When Jiang Baiyu was groggily shaken awake, he was completely confused. He opened his eyes to see a beautiful young man sitting by his bed, and after a moment of slow reaction, he sleepily asked, “What are you doing?”

The other person, with beautiful eyes that seemed to capture the moonlight in the night, looked at him calmly and said in a soft tone, “Nothing, just checking if you were asleep.”

Jiang Baiyu: “?”

The young man casually pulled the blanket over him, maintaining a reserved demeanor, and said, “Go back to sleep.”

Jiang Baiyu was really too sleepy, his mind a muddled mess. It was rare to see his usually grumpy ancestor being so kind, and the beautiful young man taking the initiative to cover him with a blanket made him feel a bit flattered, but something felt off.

However, he didn’t think too much about it; his sluggish brain only wanted to sleep, and nothing else mattered. So, Jiang Baiyu closed his eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

Just as he was entering a sweet dream and playing chess with the King of Dreams, he was suddenly shaken awake again. He opened his eyes to see the young man still sitting by his bed.

Jiang Baiyu: “??”

The young man looked as calm as ever, gently tucking the blanket around him with a concerned expression, and said soothingly, “Sleep well.”

Jiang Baiyu: “…”

If someone didn’t know better, they might think he was scared awake by a nightmare.

Instead of closing his eyes and going back to sleep as the young man suggested, Jiang Baiyu, still tired but alert, fixed his gaze on him. Their eyes met, and the air seemed to freeze for a few seconds, neither of them moving their eyes.

Faced with Jiang Baiyu’s scrutinizing gaze, the young man remained unfazed and said calmly, “It’s late; you should sleep. As the top student of the year, you haven’t shown your face in a while, and the other students must be missing you. Various challenges will surely come your way tomorrow.”

Jiang Baiyu: “…Why did you shake me?”

The young man replied, “To see if you were asleep.”

Jiang Baiyu: “I was asleep! Don’t disturb me again.”

The young man smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep watch over you.”

This time, Jiang Baiyu didn’t fall asleep immediately. He forced himself to stay awake for about ten minutes, but eventually, he couldn’t resist the drowsiness and fell back into dreamland.

Sure enough, just when he was sleeping soundly, he was shaken awake again.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the young man still by his bed, maintaining the same position and staring at him.

Jiang Baiyu, in pain, pulled the blanket over his face, trying to escape the disturbance. “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

The young man replied, “I’m a ghost; I don’t need to sleep.”

So, he was just there to disturb him??

Jiang Baiyu felt even more distressed. “Why don’t you just press me down like a ghost!”

The young man said, “I would never do such a rude thing.”

Jiang Baiyu: “So disturbing my sleep isn’t rude?”

The young man reached out to pull the blanket away. “You can’t cover your head with the blanket while sleeping.”

He forcefully pulled the blanket away, revealing Jiang Baiyu’s resentful eyes underneath, then covered him back up, gently tucking in the corners like a guardian angel, softly coaxing, “Sleep well.”

After being forcibly woken up several times, Jiang Baiyu could no longer ignore the situation. The young man was clearly doing this on purpose, intentionally disturbing his sleep.

The reason was easy to guess.

Jiang Baiyu gritted his teeth, “Is it because I squeezed your eggs and your chest, so you’re deliberately retaliating against me?”

The air fell silent instantly.

After a moment, the young man’s expression changed, his previously gentle demeanor vanishing, replaced by a chilling glare. “After doing something like that to me, you still expect to sleep well in the future!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he transformed into a flash of light, not giving Jiang Baiyu a chance to argue back.

Jiang Baiyu was left staring with tired eyes, struggling with the dilemma of whether to continue sleeping or not.

After much internal conflict, he finally succumbed to sleepiness, and outside, the sky gradually brightened.

During this time, the young man didn’t appear, and the room was quiet.

Until suddenly, there was a loud bang as someone attacked the protective barrier outside, shouting, “The tenth in the year, Lan Yanxing, has come to challenge!”

Sure enough, the challenges had begun.

These were all young, hot-blooded individuals, and challenging the top student wasn’t just about their inherent competitiveness; it was also about the privileges that came with being the top student.

For the next five days, Jiang Baiyu did nothing but deal with the relentless challengers.

As expected of the pride of their respective regions, the first time they lost to Jiang Baiyu, their strength surged in the second challenge. If Jiang Baiyu underestimated them, he might really be pulled down.

Poison God Si, ranked second in the year, didn’t waste his time while Jiang Baiyu was in seclusion. Although he didn’t have the privileges of the top student, he had a powerful family background, making it easy for him to obtain various rare resources for cultivation and insights into marksmanship. Stimulated by his loss to Jiang Baiyu, he worked hard to improve, and his strength skyrocketed.

It could be said that among the students challenging Jiang Baiyu, Poison God Si was the most formidable. During their battle, Jiang Baiyu felt a pressure that wasn’t from cultivation level but from experience and skill. Having been guided by renowned masters since childhood and influenced by his family, he was fundamentally different from Jiang Baiyu, who was self-taught.

The benefits of cultivating in the Immortal Pool were undoubtedly significant, but the lack of skill and experience needed to be accumulated on one’s own or learned from others’ insights to form one’s own understanding.

Poison God Si’s spiritual spear was relentless, sharper than before, as if it could pierce through anything. When he almost defeated Jiang Baiyu, Jiang Baiyu’s pupils shook.

