“All of you, enough!” Sheng Haoran yelled out as he intervened in the scuffle between his friend and Long Yi.

His attempt at defusing the situation had temporarily succeeded, as all parties were stunned into silence. His companions were dumbfounded as they wondered why he had intervened. Long Yi was rational enough to know he had no malicious intentions, thus allowing him to redirect his charge.

All parties waited on Sheng Haoran’s next words with bated breath.

“We’re all from the same organization. There’s no need for this, especially when we’re right outside the Head Councilman’s office.”

“Haoran, you should know better than to group us together with these buffoons,” the older disciple among them replied. “While their achievement is commendable, even if it was due to luck, they should still share the techniques they learned with more talented cultivators like us.”

“Senior Bei, you may be misunderstanding something here. These three didn’t—”

Sheng Haoran took a moment to look back at the trio. It was obvious he was hesitant, but that changed the moment he breathed in deeply and composed himself. With a determined look in his eyes, he turned back to his companions.

“I’m not afraid to admit these three had a better showing than me within the pocket realm. Their learning ability is above me. They even tutored the geniuses from not only the Bloodwave Conclave, but the Eternal Wave Sect and Nightmoon Valley as well.”

“What?!” yelps of surprise filled the hallway.

All the cultivators who hadn’t entered the pocket realm were shocked. That couldn’t be helped, as the people Sheng Haoran mentioned felt just too out of reach for most of them. They were like celebrities who they only heard rumors of.

It seems Sheng Haoran has been keeping tabs on us while in the pocket realm. I’m starting to feel guilty for sabotaging him now…

“You mean Tang Yulian and Sima Xue?”

“That’s right,” Sheng Haoran nodded. “In that regard, I’m no match for their social skills, either. They befriended them, so I’d advise you guys to just get along with them.”

While most of the young masters were mulling over his words, the two who had ambushed Li Lang’s party with him back during the annual tournament stepped forward. They grabbed onto Sheng Haoran’s shoulders and shook him.

“Haoran, are you okay? What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m fine. After what I’ve experienced this time around, I’m no longer afraid to admit my shortcomings. It seems I still have a lot to work on. Only when you can accept your faults that you can start to improve.”

A strange atmosphere took hold of the hallway. No one really knew how to approach the situation anymore, but thankfully, it didn’t last long.

As if to purposely save them from the awkwardness, the doors to the Head Councilman’s office opened.

Sheng Zhaoming walked out and regarded each person in the hallway briefly before settling his sights on Li Lang.

“You guys may enter. Head Councilman Liu is waiting for you.”

He then rested a hand on his grandson and smiled appreciatively at him.

“Let’s go. Your mom has been looking forward to your return.”

Li Lang’s party waited no further and entered the room. The doors automatically closed behind them, leaving the young masters still dumbfounded in the hallway.

“...I don’t think I’m in the mood to go to the theatre anymore. I’m heading off to the library.”

“Wait! I’ll come too.”

Having gotten a reality check, the young masters decided to work just a bit harder than they usually did. They all thought if these nobodies could get acquainted with the geniuses of their generations, so could they.

On the other hand, Li Lang had completely put the incident behind him. There were too many things on his mind to have room for these squabbles. This was especially so when he had the Head Councilman in front of him.

“Li Lang, Wei Ping, and Long Yi. It’s been quite a while, but we meet again,” the old man smiled.

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“Greetings to head Councilman Liu,” the three said in unison as they clasped their fists.

“Relax and sit. I just wanted to have a casual chat. After all, it’s been five years since I’ve seen you three. That may not be a long time for me, but that’s almost a third of your lives.”

Li Lang nodded and took the seat directly before the old leader. While what Liu Haiping said wasn’t exactly correct for his situation, he had to admit he did spend a lot of time within the pocket realm.

It didn’t feel like it, though. I spent most of our time doing monotonous training and repeating the same tests over and over again. It only feels like it’s been a year or two.

The conversation proceeded in the direction the three had expected. They were asked numerous questions concerning their experiences. The Head Councilman even reminded them that everything they earned inside the pocket realm was theirs to keep, but they could also submit it to the covenant for rewards. It was obvious he was suggesting they share the techniques they learned.

Having gotten their stories straight months before, the three collaborated in their retelling of the story they had devised. It was the exact same story they had told Sheng Zhaoming.

