Behind the open space where the students of Shuexing Hall have their classes is a brilliant red maple forest, and in front of them is the endless Li Du shrouded in misty river fog.

Zhao Rong was sitting behind a desk in the right rear corner of the open space. The reason he chose this place was simply because it looked familiar.

According to his experience of reserving seats in the classroom countless times in his previous life, this place, with the woods on the right, is a natural barrier and no one will come here, such as Mr. Si who might come to inspect.

On the desk in front of the left side of the seat, there was a tall male student sitting, and on the left side was Fan Yushu, sandwiching him. The "iron wall" formed by these two classmates just blocked Zhao Rong and put him in a blind spot where Mr. Si in front of him could not see him.

This is safe, both psychologically and physically.

However, before Zhao Rong had nodded and expressed his feelings for long, he suddenly realized a problem.

Mr. Si is a blind man, and he is still a mortal. Let's not talk about whether he will come down to walk around in the middle of the class. After all, sitting for a long time will cause backache and is not good for legs and feet. He should come down to move around, right? Even if Mr. Si came down to move his legs and feet, how could he see what Zhao Rong was doing...

Zhao Rong rubbed his face. So, it’s safe to sit anywhere during Mr. Si’s piano class?

Oh, this is damn skilled.

However, he looked around again and felt that this seat, which was a must for those who had a strong desire to survive and slacked off in class, was not chosen in vain, because there was also Yu Huaijin who wanted to take care of everything. Although she seemed to be closing her eyes and listening to the waves, the ruler was still no more than a foot away from her.

The corner of Zhao Rong's mouth twitched.

It’s a bit strange why I happened to meet such an outstanding senior.

Yu Huaijin is not only the top student in the seven arts among all the students in Ruxing Hall, but also the assistant teacher of several art courses. Not only can she assist in teaching, but sometimes if the teacher is busy, she will also teach in his place. And this is not limited to Ruxing Hall...

Mr. Si's class, as always, begins with listening to the waves in silence, followed by playing the piano to express inspiration and the sounds of the piano harmonize with each other.

However, if it was the previous "Listening to the Waves in Silence", Zhao Rong felt that it was not difficult. He just had to prick up his ears, with an expression like relief after changing clothes, and pretend to be intoxicated and in a state of enlightenment by hearing the beautiful sounds of heaven and earth.

But the following part, playing the piano out of inspiration and the harmony of the piano sounds... Zhao Rong felt it was outrageous at this moment.

He raised and put down his hand that was playing the piano, and seemed to be quite indecisive.

Zhao Rong raised his eyes and looked at the field, only to see Mr. Si at the front, facing everyone, with his fingers longer and whiter than a woman's, gently dancing on the guqin that seemed to have broken once.

From time to time, he would play a short piece of piano music with varying pitches and slow rhythms, and then he would suddenly stop, look up at the students, and say nothing.

After the students are silent for a moment, someone will suddenly start playing the piano, as if inspired, and the piano sounds will be harmonious.

This picture gives me a feeling of being a soulmate of mountains and flowing water.

However, Zhao Rong, who was in the middle of it, felt speechless. He looked at Yu Huaijin in the front row and saw that she was almost always the first one to respond to Mr. Si's piano music. She was very outstanding and active.

Zhao Rong blinked, looked down at the guqin on his lap, then looked up at his classmates in front, behind, and around him who all had serious expressions.

Are we taking the same class?

What on earth have you realized, sir? Just keep quiet during class... It feels like you can't get involved at all, like an outsider?

He shook his head, and finally put down his hesitant hands and did not touch the strings, because Zhao Rong was afraid that once he played the piano, he would become the focus of everyone's attention like the outstanding Yu Huaijin, but the reason was the opposite.

The river breeze on the shore is quite strong, especially now in the morning, and it brings with it the autumn chill. The river wind blows towards us like a knife.

Zhao Rong covered his mouth and coughed lightly a few times, but tried his best to suppress the sound with his hands so as not to disturb the classmates around him who were immersed in Mr. Si's piano playing, and also Fan Yushu, who was listening with his eyes closed in his dream, and asked Zhao Rong to keep an eye on him before falling asleep.

Zhao Rong tilted his head and glanced downward, glancing at his good friend who was sleeping soundly. No, it was his good friend who was listening intently.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the seat to the left of Fan Yushu. A delicate student wearing a green robe seemed to turn her head slightly to look at him.

