Just as A-Jiang was looking around, something rolled down from somewhere and hit her right between the eyebrows. A chill ran through her brow and into her mind, causing her vision to go black.

"Ouch!"

"Ah Jiang, what's wrong?"

Ji Yi turned his head upon hearing the sound and saw A Jiang squatting on the ground, covering her eyes.

Ajahn grimaced and said, "Something hit me. Look around for any small stones."

Ji Yi looked around and, although the surroundings were messy, he didn't see any stones nearby.

"No."

With the pain subsiding a bit, A-Jiang said, "Well, what bad luck. Let's hurry back."

Her vision was still a little blurry, so Linglong and Xiaopang supported her on either side as they followed the steward away.

It was noon when I got back to the academy. I quickly ate lunch, changed my clothes, and then climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

The next day, when A-Jiang woke up, he felt dizzy.

Last night's dream resurfaced in her mind; she seemed to have returned to Deer Horn Manor, but this time, the Demon Suppression Hall was chasing her instead. As she desperately fled, she cursed inwardly, "So many people chasing me! They think they can bully me because I'm outnumbered? Wait till I learn the Myriad Swords Technique, one sword becomes ten thousand swords, and I'll crush you all!"

Thinking about this, A-Jiang couldn't sleep anymore. She got dressed and ran to the library to see if there were any introductions to related cultivation techniques in the Taoist academy's collection of books.

During the lunch break, Linglong and Jiyi went to find Ajiang, only to find that he was not there.

A-Jiang stayed in the library all day until it was about to close at night when she was kicked out. She returned to her dormitory hungry, and when she opened the door, she was almost scared to death. Two living people were staring at her from inside the room.

"You scared me to death! What are you two doing here like ghosts?"

Where did you go?

Ji Yi asked worriedly.

A-Jiang was a little surprised. He pulled the two of them to sit down at the table and asked:

"What's wrong with you two? I just went out to read a book, but you two, instead of staying in your own dorm rooms, what are you doing here so late at night?"

Linglong complained, "He hasn't seen you all day and was worried something had happened to you, so he insisted on making me wait here."

"What could possibly happen to me? By the way, do I have any food with me? I'm starving."

Ji Yi quickly pulled out a bag and said, "I brought some, several kinds of snacks. I saw you didn't go to the cafeteria, so I packed extra."

Ah Jiang looked at the small bag with a somewhat indescribable expression, thinking: "How many pastries can such a big bag hold?" Unexpectedly, the chubby boy took out several faintly glowing stones from it, and then took out five plates of pastries one after another, leaving Ah Jiang dumbfounded.

"Where did you get this?"

They were together almost every day before, how come she didn't know he had such a useful thing?

The chubby boy looked at her with a puzzled expression and said, "Didn't you see the gift that Deer Antler Shop gave us yesterday?"

They were in a rush yesterday, and when they woke up today, Ah Jiang was so focused on finding the secret manual that he completely forgot about it.

"They are quite generous."

"Where did you go today?" Linglong hadn't forgotten about it.

Ajahn swallowed his food and said, "I went to the library today to find a way to become stronger."

Little Fatty and Linglong both looked at A-Jiang with interest.

"Based on what happened yesterday, I think we should first establish an advantage, which is to outnumber the enemy and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. No matter what the enemy is like, we should gang up on them and use sheer numbers to defeat them."

The small room was pitch black, with only a faint moonlight illuminating three young faces.