On Saturday, after finishing his daily chores for the territory, Zhou Yan teleported outside his villa and met up with Ye Bufan and the others.
Once all nine of them had gathered, they proceeded to the main gate of Ziwei Academy. Ye Bufan produced a flying artifact, and they all boarded it, then headed towards the Ziwei Academy teleportation array for departure.
Upon arriving at Ziwei Academy, it was their first time leaving the academy grounds. Unbeknownst to them, they had already been at Ziwei Academy for over two months.
The Canglan Continent observed the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was a shared holiday across the entire continent.
In the Shenlong Kingdom, there was no Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, nor was October 1st their National Day.
The Shengnong Kingdom celebrated its National Day on the same day as New Year's Day, which was January 1st.
Zhou Yan glanced at the date, realizing that it was already November. Indeed, he had been at Ziwei Academy for over two months.
With just over a month remaining, their first semester would conclude.
Time flew by quickly, like a flowing river, and before they knew it, time had slipped away.
They arrived outside the teleportation array and disembarked from the flying artifact. Looking around, they saw countless people entering and exiting Ziwei Academy every day.
Precisely because of the high volume of people, it was understandable that individuals with ulterior motives might occasionally slip through.
Just like the incident when Zhou Yan attended the trading fair, he had encountered a few such people. Such occurrences were inevitable anywhere, let alone in such a large area where the daily traffic of people was at least tens of thousands.
Zhou Yan and the others produced their student IDs for registration. Then, they re-boarded the flying artifact, proceeded to the teleportation array, and began to leave the Ziwei Academy space.
As soon as they exited the Ziwei Academy's spatial domain, everyone clearly felt that the spiritual energy in the outside world was far inferior to that within Ziwei Academy.
"As the land nurtures its people, geniuses are bound to emerge more frequently in places with abundant spiritual energy."
Ye Bufan also briefly introduced the situation in Yuanyang City, allowing everyone to gain some understanding.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy, except that Yuanyang City's public security was not comparable to Ziwei Academy's, so one needed to be more cautious when making purchases.
Everyone turned to look at Zhou Yan, as he was the one who would be making large purchases.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful. I'll change my appearance so I won't be easily recognized."
Having learned from his previous encounter, Zhou Yan had indeed taken a lesson to heart.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Finally out," Lin Tan stretched lazily, leaning back completely in the recliner of the flying artifact.
"How long will it take us to reach Yuanyang City?" Zhou Yan asked.
"If I speed things up, it should take about three hours. You can rest for a while, or play some games," Ye Bufan suggested.
"Oh, great! Who wants to play Mahjong? We can gamble spirit crystals," Lin Tan's interest was immediately piqued.
"I'm in! Just don't cry when you lose," Luo Yushuang responded first.
"I won't," Li Qingjin said.
Dong Qingyi also spoke up, "I don't want to play."
"Then count me in. I'm not very good, though," Gu Nianyun said.
"You guys play, I haven't played before either," Zhao Qingwu added.
Zhuge Kaiming declared, "If you're playing this, none of you can win against me. I won't bully you."
"We're short one player, Zhou Yan, come here," Lin Tan beckoned to Zhou Yan.
"I don't know how to play either," Zhou Yan said helplessly.
"It's alright, I'll teach you," Zhuge Kaiming offered.
Thus, Lin Tan produced a Mahjong set, and the four of them began to play.
The others watched the four playing. Ye Bufan set the route, fueled the artifact with sufficient spirit stones, and also watched the four.
Zhuge Kaiming had a deep understanding of Mahjong and diligently taught Zhou Yan. After playing a few rounds, Zhou Yan quickly learned, as the game wasn't that difficult. The others also picked it up quickly after watching for a few rounds.
In the beginning, with Zhuge Kaiming teaching Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan consistently won.
However, after five rounds, Zhuge Kaiming stopped teaching Zhou Yan, yet Zhou Yan still kept winning.
An hour later, Zhou Yan realized his luck was incredibly good, winning every time. This made the others completely uneasy, and they stared at Zhou Yan in disbelief.
"Are you really playing for the first time?" Lin Tan asked.
"Why would I lie to you? I just learned," Zhou Yan replied. What could he do if his luck was so good? Was it his fault?
Zhou Yan quickly realized this was due to his extremely high luck attribute.
It was just that this luck attribute hadn't manifested in the territory's lottery draws, but rather in playing Mahjong.
At the start of another round, just as someone was about to draw a tile, Zhou Yan announced, "Wait a minute, I think I've won!"
The others sighed.
"Did you cheat?"
"I strongly suspect you're a master."
"I also suspect you used some special method."
The three unanimously suspected Zhou Yan of using despicable means to win, as who could win for an hour straight with others not even getting a chance to form a winning hand? Who would believe Zhou Yan won through skill alone?
"Well, I've been watching Zhou Yan closely, and it seems he's indeed winning through skill," Zhao Qingwu, Zhuge Kaiming, and Ye Bufan all vouched for Zhou Yan.
The others were speechless.
For three hours, Zhou Yan won everything. The others didn't even have a sliver of a chance to win money.
They had tried many methods to stop Zhou Yan, changing positions, swapping players, but still couldn't prevent the "cheating" Zhou Yan from winning.
"I'm never playing with you again," Lin Tan declared.
"You're definitely cheating, don't think I don't know!" Luo Yushuang suspected, but had no proof.
"Playing with you is no fun, you don't give us any chance at all," Gu Nianyun also lamented.
Zhou Yan spread his hands. Was he to blame for having too much luck?
"Alright, alright, we've arrived. Put on your masks for safety," Ye Bufan handed everyone a mask again.
"Wait!" Zhou Yan took out several masks and handed them to everyone, saying, "These masks are for you."
After receiving the masks, they were slightly surprised. These masks not only changed their appearance but also possessed excellent attributes, even including an attribute that increased luck.
Everyone was greatly astonished, but considering Zhou Yan's wealth and mysterious background, it was understandable.
"Thank you," Lin Tan smiled, put on the mask, and changed her appearance.
"So ugly," Dong Qingyi remarked with disdain after looking.
"Hahaha." Everyone burst into laughter.
The others also thanked Zhou Yan one by one. These were gold-quality extra equipment. If they were to be priced in spirit coins, they would likely not be less than a million.
However, they also knew that Zhou Yan was very wealthy and didn't care about such trivial amounts, so they accepted them.
"I've told you about Yuanyang City on the way. Everyone, don't split up. Today's trading fair will have many good items. It depends on whether we can acquire them first," Ye Bufan said.
After the flying artifact landed, they walked into Yuanyang City.