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Translator: Tamon
It took a lot of convincing, but he finally got Geng Peng to realize it was all just a huge misunderstanding. Now Wang Qi rushed to the mess hall.
Few people were still around when he got there, finding a very familiar orange hair in a corner with little effort. He grabbed dinner and made his way over.
Mao Zimiao sat with a girl sporting long, dull, and silver hair with beast ears, messing around with each other. Wang Qi found it… such a waste.
[Waste not, want not.] Wang Qi sat down across from the girls with that in mind. “Yo, mind if I join?”
Mao Zimiao guarded her ears in reflex while holding her friend’s head close. “No way, nya! No touching!”
The girl pried herself from Mao Zimiao’s embrace. “You’re A’Miao’s friend, Wang Qi, woof?”
Due to their natural development, demonborn had various speech issues. Wang Qi got used to it: “Yep, that’s me.”
“Heavens, woof! A real Daoist, woof!”
Wang Qi jerked in fright. “Am I that famous?”
The girl bobbed her head. “Not many geniuses joined the institute after Reaching Heaven, woof! Not to mention there are still many more not in the Qi Refining realm after so little time passed since the start of the year, woof! A’Miao is incredible to attain it, woof!”
The beast-eared girl had the feeling of being at Reaching Heaven.
“Oh, I forgot to ask your name.”
“Wang Zhenqi, woof!” The girl was hyped. “Hearing so much about you from A’Miao, we’re practically friends, woof!”
[The missie’s overly friendly.] Wang Qi gave Mao Zimiao a curious look, drawing out an explanation from her: “That’s just Qiqi’s bloodline trait.”
Wang Zhenqi’s eyes roamed over Wang Zhenqi’s ears. Mao Zimiao rushed to defend her friend’s modesty. Wang Zhenqi’s eyes sparkled with humor, dodging her attempt while happening to move her head closer to Wang Qi. “I heard you like our ears, woof.”
With how quiet it was in the mess hall with so few people, Wang Zhenqi’s words drew the attention of the freshmen, their gazes stabbing into Wang Zhenqi’s back.
[What the hell is with these ‘public enemy’ glares?]
Wang Zhenqi continued, “Mine aren’t as sensitive, woof! Feel them, woof!”
“Qiqi!” Mao Zimiao squeaked, glaring at Wang Qi, threatening him with unspeakable hell if he accepted. While the others’ gazes turned into ‘There’s a pervert here, mommy.’
Wang Qi had to admit the request moved him, though Mao Zimiao and everyone’s glares stabbed his nearly nonexistent shame. He cleared his voice. “Ahem, I’m only curious about what demonborn…”
Wang Zhenqi looked down. “Eh? You don’t like them, woof? It can’t be just about cat ears, right woof? Didn’t you do it the moment you met A’Miao?”
[Crap, don’t go being so misleading! Look, there are people from the Behavioral Office looking over!]
“So tell me. I’m curious if those are dog ears or wolf ears.”
“Dog, nya. Qiqi’s ancestor was Nether Snow Hound King who sided with modern cultivation a thousand years ago during the chaos the nine demons unleashed, nya.”
[Why does that name make me think of those ferocious yet clearly overly cute animals with exaggerated puppy eyes on Earth?]
Wang Zhenqi looked glum. “I just want to say thanks in A’Miao’s stead for what you did, woof. She’s too shy to admit it.”
Mao Zimiao’s hand snapped over her mouth. “Qiqi!”
Wang Qi was surprised. [Who knew cats and dogs could be palls?]
Mao Zimiao gave him a look, then avoided his gaze. “That’s not what I meant, nya. It’s just her wild guess, nya.”
[So you’re a closet tsundere!] (Tamon: Japanese term. Harsh on the outside, but warm on the inside. Or playing hard to get.)
Only then did Mao Zimiao let the pug—uh, Wang Zhenqi—go. The dog-eared girl said, “I’m grateful for what you did this afternoon, woof. A’Miao’s rashness would’ve not only put all of us demonborn in a bad light but also ruined A’Miao’s dream of getting into Heavenly Spirit Range’s Spirit Beast Mountain, woof.”
Wang Qi smiled. “Nothing to it. Speaking of, I want to ask you two something serious.”
Mao Zimiao pouted, “Little Qi only comes over to his friends when he needs something, nya.”
Wang Qi said, “Uhm, how does one go about earning Immortal Alliance merits? What’s the fastest way to get a lot?”
Mao Zimiao and Wang Zhenqi shared a look and said in unison, “Little Qi, did you hit your head, nya?” “You think we’d have swept floors for a month if we knew, woof?”
Wang Qi sighed, “Fine, fine, now how many merits do you have? Can you lend me?”
Mao Zimiao hesitated. “How many do you need?”
“A thousand.”
“Are you insane, nya?” “You kidding me, woof?”
The demonborn girls flipped, “We only got five between us!”
Wang Qi sighed. “The truth is, while I meditated last night, a senior popped out of nowhere.”
The girls’ faces read, ‘Are you screwing with me?’
“Why is it that by saying ‘the truth is’ is always taken the wrong way these days? In any case, an Unfettered senior gave me advice to borrow these books.”
Wang Zhenqi looked at the list and held her head while wailing, “Oh, my head!”
Wang Qi gasped. [Did Senior leave a magical art on it so only I could read it?]
Mao Zimiao gave Wang Zhenqi a look. “Qiqi, get serious about math, or you’ll faint at every math book title, nya.”
“What’s the difference, woof?”
Too busy with their studies since the start of the school year, the girls had no time to look into earning money. They didn’t know any good ways to get merits. All they got was their elders warning them about the importance of merits.
But Wang Qi got what he wanted.
To earn merits, one had to visit the Immortal Alliance’s offices in the main city or at its branches and supply a trace of their energy to the All-immortal Realm through their tools. This trace would form a mark on the Merits Ledger inside. Following this procedure, the All-immortal Realm would record one’s merits.
[So registering comes before earning.] Wang Qi dissed.
The girls didn’t know the specifics, so he planned on asking some higher cultivators after the evening class.
Su Junyu and Xiang Qi had the highest cultivation at the Foundation Establishment among the people he befriended. Su Junyu came from a clan, and Xiang Qi always called him Moneybags. [He must’ve never worried about pocket money.] Thus, Wang Qi planned to go to the refining workshop later and ask Xiang Qi about this.
