I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered as the blizzard blew against me with a vicious howl. Hail pelted me as large drifts of snow descended everywhere, drowning the entire area in white. I couldn"t see anything for miles around except for white, white and more white.

The sub-zero temperature wasn"t helping much either, and my fingers and toes had gone numb a long time ago. Trudging clumsily through the thick, white sludge of snow, I squinted through the shower of snow and raised my hands to my eyes, half-protecting my face from the merciless hail. d.a.m.n, but these things hurt.

As I expected, my gla.s.ses didn"t work here either, but I had ceased caring about that since I stepped foot in this place. The only thing I cared about was finding a way to get out of this d.a.m.ned place since I was literally freezing to death. My body wouldn"t stop shivering, my fingers and toes felt as if they were about to fall off, and my face was coated in a layer of frost.

This was h.e.l.l. It had to be. I was reminded of the Nine Thousand Yin Ice h.e.l.l Formation. Okay, maybe that one was worse, but this snowy environment was close. Very close.

If I hadn"t gathered my qi and used it to envelop myself in a protective aura, I would have frozen to death long ago.

"d.a.m.n it," I murmured, my teeth chattering uncontrollably as I glanced around the area helplessly. I knew what I had to do. I had already tracked down the signs, and I could see the Spirit Diagram embedded in each snowflake, the countless snowflakes drifting lazily around me as if mocking me. All I had to do was piece them together, find some sort of coherent pattern, and I would be able to grasp the essence of the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body.

The final pieces were falling into place. I staggered toward the last bits of snowflakes, studying them as they fell and melded with the countless other snowflakes, becoming part of a greater whole. Yet at the same time, I could sense the necessary components, their contribution to the tundra that was spreading across the plain.

"I see…so that"s how it is."

Drawing an icy breath that sc.r.a.ped my lungs raw, I steeled my resolve. Even though I had an affinity with ice element, the d.a.m.ned icy h.e.l.l was still as cold as…well, h.e.l.l. My affinity with ice wasn"t going to protect me, but then again, that was probably the point.

The snow-motif Spirit Engraved Pillar was putting me through a trial. If it was that easy to understand and comprehend the Spirit Diagrams it concealed, then it obviously wouldn"t be called a trial. Just because I had an affinity with it didn"t mean it was going to go easy on me. No, it was precisely because of my affinity with ice that the Spirit Engraved Pillar was harder on me than it would have been on others.

d.a.m.n it.

Well, if I solve this, I"ll finally be able to get out of here.

To be honest, even if I put the final pieces together, I still wouldn"t be able to understand the "true" essence of the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body. As I said before, this wasn"t a simple matter of discovering the objective truth or true essence of the martial arts. The Spirit Diagram, like the Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula, was open to various interpretations. As I said, some interpretations were more valid than others, but that didn"t mean there was only one right answer.

And the moment you thought you had a complete grasp and totally understood the true essence of a concept, you most likely hadn"t fully comprehended it at all.

Even so, I was fast reaching the stage where the Spirit Engraved Pillar was satisfied with my level of understanding. I just needed…

Then I felt the chilling sensation. A sensation so cold that even the extreme temperatures and snow around me couldn"t compare. A terrifying chill that ran through my spine and caused my already shivering legs to buckle.

"You…"

Even before turning around, I already knew the source of that terrifying, icy sensation. A dark shadow lurked at the edges of my peripheral vision, but now that it was close to hunting me, it no longer saw the need to hide itself.

Sucking in a deep breath, I looked up and spotted the shadow. It seemed insubstantial, flickering out in and out of existence, yet somehow maintained a humanoid form, with intangible arms and legs. A head-like protrusion swayed above the main body, with creepy gray patches standing out against the black form to resemble eyes and a mouth.

"You found me out," the shadowy figure said, its tone mocking and taunting. I didn"t reply, merely staring at it.

The shadow took a step forward, and seemed to collide with something invisible. Sparks flew between it and a shimmering screen, which appeared to materialize out of nowhere, keeping the shadowy being at a distance.

I recognized the shadowy figure. It was the malevolent, demonic existence that resided in the abysmal depths under the plaza, sealed by the nine Spirit Engraved Pillars in a spiritual prison that entombed it for eons.

The shadow scrabbled at the barrier, causing more sparks to ignite. Undaunted, it dug its shadowy claws into the shimmering screen, and to my horror, began to slowly rip it apart.