When they finally got out of the meeting, they all rushed to find an inn to retire for the night. They knew they would be gone for a prolonged amount of time when they left, so they had to find a new dwelling. Li Lang had stowed all the belongings they didn’t take with them with his brushweaving master, Yi Lin.

However, they were too tired to go retrieve their stuff today. They immediately ate a hearty meal and fell asleep right after.

Early the next morning, they traveled together to the small abode where Yi Lin lived. They walked slowly, as they basked in the morning sun, and watched others scurrying about to begin their day. It was a sight they hadn’t seen in a long time and a refreshing one.

“Do you guys remember the names of those guys who provoked us yesterday?” Long Yi innocently asked.

“Why w-would you want to know?”

“To get back at them, of course.”

“D-don’t! You’ll get p-punished for inflicting v-violence on the members of the same organization.”

“Relax. I don’t mean physically. There are lots of ways to get back at them. How about we sneak some laxatives into their food and drinks? Or maybe skin irritants on their inner robes? What do you think, Li Lang?”

Having been called out, Li Lang could only shake his head. At the mention of the incident from the day prior, his feeling of guilt toward Sheng Haoran resurfaced. They had started off on the wrong foot, but upon reflection, he may have gone too far. Sheng Haoran was still a kid at the end of the day, and Li Lang had sabotaged a pivotal moment in his life.

While the rational part of him that was well-versed in biology wanted to blame his teenage body for his emotionally driven decision, he knew he still should’ve retained more control. With that in mind, he began lecturing his friend so he wouldn’t stray down the same path.

“Long Yi, it’s better to forget about it. If you’re going to remember something, don’t let it be the negatives. The positives are much more worthwhile.”

Seeing Long Yi speechless as he mulled over his words, Li Lang continued.

“I’m trying to say that you should go thank Sheng Haoran instead of holding a grudge against those who confronted us. He stood up for us. You’ll find that your life will become a lot happier if you start remembering the people who helped you instead of the people who wronged you.”

Seeing neither of his companions backed him up in his plots, Long Yi quieted down and fell into deep thought.

The three continued walking in silence for the remainder part of the trip. Yi Lin’s house wasn’t that far, so it had just been a few minutes.

“Fine, I’ll let it go,” Long Yi muttered as they arrived.

Li Lang chuckled to himself as he knocked on the door.

He enjoyed mentoring the younger interns back when he first became a senior researcher. Not only did it help him create assistants, but it was never bad to see the youngsters mature. Hearing Long Yi take his words to heart, he felt satisfaction. It was also at these moments that he felt old.

His smile soon turned into a frown when no one answered the door, despite knocking multiple times. He began to worry that his eccentric master had gone on a trip. Thankfully, that didn’t turn out to be the case.

The door finally opened after they had knocked on it several dozen times.

“It that you, Li Lang?” a man with messy bed hair peeked out from the door. “I guess my Qi senses weren’t fooling me. It really is you. Woah, you guys have really grown up! I barely recognized you if it wasn’t for my Qi sense.”

Upon seeing how disorderly his mentor was, Li Lang let out a sigh. It had been so long that he had almost forgotten about Yi Lin’s lifestyle.

Of course, he wouldn’t be awake so early in the morning. What was I thinking?

“What are you three waiting for? Come in.”

Under Yi Lin’s urging, the three proceeded to retrieve their belongings. They stuffed it all into the Skyrunner they had parked in the back.

“We’ll h-head back first. I h-have to go report to my m-mentor as well, and Long Yi p-probably has to do the same,” Wei Ping informed.

Very quickly, Li Lang found himself alone with Yi Lin. It was a nostalgic feeling, but another matter took priority over basking in nostalgia.

“What’s up? Have you decided to continue being my apprentice?”

Before Li Lang departed, he had informed his mentor about leaving for the pocket realm. He even told him he wasn’t sure if he would continue acting as his assistant when he came back. Nevertheless, Yi Lin made it clear he would welcome him back at any point.

“We can talk about that later. First, I wanted to know if you knew of any material that can be used to store Qi and interact with other objects at the same time.”

Yi Lin was a little taken aback at the fervor of his former apprentice’s questions. It was inevitable as Li Lang had been waiting this entire time to ask this question. The first thing he looked forward to do, now that he was back, was to work on the talisman printer. To do that, he needed a material that could act as a rechargeable battery for Qi and had a stable output.