I was practicing my breathing methods and Heaven and Earth Absorption, as usual. After my usual run and physical training regimen, I had proceeded to spiritual cultivation, where I either purified my qi or tried to improve my rate of absorbing qi.

From what I had found out so far, absorbing qi was easy. However, it was impossible to integrate the surrounding qi into my own innate qi. Even though Master had told me as much, I still experimented to see if I could succeed, and I failed.

There was a reason why people took the advice of elders. They didn"t live long lives and had a wealth of experience for nothing, you know.

"Ugh…"

On the other hand, I learned that it was possible to absorb qi from animals or living things and integrate that into my innate qi. Of course, it was a highly inefficient method. Not only did I have to maintain physical contact with the living target in question for a long time, I also needed to spend a lot of time integrating the demonic creature"s qi into my own. Of course, it would be easier to incapacitate the demonic creature or magical beast, and then slowly spend my time draining the poor thing of qi. However, the slow rate meant that it would take me hours just to drain its entire reservoir of qi, and I had to spend another few days a.s.similating the absorbed qi into my own.

Moreover, even if I had incapacitated the target, I didn"t have the patience or stamina to sit there and continually drain the poor creature of qi for hours on end. I had better things to do with my time, and it was more efficient to cultivate and train. Or rely on spirit pills and drugs. But that was doping and I didn"t trust drugs.

"Obviously it won"t be that easy, or everyone will be using it, huh?"

Qi Fu Ren"s use of a qi absorption technique concerned me. Even though it was not as powerful or efficient as Heaven and Earth Absorption, it was enough for him to instantly drain his lackeys" qi. Of course, I was aware that the only reason he succeeded in doing so was because Hu Shuo and Ba Dao had the same type of qi and elemental affinity as him, and even better, they practiced the exact same breathing techniques and qi manipulation methods as him. Otherwise, Qi Fu Ren would need hours, maybe days, to absorb qi from another human.

That lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d…he must have known about that, which was why he sacrificed his cronies without any hesitation. I thought he wouldn"t stoop so low as to murder his own followers for his benefit, but it turned out I was mistaken.

Either that, or Qi Fu Ren"s personality had changed greatly in the short time since his defeat. There was an ominous air around him that I didn"t detect previously, some sort of darkness that definitely did not belong to the White Tiger Sect.

Speaking of which…where did he learn that technique from? Did someone teach it to him? If so, then…who?

A chilling thought struck my mind. Just like the Heaven and Earth Sect from before, whoever taught Qi Fu Ren was most likely a martial artist from a demonic sect. it was highly improbable that Qi Fu Ren just happened to stumble upon this technique by himself, and I knew of no such martial arts stored within Wu Ling Library and its archives.

On the other hand, Qi Fu Ren could have stumbled upon it on a bookstore outside, or found the manual lying around somewhere. He was notorious for always hanging around in Martial City after school with his subordinates and terrorizing the civilians.

But Qi Fu Ren happening to stumble upon such a manual was too coincidental to be likely, and furthermore, that bully wasn"t bright or hardworking enough to learn stuff on his own. And if it was someone who taught him from the shadows, that someone would be a huge cause for concern. It would mean the demonic sects were active again and scheming something secretly. And there was at least one master capable of such a vicious martial art.

Gulp…

Swallowing, I shook my head and focused on my own cultivation. There was no point worrying over such things when there was absolutely nothing I could do about it right now. For one thing, this was all mere speculation and conjecture on my part. At that time I had completely no knowledge or evidence that Qi Fu Ren was learning something from some demonic master, and even if I did, what could I do? I wasn"t strong enough to do anything about it.

If I were to hunt down and confront Qi Fu Ren right now, I would get my a.s.s kicked. If Tang Qi Hong hadn"t shown up and helped me, I would have died. Even now, I wasn"t sure if the two of us combined would still be able to take down Qi Fu Ren.

The teachers should already be aware of it, and even if they weren"t, my telling them wouldn"t change anything. I had no evidence. What exactly could the teachers act on? My gut feeling? I wasn"t arrogant enough to think my opinion mattered, or that the teachers valued my speculation and conjecture. I was just a naïve, inexperienced student, after all.

Yeah, concentrate on cultivating right now! Back to Heaven and Earth Absorption!

Taking a deep breath, I then began drawing the qi from my surroundings again.

*

The next day, before I left the cla.s.sroom, there was an alert in my tablet that drew my attention. Seeing that it was an email from the mission website – I had signed up for subscriptions previously – I decided to humor it and check it out.

"This is…?"

Upon checking out the news, my jaw dropped.

