A moment later
"Bang!"
The instant the standard longsword in Ye Liuyun's hand was knocked away,
Li Xijun casually kicked him into the wall as well. The cushioning material left him in a perfect spread-eagle shape before he thudded onto the classroom floor.
Combined with Ye Liuyun's ancient-style young master outfit, the scene was rather comical.
Yet he instinctively stared blankly at the classroom's starry-sky ceiling and said,
"Two months ago, I could still crush you with my stats—17 meters per second and a punching force of 740 kilograms."
"After the monthly exam, you could indeed track my movements. Neither of us could defeat the other."
"But now, even after reaching Blood Essence Level 8.1, with 18 meters per second and a punching force of 810 kilograms, I still can't beat you even while armed and using swordsmanship."
"I didn't expect you to find time to train an External Skill from the old era, either. You're practically like those old descriptions of experts with skin of bronze and bones of iron. Only my full-force thrusts can hurt you now. Normal light sword moves like slashing, lifting, and sweeping can't break your defense at all."
At that, he could not help letting out a quiet sigh.
"Sigh, if someone had a worse temperament, they would've become your friend on the surface while secretly wishing something happened to you."
"That's why I only have a friend like you."
Li Xijun nodded in agreement.
During the time he had spent with Ye Liuyun, what he appreciated most was the other boy's steady and resolute mindset, like flowing water that never fought to be first.
If this had been his previous life, that mentality would have made him a chosen A-share market investor, the kind destined to crush quantitative trading.
"By the way, when are you planning to start training with weapons? With how quickly you've mastered the True Martial Killing Move Cloud Hand, you should be able to begin the third stage already, right?"
Although the officials never explicitly stated it during the College Entrance Exam martial arts test, everyone had unofficially divided the exam's martial skill standards into four stages.
The first two stages involved training unarmed martial skills represented by the True Martial Thirty-Six Forms. After mastering two True Martial Killing Moves, one could generally score up to 320 points.
The third stage was when one began training with weapons to break past the 320-point limit. Using weapons as an extension, one combined heart, body, and weapon to bring out one's power as fully as possible. The highest possible score was 360 points.
As for the fourth stage, neither Li Xijun nor Ye Liuyun knew more than what Zhang Haifeng had once said: "Man and weapon as one, touching upon Artistic Conception."
It was said that in previous years, some people had even earned full marks by reaching the fourth stage in martial skills and had thus received special admission to Martial Arts University.
"Soon. Within this month." Li Xijun glanced at his True Martial Thirty-Six Forms, which was at 91% proficiency. "Teacher Zhang previously told me to do my best to master the Third Killing Move: Void Shock. There's no need to rush into weapons training yet."
"Mm, Void Shock really does help stimulate the internal organs after Blood Essence Level 9.0 and deeply tap into the physical body's potential. I didn't expect Teacher Zhang to have such high hopes for you back then."
Ye Liuyun knew his own talent. If he could reach Blood Essence Level 9.0, master his martial skills, and enter a decent school in the Nine Schools Alliance, he would count that as success.
But Li Xijun might truly have a chance to challenge the Imperial Capital Two Heavens. Those two top universities both required their students to deeply tap their potential after reaching Blood Essence Level 9.0.
Past facts had also proven that geniuses who reached Levels 9.3 and 9.4
would gain far more during the evolution of their life essence in the Mortal Shedding Realm than those at Level 9.0. Their strength, speed, and physical toughness would all surpass Level 9.0 by a considerable margin.
Those in the Mortal Shedding Realm who possessed ferocious combat strength at the same level and occupied the top ranks of their university years were all geniuses who had deeply tapped their potential beyond Level 9.0 back in high school.
"Then carry an Electromagnetic Handgun when you go to and from school recently."
After Ye Liuyun got up, his lips moved as his voice lowered.
"Disappearances have been happening frequently lately. The missing people started out at Blood Essence Levels 2 and 3, then moved on to Levels 4 and 5. Recently, someone at Level 6 suddenly vanished too."
"The Prevention Bureau suspects the Blood God Cult, but most of its followers were already purged during the Mythic Rift incident. Once a Mortal Shedding Realm cultist acts, traces of their Spiritual Power fluctuations are hard to hide from Outer Scenery Level experts. Teacher Su checked the scene a few days ago and confirmed it wasn't a Mortal Shedding Realm martial artist."
"The uncles at the bureau think there's most likely an extremely powerful Apprentice Realm Blood God Cult follower who has been continuously hunting people to grow stronger and break into the Mortal Shedding Realm."
"Blood God Cult followers in that state will hunt and devour Blood Essence like mad in order to break through."
