I have the best bloodline

The decision of who qualified, who won awards, and who took first place was entirely made by Grand Tutor Jin, the headmaster of Yongle Academy.

Master Jin Tai will give all teams a comprehensive score based on various factors, and the team with the highest score will win.

"It's okay to tell you the truth, Su Yan's current score is excellent. Because of the invasion from the Southern Frontier and the Eternal Life Cult, the difficulty has increased, so he got a relatively high score."

Grand Tutor Jin smiled and said, "However, there is still a gap between you and a perfect score. If you can see through the power struggles behind the scenes between the Crimson King's Mansion, the Flower District, and the Southern Frontier District, you should be able to get a perfect score."

Su Yan's team is a key observation group, and Grand Tutor Jin has high expectations for them.

Unfortunately, they were too honest and their principles of conduct were too conservative. They did not make good use of the time they had to arrive in the flower region a week early. Otherwise, they would have been more composed and even forced the feigning Red King to send troops to suppress the invasion from the Southern Frontier.

"Rules are both order and constraint. The rules set by His Majesty and his officials are meant to allow you weaklings to live like human beings in the Xia Yu Dynasty, and also to restrain those lawless and powerful individuals."

"Whether it's speaking openly or implicitly, whether it's the Flower District, the Xia Yu Dynasty, or even the cultivation world."

Grand Tutor Jin rose from his chair, walked to the shelf by the wall, took out a bag, retrieved the storage ring that Su Yan had left there, tossed it to him, and said with a smile to Su Yan:

"Think about what I said during your holiday. I hope you can show outstanding performance after you return from the funeral, because the first place winner this year will receive a mystery reward."

"As for the reward... well, it's better if we keep it a little mysterious. If we say too much, you won't find it interesting anymore."

Grand Tutor Jin smiled broadly and gave Su Yan some pointers and bait, hoping that he could show some impressive skills when he returned from his vacation.

Although he spoke a lot, he only had two central ideas.

First, examine your own identity and status.

Second, learn to use the rules set by the strong.

The weak should not try to break the unspoken rules, but should instead support the rules set by the strong. Only by understanding and mastering the rules of the game can one more rationally manage the resources around them.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing how they perform. I wonder if they dare to put the Crimson King in his place. That greedy fat man has a lot of dirt on him. If we dig deeper and use our power, we should be able to put him in his place. But I doubt they'd dare to be so arrogant."

Grand Tutor Jin smiled with a slightly mocking expression, then looked out the window and said, "Want to make a bet?"

........................

"What are you thinking about?"

After leaving Grand Tutor Jin's private room, Auntie noticed that Su Yan seemed to be thinking about something and asked him about it.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering what the mysterious reward the dean mentioned was," Su Yan said.

"Tsk—"

Auntie spat at Su Yan, flipped a silver card and complained, "Instead of thinking about those old ghosts' promises, you should be thinking about what to eat tonight. Maybe if you work hard and get first place, he'll be all smiles and give you his underwear as a reward. Any promise that doesn't specify the reward is just a lie!"

"Dean, surely he wouldn't go that far?"

"Who knows?"

The aunt and nephew walked out of the pavilion. The aunt earnestly lectured Su Yan, saying that he should not easily believe the promises made by the old ghost. It is best to believe half of them and keep a skeptical attitude towards the other half.

The two were going downstairs, planning to have lunch and then return to the Flower City for a short rest before informing their friends that they had asked for leave to attend the banquet.

Just then, Su Yan and her aunt ran into the Crimson King, who was inspecting the progress of the repair work, while they were having dinner.

The monkeys demonstrated their initiative and repaired the outer wall of Luohe Residence at full speed, not daring to slack off in the slightest until the Red King and his party left.

Have you selected a monkey yet?

While settling the bill with the maid, the aunt asked the exhausted monkeys lying on the ground, "No choice."

"I!"

One of the exhausted monkeys raised its hand and spoke in human language to indicate its willingness to follow. It then pointed to the other four monkeys: "Them."

"By the way, aren't you the Red King's monkeys? Is it alright for you to come with me to the government office now?"

"Squeak squeak squeak."