"Ths is quite the powerful spiritual barrier, you know." The shadow was chuckling as it gradually tore the protection that my Snow Aegis offered into shreds and clawed its way inside the blizzard-shrouded world. "What an impressive Spirit Artifact. To have kept me at bay for so long…this master must offer his compliments to whoever forged it."

Well…I forged it with the help of Tang Qi Hong and Sect Leader Zi, the latter two helping with engraving the Spirit Diagrams that had kept the d.a.m.ned demonic existence out of my mind for so long. But I doubted that he was truly interested in knowing about that.

"You"re good, I"ll hand you that," the shadow smirked as it drew closer. "To have kept me out for so long. Unfortunately, you got complacent and let your guard down in the end."

"…"

I didn"t dignify the thing"s gloating with a response. The shadow sneered with its formless mouth, its eyes narrowing slightly. I could sense from the qi some…confusion. But the shadow brushed it off and took another step forward.

"While you were busily engaging in your business with the Spirit Engraved Pillars and learning their wonderful secrets, I haven"t been idle. I tirelessly looked for ways to circ.u.mvent that troublesome defense of yours, a method to disa.s.semble and break it apart."

The hole that pa.s.sed off for its mouth widened into a grin filled with jagged teeth.

"And I finally succeeded! Your body…I"ll be taking it!"

I merely stared at the shadow, as if waiting for him to come at me. The demonic ent.i.ty stared at me for a second, his expression diminishing slightly, as if he was disappointed with my lack of fear or despair.

"Oh, well. I finally get a taste of freedom after so many centuries!"

Then the shadow lunged at me.

Crack!

"?!"

The shadow suddenly found himself thrown back by a new barrier, which shimmered into existence before him. He struck the snow and rolled, leaving a white trail as he skidded across the ground. Cursing in fury, he slowly rose to his feet and stared at the new barrier, where an astronomical number of snowflake patterns hovered to const.i.tute it.

"This is…a new barrier?! When did you create it?"

I merely smiled, but did not reply. I wasn"t stupid enough to give away vital information to my enemy.

To be honest, I had only just devised and created the new barrier a few hours ago, just barely making it in time to defend against the malevolent ent.i.ty. I had been aware for some time now his efforts to break past my Snow Aegis"s spiritual defenses, and detected the slight cracks and breaches that he succeeded in making. Knowing that he would eventually succeed, I had begun taking steps to counter his invasion.

Initially, I toyed with the idea of approaching Sect Leader Zi to help upgrade my barrier or change the patterns to confound the demonic ent.i.ty the moment he broke through. But he was busy with researching the snow-patterned Spirit Diagram that I had projected into the hololith, and I was occupied with meditating to comprehend the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body concealed within the Spirit Engraved Pillar at any rate.

So I decided to gamble on the secrets hidden within the Spirit Engraved Pillar. I figured that if I managed to get some information regarding the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, I would be able to apply it in practical terms, to upgrade my defense. So I endeavored to learn the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body as much as I could, while experimenting with it and combining it with the spiritual aegis that my Snow Aegis generated.

Realizing that I could combine the various snowflake patterns with the barrier, I could

And the gamble had paid off. I had won the bet. It was a close run, but totally worth it.

Of course I didn"t tell the demonic ent.i.ty that. I merely continued to smile at him with my arms crossed, as if challenging him to try again.

"This barrier…it seems a bit weaker because it"s not a single wall, but comprised of many different units joined together." The shadow stared at the snowflakes, and reached out with his hand, only for it to be repelled by the snow. Ice began spreading rapidly over his arm, encasing it it in frost. The demonic ent.i.ty stared at his frozen arm, fascinated, and then turned to look at me. "A trap, huh…I knew it. The fragility was too obvious."

I merely shrugged, but did not elaborate or launch into an explanation. This wasn"t Bleach, after all, and I wasn"t stupid enough to explain my technique to my enemy so that he could come up with a countermeasure.

Bragging was a fatal flaw, after all.

"…seems like I have no choice but to withdraw." The shadow"s voice sounded a little sluggish, especially as he glanced down at his arm again. The ice had spread from his arm to his shoulder and was rapidly expanding across his chest and his torso. Despite his best efforts, the demonic ent.i.ty could not break the ice with his qi. "Fighting in this place is disadvantageous to me."

I watched quietly as he retreated, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Closing my eyes, I fell onto the snow, sitting down despite the dampness that seeped through my pants. Yeah, snow did that to you especially since it melted the moment it came in contact with your body heat.

