I looked up when Zhu Jiao trudged back into the shack we shared, looking completely exhausted and wiped out.

"Hey. You"re early today."

"No, you"re late. I just returned from the training facility thirty minutes ago."

"Eh? Oh, you"re right. Ha ha ha ha!"

Zhu Jiao laughed sheepishly when he glanced outside and saw that it was already night. Usually Zhu Jiao finished his training way before I did, and that wasn"t even including the evenings I spent sparring against automaton puppets in the training facility.

"Oh, hey…Wui…"

"?"

I glanced at Zhu Jiao. He looked like he was about to say something, but at the last moment he turned away and shook his head.

"What is it?"

"No, nothing. Just watch out, you know? I don"t think Qi Fu Ren and his flunkies are going to let us off."

"Yeah, I know. Don"t worry."

I suspected I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell me about his encounter with Qi Lin, and how he pleaded with him to take me as a fellow disciple. But he made a promise and swore not to tell anyone about Qi Lin or the Golden Kirin Sect. Even me.

Not wanting him to get into trouble with his new master, I kept my counsel and feigned ignorance. Inside, I was feeling conflicted. While half of me was happy for my friend, the other half was feeling sheer frustration, bitter resentment and unbridled fury that I was being left behind in the dust yet again, treated like unwanted trash in a cold, uncaring universe that mocked my existence and made fun of my horrible luck by showing off the incredible fortune of others.

If G.o.d wants me to suffer so much, why doesn"t He just kill me already? End the suffering. Is it that fun to torture me like this?

"Wu? Are you okay?"

"?!"

I hastily turned away, realizing that my forced neutral façade was cracking. Swallowing, I calmed myself down and nodded.

"Yeah."

"You look pretty angry." Zhu Jiao chuckled slightly. "I don"t blame you. I"m pretty mad at Qi Fu Ren and friends myself."

He held up a fist and punched it toward the air.

"But I"m going to work hard to change things. I"m going to make sure those punks will never dare to touch us ever again."

*

Despite me thinking to myself, good luck with that, Qi Fu Ren and friends didn"t bother the both of us for a few weeks. But I knew it was coming. His bullying was inevitable. Not only that, Zhu Jiao had triggered a bully flag by making his declaration.

I could already guess what would happen. After Zhu Jiao trained and learned new techniques, Qi Fu Ren and his cronies would come and pick a fight with us, most likely in front of everybody. a.s.suming that Bai Ning Xue wasn"t there, all our other cla.s.smates would merely watch and comment, but were unable to interfere because Qi Fu Ren was much stronger than them and they didn"t want to get beaten up too. They would make comments like, "how pitiful, those two would get thrashed. How pathetic. How weak." Then Zhu Jiao will surprise everyone with his newfound powers and restored talent and beat the s.h.i.t out of Qi Fu Ren and his underlings. Following which, everyone would be amazed and impressed and start praising Zhu Jiao for his sudden display of power and talk about how he was an unprecedented genius all this time.

Yeah. It was so predictable that I wanted to dig a hole and hide myself before all of that happened.

Fortunately, nothing happened. At least for the next two weeks. We continued training, and Zhu Jiao would go his separate way to learn under his master in secret…or at least that was what they believed. I knew. There was little point in revealing that I knew, firstly because I didn"t want Zhu Jiao to get into trouble with his master, and secondly, what did it achieve? That I was genre-savvy? Was I expecting Qi Lin to take me as a disciple? I would be lucky if he didn"t order Zhu Jiao to kill me on the spot.

And I didn"t want to put Zhu Jiao on the spot…

I increased the distance of my running to twenty-four kilometers, and my pushups and sit-ups to two hundred each. While I couldn"t cultivate as well as my cla.s.smates, I could at least do my best and surpa.s.s them in sheer physical fitness. Not wanting to be left behind, I brutally punished myself by stretching my body to its physical limits, so much so that I almost collapsed after each Spartan training session.

Unfortunately, it was not Qi Fu Ren who showed up this time, but a new group of seniors.

"!"

I had almost forgotten about the seniors from the Iron Mountain Sect and the Dark Shadow Sect who hara.s.sed me a couple of weeks ago regarding my supposed inheritance of the Heaven and Earth Sect. when no one bothered me about that for weeks, I had thought it was only a handful of idiots who were deluding themselves with misinformation, and was relieved as the weeks dragged by without anything happening.

But it seemed that I was mistaken.

"Fei Wu?"

"…yes?"

