novelraw Chapter 27 : Chapter 27
Chapter 27 : Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Making Friends
Inside the quiet carriage, Lin Bai kept his eyes closed, resting.
But as time dragged on, stray thoughts began springing up one after another like bamboo shoots after a spring rain in the forest, beyond his control.
It could not be helped. He was only a “little rookie” who had just stepped onto a Dao Path. His life experience was nowhere near sufficient, and his wandering thoughts could not be stilled.
How does the food in Martial Academy’s dining hall taste? Surely it can’t all be bland soup and watery gruel meant to temper the will, right? Will I get a private room in the dormitory? Is the coursework heavy?
All kinds of random thoughts about the days ahead at Martial Academy surfaced in his mind.
Fortunately, Lin Bai was not left waiting for long.
After the carriage had traveled for a little over an hour, its speed gradually began to slow. Even without seeing the outside, Lin Bai could tell that they were close to their destination.
Sure enough, a short while later, the carriage came to a complete stop, and a voice sounded from outside.
“Students, we have arrived at the Yunmeng Commandery Martial Academy station. You may disembark now.”
Hearing this, everyone inside rose without hesitation and began getting out one after another.
Because Lin Bai had been sitting farthest from the carriage door, he was the last to get off.
The moment he stepped down, the sounds around him grew louder without the benefit of the soundproofing formation.
He drew in a deep breath. The morning air in the mountains carried that clear, sweet freshness unique to grass and trees, and it flowed straight into his chest, instantly washing away the last trace of irritation.
Looking around, they found themselves in a flat mountain valley ringed by forest on all sides. The morning light filtered through the gaps between branches and leaves, scattering mottled spots of radiance across the ground.
No one knew when this cluster of buildings had been built, but it had been blended skillfully into the surrounding mountain woods.
Once his mood had eased, Lin Bai began sizing up the people around him.
There were more than a dozen carriages parked nearby, which should have belonged to those who had arrived earlier than them.
There were roughly seventy or eighty people gathered on the scene, and they had naturally divided themselves into three large groups.
The Literary Track, the Military Track, and the Auxiliary Dao.
Martial Academy was, after all, Martial Academy. Strength was what mattered most there. Everything else was merely icing on the cake. Even the students of the Literary Track carried cultivated literary qi within their hearts.
Lin Bai did not try to act special. He obediently followed behind Wang Yu and the others and joined the ranks of the Auxiliary Dao.
Within each group, those already acquainted had formed small circles and were chatting quietly in low voices. Zhao Rang, for example, seemed completely at ease at the moment, talking happily with several others as though he were a fish in water.
Lin Bai, by contrast, knew no one here and was perfectly happy to enjoy the peace. He found a spot near the edge by himself, planning to quietly remain an unremarkable little nobody.
Yet as he observed, he noticed something strange. Most of the people on the Auxiliary Dao side looked to be just over twenty, both male and female, full of youthful energy.
But in the Literary Track and Military Track groups, there were surprisingly many middle-aged people mixed in among them—men who looked to be in their forties or fifties, with steady temperaments and even a faint air of official authority.
Strange. Isn’t Martial Academy supposed to be a place for cultivating the younger generation? Why are there students this old?
While Lin Bai was wondering this to himself, someone sat down beside him.
He turned his head and saw a “familiar face” from the carriage—Wang Yu.
Even on the carriage, Lin Bai had felt Wang Yu’s gaze landing on him from time to time, though he had paid it no mind at the time.
Rather than going to her own little circle, this young lady had instead come to sit beside him.
Lin Bai’s response to this was simple.
Sit if you want. It wasn’t as though it bothered him. Surely he could not tyrannically tell someone to get lost.
So Lin Bai simply sat there like a stone statue and continued observing his “fellow students,” paying no attention to Wang Yu beside him.
That manner of acting instead caught Wang Yu off guard just as she was preparing to speak. She had imagined all sorts of reactions from Lin Bai.
He might be flustered, nervous, calm, or friendly.
But Lin Bai ignoring her completely and treating her like air—that was something she truly had not expected.
A nearly imperceptible trace of annoyance flickered across Wang Yu’s jade-cool face.
In the end, she could not help breaking the silence first. Her voice still carried the innate chill it always did, but there was slightly less distance in it than before.
“You’re Lin Bai, right?”
So this young lady really had come looking for him. Lin Bai turned his head to hear what she wanted to say.
“I’m from the Shenxiu Wang Family, so I wanted to make friends with you.”
Lin Bai just tilted his head and looked at her, while Mo Ling on his shoulder let out a few cries.
“Caw, caw, caw~”
Now it was Wang Yu’s turn to feel awkward. She could practically feel her toes curling together.
Do not be misled by Wang Yu’s cold and distant appearance, or by the cool tone of her voice. In truth, she was only a girl one year older than Lin Bai.
At that moment, she was seriously considering whether she should continue speaking at all. But what if Lin Bai rejected her?
Wouldn’t that be humiliating?
The family said this Lin Bai had excellent talent, and because of his mother’s connection, they told me to do my best to befriend him and maintain ties. But what if he just ignores me?
