Soon, the instructor left, but many gazes still lingered on their group.

  "Thank you for earlier," Xie Zhishang smiled at Yun Qingqing. He looked much better now, probably because seeing Yang Changyin get taught a lesson had lifted a weight off his chest.

  "No need to thank me. Teaching him a lesson was the right thing to do," Yun Qingqing waved her fist and gave him a big smile.

  Nan Gong Huan restrained the Radiant Ribbon, which was trying to sneak in some mischief, and said to Yun Qingqing, "It seems like you’ve made a lot of progress in controlling your strength."

  She no longer accidentally broke things or hurt others like before.

  "Hehe, Elder Xuan Yin took me as his disciple. He taught me how to control my strength, but there’s still room for improvement. I always end up breaking my master’s flowerpots," Yun Qingqing said, her mood dampening a bit. Although her master didn’t make her pay for the damages, she still felt guilty.

  Once she became stronger, she would go out and collect some beautiful, rare flower seeds for her master.

  "It’s okay. As long as you’re improving, Elder Xuan Yin will be very pleased," Nan Gong Huan comforted her.

  "Then I’ll continue training tonight. I’ll start by smashing a hundred flowerpots!" Yun Qingqing regained her motivation, her face full of determination!

  Nan Gong Huan almost thought she had misheard. A hundred flowerpots? Elder Xuan Yin must have a lot of flowerpots.

  "By the way, sister, I asked my master about your Wansheng flower. He said it’s probably a genius among wood spirits, having undergone a second evolution and developed initial intelligence. But with the wooden head of a wood spirit, it’s hard to achieve further evolution unless it’s truly one in ten thousand."

  Yun Qingqing poked Wan’er, thinking to herself, "Hmph, this little thing is even competing for attention. I don’t believe a wildflower can evolve multiple times."

  "It... might have already evolved again," Nan Gong Huan smiled awkwardly. It happened when Wan’er made a contract with her.

  The next day, she woke up to find the room filled with Wansheng flowers. It had extended countless branches, adorned with tiny pink buds. The moment all the flowers bloomed, she was truly amazed.

  Now, Wan’er lifted its head. Its facial features had become much clearer, its emerald eyes veiled with a hint of mist. Its small mouth opened, and it clumsily uttered two words: "Id...iot..."

  "?" Yun Qingqing was stunned for a moment, then covered her mouth, almost screaming!

  "It... it can talk?!" Ye Sang, on the other side, couldn’t hold back and leaned in to take a closer look.

  Upon closer inspection, the little wildflower had changed quite a bit compared to before. Though small, its petals were layered, making it look more delicate than the average Wansheng flower by the roadside.

  The other friends also gathered around to look. Wan’er, seeing so many people staring at it, suddenly felt shy and buried its head.

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  "Although it’s only two words, it took several days for it to learn them," Nan Gong Huan raised her finger to stroke Wan’er. Perhaps because it had absorbed spiritual energy, Wan’er had a higher chance of evolving than ordinary wood spirits.

  Besides saying "master," it only knew how to say "idiot"... Sometimes it even combined the two. Nan Gong Huan wasn’t sure if it was doing it on purpose.

  "I’ll have to tell my master about this. This should be considered a special case," Yun Qingqing huffed, planning to ask her master how to care for it. If it really became a combat wood spirit, it could protect her sister in the future.

  "This is amazing," Xie Zhishang stared at Wan’er. It was his first time seeing such a wood spirit.

  Mei Zhengfeng pondered for a moment, then took out a piece of wood spirit crystal and handed it over.

  Immediately, Wansheng extended countless tiny branches, wrapping around the wood spirit crystal and absorbing its energy. In just a few seconds, the wood spirit crystal had turned to dust, its energy completely absorbed.

  It was clear that Wan’er’s branches had thickened, looking more powerful.

  "It can absorb the energy of spirit crystals?" Nan Gong Huan’s eyes lit up. She had been feeding it spiritual energy all along, not realizing wood spirit crystals could also work.

  "Wood spirit crystals mostly come from the bodies of low-level wood spirits. If possible, letting it devour other wood spirits would help it grow faster. That’s the usual method for wood spirits to grow. Otherwise, relying solely on absorbing natural spiritual energy, it might take a thousand years to evolve."

  Mei Zhengfeng rarely spoke so much, but of course, this was also what his mentor had told him.

  He continued, "The cost of raising a wood spirit is too high. It might be more than double what you spend on yourself."

  More than double what I spend on myself... Nan Gong Huan felt that her spiritual energy consumption couldn’t be calculated based on ordinary people.

  "It’s fine. I feel like it’s quite easy to raise," Nan Gong Huan condensed a ball of spiritual energy at her fingertip, and Wan’er immediately pounced on it, sucking it up more eagerly than it had with the wood spirit crystal!

  Everyone watched this astonishing scene. It truly went beyond their understanding.

  "It’s evolving so quickly. It really can’t be treated like an ordinary wood spirit," Ye Sang pondered. After all, raising it didn’t take much time.

  No one could guess that all of this was related to Nan Gong Huan’s spiritual energy.

  After finishing the ball of spiritual energy, Wan’er curled up contentedly, as if slightly drunk, its flowers swaying and turning slightly red.

  "A Huan, it’s them!" Ye Sang suddenly pointed to a spot not far from their side.

  Everyone followed her gaze and spotted Nan Gong Qian’er and the others!

  Nan Gong Qian’er, Wei Yugong, and Cui Zhejian were sitting together, chatting happily with the people around them.

  Previously, with the strong support of her mentor, Elder Shui Yue, Nan Gong Qian’er had been temporarily released to participate in the Dragon-Tiger Competition. Once the competition ended, she would return to confinement.

  The other person who had been confined with her, Lu Sui’an, wasn’t so lucky and was still locked up.

  This time, Nan Gong Qian’er seemed much more composed, not as quick to stir up trouble or mock as before.

  When she noticed Nan Gong Huan and the others looking over, she simply raised an eyebrow and smiled, as if there was no enmity between them.

  "After not seeing her for a few days, Nan Gong Qian’er seems to have changed a lot," Ye Wanjun muttered.

  "Changed or not, A Huan can definitely still defeat her!" Ye Sang was now very confident in Nan Gong Huan.

  Nan Gong Huan just glanced at her, then turned her attention to the competition field, observing other potential threats.

  "Hey, do you guys know what the rewards for this competition are?" Xie Zhishang started the conversation, unable to stop himself.

  "What are they?" Yun Qingqing turned her head curiously. They hadn’t looked into it yet.

  "There’s a section about the Dragon-Tiger Competition in the crystal board. You can check it out. The top fifty can qualify to enter the Secret Forest Realm. I think there’s a chance for me. I’ve heard that the Secret Forest Realm in the academy has thousands of spiritual veins and hundreds of spiritual springs. Spending three days there would be a huge gain!" Xie Zhishang was quite confident in his strength.

  He might not have the power to match others, but he still had a fighting chance!

  "Let me see," Yun Qingqing and the others took out their student crystal boards to check. They really hadn’t noticed this before.