In mid-December, the Ember Base was shrouded in thick, oppressive clouds, making it difficult to breathe.
Tendo sat atop a mountain, quietly gazing at the dark clouds overhead.
Although his eyes were covered by a black blindfold.
His vision seemed completely unaffected as he patiently awaited the coming "storm."
"Tendo, why are you here by yourself again?"
A soft, childlike voice emerged.
A "purple-headed missile" unexpectedly flew out from the mountainside, hovering gently beside Tendo.
Looking at Jing Liuli, who was sitting on the Dream Weaver Pillow, Tendo smiled and said, "It's boring staying at the base, so I came out for some fresh air."
"Is that so?"
Jing Liuli, sitting on the Dream Weaver Pillow, changed to a duck-sit pose, tilted her head, and said, "I think you're just bored because Sister Caroline is always in the Quantum Space, so you ran out, didn't you?"
Tendo didn't refute Jing Liuli's words.
He indeed felt that with Caroline not at the base, staying inside by himself was meaningless.
That's why he decided to go out for a walk.
Seeing Tendo fall silent again, Jing Liuli suddenly, as if by magic, pulled out a colorful candy from her pajama pocket.
"Here."
Looking at the Sweet Dream Candy in Jing Liuli's hand, Tendo was a bit puzzled. "What, why aren't you asking for a service fee this time? Not planning to charge?"
Hearing this, Jing Liuli pouted unhappily.
"Hmph, who said I'm not asking for a fee? I'm just giving it to you first. I'll get the processing fee back with interest later."
"Also, Tendo, don't underestimate my business acumen. It's just that I'm confined to the base and can't go out to make a big splash."
"Otherwise, I would have become the richest person in this world a long time ago!"
Jing Liuli put her hands on her hips, proudly raised her small head, her prominent cowlick swaying in the wind, believing she sounded very majestic.
However, what she didn't know was that in her clear, light-purple eyes at this moment.
Tendo not only saw no shrewdness befitting a future female tycoon.
Instead, he only saw a vibrant green glow, like a prime leek ready for harvest.
Thinking of this, Tendo couldn't help but tease, "Liuli, since you said you'll take it back with interest later, why don't you tell me how much interest you're planning to charge me?"
"Huh?"
Jing Liuli's small face froze, the cowlick on her head stopped, and her brain instantly crashed.
Then, sitting on the Dream Weaver Pillow, she began to frown and count on her fingers as if she had encountered a century-old problem.
Her movements were so amusing, like a little squirrel hoarding nuts for winter but unable to count the quantity at all.
And with her looking like that now, did he expect Tendo to believe she could become the world's richest woman in the future?
He'd rather believe he could become a god!
No, on second thought, his chances of becoming a god might be significantly higher than Liuli becoming the world's richest woman.
"1, 2, 3..."
Watching Jing Liuli foolishly calculating the so-called interest.
Tendo spent a great deal of effort to keep himself from laughing out loud.
However, his strained effort was immediately noticed by Jing Liuli.
"Tendo! What do you mean? Are you laughing at me?!"
To be honest, Tendo had held it in.
But hearing Jing Liuli's words, he predictably broke down.
"No, no, I... I didn't laugh, really, pffft."
"What 'no'! You even laughed out loud!"
"Misunderstanding, this is absolutely a misunderstanding, Liuli, believe me, I'm absolutely not laughing at you, I just... I just ate the Sweet Dream Candy, so I thought of a lot of happy things."
"Impossible! You're clearly laughing at me!"
Alright, alright, pushing me to the limit, are you?
Then I won't pretend anymore!
"Fine, I admit I was laughing at you, hahaha!"
"No, Liuli, are you daydreaming too much? Otherwise, how could you start fantasizing about becoming the world's richest woman? You're not cut out for that at all!"
His fists hardened.
"Ah! I'll fight you!"
The exasperated Jing Liuli leaned more than half her body out from the Dream Weaver Pillow.
And with a fierce expression, she unleashed her "Dream Butterfly Turtle Fist," which she believed to be infinitely powerful, at Tendo.
However, Tendo merely extended a single finger and lightly pressed it against her forehead, completely deflecting her attack.
Because she was short and had short arms, even if she swung both her arms till they smoked, she couldn't even touch Tendo.
"Mmph, mmph, mmph—!"
After a fruitless effort, a tired Liuli had no choice but to give up on revenge.
Completely disheartened, she slumped onto the Dream Weaver Pillow, panting with her tongue out.
But as the saying goes, "lose the battle, not the spirit."
Although she had suffered a loss at the hands of Tendo, the great bully of Ember.
She would absolutely not continue to suffer!
