"I heard you."
"Then why did you strike?"
Although no one had died, according to academy rules, students generally did not resort to such vicious methods against one another.
Ever since the launch of the soaring dragon competition, this was the first time such an incident had occurred in three whole days.
"This was a life-and-death duel agreed upon by both parties. Why should I have stopped?"
A life-and-death duel?
Teng Long looked toward Xing Yingxue. Seeing her nod, he finally understood why this person dared to act so brazenly, completely ignoring his commands.
With a life-and-death pact signed, Tang Hao managing to keep his life was already something to thank the heavens for. After all, once such an agreement was signed, not even the dean would intervene.
"What is your name? Which class are you from?"
"Su Chen, from Class 22."
Teng Long was inwardly astonished. When had the lowest-tier primary class ever produced such a monstrous talent, capable of defeating even Tang Hao, the top prodigy of the primary classes?
Without wasting words, Teng Li scooped up the unconscious Tang Hao and vanished from their sight like a cheetah in an instant.
Standing there blankly and staring at the young man, Xing Yingxue was still in a daze. She truly had not expected Junior Brother Su's strength to be so domineering that he could actually heavily injure Tang Hao.
"Are you injured?"
"I'm fine."
Helping Xing Yingxue sit on the ground, Su Chen said, "You should have left with Teacher Teng Long just now."
Su Chen knew very well that for a student like Xing Yingxue, participating in the soaring dragon competition was nothing more than making up the numbers to gain some experience. Harbouring thoughts of competing for the Soaring Dragon Rankings was sheer wishful thinking.
To say nothing of Xing Yingxue, even Tang Hao could only serve as a sparring partner. The Soaring Dragon Rankings were entirely a battleground for the intermediate classes, having little to do with the primary classes.
Xing Yingxue said with a helpless sigh, "Junior Brother Su, I've dragged you down this time. The Tang Clan wields immense power in the Eastern Wastelands. Even with the deterrence of the Eastern Wastelands Academy, once you leave the academy, I'm afraid..."
She left the sentence unfinished, but her meaning was clear enough for anyone to hear.
Su Chen, however, remained completely unfazed.
One Su Clan, plus another Tang Clan—it all amounted to the same thing.
"You're from the Xing Clan?"
Su Chen had heard every word of their recent conversation. He was not unfamiliar with the Xing Clan; after all, much like the Tang Clan and the Su Clan, the Xing Clan was a top-tier power in the Eastern Wastelands, renowned throughout the region for their Golden Sparrow Blood Wheel.
Nodding, Xing Yingxue's face was filled with sorrow as she said, "I do indeed come from the Xing Clan, but I am someone they cast aside. As you surely heard just now, what makes our clan famous across the Eastern Wastelands is the Golden Sparrow Blood Wheel. But what I awakened was the Partridge Blood Wheel—it is the disgrace of the Xing Clan."
Golden Sparrow Blood Wheel? Partridge Blood Wheel?
Su Chen understood Xing Yingxue's feelings. After all, in this world where martial arts reigned supreme, strength represented everything, and even family ties were fragile enough to shatter at a touch. He was living proof of that.
Under the intimidation of the Su Clan, his cousins and eldest uncle had all sought his death, and even his grandfather, who had once doted on him, had cast him out of the family.
To a martial artist, the blood wheel was the foundation of everything; to a top-tier power, it was a matter of face.
As one of the supreme powers of the Eastern Wastelands possessing the coveted Golden Sparrow Blood Wheel, the proud Xing Clan could naturally never accept a Partridge Blood Wheel suddenly appearing in their midst. Furthermore, Su Chen could guess that Xing Yingxue's status within the clan was certainly far from ordinary.
"Junior Brother Su, may I ask a favor of you?"
"Go ahead."
"I want to follow you and gain some experience for a few days."
At Level 2 Foundation Establishment Realm, such cultivation was simply too low within the Eastern Wastelands Academy. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been at the very bottom, relegated to the worst primary class.
