“Yes, it happened just a few months ago.” 

Ning Yishi fell silent for a few minutes after hearing that. He occasionally frowned, lost in thought. 

“It’s rare, but there are cases where someone regains consciousness after a spiritual strength outburst. Most people suffer damage, though—either their abilities drop or, in rare cases, they get a boost instead.” 

“What was your spiritual strength rank before?” 

“It was B-rank.” 

Ning Yishi nodded in understanding. 

“Then it’s likely your rank went up because of that outburst. But your fluctuation rank… that’s something else.” 

Generally speaking, the higher the spiritual strength fluctuation, the more unstable the spiritual strength becomes, leading to a higher probability of an outburst, and the chances of regaining consciousness after the outburst are very low. 

But there’s another theory in academic circles. 

Some believe that the fluctuation might actually represent the potential for growth. 

In general, people are born with a fixed spiritual strength. But in rare cases, it can either drop or rise later in life. Injury can cause it to drop, but as for what causes it to rise—no one really knows. 

There just aren’t enough cases to study. But in the few known ones where someone’s spiritual strength increased, most of them had fluctuations of A or higher. 

So, some researchers think there’s a connection between fluctuation rank and growth potential. They’ve been trying to crack the code and find a way to raise the spiritual strength rank. 

And right now, standing in front of Ning Yishi was someone incredibly valuable—Su Liqian was a prime example. 

He’d basically struck gold. 

She was the perfect subject for research. If he could study her thoroughly, it might even lead to a major breakthrough in the field. 

But Ning Yishi wasn’t some mad scientist. He knew that this information absolutely could not leak out. 

“Improving spiritual strength” had become a timeless topic of research since the arrival of the card era, and some researchers had even conducted inhumane experiments on humans for their studies. 

As far as he knew, these experiments were officially banned. But in reality, they still existed—and were becoming more common in recent years. 

That guy earlier—Gu Nianye—showing up in the Second Star District? That had already set off a few alarm bells in his mind. 

The Alliance was aware of everything that had happened.

So in this kind of situation, someone like Su Liqian should not be exposed to the public. 

“Cases like yours are extremely rare. It’s best not to tell others about the changes in your spiritual strength.” 

Ning Yishi said no more, but Su Liqian could probably guess part of the reason. She nodded seriously in agreement. 

“But it’s hard to keep this a secret.” 

Her spiritual strength surge was not a secret, and some people knew about the increase in her spiritual strength as well. 

And in today’s information age, secrets don’t stay buried for long. 

“I can help with that, don’t worry,” Ning Yishi reassured her. With his position and status, it wasn’t hard to modify certain “things.” 

Information technology had made secrets impossible to conceal, but it had also provided people with the opportunity to easily alter the truth. 

For now, keeping certain data hidden was not a problem. 

“Alright.” 

Su Liqian nodded. 

Ning Yishi had helped her a lot. It might’ve been a small effort on his part, but to her, it could’ve meant the difference between life and death. 

And despite knowing how unique she was, Ning Yishi didn’t press her further. He just ran a test and then let her go. 

“Your spiritual strength fluctuation rank is too high. If you’re open to it, you can come here every month so I can check your spiritual strength fluctuations. Of course, I might also use that data in my research.” 

Ning Yishi was very honest and gave her the opportunity to choose. 

Even though they hadn’t known each other for long, Ning Yishi had a trustworthy aura about him. After some thought, Su Liqian agreed to his proposal. 

Just like he said— her spiritual strength was unstable, and if another outburst occurred, she might not be so lucky next time. 

This was a mutually beneficial arrangement: she provided data for his research, and he helped ensure her safety. 

Right now, this was the best option she had. 

After returning from Xingqi, the family of three didn’t stay long in the Second Star District. After a day of rest, they set off back to the Sixth Star District. 

Su Liqian had a competition this weekend. Her current record was one win and one loss, so to advance, she had to do well in the remaining matches. 

But after facing two tough opponents back to back, both her mindset and her skills had leveled up. The rest of the matches started to feel a bit easier. 

“This is the dark horse of this year’s Star District competition—Su Liqian, and her opponent is Ke Xu from Chenya!” 

“I heard Ke Xu is one of Chenya’s star players. I wonder what kind of sparks will fly when these two powerhouses face off!” 

The commentator smartly shifted the focus from the individual players to the rivalry between the two schools. 

Chenya and Lanxi have been long-time rivals. In the past, Chenya always had the upper hand over Lanxi in various aspects. Lanxi, however, has never been willing to admit defeat and worked hard to catch up, determined to earn the title of “Top High School in the Sixth Star District.” 

