Chapter 62: Departure, Fengtai Village, North of the River

"You..." Hearing Tang Zhirou's words, Jiang Xiaofei was momentarily speechless.

"What about me?" Tang Zhirou snorted. "I was just teasing you a little, and you get upset so easily. Can’t handle a bit of temptation, can you?"

Jiang Xiaofei had no words.

Seeing this, Zhou Shiqin quickly rebuked, "Enough, Director Tang. Stop arguing. If you keep this up, I’ll send you back to the Mage Association right now, believe it or not."

At that, Tang Zhirou realized Zhou Shiqin was genuinely angry. She immediately fell silent.

With the matter settled, Zhou Shiqin looked at Jiang Xiaofei and asked, "By the way, the school has organized a three-day summer trip. Where do you plan to take the gifted class students?"

Jiang Xiaofei replied, "I’m planning to take them to Fengtai Village in Jiangbei for poverty alleviation work."

"What?" Zhou Shiqin was taken aback. "Are you serious? For a summer trip, you’re taking the students to a mountain village for poverty relief? Will they even agree to that?"

Jiang Xiaofei said calmly, "You needn’t worry, Principal Zhou. They’ve all agreed."

"What?"

Now, not only Zhou Shiqin but Tang Zhirou also looked astonished.

After all, the students in the gifted class were all from privileged backgrounds, children of officials or the wealthy, proud young masters and ladies. Their summer trips were always by the sea, staying in luxury hotels—how could they possibly agree to go to a poor mountain village for poverty work? Was this a joke? Moreover, could they even endure the hardships of rural poverty, especially with the mosquitoes in summer?

Seeing their disbelief, Jiang Xiaofei said, "Although the gifted class students are a bit mischievous, they have good hearts. Under my guidance, I believe they’ll be obedient and study diligently."

Zhou Shiqin nodded slightly. "All right then. But I still advise you to choose a better place. Otherwise, if the students regret it later, you’ll have a hard time."

Jiang Xiaofei replied, "You’re overthinking it, Principal Zhou. I’ll handle it; you don’t have to worry."

"Very well." Seeing that Jiang Xiaofei was insistent, Zhou Shiqin nodded and said no more.

"Well, since there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to the apartment and prepare for tomorrow." With that, Jiang Xiaofei rose and left the office.

When he got home, Jiang Xiaofei packed the things he’d need for the next day, then sat cross-legged on the bed to cultivate. After his battle with the Ghost Emperor, he keenly felt the inadequacy of his own strength. If he had been stronger, he could have slain the Ghost Emperor outright, and Xiaoqing would not have died because of him.

Now, with Takagi Qiu’s whereabouts unknown, he sensed an impending storm, which weighed heavily on him.

He closed his eyes, focused his mind, and formed hand seals. Immediately, wisps of black and white energy coiled around his body, like yin and yang fish swimming about him.

Perhaps the battle with the Ghost Emperor had given him new insight, or perhaps it was the stimulation of the black and white energy, but soon Jiang Xiaofei felt the urge to break through.

He was already at the Dao Realm.

In the world of cultivators, there were seven major realms: Transforming Qi, Profound Qi, Dao, Void, Xuantian, Heaven Transformation, and Dao Supreme. Each realm was difficult to break through without exceptional talent.

Now, as he approached a breakthrough, he would enter the Void Realm, able to kill without a trace—a realization that filled him with joy. He focused his mind and pressed on to overcome the final barrier.

A surge of powerful energy flooded his body like a rising tide, thrilling him. He could feel his entire being brimming with power, the kind that could kill with a mere snap of the fingers.

Jiang Xiaofei continued cultivating, even after reaching the Void Realm, for he knew it still wasn’t enough. With Takagi Qiu missing, and if the Ghost Emperor regained his strength, even ten Void Realm cultivators would not be enough. Only the Heaven Transformation Realm could stand against that.

So he trained with total focus until late into the night, finally stopping to take a cold shower and then lie down to rest.

The next morning, Jiang Xiaofei rose early, washed up, put on a clean set of casual clothes, grabbed a small bag, and headed to the school across the street.

Upon entering the school, he saw more than a dozen enormous buses parked on the field, each capable of carrying at least seventy-nine people.

Near the first row of buses on the right, a group of students from the gifted class had gathered. Among them, Li Xiaofang noticed Jiang Xiaofei approaching and waved, "Professor Jiang, over here!"

Jiang Xiaofei nodded and walked over, smiling. "You’re here quite early."

Li Xiaofang replied, "We’ve been assembled for a while. If we weren’t waiting for you, Professor Jiang, we’d have left already."

Jiang Xiaofei smiled, "Then I’m the one who’s late. My apologies."

Li Xiaofang shook her head. "It’s fine, Professor. Please get on the bus."

Jiang Xiaofei nodded and boarded, seeing several students inside playing on their phones—Xie Xuanxuan and the others. When they noticed him, they greeted him, "Professor Jiang, you’re here."

Jiang Xiaofei nodded, walked over, and sat down right next to Xie Xuanxuan.

Xie Xuanxuan immediately appeared a little uneasy and edged closer to the window.

Seeing this, Jiang Xiaofei smiled gently. "Don’t be nervous. Relax."

Hearing his words, Xie Xuanxuan relaxed a little, though her face remained flushed. It seemed this was her first time sitting so close to a man, especially one with Jiang Xiaofei’s mature presence, which made her cheeks burn.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Xiaofei changed the subject and asked with a smile, "What’s your relationship with Takagi Qiu?"

"Takagi and I are as close as sisters."

"Oh?" Jiang Xiaofei nodded. "Then do you know where she is now?"

Xie Xuanxuan seemed to realize something and quickly said, "Professor Jiang, Takagi definitely has nothing to do with that child abduction case. You can’t hold a grudge because of what happened last time."

Jiang Xiaofei smiled, "Don’t worry. I’m just asking. The child abduction case is closed now; it’s nothing serious. But Takagi Qiu’s sudden disappearance is a cause for concern."

Xie Xuanxuan nodded. "I’m worried too, but I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find her. Even Mayor Gao has been losing sleep over it."

"Oh," Jiang Xiaofei nodded, saying nothing more. By now, all the students had boarded, filling the bus with rows of heads.

A moment later, a middle-aged man in a loose yellow shirt climbed into the driver’s seat and asked casually, "Where to?"

"Fengtai Village, Jiangbei," Jiang Xiaofei answered.

The driver frowned slightly. "There’s no paved road to Fengtai Village. The bus can’t make it."

"Just drop us off upstream in Jiangbei," Jiang Xiaofei replied.

"All right then," the driver nodded, started the bus, and slowly drove out of the schoolyard.

Meanwhile, in a bus parked nearby, Lan Lianshuang leaned toward her driver and said, "Driver, follow that bus ahead."