"The official bounty on this person has already reached one million."
"You should bring a gun when you go to and from school."
Li Xijun nodded slightly at that.
He was currently at Blood Essence Level 7.3. Following that pattern, someone at his level really might be the next target.
Naturally, he took Ye Liuyun's warning to heart.
But since he had used the Electromagnetic Handgun twice in the Da Sheng World, he would absolutely never bring it back to the Main World.
And although he no longer had the Electromagnetic Handgun, he now possessed a method that was even more concealed and useful.
Li Xijun turned his gaze toward the backpack by the entrance of the private Martial Arts Classroom.
The peachwood sword that looked like a mere pendant trembled slightly upon sensing its master's thoughts. The blood patterns within it, refined and nourished by soul power for many days, slowly flowed like real blood.
"No matter how strong an Apprentice Realm martial artist is, their physical defense can't compare to a Viscera Refinement Martial Warrior's. Since it isn't someone in the Mortal Shedding Realm, I'm actually looking forward to it."
He had already spent nearly all the money Zhang Haifeng had sponsored him. Even his usual school meals had been upgraded to the 200-yuan set meals.
Not to mention that when he began learning saber techniques in a while, he would probably need a decent weapon. All of that required money from the Main World.
That night
Zhou Shenghao changed out of the black Nano Integrated Suit he usually wore and put on a loose, casual outfit before wandering through the snack street for a while.
Only when it had grown rather late did he enter an old-fashioned little shop deeper inside the snack street.
The light bulbs were an extremely old yellowish color, while the signboard was greasy and worn, faintly revealing the name Granny's Cantonese Offal Stew.
After entering, before he could even look around, he saw a potbellied middle-aged man emerge from a curtained "private room" inside and shout,
"We've got a young lad here today! Add some beef windpipe and beef omasum, braised until they're tender!"
After saying that, the middle-aged man, clearly a regular and seasoned foodie here, waved at Zhou Shenghao and led him into the "private room," where the environment was obviously far from pleasant.
Sitting on a red plastic stool, Zhou Shenghao could not help frowning. After looking around, he said,
"You're sure this is your base? You aren't a cult—"
He stopped halfway through. With the sharp five senses of someone at Level 8.4, he suddenly noticed the owner, who seemed to have sensed something, carrying in a pot of offal stew.
"Brother Chang, hurry and eat while it's hot."
After setting it down, the owner invited the two to eat before heading back out to serve other old customers.
The offal stew smelled wonderful, but Zhou Shenghao's frown only deepened.
If he had not been unlucky enough to have Devouring Blood forcibly implanted into him by them, he would never have wanted to come to a place like this and deal with cultists.
But he had already become one of them, and because of it, his progress was accelerating. He was even confident that he could compete for the top three in his year, perhaps even the Imperial Capital Two Heavens.
That made it increasingly difficult for him to cut ties with these Blood God Cult members.
"Don't worry. Unless we reveal the Devouring Mouth and Blood God Totem and are within the eight hours after devouring flesh and blood, we're very difficult to detect."
"Everyone here is one of our believers. There won't be any problems."
As Chang Ge spoke, he picked up a piece of honeycomb tripe and stuffed it into his mouth, revealing an expression of enjoyment.
"Besides, I told you back then that our Blood God Cult keeps up with the times too."
"This isn't the era of the great disaster anymore, when human lives were cheap and we could freely expand by devouring our own kind. Society is stable now. If people suddenly start dying one after another in a short time, the higher-ups will face enormous pressure. Wouldn't the Prevention Bureau watch us like hawks and hunt us down?"
"Normally, we just secretly devour the Blood Essence in mythical creature corpses. That huge incident with the Mythic Rift before was something that airborne cult leader insisted on making happen. As you saw, not only did he die, but most of our Bocheng members were taken in too. Only the old brothers from my branch are left."
At that point, Chang Ge sighed. As if recalling something, he said indignantly,
"What I fear most at work are leaders parachuted in to make a mess. And now I run into this kind of idiot while running a church too. How can the Blood God Cult flourish with such a rash, brainless pest around?"
"The times have changed. To develop the church, we need to recruit talented students like you, students with a chance at key universities!"
"In the end, you're the future."
Hearing that, even Zhou Shenghao, whose face had been dark, was angered into laughter.
"So the recent string of disappearances wasn't your doing?"
"Of course not! Doing that brings harm and no benefit. It's too shortsighted. The higher-ups have already made their position clear—the previous incident was an accident. Our goal is still to bring more geniuses like you into the church, then have you enter good universities, take important positions in Federation institutions, work hard, and rise through the ranks."
"And then?"
