Chapter 75 Ceremony: Revitalizing the Cultivation World (75% complete)

Su Xiaoyao saw with her own eyes that Shen Suqi's head jerked forward, and her eyes, which had reopened, were empty and lifeless.

She continued to nod drowsily, her eyes were open, but upon closer inspection, she was asleep.

Seeing others dozing off made her even more sleepy. Su Xiaoyao dared not look anymore, shook her head and struggled to open her eyes, slightly craning her neck to look at Jun Feibai, who was reciting the academy's rules in a completely emotionless voice at the bottom of the tiered classroom.

This hypnotic skill is at least at the level of a headmaster.

His gaze then shifted to Jun Huilian, who was sitting quietly not far away.

Jun Huilian faced the tiered seating area, his posture not exactly strict but still respectable. In front of him was a wooden plaque inscribed with the words "Butler - Jun Laiye," and the empty seat to his right had a plaque that read "Deputy Butler - Jun Xiaohei."

She held a cup of hot tea in both hands, took a small sip, and perhaps because the tea was scalding hot, she slightly opened her mouth and exhaled a breath of hot air. The whole set of movements was smooth and seamless.

The naturalness and ease of this posture, the familiarity and warmth it evoked in Su Xiaoyao, instantly pulled her thoughts back to the scenes of school leaders giving speeches in her past life.

The only difference was that the thermos cups held by the school leaders were replaced with celadon teacups.

At times like these, even the most determined students would feel drowsy, and she was no exception.

Su Xiaoyao yawned, pressed her shoulders back, and stretched in a small, inconspicuous way.

When she looked up again, Shen Suqi's head was almost touching the shoulder of the person in front of her.

She quickly pulled the person back.

"Hmm? Good morning? Is it over?" Shen Suqi asked, opening her sleepy eyes.

"Shh." Su Xiaoyao put her index finger to her lips. "Not yet, keep your voice down."

Shen Suqi squinted several times before she could clear her blurry vision.

She exclaimed, "No wonder everyone is looking forward to the opening ceremony. You're the only one who wants to wear pajamas. We are cultivators who can go without sleep for ten days without any problem, yet you actually... it's truly terrifying."

Su Xiaoyao patted her shoulder: "You'll get used to it."

The two of them sat on the edge of the weapon repair class and the talisman repair class, respectively. Among the students who were clearly divided into different classes, one in blue and one in red, their slightest movement made them stand out.

"Look at that fur collar on your front, your face is practically tucked into the fur, it looks so comfortable. She was so prescient, I should have brought my own pillow too!" Su Xiaoyao lamented.

She was referring to Fu Xiu, the man in the red-collared velvet shirt she had seen before.

Su Xiaoyao was whispering when she suddenly met Jun Huilian's gaze, and she immediately sat up straight.

"Hang in there, Xiaoye said the opening ceremony will be edited into a video and released on the official website. If we perform well, we can get more screen time," she said in a low voice.

She didn't use telepathy. The technique of telepathy is similar to accessing different channels with different levels. For example, a Golden Core cultivator can enter the channel of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but the unique channel is encrypted for Foundation Establishment cultivators. Unless you create your own unique password, Golden Core cultivators and above can crack their telepathy if they want to.

Shen Suqi's dejected and weary expression vanished, and she straightened her back, her spirits radiating.

Su Xiaoyao gave her a thumbs up for her change of expression.

On stage, Jun Huilian looked at the screen that others couldn't see, scanning the zombie-like faces on the video, and felt dissatisfied with the footage.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, and Jun Feibai sensed her thoughts, stopping his lips from moving as he recited his words.

"Disband."

The loudspeaker filled the hall, and instantly the sounds of tables and chairs colliding filled the air.

"Cough cough!"

A few scattered individuals, not lost in thought, exchanged glances until their eyelids twitched.

After a moment's hesitation, the students realized they were being tricked, broke out in a cold sweat, and stiffly sat back down in their seats, all sleepiness gone.

They felt incredibly guilty when they met the seemingly smiling yet enigmatic eyes of the woman enjoying tea.

Jun Huilian is not a person who cares about rules. She doesn't like tense and serious atmospheres. Young people can be a little lazy, as long as they don't fall behind in cultivation. When she was a rogue cultivator, she was never strict with herself. She would be serious when she needed to be, and relaxed when she needed to be, just like everyone else.

Jun Huilian looked at the vibrant faces and couldn't help but smile as he recalled the past.

She was in a very good mood after teasing the students, and slowly said:

"Today's opening ceremony will be posted on the official website and can also be viewed on the intranet."

