Acquaintance in Huaqing

Baal's fragmented voice came from the depths of Chen Guan's mind.

"Kid, this place is more troublesome than I thought. Something down there is interfering with the rules. I won't be able to extend my perception far."

Chen Guan raised his right hand. The black mark on his palm was cold and sharp, biting into his skin.

"How far is far?"

Baal answered reluctantly. "Far enough that if something sets its sights on you, I might not know until a moment after you do."

Chen Guan flicked his wrist lightly.

"That doesn't sound like something the Demon God Sovereign would say."

Baal let out a short laugh, the usual carefree amusement missing from its tone.

"The Demon God Sovereign is just a fragment now."

Chen Guan stared down into the well. His expression was grim. Even if Baal was only a fragment, His power was undeniable.

Guan Jinyue couldn't hear Baal's encrypted communication, but she sensed something off from Chen Guan's reaction. She raised her hand and sliced open a silver rift in the air. The edges of the rift buzzed with fine vibrations as they contracted inward.

"I'll scout ahead."

Chen Guan stepped back half a pace to give her room.

Guan Jinyue extended her fingers and touched them lightly forward. The spatial rift descended along the mouth of the well. Silver light stretched along the edge of the dark seawater, but only three meters down, it began to twist and distort. The silver threads were compressed into thin lines, then snapped apart inch by inch.

She withdrew her hand immediately.

Shards of broken silver light rolled back along her fingertips. Inside her sleeve, her hand curled slightly. A layer of white frost formed over her knuckles, and her palm lost all color from cold.

Chen Guan looked at her hand. "Backlash?"

Guan Jinyue tucked her hand back into her sleeve, her body perfectly still. "I can handle it."

Chen Guan watched the last traces of scattered spatial light fade away. He wasn't convinced.

"Being able to handle it doesn't mean it's worth handling."

He picked up the water-repelling bead that Yin Chen had given him before their departure, weighing it in his palm.

"Hope this works."

Chen Guan had never expected to use that thing here. He raised his right palm toward the well's opening, trying to spread his newly acquired emotional perception downward.

The black mark held no warmth.

The well was completely empty.

Chen Guan lowered his hand. The result didn't surprise him.

"Time to go down."

Just as the two of them were about to step onto the edge of the well, the wind and snow parted on the other side.

"Well, well, Chen Guan. Skipping class all the way to the Forbidden Zone of the Northern Frontier?"

The tone was utterly casual.

So casual it sounded like a teacher at the edge of a playground, thermos in hand, catching a lazy student slacking off.

Chen Guan didn't move the hand holding his scythe, but he lifted his eyelids.

Fine silver light flickered in the air around Guan Jinyue. The spatial rift didn't fully open, but it coiled inside her wide sleeves, ready to cut across toward the far side of the well.

On the other side of the well's mouth, there was a protruding black rock platform on an ice wall.

Chen Beixuan sat there, wearing a dark coat that was absolutely not warm enough. In his hand, he held a sausage. Frost coated its surface, and bite marks revealed frozen chunks of ice. He shook the sausage at Chen Guan, his posture loose and carefree.

"Want one? Northern Frontier specialty. Tastes better when it's frozen solid."

Chen Guan stared at him, struck silent for a moment.

Was he dreaming?

Even if this was a dream, it had to be a nightmare. That infamous Devil Teacher had actually shown up here.

"Teacher."

Knowing when to bend was wisdom. Chen Guan called out obediently.

Chen Beixuan nodded with satisfaction.

"Still recognize your teacher. Guess you haven't gone completely wild out there."

Guan Jinyue's gaze lingered on Chen Beixuan, then shifted to the black rock platform beneath him, and finally to the ice layers buried in the wind and snow around them.

"Who are you?"

She looked deeply wary.

Chen Beixuan pulled the sausage away from his mouth and extended his other hand, completely at ease.

"I'm Chen Beixuan, a teacher from Huaxia Academy."

Hearing that, Guan Jinyue only grew more alert.

"How does a schoolteacher get past the blockade of the Yaozu and sit here by the entrance to the ice sea?"

Chen Beixuan tapped his knee with the frozen sausage, producing a crisp sound.

"Tourism in the Northern Frontier. Fishing on the side."

Guan Jinyue looked at the ice wall behind him, bare of anything.

"Where's the fish?"

Chen Beixuan pointed downward at the well.

"Right here."

Chen Guan followed his finger and glanced into the well. "That's a pretty frugal fishing method, Teacher. You don't even need a line."

Chen Beixuan grinned. "You young folks don't get it. Real fishing is about fate. If the fish wants to eat me, it'll come out. If not, I'll just enjoy the view of the sea."

Guan Jinyue watched him warily. Silver light shimmered along the edge of her sleeves.

Chen Guan finally couldn't take the nonsense anymore. "Teacher, has the physical training course at Huaxia Academy evolved into field practice by the sea?"

Chen Beixuan took another bite of the frozen sausage. When it didn't budge, he tossed it aside in disgust.

"The academy's budget is tight. Teachers have to pay out of pocket to show students the world. Sounds pretty touching, doesn't it?"

Chen Guan nodded.

"Yeah, so touching I almost want to report you back home for adding unauthorized classes."

Chen Beixuan aimed a finger at him in a mock reprimand. "That's ungrateful of you. I'm doing this for your good, and you want to report me."

Chen Guan looked at the rock platform beneath Chen Beixuan, untouched by the wind and snow, and spoke bluntly.

"Then you got here awfully early, Teacher."

Chen Beixuan shoved his hands into his coat pockets, leaned back against the ice wall, and smiled at him.

"Early birds catch students."

Chen Guan met his eyes.

"And early students start wondering where the teacher's overtime pay comes from."

Chen Beixuan clapped his hands.

"Nice. Been out in the world. Your tongue's quicker than your fists now."

Guan Jinyue had no patience for this endless banter. She stepped forward half a stride, and a thin, jagged rift crept silently across the ice toward Chen Beixuan.

"Chen Guan. He's stalling."

Chen Guan didn't deny it.

"I know."

Chen Beixuan pressed a hand to his chest, his face a mask of feigned grievance.

"That hurts, Miss Guan. I'm just a poor, lonely human, freezing my ass off in the Yaozu's forbidden zone. Running into familiar faces after all this time—what's a little chitchat?"

Guan Jinyue clenched her fist, her eyes fixed on him. "You know who I am."

Chen Beixuan tapped his temple. "Remembering student profiles is basic professionalism. You're not my student, but you've gotten pretty famous lately."

Guan Jinyue's spatial rift flickered sharply with silver light inside her sleeve. "If you know that, how dare you sit here and wait for us?"

Chen Beixuan sighed, looking up at the gray-white sky.

"When you hit middle age, there's always some dirty job you can't get out of."

Chen Guan looked down at the inner wall of the well. The ice around the mouth was unnaturally clean. The snow powder blown in by the wind always veered away when it reached the edges.

He picked up a black stone and tossed it toward the well.

The moment the stone crossed the boundary, it deflected midair, skidded along the ice wall, and eventually landed not far from Chen Beixuan's feet, rolling a few times before stopping.

Chen Beixuan watched the stone.

"Littering. Deduction from your participation grade."