A month passed after my "final lesson" (though I suspected I would see Master again during near-death situations at opportune timings of the clueless author's choosing), and I had stopped trying to spar with my classmates. Instead, I focused on purifying my qi and mastering the breathing methods and qi manipulation techniques of Heaven and Earth Formula.

Ironically, the Iron Mountain Sect, Dark Shadow Sect and others who desired the Heaven and Earth Formula had long ago given up on the idea that I had learned it, and had given up on interrogating me.

Thanks to that, I was able to cultivate and perfect my Heaven and Earth techniques peacefully, without anyone disturbing me. Of course, I kept up my physical regimen. It made no sense to focus solely on meditating and developing qi without strengthening my physical body. I had to do both. Therefore I continued to run thirty kilometers everyday and did three hundred pushups and situps. I was building my stamina and making sure my muscles didn't atrophy.

"Good, good."

Ban Zhang had mistaken my intentions, for he believed that I had taken his advice and chosen not to challenge my classmates after teaching me about harsh reality and the overwhelming difference between us.

He was wrong.

The only reason why I didn't challenge them was because I had found a new training method. Before I succeeded in purifying my qi to the point where I could discharge power enough to rival their one sexagenary of qi with volatile and pure enough qi, it was pointless trying to fight. I would only get beaten up for nothing.

It was far better to focus on purifying my qi first.

"Huff..huff.."

Holding my hand out, I tried to gather more qi to it. Not my own qi, but also the environmental qi. If I could manipulate the surrounding qi and direct its flow, I could trigger a clash with my own qi and cause a huge volatile reaction with highly destructive power. Making use of the rich amount of natural qi in the atmosphere would allow me to make up for the lack of sheer quantities of qi when compared to my classmates.

But I still can't do it..

Heaving, I leaned over to cough and catch my breath. I could somewhat maintain a handle on the atmosphere, but not for long. While I could manipulate minute amounts of natural qi, it wasn't enough to fight my classmates. At least not yet.

Well, it is an improvement, at least..

Compared to when I couldn't influence the surrounding qi before, I had finally taken the first step to bridging the gap with my classmates. It would be a slow, painful, time-consuming process, but it could be done.

I had to get it done.

"Ugh.."

Slumping down in exhaustion, I decided to retire for the day and instead move on to the next part of my exercise. Returning to my dormitory room, I had a shower, and then headed to the center of my single room.

Located right at the center of my room was a single water filtration machine. I didn't actually purchase it, though. After I woke up from my encounter with Master, I went to the cafeteria the next day to ask if they had a spare one that I could use. As luck would have it, they were about to throw out an old one, and I requisitioned it for my own use.

Consequently, the machine ended up in a corner of my room, but I would always drag it to the center whenever I began my image training.

"Huu.."

Taking a deep breath, I sat down cross-legged in front of the water filtration machine and closed my eyes. Listening to the water drip through the filter, I began visualizing my qi as water and attempted to purify it through the filter that took the form of my Heaven and Earth breathing methods and qi control techniques.

Am I doing this the right way?

Master did say this would take me some time to master. I couldn't get impatient.

But..without any visible sign of progress, it is frustrating. I don't even know if I'm doing this correctly or not..

Gritting my teeth, I tried to suppress my impatience and frustration. Focus on filtering my qi. Focus on purifying my qi. That was all I needed to think about right now. Not my progress, not catching up to my classmates.

Just..purifying my qi.

"!"

Was it just me or was my room getting colder?

My eyes sprang open and my jaw dropped when I saw the thin layer of frost coating my room. Apparently, at some point during my cultivation, my qi had grown pure enough that my attempts triggered a reaction.

And now the temperature of the room had plummeted, to the point where the water vapor in the air condensed into ice upon the surface.

Well, that's one visible sign of improvement, at least.

In the past, I would never have been able to pull this off. I should feel a little relieved and elated at this.

"Keep going," I told myself as I calmed my excitement. This was just the beginning. Despite reaching a milestone, this still wasn't enough to challenge my spiritually superior classmates. Not yet. I had some way to go.

Closing my eyes, I resumed the purification of my qi.