Everyone immediately tensed up, feeling as if they had a thorn in their side.

From the moment they arrived on the island, they felt an unprecedented sense of freedom, almost forgetting that countless eyes were watching them from the outside world.

In the blink of an eye, the students' lazy demeanor underwent a dramatic transformation.

No one touched the shoulder of the person in front of them anymore; everyone sat upright, adopting the demeanor of someone attending a banquet on an important occasion.

Even someone as uninhibited as Su Xiaoyao sat up straight.

She glanced at Shen Suqi's bright red dress beside her, then looked down at her own light blue dress. The contrast between red and blue was too stark, forcing her to give up whispering to her friend, otherwise it would be too obvious.

She kept her head still, her eyes quickly scanning the surroundings.

Due to the tacit understanding between the group members, the stepped room almost formed a color block matrix.

Apart from Helian Yi, who stands out from the crowd.

That guy, dressed in a purple and gold robe, somehow sat in the very center of the sword cultivator class, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Although the seating arrangement seemed random, Su Xiaoyao knew that this guy was definitely doing it on purpose. He liked this kind of subtle showing off, and there was no possibility of any coincidence.

After all, she was one of his own kind and could completely understand his thoughts from his perspective.

snort.

Su Xiaoyao scoffed inwardly, and after scoffing, her heart grew increasingly itchy.

She was furious. Why wasn't she the one showing off?

Jun Feibai continued reading the rules of the manor, and after finishing the last one, he raised his eyes.

The students in front of him all looked very serious, but his keen intuition told him otherwise.

They were busy striking poses and subtly competing with each other, completely ignoring what was being said.

However, he didn't care. Ever since this document was drafted, neither he nor Jun Huilian had the patience to read it in its entirety, let alone the group of young cultivators sitting below who were in their prime.

It seems reasonable to punish someone by making them copy texts after they make a mistake. The ironclad rule that they painstakingly established by consulting many books should have some effect.

He was lost in thought when Jun Huilian got up and pulled him back to reality.

Jun Huilian was initially too lazy to move, but he simply couldn't bear to watch the scene of everyone on and off the stage seemingly lost in thought.

"Next, please welcome the outstanding student representatives—the top three students in the entrance examination—to the stage to give a speech." She went out and went through the procedure.

Helian Yi, who came in second place, and Jiang Yun, who came in third, knew that cameras were pointed at them, so they controlled their expressions.

But they felt lost and helpless.

Nobody mentioned this procedure!

In fact, Jun Huilian, who was supposed to give a speech, suffered from procrastination and hadn't written a speech yet, so he simply changed the schedule to make up for the time.

Amidst thunderous applause, Su Xiaoyao, who ranked first in the overall entrance examination, was the first to react and stand up.

"Fortunately, I came in fourth." Shen Suqi slowly clapped twice along with the crowd, her lips moving but her voice audible.

She knew this was an unexpected event; otherwise, Su Xiaoyao and the others wouldn't have kept it from her if they had made any moves.

She widened her eyes and managed her facial expressions perfectly, silently encouraging and praying for her friends with a compassionate gaze.

In contrast, Su Xiaoyao, who should have been the most anxious and flustered as the first person to go on stage, remained the most composed. She smiled, nodded to the students on her left and right, and walked calmly onto the platform.

Only those who pay very close attention can notice that she walks half a step slower than usual, but in the eyes of the public, this is called composure and self-control.

"Good morning, leaders, teachers, and students. I am Su Xiaoyao, and it is an honor to speak on behalf of the students."

When Su Xiaoyao stood on the high platform, she revealed her signature smile almost without any deliberate effort.

"I feel like I've seen this somewhere before," Helian Yi, who was waiting below the stage, said for no apparent reason.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yun chimed in, "Very familiar."

They exchanged a glance and clearly saw the emotion in each other's eyes evolve from doubt to sudden enlightenment.

"An illusion." They all blurted out the same answer in unison.

Su Xiaoyao's expression was exactly like when she was a class monitor in her school days. This good student look was too deceptive.

"No wonder it makes my teeth itch," Helian Yi suddenly realized.

To paraphrase Su Xiaoyao's original world, where they briefly stayed, what ordinary student would like a class leader who puts on airs in front of the teacher?

If the class monitor were really a well-behaved child, that would be fine, but they knew Su Xiaoyao's personality all too well; she could switch between two faces with ease.

Then look at Jun Huilian, who is resting his chin on his hand and smiling as he looks at the stage, his knuckles lightly tapping the table, clearly in a posture of appreciation and praise.

Alright, the teacher has been bewitched by the "good student," case closed.