For Su Chen, it didn't really matter. What he needed to do right now was hunt for spiritual herbs on one hand while accumulating points to secure a spot on the Soaring Dragon Rankings.
He certainly had no hope for the Hundred Battles Rankings, but as for the Soaring Dragon Rankings, while others in the primary classes might fall short, he had to claim a spot.
"Alright."
Hearing this, Xing Yingxue expressed her gratitude with repeated thanks.
"Let's rest for two hours first. We'll leave once your injuries have healed."
"Okay."
Xing Yingxue's injuries were not particularly severe; she had merely been caught in the shockwave of the recent duel. Two hours of recovery should be more than enough.
Watching the young man sitting not far away with legs crossed in meditation, Xing Yingxue's face flushed a natural, soft red.
Two hours later.
Xing Yingxue's injuries had mostly healed. Without lingering any longer, the two of them chose to set off.
The reason Su Chen had chosen to help Xing Yingxue went beyond the fact that they came from the same class; he also felt a degree of sympathy for her.
They were companions in shared misery, both being people discarded by their families.
Roar!
A terrifying roar tore through the void. Several hundred armored rhinoceri had surrounded the pair, their cold gazes locked firmly on their prey before them.
Releasing his blood wheel, Su Chen gripped a phantom sword shadow in his hand, shielding Xing Yingxue behind him as he unleashed the Nine Calamities Sword Art. Sharp and domineering sword Qi surged outward, sweeping across the surroundings.
Facing the coordinated assault of hundreds of armored rhinoceri, Su Chen showed not a trace of fear; instead, he appeared rather excited, slaughtering and devouring them at the same time.
As long as he devoured enough power, coupled with the superposition of the Chaotic Devouring Art and the Chaotic Body, he believed he would soon break through his own limits and smoothly advance to the Level 9 Foundation Establishment Realm.
Dozens of minutes later.
Su Chen and Xing Yingxue sat cross-legged simultaneously. "Clear your mind, guard your origin, and do not resist my influx of power. You only need to devour."
Su Chen's intention was simple: he would use his own body as a medium to devour the power of the armored rhinoceri. Once refined through the Chaotic Devouring Art, he would channel it into Xing Yingxue's body, ensuring there would be no backlash whatsoever.
A wave of deep gratitude washed over her.
Even her family had chosen to abandon her, and the academy had relegated her to the worst primary class.
Yet now, Su Chen was willing to help her. She looked at him with a slightly hazy gaze.
The image of Su Chen in Xing Yingxue's heart grew steadily larger.
"Don't let your mind wander, focus on your cultivation."
Held tightly by Su Chen's hand, Xing Yingxue felt her heart flutter in agitation, constantly telling herself not to let her imagination run wild at a time like this.
A blood wheel gradually condensed above her head, containing the phantom image of a small bird—it was precisely the Partridge Blood Wheel Xing Yingxue had awakened.
Under Su Chen's full assistance, Xing Yingxue's cultivation broke through to the Level 3 Foundation Establishment Realm.
"Huh?"
"Junior Brother Su, what is it?"
Clasping Xing Yingxue's hand tightly, Su Chen looked at the blood wheel hovering above her head and said in surprise, "There's something fishy about your blood wheel. If you trust me, let me help you."
"Junior Brother Su, please proceed."
Of course she trusted him.
At this point, Xing Yingxue wouldn't even trust a single member of her own family, yet she placed her trust completely in the young man before her.
His internal Chaotic Body manifested, and the sword blood wheel condensing above his head completely covered the gloomy devouring blood wheel as Su Chen began operating the Chaotic Devouring Art.
Wisps of devouring aura continuously poured into Xing Yingxue's body, wrapping around her blood wheel.
Beads of sweat crawled across her face in agony, but Xing Yingxue gritted her teeth and held on.
Waves of devouring power constantly gnawed at her Partridge Blood Wheel. Had she not chosen to trust Su Chen, she truly would have thought he was trying to harm her.
