I bowed deeply toward the villagers who were sending me off. They had all gathered, from Hu Shi and her son Hu Hai, to Old Man Yi, Lu Shun, the children and their parents. A crowd of significantly healthier-looking villagers were standing at the edge of the village to see me off.

"No, no. we should be the ones thanking you!"

Lu Shun was grasping my hands and thanking my profusely, making me feel all embarra.s.sed.

"If you ever have the chance, come visit Chun Xiang Village again." Old Man Yi stepped forward and offered me a hand.

"Thank you. I"ll be happy to come again."

Yi smiled broadly. "I"m honored to hear that."

I turned to Hu Shi and bowed again. "Thanks for taking care of me all this while."

"It was nothing." Hu Shi shook her head. "In fact, all of us are very grateful to you for helping us. Thanks to you, we won"t be starving through the winter."

The meat that we had collected from the three Wild Boars that I slew in Sen Lin Forest had been properly refrigerated and stored in a ma.s.sive shed at the back of the village. Even though the qi generator was old, it still worked, providing enough power to turn the shed into a temporary freezer. It had been a week since then but barely one-tenth of the meat supplies had been taken. Already the children were looking a little rounder and ruddier.

I was glad.

"Are you really leaving, Big Brother?" Hu Hai asked solemnly. The kids had warmed up to me during my brief stay here, but I suspected it was more because I had brought delicious meat back to the village.

I nodded. "Yeah, I"ve to go home. My family is probably worried about me."

"Martial City is in that direction." Lu Shun pointed vaguely, but I didn"t have to worry because he had already given me a map and a qi compa.s.s to guide my way home. "A week"s journey on foot. You sure you don"t want to wait until spring? There will be a few delivery trucks pa.s.sing by the village in spring. I"ll ask one of the drivers to give you a ride."

"Yeah," Yi agreed. "You aren"t imposing on us at all. You should stay a bit longer, at least until winter ends."

I shook my head. "I don"t want to worry my family any more than I already have. And besides, I have things I must do when I return to Martial City." Not just revenge on Qi Fu Ren, but I needed access to more resources now that I had learned Heaven and Earth Formula. I wanted to progress and advance my martial arts as soon as possible.

I needed the resources that Wu Ling Academy provided, especially since I was right on the brink of restoring Heaven and Earth Formula.

No forms and rituals, huh…I have to come up with my own…meaning, I"ll need to do more research and find more techniques to incorporate into it.

"…I see. Well, then we won"t keep you then." Yi nodded. "Just make sure you come back to visit once in a while."

"I will try." I smiled warmly. "And when I do, I"ll bring back some meat."

The children cheered. I waved at them indulgently, then turned away while hefting my satchel that was made from Silverback Wolf pelt over my shoulder and left Chun Xiang Village. Stepping into Sen Lin Forest, I produced the qi compa.s.s and headed in the direction that the arrow was pointing in.

*

It was only my third day in Sen Lin Forest when I finally ran into some familiar figures.

To be honest, it was a complete coincidence. I had no idea that Wu Ling Academy continued to send students on practical training missions even after my supposed demise. Well, obviously…I wasn"t around to hear about that, after all.

So I completely did not antic.i.p.ate running into my cla.s.smates so soon after leaving Chun Xiang Village.

I had been warily trekking through the forest and keeping an eye out for magical beasts, but so far the residents of this region of the forest had grown wise enough to avoid me. It was only natural, I was still in the shallow or superficial regions of the forest. The s.p.a.ce I was in right now was mostly populated by relatively weak magical beasts such as a Horned Rabbit or something equivalent. They were not very powerful and dangerous, so they wouldn"t threaten anyone who was at the peak of the Qi Gathering Stage and above. A Rockbill Ostrich, a Venomous Vermin, a Silkfur Squirrel or a Silvergra.s.s Serpent were all fair game and easy to defeat when encountered.

Even so, I was careful not to underestimate my opponents. Even the weakest magical beasts could kill a Qi Fusion Stage pract.i.tioner if it caught him off guard and went for his jugular. I had learned too much to not be complacent.

