"Senior Hu!"

The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect disciples all yelled in unison as they rushed over to help their beloved senior, fl.u.s.tered.

Elder Zhao could only bury his face in his palm, shaking his head in exasperation. He knew that the ice wasn"t life-threatening. It would only give Hu Mei Er a chill, but nothing more than that. There was no need to overreact like his fl.u.s.tered disciples did.

"Aren"t you glad?" Lian Rou giggled as she whispered to Tang Qi Hong. "Your Fei Wu is so faithful that he even gave that Senior Hu the cold shoulder."

Tang Qi Hong reddened. "M…my Fei Wu? He"s not mine, and what do you mean by faithful? It"s not as if we"re going out or anything."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."

They weren"t the only ones watching from a distance. Liang Shao Yang, Yin Jing Jing and Tong Xue, as well as the rest of the examinees, all spun around to watch the commotion when they heard poor Hu Mei Er"s screams.

Hu Mei Er"s beautiful face no longer displayed that seductive smile of hers. Instead, her expression was scrunched up in panic as she hastily brushed away the ice that spread across her blacksmith robes.

"Get the ice off me!" she shrieked, her eyes bulging in horror.

"…it"s just ice," I muttered with a shake of my head. The yin qi unleashed from the Arctic Wolf"s monster core wasn"t that much. Yeah, perhaps a bit of my pure qi had been mixed in, producing a volatile reaction, but it wasn"t to a destructive amount.

Unfortunately, Hu Mei Er was too panicky to realize that. Her mind clouded by horror, she executed a Nine-Tailed Fire Fox technique, igniting a blast of flames that vaporized the ice into steam. Her thin blacksmith robes, which was loose and thin, shattered immediately from the sudden rise in temperature.

Apparently, the ice had frozen them over and rendered the blacksmith robes extremely brittle. The blacksmith robes were originally designed to withstand intense heat and high temperatures, especially since the wearers tended to spend all their time in front of a fiery furnace smelting minerals and metals to forge armaments. From another perspective, that meant that the blacksmith robes offered no protection against ice.

Thanks to that, the robes got frozen into icy crystals, which broke instantly when Hu Mei Er hastily melted the frost with her fiery techniques.

Unknown to me, Hu Mei Er had customized her blacksmith robes to be loose on the outside while tailoring the inside with a tight-fitting silk dress that emphasized her curves. Unfortunately for her, the frost from the Arctic Wolf"s monster core had spread to that silk dress and froze the thin fabric as well so when she executed her fiery techniques, the damaged fabric also broke apart.

Thanks to that, her snowy flesh was exposed to the open as the fabric around her waist disintegrated from the sudden burst of flames.

"UUWAAAAAAH!"

I winced as Hu Mei Er"s bloodcurdling shriek pierced my ears. Hey, at least your clothes were still largely intact. It wasn"t as if all of her clothing was destroyed in that sudden surge of flames, so she wasn"t fully naked. The only thing that was exposed was her waist and abdomen, where the icy sparks of frost landed earlier. Otherwise her lower hips and chest were still covered. Not very modestly, but then she was never dressed modestly to begin with.

Not that I cared.

"Are you all right?" I asked, feigning concern.

"This is your fault!" Hu Mei Er screamed at me. Well, she had a point. While I didn"t actually intended to destroy her clothes, I did deliberately fling some icy sparks at her. But I had expected her to dodge them, like any sensible person would. I never thought that she would be so focused on teasing me that she didn"t see the sparks coming.

Was that my fault or hers? Well, it didn"t matter. A mature guy would lower his head and avoid conflict. It didn"t matter if I wasn"t the one at fault, or Hu Mei Er deserved it for being mischievous. I wasn"t petty enough to protest against that.

"Uh, sorry?" I could only shrug and apologize helplessly. Hu Mei Er rounded on me, her fiery qi exploding powerfully from her lithe, seductive body.

"You"ll pay for this! I"ll kill you! I"ll f.u.c.king kill you!"

"Uh, I don"t think you want to do that…"

My warning came too late, or perhaps Hu Mei Er refused to listen to anything I say. If that was the case, then her loss.

Boom!

As flames erupted from her body, the thin fabric of her clothes – still weak from the icy sparks scattered over them earlier – disintegrated, leaving her completely naked and exposed in front of over a hundred candidates.

"Gaaaah!"

"Whoa!"

"Oh my goodness!"

Needless to say, there were several comical moments when a few of the candidates fell back, blood spurting from their noses, while a few of the more sensible ones, such as Liang Shao Yang and Tong Xue, prudently avoided their gazes. Learning from their example, I turned away from the naked Hu Mei Er and focused completely on inscribing the Spirit Engraving on my almost completed ice rifle.

Seeing that I was plainly ignoring her, Hu Mei Er blew up in rage.