"Senior Sister Xing, hold on."
"Mm."
The pain grew increasingly intense.
Her entire body felt as though it were being devoured by ten thousand ants, gnawing away at her flesh and bones, leaving her in agonizing torment.
Half an hour later.
Just as Xing Yingxue felt she could no longer hold on, the blood wheel condensed above her head suddenly shattered, and a brand-new phantom emerged from within the broken partridge.
A pure white lark patterned with countless black markings, its cold eyes brimming with a fiercely sharp glint, threw its head back and let out a long cry.
"A mutated blood wheel, Heaven-Veiling Lark."
Su Chen knew very well what a mutated blood wheel implied. The sword blood wheel he had recondensed was also a mutated blood wheel; such blood wheels were extremely special and immensely powerful.
Earlier, when he was helping Xing Yingxue cultivate, he had sensed that something was amiss with her blood wheel, as if something was sealed within the Partridge Blood Wheel. Now it seemed the mutated blood wheel simply hadn't truly awakened yet, and his actions had merely sparked that awakening.
He had originally intended to devour the power of hundreds of armored rhinoceri to charge into the Level 9 Foundation Establishment Realm.
However, seeing that Xing Yingxue had awakened a mutated blood wheel which urgently required an influx of energy to reap the maximum benefits, Su Chen was not a petty person. He immediately chose to forgo devouring the power himself and instead threw all his effort into helping Xing Yingxue absorb it.
Strands of refined energy were continuously channeled into Xing Yingxue's body.
An hour later.
The pain throughout her body vanished in an instant, and her previous injuries were completely healed. The Heaven-Veiling Lark blood wheel floating above her head radiated immense power.
Slowly opening her eyes, she felt the surging power within her body. Her cultivation had jumped by a full three tiers—it was hard not to be excited. With Su Chen's help this time, she had vaulted up by four tiers in total, leaping directly from the Level 2 Foundation Establishment Realm to the Level 6 Foundation Establishment Realm.
"Junior Brother Su, thank you."
"Think nothing of it."
Su Chen was also happy for Xing Yingxue. She had previously fallen out of favor with the Xing Clan precisely because of her trash blood wheel. Now that she had reawakened a mutated blood wheel—and a top-tier one at that, the Heaven-Veiling Lark—her status within the clan would surely undergo a heaven-shaking transformation.
One had to know that the rank of the Heaven-Veiling Lark blood wheel surpassed even that of the Golden Sparrow.
Seeing that her hand was still clasped in Su Chen's grip, Xing Yingxue's face flushed red once more, looking just like a ripe, juicy apple.
"Xing Yingxue? You really are utterly shameless, actually sneaking off here to couple. And to think Senior Tang Hao pursued you so ardently—you have no shame at all."
The fact that Tang Hao's blood wheel had been crippled was still unknown to the students in the Eastern Wastelands Forest.
A man and a woman approached, glaring at the young man and Xing Yingxue holding hands as they stepped forward to voice their indignation. After all, everyone in the primary classes knew that Tang Hao from Class 1 had been relentlessly pursuing Xing Yingxue, only to be repeatedly rejected by her.
"Mo Lin, stop talking nonsense here."
Mo Lin and Mu Shuangshuang both hailed from Class 1 and were essentially Tang Hao's flunkies. Given Tang Hao's prominent background, they couldn't linger in the Eastern Wastelands Academy forever; once they graduated, they would need his backing.
Joining the Tang Clan would yield immense benefits for their growth and future development.
"Nonsense? Am I talking nonsense? Look at the two of you—if the two of us had arrived any later, would you have started going at it right out here in the wild? How could Big Brother Tang Hao ever fancy a bitch like you?"
Mu Shuangshuang also chimed in with a face full of disgust. "It's utterly sickening. Xing Yingxue, today we are going to teach you a proper lesson on behalf of Senior Tang Hao, so you understand the price of betraying him."