Unfortunately, I was so focused on keeping an eye out for magical beasts that I nearly missed out on the human element.

"Fei Wu?!"

"Is that you?!"

"It really is Fei Wu!"

At first I thought I was hallucinating, having spent the last three days alone in the forest. Steeling myself, I watched my surroundings carefully, making sure it was not a trap. There were certain magical beasts such as the Illusion Flower who could spread spores and cause their victims to hallucinate. While trapped within half-dreams and illusions, the victims wouldn"t be aware of the th.o.r.n.y tendrils that the Illusion Flowers wrapped around them, and by the time they snapped out of their illusions and found themselves in the acid-filled stomachs of the carnivorous flower, it would be too late. In fact, many probably didn"t even wake up from their hallucinations even as they were being digested.

However, I wasn"t hallucinating.

Tong Xue barreled out of a tree and landed in front of me, gaping in disbelief. He grabbed my face, squeezed my cheeks and peered exaggeratedly.

"Y…you are Fei Wu, aren"t you?"

"Yeah." I tilted my head. "You"re Tong Xue, aren"t you?"

"That sarcasm…it really is you!" Tong Xue let go of me and waved to the trees. "Hey, guys! Look at who I found!"

"Whoa! You"re alive!"

Ban Zhang also emerged from the forest, breathless. He had evidently run from wherever he had been to catch up to me. One of the voices I heard earlier belonged to him, so I wasn"t surprised at his presence.

"You"re not a ghost, are you?!"

This time, it was Feng Tian Yong. Like a shadow, he had soundlessly flipped through the branches and silently landed next to me without causing any disturbance. He squinted at me, or so it seemed, but I could tell that he was checking out my qi signature. Only one"s qi signature was foolproof in confirming one"s ident.i.ty, as illusion and shapeshifting martial arts were pretty common. After a few moments, Feng Tian Yong nodded, satisfied.

"It"s really him, guys! There"s no mistaking this qi signature!"

"Even if you say that, there"s something slightly different about him." Ban Zhang looked a little hesitant. He must have noticed the demonic qi mixed into my qi, and the huge changes to both my physical and spiritual const.i.tution.

"Oh…you"ve gotten a lot stronger…" Tong Xue sounded surprised. Feng Tian Yong snorted at that.

"Why wouldn"t he? That"s the only reason how he survived that fall, and how he survived in Sen Lin Forest for this long. Of course he would have changed a lot." He then peered at me. "But man, I can"t believe it. We all thought you were dead!"

"How did you survive?" Tong Xue demanded, his eyes wide. "The last time we saw you, you were falling into the abyss with the Behemoth!"

Obviously I couldn"t tell them the whole truth, so I abbreviated it.

"I fell into a river, and got washed away. I don"t know what happened to the Behemoth, but it probably fell somewhere else. After that, I climbed ash.o.r.e, tried my best to hide from the magical beasts, and slowly made my way toward Martial City. But I got a little…lost."

"Whoa…"

Tong Xue was staring at me, wide-eyed. Ban Zhang still looked skeptical and mired in disbelief, while Feng Tian Yong was nodding, impressed.

"But honestly, this is a miracle!" the red-haired Red Phoenix Sect disciple exclaimed.

"Ha ha, yeah…you can say that again."

I chuckled as I scratched my head. Then I glanced around, noting that they were the only three cla.s.smates in the vicinity.

"Where"s the rest? What are you guys doing here?"

I wasn"t arrogant enough to think they were here to search for me. I was gone for almost two months. Even if they believe that I had somehow survived the fall, there was no way they would have conducted a search for a period any longer than a month.

"Training. For more combat experience."

It was Ban Zhang who gave the answer. Feng Tian Yong chuckled.

"Even so, I bet there"s no one in our cohort who has more combat experience than you!" he squeezed my shoulder. "Wow, you"ve changed so much!"

"Nah, not that much." I was feeling embarra.s.sed at being stared at so much by the trio. Still, it was good to see them again. It meant that my return to Wu Ling Academy would be a lot easier, especially if I traveled with them. Looking around, I realized someone was missing. "Where"s Zhu Jiao?"