It’s always been a hot topic in the Sixth Star District, and naturally, it attracted a lot of attention today too. 

The audience stands were unusually crowded, packed with supporters from both schools. 

“Go Ke Xu! Beat that Lanxi player! Let them see how powerful we are!” 

“Lanxi really thinks they can surpass us? In their dreams!” 

“Ke Xu’s one of our top three players at Chenya! He’s been undefeated so far. If they ended up facing him, that’s just bad luck on their part.” 

“Haha, that girl from Lanxi looks weak, I hope she won’t end up hurt by Ke Xu and then try to make us look bad!” 

“Pfft, what’s the big deal about being undefeated? Our Su Liqian made it to the semifinals undefeated too!” 

“She’s not just a Card Master. Su Liqian is also the only Dream Caster among this year’s freshmen!”

“Let’s go, Su Liqian! Show Chenya what we’re made of! Lanxi’s not the same school it used to be!” 

Standing in the middle of the arena, Su Liqian couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. 

Wait, since when did the Chenya vs. Lanxi rivalry get this intense? Did she miss something? 

The stands were split in half, blue on one side and white on the other, with each school’s supporters glaring daggers at the other, eyes locked on the match about to begin. 

However, the difference was that Chenya’s students were clearly more arrogant, while Lanxi’s people, though unwilling to show weakness, couldn’t hide their worries. 

Among the audience were Sen Ya and Ye Zilan. 

It was Su Liqian’s match today, and of course, they came early to cheer her on. 

“Qian Qian is up against a third-year student from Chenya, do you think…” 

Sen Ya couldn’t finish her sentence. She believed in Su Liqian’s abilities, but with everything that had happened recently, she was still nervous. 

Especially since Su Liqian’s opponent wasn’t just anyone. 

“It’ll be fine. Ke Xu is strong, no doubt, but we have to trust Su Liqian,” Ye Zilan said, though his expression was serious too. 

Just two days ago, a second-year student from Chenya had faced a third-year card master from Lanxi. What should’ve been a normal match turned ugly when a fight broke out mid-duel. The Chenya student ended up seriously injuring the Lanxi one. 

If the incident had ended there, it could have been considered a “match accident.” But the Chenya student later bragged online, claiming to be “upholding school pride” and mocking Lanxi’s skills. 

That changed everything. 

It all started when the injured Lanxi student posted about the incident on their Star Art account. They didn’t mention any names, but people quickly read between the lines and twisted it into a passive-aggressive jab at their opponent. 

The comment section was soon flooded with Chenya students: 

“Stop playing the victim just because you lost.” 

“A third-year losing to a second-year? Embarrassing.” 

“Classic Lanxi. Still trash, as usual.” 

“Don’t tell me you’re blaming your loss on the other guy being too good? Seriously?” 

“If you’re that weak, just quit the competition. Lanxi’s never made it to the finals anyway, why even bother?” 

Comments like these kept coming and eventually caught the attention of the school forums. 

The students from Lanxi, all passionate and fiery young people, naturally couldn’t tolerate seeing their classmates bullied by people from other schools, especially Chenya, so they rushed to the “battlefield” to start this smoke-free war. 

Things escalated fast. Just yesterday, another match between Chenya and Lanxi players ended in a heated confrontation. Both sides refused to back down, and it ended with both competitors getting hurt. 

The rivalry between the two schools had clearly reached a boiling point—and that’s how today’s showdown became such a spectacle. 

And this one? This match was even more hyped than the last. 

Ke Xu was a powerhouse—one of the top three third-years at Chenya. Last year, he made it to the Star District Finals and performed brilliantly. 

Su Liqian, though just a freshman, had already made a name for herself in the competition. She was definitely someone to watch. 

Everyone was excited for this face-off. 

Some Chenya students recognized Su Liqian—but they clearly didn’t take her seriously. 

“She’s just a first-year. Her previous wins were pure luck. Now that she’s up against Ke Xu? Game over.” 

“Yeah, if she’d gone up against a regular third-year, maybe she’d stand a chance. But going against him? She’s done for.” 

It wasn’t that they were underestimating her for no reason—the gap between freshmen and seniors was just too big. It’s not something that could be closed overnight. 

Most third-year students had already participated in at least one full competition, and not only were they more experienced, but they were also far ahead in card collection and spiritual strength control. 

This time, it looked like Su Liqian was going to take a fall. 

The students from Chenya were waiting to see her fail, and to watch Lanxi’s embarrassment. 

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