It was almost like we were teleporting from one end of the Great Zhou Empire to another. I wondered why I even bothered with the bus and train to such a faraway place. In fact, I would have moved back to my dorm if it weren"t for the Phoenix Express. Fortunately, Tang Qi Hong allowed me, Tong Xue and Lian Rou to ride on the Phoenix Express with her, whenever she returned to Tushan City. A few of the other juniors and schoolmates from the same sect joined in, but surprisingly enough, there weren"t many of us.

Most of the students in Wu Ling Academy were more interested in joining the four Celestial Guardian Sects, and the rest simply couldn"t make the cut. Not anyone could just join the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, after all.

Now that we were back in school, things had gotten a bit busier. After cla.s.s, I had to rush toward where Tang Qi Hong was waiting with the Phoenix Express, get a ride back to Tushan City, and depending on the schedule, attend to a.s.signments that Tang Qi Hong had a.s.signed me, or busy myself with my own martial arts training.

And just like that, three months pa.s.sed. The semester began in spring, and we were fresh into our first year of high school, surviving whatever Teacher Jiao threw at us.

It was during one of these weeks when Teacher Jiao approached me.

"Student Fei Wu, a word, if you please."

"Sure."

I rose from my desk and followed him to the staff room. After Teacher Jiao took his seat, he spun around in his office chair to face me.

"I believe you"ve already a.s.similated all that qi you"ve absorbed from about two years ago, correct?"

"That"s right, Teacher Jiao," I confirmed.

"Well, the deadline is almost up. Princ.i.p.al Xiao wants you to take the level 6 test. Right now, you"re the only high school student who has yet to take the level 6 test. You"re currently stuck at level 5, but most high school students pa.s.s through level 6 within the first month of their first year. In fact, we have a good deal of students progressing to level 7, and even a handful attaining level 8." He paused and tapped his fingers on the desk. "We"re expecting at least a few students to reach level 9 by the end of this academic year."

So what did that have to do with me?

"Fei Wu…when do you intend to take the level 6 test?"

"…soon."

To be honest, I had no intention of taking the level tests. All these levels were meaningless to me. Of course, there were benefits to taking the tests and increasing my level, as these would unlock more resources and lift the restrictions from certain techniques and facilities, but I always hated the idea that someone"s ability could be quantified and categorized into "levels."

"Well, it better be soon. Princ.i.p.al Xiao is expecting you to achieve level 6 at least. That"s why he allowed you to stay in Wu Ling Academy even though you were temporarily unable to use martial arts for almost two years."

Princ.i.p.al Xiao could go f.u.c.k himself. But obviously I didn"t voice that out. That said, I couldn"t help but be annoyed by the pressure he was exerting on me. Truth be told, I didn"t envy his position. Princ.i.p.al Xiao was running a martial arts inst.i.tution, not a charity. He couldn"t afford to be handing out gifts and free tuition fees to any student. As much as I hated to admit it, this timeline continued to be a materialistic society, and thus everything was judged by results.

If I wanted to stay in Wu Ling Academy, I had to produce the results to show that I had the right to remain here. It was the same for everyone. And while I detested the idea of being tested and having my ability quantified, I knew they needed some form of evaluating the students who enrolled here. Otherwise students could just slack off and not bother to do their work, yet continue to earn and benefit off freebies without working for it.

Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes and lowered my head.

"I"ll take it next week. I"ll go book the level 6 test for next week."

"Good." Teacher Jiao looked almost relieved. Throughout the four years, he had remained our teacher, and even went up with us into high school. I wasn"t sure how the education system worked, but in Wu Ling Academy, our homeroom teachers followed us into high school. I doubted he would be teaching us if we chose to move on into the university division, though. "The minimum level that Princ.i.p.al Xiao expects of you is level 6. Please make sure you reach that."

I wondered briefly if I should just jump straight to level 8, but decided against it. Remembering the last time I underestimated the battle puppet and getting beaten up severely for it, I decided to take things one step at a time. Besides, I had plans to keep a low profile.

If I"m not mistaken, there"s an interschool tournament in the summer…

If I wanted to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament, I would need every advantage I could get. I didn"t want to give away too much of my martial arts for my prospective opponents to study and develop countermeasures again.

After the tournament in the summer, I"ll take whatever level tests they want, even up to level 9 if that"s what they want me to.

My goal was to get a high ranking in the tournament, and maybe even win it. Hopefully. Of course, with super-strong partic.i.p.ants such as Bai Ning Xue and Zhu Jiao in the mix, the odds of me winning the tournament were pretty slim.

