It was just before spring, somewhere in the twilight of winter. I had recently turned sixteen and entered the high school division not too long ago, which brought about a lot of changes. Not so much as far as I was concerned, because I didn"t benefit much from the rise to high school. My theoretical knowledge remained as solid as ever, thanks to me building up a strong foundation with my diligent att.i.tude, but as for martial arts…

"…not yet, huh?"

For some reason, even though I had finally a.s.similated all that qi I absorbed from over a hundred cultivators, I didn"t feel ready. I should be able to use my qi techniques now, but after almost two years of being unable to use them, I had grown rusty. It would take me a couple of months of practice to get used to using them again.

Raising a hand, I punched the air while unleashing my qi. The training facility, which wasn"t all that different from the middle school division"s, withstood the blast from my fist, but the reinforced walls still shuddered from the tremendous impact. Even after two years of not using qi, I could tell that I had gotten considerably stronger.

The question is whether I"ve managed to catch up with my peers…

While I spent all this time a.s.similating and integrating all the qi I had absorbed into myself, my cla.s.smates and schoolmates continued to develop their martial arts. As they grew stronger, they were provided more artificial qi, and most of the high school students by now possessed at least two s.e.xagenaries of qi. The stronger ones were rewarded with three s.e.xagenaries of qi – and these were the top students, the strongest martial artists in our cohort.

While I was struggling with my own personal problems and spent the majority of my time in isolation training, my peers had surged ahead toward the heavens. I heard the strongest nine or so were now student council members or something.

What was it with student council members in these kind of stories always being composed of the strongest students in school? Like, seriously, being a student council member and organizing events or governing the student body had absolutely nothing to do with one"s strength. It should be charisma, leadership skills and perhaps administrative ability.

Not…winning a fight against others and having more qi…

In any case, I had no interest in joining the student council, so that suited me fine. I had more important things to worry about.

Time for another mission…

I did a brief calculation of the amount of gold coins I had saved up. Thanks to me being unable to use my qi or any martial arts techniques, I couldn"t take on combat missions. So I relied entirely on taking numerous herb-gathering missions, venturing into forests to gather medical herbs or rare plants, and bringing them back to the academy.

"Ninety-nine gold coins…"

So I only needed one more gold coin. That shouldn"t be difficult. Just one more one star mission and I would obtain the amount necessary to purchase the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword manual. Then I would finally be able to learn proper swordsmanship. Relying on my self-created Ghost Shadow Sword would not be optimal.

"All right, let"s do this then."

Leaving the training facility, I returned to my room and consulted the tablet built into the desk that was provided. Picking a mission, I then proceeded to prepare for it. Fortunately, there wasn"t much stuff I needed for a herb-gathering mission.

As I left the dormitory room, I noticed that there weren"t many students hanging around. Apparently the holidays were just beginning, and the majority of the students had gone home. I would probably leave in a couple of days to spend time with my family as well. It had been a while since I paid them a visit.

Furthermore, Lunar New Year was coming, so I was obligated to spend the New Year with them, particularly the Reunion Dinner on New Year"s Eve. Besides, I had no reason to stick around in Wu Ling Academy, all alone. My relationship with my family was great, and I was actually happy I still had one, as opposed to the cliché orphans who made up most wuxia protagonists…I mean, who made up a good number of the students in my school.

But first, let"s get this mission done, and buy the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword manual, and learn those techniques over the New Year holidays!

With that in mind, I proceeded to the outskirts of Wu Ling Academy. The mission this time dictated that they wanted the Crimson Lava Fruit from Tushan, so I headed there. Apparently it was a small mountain range with rich, luxurious verdant plains and a vast variety of plants, trees and herbs. A beautiful place, probably the most beautiful in all of the Middle Continent. Despite being officially under the Great Zhou Empire, Tushan was allowed its autonomy, and pretty much operated independently as its own kingdom.

One of the ways to get there was by sea, since it was pretty far to the east, but from Martial City, it was an easy ride there by train and then bus. So I took public transport after registering for the mission and headed there.

"..."

There wasn"t many humans roaming the forest surrounding Tushan. The forest wasn"t very dense, but resembled more like a meadow, but that did not exclude powerful magical beasts from staking out their territory there. The bus dropped me off at a stop just outside the nearest town, and I had to make a long walk there.

