Bang!
A terrifying boom rang out. A palm print more than ten meters wide and several meters deep appeared before Lu Chuan amid a cloud of dust.
Inside that deep pit, more than a dozen Zombie Puppets lay sprawled out, no longer moving.
"Principal!"
"You finally came!"
At the sight of him, Song Qing let out a long breath. If the Principal had come any later, he would have had no choice but to collect their corpses.
"You've worked hard."
The Principal patted Song Qing on the shoulder, then looked toward the remaining Zombie Puppets, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.
"Heavenly Principle Cult again!"
"One day, I will tear you out by the roots!"
Under the weight of his hatred, it took the Principal only a few seconds to completely deal with the Zombie Puppets.
After the Zombie Puppets had been dealt with, Song Qing asked worriedly, "Principal, why would the Heavenly Principle Cult suddenly set its sights on our Third Middle School?"
"Not just us."
The Principal said warily, "First and Second Middle Schools were also attacked by the Heavenly Principle Cult."
"We'll discuss this after we return. Take the students back first. I still have matters to attend to here."
"Yes!"
Song Qing hurriedly called the students onto the bus, then rapidly withdrew to Lin City under the Principal's watchful gaze.
After the bus disappeared from view, the Principal slowly turned around and gazed into the distance. Strands of killing intent instantly spread through the air.
"Heavenly Principle Cult!"
"You truly deserve to die!"
On the bus.
After temporarily using spiritual energy to keep the injured students alive, Lu Chuan looked at Song Qing and asked, "Teacher, what exactly is this Heavenly Principle Cult?"
"They're a pack of beasts! A bunch of lunatics!"
After cursing twice, Song Qing explained, "You should know that our world isn't as peaceful as it seems."
"Beyond the cities, Fierce Beasts watch us like tigers watching their prey. Above the stars, the Ten Thousand Races eye us greedily."
"Fortunately, the Human Sages defended us with their lives, preventing the Ten Thousand Races from invading our world."
"But there is a group of beasts who not only refuse to resist the Ten Thousand Races, but instead willingly serve as their spies, intending to guide the Ten Thousand Races into Blue Star."
"That pack of beasts is the Heavenly Principle Cult."
"Hiss!" Lu Chuan sucked in a cold breath and asked in confusion, "What are they after? Could it be that the Ten Thousand Races invading Blue Star benefits them somehow?"
"Isn't that why I said they're lunatics?"
Song Qing said disdainfully, "They worship the law of the jungle and regard it as heavenly principle."
"In their eyes, the human race and the Ten Thousand Races are no different. They should have long since mingled together—let the strong live and the weak die."
"Of course, those words are only meant to fool the lower ranks of the Heavenly Principle Cult. Their true higher-ups have long colluded with the Ten Thousand Races, acting as their lackeys in exchange for all sorts of benefits."
After Song Qing's explanation, Lu Chuan and the other students finally understood what kind of people the Heavenly Principle Cult was.
Who would have thought that there really were lunatics in this world who harmed others without benefiting themselves?
Perhaps the news was too heavy. For a time, the atmosphere inside the bus was deathly silent, with only faint breathing proving that they were still there.
The rest of the journey passed in silence.
After sending the injured students to the hospital, the remaining students returned to Third Middle School.
Once back at Third Middle School, Lu Chuan did not delay and headed straight for the Seclusion Chamber.
Inside the Seclusion Chamber.
Lu Chuan took a deep breath, his expression grave. "I'm still too weak!"
"Leaving everything else aside, if I had been a Third Rank Martial Artist, then perhaps those two classmates who died today..."
Lu Chuan knew that the two dead students had nothing to do with him.
But seeing two living people fall beneath the Zombie Puppets' hands with his own eyes—if he said his heart had not been shaken, he would be lying.
To keep such a tragedy from happening before his eyes again, Lu Chuan could only grow stronger!
After taking another deep breath, Lu Chuan took out some vegetable juice, gulped down a mouthful, and immediately began shaking vigorously.
Before he knew it, two weeks had passed since the Heavenly Principle Cult's assassination attempt.
Over those two weeks, Third Middle School, as well as First and Second Middle Schools that had likewise suffered assassination attempts, remained unusually quiet.
There was no news of the Heavenly Principle Cult within Lin City either.
It was as if the assassination attempt had never happened.
Lu Chuan always felt that some storm was brewing beneath this calm. Thus, aside from sleeping, Lu Chuan had spent all his recent time cultivating.
Fortunately, his efforts over the past two weeks had not been in vain.
Host: Lu Chuan Cultivation Art: Evergreen Spirit Art 13/(Mastery) Realm: Second-Rank Martial Artist (344/1000) Martial Art: Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm 12/(Mastery) Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/(Mastery), Spirit Gathering Potion 1/(Mastery) Simplification Points: 12
After two weeks of frenzied cultivation, not only had the proficiency of the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm and Evergreen Spirit Art been ground up to the maximum level, even his realm had increased at a rapid pace.
And this was not the peak. It was merely the beginning.
With the mastery-level Half-Step Superior Art, the Evergreen Spirit Art, completing one Greater Celestial Circuit could provide Lu Chuan with thirty cultivation points.
If he paired it with Spirit Gathering Potion, completing one Greater Celestial Circuit would grant Lu Chuan forty-five cultivation points.
And with Lu Chuan's mastery of the Evergreen Spirit Art, aside from sleeping and eating, he could complete two Greater Celestial Circuits a day.
In other words, Lu Chuan could gain ninety cultivation points in a single day of cultivation.
At this pace, Lu Chuan would break through to the Third Rank within eight days!
Such a rapid cultivation speed was unheard of!
At the very least, within Lin City, no one could keep up with Lu Chuan.
Even looking across the entire country, Lu Chuan estimated that his cultivation speed could rank among the best.
"What a pity. After breaking through to the Third Rank, Spirit Gathering Potion will no longer work."
"Furthermore, the cultivation points provided by a cultivation art will decrease as one's realm rises. Maintaining such a rapid cultivation speed after that will likely be difficult."
"Forget it. I'll deal with the future when it comes."
"My current goal is to break through to the Third Rank!"
With that thought, Lu Chuan gulped down another mouthful of vegetable juice and continued cultivating.
Time flew by, and noon arrived in the blink of an eye.
Having cultivated for half a day, Lu Chuan planned to temporarily leave seclusion and get something to eat at the cafeteria.
But just then, the Principal suddenly came to find Lu Chuan.
"Lu Chuan, there's something I'd like to ask your help with." The Principal looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Help?"
Lu Chuan looked at the Principal in confusion. "What exactly is it?"
"Let's go to my office first. We'll discuss it in detail once we get there," the Principal said.
Lu Chuan nodded.
Inside the Principal's office.
"You can tell me now, right?" Lu Chuan asked.
The Principal took a deep breath, as though he had made some decision, then said, "Lu Chuan, I want to ask you to be the bait."
"The bait?" Lu Chuan frowned, then seemed to think of something and pressed, "Does this have something to do with the Heavenly Principle Cult?"
"That's right."
The Principal nodded and explained, "After investigating, we have confirmed that the Heavenly Principle Cult has many powerful individuals lying in wait near Lin City."
"As for their purpose, we have roughly inferred three possibilities."
Before you continue