Successful Subjugation

Three days had passed.

The perpetual moon hung in the sky. While waiting for customers, Chen Miemie kept himself busy, using the Five-Colored Candles to craft a few five-color stamps in advance.

"My craftsmanship just keeps getting better and better." Chen Miemie beamed with pride, like a child who had just learned to play with sand art.

"Amazing, amazing!" The freaks knew exactly how to play along, chiming in with praise one after another.

Bobo cheered the loudest and was rewarded by Chen Miemie with a treat—one of its own legs.

The sound of the door being pushed open came from the entrance.

Hearing it, Chen Miemie quickly stuffed the stamps he'd been admiring on the table into his pocket.

Chunhua walked in.

Unlike his previous three visits, this time he was dressed in fine clothes, his hair neatly combed, his entire demeanor radiant and spirited.

"Well, well, first time I've seen you in such high spirits. That outfit even has extra trim compared to before."

"Haha, shopkeeper has a sharp eye. This is the uniform of a Grand Scholar—I've officially risen through the ranks."

The hand that was refilling his tea paused slightly for a moment, then returned to normal.

Chen Miemie couldn't help taking another look. So Grand Scholars had their own dedicated attire.

"Well, congratulations are in order."

"I never thought I'd get the chance to come back to this shop. I have to thank the shopkeeper for all your help along the way—I wouldn't be where I am today without it."

Chen Miemie gestured toward the tea: "Let's use tea in place of wine. I provide the tea, you provide the story?"

"Deal. There's so much I can't share with anyone else. Since you're interested, shopkeeper, I'll hold nothing back."

The tea steam slowly rose between them on the table.

Chunhua began recounting his recent experiences.

"A few months ago, the Grand Scholar at the Scholars' Academy officially retired, and the position opened up.

The academy made a formal public announcement: whoever could lead a team to eliminate the freak plaguing the city would inherit the title of Grand Scholar.

This was my chance, so I gave it everything I had.

After several attempts—even with the help of your tea, shopkeeper—my team's strength just wasn't enough. We kept losing people, and morale was crumbling.

Then the thing I feared most happened.

The [Mystic] Level 6 member of my team started trying to convince me to give up.

She was the core of my team. It was because of her initial involvement that other strong fighters later decided it was worth joining. When even she stopped being steadfast, holding the team together became nearly impossible.

I talked with her many times—starting with reasoning, moving to arguments, and finally ending in a complete breakdown.

I couldn't persuade her, and in the end, she chose to leave the team.

Honestly, that hit me hard. From the very beginning, it was her support that helped me raise the team, her encouragement that built my confidence. I never expected things to end in us going our separate ways."

"She encouraged you? So, chasing down that freak wasn't originally your idea?"

"Right. Even back then, when I'd become something of a hero, I knew exactly how capable I really was.

At first, my reasons for chasing that freak were simple.

Removing a menace from the city and clearing my own name—half public duty, half personal ambition. If we succeeded, great. If not, at least I wanted to make sure we got out alive.

Shopkeeper, I told you before—the time I advanced to [Mystic] Level 4, I lost many comrades. That was my first real battle, and it shattered my will to fight. I even thought about avoiding that freak from then on.

That was when she showed up. She helped me climb out of the shadow of that failure and rebuild my resolve to hunt it down."

"You must be well aware of the real reason behind her change of heart this time."

"Yeah. Actually, I can understand her perspective.

We'd tried nearly ten times. We hadn't even found a way to win, let alone achieve victory.

It's hard for anyone to keep pushing when there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

Besides, the freak itself had changed too.

One reason we could attempt it so many times was that it didn't hold grudges—it wasn't the type to 'mess with me and I'll wipe you all out.'

But as we provoked it more and more, we eventually pissed it off.

It started becoming aggressive. Around the time she and I had our biggest argument, the freak had even begun deliberately hunting down our team members.

No one in the whole team, except her, could survive if that freak singled them out, one-on-one."

"So, her wanting to stop wasn't just because she didn't see a path to victory—she was also trying to stop you from being hunted down."

"Exactly. Her reasoning wasn't complicated. I understood it clearly, and I had sympathy for it. But I couldn't stop.

Including my own team, and even her—a lot of people thought I'd gone mad, or that I'd been blinded by the lure of the Grand Scholar title.

But that wasn't it at all.

Shopkeeper, there are things deep in my heart I've never told anyone. Only here, in this shop, holding a cup of your tea, swallowing it down, can I actually say them.

I'm an orphan. I've had very little from a young age. As for ambition—mine doesn't run very deep.

The Grand Scholar position? If given the chance, I'd fight for it.

But if I couldn't get it, it would've been 'gained if fate allows, lost without complaint.' Honestly, that position was never made for someone of my background.

Aside from fame and fortune, though, I truly couldn't let that freak go anymore.

The people who've been good to me—I keep them all in my heart. But from childhood to now, I haven't had many people like that.

Yi Wuduan was my only friend in school. He died saving me. Half the blame for his death is mine; the other half sits with that freak.

When I first entered the Scholars' Academy, I also made a few scholar friends. They died at the hands of that same freak.

Our city looks prosperous, with plenty of strong fighters, but when faced with a relentless freak that 'only kills two people every two days,' not many people took it seriously.

In the end, it became a matter for the Scholars' Academy alone—just a conflict between my team and Luo Lang's team.

Even at the cost of my life, I wouldn't give up. I couldn't give up.

But by the time I realized that myself, I'd lost the way back to this shop.

Truthfully, when I think about it, her leaving might be for the best. She was my last childhood companion. She had no personal feud with that freak, and if we kept going, I couldn't guarantee her safety forever."

He had talked too much, and his throat was dry.

He reached for the Heartless Teapot, meaning to refill his cup.

The spout tilted. No tea came out.

"It seems your bond with this tea has run its course."

Chunhua was taken aback for a moment, then laughed out loud: "Yeah, I suppose this tea has already done all it could for me."

"At least the end result was good, wasn't it?"

"A good result? Maybe. Honestly, even now, when I recall the details of how we defeated that freak, I still find it hard to believe."

"Right. With a [Mystic] Level 6 member on your side, you couldn't manage it. After the core member left and your overall strength dropped significantly, it's almost unbelievable that you succeeded anyway."

At the mention of the successful hunt, a trace of excitement surfaced on Chunhua's face.

"On the day of that battle, it really felt like fate was smiling on us. The freak first went after Luo Lang's team. That kid Luo Lang had deep pockets—plenty of trump cards up his sleeve. When truly pushed into a corner, he unleashed astonishing power.

The freak defeated them, but it consumed most of its strength. While it was still weak, by some strange twist, we crossed paths with it.

That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—I seized it.

We all performed beyond our limits, pulling off the best coordination we'd ever managed.

"In the end, I seized a fleeting opportunity, drove the sword right into the core of the aberration with my own hand, and finished it off."

"Hold on," Chen Miemie cut in. "Let me confirm something—are you saying you personally killed that aberration?"

"Yes, right out in the open where everyone could see. That's the only reason I was promoted so quickly. Shopkeeper, is something wrong?"

Chen Miemie thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"It's a bit similar to what happened with another one of my clients, but there seems to be some slight difference. She asked me to help erase an aberration she'd encountered. Eh, probably just a coincidence."