Socially anxious people transmigrate to another world; living in seclusion is too difficult.

Upon hearing the shout, Su Yang stopped halfway up, then slowly straightened up and looked back. He saw Qin Xiyun walking towards him, her face showing fatigue and a hint of annoyance.

"I'm asking you, am I that scary?"

"Uh... is there something you need?"

The obviously irrelevant answer left Qin Xiyun both amused and exasperated. After composing herself slightly, she asked again, "Why are you running away? With your elemental level, have you already seen through my disguise? Is that why you wanted to run?"

"Disguise?" Su Yang wondered, carefully examining the woman before him, but he couldn't find any flaws. He also didn't know who she really was. Judging from their conversation so far, she didn't seem hostile. So, he asked nervously, "Who... are you?"

But to Qin Xiyun, this answer sounded as if the other party had already seen through her but was still putting on an act. It was a blatant provocation. However, she had already decided that Su Yang was stronger than her and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt extremely wronged. She had never experienced such humiliation before. She immediately ended her disguise and revealed her true face. Then she squatted down and started crying.

Upon seeing Qin Xiyun's true face, Su Yang realized that this woman was the one who had given him the Crimson Flower Letter at Yanbo Academy yesterday. He wondered what he had done to offend her and make her cry so aggrievedly. For a moment, Su Yang was at a loss, not knowing what to say or do.

After crying for a long time, Qin Xiyun was exhausted. She finally raised her head with teary eyes and met Su Yang's concerned and curious gaze. But despite her long tears, he hadn't made a single move. Qin Xiyun's grievances almost exploded again. Extremely frustrated, she sat down on the spot and pointed at Su Yang, saying, "You, sit down."

Confused, Su Yang did as she said, sitting on the grass about two meters away, waiting for her to say something next. Seeing that Su Yang simply sat down as she instructed without any other response, Qin Xiyun roughly understood that he was a blockhead. Slightly annoyed, she asked, "Tell me, if you see a girl crying in front of you, aren't you going to go and comfort her?"

"..." Su Yang remained silent upon hearing this, unsure of what to say.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Qin Xiyun asked again, "Do you think that just because you're powerful, you can toy with others like this?"

"..."

"You!" Qin Xiyun wanted to explode, but she held back in the end and asked again, "What's your name?"

This time, Su Yang didn't remain silent, after all, the other person had asked a question he knew how to answer.

"How old are you?"

"twenty four."

"Where are you from?"

“…” Su Yang was silent for a moment, then said, “People from the outlying islands.”

After some questioning, Qin Xiyun finally learned some basic information about Su Yang. Then she said, "First, let me introduce myself. My name is Qin Xiyun. I am the one who sent you the letter yesterday. I am the daughter of an army general and currently serve as an army staff officer. I sent you the letter because I value your abilities. I originally planned to contact you after you arrived in Huaijing and invite you to join the Imperial Army. However, I changed my mind yesterday, so I came here in disguise today to test your strength. Do you have any objections?"

Su Yang shook his head. These were all Qin Xiyun's actions, so of course he couldn't have any objections. Seeing that he didn't refute, Qin Xiyun continued, "Then tell me, what exactly is your elemental rank and level? And why do you maintain an elemental barrier even when you're not in combat?"

This question really stumped Su Yang. Judging from Qin Xiyun's demeanor, her elemental level must be quite high, and she had already determined that his elemental level was above hers. If he just randomly mentioned a level, she would definitely think he was playing a trick on her. But the problem was, he had no idea what his elemental level was.

According to the data from the Spirit Tree, he would be at the highest rank, the seventh rank. However, he had heard that no human in this world had ever reached the seventh rank. If he claimed to be at the seventh rank, wouldn't he become the focus of the entire world? Su Yang didn't want to attract attention. Recalling that Tang Tianlei and Shi Yao'er had both thought he was a sixth-rank elementalist, he tentatively asked, "Sixth rank?"

How many floors?

"Uh... three floors?" Su Yang decided to say the number of floors was lower, perhaps to avoid a lot of trouble.

Qin Xiyun nodded after hearing this, thinking to herself, "A sixth-tier, third-level cultivator is indeed two levels higher than me." Clearly accepting Su Yang's assessment, she then asked, "And the second question?"

"The second question refers to the Cloud Barrier, right? How do you explain that..." After thinking for a while, Su Yang finally answered, "Because of practice."

"Practice?" This was the first time Qin Xiyun had heard of such a practice method since she began cultivating elemental power. She had never heard of it before, and immediately asked curiously, "Is this method really effective?"

"Useless." Su Yang's answer made Qin Xiyun want to grab him and beat him up. If she didn't think she couldn't beat him, she would have done it already.

"Why are you doing this if it's useless!"

"Hobby."

"..." This time it was Qin Xiyun's turn to be speechless. After a long silence, she gave up on the topic and asked instead, "With your rank, there's absolutely no need for you to take this kind of introductory course today. Why did you listen attentively in the lecture hall for so long?"

Su Yang felt that the question was indeed quite sharp, and at the same time, he wondered why this girl had such a tricky perspective. He found it difficult to answer her question. After thinking for a while, he said, "Reviewing the old helps one understand the new. Learning it from the beginning might bring new insights."

"What he said seems to make sense..." This was the first thought that popped into Qin Xiyun's mind, so much so that she couldn't continue asking questions. Then she asked the question that concerned her the most: "Are you willing to join the Empire's army?"

Su Yang shook his head. Although Qin Xiyun was somewhat prepared, she still felt a little disappointed when she saw him shake his head: "Yes, how could an elementalist of such a high rank easily join the army..."

But she still didn't want to give up, so she turned her attention back to the topic of getting into the academy to listen to lectures, preparing to launch a roundabout attack: "So tell me, this time you were able to get into the academy, uh, to review what you've learned and learn something new, isn't it all thanks to me?"

Su Yang thought about it and realized that he really owed it to her; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to get a free class so easily. He nodded in acknowledgment.

Seeing that things were looking promising, Qin Xiyun pressed on, "So does that mean I helped you? In other words, did I pay you in advance?"

"Reward?" Su Yang was puzzled. He hadn't accepted any task from her, so where would the reward come from? Little did he know that when he thought of this, he had already fallen into the verbal trap set by Qin Xiyun.

Seeing Su Yang's confusion, Qin Xiyun continued to set the trap: "That's right, aren't you an adventurer? I saw your adventurer badge. Since you're an adventurer, it's reasonable for me to give you payment in advance and then give you a quest, right?"

"That's true." Su Yang nodded involuntarily, agreeing.

"Alright, it's settled then. If you agree to my payment, then you must complete my task." Qin Xiyun's smug look made Su Yang suddenly realize that he had been tricked by her through wordplay. But he had already agreed, and if he went back on his word and disagreed, she might complain to the guild, and who knew what trouble that would cause. So he could only agree for now.

"Okay, tell me, what's the task?"

"I know it was wrong of me to set you up, but the mission is a secret for now. I'll tell you after you get to Huaijing." Qin Xiyun generously admitted that she had played a trick on him, but she didn't immediately ask Su Yang to join the army. Instead, she made him a gentleman's agreement.