Later, w.a.n.g Ling got a list of the items he needed to bring for the four-day school exchange.

In addition to basic school supplies and clothes for the night, they also had to bring a spirit sword for the flying swords exchange activity. The characters in the last sentence on the list were extra large and striking: THE SCHOOL UNIFORM MUST BE WORN.

w.a.n.g Ling already no longer had the energy to ridicule the school uniform, since the nation was united in its uniform aesthetic. He didn't believe No. 59 High School's uniform would be any better.

His only concern now was how to make himself as inconspicuous as possible during this four-day school exchange.

Whether it was Old Antique leading the team, or the other four individuals on it, they were all people around whom he had to be highly vigilant.

Staring at the notification letter, he sighed.

No matter what, this wasn't going to be easy to deal with, and would need to be handled with special care. The smallest suspicious action might draw even more attention and suspicion from other people.

There were some points for attention in the notification letter which parents needed to sign in agreement.

When w.a.n.g Ling returned home in the evening, he straightaway threw the notification letter at Father w.a.n.g.

Father w.a.n.g straightaway took a pen out of his pocket to deftly and swiftly sign his name.

"You're not going to read it?" w.a.n.g Ling was very surprised.

Father w.a.n.g usually read school notifications more seriously than he did the morning newspaper.

"It's an off-campus activity, it's all safety instructions and points for attention, there's nothing to read. Is there anyone who can beat you?" Father w.a.n.g said.

"..."

Father w.a.n.g pushed his black-rimmed gla.s.ses up, and picked up the evening newspaper on the table. "These last few days, news of the Shadow Stream a.s.sa.s.sins being wiped out at your school has spread like wildfire. The man who had the worst death, his entire body broken into pieces, and his golden core reportedly broken down to slag — don't tell me you did that?"

w.a.n.g Ling: "..."

Seeing that w.a.n.g Ling wasn't saying anything, Father w.a.n.g sighed deeply. "It was an unusual situation this time. Next time, be a little more careful."

w.a.n.g Ling threw his hands up in the air and said helplessly, "He attacked me first, I didn't fight back at all."

Father w.a.n.g put down the newspaper and sighed, then he looked at w.a.n.g Ling and said meaningfully, "Though he sought death himself, you have to control yourself from now on. In any case, leave them a whole body! See how much trouble it's caused our forensic colleagues in their investigation. They have to reconstruct the pieces of dreg one by one, then put them back together."

"..."

"Forget it, forget it, it's already very difficult for Ling Ling. If it wasn't for that talisman seal, there probably wouldn't even have been slag left after the backlash." Mother w.a.n.g came out of the kitchen with a bowl of hot fish soup, placed it on the table, and untied her ap.r.o.n. "Both of you men, get ready for dinner!"

w.a.n.g Ling stared at the fish soup for a long moment. "Coral grouper?"

w.a.n.g Ling remembered that this fish didn't really have much of a taste, but it was unusually expensive. Unless they had guests, Mother w.a.n.g would only buy one during the festive season.

w.a.n.g Ling didn't say anything, but Mother w.a.n.g immediately understood when she saw his expression. "Xiao Ming came today, and I was going to ask him to stay for dinner, but in the end something urgent came up and he had to go back. What a pity, I simmered the coral grouper soup for eight hours. The two of you men eat more today!"

w.a.n.g Ling: "..." Sure enough, that annoying guy had come!

Xiao Ming, an affectionate way of calling w.a.n.g Ming, was w.a.n.g Ling's older cousin.

Different to w.a.n.g Ling, w.a.n.g Ming was another kind of genius. Though the both of them had equally matchless innate skills in cultivation, w.a.n.g Ming was more focused on scientific research. He became the youngest member of the Academy of Cultivation and Science at the age of twenty-two, when they made an exception for his admittance into the inst.i.tution.

To this day, his ident.i.ty had not been officially made public, and was a state secret. To Huaxiu nation's military forces, this man's brain was even more terrifying than a holy weapon.

