After I had settled everything for the mission, the only thing left was to gather reliable teammates. Right now, only four (including me) had signed up for it. By asking around, I discovered that they were Zi Sha, Yi Ding Si and Jiu Bu Liao. Just from hearing the names of my new teammates, I already knew that this did not bode well for our mission.

With Zhu Jiao busy on his mission with Bai Ning Xue and the White Tiger Sect, no doubt getting treasures from the tomb they were exploring, I was left with no other recourse. The only people I trusted were my fellow disciples from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.

"Tong Xue, are you guys available?" I asked him when I saw him in the classroom the next day. If he was in the classroom, then it meant he wasn't off participating in the mission like the conspicuously absent Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue. Of course, that meant nothing. Even though I was still attending class, I was already committed to the mission in the Toxic Marshes to exterminate the Black Venom Cult. Similarly, Tong Xue could have another commitment to another mission a few days from now.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Tong Xue turned to me, stupefied. Lian Rou came over when I glanced at her, curious.

"What's going on?"

"I'm participating in an academy mission, and I'm hoping for more members. It's supposed to be a 10-men mission, but right now we only have 4. I can barely fit the quota as it is, and I don't know who the other teammates are."

"Oh? What mission?" Tong Xue looked interested. I briefly told him, as well as informed him of the names of my would-be teammates.

"Eliminating the Black Venom Cult in the Toxic Marshes inside Sen Lin Forest, huh? Sounds interesting. Count me in." Tong Xue nodded. He didn't seem very enthusiastic but he wasn't very eager to let me run off to such a dangerous mission on my own either. Furthermore, he seemed to harbor a dislike of the Black Venom Cult.

That was naturally. Those sects who practiced poison arts were usually perceived as demonic, and most orthodox martial artists hated them. Hell, even demonic sects hated them, because their methods tended to be despicable and deadly.

Fortunately, I had full immunity to poisons and toxins thanks to Heaven and Earth Formula, and failing that, the stuff I gained from the Hellfire Badger so long ago.

"I wish to join as well." Lian Rou spoke up. The both of us stared at her, and she smiled. "My knowledge of poisons and how to treat them should prove veery useful. My family grew up near the Toxic Marshes, so I'm familiar with the area and the creatures that live in there."

"Huh? Really?" I was stunned. Lian Rou scowled.

"Why are you so surprised? The original character you based me off had a wide knowledge of poisons, didn't she?"

"I didn't know you read Spirit Realm as well." I couldn't help but think about how convenient this development was. Well, as long as it benefited me, I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you!"

"That's my Lian Rou for you." Tong Xue sounded proud. He then checked his smartphone and tablet, running several searches and hacking into the academy's database. I pretended not to see what would amount to an illegal activity. Some things were better off not being known.

After a few moments, Tong Xue looked up with a grimace.

"Zi Sha is from the Death Reaper Sect..not exactly very reliable, and his ranking is pretty low. Seems like he's desperate for credits and gold, which is why he took this mission. But he has failed in every other mission he has taken, unless he had joined a pretty good team."

"We should look out for him," I suggested. Tong Xue and Lian Rou merely stared at me, but didn't agree or disagree.

Instead, Tong Xue swiped the screen of his tablet and read the information of the next teammate.

"Yi Ding Si is known to be quite the unlucky fella. He has quite a few close run-ins with deaths in all his previous missions, always suffering near-fatal injuries. If his teammates didn't save him, he would have died. They complained that he often drags them down."

"That's..not good." I wasn't sure what else to say. Lian Rou looked ill.

"Are we really going to team up with these people?" she asked. "I don't mean to sound rude, but they sound like they're going to be a burden."

"We can't kick them out. That will be against the rules." After reminding Lian Rou that, I turned to Tong Xue. "What about the last one?"

"Jiu Bu Liao? Uh..she's the kind who always needs saving. A lot of her previous teammates whine about how useless she is, and how they always need to abandon the mission to save her. Well, some of them just ended up abandoning her to complete the mission, but she managed to survive thus far. How she did so is a miracle."