Zhao Rong turned his head and raised his brows.

It turned out to be the female student named Li Xueyu who had arrived late with Xiao Hongyu.

She had her hair tied in a loose high ponytail, and her black hair and white scarf were fluttering in the river breeze. At this moment, she was looking over here with her lips slightly open, her gaze fixed on Fan Yushu, who could fall asleep with his eyes closed while sitting. Her pretty eyes blinked, as if with some curiosity.

Zhao Rong couldn't help laughing. The way Brother Yushu sat upright with his eyes closed and dozed off made it hard to tell whether he was in class or slacking off. If his body hadn't been swaying slightly back and forth in the wind, Zhao Rong would have been confused by Fan Yushu.

You are worthy of being called Brother Yushu.

At this moment, as if she had noticed Zhao Rong's gaze, Li Xueyu turned her head quickly like a lark. But the next second, after seeing Zhao Rong's raised mouth, she instantly turned into a little rabbit. She turned her head back to the right, leaned forward suddenly, lowered her head and started playing the piano, facing Zhao Rong's profile with a serious and focused look.

Nothing happened, you saw... nothing.

Zhao Rong smiled silently and withdrew his gaze.

On weekdays, he seldom saw Li Xueyu talking, and the two of them had little interaction. In Zhao Rong's impression, this girl was quiet and gentle, often following Xiao Hongyu, who had a big mouth and a flamboyant smile. She was not very noticeable, like a little transparent person.

But after all, she was the only two female students in Ruxing Hall... well, the third. Yu Huaijin and Zhao Rong didn't even consider her as a woman.

Because she was one of the only three female students and had a pretty and elegant face, she could be considered the beauty of the school. After hearing from Fan Yushu that her scores in the seven arts were also among the best, and seeing the kind consolation from the other students at the door who treated her differently just now, Zhao Rong could guess with just a thought that this girl must be quite popular among the male students in the school, and many people were secretly paying attention to her.

Not knowing what he was thinking of, he shook his head.

Another gust of river breeze blew.

Zhao Rong tightened his autumn clothes.

He frowned slightly. Without looking, Zhao Rong knew that his complexion must not be good. He had temporarily lost the red snake circulating in his meridians to maintain his body. Apart from being tough, his physical constitution was at most slightly stronger than that of an ordinary person. As a result, he still had the hidden injuries left by the backlash of his innate vitality last night, and he was very weak.

Zhao Rong took a deep breath, rubbed his eyes, and with difficulty opened his eyelids, he looked at Mr. Si who was playing the piano quietly in the red maple river breeze in front of him. The melodious sound of the piano came into his ears with the rustling east wind. He slowly closed his eyes and went to listen to the piano in his dream.

The last remnant of Zhao Rong's consciousness during this class was...

Mr. Si’s class is indeed a good place to catch up on sleep in the morning, but... it’s a little windy.

…

Li Xueyu opened her eyes wide and stared at the piano lying flat on her knees. Her little face was tense and her eyes were full of concentration.

After responding to Mr. Wan Si's piano once again, she glanced to the right quietly, opened her eyes slightly, and found that the person who had been staring at her just now... seemed to have fallen asleep too.

Li Xueyu first looked at Mr. Si, who was playing the piano with his head down and concentrating on teaching in front of her, and then she turned her head to look again.

Zhao Rong closed his eyes, tilted his head, supported his head with one hand, and lightly tapped the strings with the other. In the autumn wind, his face was as pale as if covered with frost, his breathing was a little rapid, and his body swayed from time to time, even more than Fan Yushu who was sitting upright, and it seemed that he would fall down at any time.

Li Xueyou frowned slightly, reached out to grab her own fluttering ponytail, gathered it together and combed it over her left shoulder to make it more settled. Then, she looked at Fan Yushu and Zhao Rong who were in the river breeze, biting her lip and saying nothing.

Soon, Li Xue's silver teeth let go of her lower lip. She lowered her head, rummaged through her sleeve, took out an exquisite purse, and opened it.

I saw that there were many tiny things in the small purse, but I couldn't see clearly what they were. I guess only Li Xueyu, who lowered her head, squinted her eyes, and stretched out her thin little finger to pick things out, knew.

She searched for a while and pinched out two small pieces of cloth.