The monkeys covered their faces and cried. They were not the Red King's monkeys at all; they were just free wild monkeys who lived in the mountains and forests. When the Red King had something to do, he would order the monkeys to come to the Red King's palace to work. If there was nothing to do, the monkeys would continue to squat in the mountains and forests, picking lice and playing.

Waaaaah. That liar, Red King, always promised us a permanent position, but in reality, he always tricked us into doing day-wage odd jobs in the city with low pay.

It was fine if Auntie didn't mention work, but as soon as she did, the five clever monkeys couldn't help but hug each other and burst into tears.

"What a pitiful one... no, a whole group of clever monkeys."

After eating and drinking to her heart's content, Su Yan leaned on her aunt's shoulder and complained about the Red King's heartless act of defrauding laborers.

"So my aunt said that half of those old ghosts' promises are enough." My aunt smiled.

"Well, there should still be true feelings in the world." Su Yan rubbed her aunt's cheek, smiling mischievously, and flattered her, saying, "A kind and beautiful senior like my aunt is very reliable!"

"Your auntie isn't buying it. Save your sweet talk for those little vixens." Auntie thoroughly enjoyed Su Yan's flattery, but still didn't forget to tap him on the head to stop him from flirting with her.

"Go back and pack your clothes, say goodbye to your friends, and then your aunt will take you to the beach. Although that old mosquito is not a martial artist and holds three or five tables for weddings and funerals every year, the scenery at his house is really nice, and you can often see fellow Daoists dressed in light clothing."

"Little fox, try harder, be bolder!"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 219 Blackwater City

Su Yan and her aunt returned to the government office from the Red King's Mansion and saw Lian Qi meditating with his eyes closed.

Bai Ze's backhand slap was incredibly powerful, even breaking through Lian Qi's mutated Earth Immortal body.

Earthly immortals are immune to heat and cold, and are neither hungry nor thirsty. Without unique tricks to fight earthly immortals, one cannot even cause any effective harm to them.

This is why cultivators at the Integration Stage are revered as terrestrial immortals in the mortal world.

They have transcended the mundane cycle of sickness, old age, and death; if they wish to live on, they can truly live until the end of time.

The 'Celestial Beings' at the very top of the cultivation world are special beings with no records whatsoever; their existence has always been a legend passed down orally among cultivators.

After observing Lian Qi for a while, Su Yan stopped lingering in the courtyard of the government office and quickly told her friends that she needed to leave for a few days, leaving them some delicious food as well.

As the saying goes, "If you become rich and powerful, don't forget your friends."

Su Yan has now retrieved his storage ring, and all the pills and special ingredients inside are back.

Although the rules prohibit giving spirit stones directly and all expenses for the academy's spring outing must be earned by oneself, the rules do not say that ingredients cannot be given. Su Yan does not intend to sell those special ingredients; he will keep them all to eat slowly after attending the banquet.

If you can't finish it, you can give it as a gift; otherwise, flower-growing regions really don't have anything worth giving away.

It's not that there aren't any, but those high-end purchases are something that even Su Yan, in her prime, wouldn't be willing to spend, let alone now when everyone is dirt poor. Only a rich little girl like Princess Wuxi would be willing to buy them.

"This jar contains royal jelly, which you should drink with water morning and night. These are Spirit Gathering Pills and Bone Forging Pills, and there are more..."

Su Yan pulled out several large boxes before finally stopping, saying, "I'd appreciate it if you could keep them safe for me for now, so that the dean won't confiscate my storage ring when I come back from out of town."

"Can elixirs really be taken like this?"

When Zhou You saw that Su Yan was taking pills by the box, he couldn't help but complain.

It's understandable to drink royal jelly dissolved in water morning and night, but Su Yan actually takes pills one bottle at a time, with the maximum capacity of a ceramic bottle being the size of ten mass-produced pills.

A small box can hold about ten ceramic bottles.

Can pills really be taken like this? It's not that Zhou You is naive, but he simply can't understand why Su Yan uses such a large dosage. Isn't she afraid of damaging her meridians with excessive spiritual energy?

Or is it that the demon race's physique is truly that powerful?

"can."