Not that I cared. My legs were too weak to prop me up at the moment.

"Phew…"

As I exhaled, I reached out and probed with my Heaven and Earth senses to ensure that he was gone. As I did so, I caught a whisk of the lingering qi he left behind.

"This…"

I paled considerably when I understood what he meant when he said, "fighting in this place is disadvantageous" to him. Ths demonic ent.i.ty wasn"t at full strength – his power had been diminished greatly when he fought to intrude into the Spirit World of the snow-motif Spirit Engraved Pillar. Probably cut by half, or more.

Furthermore, the reason he couldn"t break the ice wasn"t because he was weaker than me. It was because the Spirit Engraved Pillar"s Spirit World rendered the very concept of ice invincible within its sphere of influence. As long as the shadowy being stayed within the Spirit Engraved Pillar"s realm, he was bound by its rules and terms.

I lucked out here.

On the other hand, I learned something. Even though the demonic existence was so much more powerful than me, I had ways of denying him his goals. I could set the stage and dictate the terms on which we fought.

I could win even though I was so much weaker than him. Not every victory relied on brute force or overwhelming strength, after all. Using the environment or terrain to my advantage, making good use of sound strategies and intelligent tactics, I could outsmart my foe and drive him back.

However, I knew that I had to confront him directly one day and destroy him once and for all. As long as he continued to remain underneath the plaza, he would pose an incredible threat to me.

"…hah…"

Shaking my head, I sighed. For now, I should just focus on learning the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body and inscribing it into a martial arts manual. For the sake of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect…and now, also for my own sake as well.

*

When I woke up, I found myself sitting cross-legged in the plaza. The moment I rose to my feet, the Great Elders turned to look at me expectantly. I squirmed under their gazes nervously, but then nodded to a nearby technician, who handed me a tablet.

"Are you feeling all right?"

As ever, Tang Qi Hong was more concerned about my health and wellbeing than if I had succeeded in attaining enlightenment and comprehended a Spirit Diagram. She and Lian Rou hurried over to check on me.

"Yeah."

"Good job," Sect Leader Zi said as he approached. "Would you perhaps want to rest first?"

I shook my head. "No, let me inscribe the Spirit Diagram first, while it"s still fresh in my mind."

The Great Elders eagerly crowded around, impatient to see what I would come up with this time, with not a single word of concern. They didn"t even put on a polite façade and inquired whether I was tired or not, their minds clearly engrossed on the tablet that the technician pa.s.sed to me. Even though I felt drained, I picked up the stylus and began inscribing the Spirit Diagram I had just learned immediately.

It took me a few hours, but as usual, I managed to finish it before I collapsed. Staggering to my feet, I pa.s.sed the completed tablet to Sect Leader Zi. He glanced through it, and then nodded at me with a big smile.

"Well done," he told me. "Now go get some rest."

"I"ll get a few more copies done tomorrow."

"Take some rest," Sect Leader Zi repeated, and I knew from his tone that it was not a request. Saluting, I began trudging toward the edge of the plaza. I momentarily wondered if I should inform him of the demonic ent.i.ty, then decided it could wait.

For now, I really wanted to fall into my bed and sleep for an entire day.

"What…this is…"

The Great Elders had eagerly all but s.n.a.t.c.hed the tablet out of Sect Leader Zi"s hands and were devouring it, only to be disappointed when they realized what it was.

"Another martial arts manual?"

"This isn"t a Spirit Diagram for a Spirit Artifact…?"

"Again?"

"A martial arts manual is a Spirit Artifact," Sect Leader Zi informed them plainly, trying his best to hide a smirk. Fortunately, the Great Elders were too beside themselves to notice, groaning and grumbling amongst themselves.

"Did you really not see any Spirit Diagrams for Spirit Artifacts…I mean proper Spirit Artifacts like Spirit Weapons, equipment or Spirit Armaments?"

"Who cares about Spirit Artifacts?" I snapped wearily, an edge creeping to my voice because of the exhaustion. For heaven"s sake, I had just spent two weeks enduring the bone-chilling cold in a blizzard-wreathed Spirit World and just finished attaining enlightenment, and even took another few hours to inscribe what I had learned without rest. So I was pretty cranky and forgot my manners. "I"m a martial artist, not a blacksmith or Spirit Engraver!"

The Great Elders were taken aback by my response. The fifth Great Elder frowned, but before he could reprimand me, a giggle cut through the air.