"Are you ignoring me? You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

I raised a hand to stop her. As her flames threatened to wash over me, they struck an invisible barrier and immediately turned into ice. Hu Mei Er"s eyes widened when she realized that my martial arts cultivation was at least on par with hers.

"Y…you…!"

Pushing my gla.s.ses up, I continued to fix my gaze upon my rifle. But I wasn"t cruel enough to stay silent, so I muttered something under my breath.

"You should take care of your appearance first."

"Huh?! What are you talking about…EH?!"

Another scream when Hu Mei Er finally realized what I was referring to. She dropped down to the ground, shielding her chest and groin with both hands, curling into a fetal position. Tears began leaking out of her eyes as she glared at me, her snowy skin tinged a furious red from head to toe. Fortunately, her pink hair was long enough to cover a good portion of her back and waist.

"I will never forgive you!"

Sighing, I took off my uniform jacket and tossed it to her before returning my attention to my forging project. Unable to do anything but grab my jacket and drape it all over her, Hu Mei Er continued to glare at me resentfully.

Glancing at my token, she snarled.

"Number two hundred and forty-four! I"ll make sure to remember this! I"ll make you pay for this humiliation that you did to me!"

"Uh, I don"t mean to sound rude, but isn"t this your fault for trying to get in my way?" I retorted without even glancing at her.

"You f.u.c.king brat!"

Hu Mei Er, after b.u.t.toning my jacket, rose to her feet like a tigress. Flames burst into life in her hands as she got ready to hurl them at me. Seven other fireb.a.l.l.s materialized behind her, hovering dangerously in midair as they rotated in a circle.

"I"ll never forgive you! Get out of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect this instant!" she hollered in fury, tears br.i.m.m.i.n.g in her eyes. "And never come back ever again! Don"t even think that you can take one step inside Tushan City again!"

I finally deigned to cast a sidelong glance at her. To be honest, I couldn"t care less. While I did want to get back at Liang Shao Yang, I was beginning to think this whole farce wasn"t worth it. It wasn"t as if I wanted to join the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in the first place. If Senior Hu wanted me to leave, I was perfectly fine with it.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Instead, it was Elder Zhao who laughed.

"Mei Er." He gave her a disapproving look. "You know you had this coming, since you were being overly mischievous. Don"t blame others for your downfall."

"Elder Zhao!"

Hu Mei Er practically screeched at him.

"He"s the one who clearly bullied and humiliated me! Please avenge me!"

The f.u.c.k was with her logic? Well, fine…

However, Elder Zhao had other plans. Before I could a.s.sent and abandon my furnace, he turned to gaze firmly at Hu Mei Er, his eyes full of reproach.

"Mei Er," he reprimanded her. "Let"s just leave the matter as it is. Let him apologize and let him go. Stop being so stubborn."

"But…"

"Today is the entrance examination for the outer sect disciples. You"re here to find an a.s.sistant, aren"t you?" Elder Zhao stared her down, and Hu Mei Er was faltering. Her flames were dissipating as she felt a tiny thread of fear. "You"re not supposed to create mischief and do whatever you want. We already gave you a huge measure of free reign, but if you begin to attack the examination candidates, then I"m afraid I"ll have to punish you."

"Besides, you have no right to kick anyone out of the sect."

Tang Qi Hong had finally convinced Lian Rou that she wasn"t going to resort to violent methods and hopped to my area to firmly place herself between me and Hu Mei Er. Folding her arms, she glared at Hu Mei Er.

"What do you think you"re trying to do to Fei Wu, anyway? Using that vulgar body of yours to seduce him?"

"T…that"s…!"

Hu Mei Er was blushing furiously, but she was unable to rebut those accusations. Turning around, she caught sight of all the male candidates all staring at her, especially her bare legs. The hem of my jacket was barely covering her nether regions, after all.

And underneath my jacket, she was buck naked, given how her dress and robes were completely incinerated when she recklessly used her fire techniques earlier.

Her face reddened further, if possible, and it was as if she had erupted like a volcano. With a nearly inhuman screech of embarra.s.sment, Hu Mei Er immediately fled the cavern as if she was being chased by a hundred ghosts.

"Hmph! Serves her right."

Tang Qi Hong seemed vindicated in her decision to chase Hu Mei Er away. Then she turned around and pulled my ear.

"You too…you"re not off the hook. What"s the idea with burning off her clothes?"

"Ow, ow, ow! I swear, that was never my intention! I only meant to chase her away! I didn"t think she wouldn"t be able to avoid that!"

"…well, that"s true. She got what she deserved, that Senior Hu." Tang Qi Hong seemed a little pleased.

"Ahem." Elder Zhao cleared his throat. "Qi Hong, remember that they"re still in an exam. Try not to disturb the examinees."

"Ah…yes!"

Tang Qi Hong gave me one final look of warning before she jumped back to the stage where Lian Rou awaited.