*

"Hey, Fei Wu! Are you doing all right?"

As usual, Zhu Jiao came up to check on me. I nodded.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"No, I'm leaving the academy today to train." He hesitated a little, and I knew he wanted to ask me to come along, but his master most likely forbade it.

It was funny. Over a year ago, Zhu Jiao met his master, who was a ghost (hey, we did have something in common). Qi Lin had instructed Zhu Jiao to keep his existence a secret, and the disciple had obeyed fervently. The amusing thing was that I knew about Qi Lin taking Zhu Jiao as his disciple, and about their attempts to resurrect the Golden Kirin Sect, but they didn't know that I did. As such, they continued to live under the illusion that no one had found out about their little secret when, truthfully, I had known about it for about a year now.

Talk about having the protagonist's privilege.

If I told Zhu Jiao that I knew his secret, I might be able to follow him, but I didn't want to get him into trouble with his master, so I merely feigned ignorance and nodded.

"Sure. Good luck!'

"Thanks! But.."

Zhu Jiao regarded me worriedly. I knew what he was worried about.

Ever since the lab was unable to customize artificial qi appropriate for me, Zhu Jiao had stayed by my side, almost as if clinging to me like glue. Superficially, it seemed like we were best friends hanging out with each other, but I knew deep down that Zhu Jiao was watching out for me. Currently, I was at my most vulnerable, and thus an easy target for bullies. Zhu Jiao went out of his way to escort me around the academy until after the school hours were over and we were forced to go our separate ways for our respective afternoon training schedules. Afternoons were considered safe for me because the bullies would have to return to their respective sects to formally train under their masters, and thus couldn't hang around too long in the academy.

At least the students in the academy had masters to learn from, unlike most weird wuxia stories where the protagonists and his cohort joined a sect for no good reason other than the prestige of that sect. the masters and elders there never taught the disciples anything, and had this weird inner sect disciple and outer sect disciple system that made no sense. Maybe the protagonist and his batch joined the sects for prestige alone, and the vast resources that the sects provided for cultivation, but even these resources had to be earned. And when they did earn these resources – whether it was I the form of spirit pills and medicine, martial arts techniques, weapons and armaments, or private rooms and training facilities – they were left to their own devices and essentially told to learn on their own. No guidance, no teaching, no advice or whatsoever from the masters and elders residing in the sect. it made me wonder what the masters' jobs even were, other than "managing" the sect, officiating tournaments and overseeing matches.

It sounded extremely capitalistic, and not only do students have to pay for their own education and resources, the teachers were clearly slacking off from their jobs while receiving tuition fees from the already poor, deprived students. The systems in those novels made no sense whatsoever, but I guess writers had to conceive of ways to make their protagonists special snowflakes by having them isolated from the other characters, train on their own, make breakthroughs on their own, and thus surprise their cohort who had no idea of the protagonist's progress even though they were all supposedly training under the same masters or same sect.

At least Wu Ling Academy's system made more sense.

"Hello? Fei Wu? You listening?"

I snapped out of my mental rant when Zhu Jiao's voice broke into my thoughts. I blinked, and then shook my head.

"Sorry, I'm drifting off a little. What were you saying?"

"I was telling you to make sure you're not alone on school grounds." Zhu Jiao glanced around cautiously. "There are a few people looking for a chance to target you now that you haven't received any artificial qi. Be careful."

"I know." I subtly followed Zhu Jiao's gaze and glanced at Qi Fu Ren and his flunkies through the corner of my eyes. "Qi Fu Ren, especially."

"So you know about that." Zhu Jiao narrowed his eyes. "The guy seems to have recovered his severed spirit vessels in his arms and healed up fully..they say he got even stronger. There are rumors that he has been going around beating people up and..absorbing their qi."

"What?"

My eyes widened. Absorbing qi? Wasn't that the specialty of the Heaven and Earth Sect? Did other sect have similar martial arts techniques?

"Well, it's just rumors," Zhu Jiao assured me as he forced a smile. "I'm sure it has been exaggerated. You know how Qi Fu Ren is."