As soon as the two small pieces of cloth left the purse, they suddenly expanded in size and turned into two velvet blankets, neatly folded.

Li Xueyu lowered her head and carefully put away her purse.

She did not have any spiritual cultivation, not even at the Ascension Realm. This rare Sumeru item that any mortal could use was found and given to her by a close relative who had been searching for it for a long time.

At this moment, Li Xueyu felt someone pulling at the corner of her clothes.

"Xueyou."

Behind him, Xiao Hongyu's suppressed voice came.

Li Xueyu was stunned. She turned around and not only saw Xiao Hongyu, who was sitting next to her, winking at her, but she also saw... the gazes of the entire audience.

I don't know when the piano music stopped. Li Xueyu had just gone to get something and didn't notice it.

At this moment, Mr. Si, who was teaching at the front, was actually walking towards her. However, the direction in which he tilted his head, and the gazes of everyone over her shoulder, seemed to be focused on... Zhao Rong and Fan Yushu.

Xiao Hongyu patted Li Xueyu's hand and gave her a look that said don't worry, everything is fine. Then she curled the corners of her mouth and looked behind Li Xueyu.

Zhao Rong was dozing off with his head propped up, while Fan Yushu was still "listening to the class with his eyes closed", immersed in the imaginary piano music.

At this time, on the open space by the river, there were only the whistling sounds of wind and leaves, and other than that it was completely silent.

Si Wuxie walked towards them slowly with light steps.

Yu Huaijin left her seat when Si Wuxie suddenly stood up and walked down. At this moment, she followed behind Si Wuxie with her hands in her hands, pursed her lips, and from time to time glanced at the thin back of the blind man in front of her, and then looked at Zhao Rong and the other man who were dozing off together.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Zhao Rong.

The students were very surprised when Si Wuxie stood up and came to the table, because as far as they could remember, this gentleman seldom came down from the stage to manage the class.

This time...

Their eyes fell on Zhao Rong and Fan Yushu, with different expressions, most of them looking at the fun.

Wu Peiliang snorted softly and looked at Zhao Rong, who was still in a dream in the distance and didn't even realize it, with anticipation in his eyes.

Mr. Si has a very good temper, which is recognized by the entire Mo Chi Academy. However, according to his experience, the better the temper of a person, the more serious the situation will be once he gets angry.

As for Zhao Ziyu, who came to the classroom with Fan Yushu and was a drag on the class, it would have been fine if the two of them just fell asleep in Mr. Si's class, but they were actually discovered by the teacher. Well, I wonder if they made some indecent noises while sleeping.

You have to know that Mr. Si is a blind musician. Although he has lost his eyesight, he has a keen hearing and can distinguish sounds accurately. You must have made extremely vulgar snoring sounds, which tarnished the elegant and refined piano sounds. No wonder Mr. Si wanted to step down. He must have been really angry.

Who knows, maybe you two will be told not to come to class anymore and go back to the dormitory to sleep...

Wu Peiliang twitched the corner of his mouth, then he sighed and shook his head, but his eyes were still fixed on Mr. Si who was about to walk to the table of the sleepy couple in the distance.

Li Xueyu saw that Mr. Si was about to come over, so she turned around to look at Zhao Rong and the others. She pursed her lips and stuck her feet out from under the table where no one could see.

Xiao Hongyu glanced down and saw that her friend was full of love again, but she didn't say anything.

Li Xueyu was closest to Fan Yushu and kicked his calf.

Fan Yushu moved his feet and smacked his lips, still with his eyes closed, seemingly unaffected. But the next second, his desire to survive was so strong that he suddenly opened his eyes and saw the silence on the field.

In an instant, Fan Yushu's expression changed and he pretended to be calm. His face was serious, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his eyes were staring straight at the guqin, looking serious.

Soon, Fan Yushu caught a glimpse of Mr. Si, who looked expressionless... and walked past his desk without stopping. Yu Huaijin was with him, but the latter looked at him with a frown.

Fan Yushu didn't care and breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could finish his sigh of relief, he was suddenly startled. Are you trying to catch me?

Fan Yushu suddenly turned his head.

Si Wuxie kept walking along the way and ignored Fan Yushu who was pretending to be serious. He came to Zhao Rong's desk with a calm expression and slowly stopped.

Si Wuxie's eyes were still empty, but he lowered his head slightly, facing Zhao Rong, as if staring at him, his expression showing no emotion, and he said nothing.