"We split up." Ban Zhang glanced around the trees. "For this exercise, the first year students were divided into individual missions. Each one of us is to collect a Rank 3 magical beast monster core and bring it back to the teachers in order to pa.s.s this exercise."

"A Rank 3 magical beast, huh?"

Even though I vaguely remembered the ranks the encyclopedias cla.s.sified the magical beasts, I wasn"t sure if I took them seriously. But yeah, I guessed the Horned Rabbit and other magical beasts I had encountered so far in this area were Rank 3 and below. It shouldn"t be that much of a challenge. For me, anyway.

"Zhu Jiao probably went ahead."

"Yeah, for some of us, it"s easier for us to hunt the magical beasts by ourselves."

"I see." I nodded. That made sense.

"But wow, this is great news." Tong Xue was gaping at me. "We didn"t think you"ll be alive…didn"t think we would run into you here!"

"Well, stranger things have happened," I muttered. Tong Xue laughed at that.

"True."

"In any case, I"ll bring you back to the teachers. We"ve to inform Teacher Jiao."

Ban Zhang reached out and gestured for me to follow him. I nodded.

"Yeah. Where"s Teacher Jiao?"

"Over there. Follow me." Ban Zhang turned and began running through the forest. I hesitated a little.

"Go ahead." Tong Xue gave me a little shove. "Don"t worry about us."

"Yeah," Feng Tian Yong a.s.sured me. "We"ll be continuing on with our test." He glanced at his cellphone. What?! I thought we weren"t allowed to bring cellphones along during training lessons. Feng Tian Yong must have smuggled it in. "We don"t have much time left. An hour at most."

"Eh!? Ban Zhang, will you be all right?"

"Don"t worry about it!" Ban Zhang had stopped to wait for me to catch up. He grinned. "It"s more important to escort you back to the teachers! How can I leave you alone and run off to complete my test? Besides, it"s not as if I would fail it. I"ll just continue after I escort you back to Teacher Jiao. And I"ll just take it again." he jabbed a finger at me. "And you"ll probably be taking it with me, given how many lessons you"ve missed!"

"Ugh…don"t remind me."

Still, I felt a huge sense of relief, and I followed him closely. However, we didn"t get very far before the forest air trembled violently.

"GUUUOOOOOOOR!"

Wham!

I skidded to a stop when I heard the two deafening noises that echoed throughout the forest. Accompanying those noises were two ma.s.sive bursts of qi. My eyes flew wide open and I hastily sped up, running toward the source.

"Whoa!"

I skidded to a stop at an amazing sight.

In front of me, the familiar silver-haired figure of Du Lang was battling a Rank 4 Ironback Wolf one-on-one.

He"s fighting on par with a Rank 4 magical beast?!

Rank 3 magical beasts were probably weaker than Level 9 Qi Gathering Stage pract.i.tioner, but a Rank 4 magical beast required someone to at least be Level 5 of Qi Essence Stage and above to slay it. Apparently. I had no idea how they differentiated or measure these weird levels and stages, or why they had so many different levels within the same stage.

In any case, the Ironback Wolf was stronger than a Silverback Wolf, the same ones we fought when we first came to Sen Lin Forest.

Yet, even though Du Lang wasn"t using any elemental techniques, he was fighting the ferocious monster with his bare fists and brute strength alone.

Pow!

"Grr…!"

As the Ironback Wolf lunged at him, Du Lang smashed it to the side with his fist, his punch connecting with the creature"s face and sending it spinning. In retaliation, the Ironback Wolf lashed out with its claws, but Du Lang deftly jumped back, flipping his body in midair, and then kicked its head again. The Ironback Wolf yelped in pain as it was sent crashing into an undignified heap on the ground.

"Grr…!"

More enraged from its humiliation than frightened, the Ironback Wolf rose to its haunches and bared its teeth. With a howl, it pounced on Du Lang with outstretched claws.

"Hmph."

