As the punch hit Tang Jie in the face, Yang Yuhao immediately knew that he had made a mistake.
Shit!
He hadn’t appeared today by coincidence. This was the result of several days of discussion between everyone.
He had come out to provoke Tang Jie.
Tang Jie would either have to endure all of the ridicule, or else strike back and lose points. After a few rounds of this, Tang Jie would be running off with his tail between his legs.
But to his surprise, Tang Jie had been completely unmoved, and he had even easily managed to provoke Yang Yuhao into irrationally striking first.
The monitor students certainly didn’t care. As far as they were concerned, the one who struck would lose points.
In a rush of air, a monitor student charged over, shouting, “In the academy, it is not allowed…”
Before he could finish, he saw Tang Jie kick Yang Yuhao in the belly.
It was a savage kick that sent Yang Yuhao flying into a furnace. Boom! Sparks landed on Yang Yuhao’s body and immediately set his clothes on fire. Yang Yuhao howled in pain and hastily tore off his clothes, but a large swath of his body had already been burned.
The injuries could be healed by a teacher, but the humiliation was eternal. Moreover, he had stripped off all his clothes, making him look like a naked pig. He furiously roared, “Monitor, he hit me! He hit me!”
The spectating students were flabbergasted, and even the monitor looked in a daze at Tang Jie. Tang Jie slowly replied, “The disciple rules allow anyone who did not strike first to defend themselves until a monitor arrives and calls the fighting to stop, but the defender cannot injure the attacker.”
He looked at the monitor.
The monitor realized that Tang Jie had struck before he could call them to stop.
But a moment later, he realized something and pointed at Yang Yuhao. “But you injured him!”
“I did not injure him. I kicked him away to protect myself, and he crashed into a furnace and got burned all on his own,” Tang Jie answered.
Who was more familiar with the disciple rules than him?
Tang Jie saw Yang Yuhao looking at him and chuckled, saying in disdain, “A third-year…”
What he meant was “What bullshit third-year student? You can’t even block my kick, you absolute incompetent.”
After wagging his finger at Yang Yuhao, Tang Jie left.
The students had not expected to fail at disciplining Tang Jie, and they had even been disciplined back. They could only silently watch Tang Jie leave.
Dan Xin came over to see what was going on, then he grunted, “A pile of trash!”
He walked away.
The students glanced at each other, then they shook their heads and dispersed.
“That’s it?” Yang Yuhao didn’t dare to believe it. “All of you, say something! That bastard hit me!”
Everyone had encouraged him to give Tang Jie a hard time, but in the end, he had been the one to take the fall while Tang Jie had emerged completely unscathed. He couldn’t help but feel indignant.
Alas, everyone ignored him.
No.
There was one person.
The monitor student came over and took Yang Yuhao’s card. “You attacked first, so according to the rules, I must deduct ten points. My apologies, schoolmate.”
After passing through the fiery furnace of the Forging Platform, Tang Jie arrived at the extraction region.
Zhou Jiahui and Liu Zihan were both present at the extraction region. When they saw him, they both averted their gazes. Tang Jie knew that they had sold information on him to the other students and felt guilty.
He didn’t care, and he went to the storage to get some broken-down tools.
The student managing the storage didn’t know what had happened outside. When he saw Tang Jie, he grunted and said, “You actually came.”
Tang Jie couldn’t bring himself to care about his attitude, simply saying, “I want two broken weapons that have been through the blood ceremony. The bigger, the better.”
“None,” the student lazily replied.
Tang Jie sighed, realizing that these guys had all agreed to make things hard for him.
He looked at that student and said, “Yang Yuhao just got turned into a roast pig.”
“What?” the student blurted out in shock.
“If you don’t believe it, you can go out and take a look for yourself,” Tang Jie callously said. “I will repeat myself. Two broken tools that have been through the blood ceremony! You find them for me now, or I break your arm and go and find them myself!”
“You… you wouldn’t dare…” the student stammered out.
Tang Jie grabbed the student by the collar and pulled him over. “I even dared to deceive Basking Moon Academy. You think there’s something I wouldn’t dare to do?”
Tang Jie pushed the student back to his place and walked back to the extraction region.
Several minutes later, the student obediently delivered those two broken tools.
The look of panic on his face made it clear that he had found out what happened to Yang Yuhao and was extremely afraid of Tang Jie.
Tang Jie could only helplessly sigh.
Reason didn’t always work against these self-righteous students who didn’t know what was good for them. Using fists was the best way to deal with them.
It was a pity that he had always preferred to use his brain to solve problems. Alas, he was now walking the path of the tyrant.
But it was no big deal. Life was like a play, and only by playing various roles could one become a shadow emperor.
Since Basking Moon Academy required him to be a bully, why not be a bully?
As he thought this, he thrust his finger down.
The weapon shattered, and a golden grain floated in the air.
While being mocked and ridiculed, Tang Jie calmly began his new life.
Every morning, Tang Jie would cultivate spell arts, and in the afternoon, he would go to the Forging Platform to break down weapons. At night, he would cultivate the Lesser Sea Grotto Metal Mantra to increase his cultivation level.
This cycle went on for half a month.
It was a peaceful and simple life, and also a tedious one. As time passed, so did the controversy he had stirred, and this was exactly what Tang Jie wanted. Only after the tsunami had passed would one realize how precious a calm and boring life was.
But a beautiful figure still flitted about his mind, stirring up ripples.
There had been no message from the jade amulet.