Qingya responded to Zhou You's complaint, saying, "It is indeed possible for cultivators with a large amount of spiritual energy reserves to take such large doses of pills."

"It's just not cost-effective. Usually, only cultivators with a lot of spirit stones at home would take medicine like this, exchanging a large amount of spirit stones for time. This is common among human cultivators with the wood element."

"."

Lian Qi slowly opened his eyes, glancing with a slightly worried expression at Su Yan, who was leaving beside Chong Qiong.

"Is this considered fleeing overnight to escape a plague?"

Lian Qi shook his head and resumed his meditation and breathing exercises.

When Su Yan was in fox form, Lian Qi didn't pay attention to Su Yan's existence. Even when Chong Qiong came to visit the injured Su Yan, he didn't care much, because the Xia Yu Dynasty was famous in the cultivation world for its fox-worshiping culture.

It wasn't until Su Yan revealed his human form and he saw the similarities between his brows and the previous coincidences that Lian Qicai became certain about some of Su Yan's affairs.

The transformation of demons into human form is not a matter of simply creating a shape; Su Yan's foxy, alluring eyes are clearly inherited from Su Qing.

Some things are said to be heard by others, while others are said to be heard by bystanders.

While seemingly conversing with Chong Qiong, she was actually seeking Su Yan's opinion.

........................

Having already left the Flower City, Su Yan was clearly unaware of Lian Qi's inner thoughts.

Su Yan, beaming with joy, leaned on his aunt's shoulder and asked about the scenery of the place where the Mosquito Taoist was located.

Mosquito Taoist: Hong Ling is not a normal demon. She lives in Blackwater City, which is located in the southwest near the sea. She is a family heirloom that was cultivated by a family of cultivators using secret methods and resources to prevent the family from completely declining and disappearing.

Passed down from generation to generation, until now, the once powerful family of cultivators has completely declined and disappeared, leaving only some clansmen without cultivation talent, who are protected by Hong Ling.

The Blackwater City where Hongling is located is near the sea and has relatively abundant marine resources. The most eye-catching feature is a dark river that flows out from the Imperial Capital Mountain and eventually merges into the vast ocean.

Su Yan had never been to the beach before, so she was full of anticipation for the trip her aunt had mentioned.

Instead of flying over to Blackwater City where Mosquito Taoist was located, Auntie found the commercial teleportation array in the Crimson King's Mansion and took Su Yan directly through the array to the southwest.

This is not Blackwater City, but a coastal city not far from Blackwater City.

While teleportation arrays are convenient, they have both advantages and disadvantages. Not every city builds one; for example, Xia Yu City, where Su Yan currently resides, does not have a commercial two-way teleportation array.

"The coastal city is rather chaotic in terms of security, so it's best to remain in human form unless absolutely necessary, to avoid being abducted by unscrupulous cultivators for unknown purposes."

My aunt glanced sideways, raised her hand, pinched the little fox that was lying on her shoulder, too lazy to walk, and gave her a word of advice.

Unlike the Xia Dynasty, there is no custom here that a village cannot exist without a fox spirit. Therefore, Su Yan does not have any special privileges in keeping the little fox. On the contrary, he may be targeted by some people with ill intentions.

Every part of a demon beast is a treasure. When it is alive, it can be used for labor or as a mount. After it dies, it can be used for refining weapons or medicine. If you encounter a powerful demon, you can just die. Poverty is much worse than death!

Coastal cities are rich in marine resources, attracting either merchants or cultivators who dive to the sea to gather resources for sale. Normal people, or rather, normal cultivators, wouldn't live by the sea.

This is the edge of the sea monster territory, and it is not uncommon to occasionally encounter a powerful dragon.

Normal cultivators or families cannot withstand being beaten by sea beasts every three to five years, so they would not choose to settle on the coast. Instead, they would choose to settle in inland cities that are relatively far from the coast.

In other words, the cultivators living on the coast are mostly people who would die for money. A top-quality fox demon like Su Yan could fetch at least 10,000 to 20,000 jin of spirit stones if sold to the Xia Yu Dynasty.

At that point, it will truly be a case of exporting and then reselling domestically.