"Tendo, just you wait! Although I'm like cotton, you can tease me and kick me around, but Sister Caroline isn't!"
"Just you wait, as soon as Sister Caroline wakes up in a few days, I'll immediately go and tell on you. Then you'll be dead meat!"
Faced with Jing Liuli's childish behavior of tattling to the teacher when she couldn't win.
Tendo seemed to be attracted by something else and completely ignored her threats.
And his behavior undoubtedly infuriated Jing Liuli.
She loudly cried that Tendo was heartless, that she had kindly come to comfort him, but he chose to bully her instead!
However, just as Jing Liuli was about to utter more threats to make Tendo, the bully, understand that she, the future female tycoon, was not to be trifled with.
A deafening roar suddenly came from the thick clouds above their heads.
Boom—!
Accompanied by a blinding flash of lightning, the dense cloud layer was suddenly torn open by something.
Before Jing Liuli could react, Tendo suddenly yanked her by the back of her collar with great force.
Immediately after, Tendo's arm grazed past her nose and punched the spot where she had just been.
Bang!
In Jing Liuli's fleeting, stunned glance.
A giant rock, twice the height of a person, shattered with a crash after Tendo's punch.
Countless rock fragments and dust mixed with the surrounding rain, splashing onto her cute little bear pajamas.
Jing Liuli looked up blankly.
Hundreds of giant rocks were piercing through the clouds one after another, menacingly smashing towards the Ember Base below.
And the rock that had almost hit her just now was merely one of these hundreds of giant rocks...
If she hadn't been pulled away by Tendo earlier.
The belatedly aware Jing Liuli no longer had her usual innocence and cheerfulness on her face.
Only unspeakable panic and fear remained.
Because under this sudden rock rain attack.
The quiet and peaceful Ember Island she remembered had already turned into a terrifying hell on earth.
There were explosions and screams everywhere.
She once thought her daydreams could go on forever.
But looking at the terrifying disaster descending upon the base.
Jing Liuli understood that her daydream... had shattered.
"Tendo..."
Liuli watched it all, her body trembling, and even her voice shaking.
To this, Tendo looked up at the thick clouds overhead, seemingly gazing at something far away.
At the same time, the blindfold on his face had been removed at some point.
In his azure pupils, the terrifying, apocalyptic scene in the sky was reflected.
"Liuli, go inform everyone..."
Before Tendo could finish speaking, another giant rock accurately smashed towards him and Liuli.
To this, Tendo casually waved his hand.
The next second, the giant rock immediately deviated its course upon touching his palm, smashing into the empty ground nearby.
"...Just say that 'guests' have arrived, uninvited."
"Okay!"
Liuli nodded heavily, then the numerous star patterns on the Dream Weaver Pillow's cover beneath her suddenly lit up.
The next second, the Dream Weaver Pillow, which was originally about two meters long, began to rapidly expand.
And in a very short time, it transformed into a huge five-meter-long pillow, completely enveloping Jing Liuli in a comprehensive, blind-spot-free manner.
Dream Travel - Full Power!
As Jing Liuli fully activated the star energy within her body.
The Dream Weaver Pillow enveloping her immediately transformed into a white stream of light, flying rapidly towards the base below at a shocking speed.
During this process, Jing Liuli dodged the continuously falling giant rocks in the air at an incredible angle, time and time again.
But just as she was about to reach the base.
Two giant rocks suddenly appeared together, smashing towards her in a pincer attack, making it difficult to dodge.
To this, Liuli's Dream Weaver Pillow suddenly softened and deformed, allowing her to pass through the narrow gap between the two giant rocks like a liquid, returning safely to the base.
Seeing this, Tendo's lips slightly curled upwards, clearly very satisfied with Liuli's performance.
It's important to remember that even though Jing Liuli usually appeared foolish and seemingly harmless.
Her overall strength among the 36 members of the Star Cluster was ranked first among them, after Tendo, Chen Xing, and the hidden strength of Caroline.
Her NO.3 student ranking was well-deserved.
Her supposed innocence and purity were merely Jing Liuli's true nature, not her potential.
Because if one were to only consider the speed of star energy cultivation.
Then NO.3 Jing Liuli was even above NO.2 Chen Xing.
After all, she was the only one among the 36 members of the entire Star Cluster project who could sleep and slack off while occasionally cultivating, yet still achieve the second-best result in the basic star energy value assessment, aside from Tendo.
Because most people only knew that Tendo had innate maxed-out star energy.
But what they didn't know was that Jing Liuli, who usually slept and slacked off, was also a monster with innate maxed-out star energy!
If it weren't for her personality not being suitable for cultivation and combat.
The throne of second place in Star Cluster might not have fallen to just anyone...