Tang Jie was rather disappointed.
Had Xu Miaoran forgotten him so quickly after giving him the jade amulet?
At times, Tang Jie thought about sending a message to ask how she was, but he only had the one paper crane, so he wasn’t very willing to use it.
Those students who looked down on him still looked down on him, but after Tang Jie had taught them a lesson and made them suffer, they decided to keep away from him for the time being. But Tang Jie knew that they would come back eventually.
They were waiting for the right moment.
Tang Jie didn’t care much. He spent every day cultivating, and his life was carefree and peaceful.
Alas, without any of the conveniences provided by the academy, his cultivation speed began to officially slow down. Fortunately, he still had the foundation of the Parting Classic, and he was still advancing much faster than the average five-cycle student, though it was no longer as crazy. As his cultivation realm increased, the difficulty would presumably increase as well, and the advantages of his formidable constitution when it came to cultivation would also begin to dwindle.
Right now, Tang Jie could still enjoy the benefits of his body, but by the Mortal Shedding Realm, the effects wouldn’t be as significant.
But in another aspect, Tang Jie was making a lot of progress.
This was in the cultivation of the Weapon Mantra.
The long time he had spent extracting was making his golden grain bigger and bigger.
What had been a small needle was now a little golden ball. If it were shaped, it could be made into a golden ruler.
But it was still too small compared to real weapons. Tang Jie still hadn’t decided whether it was best to use it as a needle or a thread.
When shaped into a thread, it was extremely tough and as sharp as a sword, capable of catching the enemy off guard.
Its sole disadvantage was that the golden thread was too difficult to control and didn’t respond well to strength, so it wasn’t good in direct battle. It was only because Gu Changqing had been tired from battle that he had been able to use it. If he had to fight that battle again, Tang Jie wasn’t sure about his chances.
What truly gave Tang Jie a headache was that five-thousand-some spirit coins, even when used on broken tools, still wasn’t a lot.
A lack of resources was an eternal problem in the cultivation world, and even Immortal Platform Titans would never say that they had more than enough.
When it came to this problem, all Tang Jie could do was decrease his usage of the Weapon Mantra. While breaking down weapons, he would also actually perform extraction on some of the broken tools so that he could get some materials to sell off and maintain the cycle.
Regardless, this half-month had been very simple and plain.
His cultivation was steadily advancing, his proficiency in spell arts was gradually increasing, and the potential brought by one hundred thousand coins was still developing. Tang Jie was now much stronger than he was before.
It was just that he didn’t go to the battleground and only occasionally went to the Seven Celestial Halls to hone himself. As he didn’t show his strength, nobody knew just how strong he really was.
Today was another afternoon spent at the Forging Platform.
When night fell, Tang Jie rose to leave.
Just when he returned to the Carefree House, Tang Jie spotted someone standing at the entrance.
He wore a drifting white robe.
“Qi Shaoming?” Tang Jie was surprised.
Why was he standing in front of his house?
He appeared to have been waiting for a while.
“Tang Jie!” Upon seeing that Tang Jie was back, Qi Shaoming shouted, “I want to have a fight with you.”
Tang Jie frowned. “What do you mean by that? Do you also think I’m despicable and plan to discipline me…”
“Don’t put me together with those idiots!” Qi Shaoming cut him off. “I didn’t find you because of your past conduct. I just want to fight you so we can see which of us is stronger!”
“Mm?” Surprised, Tang Jie asked, “You want a duel?”
Qi Shaoming replied, “That’s right! Since I entered this academy, I have held no other student in high opinion other than An Rumeng. Other people think that my outstanding aptitude should be focused on cultivation, but I choose to do the opposite. With every step, I train in spell arts to increase my combat prowess. I will never be some empty shell who only has cultivation and no strength.”
“Is that why you have yet to enter Spirit Lake?” Tang Jie asked.
Someone of Qi Shaoming’s talent should have entered Spirit Lake ages ago, but he had yet to do so. This had to be because he had focused too much of his energy on other pursuits.
“Correct! I was originally planning to rank first in all seven of the Seven Celestial Halls before entering Spirit Lake!”
“‘Ranking first in all seven of the Seven Celestial Halls’?” Tang Jie was flabbergasted.
Wasn’t Qi Shaoming a little too ambitious? Tang Jie had the Martial Lord’s techniques and had managed to extract many other benefits, yet he had only ranked first in one hall, setting a record. But Qi Shaoming wanted to get all seven?
But at this moment, Tang Jie got it. “So the first one you wanted to defeat was me?”
Qi Shaoming had been hot on Tang Jie’s heels for the Celestial Defense Hall record this entire time. Tang Jie had once wondered why he was focusing so hard on defensive spell arts, but now that he knew Qi Shaoming’s aim, he finally understood.
And he also understood that he had been Qi Shaoming’s first target.
But on the day he had broken the Celestial Defense Hall’s record, Qi Shaoming had utterly despaired. No matter how he worked, he would never be able to overcome Tang Jie, and so his dream of ranking first in all seven had been shattered, and all of his confidence had been lost.
But today, he had come to find Tang Jie.
“I want to fight with you and see how strong you really are,” Qi Shaoming sternly said.
Tang Jie realized that he was now essentially a Heart Demon for Qi Shaoming, the first threshold on his path of cultivation that he couldn’t get around.
Since he couldn’t beat him in Celestial Defense Hall grades and his cultivation speed had also slowed down, he could only get a victory in an actual battle, and through this victory, he would reaffirm his confidence.