"Fei Wu has a point, you know?" Sect Lady Da Ji sauntered, stopping the conflict before it could begin. "He is an honorary member of the Blood Blades and one of our greatest combat a.s.set. Of course he would focus on martial arts. Do you have a problem with that, venerable Great Elders?"

"N…no. Of course not."

As the chief Great Elder, Luo Zhi Chang was wise and tactful enough to quickly diffuse the situation. He glared at the other five, who took the hint and began to fall into line, coughing softly. He then bowed polteily to me.

"Apologies, these senile old men did not mean what they said. Please don"t take it to heart."

"No, I"m the one who is sorry for snapping," I responded quite honestly. Luo Zhi Chang waved his hand frantically.

"You"re too kind. We don"t deserve such treatment."

"And this is quite the find." Sect Leader Zi nodded at the tablet that he had retrieved from the disappointed Great Elders and pa.s.sed it to Sect Lady Da Ji. She took it and read it, and it didn"t take her more than a few seconds before she widened her eyes.

"This…" she turned to stare at me. "Isn"t this the legendary Heavenly Snow Terminus Body?"

Most of the Great Elders looked blank, but many of the other members of the research team present tensed up and whirled around to stare at her and the tablet in her hand, forgetting their duties. While they were technically blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers, they still possessed fundamental knowledge of martial arts and seemed to have heard of it.

"That"s…" Tang Qi Hong gasped nearby. Lian Rou"s eyes were bulging so much they almost popped out of her sockets, and Tong Xue had to steady her.

"Haven"t I heard that before?" Pang Feng murmured with a frown, looking amazed.

"The Heavenly Snow Terminus Body!" Zi Xiao Ji exclaimed in excited astonishment, repeating what her mother had said for good measure.

"Um, yeah?" I answered uncertainly. Sect Lady Da Ji swallowed.

"If the Snow Valley Sect learns of this…especially the Frozen Cloud Seven Immortals…they"ll do everything within their power to obtain it from us."

"…huh?"

At the mention of the Snow Valley Sect, I glanced around, but didn"t see Yin Jing Jing. That was good, or there was no telling what would happen if she was present. Sect Lady Da Ji seemed to have noticed this too.

"Don"t tell anyone about this, at least not yet." She sighed. "The Snow Valley Sect, and the Frozen Cloud Seven Immortals have always been coveting the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body because it is a type of cultivation technique that tremendously boosts their ice and frost-based martial arts. It"s a little different from Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula, and is more compatible with the frost-based techniques honed by largely female pract.i.tioners."

"Male pract.i.tioners can learn it too, can"t they?" Sect Leader Zi pointed out with a frown.

"Of course. Martial arts don"t distinguish between genders." Sect Lady Da Ji looked grim. "But that doesn"t change the perception or biasness of the Snow Valley Sect"s Frozen Cloud Seven Immortals. They"ll definitely want to lay claim to this and monopolize this for their sect."

I snorted. "Well, too bad for them, I"ll be able to ma.s.s produce copies of the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect."

"Yes." Sect Lady Da Ji smiled darkly. "I don"t care what the Snow Valley Sect says. This will be a huge boon for ice-based martial artists such as yourself. There"s no way I won"t disseminate the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body to the ice-based martial artists in our renowned Blood Blades." She glanced at me. "Do you think you can learn it?"

Evidently she remembered that even though I was able to inscribe the martial arts manual for the Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula, I was unable to learn it. Fortunately, this time the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body fell right into my alley.

"I believe so. But…" I gestured toward the martial arts manual. "It"s not complete."

"Incomplete? What do you mean?"

Sect Lady Da Ji flipped through the martial arts manual, and then her eyes widened when she saw that I was right.

"No…the martial arts manual in itself is complete. It"s a proper martial arts manual with qi and spiritual power. But the techniques themselves…I see…so that"s what you meant." She glanced at me. "Do you have any idea why?"

"I have one," I admitted. "The Heavenly Snow Terminus Body is not meant to be learned on its own, but in conjunction with other martial arts." I paused for dramatic effect, hooking everyone"s attention and enjoying their annoyed expressions as I drew the seconds out. "Such as the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula, for example."

"I see. So in other words, the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body can be likened to being the second part or an advanced level of Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula. It makes sense, given how it"s concealed within a Spirit Engraved Pillar that const.i.tutes the origin of our sect."

"It"s just a guess," I reminded her. "I won"t know if I"m right until I actually try it out. There"s every chance I might be mistaken."