Lian Rou and Tang Qi Hong were roommates in both the Wu Ling Academy dormitory and in the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect"s residence. I already knew about the former, but I only learned of the latter fact later. Not that it was of any importance, but given how close the two girls were, it was natural that they would share the same residence.

I couldn"t help but let my eyes linger on them when Tang Qi Hong went up to rejoin Lian Rou. In contrast to Tang Qi Hong"s extraordinary beauty, Lian Rou seemed relatively plain by comparison. That wasn"t to say that she wasn"t pretty – on her own merits, Lian Rou was indeed very pretty, with a kind, gentle and honest personality to match. Otherwise she was the cliché girl next door kind of character without any particular eye-catching qualities.

Unfortunately, despite her own merits, she appeared to serve as a foil to the much more beautiful Tang Qi Hong, to the point where some people felt sorry for her. To my knowledge, Lian Rou never resented Tang Qi Hong for that, and the two were as close as sisters.

"That was close." Tang Qi Hong sighed. "We can"t let Senior Hu do whatever she wants, and let Fei Wu be dismissed."

She seemed relieved that Elder Zhao was on her side.

Lian Rou giggled. "I"ve to say, though, Senior Hu deserved what she got. Being mischievous and trying to distract people while they were forging their armaments…ha ha! I bet she never expected that she would encounter someone who would be able to resist her charms! As expected of Fei Wu, he"s ruthless as ever!"

"He"s not that ruthless," Tang Qi Hong protested softly.

"I know, I know. But that was still quite the sight to see!" Lian Rou shook her head, thoroughly amused.

"Yeah, did you see her expression when all of her clothes burned off? Who asked her not to listen to Fei Wu"s warning!" wow, but Tang Qi Hong was obviously harboring some sort of grudge against Hu Mei Er. "We"ll never let her live this down!"

I actually began to feel sorry for Hu Mei Er…

Without anything else to distract me, I returned to forging my armament. My ice rifle was almost completed, and I just needed to tidy up the Spirit Engraving. Truthfully, I could feel the glares from all the other candidates, particularly Liang Shao Yang.

Liang Shao Yang seemed to be infuriated by what transpired between me and Hu Mei Er. If he was jealous, he needn"t had bothered. I had no interest in Hu Mei Er. The only person for me was Tang Qi Hong, or at least I hoped so…

What I didn"t realize was that Liang Shao Yang wasn"t interested in Hu Mei Er either. I was completely unaware of this at that time, but Liang Shao Yang"s gaze often flickered in the direction of Tang Qi Hong.

If I wasn"t antagonized by that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, I would have said that he had good taste, and we might actually be friends. But alas, it was not meant to be.

He wasn"t the only one staring daggers at me. Unlike him, however, the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect disciples and the other examinees were truly infatuated with Hu Mei Er, and they dearly wanted nothing more to help her kill me. Or perhaps they had realized my close relationship with Tang Qi Hong and they were extremely jealous.

On the other hand, some of those gazes softened and they shook their heads in resignation. Apparently, a few of them remembered how I helped them during the second stage of the examination. My decision to forge ice pillars to replace the columns that Liang Shao Yang destroyed earlier had earned me quite a few friends, so they didn"t quite resent me as they would otherwise have.

However, one stare stood out from the rest. This gaze was neither filled with rage, jealousy or resigned empathy. Instead, it was filled with curiosity.

Elder Zhao had moved his attention away from Liang Shao Yang to observe me. As he watched, his amazement grew, and he subconsciously approached my position.

"Using ice to forge a weapon? How intriguing. What"s more…his movements, it seems like he has practiced ice-forging hundreds…no, thousands of times…what a rare and eccentric technique. It reminds me somewhat of the ice spirit armaments crafted by the disciples from the Snow Valley Sect, yet is very different."

His eyes narrowed as he studied the Spirit Engraving on my weapon intently.

"Where have I seen that Spirit Engraving before? Why does it feel so familiar?"

It wasn"t just the Spirit Engraving and my ice-forging techniques that moved him. He was also curious about the mechanisms and shape of the rifle. I didn"t blame him. This was the first time that Elder Zhao saw a rifle. This timeline having deviated a little from my original timeline meant that there were no projectile weapons beyond bows and arrows manufactured in this world. So my gun was pretty much unprecedented.

"Qi Hong…"

Tearing his gaze away from me, he jumped back to where Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou awaited and performed their invigilation duties from afar.

"Where did you find this guy?"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"How much do you know about him?"

Tang Qi Hong was taken aback by his questions, and she shook her head in puzzlement. Placing a delicate-looking finger on her ruby lips, she thought for a bit.

"Um…Fei Wu is a cla.s.smate from Wu Ling Academy. We"ve been cla.s.smates since middle school, so about four years now? We hang out with each other a lot."

