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nThe next morning.

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nBeep beep beep…

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nAn increasingly loud alarm sounded, waking Wu Mo up from his dream.

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n“Urgh… it’s already morning.”

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nWu Mo stretched lazily and opened his sleepy eyes to look out of the window.

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nThe rays of sunlight from outside pierced through the gaps in the curtains and landed on the bedsheets. They were somewhat dazzling.

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nWu Mo got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Then, he returned to his bedroom and unplugged his phone.

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nIt was already eight in the morning, half an hour later than usual.

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nWu Mo had set the alarm for a later time after he saw Professor Zhou Yan mention that there would be no class today.

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nHe looked at an unread message and found that Jiang Mengyao had sent it to him at seven in the morning.

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n“Wu Mo, good morning. Are you awake now? We agreed last night that we would go and buy materials at nine in the morning. Don’t you dare stand me up!” she said.

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nWu Mo scratched his head. He thought for a moment before he replied, “I’m awake. See you at nine…”

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nAfter replying to the message, Wu Mo went to the kitchen. He snapped his fingers lightly, and a row of fresh vegetables and meat appeared on the kitchen counter at the next second.

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n“I’ll just have something to eat this morning. Let’s have some pork ribs and vegetable congee.”

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nWu Mo smiled and immediately began to process the ingredients.

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nAlthough the single dormitory was not very big, the things inside were still complete. There were all kinds of cooking tools, which allowed Wu Mo to prepare the ingredients conveniently.

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nAfter about twenty minutes, Wu Mo finished making a large bowl of congee, and he sat on the couch.

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nBy the time he finished eating and washing the dishes, it was already 8.50 am.

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nWu Mo put on a new set of blacksmith clothes and casually cut his hair. He instantly felt energized.

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nThen he put on his shoes and left the dormitory. Just as Wu Mo stepped out of his dormitory, he saw Jiang Mengyao quickly walking toward him.

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nJiang Mengyao was wearing a sky-blue blacksmith dress today. It accentuated her exquisite figure, and coupled with her unique scholarly temperament, she looked like a gentle young lady from ancient times.

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nWu Mo could not help but sigh in his heart. No wonder this girl became the school belle whom everyone talked about. There was no denying it in terms of her appearance and figure.

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n“Good morning, Wu Mo!”

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nJiang Mengyao waved her hand and greeted him with a smile.

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n“Good… Didn’t we agree to wait at the entrance of the academy? Why are you here?”

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nWu Mo walked forward and looked at the two dimples on Jiang Mengyao’s face as he softly asked.

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n“Hmph, you still have the cheek to say that. I didn’t see you at the academy gate, so I came over…” Jiang Mengyao scrunched up her little nose and said with some dissatisfaction.

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n“Ugh… It just turned nine,” Wu Mo explained before the two of them walked side by side toward the academy’s east gate.

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n“Oh right, Wu Mo, where are we going to buy materials today?”

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nJiang Mengyao crossed her hands behind her back and hopped around.

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n“Treasure Pavilion, where the catalog is more comprehensive,” Wu Mo immediately said.

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n“Ah… Treasure Pavilion?”

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nJiang Mengyao hurried to Wu Mo’s side and pursed her lips before she said, “The items in Treasure Pavilion aren’t cheap. I found Hundred Herb Hall’s merchant two days ago, and the items there are actually quite good… Why don’t we go there this time?” Jiang Mengyao’s eyes flickered, but she quickly reacted and gave a suggestion.

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nShe felt that Wu Mo wanted to go to Treasure Pavilion because of his pride and he did not want others to find out the real situation.

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nHence, she offered another option.

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n“It’s okay. My debt will be paid off soon. Besides, I still have money now. It’s not a problem to buy some materials.”

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nWu Mo shook his head and said with a firm expression.

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n“Ah… Alright.”

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nJiang Mengyao’s beautiful eyes drooped a little. She was afraid that if she said too much, Wu Mo would be annoyed. So, she could only give up temporarily on the idea of persuading him. Nevertheless, she still felt that Wu Mo was putting on a brave front in her heart. In fact, the actual situation was not so optimistic.

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nJiang Mengyao had begun to pay attention to Wu Mo long ago. She had also heard about Wu Mo’s recent situation through various sources. She knew that Wu Mo had borrowed more than ¥2,000,000 to forge a Divine artifact. He probably would not be able to hold on for much longer.

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nThe two of them walked out of the academy one after the other. On the way, they even ran into students from the same class.

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nAfter all, the graduation assessment was approaching. Many students had started to collect the necessary materials to forge their equipment. They were leaving the academy more and more often.

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nSimilarly, it was a period of time when tutoring classes outside flourished the most. The blacksmith who would cram at the last minute could not wait for the last half a month. They would not even sleep to study and practice as much as possible during that period.

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nTreasure Pavilion was also one of the beneficiaries. Customers had already started to line up in Treasure Pavilion. By nine o’clock in the morning, the line was dozens of meters long.

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n“There are already so many people at nine. It looks like there’s going to be a long wait…”

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nJiang Mengyao looked at the line that went from the entrance of Treasure Pavilion to the side of the street. She could not help but frown.

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nWu Mo looked around and found that there was a rope on the other side of Treasure Pavilion’s entrance. There were two well-dressed receptionists standing there, but there was no one around them.

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n“Isn’t there no need to line up? Let’s go over there.”

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nWu Mo made a move, but Jiang Mengyao tugged on his sleeve.

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n“Wu Mo, it’s an entrance that only members can enter. My expenses aren’t enough for a membership. We can’t enter…”

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nWu Mo finally understood after he heard Jiang Mengyao’s explanation.

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nEven so, he still felt that something was wrong. There was plenty of space in Treasure Pavilion, so why could only five people enter at a time?

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n“Hehe, good morning, Mengyao. It’s such a coincidence that we’re bumping into each other again!”

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nAt that moment, an ear-piercing voice rang out behind them. Wu Mo turned around and saw the man who had been in the same discussion group as him yesterday. The man was walking over with a smirk on his face.

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n“Wei Jiaming, why are you here so early?”

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nJiang Mengyao was a little surprised to see him there.

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n“I’m here to pick up my materials of course. The graduation assessment is coming soon, so I have to hurry up.”

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nWei Jiaming looked at Mengyao with a smile. Then, he noticed Wu Mo standing beside her out of the corner of his eye, and his expression immediately turned cold.

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n“Oh right, what are you doing outside? Hurry up and go in.”

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nHe glanced at the long queue at Treasure Pavilion’s entrance and asked despite knowing the answer.

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n“There’s a queue over there. It’ll probably take us another half an hour before we can enter.”

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nJiang Mengyao did not notice the hidden meaning in Wei Jiaming’s words and subconsciously answered.

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nWu Mo stood at the side and looked at him coldly.

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nHe wanted to see what kind of tricks this guy had up his sleeves.

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n“What’s the point of waiting in line? I have a silver membership card, and I can take the member lane. Come in with me,” Wei Jiaming took out the membership card from his pocket and said proudly.

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