"That does not bode well for the chances of our mission," Lian Rou muttered. "We might as well write them off."

"We'll see how it goes." I refused to be too harsh on our new teammates. I was like them once, always having bad luck and almost dying. If they needed help, I would gladly help them at the expense of the mission.

The lives of my comrades were more important than success or whatever.

"I'm glad we're joining you." Tong Xue's expression was darkening by the minute as he shared a knowing glance with Lian Rou. "I would hate to leave you alone with these people."

"I appreciate it." Deciding not to argue over people I didn't know, I just bowed gratefully.

*

After classes ended, we returned to our dorm rooms for preparation. Even though I told them that I had brought along antidotes of my own, Lian Rou insisted on getting her own local antidotes, because she was well-versed in the venomous creatures inhabiting the area, and how best to counteract their toxins.

I was glad she was coming along.

"Okay..what should I do now?"

With nothing to do, I flopped down on my bed, only to notice something that I had forgotten for so many months.

"That's..!"

The martial arts manual I had obtained from the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb all that time ago. I had completely forgotten about it, thanks to Ling Qing Zhu's situation, and all the stupid cliché things with Liang Shao Yang, plus the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect's circumstances where we were invaded by the Martial Arts Alliance shortly after I triggered a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars. With so many things happening all at once, the martial arts manual had completely slipped my mind. And why wouldn't it? I had all the battle-automata to occupy my attention, after all.

"Huh? What technique is this?"

It was like nothing I had ever seen. The name sounded grand, the Chinese characters spelled over its cover like some outstanding decoration. Nine Heavens Annihilation Strike. Yup, definitely some fearsome-sounding technique indeed.

"Should I learn it?"

The moment I opened the manual, my surroundings slipped away and I found myself falling endlessly through darkness. Everything around me was so black that I couldn't see anything, even if I extended my Heaven and Earth senses. It was as if I had been swallowed by a black hole and was being crushed inside its never-ending wormhole or something.

"Hah!"

Gasping, I clawed at the air..no, was it the void? I didn't know what was going on, or why I had ended up here. Okay, maybe I did. I had opened the ancient martial arts manual that the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner had tucked away inside his coffin, after all.

As I said before, martial arts manuals were essentially Spirit Artifacts, with the text inscribed within them considered complex Spirit Diagrams. That was why they were capable of such mysterious phenomenon, such as dragging me into their Spirit World.

"Bloody hell..no wonder it has such a name."

I suddenly understood why there was completely nothing, why I was surrounded by a never-ending void.

It was because everything had been annihilated! The technique truly lived up to its name – anyone who mastered it would gain the power to annihilate the nine heavens!

"Holy Throne.."

I shook my head, even as I desperately flailed at the air in a futile attempt to stop myself from falling. Even if I knew that, how could I use that knowledge to get me out of this phenomenon and claim mastery over the manual?

Taking a deep breath, I drew Shadow Fox, because I somehow still had Snow Aegis and all my items with me when I fell into the Spirit World, and stabbed the void.

Screeeeee!

To my surprise, the black blade made a screeching sound as it vanished into something, almost as if it had just plunged into something tangible and physical. I shuddered to a stop. Swinging about my sword, I then kicked against an imaginary wall, only for my feet to go through nothingness. It was almost as if Shadow Fox had cut space itself, rather than an invisible wall.

Fortunately, it seemed as if I had stopped fighting, having jerked to a halt. Well, I didn't even know if I was falling earlier – the disorientating sensation certainly felt as if I was plummeting forever into nothingness, but that disorientation stopped the moment I planted Shadow Fox into the fabric of space. Swinging from my sword, I tried to kick up and find something to anchor my feet onto – despite stopping my fall, I still felt as if there was no solid ground beneath my feet, and had the feeling that I was dangling over a bottomless pit.

"What's going on?"

Frowning, I continued to dangle dangerously over dangerous space. Gripping Shadow Fox with both hands, I tried to raise myself up, but I still couldn't find any foothold or anything to relieve that sensation of hanging onto a thin thread.

"What if I try this?"

