Actually, as far as Xu Jie knew, martial school graduation was not supposed to work like this.
Students first had to undergo assessments at their own school, and then the outstanding ones would go to Central Prefecture for further study and a second round of assessments.
Now, because of him, an assessment team had been sent down to Jincheng City. For every student at Jinwu University, this was a heaven-sent opportunity!
Because as long as they passed this assessment, it meant graduating early—equivalent to the guaranteed admission slots from Xu Jie's previous life.
One could imagine how crazed those students on the school rankings would become once the news was announced!
One thing was certain: nearly all fourth-year students on the rankings would break through to the Pulse Opening Realm in order to participate in the Martial Department's assessment!
However...
The closure of the ranking battles was disastrous news for Xu Jie!
He could no longer kill people through ranking battles, plunder Lifespan, and rapidly raise his cultivation.
Xu Jie did have quite a bit of Lifespan left now, and he should be able to break through to the Pulse Opening Realm smoothly. But what came after that?
If he could not kill people and had no Lifespan, how was he supposed to improve quickly?
Xu Jie was a true triple-nothing youth: no money, no resources, no background!
At present, his remaining usable Lifespan, along with the medicinal pill rewards he had earned from ranking battles, was not enough to sustain his cultivation for very long.
Other than killing people to plunder usable Lifespan, he had no other means of improving. He could not possibly rely on Chu Mingyue, could he?
Therefore, the school's closure of the ranking battles was no different from a bolt from the blue for Xu Jie!
After all, he could not even leave the school right now...
Not to mention that Xu Jie had planned to swiftly reach the third or fourth rank and question Xu Bin about information regarding his mother.
What was he supposed to do?
Pushing open the door and entering his dormitory, the irritated Xu Jie's gaze sharpened. He swept his eyes over the room, which looked little different from when he had left, then expressionlessly walked toward the chair.
Something had been here!
Though the traces left behind were extremely faint, Xu Jie spotted them at a glance.
The reason he called it something was because he judged that whatever had entered his room was probably not human.
Walking over and sitting down, Xu Jie appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but he was actually covertly sensing every rustle of wind and grass around him.
If Xu Jie had guessed correctly...
That thing had not left. It was still in this room!
Rather than cultivate, Xu Jie simply waited, like a seasoned, steady hunter who had set his trap and patiently waited for prey to step into it.
Night quickly fell. Gradually, faint snores came from Xu Jie, who was dozing in the chair, as though he had truly fallen asleep.
Creak... creak...
An incredibly faint sound suddenly came from a dark corner of the dorm room.
Xu Jie still did not move, continuing to feign sleep, until...
A slender, long little black shadow leaped up like lightning and flew through the air toward Xu Jie in the chair.
Xu Jie, who had been snoring moments ago, struck out like lightning and accurately seized the black shadow.
What tremendous strength!
A massive force surged through his hand, numbing the web between Xu Jie's thumb and forefinger. He had nearly let his prey escape.
Interesting!
Xu Jie gave a savage grin, raised his arm, and viciously smashed it onto the table, shattering the dormitory's only table into pieces.
The black shadow in his hand was sent reeling, gradually ceasing its struggle.
This was...
Having subdued the unknown creature, Xu Jie lifted the black shadow before his eyes. Looking closer, he discovered that it was a snake-like demon.
It was a little black snake with smooth scales, a small bulge atop its head, and a length of roughly a dozen centimeters. It was about as thick as Xu Jie's thumb.
Among snakes, it counted as quite fat!
What left an even deeper impression on Xu Jie was that the little black snake's eyes were huge, like something out of a two-dimensional cartoon. They blinked away, making it look exceptionally silly and adorable.
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
After the little black snake regained consciousness, it failed to realize it was in danger. Its first move was to flick out its tongue and greedily absorb the blood aura automatically leaking from Xu Jie's pores.
With the refinement of Xu Jie's blood after nine Blood Shifting stages, it was a rarity in the world—absolutely a great tonic for any demon.
Xu Jie, meanwhile, stroked his chin, gripped the little black snake tightly, strode into the small kitchen where he cooked, picked up a cleaver, and chopped down without hesitation.
This was living usable Lifespan.
Only he knew just how desperately short he was on usable Lifespan. He was short to the point of going numb, all right?
Xu Jie did not think the little black snake was particularly cute, despite its exceptionally silly and adorable appearance.
In his eyes, there were only two categories: usable Lifespan that could be plundered, and usable Lifespan that could not be plundered for the time being.
No matter what kind of demon the little black snake was, or how it had entered his dormitory, it could only become another soul beneath Xu Jie's blade!
With a crisp crack, the cleaver shattered on the spot, yet not even a mark was left on the little black snake's scales.
It merely twisted its snake body in dissatisfaction, changed position, and continued lying in Xu Jie's hand to absorb his blood and vitality.
This thing had something to it!
Seeing this, Xu Jie grew even more excited!
Because the more extraordinary the little black snake proved to be, the more usable Lifespan he would gain after killing it.
If it was a genius-level demon, it might even trigger the system's multiplier bonus.
Without hesitation, Xu Jie punched the little black snake!
The little black snake did not react at all.
Xu Jie viciously gripped the little black snake again, trying to strangle it to death.
The little black snake raised its head in confusion and looked at Xu Jie, who was drenched in sweat.
Xu Jie grabbed both ends of the little black snake...
Fine, you win!
After tossing and turning for more than half the night, Xu Jie expressionlessly wiped the sweat from his forehead and silently flung the little black snake away.
He could not kill it!
Or rather, he could not harm the little black snake in the slightest!
He had no idea what species this thing was, but its body was absurdly hard.
Though its strength was not particularly high—roughly at the Pulse Opening Realm—its physical toughness... heh!
Xu Jie suspected that even third- or fourth-rank martial artists would not be able to kill the little black snake!
How annoying!
Why had he kept running into these creatures he could do nothing about lately?
One Chu Mingyue was troublesome enough, and now there was another little snake?
Xu Jie had just flung the little black snake away when its body twisted in midair. In a manner that defied the laws of physics, it returned to Xu Jie's hand in an instant and even blinked its silly, adorable big eyes at him.
Xu Jie: "..."
"Get lost!!!"
Xu Jie flew into a rage at once. He abruptly rose to his feet and viciously hurled the little black snake out the window, smashing the glass.
Yet he had barely sat back down when a strange sensation came from his hand.
He lowered his head to look, and nearly went numb.
"..."
A clingy piece of gum, huh?
Impossible to shake off, huh?
Xu Jie's eyes turned increasingly cold, his gaze at the little black snake filled with killing intent.
He planned to break through to the Pulse Opening Realm first, and then... hm?
Just then, Xu Jie felt something wet and slippery in his palm.
He lowered his head in confusion and discovered tears pattering down from the little black snake's huge eyes.
Its aggrieved, pitiful snake eyes stared fixedly at him.
"..."
Before you continue