"Hall Master, the list of exchange students from Shrek Academy has been delivered."
Inside the Illustrious Virtue Hall, Lin Jiayi handed a name list to Jing Hongchen. His face carried a trace of exhaustion, and even his figure seemed to have become somewhat thinner.
"Good, bring it here." Jing Hongchen took the list from Lin Jiayi's hand and glanced over it briefly. "It seems Shrek Academy has shown considerable sincerity. That Huo Yuhao is indeed on the list as agreed."
After speaking, Lin Jiayi remained silent for a long time. Jing Hongchen looked up and saw that Lin Jiayi seemed to be lost in thought.
"Jiayi, Jiayi!"
"Yes, Hall Master." Lin Jiayi snapped back to attention.
"Have you been too tired from handling the exchange student matters lately, or..." Jing Hongchen drew out his words, "Are you thinking about that disciple of yours?"
"Yes." Lin Jiayi's voice grew low. "Lin Xiao was truly the most outstanding disciple I have ever seen, it's just that..."
Jing Hongchen let out a soft sigh and put down the list in his hand. "I never told you this before, but no matter how high Lin Xiao's talent was, he could never touch the deepest core secrets of Illustrious Virtue Hall."
"Hall Master, why?"
Jing Hongchen glanced at Lin Jiayi. "Have you never suspected Lin Xiao's background? Among all the noble families of the Sun Moon Empire, how many clans named Lin have connections with me?"
"You know those noble families well. Do you think Lin Xiao could come from one of them? Or have you been deliberately avoiding this question?"
Lin Jiayi sighed softly and did not respond, but in his heart, he already knew the answer.
Back then, Lin Xiao had entered the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy through a special recruitment quota. At that time, Xu Jing had just come to power, and most of the students in that batch had some connection to the forces around Xu Jing.
The only non-noble person who could get close to Jing Hongchen was the one force that even Xu Jing was unwilling to mention openly.
Jing Hongchen watched the constantly changing expressions on Lin Jiayi's face and stood up. "Whether soul master or soul engineer, the path of cultivation is never smooth sailing, and the force Lin Xiao belongs to is especially prone to danger."
"Perhaps he encountered a soul beast, or met with danger while obtaining a soul ring, or perhaps he ran into certain people." Jing Hongchen patted Lin Jiayi's shoulder.
"In the past two years, news of evil soul master strongholds being destroyed within the Sun Moon Empire has been frequent. You must have seen many such reports."
"I just feel it's such a pity that a child like him disappeared just like that." Lin Jiayi shook his head. "His talent, his ideas, and his philosophy regarding soul tools—I can say he was more outstanding than most of the students I have ever seen."
"Indeed, and he contributed considerably in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duelling Tournament. It was also because of him that Xiao Hongchen settled down a lot back then." Jing Hongchen continued along with Lin Jiayi's words.
"Although we are at odds with Shrek Academy, I truly envy the talent of their students. In our Sun Moon Royal Academy, there are far too few with talent comparable to Shrek's."
"I also quite admired Lin Xiao. Unfortunately, when he didn't return to Illustrious Virtue Hall on time, I had already asked the Holy Spirit Cult's leader. Even the Holy Spirit Cult has no idea of Lin Xiao's whereabouts."
Hearing this, Lin Jiayi slightly lowered his head. "Then there probably really is no news."
"Hall Master, there isn't much time left until the date we agreed upon with Shrek Academy. I'll go arrange the teachers and dormitories for them first." After a moment of silence, Lin Jiayi spoke again, changing the subject.
"Mm, go ahead."
Jing Hongchen nodded.
However, just as Lin Jiayi opened the door and was about to leave, a figure quickly ran over and nearly collided with him.
"There are many precision soul tools stored in Illustrious Virtue Hall. Be careful how you act." After seeing who it was, Lin Jiayi slightly frowned.
"Yes, Director Lin." Ma Rulong, still panting for breath, earnestly replied.
"What is it? Speak slowly."
"Director Lin, while I was testing a soul tool, I fished Senior Brother Lin out of the sea."
Lin Jiayi paused for a moment upon hearing this. Before he could speak, Ma Rulong added another sentence: "It's Senior Brother Lin Xiao."
"Where is he now?"
"He's already been sent to the academy's infirmary."
Lin Jiayi no longer cared what "fished out of the sea" exactly meant. Without waiting for Ma Rulong to finish, he strode toward the infirmary.
Ma Rulong scratched his head as he watched Lin Jiayi's departing back, then turned to look into the room and found Jing Hongchen's gaze fixed on him.
"Tell me, how exactly did you fish him out of the sea?"
"Oh, yes, Hall Master." Ma Rulong nodded and stepped forward, beginning with the underwater soul tool experiment.
On the other side, after Lin Jiayi hurriedly arrived at the infirmary, he happened to see the treating soul master slowly shaking his head as he walked out of the ward.
Lin Jiayi immediately stepped forward. "How is Lin Xiao?"
The soul master looked up, saw Lin Jiayi, and suddenly remembered the relationship between the person inside and this Director of Teaching. He quickly pressed Lin Jiayi's shoulder.
"Director Lin, there's no need to worry. His condition is very good. I was shaking my head earlier only because I've never seen such strange symptoms."
"It appears he has entered a special meditative state. Judging from his physical condition, he hasn't eaten for quite a long time, yet there is a peculiar power within his body sustaining his vitality and compensating for his bodily consumption."
"And the student who sent him said he was fished up from the seabed." The soul master smiled and shook his head. "In all my years treating patients, I've never seen a human who could survive underwater for an extended period."
"If our humanity could really popularise this kind of ability, what would be the point of researching underwater soul tools? Those sea soul beasts would long have fallen within our hunting range."
"Moreover, I checked—there are no signs of asphyxiation in his mouth or nose. I don't know what happened that made that student tell such a lie."
Lin Jiayi patiently listened to the soul master in front of him before slowly speaking. "May I go in to see him?"
"Of course you may, but it's best not to disturb him too much; otherwise, when he exits that meditative state, he might suffer some adverse effects."
"Good." Lin Jiayi nodded and pushed open the door to Lin Xiao's ward.
After not seeing him for a year, Lin Xiao's appearance seemed not to have changed much from before. Lin Jiayi stood quietly by Lin Xiao's side, wanting to say something but hesitating to speak for a long time.
Perhaps at the very beginning, he had accepted Lin Xiao as a disciple only because of Jing Hongchen, but after spending so much time together, he had long since regarded Lin Xiao as his true disciple.
After a long silence, Lin Jiayi finally let out a soft sigh.
"It's good that you're back."
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