The atmosphere in the classroom became even quieter because of the blind man's silence.

Yu Huaijin, who followed, carefully looked at the face of Zhao Rong who was still sleeping soundly. She narrowed her eyes slightly and suddenly said, "Sir, Brother Zhao has never slept before. Maybe today he was tired last night..."

"I heard it." Si Wuxie finally spoke, interrupting Yu Huaijin's explanation, but his words were a little confusing.

He tilted his head slightly and tilted his ear, as if listening to something. However, at this moment, in the open space, the only sounds were the whistling wind and leaves and the gentle breathing of the students.

No other sound was heard.

Si Wuxie still had no expression on his face. He stood quietly for a moment, as if listening to something.

Suddenly, he turned around, walked to Li Xueyu, took a velvet blanket from her hand, walked back to Zhao Rong, reached out his hands, covered Zhao Rong with the blanket, and helped him hold it to prevent it from falling.

Then Si Wuxie did not stay any longer, turned around and went back to the podium, and Yu Huaijin turned around and followed him.

Zhao Rong lowered his head slightly, with one fist against his forehead, still sleeping soundly, but... a little warmer.

The whole audience was silent.

Many students who were ready to watch the fun looked at each other in bewilderment.

Then he shook his head, looked away, and continued with the class.

Wu Peiliang widened his eyes and looked at Zhao Rong, who pulled the blanket and lay down to sleep more comfortably, then turned to look at Mr. Si's back.

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, lowered his head, and continued playing the piano.

How can Mr. Si be said to have a good temper? He simply has no temper at all!

Soon, the early morning piano class continued, and the little episode just now seemed to have passed.

Mr. Si's piano continued to play, and the students responded with chords.

It's just that in the ears of some students who are naturally sensitive to sound, Mr. Si's piano sound seems a little different, either high or low, but if you want to say what the specific difference is compared with before, it is difficult to put it into words.

In the front row of the open space, Yu Huaijin listened to Si Wuxie's piano playing with his eyelids slightly raised.

…

Zhao Rong had a dream.

It was a strange dream. At first, there was the sound of a piano coming from nowhere in the darkness.

Soon, the darkness dissipated amid the sound of the piano, and he saw iron horses and golden swords.

This was an era of great contention, with hundreds of dynasties standing on this land.

He looked down from the sky, and the weapons stood like a sea.

Boom—boom—boom—boom!

The war drums beat slowly.

The sound of horse hooves suddenly arose.

A war among hundreds of nations suddenly broke out like thunder out of nowhere.

Corpses littered the fields, blood flowed like a river...

And that strange piano sound at the beginning, from being barely audible at first, to being low and gentle later, and finally to being generous and high-pitched at the end.

Zhao Rong’s eyes suddenly opened!

The originally bent waist suddenly straightened up.

The blanket slipped from his shoulders and Zhao Rong reached out to catch it.

He breathed rapidly, calmed himself down, looked around, and found himself in an open space by the river. Memories before going to bed gradually came back like a tide.

"Zi Yu, are you okay?" Fan Yushu looked at Zhao Rong's face and asked with concern.

Zhao Rong shook his head. He suddenly reached out to touch his face and felt his cheeks burning hot.

"Your face is a lot redder now. When I saw you this morning, you were as pale as a ghost." Fan Yushu said casually, then continued to do his own thing and packed up the guqin.

Zhao Rong breathed slowly, feeling a little strange. He was still a little confused for a moment, and asked casually, "What time is it now? How long have I slept?"

Fan Yushu glanced at him and said, "The music class ended not long ago, and Mr. Si just left. Oh, by the way, Yu Huaijin just said that we should continue to stay here and don't need to bother changing places. Mr. Zhu will come here directly for class later."

Zhao Rong frowned, glanced at the blanket in his hand, opened his mouth, but the next moment, he paused.

I finally felt that something was different there.

Zhao Rong opened his eyes and looked inside his meridians. He saw that the innate vital energy that had originally dissipated was now flowing in his meridians, circulating in his small circulation on its own.

His mind turned and he practiced the "Ant Ascending to Heaven Technique". His innate vitality suddenly surged, and the little red snake reappeared in the meridians in his body that were like streams and rivers. At this moment, his spirit was actually the same as before the impact on the "Belt Meridian", except that it was no longer violent. He had recovered as before.