But that was exactly why I needed every advantage I could get. So that I could take my prospective opponents by surprise.

"Make sure you do your best, okay?" Teacher Jiao told me as he ran through his tablet and booked a date for me. "Next…Friday. I"ll see you in the coliseum then."

"Can"t it be a private affair?" I asked. "I would rather not be watched by everyone as I carry out the test."

Teacher Jiao shrugged helplessly. "Sorry, Student Fei Wu. No special treatments. You"re subjected to the same conditions as everyone else, and therefore will suffer the same disadvantages and advantages as everyone else. I don"t think the other students will be happy if you try to keep your martial arts a secret from them."

I groaned inwardly, but nodded outwardly. It looked like I had to prepare special countermeasures. Well, I should have techniques other than Heaven and Earth Formula that I could use for the rest. Heaven and Earth Formula wasn"t exactly a combat-type martial arts anyway. Throughout the years, I had to develop my own form and fighting style, since the rituals had died out long ago. Or, as Master had told me, there weren"t any rituals and forms to begin with.

That was why I asked for a week. It would give me ample time to prepare an alternative martial art I could use in front of everyone while not revealing my hand for the tournament. At least for now, anyway.

"Understood."

"Well, good luck."

Teacher Jiao smiled and patted my shoulder encouragingly.

"I believe in you. You"ve never let me down before."

I sighed. Way to pile on the pressure on me even before the level 6 test began. Now that I was committed to taking it, I had no intention of failing it, but that didn"t mean I didn"t feel any pressure or anxiety. Unlike the other students in Wu Ling Academy, I still couldn"t absorb artificial qi. But that was quite all right.

Thanks to my encounter with Chinese Parasol Tree Sect, and spending the last two years a.s.similating and purifying my qi, I should have roughly the same, if not more inner qi than the students in my cohort. Which was ironic, really.

…this will be my trump card against all my schoolmates who have received several s.e.xagenaries of artificial qi.

"…I"ll do my best."

Forcing a smile and feigning a confidence I didn"t feel, I bowed to Teacher Jiao before I exited the staff room.

*

"Shao Yang, I"ve gotten what you"ve asked for."

At night, shadows danced about and veiled the figure sneakily stepping into Liang Shao Yang"s apartment. Stepping out of the shadows and into the faint illumination afforded from Liang Shao Yang"s desk lamp, the figure revealed himself to be none other than the inner sect disciple who had taken the former as his a.s.sistant.

Hao Ying.

He retrieved a velvet box from within his cloak and placed it on Liang Shao Yang"s desk. Liang Shao Yang nodded, a malicious light gleaming in his dark pupils. He reached out to take the velvet box and studied it, probing its contents with his qi sense.

"Thank you, Senior."

"You"re welcome." Hao Ying bowed his head politely and smiled darkly. "You know how I"m in service to Sect Leader. The reason why I was able to enter the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and become an inner sect disciple in the first place was all because of the influence of the Divine Shadow Sect Leader. I owe him a great debt."

He raised his head to look intently at Liang Shao Yang.

"I hope you"ll be able to accomplish the mission that Sect Leader a.s.signed you. If you succeed, then our Divine Shadow Sect will reach heights previously undreamed and attain unimaginable power. Beginning with the subjugation and absorption of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"I"ll do my best," Liang Shao Yang replied coldly.

Hao Ying merely smiled again, and then bowed his head before taking his leave. Slipping into the shadows, he melted into the darkness once again and returned to his VIP pavilion back in the volcano, completely unseen and undetected.

"Fei Wu…"

Holding the velvet box up and observing it, Liang Shao Yang"s lips curled upward into a sneer and his eyes gleamed.

To be honest, he was still not convinced by his father"s schemes. It was a pretty well-known fact that Tang Qi Hong already had someone she liked. To force his way into getting married to her so that he would be able to gain control of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect seemed like the most stupid plan ever. Nonetheless, it was worth a shot, for the guy in question was merely a cla.s.smate in Wu Ling Academy and not part of the sect.

Therefore, theoretically, if one could get into the sect and become close to Tang Qi Hong, he would be able to move her heart and switch her interest to someone else. If he succeeded, then Divine Shadow Sect would become much stronger with the resources and spirit armaments of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect at its disposal.

But who knew that the guy in question would end up taking the exam at the same time as him?

At first, Liang Shao Yang thought nothing of me. He merely thought me of a bug, an insect to crush under his foot as he climbed to the top. Yet I had thwarted his plans over and over again, even freezing a bunch of new pillars to replace the columns he had destroyed. Not only that, I had managed to pa.s.s the blacksmithing exam.