"I do, indeed." I nodded in agreement, but didn't add, "which is why I'm so worried.."

"Student Fei Wu!"

I glanced up at Teacher Jiao, who was beckoning for me to go over. I glanced at Zhu Jiao, who nodded.

"Yeah, I've to go anyway. See you then."

"See you."

I then proceeded to Teacher Jiao, who then led me to the staff room. Taking his seat, he then spun his office chair around to face me.

"How's your progress?" he asked. "I know that the lab was unable to customize and synthesize the appropriate artificial qi for you, but.."

He let the words trail off. I nodded.

"It's all right."

"I see." Teacher Jiao steepled his fingers on the desk. "But I also heard that you've not been to the library to borrow new techniques for a while now. And you've also stopped sparring with your classmates for about a month."

"Yeah."

Teacher Jiao studied me when I didn't elaborate. He then sighed. "I assume you found a technique?"

I smiled. "Is it really that obvious?"

The immense relief on Teacher Jiao's face was palpable. He gaped at me for a moment, forgetting to breathe, then shut his mouth and inhaled deeply. He gazed at me with wide, disbelieving eyes, and finally mustered the audacity to ask.

"You found a master?"

"Uh, well.." I scratched my head, not sure how to explain this. "Sort of, but he's dead, so I'm learning by myself most of the time. Right now I'm learning a very complex technique, which is why I haven't been to the library to find new techniques for so long."

"Good. Very good." Teacher Jiao was nodding in approval and relief. "The principal was at a loss at what to do when he found out about your situation. But I assured you that you'll find a way to overcome it. You've proven yourself before, on more than one occasion, and you're an intelligent and resourceful guy. If there's anyone who can conquer this handicap, it would be you."

Normally I would deny it because it was completely false, but in this instance he was right. As Fate would have it, I did stumble across a golden chance that would allow me to rise from despair and tackle the obstacles that life threw in my way.

Ah, the privilege of being a special snowflake protagonist. At least I was aware of it, unlike Li Fu Chen or a bunch of other wuxia protagonists who unquestioningly receive blessings and freebies from the author with every breath they took.

"Well..I'm going to practice now, if you don't mind.."

"Sure. Just give me a report on your progress. Anything, to keep the principal satisfied." Teacher Jiao's eyes narrowed into slits as he shook his head in disapproval. Obviously he wasn't a big fan of the academy's highly utilitarian policies. They might hide it under the veneer of meritocracy, but the harsh reality was that only the students who showed results were allowed to stay and benefit from the academy's significant resources.

"Oh.." I couldn't help but smirk. "Tell the Principal that if he is willing to wait, he'll get what he wants soon enough."

"That.." Teacher Jiao held his breath, not daring to believe the words that came out of my mouth. "Are you working on restoring the Heaven and Earth Formula? Did you manage to find something, after all?"

I merely smiled. "I didn't say that."

Teacher Jiao shook his head in disbelief. "You never cease to amaze me. All right, I won't keep you then. Do your best!"

I saluted sharply, then strode out of the staff room. Taking a deep breath, I proceeded toward the dormitory in preparation for my afternoon training. Usually Zhu Jiao would wait for me so that we could go to the dorm together, but today he had other plans.

So I ended up returning to the dormitory by myself today. As I proceeded toward the courtyard, I suddenly stopped when I realized that there was someone trailing me.

Coming to a stop, I waited patiently, noting that the trio who shadowed me had also halted. Scratching at my cheek, I turned around and cocked my head.

"You don't have to hide. I know you're following me."

"Oh..busted."

Qi Fu Ren slyly slid out from behind a marble statue. On either side of him, Hu Shuo and Ba Dao slunk out of the trees that they were using as ineffective hiding places. I swear, I could see their arms and hair poking out from behind the tree.

"So you knew that we were tailing you all along."

"You didn't even bother to conceal your qi presence," I pointed out. "Even a blind guy would be able to spot you."

"Ho..I'm impressed. I never thought you would be capable of sensing the qi of other people." Qi Fu Ren laughed mockingly.

I scowled, but didn't rise to the bait. Not wanting to waste any time, I went straight to the point.