I looked up at the new group of seniors. This time, the uniforms they were dressed in were slightly different. These new seniors were clearly from the high school section of Wu Ling Academy. Not only were their uniforms a little more exquisite and elegantly designed, they were also physically larger in size and bulk.

"How can I help you seniors?"

The leader of the high school division, a gruff-looking guy with close-cropped hair, a square jaw and a high forehead, stepped forward. He raised his hand expectantly.

"The Heaven and Earth techniques. Give them to us."

I stared at him blankly for a moment before the memories from what happened two weeks ago hit me.

Not this bulls.h.i.t again…

"I told you," I growled. "I don"t have any Heaven and Earth techniques."

The high school senior frowned. "That"s not what I heard." He turned back and I suddenly recognized the small group of students hiding behind the high school seniors. They were the middle school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect who I chased away back then. The former leader from back then was whimpering as he stared at me in fear.

"If you didn"t, how did a middle school first year like you manage to defeat Luo Zhe who"s a middle school third year student?"

"He was just stupider than me and fell for my bluff," I replied bluntly.

"Oh?" the high school leader raised an eyebrow as he studied me. "Interesting."

I honestly didn"t see what was so interesting about this, but I was in no position to make snarky comments. Already, the high school seniors were circling me and cutting off any path of escape. Unlike the middle school seniors, they weren"t falling for my bluff. Yet at the same time they were being extra cautious.

I was dealing with a completely different level of opponent here.

The high school senior stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. One of the girls in the group hurriedly called out to him.

"Wait, Mo Ying, be careful. That brat might really be hiding some Heaven and Earth technique…"

"I know. That"s why I want to test him." The leader of the high school students from the Dark Shadow Sect waved her away dismissively. "Stay in position and watch carefully. But no one is to interfere. Understand?"

The girl frowned, but reluctantly obeyed, stepping back to reform the circle. Mo Ying approached me, his hands glowing darkly with shadowy qi.

"So…show me your Heaven and Earth techniques."

"I don"t have any Heaven and Earth techniques," I growled, annoyed. "I"ve been telling you that from the start."

"Well, think about it from my perspective," Mo Ying replied with a shrug. "If you were me, would you so readily believe the words of your target? Might you not be desperate enough to bluff people who are after you?"

"You"re misunderstanding the word desperate, aren"t you?" I sighed. "If I"m driven to desperation, of course I would give you whatever techniques I have. But I don"t have them. Never had them. I"m sure if you actually bothered to do an actual investigation, you"ll find out that I"m telling the truth."

"Forgive me for being skeptical," Mo Ying countered. "But you don"t really expect me to just take your word for it, do you?"

"…"

He had a point there. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn"t necessarily knew if the other party was telling the truth or not, not if I was able to read minds.

"Besides, think of this as an investigation. A test…to check if you really did inherit the Heaven and Earth techniques or not. If you die even without using even one of them, then we will believe that you"re telling the truth."

"What use is that if I"m dead?!" I yelled, annoyed. "So you want me to let you murder me in cold blood just to prove that I"m telling the truth? What kind of logic is that?!"

Mo Ying smiled thinly. "I"m afraid you don"t have a choice. That is the fate of all who are weak. Either you succ.u.mb because of your lack of power, or…"

I never saw his attack coming. Something struck my face and knocked my gla.s.ses away. Blood burst from my nose and mouth as I flew backward, my vision turning into a dark red. I tumbled over the ground, rolling helplessly from the tremendous impact.

"How disappointing."

Mo Ying smashed a foot into my stomach and I coughed out a geyser of blood. Writhing underneath his foot, I tried to free myself, but Mo Ying only increased the pressure of his foot and pinned me down cruelly.

This guy…he was much stronger and faster than the level 3 battle puppet that I used for training practice!

"Are you that determined to keep the Heaven and Earth techniques a secret, that you don"t mind sacrificing your life?"

"I already told you," I wheezed in between b.l.o.o.d.y coughs. "I don"t have any Heaven and Earth techniques. I never learned them."

Mo Ying responded by grinding me further into the ground, rupturing some of my internal organs and causing my spine to creak.

"Don"t think we aren"t afraid to kill you. You might think that we will never kill you because we need you alive to tell us the techniques, but we have ways of extracting that information from your corpse."

"Then do it," I spat, my lips frothed in blood. "Not only you"ll find that I"m telling the truth, you"ll be charged with murder."

Mo Ying merely shook his head. For a moment he relaxed his foot. I immediately seized the chance to slip out from under his foot. Spinning on the ground, I used the centrifugal force to direct a Shadow Kick right at him.

Thunk!

"?!"