The most straightforward evidence of this was the Dao talisman seal on w.a.n.g Ling's arm. Though it was w.a.n.g Ling who had drawn it based on an ancient text, it also incorporated the black technology which w.a.n.g Ming had created, thus combining cultivation principles with the most advanced science in Huaxiu nation. It was because of this scientific component that the basic function of the Dao talisman was greatly strengthened, perfectly suppressing w.a.n.g Ling's aura.

The reason w.a.n.g Ling could hide his ident.i.ty was to a large extent because of w.a.n.g Ming's help.

However, w.a.n.g Ling didn't really have a very good impression of his cousin.

He was a fairly stubborn and intractable person, who would never ever allow himself to fail.

w.a.n.g Ling remembered when, as a six-year-old, he had slapped twelve-year-old w.a.n.g Ming and sent him flying. w.a.n.g Ming had always taken that incident to heart, and since then, he would always challenge w.a.n.g Ling whenever he had the chance.

Until now, he had never once defeated w.a.n.g Ling.

Furthermore, during these many challenges, the Dao talisman seal had been continuously upgraded, limiting most of w.a.n.g Ling's strength. Yet the person who lost in the end was still w.a.n.g Ming...

Hence, w.a.n.g Ling always felt quite twitchy whenever he heard the name w.a.n.g Ming. When would this man give up on challenging him at the smallest provocation...

But Father w.a.n.g and Mother w.a.n.g didn't object to w.a.n.g Ming, and thought that the two cousins had a pretty good relations.h.i.+p. Otherwise, why would w.a.n.g Ming always be worried about the Dao talisman seal? Or did he just have too much time on his hands?

w.a.n.g Ling gave them a look. "..."

The two of you are right! He really has too much time on his hands!

Father w.a.n.g looked at Mother w.a.n.g with some rebuke. "It wasn't easy for Xiao Ming to come today, why didn't you persuade him to stay? He hasn't been here in a while."

"Xiao Ming considers state affairs important, how could I persuade him to stay," Mother w.a.n.g said with a little regret. "Next time we definitely must get Xiao Ming to stay the night; he can sleep with Ling Ling, and the two of them can have a heart-to-heart."

"..." w.a.n.g Ling really, really wanted to burst out swearing.

But Father w.a.n.g suddenly realized the problem with that. "Oh! No! The two of them can't sleep together. What will we do if Ling Ling accidentally kills Xiao Ming with one blow in his sleep?"

"..."

The two of you, enough!

After talking nonsense, in the end it was Father w.a.n.g who came back to the main point. "By the way, why did Xiao Ming specially come to see us this time?"

Mother w.a.n.g immediately patted her head. She had almost forgotten the real issue! She looked at w.a.n.g Ling and asked, "Ling Ling, how many more days do you think your Dao talisman seal will last for?"

w.a.n.g Ling remembered the last time the talisman had been changed was almost half a year ago. He counted with his fingers... hm, a minimum of three days, or five days at the very most. By then, the spirit energy in the Dao talisman seal would be completely used up. At that time, all of his aura would be exposed to the public.

At that time, even w.a.n.g Ling didn't know what would happen.

"You only have three to five days left, right? Xiao Ming said the upgraded Dao talisman would be delivered as soon as possible this week." Mother w.a.n.g suddenly felt a little worried. The last time w.a.n.g Ling's aura couldn't be contained, the spillover had caused a blackout across the whole of Star city for ten days!

"There shouldn't be any problems for the time being."

Father w.a.n.g nodded his head as he spoke. Looking at Mother w.a.n.g's frown, he said, "If you're really worried, let him take Jingke with him."

Jingke was the second sword that Father w.a.n.g had gotten w.a.n.g Ling after he had broken that magic sword when he was a year old.

This sword had been with w.a.n.g Ling since he was a kid, and was the only spirit sword that had formed a formal contract with him.

It was just that the material which this spirit sword was made of was a little special.

It was a small sword that wasn't made of gold, or silver, or copper, or iron... it was made of wood.