Chapter Thirty-One: The Array Master

At Yu Shifei’s exclamation of “lecher,” everyone in the livestream heard it loud and clear—this was definitely going to make headlines now.

“Ahhhh! Streamer, you beast, what did you do to my two goddesses?”
“Heavens! Is there still any place in this world for us mere mortals? Streamer, I hate you!”
“Those two vixens actually seduced my streamer, how despicable!”
“Girl upstairs, don’t butt in.”
“Is there a delivery service that can reach another world? I want to mail the streamer a razor blade!”
“I just tipped over a dozen gold coins—now I regret it so much.”
“I just want to ask if the streamer is still a virgin.”
“What’s your deal? The streamer is mine.”

Chen Bo stayed silent; if he told the truth, he’d lose all dignity. Even if he made up a lie, he’d need a thousand more to cover it up—better to say nothing at all. The whole way, Chen Bo was on edge, sleeping only next to the other instructors, never daring to get close to Yu Shifei, terrified she might draw her sword in the middle of the night and cut him down. He didn’t know how strong she really was, but he was certain she could finish him instantly—probably no one present was her match.

As for Yu Xiner, he didn’t dare get close to her either. Maybe she wasn’t as formidable as Yu Shifei, but she could still take his head off without trouble. Frankly, Chen Bo was the weakest of the lot.

Taking advantage of a moment when Yu Shifei and Yu Xiner weren’t paying attention, Zhao Qing nudged Chen Bo’s arm, curiosity written all over his face. “Chen Bo, what on earth happened? Don’t tell me you’ve already plucked the two blossoms of our academy?”

“That... that’s a long story. But I’ll try to make it short. Trouble is, it’s so long, I don’t even know how to make it short,” Chen Bo sighed.

Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it. Zhao Qing gave up, not realizing it was fear that kept Chen Bo silent. If he said a word, he’d probably lose his head the very next moment.

Watching the chaos in the livestream, Chen Bo could only smile wryly to himself: “What the streamer did is something I’ll never say, but I can guarantee, I haven’t touched a single hair on their heads!”

And that was true—he really hadn’t touched them. That kick he received was through his clothes.

“Can we really trust the streamer? Don’t make me laugh!”

“Some streamer livestreams picking flowers, earning millions of lumps of dung a month.”
“Ugh, that’s disgusting, I’m eating here!”
“Let’s see whether Yu Shifei or Yu Xiner is the real heroine!”
“I think it’s Yu Shifei. After all, Yu Xiner barely shows up and hardly speaks—she’s got to be the cold, distant type.”
“Yu Xiner is my type—so quiet, that straight black hair vibe. Unlike Yu Shifei, always calling herself ‘this lady’ or ‘your auntie.’ You can tell she’s wild.”
“How dare you insult my goddess Shifei!”
“Team Yu Xiner!”
“Stop arguing, it’s clearly a harem setup!”

As soon as that comment appeared, everyone was stunned—even Chen Bo was dumbfounded. Harem setup? What a joke! He was more worried about his second brother being whittled down to a toothpick!

More importantly, Yu Shifei was stunning, but she was far too volatile—always ready to draw her sword at the slightest provocation. The only reason she hadn’t killed him yet was because there wasn’t a good enough excuse; after all, he was an instructor at Tianyang Academy, and she had to consider her father.

Alright, the truth was she was afraid Chen Bo might have already spread word that he’d spied on her bathing—if he died, someone else might leak the news, and then how could she show her face again?

But would Chen Bo really have that kind of foresight? In truth, the girl’s paranoia was beyond cure.

As for the seemingly demure Yu Xiner, Chen Bo was certain there was a violent soul lurking inside her too. What a bunch of vulgar people—how could things get so handsy these days? If he could beat them, he’d have already smacked their bottoms red.

Chen Bo entertained these wicked thoughts, and before he knew it, drool was trickling down his chin. Startled, he quickly wiped it away.

“Damn, that expression on the streamer’s face just now was disgusting—could he really be building a harem?”
“The streamer often cuts the stream—I bet whenever he does, he’s off playing stud stallion somewhere.”
“I think his harem already numbers over a hundred.”
“Who cares how many are in the harem—just so long as my two goddesses are mine.”
“That Qin Ruolan is beautiful too! Why weren’t you all this excited before?”

“It’s because Qin Ruolan comes with a villain aura, she’s just not likable.”
“Agreed.”
“13800138000.”

Several days passed, with Chen Bo living in constant anxiety. At last, he saw in the distance an enormous city wall, atop which three large characters spelled out: Tianyang City!

Finally, they had arrived. Chen Bo breathed a silent sigh of relief—at last, he could put some distance between himself and those two violent beauties. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep in days.

“So this is Tianyang City? What an imposing wall, so tall. I doubt even sparrows or other birds could fly over it,” someone exclaimed in awe.

Except for those who lived in Tianyang City, everyone was stunned, Chen Bo included. In a world without reinforced concrete, to build such towering walls was nothing short of a miracle!

“Birds can’t get in, and even if flying spirit beasts come, as long as there aren’t too many, the city can withstand them—and even strike them down!” an instructor declared.

“These walls may look impressive, but there’s more than meets the eye. If you look down from above, you’d see the walls of Tianyang City form a formation! Once activated, it can repel massive waves of spirit beasts!”

“If pushed to its limit, it could even slay powerful cultivators at the peak of the innate stage! And this formation was designed by our academy’s vice dean—a formidable formation master!” the instructor boasted with pride.

Damn, it’s actually a formation? Chen Bo was once again astounded.

Formation masters were even rarer than artifact refiners—if the latter were a protected species, the former were the rarest of the rare, akin to giant pandas or golden snub-nosed monkeys.

Arrays were truly wondrous, using all sorts of strange materials and powered by spirit stones or crystals to unleash terrifying power. Becoming a formation master was a steep climb, reliant on raw talent above all.

Even with talent, if you didn’t spend over a decade (or several) in the field, you couldn’t even touch the threshold. Thankfully, in this world, cultivation extended one’s lifespan; it was said the strongest in the empire had lived over six centuries.

To think Tianyang Academy had a formation master—and a powerful one at that—was astonishing.

The author felt the previous chapters had been rushed and the quality suffered. Now, having slowed the pace a bit, things felt much better—at least, not at rock bottom anymore.