Du Lang waited until the last moment before he kicked Du Lang in the jaws, shutting it up and halting it dead in its tracks. As the ma.s.sive wolf"s body jolted, the creature startled by an attack from an opponent five times smaller than it, Du Lang spun around and kicked it, snapping its neck. The Ironback Wolf toppled over lifelessly, its head bent in an unnatural angle.

Cool.

Normally, I would be impressed by the sight of a cla.s.smate defeating a Rank 4 magical beast all by himself, but I had been through h.e.l.l. I had survived packs of Silverback Wolves, kicks from Lunar Rabbits, tangled with a h.e.l.lfire Badger and escaped from a Hydra. The sight of Du Lang slaying an Ironback Wolf didn"t faze me.

But Du Lang was far from finished. He slowly stalked to the front of the sprawled Ironback Wolf, reared his right hand back, and then thrust it deep into its chest. Spasms ran through the Ironback Wolf"s carca.s.s for one last time, nervous impulses sprang into action by Du Lang"s sudden strike. I watched, horrified, as Du Lang ripped something from inside the Ironback Wolf"s body.

At first I thought it was the Ironback Wolf"s heart, but I was mistaken. Instead, cupped inside Du Lang"s hand, was a glowing red orb that pulsed with immense amounts of qi. Demonic energy swirled around it, and I could almost see the ghostly form of the Ironback Wolf hovering above the throbbing red sphere.

Well, duh. Ban Zhang mentioned that they were supposed to extract the monster cores from Rank 3 magical beasts, but I had completely forgotten about that because the Ironback Wolf was a Rank 4 magical beast.

Clearly Du Lang was seeking to impress the teachers with his achievements, by going above and beyond what was required.

"Oi, why have you stopped?"

Ban Zhang, realizing that I had braked to a halt to watch the spectacular spectacle, turned back and glared at me, annoyed.

"Oh, no. sorry. Just watching Du Lang."

Ban Zhang turned and caught sight of Du Lang storing the Ironback Wolf"s monster core in his bag. He sighed and shook his head.

"Wow…that guy has grown stronger again. Du Lang never ceases to amaze me. He"s already at level 6 of the Qi Essence Stage?"

I shrugged, giving Ban Zhang a blank stare. Honestly, all these levels and stages were completely meaningless to me.

"You…!"

Meanwhile, Du Lang had noticed us. His eyes wide, he advanced toward us quickly, his hands still dripping with blood. I had to dodge him before he got his filthy fingers on my collar and stained my white tunic with magical beast blood.

"Calm down, dude."

"F…Fei Wu?! How?!"

I grinned and waved at him. "h.e.l.lo, Du Lang, it"s been a while."

"Don"t "it"s been a while" me! How did you survive?! Where have you been all this while?!"

Du Lang was glaring at me. I scratched my cheek.

"Surviving through Sen Lin Forest, getting lost and being forced to hide pathetically from the magical beasts."

Du Lang studied me, and must have sensed the change in my qi, for he smirked.

"Hiding pathetically, huh? I"m sure you did more than that."

I shrugged. "I did whatever I need to survive."

"Well, in any case," Ban Zhang broke in before the conversation could develop further. "I"ll be bringing Fei Wu to Teacher Jiao. We need to report this, and I"m sure Fei Wu needs a rest after being stuck in Sen Lin Forest for so long."

"Were you really stuck in Sen Lin Forest all this time?" Du Lang asked suspiciously, his eyes scanning my new-looking tunic. "Then where did you get those clothes?"

"I managed to stumble into a village called Chun Xiang Village," I explained. Then I pointed vaguely to where I came from. "It"s somewhere in that direction. I was half-dead when they found me, and they were kind enough to provide me first aid, food and accommodation. Then once I recovered, I decided to make my way back to Martial City."

"Through Sen Lin Forest?" Du Lang asked skeptically. "Why didn"t you contact us when you"re in the village?"

"I wanted to, but they didn"t have telephones or any signal. They told me to wait until spring, but I wanted to return to Martial City as soon as possible. Besides, I survived in Sen Lin Forest for over a month before arriving in the village. I was confident of making it through the superficial regions of the forest, as long as I avoid the deeper regions."