"And then... first, we reveal and promote the new principles of our Blood God Church. We make it clear that we can coexist harmoniously with most people. We can simply devour mythical creature flesh and blood to advance martial arts faster, with only a tiny side effect."
At that point, Chang Ge puffed out his belly, and a strange power gradually entered his words.
"We must tell the public that although we are a minority group, we should not be discriminated against. We must fight for more legal rights, eventually push through relevant legislation, and make people acknowledge that our Blood God Cult is not that kind of evil cult, but a church that can coexist with humanity."
The middle-aged man gestured grandly, his words highly infectious.
But Zhou Shenghao merely sneered without end.
"If you really did things that way, then you wouldn't be an ordinary evil cult. You'd be the kind of evil cult that needs to be crushed with an iron fist!"
"You don't think that, as one of the top thirty in my year, my academic grades are terrible, that I haven't read old-era history or taken ideological and moral education classes, do you?"
"You people are trying to recreate LGBT, aren't you? If you actually succeed and turn vast numbers of people into monsters like me, the crisis humanity faces will be far more troublesome than a war."
Seeing that he had failed to sway him in the slightest, Chang Ge stopped his impassioned speech. He simply picked up more offal and said coldly,
"So what? Even if you see it clearly, would you jump ship? If you exposed your identity as a Blood God Cult follower, could you still enter the Nine Schools Alliance? Could you still become Outer Scenery? If your moral character were truly up to standard, you would've reported it to the Prevention Bureau that very night."
Zhou Shenghao's right hand had already reached into his clothes. He had an Electromagnetic Handgun too.
The other man's strength could indeed crush a Level 9.0 Apprentice, but he was not a Mortal Shedding Realm martial artist after all.
At this distance, Zhou Shenghao was confident he could kill him with a single shot.
"At the end of the day, a heavenly genius like you values your dazzling future most. And our Blood God Cult can, after all, help you improve quickly and become even more gifted."
"With the Ten-Year Cultivation Plan, you might even become a reserve candidate to challenge for Martial Saint. The Blood God's Devouring Blood can restrain ordinary martial artists and affect Outer Scenery experts, but it is useless against Martial Saints. By then, you might even devour it instead and advance further, wouldn't you?"
Zhou Shenghao remained silent for a long time before releasing his grip on the Electromagnetic Handgun.
"You really are a middle-aged office worker. The moment you open your mouth, you can skillfully sell dreams."
"You keep talking about nurturing me and helping me. Then show some sincerity first."
"How?" Chang Ge put down his chopsticks and asked.
"There's an unparalleled genius at our school named Li Xijun. In barely three months since the start of school, he rose from Blood Essence Level 5.7 to 7.3. He's advancing faster than even I am with the ability to devour Blood Essence. His martial skill talent is also extremely strong. He caught the eye of that Outer Scenery expert from Clear Spring Dawn Palace, and barring any surprises, he will be taught saber techniques."
The middle-aged office worker's eyes immediately lit up.
"He's also an orphan. His residence isn't very secure, and there aren't many surveillance cameras in his neighborhood."
Watching the other man's expression, Zhou Shenghao continued,
"A genius like that is worth taking the risk for, isn't he?"
"That may be true, but this kid's future is a little too bright. I'm afraid that even if we implant Devouring Blood in him, he'll really report us." Chang Ge hesitated.
"Then don't leave after implanting Devouring Blood. Watch him in secret. If he reports it to the Prevention Bureau, come back and kill him. Devour him directly and drain all his Blood Essence and life essence."
Zhou Shenghao spoke more and more casually, leaving even the middle-aged office worker across from him stunned.
After a long while, he took a sip of tea and said with a sigh,
"That's why people should study more. Students nowadays really have plenty of schemes—and they're really ruthless."
Zhou Shenghao said nothing. He merely picked up his chopsticks and began eating the offal. Something he had found somewhat disgusting before now tasted more and more delicious.
As time slowly passed,
when the offal stew was nearly finished, Chang Ge took out some tissues from his pocket and wiped his mouth. After handing several to Zhou Shenghao, he said calmly,
"I'm willing to take the risk and try this. But I have one final question for you."
"Go ahead."
"I've spent so many years in the workplace that I believe I'm fairly capable at reading people. Before, you were holding yourself in, focusing on martial arts and raising your Blood Essence, wanting to achieve results and prove yourself to others."
"If you wanted to defeat Li Xijun at school and prove that you were stronger than him, I could understand that as a natural continuation of your previous thinking."
"But this idea of harming him is somewhat abrupt. It doesn't seem like something your previous train of thought would produce."
"Were you... influenced by someone?"
Before you continue