"Something else?" Bai Fengxi came down the stairs and nearly walked straight into Su Chen, who had doubled back. She looked puzzled.
"Can I borrow some money..." Su Chen was a little embarrassed.
Bai Fengxi's brow furrowed. "With how capable you are, Jiang He didn't give you any money?"
'That word "capable" has very different connotations here.' Su Chen kept it simple. "Not enough."
"Well... I don't have much either." Bai Fengxi rubbed her shoulder, wincing from the sting, though her trust in Su Chen had gone up considerably.
She produced a small, pale cloth pouch. "I've only got about twenty or thirty on me..."
"I'll take all of it." Su Chen extended his hand.
Bai Fengxi looked up at him. In their earlier encounters, this guy had never been this shameless.
"I'll pay you back." Su Chen took the pouch without missing a beat and turned to leave.
'With what the creditor gave me last time, I can scrape together about seventy or eighty...' Su Chen lowered his head and contacted Wei Zhigao via the Spiritual Comlink.
"I want to purchase a Blood-Activating Potion."
Wei Zhigao replied quickly — "500 gold."
"I only have 70..."
"...500 is already the discounted price."
Su Chen tried a compromise. "How about this — I'll forfeit this week's nutrient fluid ration, and next week's too. Can you knock a bit more off?"
Under normal conditions, the Molten Stone Forging Method's proficiency climbed slowly. If he wanted to meet the advancement requirement faster, external aids were the only option.
After a long silence, Wei Zhigao finally responded. "...This is a one-time exception. I'll have someone deliver it."
"Old Wei's got a real teacher's heart after all." Su Chen was genuinely touched.
Back in his dorm, an academy staff member showed up promptly — internal affairs division, a person of few words, strictly business. One hand delivered the goods, the other collected payment.
The man counted the gold coins, gave a blank stare, and left.
Su Chen downed the Blood-Activating Potion in one gulp. A swelling warmth flooded through his body. He launched into a savage training session.
The Molten Stone Forging Method's progress inched upward. Under the stimulation of the Blood-Activating Potion and the Scholar's passive boost, proficiency climbed at a visible rate.
Early the next morning—
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Su Chen's eyes snapped open. A slip of paper had been slid under the door.
He opened the door and caught only a fleeting shadow disappearing around the stairwell landing.
"A note?" Su Chen looked down, shutting the door behind him. He wrapped his hand in the Shadow Evasion Cloak, held his breath, and carefully unfolded it. A single line of small text read:
"If you don't want Bai Fengxi's secret to come out, come find me behind Mingguang Building."
??
Su Chen blinked. 'Bai Fengxi's secret — but why threaten me instead of her?'
'Zhou buddy, this is definitely you.' Su Chen burned the note and went back to training.
Since he'd resorted to threats, it meant he was the desperate one. Su Chen was in no rush.
Besides, Bai Fengxi didn't seem to care much about this anyway.
Two hours later, another knock came. Another note. This time with different wording—
"We can talk. You've come too far to throw it all away for someone else."
"What a pest..." Su Chen didn't bother responding.
It wasn't until mid-afternoon that Su Chen's body began to tremble. His heart rate spiked violently. On his crimson-flushed skin, threads of molten-gold patterns spread across the surface. Sweat evaporated into white mist, the entire room's temperature climbing.
[Molten Stone Forging Method — Proficient: 1%]
"Yes — finally!" Su Chen let out a long exhale. The jump to the proficient stage brought a palpable difference in sensation — training intensity spiked dramatically, which meant class development efficiency had just leveled up as well.
[Void-Rending Warrior: 28%]
Su Chen squeezed his fist. His mood soared.
The advancement condition was fulfilled. The Void-Rending Warrior's second ability materialized on his panel.
[Wind Walk (Passive): Move with the wind. The stronger the wind, the greater the speed boost.]
"Move with the wind?" Su Chen rolled the words around in his mind. He walked to the window and pushed it open. The instant the breeze brushed against his body, that near-weightless sensation intensified dramatically.
"I really want to launch myself out there..." Su Chen stared outside, both legs itching to spring.
......
The artificial light source shifted to an earthy yellow and gradually dimmed. Due to recent circumstances, few students wandered the academy grounds past six in the evening.
