Chapter 1944: The New Dean

"Alright then!"

Ye Bufan finally agreed. Firstly, he had no other choice, and secondly, he knew that besides his love for wine, this Old Man held no ill will towards him.

"Excellent! I officially announce that you are now the Dean of Lingxiao Academy's Tianfeng Empire Branch, effective immediately! Hahaha…"

At the end of his sentence, Li Daoran burst into laughter, seemingly happier than when he had just received the wine.

Seeing the Old Man like this, a bad premonition arose in Ye Bufan's heart. Had he fallen into a trap?

Li Daoran reached out and patted his shoulder: "Little fellow, do well. The responsibility of developing Lingxiao Academy in the future rests on your shoulders."

"Wait a moment!" Ye Bufan suddenly remembered something and asked, "If I become this Dean, can I still participate in the New Talent Ranking Tournament?"

This was a question he cared about deeply. While it was important not to be hunted by Cangfeng Academy, participating in the New Talent Ranking Tournament was equally indispensable. Otherwise, how would he obtain the hongyuan fruit?

"Don't worry, there's no problem at all," Li Daoran said, patting his chest. "The condition for the New Talent Ranking Tournament is simply to be under twenty-five years old. There are no other requirements whatsoever.

Whether you are a Dean or a Vice-Dean, as long as your age is suitable, you can participate."

"Oh!"

Only then did Ye Bufan's worried heart settle.

Since he had taken on this position, he needed to get into character. He asked, "Senior, where is our Lingxiao Academy located?"

"This is it," Li Daoran said, raising his hand and pointing to the main hall. "This is our Lingxiao Academy. It's just a bit dilapidated, and I, this Old Man, don't have money for repairs. This task will be yours from now on."

"You mean our Academy has no funds at all?"

Ye Bufan looked astonished. Although he had plenty of money now, this wasn't how he intended to spend it, was it?

Li Daoran spread his hands, "We used to have a little, but the last ten gold coins yesterday were already exchanged for wine by me. Now there's not a single copper coin left."

"Uh…"

Facing this result, Ye Bufan was speechless. He then asked, "How many people are in our Academy?"

Hearing his question, Li Daoran directly held up three fingers.

Ye Bufan asked doubtfully, "Is it three hundred?"

"No, it's three," Li Daoran said, retracting his fingers. "I've now stepped down from the Dean's position, so I'm considered an Elder of the Academy.

Including you, the Dean, and one student, we are a total of three people."

"Three people…"

For a moment, Ye Bufan didn't know what to say. He had seen the scale of Cangfeng Academy, which had roughly thirty thousand students.

But on his side, including the Dean, there were only three people. No wonder he hadn't heard of Lingxiao Academy's name since arriving in Tianfeng City. It had fallen to such a degree.

Li Daoran said, "Young man, don't be discouraged. Although we are few in number now, I believe with you as the Dean, our future prospects are still very good!"

Ye Bufan shook his head. Regardless of how many people were in the Academy, as long as it could help him achieve his goal, that was enough.

He asked, "Senior, as far as I know, Lingxiao Academy used to be as famous as Cangfeng Academy. How did it fall to its current state?"

"That's a long story."

A hint of vicissitude and loneliness flashed in Li Daoran's eyes. "Alright, first, quickly recover from your injuries. I'll tell you later when there's an opportunity."

With that, he stood up, waved his sleeve, collected all the good wine, and then walked out of the main hall.

After Li Daoran left, only Ye Bufan remained in the vast, empty hall.

He shook his head again, knowing that being this Dean would certainly not be easy. But no matter what, this Old Man had saved him, so helping him with some things was only right, considering it as repaying a favor.

Furthermore, this Dean position wasn't for nothing; it could help him resolve his current crisis and also help him obtain qualification for the New Talent Ranking Tournament.

Thinking of this, he stopped dwelling on other things and began to sit cross-legged on the ground, fully operating his cultivation to recover from his injuries.

The Returning Heaven Pill was a sacred healing medicine, and combined with his Burning Fire Body Refining Art, which had reached Minor Achievement Realm, his True Qi circulated at full power, and his injuries recovered at an extremely fast rate.

About an hour later, Ye Bufan opened his eyes again. At this moment, his internal injuries had recovered by about seventy to eighty percent.

He stood up from the ground. Li Daoran was still nowhere to be seen, and he didn't know where the Old Man had run off to again.

He walked out of the main hall. Since he would be the Dean here from now on, he needed to understand the situation of his territory.

Outside the main hall, a messy scene met his eyes, with weeds growing everywhere.

He walked around the vicinity. The entire Lingxiao Academy was quite large, even comparable to Cangfeng Academy's side.

However, everything was in ruins, with many buildings reduced to broken walls and dilapidated structures.

But from these scattered houses, one could still vaguely see how glorious this place once was, and he wondered what exactly had happened for it to fall into such a state.

Having seen enough, his gaze finally fell on a row of houses behind the main hall.

Compared to the rest, the buildings here were relatively well-preserved and tidy, likely serving as living quarters.

Li Daoran, the Old Man, had run off by himself and hadn't arranged a place for him to stay. He couldn't possibly sleep in the main hall at night.

Thinking of this, he walked towards that row of houses, intending to choose a clean one for himself.

The entire Lingxiao Academy was silent. This row of houses was no exception; there was no movement, nor any light.

Ye Bufan looked around and finally chose the house in the very middle. He pushed the door open and walked in.

As a Cultivator, although he possessed Mental Energy, he generally wouldn't release his Divine Sense.

Doing so would consume a large amount of Mental Energy, and the influx of various complex information into the brain would also be a very heavy burden, making one very uncomfortable.

He thought these were abandoned houses, so he didn't knock, simply pushing the door open and walking in.

The door was very old, letting out a grating creak as it opened.

When Ye Bufan saw the scene inside the room, he instantly froze.

It turned out that this place wasn't uninhabited; a woman lived there. And if it was just a woman, that would be one thing, but the crucial point was that she was bathing.

At this moment, inside the room, the woman was comfortably lying in the bathtub, her head resting back, her wet hair draped over her fair skin.

The bathtub was large, and the woman lay half-reclined inside. Her figure wasn't voluptuous but was very well-proportioned, truly curvaceous, with her legs casually spread apart.

Although it was night, and there were no lights in the room, Ye Bufan's six senses far surpassed those of ordinary people. He saw everything he should have seen, and everything he shouldn't have seen, with perfect clarity.

At this moment, he was filled with shock, unable to describe his feelings. Damn that slovenly Old Man, why hadn't he told him that the other student was a woman?

The woman's eyes were slightly closed, as if she had fallen asleep from the comfort of the bath.

More precisely, she had just fallen asleep. Upon hearing the movement, she immediately opened her eyes, and a pair of beautiful, incredibly sharp eyes looked over.