I"ve to be careful of the magical beasts, though…

The magical beasts seemed fairly strong, and with me still being rusty with my martial arts after spending the last two years a.s.similating qi instead of practicing them, I preferred to avoid combat with them if necessary. After all, that was why I took a herb-gathering mission in the first place. Otherwise, I might as well apply for a combat mission.

Despite the lack of cultivation, I did invest a lot of time into purifying the qi I did succeed in a.s.similating, which would make Master proud. Furthermore, I did not neglect my physical training. The body was a vessel or container for inner qi, and the more qi I had, the more necessary it was for me to strengthen my body physically, or I would be unable to contain it.

Even so, it would be suicidal to fight demonic creatures and magical beasts so soon after I had finally finished a.s.similating and purifying all that amount of qi. I needed to get my reflexes and techniques back up to scratch before I started throwing any punches around, or I would be the one getting my a.s.s kicked.

"Where"s the Crimson Lava Fruit?"

First, I had to find the Crimson Lava Fruit. According to the encyclopedia on mystical plants and magic herbs that I had read, the Crimson Lava Fruit was found on a Crimson Lava Tree. How creative.

The problem was that the Crimson Lava Tree I eventually located was being guarded by a sleeping Lava Salamander.

Okay, that"s not good.

The Lava Salamander was a large, crocodile-sized creature that resembled a dragon. Covered from head to tail in crimson armored scales, it was a tough opponent to crack. Not to mention, it was capable of breathing fire hot enough to incinerate a poor middle school martial artist to ash. Even though I was now a high school student, I wasn"t confident that I could somehow survive a direct flame attack from the high-ranking magical beast.

Pushing my gla.s.ses up my nose, I inhaled deeply as I studied the dozing enemy. After the incident with the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect, I had approached the Bureau of Spirit Engraved Armaments and procured myself a new pair of gla.s.ses. Even though I no longer suffered from myopia and thus didn"t need the new gla.s.ses, I didn"t feel myself without them, so I got myself a pair regardless. Besides, I requested for a few "improvements" that would help me in fighting, so it was worth the ten gold coins I paid for them.

That was partly the reason why I didn"t have enough gold coins for the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Sword manual despite taking missions regularly over the last two years (or slightly less than two years, but you get my point). I was spending too much money on pointless stuff. Well, pointless to others, but not to me.

My lenses flared as they tracked the Lava Salamander"s movements, estimating the amount of qi it was emanating, which showed up in a vision slightly similar to infrared. Readings and meters flickered at the sides, much like the head"s up display in a game. I paid them no attention, because I wasn"t the type to believe that qi or strength could be quantified, but the patterns were what I found important. If the numbers spiked, it meant that the Lava Salamander intended to attack.

Right now, the numbers remained constant, so there was no danger of being a.s.saulted.

The pulse seems fine…the blood pressure seems normal…

I had no idea why the spirit engravers who designed my gla.s.ses added such functions, but they proved to be useful, especially when I had to partic.i.p.ate in many missions such as these where my goal was to avoid magical beasts rather than hunt them.

Besides, it would be a waste to slay these magnificent beasts. Having suffering tremendously at the hands of Ba Yun and Qi Fu Ren, and almost losing my life at the hands of those demonic martial artists, I found that I appreciated life a lot more.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly crept toward the Lava Salamander. Doing my best not to wake it, I tiptoed around the Lava Salamander and was relieved when I finally reached the tree. Good, half of the job was done so far.

Climbing atop a root, I nimbly jumped to a branch and caught it. Swinging heavily from the thick branch, I hauled myself up in a single movement and then forced myself to maintain my balance on the narrow walkway. Gulping, I then carefully made my way to the leafy portion of the branch, which was right at the end of the branch.

There, a few Crimson Lava Fruits hung, emanating dense yang qi. I could feel the temperature rise as I ventured nearer, their intense yang qi combusting into fiery energy that shrouded their immediate surroundings in a hazy mirage. Gathering my icy, cool qi to protect myself from the immense heat, I reached out and snagged one of the Crimson Lava Fruits.

"Phew…"

Finally allowing myself to exhale, I plucked the Crimson Lava Fruit and cautiously placed it in my bag. Snapping the satchel shut, I then slowly backed away. I had no intention of taking a second or so Crimson Lava Fruit. From personal experience, I knew how greed would be my undoing. The amount of fiery qi that the Crimson Lava Fruit exuded was already overwhelming. Trying to bear two of them on my person would only attract the unwanted attention of magical beasts. Besides, Crimson Lava Fruits were rare, and it was not a good idea to pluck too many of them. It would be akin to killing the goose that lay the golden eggs.

