“Ely?” Ning asked in surprise.
Eleonora looked up and saw the relatively young face of Ning. “I-is that you, NIng?” she asked, unsure of herself.
“Yeah, it’s me. I just came out of my cultivation an hour ago,” Ning said.
“You… You are finally out,” she asked in surprise.
“W-what? Why are you still here? Didn’t you go back to your house?” Ning asked.
“YOU ARE FINALLY OUT!” Eleonora shouted. “Haha, I thought you were never coming out until I died.”
“No, I… I’m not sure what I would’ve done myself,” Ning said. “Weren’t you in closed cultivation yourself? Also, how come you’ve not aged a day? Aren’t I the one immortal?”
“Haha, I bought a skill from my system that game my eternal youth. I stopped aging physically since that day,” Eleonora said.
“I-I came out so many times, but missed you every single time,” Ning said. “I’m glad I finally got to see you.”
“Don’t say that,” Ely said. She was starting to tear up by now. “I will cry if you do.”
“Haha, it’s good to cry once in a while,” Ning said, as he teared up a little himself. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” Ely asked.
“Why are you still at the academy? I thought you would’ve left by now, improved the Rigot family, and gotten a better life out there,” Ning said.
“I-I love being a teacher here. It gives me the freedom to work on my craft. Besides, Ender is back at home with father and sister-in-law. He’s handling the family now,” Eleonora said.
“What about you? Don’t you have a family of your own now? A husband, or what is it they say? That’s right, a Dao companion,” Ning asked.
“No,” Ely sighed a little. “I waited for the right time but… never mind.”
“Oh, right, when did you come out?” Ning asked.
“I’ve been out of cultivation for nearly a century. You are the one that took forever to come out. If it weren’t for me knowing you were immortal, I would have suspected you to be dead by now,” Ely said as she chuckled a little.
“I took a really long time, didn’t I?” Ning asked.
“Of course. You were gone for—”
“Excuse me, teacher Eleonora,” a student walked up to her.
“Yes, Hareen. What is it?” Ely asked.
“I needed some help with my project. Can you tell me what metal I should use if I…” the student asked some questions and Ning watched Ely answering the question?
He smiled when he realized that he had missed it quite a bit. Once the student walked away, Ely turned around and said, “Let’s get away from the staff room, or more people will come to bother us.”
“Sure, let’s go outside,” Ning said and started walking.
They talked a bit as they walked out. Ely started telling Ning about how the students and teachers basically didn’t know her anymore after coming out of the closed cultivation.
Ning also spoke about his experience of seeing nothing but changes everywhere and how incredibly bizarre it was for him.
“Wow, I can’t imagine how you must be feeling,” Ely said. “Honestly, I was so close to forgetting about you many times. It was only when I saw the system’s panel that I was reminded of your existence.”
“Wow, was I gone really that long? How long wa—”
“You! Stop right there,” someone screamed from the top of their lungs while flaring their cultivation base to try and stop Ning.
However, the aura was of no concern to Ning. “What’s she doing here?” Ning wondered as he turned around to face Yola.
“Hey, principal Yola. What’s going on?” Ning asked.
“Teacher Ely, catch that intruder,” Yola shouted from further away.
“What?” both Ning and Ely were super confused. They waited for Yola to reach them so that she could explain herself.
“What’s going on, Yola?” Ely asked.
“Teacher Eleonora, do you know this man?” Yola asked.
“Of course,” Eleonora said.
“Alright, then. Since teacher Eleonora knows you, I won’t make it hard for you. Why did you come to this academy?” Yola asked.
Ning was super confused now. “What do you mean why I’ve come to the academy? It’s obviously to teach,” Ning said.
“No, you are not a teacher. Tell me when you are here?” Yola shouted.
There was a crowd of people gathering around them by now and they were looking at the commotion with quite a lot of interest. It wasn’t every day that the principal got this angry.
“Are you confused, Yola? Ning has been a teacher here since a long time ago,” Ely said.
“Huh?” Yola was confused now. “But I checked the previous records that were left behind for me, but I couldn’t find his name there at all.”
“There are no records of him? That shouldn’t be the case,” Ely said. “Did you really check it properly?”
“Of course. I checked it 3 times, but I couldn’t find any name called ‘Ning Ruogong’ anywhere,” Yola said.
“That’s weird,” Ely said. Ning was also confused as to why his records wouldn’t be there. He had clearly asked for permission and was given it quite easily.
If not for the permission to go on closed cultivation for as long as he wanted to, he would have been expelled from the academy.
“Oh, I might know the problem,” Ely said after thinking of something. “Yola, did you check the archives?”
“Archives? No, I haven’t entered the treasury in ages,” Yola said. “Why?”
Ely then turned to Ning and asked, “who did you request the leave for closed cultivation?”
“Huh? Who else would it be? Obviously Maeve. She was the only one with permission to let me do that,” Ning said.
“Sigh, I knew it,” Ely said and brought out a formation setter, before setting a concealing formation between just the two of them. “Maeve died 600 years ago. We had 2 other principals after her before Yola.”
“Huh? 600 years ago? Wait, how long was I in cultivation then?” Ning asked.
“Sigh, I wanted to tell you this earlier, but was interrupted,” Ely said. “From the time you joined this academy up to right now, it has been a little over 1800 years.”