Wait! Don't Leave Yet

The next day, Grace nervously made her way to the Spirit Alliance.

Even though Evan Xiao had reassured her that everything would be fine, who could really predict what might happen in this world?

Wearing that anxious expression, she ran straight into Lily Xu.

In stark contrast to Grace, Lily looked positively smug—she was practically glowing with pride.

"Oh my! Chloe Zhu, what happened to you? Why do you look so pale?" Lily struck a seductive pose, swaying her hips as she spoke.

"None of your business!" Grace snapped. "Get lost—stop blocking my view!"

"Wow, someone’s cranky! Let me guess—it’s about the training at headquarters, right?" Lily grinned from ear to ear. "It’s like fate is on my side! You were supposed to go, but now it’s me instead! Hahaha!"

Since Grace couldn’t go, Lily Xu—the third place candidate—got bumped up as her replacement.

Grace shot her a sideways glance and kept walking, ignoring her completely.

"I need to pack my bags! We’re leaving first thing tomorrow!" Lily called out loudly behind her. "I heard just breathing the air at headquarters can boost your cultivation! I can’t wait!"

Grace slammed the door shut with a bang.

Outside, Lily Xu’s smug laughter echoed as she hummed a tune and went off to pack her bags.

The next morning, the Alliance had the Falcon Team prepare three flying spirit beasts and assigned several Falcon Team members to escort the three of them.

Feeling heavy-hearted, Grace went to the flying beast platform to see Joanna Zuo off.

Joanna Zuo held her hand and sighed, "If only I could go with you—it’s such a shame!"

Grace sighed too.

Shannon and the others had left two days ago. She’d waited for news, but none came—probably wouldn’t, either.

As for the three people from the Vermilion Spirit Alliance, none of them stood a real chance of getting into the Celestial Library.

So even asking them for help was out of the question.

"Hurry up! What’s the holdup?" Lily Xu couldn’t wait any longer and hopped onto her flying mount.

Joanna Zuo glanced wistfully at Grace, then climbed onto her flying mount.

The flying mounts took off, slowly ascending into the sky and gradually disappearing from view.

Grace felt as if all her strength had drained away. She just stared blankly after them.

Rumor had it that the Celestial Library wasn’t even in the human realm—unless you had authorization from the elders, no one could find it.

If she couldn’t go to headquarters for training, what other way was there to get into the Celestial Library?

There wasn’t any!

Just then, a sharp whistle suddenly rang out from Spirit Alliance Mountain.

It was the whistle that summoned the Falcons back.

Grace’s eyes narrowed—she suddenly looked up at the sky.

Those flying beasts that were already far away turned around and came back at the sound of the whistle!

The whistle grew louder and closer.

Grace turned to see that the President was coming.

He was the one who’d blown the whistle.

The flying beasts circled back, and Joanna Zuo and the others landed in front of the President, all asking what was going on.

"Headquarters sent word—the previous restriction for level eight and below has been lifted. We need to resubmit the original list of candidates," the President announced.

"What!" Lily Xu shrieked. "Why did they change it again?"

"I don’t know why the rule was made, and I don’t know why it was canceled," said the President.

"But... but..." Lily Xu stammered, finally realizing, "Does that mean my name will be removed from the list?"

"That’s right," the President replied. "I’ll submit the original list as planned."

"No! You can’t!" Lily Xu pleaded. "President, I’m begging you! I really want to go to headquarters for training!"