I watched in horror as Mo Ying gripped my foot with his bare hand. He crushed my foot with his fingers, causing me to yelp in pain, and then lifted me bodily off the ground. I dangled helplessly, but I tried to whirl around and kick with my other leg, only for him to casually parry my foot with his other hand. Before I knew what was going on, I received a blow in my chest, which caused me to almost black out.

"So this was what you lost to, Luo Zhe?"

Mo Ying"s voice dripped with contempt as he turned toward the cowering middle school senior. Luo Zhe whimpered.

"Pathetic. This is just a normal Shadow Kick, a basic kicking technique from one of the level 1 martial arts that all Wu Ling Academy students have access to. Have you gotten so complacent with learning the Dark Shadow arts that you"ve neglected simple foundational skills? You let your guard down and mistakenly believed that this was a Heaven and Earth technique?"

"B…but…!"

"Silence."

Mo Ying"s cold voice cut Luo Zhe off, and he turned back to me.

"My apologies. It seems that you are telling the truth, after all. But just to make sure…"

He threw me toward one of his comrades. I spun about in the air haplessly, unable to control my momentum or trajectory, and crashed into the ground in an undignified manner. I tried to scramble to my feet, only to collapse as my limbs gave way under me.

"Kuh!"

"Du Xing. I"ll be relying on you to pry the truth from his mind."

"Understood." The girl from earlier stepped forward. She leaned over and seized me by my hair, yanking my head up painfully. "Give us the Heaven and Earth Formula."

"I told you, I don"t have it…"

Du Xing shook her head. "I see you want to do this the hard way."

I gritted my teeth. "Why won"t anyone believe me?! I really don"t have any stupid Heaven and Earth Formula! n.o.body taught me anything! Except Teacher Jiao!"

Du Xing ignored me and merely grabbed my head with both hands. Dark qi flowed out of her fingers and crept into my mind, their icy tendrils seeping under my skin and nudging my mind. My vision darkened as excruciating agony filled my world.

And I began to scream.

*

"How pathetic."

Before I knew it, I found myself sitting in a dark s.p.a.ce. Blinking and shaking my head in confusion, I struggled to stand.

"…who?"

I rubbed my eyes and glanced around. To my surprise, my gla.s.ses were back on my face. When did they…? I was pretty sure Mo Ying knocked them off earlier. Did somebody retrieve my gla.s.ses and returned them to me?

Scratching my head, I tried to piece my fuzzy memories together. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was getting attacked by the high school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect. Mo Ying crushed me utterly, and then Du Xing did something weird to my head…

"I didn"t teach you the Heaven and Earth Formula to lose to chumps like these."

A dark silhouette emerged from the shadows and strolled toward me. I recognized the old man I saved from the accident. He was glaring at me as he strode forward, his expression grave and disapproving.

"f.u.c.k you!" I shouted, unable to control my fury. "What teach me the Heaven and Earth Formula?! You never taught me anything! Expressing your grat.i.tude?! All you"ve caused me is suffering and pain! It"s all your fault!"

The old man remained silent, staring at me accusingly. There was a flicker of puzzlement in his eyes, but I didn"t care, unable to restrain my rage.

"This is all your f.u.c.king fault! Just because you showed up in the hospital, everyone thinks you taught me some stupid martial art I have never heard of before!" rummaging my pocket, I yanked out the Golden Dragon Medallion and threw it at the old man. "And you can take that back! I don"t want it! I don"t know what the h.e.l.l you"re thinking, giving me something like this! Now everyone thinks I"m the new leader of your sect! Even though you never told me anything about your sect, or what this golden dragon medallion is! You never informed me about anything, and now I"m being chased around and attacked by b.l.o.o.d.y idiots who refuse to believe me!"

The old man shifted uncomfortably, his gaze wavering a little, but he persisted.

"Are you sure? I"m pretty sure I pa.s.sed something to you…"

"Yeah, that stupid golden dragon medallion. You can have it back! I don"t want anything to do with your sect! h.e.l.l, at least tell me what the medallion is supposed to be about before giving it to me! Had I known it would cause me so much trouble, I would never have accepted it!"

"No, I mean the Heaven and Earth Formula…"

"Have you gone senile, old man?" I snarled. "You never mentioned anything about any Heaven and Earth Formula. I didn"t even know you were a martial artist!"

The old man was backing away now, looking extremely bewildered. Despite still simmering in rage, I suddenly noticed that something was amiss.

"Wait, what"s with that dumbfounded expression? You"re the one who visited me and gave me this medallion. Why can"t you remember what you told me?"