One of the requests was from Chun Xiang Village. Having helped me out right after I escaped the Hydra in the abyss of Sen Lin Forest, I still possessed fond memories of them. I had yet to express my grat.i.tude in an adequate manner, having left hurriedly to return to Martial City and Wu Ling Academy as soon as possible.

"What? Someone got kidnapped? They got attacked?!"

Without realizing it, I had slammed my hands against the table and rose to my feet. good thing that my cla.s.smates had all left prior, in order to go to their respective sects for their daily training, or I would have drawn a lot of attention. Nonetheless…

This isn"t good…

I swallowed as I studied the request. Apparently Chun Xiang Village was attacked a few days ago, and the raids were still being carried out. A few villagers had been abducted, and the village chief was at a loss at what to do. He had reported it to the government, and they were dispatching troops and investigators to help. But the villagers also wanted to speed up the process, so they were willing to pay a little extra for outside help.

"But…the rewards…"

It was only ten gold coins for a three star mission, which might possibly be raised to a four star mission, depending on the unknown-as-yet enemies. If the investigators discover their ident.i.ties, and it turned out to be more powerful, then…

That was right. Chun Xiang Village was an extremely poor, rural village rooted in poverty. Forced to occupy a s.p.a.ce just outside Sen Lin Forest, neglected and abandoned by the authorities, and having access to a small plot of barely arable land, they wouldn"t be able to afford the fifty or so gold for a two star mission, never mind the hundred gold required for a three star mission or the five hundred for a four star mission.

At this rate, no one would want to take the request. It was too gold for the level of danger that the mission possessed. It just wasn"t worth the risk for such a meager amount of gold. Like many of the requests that remained on the electronic bulletin board long after the posters put them up, it would remain there for a long period.

At least the authorities are doing something about it.

While many people would be cynical to the point that they didn"t trust the authorities, from what I know, the imperial guard and orthodox martial artists who served as enforcers did a good job of protecting our borders and policing the great Zhou Empire. Even so, there were a lot of demonic sects rampaging recently and their resources were stretched thinly. It would take them months to launch a proper investigation, if at all.

That was the reason why Chun Xiang Village scrounged up ten gold coins as a reward for any martial artist to help them. The problem was that no proper martial artist would take up such a pathetic offer, and those desperate enough to accept probably were weaklings who couldn"t succeed at any other missions, and would probably get killed during the mission.

Even if I wanted to help, I can"t. I"m only a middle school student, I"m not allowed to take the three star missions.

My maximum limit was two star missions, so I wouldn"t be allowed to undertake this mission even if I wasn"t interested in the money.

"d.a.m.n it…"

Scratching my head, I stared at the request worriedly. Having been acquainted with Chun Xiang Village and benefiting from their hospitality, I really wanted to do everything that I could to help, but I possessed neither the ability nor qualifications to do so. In fact, I would most likely get killed if I tried to help them and confront the abductors. Worse, I had no idea how to go about launching an investigation. The most likely scenario was that I would just b.u.mble around in the village, being dead weight and freeloading off them while accomplishing nothing.

At least let me offer some moral support…

Despite not being allowed to take the mission, I still wanted to visit them and check on how they were doing. Right now, they probably required all the a.s.sistance they could get, especially with some of their residents being kidnapped.

I doubt my presence there would make a difference, though…

I wasn"t delusional enough to think the raids would stop if I showed up. Being a weak martial artist who couldn"t be compared to my cla.s.smates, all of whom (except Bai Ning Xue) received artificial qi, I doubted anyone would be dissuaded by my presence. That said, I did at least have a wealth of experience surviving in Sen Lin Forest, and I could use that to my advantage. I had survived the dangers the forest had thrown at me, so what was a human when compared to magical beasts and demonic creatures?

At that time, I still hadn"t realized that the most dangerous creature in the world wasn"t a magical beast or demonic creature, but…fellow humans.

How do I justify my reason for visiting them?

Being unable to accept the three star mission, I couldn"t legitimize my trip there. No, I had to find another approach.

But how?

Then I saw another mission.

"This is…?"

Collecting herbs from the section of forest next to Sen Lin Forest…if it was this, then perhaps I would be able to…!

"That"s it!"

If I took a one star mission that required me to do something else in the vicinity, I would still be able to travel there under the pretense of fulfilling my mission. I could drop by Chun Xiang Village and check how they were doing on my way there and back. After all, students were granted full freedom and autonomy to do whatever they wanted during their missions, as long as they did not commit any crimes or atrocities.

It"s not like I"ll be able to do much with my current abilities, anyway.

