Bai Rouyun left her room and slowly walked to the dining room. Her aura had changed drastically after perfecting her physical body, and the guards she passed on the way all felt an innate reverence when their eyes landed on her.
This emotion was unexpected by many of them, as they usually felt this way only when looking at Li Moyun. Although they respected Bai Rouyun as the wife of their master, they still had not put her in the same position as Li Moyun in their hearts. Yet now, an unknown feeling had already spread.
What was more surprising was that Bai Rouyun was capable of instilling such emotions in the mind of experts much more powerful than herself.
Although she was advancing at a speed unlike any they had ever seen, these experts had spent many more years than her cultivating, and their own strength was not to be looked down upon either.
To see that they, who were at a higher rank, felt so much respect towards her, meant that she was a born leader.
As she reached the dining room, the scent of food already wafted through the air. After moving so many subordinates from the Eternal Shadow Palace to their home, they had hired extra chefs to ensure that all subordinates got good food.
The big table was full of dishes. It could hold up to fifty people, but only four were seated right now.
All of these were members of the Eternal Shadow Palace, but Bai Rouyun had long since made it clear that although they were officially her subordinates, she respected them as equals, and they were all allowed to eat at the same table as herself.
As they looked at her, they all politely greeted her, and she could see the sincere respect in their eyes, so she also returned their greetings with a smile.
She sat down and began to eat. She did not eat much, just enough to make her feel comfortable, before she once again left the table.
Returning to her chambers she cleaned herself up once more before she left the mansion and headed towards the Blue Water Institute.
The institute had originally been her hope to learn how to cultivate in a systematic manner, but she soon found that it was not possible as the quality of their teachings was simply too low.
However, while the teaching methods were lacking, the facilities were not too bad, so she still benefited greatly from her time at the school. The Gravity Tower was especially of great help to her, and she knew how much of an assistance it had been for her success with tempering her body previously.
As she stepped onto campus grounds, she found that most of the other students were looking at her with different expressions. Some were even putting their heads together to whisper to one another, with her as the topic.
Bai Rouyun had been the focus of many students time and time again, so she was very familiar with the current scene, but she did not feel a need to bother. As long as no one was bored enough to directly curse her to her face, then the other peoples' thoughts did not matter to her.
She did not need to spend much time thinking to know what they were gossiping about.
Qin Huiling had been kidnapped, and the drama that had appeared outside the gates of the institute previously had clearly spread among all students, and the rumors were likely to have become very different from reality.
Just as Bai Rouyun was admiring the many weird gazes, an exclamation broke out behind her. She curiously turned around to find that Qin Huiling was arriving alongside Dongfang Yu.
Both Dongfang Yu and Qin Huiling were usually close to Bai Rouyun. Under normal circumstances, the three of them would have come to the institute together, but Bai Rouyun had left on her own this morning, as she assumed that the other two had already left.
The audience in the surrounding area were all holding their breaths as they widened their eyes and expected for some drama to appear.
They all assumed that Bai Rouyun and Qin Huiling had broken their friendship due to the kidnapping incident, so now they all wished to witness them tear each other apart in fury and anger.
They even assumed that Dongfang Yu had decided to stand on the side of reason and support Qin Huiling. Although he was clearly head over heels in love with Bai Rouyun, he was still true to righteousness. This alone had caused many women to become even more infatuated with this handsome young man.
However, just as they were full of excitement, Qin Huiling had reached Bai Rouyun's side. She smiled at the other girl and shook her head with a bit of helplessness.
"Why did you not wait for us?" she asked. Although the words were meant to be blaming Bai Rouyun for leaving on her own, there was a hint of helplessness and pampering that one would expect to hear when a sister was speaking to her younger sibling.
Bai Rouyun did feel somewhat sheepish. She knew that they usually went to the Institute together, but due to the breakthrough, she suddenly forgot such a simple thing, and she could not explain it well.
"Well, at least wait for us when we go home after classes tonight!" Dongfang Yu cleverly stepped in to mediate between the two of them, once again sounding like the oldest brother pacifying his two younger siblings.
The peaceful and harmonious appearance was enough to bring the entire audience into confusion. All those rumors which had spread everywhere did not seem to be very reliable.