Now, four of the eight extraordinary meridians in his body have been connected. Among the remaining four meridians, the belt meridian is still blocked due to the backlash of spiritual energy, but it is not as serious as at the beginning.

Zhao Rong was surprised to find that his physical condition had miraculously recovered to its original state.

He frowned slightly. Was it the dream with the strange piano music just now?

Fan Yushu put away the guqin, took out the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone and placed them on the table. Then he turned around and saw his friend holding the blanket and frowning in a daze. He pointed to the side and said, "Here, it's Brother Xue You's blanket."

Zhao Rong came back to his senses and let out a long breath. He nodded, first lowered his head to pat the dust off the blanket, then folded it neatly, then stood up and walked to Li Xueyu's side.

"Thank you, Brother Li. I accidentally fell asleep in class. I'm sorry for making a fool of myself."

"Yeah." Li Xueyu was also spreading rice paper and placing an inkstone on the table. She lowered her head and did not look at Zhao Rong at first. She reached out to take the blanket handed to her by Zhao Rong. When she heard him thank her, she nodded in response, but then shook her head quickly, "She's not ugly, she's sleepy, it's normal..."

Li Xueyou paused, looked up at Zhao Rong, and said seriously, "However, Brother Zhao, please pay attention to your time next time and don't fall asleep in Mr. Si's class again."

Zhao Rong smiled and nodded, "Of course."

Seeing his sincere smile, Li Xueyu turned her eyes away and continued with what she was doing.

Seeing this, Zhao Rong did not leave immediately, but took another look at the blanket that Li Xueyu had put away, seeming to be hesitant to speak.

At this moment, Li Xueyou spoke without turning her head, and her soft voice came, "This is what Mr. Si put on you."

Zhao Rong was startled, his brows suddenly relaxed, and he turned around to look.

On the maple forest path behind the open space, Mr. Si's back, carrying a zither, was vaguely visible, but gradually disappeared.

Zhao Rong looked out for a while, thoughtful.

"Hello, your name is Zhao Ziyu, right?"

A loud voice came from behind.

Zhao Rong came back to his senses, raised his eyebrows, and turned back to say, "Yes, Brother Xiao, my name is Zhao Rong, and my courtesy name is Ziyu."

Xiao Hongyu was casually flipping through a copybook of calligraphy. There were dozens of copies piled up on the desk in front of her. They were all authentic copybooks written by the top calligraphers in the dynasty of Xiao Hongyu's hometown. After her father saw that she mentioned it in a letter home, he sent someone to deliver them all the way to the mountain not long ago.

Xiao Hongyu looked down at the calligraphy and said casually without raising her head: "Xiao Xueyou brought you a blanket to keep you warm, and you just said thank you."

Zhao Rong understood what she meant and turned to look at Li Xueyu who was carefully arranging the pen holder and preparing to write.

Li Xueyou waved her hands quickly, "No need, no need. Hongyu is just joking. Zhao Rong, don't take it seriously."

Xiao Hongyu lowered her head and turned the pages without explaining.

Zhao Rong thought for a moment, and said to Li Xueyu sincerely: "Brother Li, I have learned a little calligraphy before. How about letting me show off my skills? Write some words and I'll show you. If you don't agree with my humble opinion, you don't have to listen to it. It doesn't matter. Just take the essence and discard the dross."

While listening to Zhao Rong's words, Xiao Hongyu flipped through the rare calligraphy book in her hand, which was said to be the best of its time. She curled her lips, not knowing whether she was referring to the calligraphy or the person.

She casually threw the priceless calligraphy in her hand that she had found at the foot of the mountain onto the table, and it happened to fall on the pile of books. She raised her head and was about to nod when Li Xueyu pulled her.

"Redfish, stop making trouble."

Seeing this, Xiao Hongyu shrugged and said, "Okay, as long as you are happy."

She clasped her fists towards Zhao Rong, but did not bend down. "Brother Zhao, I am sorry for being so rude."

Zhao Rong didn't care. Seeing this, he said nothing more. He bowed and returned the greeting. "Brother Xiao, thank you for your courtesy."

Seeing the two seem to have reconciled, Li Xueyu smiled at Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong turned to her and clasped his fists, smiling brightly.

Afterwards, he did not stay any longer and turned to look for Yu Huaijin.