On stage, Su Xiaoyao delivered a moving and expressive performance.

"Today is a special day, the opening ceremony of Tianyan Academy. I am filled with emotion as I stand at a new starting point after passing through numerous tests."

She paused for a moment, then adopted a completely different demeanor.

"As the saying goes, those who set their goals have the foundation for action..."

Su Xiaoyao began with a classic quote, and her entire speech was clearly organized. Coupled with her rhythmic and melodious tone, it was hard for an observer to imagine that she had not prepared beforehand.

She had indeed prepared her speech in the short time it took her to walk from the audience to the stage, and then she delivered the entire speech without a single pause.

After finishing her speech, she casually tossed her stray hairs, walked off the stage with her head held high, and gave a friendly smile as she passed Jiang Yun and Helian Yi, who were standing in a line with stiff backs.

"I've bought you a lot of time, so behave yourself," she said.

"You go first, second place."

Jiang Yun displayed the drifting movement of a ghost cultivator. On the surface, his feet did not move, but his body pulled back a lot, leaving Helian Yi standing alone a body length ahead.

"You!" Helian Yi, unusually, couldn't keep his expression down.

After his expression changed several times, he finally flicked his sleeve and let out a cold snort from his nose.

He should indeed have gone on stage before Jiang Yun, but Jiang Yun's gesture of taking a step back just looked so unpleasant.

When he stepped onto the stage, he displayed a completely different speaking style from Su Xiaoyao.

"I look forward to being challenged, and I also look forward to being the first to step onto the stage next time."

His central idea was expressed in a concise and to-the-point sentence.

The audience erupted in uproar.

Helian Yi paid no attention to the discussions and stares of the crowd. He turned around with an air of aloofness, his movements more graceful than those of the person who had stood in that position before.

“You’ve been provoked, provoked in public.” Jiang Yun summarized the key points and relayed them to Su Xiaoyao.

Su Xiaoyao leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, raising her eyebrows without getting angry: "No, no, no, he provoked you, but he can't provoke me, because—as long as I'm here, he will never be the first to go on stage."

She laughed proudly: "Since my number one position is an unchangeable fact, what's so provocative about his words? He's just indulging in the beautiful fantasy of being number two."

Helian Yi, who had just stepped off the stage and walked to the side, heard this and laughed in anger.

"We'll wait and see."

Their gazes met in mid-air, the silence speaking volumes.

Jiang Yun vaguely saw the crackling flames. He leaned back slightly, paused for a moment, and then remembered that he still had things to do.

"Excuse me, it's my turn to go on stage." He had a strange feeling that if he walked between these two people, he would get into trouble.

Su Xiaoyao withdrew her battle-ready gaze and turned her head to the side.

Helian Yi secretly thought that he would use his strength to subdue Su Xiaoyao and make her bow down for things other than money.

Compared to the speeches of the Roll King and the Battle Maniac, Jiang Yun's speech was unremarkable, yet it won him louder applause than the two before him.

The students below the stage thought to themselves, "This is what a normal person should say! Those who improvise a speech that takes forever or those who slap every passerby on stage are not normal!"

After the student representative's speech session ended, Jun Huilian looked at the time he had accumulated with satisfaction, thinking that he had gained another skill in slacking off.

As long as she doesn't say anything, no one will know she's shirking her duties; they'll just think she's testing them.

She took a sip of tea with a smile and moved on to the next step.

"Next, please invite the teachers from each subject to come up to the stage and speak."

The students below finally looked directly at the stage.

From the entrance exam until now, it seems that there are only Jun Huilian and Jun Xiaohei on the entire island. If it weren't for the True Phoenix leading the way, the fact that the Heavenly Canopy is not something that ordinary people can create, and the fact that the Heavenly Evolution Dao Ancestor has actually appeared once again, many people would doubt whether this is a scam.

They were finally going to see their commander!

Who could these powerful figures be? Could they be from the Immortal Realm? Impossible, their strength is far beyond what the cultivation world can contain. So who could they be? The teachers hired by Tianyan Academy are definitely not ordinary people.

Jun Huilian took on the role of announcer and narrator.

"Let's give a warm round of applause to our culinary arts professor, Chef Xiao."

The students were silent for a moment, then erupted in a commotion.

"Among those surnamed Xiao, there's only one who deserves the title of 'God of Cookery,' right?"

"Xiao, the peerless genius who perished two thousand years ago, despite his mediocre talent, carved out a bloody path to immortality through cooking—"

Before he could finish speaking, his companion covered his mouth.

"Shh, do not address the senior by his name directly." Especially after knowing that the other party has not truly perished.