To be honest, Liang Shao Yang wasn"t in love with Tang Qi Hong, so there was no danger of me getting NTRed. a.s.suming I ever end up in a relationship with Tang Qi Hong, of course, but you know how all these romantic dramas went. Anyway, the girl Liang Shao Yang fell for was none other than Hu Mei Er, who whispered into his ear from behind.

Call it love at first sight, or whatever, but I guess Hu Mei Er"s seductions worked on him. Yet, he had to keep his distance from her, for the greater good of Divine Shadow Sect. in order to accomplish the mission for Divine Shadow Sect, he needed to get close to Tang Qi Hong, the inner sect disciple in prime position to succeed the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. Win her heart, become her husband, and he would be able to manipulate things from behind the scene.

Unfortunately, I showed up, stole the place of a.s.sistant from him, and he lost the chance to get close to her.

I don"t care who you are…you"re a fool if you think you can challenge me over a woman!

Liang Shao Yang glanced at the night sky, his face filled with scorn. As the stars were blotted out by the dark clouds, he then melted into the shadows in the same manner as his senior Hao Ying, and seemingly vanished without a trace.

As for me, I was blissfully unaware of everything that was happening, and could only piece the events together with the benefit of hindsight. At that moment, I was more focused on breaking Phoenix Jade into powder, which would be an ingredient for some Phoenix Armament that offered near-divine protection. Or so Tang Qi Hong told me anyway.

As I said, it had been three months since I had joined the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. all I had been doing thus far were running errands for Tang Qi Hong, such as grinding monster bones into powder, purifying and distilling qi from monster cores, refining spirit ores, extracting mystical essences from spirit stones, and more…

I didn"t resent Tang Qi Hong for tasking me with such tedious and time-consuming ch.o.r.es. If anything, I was grateful for them. They allowed me to get more familiar and intimate with spirit materials, and to learn a vast amount of knowledge about them that I wouldn"t otherwise have learned solely from reading encyclopedias.

No wonder I was always told not to only stick to reading, but to go out and experience the world in itself. There was so much to learn beyond just staying in my room or hanging out in the library and reading books.

I wonder when I"ll be able to learn Spirit Engraving. I can"t wait to forge a spirit armament with those Ice Soul Python scales.

Well, before I attempted that, I needed to get the basics right. And to do that, I needed to focus on preparing the spirit mateirals that Tang Qi Hong had requested from me.

By now, I had gotten used to the ch.o.r.es that Tang Qi Hong a.s.signed me, and I methodically executed the grinding or refining or preparation processes, becoming fully immersed in the work. In fact, I was so engrossed in grinding the Phoenix Jade into powder that I barely paid any attention to the outside world.

However, I raised my head when I detected something outside my door. Ever since I had mastered Heaven and Earth Formula, my Heaven and Earth senses made it extremely difficult for anyone to sneak up on me. Furthermore, I recognized this presence.

"Liang Shao Yang? What are you doing here?"

Confused, I opened my door, only to stare at his shocked expression. Then he scowled coldly and threw something at me.

"Bleah!"

I gagged and shielded myself as something slimy and disgusting struck me. Blinking, I glanced down and my eyes widened when I saw a bunch of worms biting into my skin.

"Whoa! Get them off me!"

With a yell, I squashed them. But it seemed that I was too late. Liang Shao Yang gave me a triumphant smile before he vanished into the night.

"Hey! Get back here!"

Before I could chase after the fleeing Liang Shao Yang, however, I had to eliminate all of these bugs. If I wasn"t mistaken, these were Venomous Scarabs, bugs that could inject a highly potent neurotoxin into their victims, and then feed on their flesh. They were usually used to decompose corpses in some ancient civilization that built gigantic pyramids as tombs. Basically this timeline"s equivalent of ancient Egpyt.

"Fei Wu! What happened? What"s with the commotion?"

To my horror, Tong Xue had emerged from his apartment, having heard the ruckus.

"Wait, wait, wait! Be careful! There"s a bunch of Venomous Scarabs in my apartment! Let me exterminate them first!"

"Eh!? Are you all right?!"

Despite my warning, Tong Xue barged in and used his skills, throwing a bunch of shadowy knives at whatever Venomous Scarabs he could see. I sighed and eliminated the rest of them by freezing them in ice.

"Ouch…"

"You"re bitten! Oh no!"

Tong Xue"s eyes widened when he saw the angry welts on my skin. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I have."

"What do you mean, "yeah, you have"?! Those Venomous Scarabs are incredibly lethal! Their poison can kill a man in a few minutes!"