I didn"t plan on doing anything as reckless as hunting down the kidnappers and saving the abductees. That would be too foolish. Maybe against one person, I might stand a chance, but against an organized band of criminals? I would be committing suicide. I wasn"t some Mary Sue wuxia protagonist who could just waltz into the criminals" lair and slay everyone inside like Li Fu Chen or Xiao Yan. I knew my limits.

I just need to…check on them and offer some moral support. See if they need any help with anything.

Perhaps Lu Shun was among the kidnapped, so I could help them procure more Wild Boars or something similar to that. In any case, there had to be something I could do, even if I couldn"t just dance right in like a Mary Sue overpowered xianxia protagonist and exterminate entire sects of criminals on my own.

"Let"s go."

Accepting the quest on my tablet, I then rose to my feet and headed back toward the dormitory to get some preparations done.

*

"Oh, hey. Fei Wu, a word, if you will."

The next day, after cla.s.s, I was just about to leave for my mission when Teacher Jiao called out.

"What is it, Teacher Jiao?"

"I"ve seen you take a mission in the Chun Ling region?"

"Yeah. A one star mission, asking me to collect Verdant Spring Herbs." I nodded in confirmation. There was no reason for me to hide that.

"About that…" Teacher Jiao seemed a little concerned. "The Chun Ling region is pretty dangerous right now. There are reports of a demonic sect increasing their criminal activities and raiding villages in that region. Many villagers have been murdered or kidnapped. If you plan to go there, you must be very careful."

"Oh?"

So it seemed that Chun Xiang Village wasn"t the only victim. Multiple villages had suffered at the hands of whoever was responsible for raiding the place there.

"I understand. I"ll be careful. I don"t intend to fight anyone there, so if I run into any of those demonic sect martial artists, I"ll avoid combat as much as possible."

"Good. Make sure that you do." Teacher Jiao regarded me for a moment. "Hang on, do you have a weapon?"

"…a weapon?"

I stared at Teacher Jiao, baffled for a moment. He nodded and gestured toward my empty hands, emphasizing his point.

"Look, I know you"re just going there to gather herbs, but you"ll run into monsters and magical beasts in the forest. Plus there"s that thing about the demonic sect…rumors are, Tian Sha Sect has seen a revival and are running around doing whatever they want. Though we have yet to confirm if the culprits are truly from the Tian Sha Sect…"

I gulped. Tian Sha Sect was a notorious sect known for its vicious methods, ruthless behavior and demonic techniques. They were among the most powerful demonic sects, having overseen a meteoric rise ever since the demise of the Heaven and Earth Sect. it wouldn"t be an exaggeration to rank them among the top three demonic sects.

"That"s not good," I managed.

"That"s something of an understatement."

I didn"t argue. Instead, I sighed as I clutched my head.

"But I don"t have money for Spirit Engraved gear…"

"No one told you to purchase Spirit Engraved weapons," Teacher Jiao snapped sharply. "Just get a normal weapon to defend yourself. With your current skills, you don"t need a Spirit Engraved weapon to deal with normal demonic creatures and magical beasts." He frowned. "Usually I would say you wouldn"t have to worry about enemy martial artists either, but your situation is special. You haven"t received artificial qi, after all."

Don"t remind me…

"The good news is that the demonic sects don"t have access to artificial qi either. So you shouldn"t have a problem. That said, neither do you, so you"ll still find yourself outcla.s.sed by pract.i.tioners from the Qi Fusion and Pure Spirit Stage, never mind the Flowing Qi Stage."

"Uh huh." I nodded absent-mindedly. All these stages were meaningless to me, so I translated them to "much stronger than you." It didn"t matter if the enemy was a hundred times stronger or a thousand times stronger, the outcome would be the same either way.

Me getting my a.s.s kicked or dying in just one move.

"To close the gap as much as possible, get weapons. You"ll need every advantage you can get."

"Roger that." I understood the logic behind that statement and nodded. With a salute, I then marched toward the academy"s bureau of Spirit Engraved Armaments.

To be honest, I wasn"t sure how much weapons would help me. I did learn Ghost Shadow Sword, but it did not actually involve a real sword. I decided to go to the library later and borrow a sword techniques manual. If I remembered, there was a level 5 sword technique in the library, but that wasn"t as useful. I would have to trade some gold for the one I really wanted, which was Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword. But that costed about a hundred gold coins…

I"ll just take a hundred or so herb-gathering missions and I should be able to save up eventually.

There was also the option of taking several of the ten or so gold missions that were also one star missions. That would speed up the process tremendously. Maybe another nine or so of those missions and I would be able to get the technique. While I wasn"t confident in fighting fellow martial artists, I did have a lot of confidence when it came to hunting magical beasts and monsters.