While Wang Yu was drowning in all sorts of chaotic thoughts, Lin Bai seemed to finally “snap back to himself.” Looking at Wang Yu’s slightly stiff manner, which formed a subtle contrast with her cool exterior, he found it a little amusing.
He was also worried that if this silence continued any longer, this young lady might really become embarrassed enough to start shedding “little pearls,” so he quickly picked up the conversation.
“Sure. I’m the sort of person who likes making friends most.”
In truth, it was not really Lin Bai’s fault for drifting off just now. His Intuition had told him that there was something very dangerous on this girl.
Intuition was one of the Dao Path abilities of the 【Beast-Taming Martial Artist】. It was a combination of a Martial Artist’s sudden stirrings of perception and a beast’s sixth sense for danger in the wild, leaning toward sensing external threats.
Even if someone were holding a powerful talisman or some other item, as long as it was not an intelligent treasure artifact, it would not be able to hit Lin Bai. His speed and reactions were sharper than theirs, so the moment they moved to act, he could either evade or strike first.
Hearing Lin Bai’s reply, Wang Yu let out a long breath inwardly. At the very least, she had not been rejected.
Only then did she realize she had run into a new difficulty, because she had never once in her life taken the initiative to ask someone to be friends. That left Wang Yu thoroughly troubled.
Why did the family have to assign this kind of task to me? They clearly know I’m bad at dealing with people. Wouldn’t it be better if I could just cultivate quietly?
What Wang Yu did not know was that it was precisely because she had that kind of thinking that the Wang Family had deliberately arranged for her to deal with other people as a form of tempering.
It was only that they had long suffered from not finding a suitable candidate. Everyone else either approached her because of her status as a Wang Family genius, or else had ulterior motives. But this time, after the Wang Family obtained the list of names for the Yunmeng Commandery Martial Academy, they discovered Lin Bai.
After investigating him, they found that whether in terms of family background, talent, or even the moral character and temperament he had displayed so far, he was quite suitable. So they settled on him.
Just as Wang Yu was racking her brains, Lin Bai followed the snake up the pole.
“Since we’re friends now, could you answer one small question for me?”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
Seeing Lin Bai take the initiative to start a topic, Wang Yu quickly answered.
“It’s just... why are there so many fellow students of... shall we say... a slightly greater age in the Literary Track and Military Track?”
“Oh, that.”
The moment Wang Yu heard the question, she visibly relaxed.
“A lot of the important posts in Yunzhou’s official circles are filled by people who’ve had ‘Martial Academy’ experience. You know that, right?”
“I know. So?”
“These people are about to be promoted to positions in the commandery or the prefectural capital. They’re only here to show their faces. They’re not really here to study.”
At once, Lin Bai understood.
Wasn’t this just gilding one’s credentials and collecting academic pedigree?
The only question was whether it was merely common practice, or whether it had already formed into a proper factional system.
Of course, that had little to do with Lin Bai for now. He was merely curious, and had also developed the habit of collecting information.
Lin Bai continued chatting with Wang Yu on and off. Though Wang Yu appeared aloof on the outside, Lin Bai actually felt that she was a little adorably dim.
If not for the fact that Lin Bai knew there were some things that would bring disaster if he learned too much, so he only drew out a few brief pieces of information, he felt he could have gotten Wang Yu to open right up.
Still, he had to know why this young lady had come running over to make friends with him in the first place. It could not possibly be because she thought he was handsome, could it?
After sorting through the bits of information he had gathered, Lin Bai more or less understood the Wang Family’s intentions, because this young lady really was a bit clumsy when it came to social relations.
For example, although she had only just met Lin Bai, she already regarded him as a pretty good friend. That was why Lin Bai had been able to draw out some information so quickly and so smoothly.
In truth, however, Lin Bai had guessed wrong.
The Wang Family had long since investigated Lin Bai’s background clearly and had already informed Wang Yu of it beforehand. Added to that was the “Mind’s Eye” unique to Wang Yu’s own Dao Path, which allowed her to vaguely sense the goodwill and ill will of others more clearly.
In Wang Yu’s perception, Lin Bai harbored no malice toward her, nor did he carry much calculating intent. What he mostly felt was indifference, along with that hidden sense of danger—physical danger—which she found rather novel.
Otherwise, as one of the Wang Family’s genius candidates, even if she had flatly refused this task, the Wang Family would not really have done anything to her.
At most, they would only have handed the task over to someone else, since it made no difference who carried out the contact.
But now Wang Yu had grown interested. She did not reject this task of “building a relationship” at all.
That was the full story.
Thus, one party deliberately drew out information, while the other half-willingly played along, thinking that revealing a few “unimportant” details could win trust. The result was that the two of them actually chatted rather “harmoniously.”
In Wang Yu’s perception, Lin Bai’s “goodwill” toward her seemed to be steadily rising.
Looks like although he seemed a little cold at first, he’s actually pretty easy to get along with. He’s just a bit silly, trusting people this easily.
That was what Wang Yu thought to herself.
As for Lin Bai, looking at the girl beside him, who seemed cool and distant on the surface but was actually somewhat guileless, he was secretly amused as well.
This Wang Family young lady seems unexpectedly easy to fool.
In any case, both sides now believed the other to be somewhat pure, simple, and a little adorably foolish.