I would not succ.u.mb to that sort of greed.

"Hah…"

Sighing, I looked for a proper place to land. Dropping myself from the branch of the Crimson Lava Tree, I then began to make my way back toward the edges of Tushan, where civilization reigned. The sooner I could get away from this place of wilderness, the better. Especially when there was a magical beast literally sleeping under my nose.

As I tiptoed away, the readings on my gla.s.ses flunctuated and I froze. The hearbeat of the Lava Salamander had seemed to peak, and its qi was spiking. Worse, the pulse and qi maintained the elevated levels without dropping.

"Gr…"

At the rumbling sound behind me, I couldn"t help but slowly turn my head. As I thought, the Lava Salamander had awoken from its slumber and was now fixing its ruby eyes on me. It was clear that it had spotted me.

With a snarl, it lunged forward at me. Its jaws yawned wide open, revealing two rows of sharp, glistening teeth. At the back of its throat, the beginnings of a fiery torrent ignited to life, getting ready to flow out in a destructive stream.

I"m pretty much screwed, am I not?

At that moment, I didn"t care if my martial arts techniques or reflexes had gotten rusty. I needed to evade or I would be roasted instantly, quite literally.

Kicking off the ground, I settled into what I hoped was a familiar rhythm of the footwork techniques that Teacher Jiao taught me all those years ago. How long had it been? Three years now? Maybe four?

No matter. If I didn"t move right away, I would die. As simple as that.

With that, I shot forward at a blinding speed. Disappearing into a blur as I activated Jin, I dashed to the front and to the side, narrowly avoiding the roar of an unfolding torrent of superheated flames that blasted out of the Lava Salamander"s mouth.

"Hot!"

Stumbling away, but mostly protected from its flames by the aura of thick, frosty yin qi that I had coalesced around my body earlier, I managed to use another footwork technique to withdraw, placing more distance between myself and the Lava Salamander.

Snarling, the Lava Salamander turned and darted toward me an incredible speed that belied its immense size.

"d.a.m.n it…"

While I was confident I would be able to outrun the Lava Salamander despite its surprising swiftness, I briefly contemplated with the option of fighting it. I would prefer to avoid getting dragged into a tussle with that monster if I could help it, but I wasn"t averse to killing it if it threatened me. As much as I sympathized with the magical beast, my experience at the hands of Ba Yun and Qi Fu Ren had hammered any of that naivety out of me long ago. If I wanted to survive, I had to be ruthless. That meant killing anything that got in the way of me living.

Like the Lava Salamander, for example.

But first, I should try the option of outrunning it. As fast as the Lava Salamander was, it was no match for my speed. Especially if I used my footwork techniques.

Disappearing, I widened the distance between me and my pursuer again. The Lava Salamander uttered a howl of frustration and unleashed another torrent of flames from its jaws, which I effortlessly dodged. Despite clearly not being able to catch up with me, the Lava Salamander was persistent and continued to chase me relentlessly.

No wonder they needed to hire someone to collect the Crimson Lava Fruit for them instead of getting it themselves…

The stubbornness of the Lava Salamander was getting on my nerves. Twisting around, I began to form a pair of ice swords, wondering if I should just kill the relentless magical beast after all. It would make my life easier, and I certainly didn"t want to lead it all the way back to the bus stop and threaten the townsfolk living nearby…

"!"

Whoom!

To my complete surprise, something blasted past my face from behind and struck the Lava Salamander"s forehead with uncanny accuracy. My gla.s.ses automatically magnified the view and I was able to catch a glimpse of the projectile before it exploded against the Lava Salamander"s surprised face. Even if I didn"t, I could just replay the scene with my gla.s.ses.

It was a fiery arrow.

That"s…!

"Over here!"

Hearing the familiar voice, I spun around and caught sight of a figure I recognized instantly. She was waving to me, and I obliged her by using Jin to cross the distance between us in a single bound. The girl caught my hand and yanked me over the crest of a hill, and the two of us disappeared from view. Somewhere, the Lava Salamander roared in frustration, but my qi senses combined with the tracker on my gla.s.ses, indicated that it was staying still. Most likely because it had no idea where we went, after being blinded by the arrow.

