qin Yi so often. They had even hugged…
"I have no time for games with you. Back off." Ye Futian meant it. He knew that Yu Sheng would not give a false alarm for such an emergency. If the city were unprepared for the monster tide, buildings would be wiped out, and thousands would die.
Mo Lanshan was humiliated by Ye Futian's attitude. He believed that Ye Futian was embarrassing him only because of his contempt in the past.
"People say that Hua Jieyu has left the city. No wonder you're so desperate. Even someone as talented as you can't be matched with a perfect beauty like her, am I right? And you just changed your target?" Mo Lanshan started to humiliate Ye Futian, believing that Ye Futian was after Qin Yi because he had failed to pursue Hua Jieyu.
Bang! Yu Sheng stomped on the ground, a frenzy of energy all around his body. The group around Mo Lanshan frowned at Yu Sheng, and they prepared to fight. Someone said, "This is our place. You better not try to fight us here."
Ye Futian stared at Mo Lanshan. He was determined, knowing that it was the only way to solve this meaningless quarrel.
"Yu Sheng, are you ready?" Ye Futian asked.
"Sure," Yu Sheng nodded.
Ye Futian gave a simple order. "Go!"
As soon as he finished the command, Yu Sheng charged right toward the group to attack them.