That blood-drenched figure was the soul of Tian Huaiyi. Bowing in deep gratitude to his master's kindness and stating that his last wish was fulfilled now that he had failed to protect Shen Yusheng, a lingering reluctance filled his heart, yet reined in by the netherworld's power, he was dragged toward the underworld.
"Huaiyi!"
Fu Leisheng cried out, springing abruptly to his feet and gazing all around. He saw neither ghost winds nor a blood-soaked Tian Huaiyi, surmising that he must have dozed off while reading without realizing it.
After all, the master's texts were terribly dreary.
What one thinks by day, one dreams by night. I always worried that Huaiyi would sell out Shen Yusheng for the sake of high office and generous emoluments.
He silently mocked himself. Back when Tian Huaiyi was under his tutelage, he was the naughtiest, most mischievous student who gave him the biggest headache; he never studied properly during class, always fond of playing with the hair of the female student sitting in front of him, which would end up making the girl cry.
He would summon her parents and give Tian Huaiyi a sound thrashing.
He never practiced his spellcasting properly either, striking here and missing there, fishing for three days and drying nets for two.
Yet the boy possessed a certain cleverness, picking up everything very quickly and rarely forgetting once he learned, drawing inferences about other things from one single instance.
Later, Tian Huaiyi passed the county examination and received a divine gift of a divine embryo. Because it was a third-rank Dou Kui Divine Embryo, it already counted as a formidable divine embryo in the county town. Fearing someone would come to snatch it, he guarded Tian Huaiyi day and night.
At that time, Chen Shi's divine embryo had just