In the grove behind Mingguang Building.
"Zhou-bro, the guy's just not coming out. We've already slipped three notes." Several young men stood before Zhou Zong, smiling wryly. "He's probably figured out nothing good awaits him here."
Zhou Zong's expression shifted, his voice cold. "Bai Fengxi, that idiot — Su Chen doesn't care about her at all."
At that thought, he couldn't help but touch the item hidden inside his coat. He'd gone to great lengths to acquire it and had planned to use it to get closer to Bai Fengxi. Instead, all he'd gotten this morning was two rounds of "get out."
"This guy really knows how to play the game, though. First he hooks Jiang He to get into Nanfeng Academy, then he reels in Bai Fengxi." The young men shook their heads in admiration. "Being handsome really does have its perks—"
They trailed off, feeling Zhou Zong's man-eating glare boring into them, and promptly shut their mouths.
"Maybe our notes were too subtle," someone ventured, changing the subject. "Zhou-bro, want to turn up the heat?"
Zhou Zong frowned and waved them off with a cold gesture. "Leave."
They exchanged glances and filed out. He had no patience for them.
"Refugee — that identity is going to be a ticking time bomb. As long as I have it in my grip, Bai Fengxi will always have a weakness." Zhou Zong's eyes narrowed as he murmured. His father was also one of the academy's vice-principals and knew that Bai Fengxi's background was more complex than it appeared.
His expression hardened with resolve. "Su Chen, I don't believe you'll—"
Before he could finish, a familiar burst of agony exploded at the back of his skull. Everything went dark. He lost consciousness.
"Who's there?" From the distance, a pair of eyes contracted sharply, locking onto the prone figure on the ground.
This had been his carefully selected mark — a person of status. He'd already hidden the item on this boy. Today, he'd planned to make his escape.
But mid-afternoon, the mark had sneaked off to this remote patch of wilderness. Several Supervision guards had come by to question him, only to be waved off by his authority.
The watcher didn't know what the mark was up to. To avoid complications, he'd followed at a safe distance.
And then he'd watched someone crack the mark over the head with a club. In the shadows, a blurred silhouette gradually shimmered into view.
'My injuries are this bad? I didn't even sense the attacker approaching.' His expression soured. He pressed a hand against his chest, where a dull ache throbbed.
"Good buddy..." Su Chen rode the wind to Zhou Zong's side and stared down at the crumpled figure. "Don't let me down."
He hadn't originally planned to come. But then he'd remembered the windfall from last time, and on the when-in-doubt-shake-the-tree principle, he'd decided to swing by.
The Void-Rending Warrior was no joke — his speed had roughly tripled. Combined with the Shadow Evasion Cloak, he was practically a ghost.
Su Chen worked fast, rifling through Zhou Zong's belongings with practiced efficiency.
"Oh?" His eyebrows climbed. In his hand were four potion vials — two red, two blue.
The red ones he recognized immediately: the same blood-red hue — Blood-Activating Potions.
"Rejuvenation Potion — why does he have these?" Su Chen remembered now. These stimulated mental activity. Even pricier than Blood-Activating Potions — seven hundred gold per vial after the discount.
"Into the pockets they go..." Su Chen stowed the haul.
Then, out of habit, he stripped the man's clothes. But as he was bundling them up, something felt off.
"Something about this coat..." Su Chen ran his fingers over the fabric. When he'd folded it, there was clearly an irregularity somewhere.
He found the spot quickly — in a hidden compartment on the right side of the lining, along the abdomen. Something was concealed inside.
"Hidden this deep — has to be something good." Interest piqued, Su Chen carefully peeled it open. Inside lay a palm-sized, paper-thin... metal sheet?
It was smooth and warm to the touch, inscribed with rows of intricate symbols that shifted and morphed continuously. A single glance made Su Chen's head swim.
But the panel reacted—
[Special class discovered — Spatial Storage Adept. Complete the initiation requirements to take this class.]
[Initiation Requirement 1: One spatial crystallization.]
[Initiation Requirement 2: Pass through a spatial rift.]
[Initiation Requirement 3: Must be at least a pinnacle second-tier mental-type professional.]