God of Illusions

If the new students had previously cultivated behind closed doors, then the start of the elimination matches meant that they had officially entered the public eye. Apart from the new students who were preparing to gain qualification into the New Student Tournament, countless seniors had arrived to watch the daily elimination matches as well. However, these seniors only paid attention to two kinds of people.

The first was those with top-notch abilities. Most of the young masters or ladies of various kingdoms and organizations were interested in scouting for talent. They could help their respective factions identify talents worth recruiting while enjoying the fights at the same time. New students were the easiest to win over and this was the best time to recruit them. 

The second would be the beauties. The Blossom Ranking will be updated soon. Anyone able to attract more attention now would be able to shoot to fame instantly. For a woman, this was both an honor and an opportunity.

However, as someone closely linked to the Blossom Ranking, Bai Xiaofei could not feel the slightest bit of joy at all. After Yun Jingshuang’s inspection, a long list of candidates had been prepared. He subsequently produced ballots for the candidates in the list before distributing them. Everyone could get one per day as long as they are from the Starnet Academy. In the evenings, Yun Jingshuang would retrieve all the ballots to tally up the votes.

Bai Xiaofei had naturally been invited to participate in this great endeavor. He personally witnessed Hu Xian'er and Lin Li's votes soar to the top.

“Today’s the last day. After tallying today’s votes, we will be able to update the Blossom Ranking tomorrow.”

Yun Jingshuang stretched lazily and tossed a huge stack of ballots to Bai Xiaofei.

“Dinner is on me. Get your classmates to come as well, since they have been helping out for the past few days. Besides, the more the merrier.”

Wearing a light pink robe and a smile on his face, Yun Jingshuang winked at Bai Xiaofei. This shocked and gave Bai Xiaofei goosebumps.

Sure enough, I can’t get used to this Big Brother Yun no matter how frequently we meet…

“Don’t forget to bring Huskie along! I haven’t seen him in ages! Oh yeah, I heard you have a kitten as well now? Bring her along as well! I already have their snacks prepared!”

After Yun Jingshuang spoke, Han Qianye came over with excitement written all over her face.

“No problem. If the meal is on you guys, everyone is sure to turn up.”

Bai Xiaofei laughed and replied, seemingly with a hidden meaning in his words.

“I’ve heard about you and your dog from Lingyan. Both of you are not allowed to eat without limits. It’s not like you don’t know my financial situation.”

Bai Xiaofei’s joy did not last long as Yun Jingshuang immediately set a condition for the meal, sealing the insatiable appetites of Bai Xiaofei and Huskie.

“Oh…fine. But my classmates can eat a lot as well. You better be prepared for it.”

Due to their long term cooperative relationship, Bai Xiaofei decided to give Yun Jingshuang a friendly reminder. Of course, Bai Xiaofei was more concerned that he would be forced to make up for the difference if Yun Jingshuang did not have enough money to pay for the meal. Based on his past experience, Yun Jingshuang had never returned his debt.

“Don’t worry. I still have enough cash to buy you guys a meal.”

Yun Jingshuang patted his chest as he gazed at Bai Xiaofei with a reassuring look. When Bai Xiaofei saw how confident he was, he shook his head.

Aaii, you’re still too naive, senior.

They stopped their idle chatter and focused on finalizing the votes. Bai Xiaofei’s heart throbbed with each vote he read out.

“This is the final vote, Hu Xian’er, Lin Li…”

Bai Xiaofei finished reciting the long list of names before lifting his head to look at the two names ranked first and second: Hu Xian’er at 35849 votes and Lin Li at 35677 votes.

With such huge cardinal numbers, the two ladies were basically on the same level. This time around, the third ranked senior sister was ranked fourth in the previous ranking. Even so, she had only gotten around twenty thousand votes. Anyhow, although the votes were very close, there was still a difference. It was clear that Hu Xian’er would be the new Queen of Flowers.

“Congratulations, Brother Bai.”

After they were done tallying the votes, Yun Jingshuang looked at Bai Xiaofei and spoke with a profound smile. Beside them, a nosy look appeared on Han Qianye’s face.

“Why are you two looking at me like this? Shouldn't I be the one congratulating you guys for finishing up instead?”

Bai Xiaofei gulped and decided to feign ignorance.

“Brother Bai, what is the point of feigning ignorance? You might be able to hide your affairs from others, but did you actually think you can hide it from me as well? Have you forgotten what my second puppet is?”

Bai Xiaofei broke into a cold sweat when he heard him. At the same time, he started cursing Yun Jingshuang inwardly.

This freak is obviously a rare Frost Energy Stream puppet master yet he chose a probing puppet as his second puppet. And if that wasn't bad enough, he even spent a huge amount of money to get a gold grade one!

Yun Jingshuang once claimed that even if he stayed put in the Blossom Pavilion, he would still be able to find out eighty percent of what happens within the Starnet Academy, as long as he wished to. This was especially true for the people he had his eyes on. Unfortunately, Bai Xiaofei was one of those people who had caught his attention. Naturally, Yun Jingshuang was a man of culture. For example, previously, he had stopped spying on Bai Xiaofei and Hu Xian’er once he saw them enter the hotel. In any case, he could easily guess what would happen next.

“Among the new members of the Blossom Ranking, three of them, the first, second and seventeenth ranked have a rather ambiguous relationship with you. The one currently ranked twenty fourth hangs out with you quite frequently as well. You alone have conquered four high-ranking beauties. Should I not congratulate you?”

Since there were no outsiders around, Yun Jingshuang had no qualms about being honest. On the other hand, Bai Xiaofei’s face darkened greatly.  

This will only a good thing if I’m the only one who’s aware of it. It’s definitely no good if others know about it as well...

“You are aware that the moment I make public this ‘talent’ of yours, death will come knocking on your door pretty quickly…”

Bai Xiaofei said gloomily. He had no intention of hiding how he was feeling.

“In the whole Starnet Academy, only the three of us know about my second ability for now.”

Yun Jingshuang finished with a smile on his face and Bai Xiaofei’s anxiety dropped considerably. He understood what Yun Jingshuang was trying to tell him: We’re both holding on to each other’s secret, so don’t worry.

Yes, yes, I’m not worried about you. But what about the person next to you?

“Senior sister, I know that you are not one of those who makes a living from spreading gossip, right? Such an immoral act does not match your adorable appearance!”

When he turned around to look at Han Qianye, his expression went through a complete shift. She was someone who did not respond kindly to coercion.

“Don’t worry. If I had any intention of spreading this, you would be dead by now. However, I want to play with your puppy and kitten. When the New Student Tournament is over, you know…”

Han Qianye had a devious look in her eyes and made him do a pinky-swear with her.

“One week. After the New Student Tournament, you can have them for a week!”

Usually, people would sell out their masters for glory. But when it came to Bai Xiaofei, it was the other way round.

“Deal!”