"Yes, I remember telling you about the Heaven and Earth Formula…"

"…you"re a fake."

I understood everything now. Pushing my gla.s.ses up my nose, I advanced onto the old man, my fury blazing bright.

"You"re an illusion. You don"t know what happened in the hospital. All you did was show up and thank me. If you were the real thing, you would have known that. Yet all you do is talk about some stupid Heaven and Earth Formula…I see. So you"re some illusion conjured by Senior Du Xing in order to trick information out of me."

"That"s…" the old man no longer seemed sure of himself. For someone impersonating the Absolute One, he was cowering and backing away from me.

Yeah, this guy was definitely fake.

I leaped off the ground and kicked him, and the old man exploded into countless fragments.

*

"Aaaaaah!"

Du Xing staggered back after she released my head, blood dripping from her mouth as she suffered from the backlash from her technique. Or the backlash generated when I smashed her Dark Shadow Illusion into bits.

"Du Xing!" Mo Ying sprang forward and caught her before she could fall over. "Are you all right?"

"…yes." Du Xing shook her head, looking a little dazed and weakened. "…the boy…he was telling the truth. The Absolute One really did not teach him anything."

"What?!"

"Wait…" one of the other high school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect spoke up. "Are you sure? It looks like he broke your illusion. Maybe he was hiding the truth because he knew the whole thing was an illusion from the start."

"No." Du Xing was slowly recovering, and with Mo Ying"s help, she was able to sit up. "He only realized it was an illusion because he was telling the truth, and my illusion was forcibly trying to ask about things that the real Absolute One never talked about when he met the boy."

"It seems we owe you an apology," Mo Ying said as he turned to glare at me. I remained silent as I held his gaze. It was all I could do to stop myself from yelling at these b.a.s.t.a.r.d seniors.

They refused to believe me, beat me up, threw me into an illusion, caused me a lot of suffering, and they thought they could get away with a mere apology? Unfortunately, I was in no position to demand compensation.

The high school seniors outnumbered me, and even if they didn"t, each one of them was several times stronger than me. There was no way I could do anything. If I tried to push my luck, they might beat me even more.

"Unfortunately, we can"t let you live."

"Huh?!" I blurted out, outraged. "What the f.u.c.k?!"

"If we let you go, and this gets out, the Dark Shadow Sect will be in trouble. We"ll have to silence you."

Mo Ying wasted no time lunging forward to bury his fist in my body, presumably to destroy me in one blow. I tried to get up and evade, but my limbs refused to obey. Currently I was far too wounded to move, never mind dodge.

Mo Ying"s fist never reached me.

Bam!

An explosion of qi billowed across the courtyard, sending clouds of dust and rock flying up and obscuring vision. Despite the expanding fumes, I could clearly see an outline of a teacher"s silhouette between me and Mo Ying.

"Stop this at once."

Teacher Jiao held Mo Ying"s fist, having caught his shadow punch with his bare hand. He tightened his grip and a flash of pain raced across Mo Ying"s face.

"Don"t you think you"re going too far, bullying a middle school student like this? Were you actually trying to murder him?"

"I…I wouldn"t dare!" Mo Ying spluttered as he tried to retreat, but wasn"t able to because Teacher Jiao was still gripping his fist tightly.

Liar! I thought vehemently. Just a few seconds ago, he was trying to silence me so that there would be no witnesses to his sect"s brutal crimes.

"Really?" Teacher Jiao glared at him, but released his fist. "I saw everything."

Mo Ying"s complexion was so pale it was almost as if he had seen a ghost. Or more accurately, he probably thought he saw the manifestation of the grim reaper himself. He staggered back, ma.s.saging his sore fist, then whirled around and fled. The rest of his sect followed closely, not daring to look back at the cold and furious figure of Teacher Jiao.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. Thank you, Teacher Jiao."

I struggled to get up, only to collapse again. Teacher Jiao"s scowl deepened as he stepped forward to help me up.

"Those disciples from the Dark Shadow Sect are really vicious…I"ll talk to Xiao Zhang about this and have their sect censured. Don"t worry about it."

I nodded wearily, still engulfed in pain. Looking around, I managed to spot my gla.s.ses. Catching my glance, Teacher Jiao helpfully retrieved my half-broken gla.s.ses for me.

"We"ll bring you to the infirmary and get you healed." Teacher Jiao sighed as he supported me, throwing one of my arms around his shoulder. "Come on, let"s go. Teacher Yi Liao should still be in her office."

Leaning on Teacher Jiao, I slowly limped in the direction of the infirmary.