Miss Loser is too enchanting
Chapter 77 Trials of the Four Great Empires (1)_1

Chapter 77: Chapter 77 Trials of the Four Great Empires (1)_1

Dugu Qianye felt unnerved under her stare and said, "Just say what you want to say."

"Qianye, it’s about last term," said Qi Yufei.

"Last term? What about it?" Dugu Qianye couldn’t remember.

"We wanted you to be our leader!" said Qi Yufei.

Dugu Qianye thought for a moment and realized they had indeed mentioned this to her. But she had declined.

"I don’t plan on taking underlings," Dugu Qianye still refused.

"Then why can they call you boss? Aren’t they your underlings?" Qi Yufei pointed at Gao Liang and Sun Kui.

"They’re my companions, not underlings," said Dugu Qianye, noticing a middle-aged man coming in and reminding Qi Yufei, "The teacher’s here."

Qi Yufei turned around and, indeed, saw a teacher standing there. Reluctantly, she returned to her seat. Gao Liang and Sun Kui, standing nearby and hearing Dugu Qianye call them companions, felt delighted. But they both knew that Dugu Qianye accepted them partly because of the month they had fought side by side in the Yanshan Mountains, and partly because they had been doggedly persistent in following her.

As for her, she seemed gentle but actually kept a distance from everyone. However, once she accepted someone, she would treat them with sincere kindness!

Two weeks into the new term, Dugu Qianye was called to the principal’s office. As soon as she entered, Old Xie grabbed her and pulled her into the lounge inside. There, Xie Fan was reviewing documents.

"Grandfather Xie, Grandmother Xie," Dugu Qianye greeted them with a smile.

Putting down his papers, Xie Fan looked up and said, "Qianye, you’re here! Have a seat."

Old Xie hopped onto his rocking chair, and Dugu Qianye found a stool to sit on before asking, "Grandmother Xie, did you call me here for something today?"

"Hehe, you had a birthday last month, and we weren’t here, we just got back yesterday. We called you here today to give you a belated birthday present," said Xie Fan with a smile. Then she took out two boxes from her Space Ring, saying, "The red box is from me, and the black box is from your grandfather Youwu."

Dugu Qianye took the boxes, saying, "Thank you, Grandmother Xie. Did you see Grandfather Youwu?"

Xie Fan nodded and said, "We went to see him after the Academy closed for the holidays. He knew it was your birthday, but he can’t return yet, so he asked us to bring you his gift."

Thinking of Youwu, worry showed on the faces of Xie Ping and Xie Fan. Then Xie Ping took out a box and tossed it to Dugu Qianye, saying, "This is from the old man me."

Dugu Qianye caught the box and said with a smile, "Thank you, Grandfather Xie."

She opened the box; Youwu’s gift was an advance-level defensive Holy Artifact. Shaped like a brooch, it was small and exquisite, capable of defending against three attacks from anyone below the rank of Phantom Venerable.

The gift from Xie Ping was a fist-sized red mother stone, an ore that changes color according to its attributes; a piece as small as a fingernail could enhance the grade of Artifact Refining of the same attribute, and since they can only be found in extreme environments, they were priceless throughout the Xuanyue Continent. Although there were many medicinal herbs in the Refining Demon Pot, there were not many ores. Such mother stones were not available, so she happily put the stone away.

Xie Fan’s gift was a thick book. Dugu Qianye flipped it open and saw Phantom Techniques of the five basic attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

"Grandmother Xie, this?"

"This is a book of Phantom Techniques I came across by chance. It contains human-level Phantom Techniques. I am of water attribute, so I learned the water part of it. I don’t know which one you want to learn in the future, so I thought I’d give it all to you, for you to decide later," said Xie Fan.

Upon hearing Xie Fan’s words, Dugu Qianye felt a surge of excitement. Weren’t these tailor-made for her! Just a few days ago, she had been wondering how she could access phantom techniques of other attributes. Could this be considered an instance of someone bringing a pillow to her as she fell asleep?

Dugu Qianye joyfully put the three boxes into her space ring and said, "Thank you for your gifts!"

Seeing Dugu Qianye’s pleasure, Xie Ping and Xie Fan both smiled. Knowing her birthday, they had prepared quite seriously.

Suppressing her excited feelings, Dugu Qianye asked, "You said one thing was to give me a gift, is there something else?"

Upon hearing Dugu Qianye’s words, Xie Ping and Xie Fan’s smiles disappeared, replaced with looks of concern.

Seeing them like this, Dugu Qianye asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Have you ever heard of the competition among the four great empires?" Xie Fan asked.

"The competition among the four great empires?" Dugu Qianye thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I haven’t heard of it."

Xie Ping and Xie Fan were not surprised by Dugu Qianye’s reaction. Xie Fan explained, "On the Xuanyue Continent, there are four great super empires: Gabina Empire, Mors Empire, Glei Empire, and Cangqiong Empire. Every twenty years, there is a competition among the four empires, and the results directly affect the rankings of the nations. The last two must tribute various resources to the top two. Our country, vast and rich in resources, has seen a decline in ambition due to its superior environment, leading to worsening strength. We have been tributing resources to the other three countries for a hundred years now."

Xie Fan paused, then Xie Ping continued, "Each competition selects one hundred students under the age of twenty-five from each empire college to compete. This year is another competition year, but with our strength as it is, we simply can’t compete."

"That’s not a big deal, at worst we just lose and continue to tribute to other nations," Dugu Qianye said indifferently, not understanding why this would cause them such distress.

Hearing Dugu Qianye’s response, Xie Ping and Xie Fan didn’t know how to continue. Shouldn’t normal people be righteously indignant and talk about how they would do this and that? How had it become none of her concern?

"Qianye, don’t you have any thoughts about bringing glory to your country?" Xie Ping asked.

"Why should I?" Dugu Qianye asked. "I have not received any benefits from it."

"Uh!" Xie Ping and Xie Fan were speechless.

After a long while, Xie Fan finally spoke, "We could ignore winning or losing in the past, but this time we can’t. This year we must place in the top two."

"Why?" Dugu Qianye asked, perplexed.

Xie Ping and Xie Fan looked at each other, Xie Fan sighed and said, "Because the top two nations get to choose representatives to enter Holy Sea City."

"Holy Sea City?" Dugu Qianye thought for a bit; she seemed to have never heard of it. "Can’t people just go to Holy Sea City whenever they like?"

Xie Fan nodded and said, "It is the Divine Temple’s main city, situated on an island within the Phantom Sea Domain to the east of the continent, and does not belong to any country. It is mysterious, and without someone from the Divine Temple to guide you, most people can’t even find its location."

"You want to go to Holy Sea City?" Dugu Qianye asked.

"Yes," Xie Ping and Xie Fan nodded in admission.

"Does it have something to do with grandfather and the others?"