"What do you want?"

"Do you really not know?" Qi Fu Ren chortled. "I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out, being the class brain and all."

To be honest, I already suspected that his intentions lay in fighting the moment he was secretly stalking me with his flunkies.

Sighing, I waved toward the coliseum building. "If you want to fight, you're free to challenge me to an official match."

"Now, now..where's the fun in doing that?"

Qi Fu Ren's grin was growing broader. My scowl deepened. I knew it. This guy was up to no good. If he didn't want to challenge me to an official match, then this confrontation could only mean one thing.

Perhaps the rumors about him stealing other people's qi was true after all.

No, but I would be the last person he would want to steal qi from..

Firstly, I had too little qi to be sufficient for any significant boost of his strength. Secondly, from Qi Fu Ren's stalker-ish behavior and personality, I knew he only had one thing in mind. Revenge. All else was secondary.

"It's more fun this way!"

"Fun? Really?" I couldn't help but sound skeptical and glanced around. "But there's no one except your lackeys to witness this fight."

"So?" Qi Fu Ren scowled as he glared at me, not comprehending. I groaned and threw my hands up in exaggerated exasperation

"Don't you get it? It's the trope of every wuxia or xianxia story! Whenever the antagonist beats up the protagonist, he must have a crowd to witness it!"

"What crowd?" Hu Shuo demanded, confused.

"You know! The crowd!" I yelled in mock exasperation. "In every xianxia story, there's always this stupid crowd who has no role other than to crowd around the protagonist and watch him fight. They're always there to make stupid and ignorant comments, like 'ha ha ha, what a weak idiot who overestimates his strength! He will never beat the antagonist! The antagonist will crush him and teach him a lesson! The poor idiot, he's going to die. He deserves it for being stupid and overestimating his strength.' Then, after the protagonist utterly destroys the antagonist in the most effortless way possible, the fickle crowd will change their opinion as quickly as a prostitute discarding her panties and start praising the protagonist. Like, 'whoa, the protagonist won! Look how awesome he is! He is so talented and powerful that he can instantly kill the antagonist!' Then a new antagonist will arrive, and once again the fickle crowd will drop their pants and kiss the new antagonist's ass, their opinion resetting again to 'the protagonist is trash and is stupid for provoking the new antagonist and his powerful clan, he's going to get wiped. He's going to be killed this time for sure!' Only for the protagonist to repeat the whole process again and get praised to the high heavens by the brainless crowd once more."

"..uh, what?" Ba Dao replied blankly once I finished ranting.

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" Qi Fu Ren bellowed. "Stop rambling on and on about nonsense that has absolutely nothing to do with me!"

"Oh, but it has everything to do with you," I replied with a smirk. "After all, you're the antagonist of a xianxia story.

"SHUT UP!"

Qi Fu Ren snapped and he launched himself at me, his fury ignited by the truth. Such was his massive speed that he left a wake of destruction in the concrete trail, throwing up rubble and dust in the air as he sped across the courtyard. I almost didn't dodge in time.

Boom!

"Huff!"

Even though I avoided that huge first attack, Qi Fu Ren immediately followed up with a second attack, delivering an uppercut that would have taken my head off my shoulders if it connected. Though I managed to take a step back, the resulting shockwave from his punch, combined with static electricity, blasted me off my feet.

He has gotten so much more powerful!

Stunned, I rolled on the ground and threw myself up before Qi Fu Ren could crush me with his feet. His landing pulverized the ground, leaving a smoking crater that crackled with electricity, and he turned his leering face at me as I spun in midair and landed on the ground. Heaving, I rose to my feet and glared at him.

This guy..he was really trying to kill me! No wonder he didn't bother with an official match. He didn't want Teacher Cai Pan to get in his way.

What the hell is wrong with this fella? I wondered. Is he seriously trying to murder a classmate in cold blood..? Oh.

Yes. This wasn't without precedent. How stupid of me. It had been almost a year and I almost forgot about it.

This bastard was the one who tried to kill me back in Sen Lin Forest almost a year ago. Hurling a lightning bolt at me when I was fleeing from the Behemoth and causing me to fall into the endless abyss along with the gargantuan monster..