"Well, I wouldn"t worry about that if I were you…" I began, getting ready to inform Tong Xue that I was basically immune to poison, but I was too late. Tong Xue was already dialing Lian Rou and Tang Qi Hong on his cellphone.

"Lian Rou! Please come over! Bring Tang Qi Hong with you! Something has happened! Hurry!"

"Oi, oi, don"t panic…"

Dude, thanks to Heaven and Earth Formula, and me absorbing the characteristics of a h.e.l.lfire Badger, I was immune to poison. Of course, Tong Xue didn"t know that, but he wasn"t giving me any chance to tell him that.

"Sit down! Don"t move too much! Try to stay still so that the poison won"t spread!"

"That"s why I"m trying to tell you…"

"Try not to talk! You"ll only circulate the poison further!"

I gave up.

"Fei Wu! What happened?!"

A few minutes later, Tang Qi Hong came crashing into my apartment, barging through the open door and looking all panicked. Her eyes widened when she saw the dead and frozen Venomous Scarabs in my apartment.

"Venomous Scarabs?! Why are they…?!"

"I don"t know! But Fei Wu has been bitten by them! A lot of them too!"

Tong Xue truly knew how to add oil to fire. He gestured animatedly toward the red welts on my arms, which were already starting to heal.

Unfortunately, Tang Qi Hong didn"t notice the "starting to heal" part. She was horrified when she saw the bite marks, and having known about the potent venom of the Venomous Scarabs, she couldn"t help descending into panic mode.

"Oh no! Lian Rou! Help!"

"I"m coming, I"m coming!"

Lian Rou also rushed into my apartment, having been close behind Tang Qi Hong. She had been a little delayed as she took some time to grab a first aid kit, having some idea of what had transpired when Tong Xue called her.

And then she stopped and stared at me, her mouth gaping in shock. She glanced at the bites on my arms, and then back at my complexion.

"Uh…okay, it seems like you"ve been bitten, but you don"t look…poisoned?"

Both Tong Xue and Tang Qi Hong stopped panicking and turned to stare at her before spinning around to ogle at me.

""EH?!""

"Like I said…" I sighed. "I"m immune to poison because of a certain martial arts technique I practiced."

"Now that you"ve mentioned it, there are certainly specific types of martial arts that allow you to resist poison, or even become completely immune to it." Tong Xue thought for a bit. "Which one is it? The Nine Yang Divine Formula (Jiu Yang Shen Gong)?"

"What, do you think I"m Zhang Wu Ji or something?" I snorted. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that"s not the one. You"re pretty close, though."

"More importantly, where did these Venomous Scarabs come from?" Tang Qi Hong cried out. "How did they end up here?"

"This…is strange," Lian Rou agreed with a frown. "Venomous Scarabs come from the far West, from a huge continent called Fei Zhou. They live in swamps near the north of that continent, and obviously wouldn"t be able to travel this far into the Great Zhou Empire. Not unless someone transported them within specially designed containers that imitate their habitats."

While they were talking, the commotion had drawn a lot of attention from the other outer sect disciples, and they were arriving to stare into my apartment. How rude.

"You were yelling at someone when I arrived," Tong Xue remembered as he stared intently at outside, his gaze causing several outer sect disciples to flinch. "I"m a.s.suming someone set these Venomous Scarabs on you."

"Yeah, he literally threw them on me." I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fortunately I"ve experienced worse or I would totally flip out."

As lethal and terrifying as these Venomous Scarabs were, they were nothing compared to my experience with the Parasitic Wasps. Ugh…those memories caused me to shudder even now. That said, I couldn"t forgive the perpetuator for setting them on me.

"That b.a.s.t.a.r.d…"

"Eh?"

Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou were looking both frightened and confused. Tong Xue, on the other hand, leaned close.

"Who was it?"

"Liang Shao Yang," I replied. Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou froze.

"Are you sure?" Lian Rou asked quietly. Tang Qi Hong nodded.

"That"s quite the accusation to make. Did you see him?"

"I did," I replied.

"Even so, we"re going to need more evidence than that, or he"ll just brush it off as you falsely accusing him." Tong Xue sounded frustrated. He rose to his feet. "Stay still and rest, Fei Wu. I"ll report this to Elder Zhao."

"I"m coming with you!" Tang Qi Hong also sprang to her feet.

"No, you stay here with Fei Wu, Qi Hong." Lian Rou stopped her. "I"ll accompany Tong Xue. If what Fei Wu says is true…his life is being targeted. And that means we"re going to have to tread this situation very carefully."

"You don"t say," I muttered sarcastically as I toppled over to make a dramatic display in front of the curious, spectating outer sect disciples.