Universe Infinite Canteen

The coachman was a local, and along the way, Ma Lu and Qiutong listened to him tell quite a few stories related to Hou De.

Hou De was one of the earliest Talisman Master Schools to be established, and it had a brief period of glory in its early days, producing many famous Talisman Masters at the time.

However, later there was a warlord causing trouble locally, and this warlord greatly admired Yan Puchuan. He personally approached Yan Puchuan and the school's faculty three times, asking them to serve him and even promising to appoint Yan Puchuan as the prime minister once the country was established.

Although Yan Puchuan had explicitly rejected him, somehow the matter reached the ears of the president and those cabinet members. Once the warlord was defeated, Hou De quickly began its decline.

Subsequent principals had struggled to support the school, but unfortunately, they were unable to restore its former glory. By the time it came to Jin Hua, the school was evidently struggling even more, with recruitment offices across various regions reportedly being shut down due to financial pressures.

After hearing this, Ma Lu suddenly understood why Qiutong, a new student with Grade D qualifications, had surprisingly caused Jin Hua, the principal himself, to personally intervene, probably even snatching him from another school.

The situation at Hou De seemed indeed dire, and Ma Lu had initially thought that the Hero Group colluded with the Talisman Master Association to kill Jin Hua. Now, having heard the coachman's words, he realized there was also this historical issue.

He still wasn't quite sure whether the Hero Group had anything to do with this, but the warlord's rebellion was sixty years ago, and by now, the president and cabinet had changed numerous times; they presumably wouldn't hold a grudge for so long.

Ma Lu thought for a moment and decided not to wear out his brain cells; he would ask Jin Hua's sister directly when they met.

After bidding farewell to the coachman, he and Qiutong walked up the stone steps towards the mountain. The mountain scenery of Shouyang Mountain was exceptional, with lush vegetation and dazzling wildflowers along the way; no wonder Yan Puchuan had not wanted to enjoy it alone and chose to leave this beautiful sight for everyone to appreciate.

Upon reaching the actual school gate, they saw an enormous ginkgo tree that was possibly thousands of years old and required six or seven people holding hands to encircle it.

In one or two months, when the leaves turned yellow and the ground was covered in golden fallen leaves, the scene would be even more beautiful.

Sitting under the signboard of Hou De Talisman Master School was an old man dressed in a long robe and cloth shoes, smoking a dry pipe.

Seeing Ma Lu and Qiutong, he did not stand up, but merely waved his hand, "You can't go further this way; if you want to go up the mountain, you can take the small path on the west side."

As he spoke, he exhaled a white smoke from his mouth.

Qiutong stepped forward and bowed, "Old sir, I am the new student Qiutong, here to register at the school."

"New student?" The old man paused, "Did you come alone? Why isn't Principal Cao coming with you?"

"Principal Cao, he… he's no longer alive."

"What did you say?" Another cold voice came from behind the old man.

Then, a woman approximately twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with low-bunned hair, dressed in a sky-blue straight-sleeve jacket and a black gauze skirt, stepped out from behind the school gate, her gaze piercingly fixed on Ma Lu and Qiutong.

Tremblingly, Qiutong recounted the events that had occurred in the catastrophe belt, and afterwards, Ma Lu took out the only remaining hat of Jin Hua.

He handed the hat to the woman, whose face immediately turned deathly pale. She clutched the wide-brimmed hat tightly, her knuckles turning white, but she stifled her tears.

After a moment, she spoke again, "My brother… Did Principal Cao say anything to you before he died?" Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Ma Lu hesitated for a moment, then said, "He asked me to take over as the principal of Hou De, but you don't need to worry. I'm just here to convey his words. You can choose your principal yourselves."

However, the woman then threw the wide-brimmed hat back to him, "The men of the Cao family are as good as their word. If he said you're to be the principal, then you are to be the principal."

Ma Lu originally wanted to say, "You two siblings are really something, entrusting me with your school without even knowing who I am or where I come from—it's quite hasty, isn't it?"

But in the next moment, his expression abruptly changed, and he swallowed the words he was about to say, nodding, "Since Miss Cao Youyi…"

"Cao Youyi."

"Since Miss Cao Youyi is willing to trust me, I will take up the role of the new principal of the Hou De Talisman Master School. However, I have never been a principal before and am not familiar with talisman masters, so I will need Miss Cao Youyi's help in the future."

"Alright, and from now on you should address me as Teacher Cao as well, I am not one of those ladies of high society."

Cao Youyi was decisive and efficient. After speaking, she turned and re-entered the school gates, took a few steps, then called back from a distance, "Come along, I'll give you a tour of the school."

Until their figures vanished at the other end of the cobblestone path, Qiutong still stood there with her mouth agape.

She was still immersed in the grief of losing Mr. Cao, never expecting that the school would have a new principal so quickly, and that the new principal was someone she knew.

But could such a randomly chosen newcomer really manage a school well?

Qiutong couldn't help falling into deep doubt about her earlier choice.

...

Hou De was undoubtedly a big mess, especially after listening to Cao Youyi's detailed description of the school, which reinforced Ma Lu's initial impression.

Yet he accepted the position of principal without hesitation after Cao Youyi acknowledged his role, just as the [Traveler's Bracelet] suddenly popped up a series of alerts.

[Attention attention attention attention… Detecting special high-dimensional energy, inserting new rules into the current universe.]

[New rules fully inserted… Trigger conditions met, activating additional functions.]

[Function number 09.]

[Congratulations, you have just become the principal of a university, the campus management system has been unlocked for you.]

Tied to the principal's position was this new add-on!

It was this notification that made Ma Lu change his mind. After all, despite Hou De's poor situation, he couldn't find another school willing to let him be principal.

And now Ma Lu realized that he could gather ingredients in the catastrophe belt, which also required going through the school's system to access. Being not a talisman master himself and possessing only a zero-order spell given by the Wandering Sorcerer, it wouldn't be easy for him to pretend to be a freshman and sneak into other schools.

It was better to stay as the principal at Hou De, where at least he could be in charge.

On reflection, Ma Lu had no more reason to refuse, but Cao Youyi's straightforwardness had exceeded his expectations.

On the way up the mountain, Ma Lu pondered Cao Youyi's reaction when she heard Jin Hua's last words, guessing that she was probably reluctant, or would at least impose some tests or something.

However, once he listened to Cao Youyi's introduction, he realized just how dire the situation at Hou De was—it had failed to meet even the minimal enrollment quota for universities this year.

And the minimum quota set by the Ministry of Education wasn't demanding—it merely required each talisman master school to enroll at least five students per year.