"Hmm…"

"Anyway…" Ban Zhang cut in. "The teachers will decide whether he"s the real Fei Wu or not. Let"s not waste any time."

Du Lang nodded, and then gestured for us to go ahead of him. He returned to the carca.s.s of the Ironback Wolf.

"You guys go ahead. I"m gonna skin this fella and cut him apart."

Ban Zhang nodded in understanding, while I unconsciously heaved my Silverback Wolf pelt bag. From firsthand experience, I knew how useful the various parts of magical beasts could be, and they could be sold for a good price in Martial City, or even in the academy stores.

"Let"s go, Fei Wu."

"Yeah."

I didn"t argue. Following Ban Zhang, we continued running for several minutes, bashing through the forest and surprising magical beasts. We didn"t stop, at least until I heard screaming.

"Kyaaaah!"

"Save us!"

"NOOOO!!!!"

It was coming from that direction. Jerking my head up, I quickly made my way there, sprinting. Ban Zhang skidded to a stop and began yelling at me.

"Hey! Fei Wu! Where are you going?!"

"Didn"t you hear that?!" I shot back. "Someone"s calling for help! It"s clear that somebody is being attacked by magical beasts!"

Ban Zhang ground his teeth in frustration, but he recognized my reasoning. While he wanted to bring me back to the teachers, helping other students in need took priority. He quickly shifted direction and caught up with me.

"Hold your ground! Stay strong! Keep the formation!"

A sharp voice called out, and I recognized the owner as the first disciple of the Green Dragon Sect, Li Chun Long. He and three other guys, plus Qing Xin Xia, were standing firm against an immense magical beast. All around them, at least twenty other schoolmates were scattering about, shrieking and running in panic.

"That"s…!"

A Diamondback Crocodile. Already there had been casualties. I saw about ten or so students lying motionlessly on the ground. Most of them were in pieces, and all of them were lying in a growing pool of blood. It was clear that they were all dead, especially when none of them were emanating any sort of qi.

Towering over the Green Dragon Sect members and stretching over ten meters, the Diamondback Crocodile lashed out with its tail. One of the guys parried its tail with his sword, but he was flung across the clearing and into a tree from the sheer force.

"Bei Da Bai!" Qing Xin Xia cried out. He wasn"t one of our cla.s.smates, so I a.s.sumed that he was a fellow disciple of the Green Dragon Sect.

"Xin Xia!" Li Chun Long snapped. "Don"t break formation! Otherwise all of us will die!"

"Ah…yes!"

The Green Dragon Sect members were generating a blazing field of yang qi to form a forcefield-like barrier against the enormous Diamondback Crocodile. Gritting his teeth, Li Chun Long stepped forward and thrust with his sword, but his fiery blade clanged uselessly against the crocodile"s armored scales.

"Kuh!"

Li Chun Long gnashed his teeth in frustration and slashed ineffectually again, with similar results. The Diamondback Crocodile lunged forward to catch him in its deadly jaws, but Xin Xia and the other two schoolmates rushed forward to yank him out of the way in time. There was a flash as their swords blocked the Diamondback Crocodile"s teeth, but the lot of them were thrown back from the sheer force.

"Kuh!"

"Kya!"

They slowly rose to their feet, shaky from the blow. However, the Diamondback Crocodile wasn"t kind enough to allow them to recover. Darting forward at a blistering pace that belied its immense size, the mighty alpha predator closed in on them, its jaws wide open.

"Get up! Seven Star Draconic Defense Formation!"

Even as Li Chun Long shouted that, it was clear that it was going to be too late. Even the Four Star Const.i.tution cultivator himself wasn"t able to get to his feet on time before the Diamondback Crocodile"s jaws closed around them.

The fangs never bit into human flesh.

Wham!

"?!"

The Green Dragon Sect members stared up in surprise when the Diamondback Crocodile"s jaws suddenly snapped shut, a few inches just shy of them. Above, I was standing atop the Diamondback Crocodile"s snout…having kicked it down to slam its jaws shut.