Not a trace of anger could be seen on Su Chen's calm face. Pulling Xing Yingxue to her feet, he smiled and said, "You don't need to get angry. Just treat them like dogs. If a dog bites you, are you going to bite it back?"
Pfft!
Xing Yingxue never expected Junior Brother Su to say something like that, and unable to hold it in, she burst out laughing.
"Audacious!"
Mo Lin and Mu Shuangshuang were both burning with rage. Hailing from Class 1 and standing at the peak of the Level 8 Foundation Establishment Realm, they believed that aside from their fellow Class 1 students, not a single soul across the rest of the primary classes could match them.
To be so brazenly humiliated by him was a direct provocation.
"I'll teach the two of you a lesson for Senior Tang Hao today!"
"What a fine pair of lackeys."
"You're courting death."
Taking a fierce step forward, Mo Lin lashed out a ruthless palm strike toward Su Chen. The domineering hand seal contained a chilling intent to kill; he wanted to show the other party the consequences of provoking him.
However, without releasing his blood wheel, Su Chen began forming hand seals with both hands, executing the Divine Demon Death Seal.
He had already smoothly derived the first Divine Demon Death Seal. This was his first time using it, and he was eager to see what terrifying might this death seal, comprehended from the Primordial Divine Demon Art, truly possessed.
A wave of deathly aura instantly coalesced, forming a seal within his palms. The moment Mo Lin closed to within a meter of him, Su Chen directly thrust it forward.
Both were at the Level 8 Foundation Establishment Realm. The instant they collided, Mo Lin suddenly felt a domineering seal shatter his offensive momentum, rushing forth like a tsunami crashing into a stream. Before he even had a chance to release his blood wheel, he was struck square in the chest by the seal.
Spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body violently flew backward and crashed hard against a massive tree.
The tree snapped cleanly in two, and Mo Lin's body was stained crimson with blood. Had academy rules not forbidden killing, he would already have been a dead man.
"You dare!"
Slap!
Mu Shuangshuang was completely dumbfounded. She only saw a blur of afterimages flash before her eyes; before she could even react, Su Chen was landing blows from left to right, one slap following another without the slightest mercy, instantly raining down over a hundred strikes.
Mu Shuangshuang's once pretty face instantly swelled into a pig's head, stars spinning in her vision, before she was kicked flying through the air to land right beside Mo Lin.
Xing Yingxue felt not a shred of surprise. In her eyes, since Junior Brother Su could even defeat Tang Hao, dealing with ordinary students was child's play.
Approaching the pair, Su Chen sneered coldly.
"What do you want? This is the Eastern Wastelands Forest, and the academy has strict rules prohibiting murder."
In the face of death, so-called dignity was completely worthless.
They were terrified that this madman might actually kill them right here and now.
"Points."
No matter how unwilling they felt inside, under the intimidation of absolute strength, they could only reluctantly produce their identity talons and transfer their points over to Su Chen.
"Despicable."
Dropping those two words, Su Chen turned and left swiftly with Xing Yingxue.
Following the location Ye Fei had given him and journeying at a mad pace for several hours, they finally arrived before a towering peak.
Surrounded entirely by towering ancient trees that encircled it in an embrace, the mountain stood imposing and grand.
"This is the place."
"Senior Sister Xing, why don't you stay here and wait for me."
Su Chen knew very well that a powerful fierce beast was bound to be holding fort inside the mountain ahead, and seizing the spiritual herb would certainly be no easy task.
Although Xing Yingxue had awakened a mutated blood wheel, her personal cultivation was still only at the Level 6 Foundation Establishment Realm. If they encountered a powerful fierce beast, he wouldn't be able to spare the attention to protect her.
Xing Yingxue desperately wanted to follow Su Chen inside, but she also understood his reasoning. If she kept following him, she would not only be unable to help when danger struck, but she would even become a burden.
"Junior Brother Su, be careful."
"Don't worry."