It was just a hair’s breadth away from piercing his throat.

Although he lost, Poison God Si didn’t care. With a confident and flamboyant expression, he said, “I wasn’t wrong; you are indeed lacking in combat experience, and your fighting style is very crude. As long as I find a way to exhaust your strength, winning is not impossible.”

“After three years in seclusion, your spiritual power has indeed strengthened, but conversely, your progress in techniques has been minimal. You must have been focusing on cultivating your mental methods without studying techniques or engaging in battles.”

“I’ve reserved your position as the top student!”

Poison God Si declared loudly, causing a sharp pain in the corner of his mouth, twisting his facial muscles.

Without any outside interference, fully immersed in cultivation, three years had passed in the blink of an eye, something Jiang Baiyu hadn’t anticipated.

That said, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that; if it weren’t for Chong Xiao leading people into the Immortal Pool and disturbing him, he might have continued cultivating.

Jiang Baiyu’s mastery of the “Star Inquiry Map” had reached a new level. Not to say he had reached the pinnacle, but at least he had truly entered the door.

Dragging his exhausted body back to his room, Jiang Baiyu threw himself onto the bed. His classmates were extremely enthusiastic about seeing the top student after three years, and the pent-up desire to challenge him exploded all at once, leaving him utterly drained. If it weren’t for the heavy doses of medicine to restore his energy, he wouldn’t have been able to stand and walk back home.

Physical fatigue could be restored with pills, but mental and psychological recovery had to come from within.

Jiang Baiyu lay down and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Sure enough, just when he was sleeping the soundest, he was shaken awake by the young man again.

Opening his eyes to see the beautiful young man, Jiang Baiyu let out a painful groan. After dealing with challengers all day and being disturbed by the young man at night, what kind of life was this!

Today’s battles had been particularly intense, and he had almost been pierced through the throat by a spear, which was both thrilling and exhausting. Jiang Baiyu felt mentally drained.

With quick reflexes, he grabbed the young man’s hand and said seriously, “That’s enough.”

The young man didn’t respond.

The grudge over the eggs was unending!

Thinking of the pain of almost having his eggs crushed and the sharp pain from having his chest pulled, he felt an urge to eat Jiang Baiyu alive.

Just waking him up every night while he was sound asleep was already too lenient!

To sum it up: this hatred was endless!

The young man held a grudge, a deep one.

He withdrew his hand with a noble and cold demeanor, saying coldly, “Not enough.”

Jiang Baiyu: “How about I squeeze you back? Really, I won’t resist!”

The young man immediately showed a look of disgust. “Don’t mention such vulgar things again!”

Seeing him about to transform into a flash of light again, Jiang Baiyu quickly reached out to grab him. “Wait!”

The young man, wary, dodged. “What do you want to say? It’s only been five days, and you can’t take it anymore and want to beg for mercy?”

Jiang Baiyu put on a hypocritical smile and said sincerely, “It’s like this; I actually don’t want to, but I have no choice.”

After saying that, he suddenly pulled out a roasted wing ring and, at such a close distance, caught the young man off guard, successfully covering him.

The young man, with sharp eyes and a calm demeanor, didn’t lose his footing due to Jiang Baiyu’s sudden attack. He remained as composed as ever, but a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes as he questioned, “What do you want to do?”

Jiang Baiyu didn’t answer; he just smiled and then reached out to squeeze him hard.

Feeling an indescribable pain, the young man’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he instantly erupted with a chilling killing intent, squeezing out through gritted teeth, “You’re seeking death!”

Jiang Baiyu remained unfazed. “From now on, as long as you disturb my sleep, I’ll squeeze you.”

This threat momentarily halted the young man’s killing intent, leaving him in shock.

There was actually such a shameless person in the world!

The young man trembled with anger, his eyes reddening, filled with both shame and rage, a mix of emotions.

Jiang Baiyu: “To strike at the root, if you care so much, then I have no choice. The academy doesn’t stipulate that challengers can only challenge the top student once. I’ve already revealed my weaknesses in battle, and I must make up for this deficiency in the future. Not getting enough rest greatly affects my condition.”

“If you really can’t stand it, it’s fine. I said, I’ll squeeze you a few times, and you can squeeze me back, I promise I won’t resist.”

Today, he had almost been pierced through the throat by a spiritual spear; who knows what tomorrow would bring.

To deal with external threats, one must first stabilize internal issues; he needed to make this ancestor calm down first.

Facing the young man’s fierce killing intent, Jiang Baiyu confidently retracted the roasted wing ring and said openly to him, “Come on!”

Slap!

A slap sent his face turning to the side.

When he turned back, the young man had already transformed into a flash of light and disappeared.

Jiang Baiyu lay on the bed, his eyes wide open, unable to sleep at all.

The “great misfortune” alarm kept ringing, and ominous signs loomed like dark clouds; how could he sleep?

The ominous signs persisted until midnight, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, creating a vicious cycle.

After lying there pretending to sleep for a while, Jiang Baiyu opened his eyes to see the young man appearing again, his beautiful face tense, eyes filled with malice, staring at him like a vengeful ghost.

That inhuman feeling hit him head-on, as if he had returned to their first meeting.

Then the young man reached out and grabbed Jiang Baiyu, pulling him off the bed and lying down himself.

Jiang Baiyu, sitting on the floor with the blanket in his arms, was completely bewildered.

Jiang Baiyu: ???