The force of my Shadow Kick rammed the Diamondback Crocodile"s head against the ground, causing a mild explosion and clods of soil to fly up. The Diamondback Crocodile thrashed about wildly, trying to throw me off, but I pinned its head to the ground, shutting its jaws for at least half a minute more. Knowing that I couldn"t restrain it for much longer – the Diamondback Crocodile"s superior physical strength threatening to throw me off its head and its tail whipping dangerously closer – I yelled at the stunned Green Dragon Sect members.

"What are you waiting for?! Get up! Run!"

They didn"t need me to tell them twice. The four of them got to their feet and joined Bei Da Bai, who had recovered after breaking his way through the tree that had fallen on him. They fled further into the forest just as the Diamondback Crocodile finally dislodged me from its head.

"Whoa!"

I barely managed to jump away, flipping my body in midair to barely dodge its deadly tail that lashed out. Landing on the ground, I allowed my momentum to send me skidding backward to widen the distance between us. The Diamondback Crocodile growled before lunging at me. I straightened and waited for it to approach before diving right at it. Twisting my body below the ground, I kicked the Diamondback Crocodile"s chin and rammed its jaws shut again before spinning around to deliver a kick into its abdomen.

The enormous creature flew back into the swamp.

"Oi! Fei Wu! Are you all right?!"

Ban Zhang finally caught up with me, having been left behind when I ran ahead. Apparently, thanks to my running thirty kilometers everyday prior to the first training mission, as well as my experience in Sen Lin Forest during the past two months, I had become a lot faster than him.

"Huff…huff…"

I dropped to my knee, panting heavily. The Diamondback Crocodile was at least a Rank 4 magical beast and was in some ways even more dangerous than the Ironback Wolf that Du Lang had defeated. While it was somewhat slower and less agile, those armored scales were pretty tough. I had ended up injuring myself by kicking it with everything I had, and most likely I had only dealt minimal damage to the creature.

Ban Zhang ran to my side and helped me up, concerned. I forced a smile to a.s.sure him.

"Yeah, I"m all right."

"You don"t seem all right!"

"Kuh…"

Ban Zhang was right. I winced from the pain as I struggled to stand up. The Diamondback Crocodile would be emerging from the swamp, more enraged than before.

"U…um…!"

I glanced back. It was Qing Xin Xia, and she had returned to help me. Li Chun Long and the other schoolmates didn"t seem very pleased.

They also seemed to have completely forgotten who I was. other than my good friends, did the rest of my cla.s.smates and schoolmates forgot that I was supposed to have gone missing in Sen Lin Forest about two months ago?

Qing Xin Xia didn"t realize it was me, and she leaned past an annoyed Ban Zhang to check on me.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. But you should go."

"Eh…? But you can"t fight the Diamondback Crocodile on your own! It"s a Rank 4 magical beast! You need to be at least the fifth level of Qi Essence Stage to fight it!"

"I"m not intending to. We"ll run away once all of you are gone."

"So hurry up and run," Ban Zhang added impatiently, his eyes on the swamp as he waited for the Diamondback Crocodile to burst out.

"They"re right." Li Chun Long grabbed the protesting Xin Xia and pulled her away. "We"ll only get in the way. Let"s go."

"W…wait!"

"Hurry!"

Not listening to her objections, Li Chun Long hauled Xin Xia away, with the other schoolmates in tow. Ban Zhang and I didn"t bother to watch them leave, instead turning to face the Diamondback Crocodile. As I expected, the furious beast had emerged from the swamp, bellowing vengefully.

I felt cold perspiration drip down my face as the full force of its ferocious qi washed over me. Gulping, I forced myself into a defensive stance and waited for the creature to charge at me.

"You ready for this?" I asked Ban Zhang. The cla.s.s representative shook his head as he gave me a resigned smile.

"No…are you?"

"To be honest? Not really. But we"ve no choice but to do it, right?"

"If I get killed, I"m going to haunt you for the rest of your life. Or haunt you in h.e.l.l if you die with me."

Despite our situation, I chuckled. "Well then, I"ll do my best to make sure neither of us get killed."

Unamused, the Diamondback Crocodile roared before it lunged at us.