Clenching my fists, I straightened myself and glared at him.

"What's the matter?!" Qi Fu Ren hollered with laughter as he leaped at me again, smashing the ground as he swung a vicious lightning hook at me. His Lightning Fist didn't connect, but I could feel my face growing numb from just being in the proximity, the sheer amount of static electricity saturating the air. I could see the golden currents of qi fly about.

"!"

Ducking another Lightning Punch, I was then forced to parry a kick. Qi Fu Ren's foot slammed into my crossed arms with devastating force, lifting me off my feet and sending me flying several dozen meters backward. Even though I managed to land on the ground before crashing into a tree or statue, I was unable to halt my momentum. Skidding backward, my shoes grew red-hot as I left twin trails of destruction in the ground.

"Huff.."

"Come on! Attack me! Don't let this be so one-sided!"

Qi Fu Ren's voice was full of scorn and derision. He obviously believed that I would never be able to land a hit on him, and he was taunting me, hoping I would grow enraged, lose my calm and recklessly attack him.

I wasn't that stupid, though.

"Come on, come on!'

Realizing that I wasn't taking the bait, Qi Fu Ren launched himself toward me again. I dove and rolled away as he obliterated the spot where I was standing. Rolling to my feet, I ducked under another Lightning Punch.

This time, I saw an opening and I lashed out with a kick.

"What's this?"

Qi Fu Ren didn't even bother to block. Despite my Shadow Kick scoring a clean hit against the side of his face, he merely grinned, unfazed and completely unscathed.

"Are you trying to tickle me?"

He swung a meaty fist toward me, launching electricity in my direction, but I managed to pull away in time. Qi Fu Ren then swept his leg under me to trip me up, but I bounced up and cracked his head with a Lunar Rabbit kick this time. However, as before, Qi Fu Ren was completely unaffected by my roundhouse kick and retaliated fiercely.

"Whoa!"

Fortunately, I managed to dodge and withdrew to a safe distance.

"Huff..huff.."

Studying Qi Fu Ren, I noticed the amount of qi swirling around him. As expected of someone who had received a sexagenary of artificial qi. The volume of qi they could call upon was enormous, especially when compared to someone like me, who didn't receive anything at all.

"?"

However, Qi Fu Ren's qi wasn't the only one I noticed. I realized I could see a lot of other qi in the atmosphere, flowing around gently.

Time to put the Heaven and Earth Formula into practice.

This was the perfect chance to try my Heaven and Earth techniques out, against a detestable opponent, no less. Taking a deep breath, I began drawing the surrounding qi toward me and carefully and gradually manipulating their flow. Starting out with slight alterations, I gently nudged them to flow in one direction, and exerted my influence on their currents.

"What are you doing?"

Qi Fu Ren glared at me, then lunged forward. Fortunately, I had not forgotten my footwork techniques – which was the only reason why I could keep up with Qi Fu Ren in the first place – and used Tui again, retreating to a safe distance.

"You..!"

Noticing that something was amiss, Qi Fu Ren spun around furiously and launched himself at me once again. But, as before, I moved my feet and seemingly disappeared, only to reappear a large distance away.

"This..!"

..was Tui, one of the five basic footwork techniques, but I had no intention of telling him that. I continued drawing more qi toward me and manipulating their currents, knowing that the quantity I had under my control right now was insufficient.

"Bastard..don't think I can catch you!"

Qi Fu Ren's next move surprised me. Spreading his arms, he conjured a massive hail of black lightning bolts and then launched the barrage of deadly projectiles in my direction.

No choice but to use Duo.

I evaded the ferocious lightning bolts, which detonated powerfully as they struck the ground with tremendous force. Each packed enough strength to obliterate me if they were on target, but I was too busily running zigzags to avoid them that I didn't pay much attention to the imposing thoughts of certain death.

Then I appeared behind Qi Fu Ren, ready to counterattack.

"You think I'll fall for that?!"

Evidently Qi Fu Ren still remembered the last time we fought, spinning around in anticipation of me appearing behind his back. I had to hand it to him, as vicious, tyrannical and abusive as Qi Fu Ren was, he was no idiot.

