After Anping and Gu Yuena returned to the hotel, they did not start practicing or resting, but knocked on Ling Hongchen's door.
They had received news from Ditian that he was close to breaking the barrier between Dragon Valley and reality, so they needed to prepare to set off.
As soon as they entered Ling Hongchen's room, before they could say anything, Ling Hongchen spoke first: "Let me guess, you are planning to leave the team, aren't you?"
Anping and Gu Yuena were slightly taken aback by Ling Hongchen's question, but they quickly composed themselves. They had been with Ling Hongchen for several years, and they knew he was not a fool. He must have sensed something unusual about their visit.
Anping nodded and said: "You are right, Dean. We are indeed preparing to leave the team. After all, the academy's trip is mainly to communicate with other academies across the Star Luo Empire, which is not very meaningful to us."
Ling Hongchen did not expose Anping's hidden agenda. He knew that Anping and Gu Yuena had brought too many people with them for a simple exchange trip. Moreover, he had noticed that Ditian, whom he had met before, had never shown up again since they arrived in the Star Luo Empire. Instead, he was replaced by the current Xiong Lord. Ling Hongchen would not believe it even if he died that Anping and Gu Yuena had no other purpose.
The main reason why Dai Tianling was suspicious of Anping and Gu Yuena's intentions was because he had discovered that Ditian had been absent from the exchange group for a long time.
The reason why Ling Hongchen did not confront them was, on one hand, because he knew that the people led by Anping and Gu Yuena were much stronger than him, and on the other hand, because he did not care much about the fate of the Star Luo Empire. Even if Anping and Gu Yuena did something to harm the Star Luo Empire, their Sun Moon Federation would not suffer any loss.
Ling Hongchen nodded and said: "Well, since you have already graduated from Sun Moon academy, I have no authority to stop you. It's good to go out and see more of the world, whether it's for cultivation or studying soul guidance devices. Maybe you will find some new inspiration."
He paused for a moment, then added: "You should also be aware of the schedule. Unless something unexpected happens, the exchange program will not change. You should try your best to come back before the exchange ends. There are not many ships that travel between the Star Luo Continent and the Douluo Continent."
"If you miss the return ship, you will have to wait for a long time to leave the Star Luo Continent. You should know that the distance between the two continents is very far."
The reason why he said this was not only because he was genuinely worried that Anping and Gu Yuena would miss the ship back, but also because he wanted to test whether they had any plans to stay in the Star Luo Continent.
Ling Hongchen could see through the current situation. As the dean of Sun Moon Academy, he had a better understanding of the Sun Moon Federation than Dai Tianling. He did not want his two students to go down the wrong path.
He knew that the gap between the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Federation was much more than a few soul masters could bridge. The reason why the Sun Moon Federation had not taken any action was exactly what Dai Tianling had guessed.
Shrek Academy, which claimed to maintain world peace, had been blocking them, and the Sun Moon Federation had never made a clear decision on their attitude towards the God Realm.
Anping, with his computing power, naturally understood what Ling Hongchen was thinking, and assured him: "Don't worry, Dean, we will definitely join you before the exchange is over. We have no intention of staying here."
Hearing this, Hongchen nodded and said, "I won't say any more. You are no longer children. But in the end, I still want to remind you of one thing. The Star Luo Continent is not as peaceful as the Federation. Even though you have guards, you still have to be careful when you go out. You should always put your own safety first."
As Ling Hongchen said, the Star Luo Empire was much more chaotic than the Federation. In the Sun-Moon Federation, there were only occasional evil soul masters, and they could be quickly dealt with by the federation's power.
But in the Star Luo Empire, there were not only evil soul masters, but also countless resistance forces. Even though they had the help of the Tang Sect, the Tang Sect could not cover every place at all times.
Therefore, Ling Hongchen was truly worried about the safety of Anping and Gu Yuena. He knew that the evil soul masters had strange and unpredictable abilities, and they might capture them if they were not vigilant. They especially liked to target geniuses like Anping and Gu Yuena.
Anping understood Ling Hongchen's concern, and he repeatedly promised that he would put his own safety first and not do anything reckless. Ling Hongchen gave them some instructions before letting Anping and Gu Yuena leave.
After leaving Ling Hongchen's room, Anping and Gu Yuena knocked on the doors of Le Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan respectively and brought them to their suites.
Since they didn't know how long their trip to Dragon Valley would take, they still had to explain some things to Le Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan.
Seeing Anping and Gu Yuena's actions, Le Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan, who were awakened from their cultivation, felt a bit curious. They had never seen Anping and Gu Yuena call them out so late at night before.
But they thought about it and couldn't figure out anything major that would make Anping and Gu Yuena do that.
Recently, the only big event was the exchange match before the conclusion of the All-Continent Youth Soul Master Competition, but the Star Luo Empire shouldn't cause any trouble on their own turf.
After Anping set up the shielding devices, Xu Xiaoyan, who was lively by nature, was the first to ask her questions: "Brother Anping, did you do something earth-shattering in the palace before, and now we have to run away?"
Xu Xiaoyan imagined that after Anping and Gu Yuena went to the palace, the Star Luo Empire was reluctant to honor their previous bet, and then Anping and Gu Yuena caused a commotion in the Star Luo Empire Palace with Mr. Xiong and Brigitte.
After all, in Xu Xiaoyan's opinion, a rare material that was equivalent to a hundred thousand year soul bone or an extremely important torso bone was definitely not a small amount of money, and it was possible that the Star Luo Empire was unwilling to pay.
Hearing Xu Xiaoyan's words, Le Zhengyu also thought that this might be the case. He nodded in agreement and said, "If that's the case, let's run away quickly. I'll go back and pack my things."
Seeing Xu Xiaoyan's imagination and Le Zhengyu's reaction, Gu Yuena found it very amusing and couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Looking at these three people, Anping said irritably: "Le Zhengyu, please sit down first. Things are not what you think. I asked you to come out because I have something to tell you."
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