"Even so, there"s no other option than to experiment and try it out." Sect Lady Da Ji closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. Then she opened them and looked at me approvingly. "I"ll be counting on you."

"Please leave it to me!" I smacked my chest in what I hoped was a show of confidence, then strode off toward my dormitory.

Despite my promise, I was currently dead on my feet, and right now the thing I wanted the most was sleep.

*

I was given three days to rest, and I spent them inscribing more martial arts manuals for the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body to distribute them around. What free time I had, I devoted it to experimenting with Heavenly Snow Terminus Body with Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula. As both Sect Lady Da Ji and I observed, there were gaps in the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, missing components that rendered it incompete.

The manual itself was complete, otherwise it wouldn"t be emanating qi and having a soul of its own. That meant the nature of the technique was meant to be incomplete. Why, the reason could only be because it was meant to be a latter part or something that complemented another existing technique, to add onto it and improve it.

And I suspected that it was the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula.

Of course, this meant that even if Snow Valley Sect got their hands on Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, it would be useless to them unless they somehow had access to Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula. At least I thought so, but when I mentioned that to Sect Lady Da Ji, she laughed at me.

"Naïve," she said with a chuckle. "What makes you think they won"t have any ice-based martial arts that can complement Heavenly Snow Terminus Body? A Snow Valley Sect martial art that is the counterpart of our Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula? Are you sure the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula is the only frost-based martial arts compatible with the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body?"

I wasn"t able to refute that. Clearly I was still very inexperienced when it came to matters of martial arts.

After those days of rest, I resumed meditating under the third and last Spirit Engraved Pillar that was able to trigger a response in. The one with star motifs.

I wasn"t going to spend too much time elaborating on my time within there. It took me three weeks this time, and I found myself stuck in what seemed like outer s.p.a.ce, filled with an astronomical number of stars. As there was no atmosphere, the stars did not twinkle or blink. They hung in the void like miniature suns, blazing hotly or simmering coolly, depending on what kind of stars they were.

The red giants burned the brightest, depleting their stores of hydrogen fuel at an alarming rate. These stars lasted mere millions of years before sizzling out in a devastating supernova. And then there were the blue stars that maintained their cool glow for trillions of years, hanging in the s.p.a.ce and watching entire galaxies come and go. Black holes that remained invisible, having sucked all the light in its vicinity, quiet superma.s.sive neutron stars that were among the densest existences in the universe while emitting gamma rays. And then there was the vividly colored nebula, streaking comets and clouds of dust.

Unfortunately, I wasn"t a cosmologist, so I wasn"t very knowledgeable about the details regarding stars and galaxies. What little knowledge I possessed regarding them was gleaned off from the ma.s.sive amounts of military science fiction novels I had read.

Even so, I found that I could somehow manipulate the arrangement of the stars and ordered them according to my will in interesting ways. When I did so, I felt subtle changes in the qi around and within me. Clearly the flow of qi was aligned with the stars and myriad celestial bodies that remained suspended in the void.

After days of experimenting, I found that I could produce certain effects by rearranging the stars. Apparently the stars in the star cl.u.s.ter moved around randomly, and I was supposed to oscillate them, or to be more precise, control them and arrange them into a star path.

I wasn"t sure how to explain what a star path was, but it resembled a star chart or map. Basically a bunch of stars moving in several circular layers, one outside another.

The basic step seemed to be controlling seven stars to spin in seven circles, adding one at a time. Essentially I controlled the first star and set it to spin in a small circle, then guided a second star to spin in a bigger circle around the first star, and then a third star to spin in a yet bigger circle around the second star, and the fourth star to spin in a bigger circle around the third star, and so on and so forth. The optimum number was seven stars to pull off the basic technique.

"What"s this? Am I supposed to be Mo Fan from Versatile Mage now?" I muttered to myself as I coordinated the movements of the stars and finally added a seventh star. Instead of purple lightning or orange flames, nothing happened.

That was anticlimactic.

On the other hand, I suddenly realized what the problem was. This wasn"t magic. I wasn"t a versatile mage. Of course aligning the stars and controlling them to spin in circles wasn"t going to produce elemental spells.

No, this was a martial arts technique. And it wasn"t jst any martial arts technique. Recognizing the similarities with my Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship, I suddenly realized that this was actually a sword technique.

"Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship."