"What are you doing here, Fei Wu?"

Tang Qi Hong gave me a sharp glare as she ran forward. I followed her, mostly because I had no idea where else to go.

"One star mission."

"Huh? Which one star mission?"

"Gathering a Crimson Lava Fruit."

I saw no reason to hide the truth, especially since Tang Qi Hong technically saved my life. There was also no reason to be rude to my savior.

"You"re still taking one star missions and gathering herbs or fruits?" Tang Qi Hong sounded incredulous. Then she nodded sympathetically. "Oh, right. I forgot that you can"t use your qi and martial arts…huh?!"

She blinked and suddenly came to a stop. Likewise, I stopped because I had no idea where we were supposed to go.

"B…but you just used footwork techniques! I just saw you use footwork techniques to escape from that Lava Salamander!"

"Yes, I did," I replied, not sure why that was such a big deal. Then again, n.o.body knew that I had finally finished a.s.similating all that qi I absorbed from the hundred plus cultivators almost two years ago, and was able to use my qi once again.

"H…how?!" Tang Qi Hong spluttered. I shrugged.

"I finally finished a.s.similating all the qi."

Again, I saw no reason to hide, and despite her seemingly stupid questions, Tang Qi Hong was being rhetorical. She had most likely realized the answer, but was just too shocked to prevent her rhetorical questions from slipping out.

"Ah, of course. Of course." Tang Qi Hong nodded understandingly. "Congratulations. You"re finally able to use your qi again!"

"Yeah."

The past two years or less had been pretty tough for me. Even though Qi Fu Ren was no longer around, that didn"t mean there were no longer any bullies. When several schoolmates realized I couldn"t use my qi, they thought I was an easy target. If it weren"t for Zhu Jiao, Ban Zhang and Tang Qi Hong, they would have died.

No, I wouldn"t have beaten them in a contest of qi or direct battle of strength, but after my experience in the torture chamber of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect, I had devised ways of killing my enemies even without the use of qi. Never again would I allow myself to be tormented or brought so close to the verge of death, not without fighting back. If my friends hadn"t deterred the bullies from physically attacking me, I might end up like Qi Fu Ren, expelled and branded a criminal. a.s.suming the authorities were able to find evidence that I was the one who killed them, of course.

As it was, the worse I suffered was verbal abuse, insults and ostracizing. Not that I cared. I was insulated from the worst of these because I spent most of my time in isolation training. That is, being locked inside a metal, reinforced chamber for months without being allowed any contact with any other people. It was truly isolation training, meant to imitate and replicate the old, "historical" training experiences of mountain ascetics or ancient martial artists/cultivators cutting off all contact with the material world and meditating alone in the mountains by themselves. Truly isolated in every sense of the word.

I wasn"t sure how a metal chamber was supposed to mimic a mountain, and there really wasn"t any point in cultivating or learning martial arts if you were going to cut off all contact with every other human anyway.

"Planning on taking the level 6 test soon?"

All high school students had taken the level 6 test and had pa.s.sed them by their first year, at least. I was the only one who had yet to take the test – most of the high school students were level 7 and higher. None was level 5 or lower, like me.

"Yeah. After Lunar New Year, I guess."

"Eh?! Why so late?!"

"I need to get used to using my techniques again. I"ve gotten a little rusty after not using them for almost 2 years."

"Heh…" Tang Qi Hong looked at me disbelievingly. "But from what I saw, you were executing them just fine."

I shrugged, and then stirred the conversation away in another direction. "What are you doing here, Tang Qi Hong?"

"Ah…that"s right. You probably didn"t know. I live in Tushan. I"m returning to stay with my sect over the holidays."

"Eh? The Nine-tailed Fox Sect is in Tushan?"

"Yeah," Tang Qi Hong replied with a nod. "Our sect"s base is in Tushan." She then smiled as she whirled around to face me. "Why don"t you come visit?"

"Eh? No, I mean, I have to…"

"Come on!" Tang Qi Hong grabbed my hand and tugged me in the direction of where I a.s.sumed her sect"s headquarters lay. "You"ve come all the way here, you might as well drop by! It"s getting late anyway, so you should just stay the night."