"They"re pretty much an unofficial couple," Lian Rou added. Tang Qi Hong blushed.

"Says who?!"

"More importantly…" Elder Zhao had no interest in a teenage romance comedy and steered the conversation back to the topic at hand. "Do you know which clan he is from? His family?"

"Eh?" Tang Qi Hong blinked, confused. "His family is pretty normal, I think? I don"t think I"ve met them much…maybe I"ve seen his parents once or twice, but I didn"t talk to them. They seem pretty ordinary, though. His father was a martial artist."

"So he"s not from one of the major ice clans…"

"No, I don"t think so?"

Tang Qi Hong mistook Elder Zhao"s rhetorical question for an actual one, and he merely shook his head.

"Anyway, I a.s.sume that you intend to take him as your a.s.sistant?"

"Of course!" Tang Qi Hong brightened up. "That shouldn"t be a problem, right?"

"No," Elder Zhao a.s.sured her. "From what I see, he"ll have no issues pa.s.sing the third stage of the exam and becoming an outer sect disciple."

"Yay!"

"Don"t celebrate too early yet, though," Elder Zhao cautioned her. Then he turned to Lian Rou. "What about you?"

"Eh? Me? Well…"

Lian Rou"s gaze flickered somewhere to the front. As if he sensed something, Tong Xue glanced up and grinned at her.

"Hey, Lian Rou! I"m almost done!"

"Uh…good job." Lian Rou waved back, looking a little uncertain. For some reason, everyone"s gazes were drawn to her this time. Previously, they were staring in Lian Rou"s direction because they were trying to steal glimpses of the beautiful Tang Qi Hong, but Tong Xue"s outburst had piqued their curiosity somehow.

"You two know each other?" Elder Zhao asked curiously.

"We"re cla.s.smates as well," Tang Qi Hong replied with a smile. "Me, Lian Rou, Tong Xue and Fei Wu have been in the same cla.s.s for the past four years!"

"Well, yeah…" Lian Rou quickly clamped onto her best friend"s statement and nodded.

"Lian Rou, please choose me as your a.s.sistant!" Tong Xue called out from the front. "I"ll do any task for you!"

And then, right in front of over a hundred people, Tong Xue"s brilliant smile widened. After he bowed politely, he then did the boldest thing ever.

"I love you, Lian Rou!"

"UWAAAAAH!"

Blushing furiously and unable to handle all the attention that was now directed toward her, Lian Rou hastily fled the cavern with a cry. The poor girl had been used to being in the background, serving as a foil to her more beautiful best friend, so she wasn"t able to endure the enormous volume of attention thrown her way when Tong Xue confessed his love for her right in front of everybody.

Elder Zhao burst out laughing at the scene and shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt. Clasping his hands behind his back, he chuckled.

"The candidates in this batch are really an interesting bunch of people!"

This fella is amazing.

As for me, I gaped at Tong Xue, totally not expecting him to pull a bold stunt like that. To confess his love for Lian Rou in front of so many people, the guy must have a screw loose in his head or something. On the other hand, I couldn"t help but admire his courage. It took a lot of guts to pull something like that off!

Good for him, I guess.

I knew Lian Rou was also attracted to Tong Xue, and in fact, the two of them were officially a couple. Back in Wu Ling Academy, our cla.s.s knew that Tong Xue and Lian Rou were going out with each other, so this was nothing new. It also meant that Lian Rou would most likely choose Tong Xue as her a.s.sistant anyway, despite her embarra.s.sment.

Of course, that meant we had to finish forging our spirit armaments and pa.s.s the third stage of the entrance exam first…

"Fei Wu, good luck! Let"s pa.s.s the entrance exam together and become the a.s.sistants of Lian Rou and Tang Qi Hong!"

I was caught off guard when Tong Xue called out to me. d.a.m.n it, and here I thought I was finally able to shrug away all the attention previously directed to me, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d caused me to stand in the limelight once more!

"Those two…are they in this together?"

"That guy from the Smart Shadow Sect…he didn"t seem like anyone special at first, but he actually has such an insane side to him? What kind of place does he think the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is? Did he come here to find a wife?"

"And now he"s scheming with the other guy who froze Senior Hu? What"s their relationship? Are they b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in league with each other?"

"Yeah, not only did that b.a.s.t.a.r.d freeze Senior Hu, he seems to have a close relationship with Senior Tang! Just who the h.e.l.l is he?!"

"That Smart Shadow Sect smart aleck too! Why does he have such a close relationship with Senior Lian Rou?"

"We had better keep an eye on those two! If they make it into the sect, we"ll have to find a way to force them out…or kill them!"

f.u.c.k this bulls.h.i.t…

Groaning inwardly, I ignored the cries of outrage all around us and buried my face in my palm briefly before forcing myself to focus on polishing up the last few details of the Spirit Engraving I had inscribed on my gun.