Breathing the name of the technique, I retrieved a sword from my Snow Aegis. Not Azure Lotus Sword – that wasn"t a sword meant for practicing and experimenting – just a normal sword that I could get for free even if I was an outer sect disciple (as a Blood Blade I had access to higher quality Spirit Swords, but I had demurred for obvious reasons, especially since I owned my Azure Lotus Sword). Trying out the concept I just grasped, I succeeded in executing the Celestial Seven Stars Stance, causing seven streaks of holy light to pierce across the void.

"Wow…amazing."

I stared at the effects, thoroughly impressed. If I were to execute this sword technique in the outside world, it would have been devastating. I couldn"t wait to understand enough to leave the Spirit World and begin inscribing it in a tablet. Then I would begin the arduous and challenging process of combining the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship with the Heavenly Draconic Meteor Swordsmanship to create new, more powerful and destructive techniques.

It took me three weeks to comprehend the Celestial Seven Stars Swordsmanship, longer than either the Divine Dragon Flowing Water Formula or Heavenly Snow Terminus Body, but I felt that it was worth it.

"Fei Wu!"

When I snapped out of my meditation and returned to full wakefulness, I staggered and almost fell over. Tang Qi Hong quickly caught me before I could strike my face against the concrete.

"You should take better care of yourself," she chided.

"That"s what you"re here for, isn"t it?" I joked. Tang Qi Hong flushed a little, and lightly hit me.

"Don"t even joke like that!"

Exhaling wearily, I was too tired to give a retort. Instead, I looked around for the technician. But none of them shuffled forward to give me a tablet.

"What did you get this time?" the second Great Elder asked eagerly. "A Spirit Diagram for a Spirit Artifact?"

"Well…"

I wasn"t given a chance to answer. Sect Leader Zi stepped in and waved the Great Elders back. He also gestured for the technicians to keep their distance.

"Fei Wu, rest. You can do the Spirit Diagram tomorrow."

"Eh? But…"

"Qi Hong, bring him back to his dorm. Make sure he gets some sleep." He glanced at my other friends, particularly Tong Xue and Pang Feng. "Both of you, keep an eye on him as well. Protect him well."

"Yes, Sect Leader!"

Both Tong Xue and Pang Feng saluted and hurried over to help me, thus allowing Tang Qi Hong to be free.

"But…" I began.

"Dude, you look terrible. Just listen and get some rest."

I had no idea how pale and gaunt my appearance was, but according to Tong Xue, I looked like a walking corpse. Since I was dead exhausted, I didn"t argue further and allowed my friends to support me back to my dormitory room.

I didn"t even take a shower or anything. The first thing I did after walking through the door was to drop on my bed, and even before my head hit the pillow, I was fast asleep.

*

"He"s really overworking himself, isn"t he?"

Tong Xue shook his head as he watched me sleep. Yeah, I was fast asleep at that time and unable to hear what my friends were saying, but thanks to protagonist privilege (or more accurately, I gathered the information from Tong Xue after I woke up and was able to roughly piece together the conversation they had, or what happened while I was asleep), I could provide a fairly reliable account.

a.s.suming Tong Xue didn"t lie to me, of course.

"Yeah. Fei Wu looks like he"s going to die." Tang Qi Hong sounded angry. "He should take care of himself more!"

"That"s why we"re here," Pang Feng pointed out. "To make sure he doesn"t kill himself by mistake."

"He can"t keep relying on us!" Tang Qi Hong protested. "One day he"ll have to depend on himself what will happen if we"re not around?"

"Hopefully he"ll make friends he can depend on." Tong Xue smiled dryly. "Don"t worry, Qi Hong. Fei Wu won"t kill himself."

"…"

Tang Qi Hong looked unconvinced, but before she could argue further, Tong Xue and Pang Feng began to exit the room.

"Let him rest. We shouldn"t disturb him. He spent so long meditating without any rest, sleep or food that he needs as much time to recover as he can get."

Tang Qi Hong spared me one last glance before she sighed and followed my two friends out of my room. Neither Tong Xue nor Pang Feng left, though. They remained outside the door, like security guards keeping an eye out.

"You guys…" Tang Qi Hong understood their intentions, but she shook her head in resigmation nonetheless.

"You should head back to the plaza," Tong Xue told her gently. "The research team will need your help."

"We"ll watch over Fei Wu," Pang Feng a.s.sured her.

"Thank you." Tang Qi Hong glanced in the direction of my room, and then turned toward the plaza. "I"ll leave him to you guys then."