I had survived the abyss of Sen Lin Forest, after all.

I"ll also need to further develop, innovate and improve my Ghost Shadow Sword, and turn it into a proper sword technique…

I had been using ice swords, which were pretty fragile. They were no match for proper swords, which were tangible and weren"t made entirely out of qi. And let"s be honest. There"s no way ice would be more durable or harder than steel or metal, right?

Furthermore, Heaven and Earth Formula doesn"t have any sword styles. If I want to use a sword, I"ll have to learn a sword style and then incorporate Heaven and Earth Formula into it…

That was not good. Right now, I was at an overwhelming disadvantage when compared to a martial artist who was a proper swordsman. I needed to learn an actual sword art, not only to incorporate Heaven and Earth Formula into it, but to also improve my Ghost Shadow Sword. Otherwise I would continue to fall behind.

So this is what I"m reduced to? Cannibalizing the martial arts from other sects?

They would probably throw a fit when they learn what I intended to do. On the other hand, the martial arts techniques I planned to learn were locked within the archives of the Wu Ling Library and were open to the public as long as you had the right level of clearance. Since I was level 5, I should be able to pick the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword once I had sufficient amount of gold. It was an ancient, lost art, and I looked forward to deciphering the scrolls.

"So what are you here for?"

A gruff voice broke me out of my thoughts. Blinking, I stared at the student who was perched behind the reception desk of the Bureau of Spirit Engraved Armaments. He was looking both bored and grumpy, probably not happy at being a.s.signed to handling a desk job.

"Oh, I"m here to buy a couple of swords."

Even though I said buy, I was actually using the resources the academy allocated to me for training, so I wasn"t spending any of the gold I earned from missions. Each student was ent.i.tled a basic weapon or two. The downside, obviously, was that these were mere basic weapons, not Spirit Engraved weapons.

That was only natural. Spirit Engraved gear and armaments were exorbitantly expensive. If the academy attempted to supply each and every student a Spirit Engraved gear, they would go bankrupt pretty soon. Furthermore, there was no point giving every student a Spirit Engraved weapon when they hadn"t mastered weapon techniques or might not be compatible with the weapon. Each weapon housed its own spirit, which possessed their own temperaments and personalities. Something like a soul or a partner that you see in anime, I suppose.

"Student card," the male senior replied shortly, extending a hand toward me. I obediently took my student card out and gave it to him to ID it. He scanned it with the barcode reader and glanced at the computer screen.

"Thanks," I told him when he handed my card back to me.

"So what weapons do you want?" he asked, turning his eyes back to me. "A sword? Staff? Axe? Spear? Do you want some armor as well?"

"Uh, no need for armor. I intend to travel light."

The senior nodded. "Okay. So what weapons do you want? Spirit Engraved Armament?" he grinned. "That"s going to cost you."

"Just the basic gear is fine."

The senior looked a little disappointed, but he quickly concealed it, almost rolling his eyes at his own naivety. I could almost read his mind. Of course a second year middle school student isn"t going to be able to afford a spirit engraved weapon yet…

"Okay. So what type of weapons?" the senior asked, his tone growing impatient. I was a little taken aback.

"Um, swords. Two swords, if possible."

That was the most appropriate weapons for my fighting choice. Ghost Shadow Sword was based off the Ghost Bear"s Ghost Claws attacks, and it usually required me swinging around two swords – one in each hand. After all, the Ghost Bear obviously did not carry an actual sword, and thus wouldn"t be wielding a single weapon with both paws.

In fact, a Ghost Bear probably couldn"t even hold a sword in the first place.

In any case, dual swords were the most appropriate choice for me, who often froze two ice swords in each hand. There was no reason for me to adopt a different style.

"Okay. Here"s the catalogue. Take your pick."

The senior revolved the screen around and showed me an array of dual swords. Most of them were short swords, a few of them were long swords – which weren"t very practical, to be honest. In the end, I settled for a pair medium-length swords.

"This, please."

"All right." The senior revolved the screen back to face him and he typed something into the computer. Rising from his seat, he then waved at me. "Wait here for a moment."

I nodded and watched as he disappeared into the back of the office. A few minutes later, he emerged, carrying the pair of swords I had ordered.

"Anything else?" he asked, bored. Probably hoping that I had nothing else so that he could return to idling away.

"Nope." I shook my head and accepted the pair of swords. I then bowed my head gratefully. "Thank you."

"Yeah, sure."

With nothing else to do, I strapped the pair of swords to my back and exited the Bureau of Spirit Engraved Armaments. Now that my preparations were done, I proceeded toward the gate.

I had to catch the bus to Chun Ling region if I wanted to make it there before evening.