Without further hesitation, Su Chen strode swiftly toward the towering peak ahead.
The purple fox's injuries were barely stabilized; to fully stabilize them, they needed to find a suitable spiritual herb as soon as possible.
Inside the peak.
Fierce gales whipped through the air and dust flew everywhere—could spiritual herbs really grow in a place like this?
Condensing a sword barrier around his body, Su Chen pressed forward. After a short while, he beheld an entirely different scene: a lush, verdant forest brimming with dense spiritual energy.
Boom, boom, boom!
Following the source of the chaotic sounds, he spotted two young men jointly besieging a blood-red tiger.
"A Void Pill Realm beast, Blood Demon Tiger."
Su Chen could sense that both students were at the Level 9 Void Pill Realm, yet even in a joint assault, subduing this Blood Demon Tiger was proving quite difficult.
It seemed the Blood Demon Tiger was at least at the Level 9 Void Pill Realm, if not the peak of the Void Pill Realm. While the two youths appeared to have the upper hand, until the very end, the victor remained anyone's guess.
Not far from the battle between man and beast lay a patch of blood-red lingzhi mushrooms, their vines spiraling like coiled divine dragons in a most bizarre sight.
"Coagulated Blood Lingzhi."
Su Chen's eyes instantly gleamed with a greedy green light as he stared hungrily at the mushrooms. Back at the Su Clan, the martial pavilion housed specialized texts introducing various spirit beasts and herbs, which could also be purchased in the marketplace.
Among them was an introduction to the Coagulated Blood Lingzhi, known to have miraculous effects on the soul and capable of being refined into Coagulated Blood Pills.
Without the slightest hesitation, he cast all other thoughts aside. He had ventured here at great risk precisely to find spiritual herbs; now that he saw them, to pass up the chance would make him an utter fool.
"Brat, you dare!"
"Kid, don't you dare touch those Coagulated Blood Lingzhi!"
Xiao Ming and Shi Chen were being dragged down relentlessly by the Blood Demon Tiger. Because the beast was at the peak of the Void Pill Realm, they had seized the opportunity while it was already injured to join forces and suppress it.
If they broke off their attack, they would inevitably be counter-killed by the beast, turning a clever scheme into a disastrous loss.
Never had they imagined that someone would play the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—how could they not be enraged?
Choosing to ignore them entirely, Su Chen flashed directly in front of the Coagulated Blood Lingzhi. Glancing at the cluster of mushrooms—numbering easily over a hundred stalks—the greed in his eyes grew increasingly intense.
He had struck it rich.
Without a shred of politeness, he immediately began harvesting them. Stalk after stalk of Coagulated Blood Lingzhi was continuously reaped and tossed into his spatial ring.
In a mere two minutes, the entire patch of Coagulated Blood Lingzhi had been swept completely clean, leaving not a single stalk behind.
"Brat, you're courting death!"
Xiao Ming roared in fury. The two of them hailed from Intermediate Class 1 and were both at the Level 9 Void Pill Realm. They had managed to suppress the Blood Demon Tiger with great difficulty; once they secured over a hundred stalks of Coagulated Blood Lingzhi, returning to the academy would allow them to trade for massive amounts of points and obtain whatever treasures they desired.
And now?
The mantis stalked the cicada, but the oriole had swooped in behind them. To make matters worse, this oriole was merely at the Foundation Establishment Realm—unmistakably a student from the primary classes.
A primary class student daring to step in and rob intermediate class students?
It was the first time they had ever heard of such a thing. If word of this got back to the academy, it would undoubtedly become the laughingstock of the institution.
Enraged, Xiao Ming and Shi Chen stepped up their frantic assault. Although the Blood Demon Tiger was already injured, it was still resilient enough to stubbornly hold its ground against a two-pronged onslaught.
"What a fine spot."
Su Chen noticed that the ground beneath the Coagulated Blood Lingzhi contained immense spiritual energy—truly an exceptional location for cultivation.