Roaring triumphantly, Qi Fu Ren swung a Lightning Flash in my direction, pulverizing everything in front of him.

"Hah! Serve you right!"

Laughing boisterously, Qi Fu Ren admired his handiwork. But his glee lasted all of ten seconds.

"?!"

He realized that something was amiss..that there was no sign of my body. A chill ran down his body and he glanced up, only to see me plant a foot on his face,

Seismic Step.

The ground under Qi Fu Ren shattered under the sheer force of my attack, but even with his face concealed by the sole of my shoe, I could see Qi Fu Ren grin.

"Gotcha."

He grabbed my ankle and electrocuted me, causing me to shriek and flail about. Pulling me off his face, he then swung me around like a punt before throwing me far away. I crashed through the courtyard and smashed into the ground, almost buried alive in a crater.

"Gah..ugh..!"

Coughing, I tried to rise to my feet, only to fall again. Blood dribbled out of my mouth and I lay sprawled on the ground, completely winded by the devastating attack.

"Heh..how weak. Can't even withstand a single attack."

Qi Fu Ren was shaking his head as he studied me mockingly, closing the distance between us before planting a foot on my back.

"It's time to destroy your dantian and cripple you..forever."

He then increased the pressure, only for his foot to go through an illusion. The "me" lying on the ground disappeared, dispersing into nothingness as he stomped on me.

"What?!"

"Oh, how scary, how scary."

I had managed to use Yin to trick Qi Fu Ren and escape. Panting and holding my side as I wheezed in pain from the earlier attack, I watched him warily.

That single attack caused a significant amount of damage. Not only that, it seems that the amount of qi I gathered from the environment isn't enough..

Either that or my qi wasn't pure enough.

What should I do?

Gritting my teeth, I began enacting evasive maneuvers as Qi Fu Ren continued to pursue me. Even as I dodged, dove and jumped, I continued to draw more and more qi toward me, so much so that I could see a sea of qi whirling around me.

It was almost as if I had been sucked into a whirlpool of qi.

But is this enough?

I risked closing my eyes briefly and visualized my qi. Purify it. Purify my qi some more. As much as I could while being under assault, anyway.

Like Master said, purify my qi to the extent where I can unleash a powerful enough reaction by clashing the volatile qi together!

Whoosh!

I ducked under Qi Fu Ren's Lightning Fist, and then hopped back to avoid his Thunder Break. Spinning around, I disappeared the moment he unleashed Lightning Flash and demolished the fountain in the courtyard.

Not yet..

Another hail of lightning bolts slammed down on my position, and I ran through them, darting and weaving under the rain of deadly projectiles and doing my best not to get hit by even one of them. Even as I did so, I continued to tap into the qi surrounding me, siphoning even the electric qi emanated from Qi Fu Ren's technique.

Not yet..

"DIE!"

With a roar, Qi Fu Ren slammed both fists into the ground, discharging an enormous volume of electricity into the earth and turning the entire courtyard into an electrified cage. Both Hu Shuo and Ba Dao jumped back, escaping to the edges of the courtyard to prevent themselves from being caught by their leader's area-of-effect attack.

Now!

Disappearing from the ground, I reappeared behind Qi Fu Ren to kick me. Again, he countered, only for his fist to swipe through air and my figure to blur and fizzle out in front of his eyes.

"Where are you?!" he bellowed.

"Right here."

Barely did the words leave my mouth than I planted my foot on his face for the second time and used Seismic Step.

However, this time I channeled my purified qi and ignited it with the enormous whirlpool of environmental qi that I had drawn from the surroundings, clashing the two volatile seas of qi together to trigger a devastating attack that detonated with the force of a supernova.

A proto Heaven and Earth Strike, if you will.

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This time, Qi Fu Ren's face turned into horror and disbelief before he disappeared in a blinding flash. The explosion caused by me colliding the two pure, volatile qi together engulfed the whole courtyard and erased its existence from the academy.

And within the center of the brilliant, white inferno, an invisible Qi Fu Ren screamed in agony.