I glanced up at the darkening sky, realizing that Tang Qi Hong was right. By the time I reached the dorm back at Wu Ling Academy, it would be after ten. Though I wasn"t very enthusiastic about visiting a sect that I didn"t belong to, and ending up in quite the awkward atmosphere, it was pretty likely that I wouldn"t be able to catch a bus back in time.

I might have missed the last bus or train and there was no way I could simply walk back to the Wu Ling Academy dorm like this.

Furthermore, I had known Tang Qi Hong long enough to be aware that she wouldn"t take no for an answer. The blond girl could be very persistent if she wanted to.

"Come on! Hurry! We should get back before it gets dark!"

"Yeah, yeah…"

I allowed Tang Qi Hong to pull me along, and before I knew it, we were standing outside a fortress that was overlooking one of the extremely high hills. She brought me to a stop in front of one of the gates.

"Master Shou, I"m bringing a friend!"

Even before the hidden master emerged, I already caught sight of his presence on my gla.s.ses. I could sense him without my gla.s.ses, a faint but extremely powerful star twinkling in the shadows. If I had not learned Heaven and Earth Formula, I would never have detected his presence at all. Swallowing, I glanced in his direction.

"Oho…interesting."

The enormous man with bulging muscles stepped out to study me, his crimson eyes sparkling mischievously.

"That"s quite the impressive young man you brought back, Qi Hong."

"Uh, well…"

Shou then pressed his eyes to his hand and wept in joy.

"Finally, our Qi Hong has grown up! She"s finally at the age where she"s bringing a boy back home! I"m so pleased for her!"

"I…I"m not bringing a boy back home!" Tang Qi Hong shouted, fl.u.s.tered. Her face had gone all red.

"Oh? So he"s a girl?"

"I"m not a girl," I muttered under my breath. Shou chuckled.

"Well, you clearly aren"t."

"A…anyway, just let us in! He"s coming in for a visit! It"s getting late, so I don"t feel comfortable sending him off on his own!"

"It"s true that it"s getting late." Shou glanced at the darkening sky, and then he turned to open the gates. "Come on in, the both of you."

As we both entered, Shou dropped back to whisper mischievously to Tang Qi Hong.

"He"s quite the catch, isn"t he? Are you sure you don"t want him?"

Tang Qi Hong"s cheeks flushed a deeper red than before and she grabbed my hand and dragged me away instead of answering. I glanced back at the guffawing Shou, who proceeded to shut the gates firmly now that the both of us were safely inside the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s base.

"You"re staying here for the holidays?" I asked Tang Qi Hong. She nodded. "Eh? You"re not going home and spending time with your family?"

"What are you talking about?" Tang Qi Hong stared at me. "The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is my family now."

"…oh."

I had a feeling I understood everything just from that revelation, and didn"t press further. Come to think of it, I had never asked Tang Qi Hong much about herself before, didn"t ask her about her family or background. We spent quite some time together, but I didn"t know her that well. Either because I didn"t ask or she didn"t talk much about herself.

"I"m an orphan," Tang Qi Hong explained quietly. "But Master and Mistress adopted me as their daughter."

"That"s good."

That sounded lame, but I had no idea what else to say. Tang Qi Hong smiled somewhat warmly, and nodded.

"They feel like my real parents to me. I think you"ll meet them later, but they should be busy right now."

She then turned sharply down the marble pathway and led me to a detached house located somewhere within the ma.s.sive compound. As we strolled along the path, I glanced around and took in the sights of the fortress. It was literally a castle, with many detached houses and pavilions cl.u.s.tered within its walls.

I swear, it resembled some Chinese castle I had often seen in historical manhuas and donghua. Chinese animation, I mean.

"We"ll be having dinner later, so you"ll see them then."

For some reason she sounded smug. Like, why?

"Thank you," I mumbled simply, deciding not to be rude and question her. If she wanted to be smug, that was certainly her prerogative.

"Hmm. But for now, I guess I"ll bring you to my forge."

"Your…forge?"

That sounded a little unexpected. Tang Qi Hong chuckled for a bit.

"Well, one of the main skills we learn in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is forging weapons and Spirit Engravings." She turned to stare at me for a second. "You do something similar, now that I think about it. But you use ice instead of fire."

"Yeah, because ice is cool."

Tang Qi Hong giggled at that. "Well, we"ll see about that. How about I demonstrate to you a real forging method?"