An idea popped to mind, and I infused my Shadow Sword with my qi. Unleashing it in an explosive burst, I tore through the fabric of space, widening the hole I had ripped through earlier, and swung my sword down.

"?"

A flash of bright light blinded me for a moment, and I hit the ground before rolling. Blinking and trying to make sense of my new surroundings, I slowly stood up with my sword at the ready. Reaching into Snow Aegis, I produced Azure Lotus Sword as well.

What I saw surprised me.

This time, I was no longer left dangling in the void, but instead I was at the foot of many mountains. Nine mountains, so tall that they piered the heavens. The sky itself was suffused in a warm, yellowish glow, almost like the time of sunrise.

So I passed the first stage, huh? This must be the second stage.

Glancing around, I studied the mountains in hopes of finding a way out of this Spirit World. Only by emerging from the Spirit World would I be able to master the technique.

"You honestly want to learn a new technique?"

"Eh?"

I spun around at the unexpected voice. To my astonishment, Master was floating in front of me, his ghost as transparent as ever.

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"Master?"

"In a fashion," Master responded with a gruff smile. "I'm not real. I'm a product of your mind, actually, something produced based on your subconscious interacting with the Spirit World that this martial arts manual created."

"Okay.." I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but I found that hard to believe. He could even explain this point to me. Wow.

"Martial arts manuals are pretty fascinating things," the illusion of Master explained. "They can produce mystical effects and create new phenomenon. Producing something like me isn't that strange. It's not as if they brought me to life, or brought my ghost back. Martial arts manuals are meant to aid your path toward enlightenment, and to this end they will adopt various strategies. If it involves taking the form of your master, then they will do it."

"Right." I wasn't sure how to respond, but there was no reason for the martial arts manual to lie to me. Rather, it made sense. That was the whole point of martial arts manual – to assist in my understanding of a martial arts technique. The way they did that was through a myriad of methods, whether appearing as my master or not.

Master smiled when I finally accepted that, then suddenly bellowed furiously.

"Are you an idiot?!"

"Huh?" I gaped at him. Even though I knew he wasn't real, and merely an illusion, that didn't mean I was capable of arguing with him. Master sighed and shook his head.

"Remember my first question to you? You honestly want to learn a new technique?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, confused. Master glared at me.

"You haven't even finished learning Heaven and Earth Strike, and you want to learn this Nine Heavens Annihilation Strike? Aren't you a few hundred years too early?"

"..oh." I finally got what he meant, and looked a little sheepish. "Sorry."

"What's the use of apologizing?" Master snapped. "Get out of here. Only when you've learned Heaven and Earth Strike will I permit you to open this martial arts manual again."

"I understand." This was the martial arts manual's way of telling me I wasn't worthy. All true, of course. I couldn't just half-heartedly learn a technique and abandon it halfway before I finished mastering it for a new technique. I should focus on one thing at a time. I hadn't finished Heaven and Earth Strike yet and already I was jumping for new techniques. Then something else occurred to me. "Will you be able to teach me Heaven and Earth Strike?"

"Are you stupid?" Master placed his hands on his hips. "Read the cover. This is Nine Heavens Annihilation Strike. Not Heaven and Earth Strike. What makes you think this manual will be able to teach you Heaven and Earth Strike?"

"I see." Even so, there was still something nagging at the corner of my mind, and I frowned. There was something about Master's words that continued to bother me. "Then why do you know about Heaven and Earth Strike?"

"Because it's related." Master smiled myseriously. "You'll figure oout eventually that Heaven and Earth Formula and its techniques are related closely to Nine Heavens Annihilation Strike. In fact, you could say that Heaven and Earth Strike is the prerequisite to learning Nine Heavens Annihilation Strike, just as it is the requirement for learning Heaven and Earth Reversal."

"I see." I nodded, feeling more determined than ever to learn Heaven and Earth Strike. "I'll be back when I master it."

"Don't return until then!" Master snapped. I waved at him idly before putting my swords back in Snow Aegis.

Then I closed my eyes, felt a pull, and found myself back in the material world again.