Lu Chuan, You Be the Bait

Boom!

A terrifying sound exploded as a palm print over ten meters wide and several meters deep appeared before Lu Chuan amid a cloud of smoke.

In the deep pit, over a dozen Zombie Puppets lay motionless, completely still.

"Principal!"

"You're finally here!"

Seeing the figure, Song Qing let out a long sigh of relief. If the Principal hadn't shown up, they'd only be collecting corpses by now.

"You've worked hard."

The Principal patted Song Qing on the shoulder, then turned his gaze to the remaining Zombie Puppets, his eyes blazing with killing intent.

"The Heavenly Principle Cult again!"

"One day, I will uproot every last one of you!"

Striking with hatred, the Principal finished off the group of Zombie Puppets in just a few seconds.

After dealing with the Zombie Puppets, Song Qing said worriedly, "Principal, why would the Heavenly Principle Cult suddenly target our Third Middle School?"

"It's not just us."

The Principal said with a wary expression, "The First and Second Middle Schools were also attacked by the Heavenly Principle Cult."

"We'll discuss this when we get back. Take the students home first; I still have matters to attend to."

"Yes!"

Song Qing quickly called for the students to return to the bus. Under the Principal's watchful gaze, they sped back to Lin City.

Once the bus had disappeared from sight, the Principal slowly turned around, his eyes gazing into the distance as strands of killing intent spread out.

"Heavenly Principle Cult!"

"You deserve to die!"

On the bus.

After using spiritual energy to stabilize the injured students' conditions, Lu Chuan looked at Song Qing and asked, "Teacher, what's the deal with the Heavenly Principle Cult?"

"They're a bunch of beasts! A pack of lunatics!"

After cursing twice, Song Qing explained, "You should know that our world isn't as peaceful as it seems."

"Outside the city, Fierce Beasts lurk with hungry eyes. Above the starry sky, the Ten Thousand Races covet us greedily."

"It's only thanks to the Human Sages' desperate defense that the Ten Thousand Races haven't broken into our world."

"But there's a group of beasts who not only refuse to resist the Ten Thousand Races but actively act as their inside agents, trying to lead them into Blue Star."

"That group of beasts is the Heavenly Principle Cult."

"Tsk!" Lu Chuan took a deep breath, puzzled. "What do they get out of it? Would the Ten Thousand Races invading Blue Star benefit them somehow?"

"That's why I said they're a bunch of lunatics."

Song Qing said disdainfully, "They believe in survival of the fittest and treat it as a heavenly principle."

"In their view, humans and the Ten Thousand Races are no different. They should be mixed together—the strong live, the weak die."

"Of course, that's just propaganda for the lower ranks of the Heavenly Principle Cult. The real higher-ups have long colluded with the Ten Thousand Races, acting as their dogs in exchange for all kinds of benefits."

After Song Qing's explanation, Lu Chuan and the other students finally understood what kind of people the Heavenly Principle Cult were.

They never imagined there were actually lunatics in the world who harmed others for no benefit to themselves.

Perhaps the news was too heavy, the atmosphere inside the bus fell into dead silence, with only faint breathing announcing everyone's presence.

The ride passed without a word.

After sending the injured students to the hospital, the remaining students returned to Third Middle School.

Once back at Third Middle School, Lu Chuan didn't delay and went straight to the training room.

Inside the training room.

Lu Chuan took a deep breath, his expression grave. "I'm still too weak!"

"Putting everything aside, if I were a Third Rank martial artist, those two classmates who died today might have..."

Lu Chuan knew the two dead classmates had nothing to do with him.

But watching two living people fall under the Zombie Puppets' hands—to say his heart wasn't shaken would be a lie.

To prevent such a tragedy from happening before his eyes again, Lu Chuan had to get stronger!

After taking another deep breath, Lu Chuan pulled out the Vegetable Juice, took a big gulp, and then started shaking it vigorously.

Without realizing it, two weeks had passed since the Heavenly Principle Cult's assassination attempt.

During these two weeks, whether it was Third Middle School or the First and Second Middle Schools that had also been attacked, everything was fairly quiet.

Within Lin City, there was no news of the Heavenly Principle Cult either.

It was as if this assassination had never occurred.

Lu Chuan always felt that beneath this calm, some storm was brewing. Therefore, aside from sleeping, he spent his recent days cultivating.

Fortunately, two weeks of hard work had not been in vain.

[Host: Lu Chuan]

[Art: Evergreen Spirit Art 13/(Perfection)]

[Realm: Second-Rank Martial Artist (344/1000)]

[Martial Skill: Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm 12/(Perfection)]

[Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/(Perfection), Spirit Gathering Potion 1/(Perfection)]

[Simplification Points: 12]

After two weeks of frantic cultivation, not only had the proficiency of Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon Palm and Evergreen Spirit Art been ground to max level, but even his realm had grown by leaps and bounds.

And this was not the peak—it was merely the beginning.

A perfected Half-Step Superior Art like Evergreen Spirit Art, when cycled through one major circulation, could provide Lu Chuan with thirty points of cultivation.

If paired with a Spirit Gathering Potion, one major circulation would grant Lu Chuan forty-five points of cultivation.

Given Lu Chuan's mastery of Evergreen Spirit Art, aside from sleeping and eating, he could perform two major circulations a day.

That meant, cultivating for one day, Lu Chuan could gain ninety points of cultivation.

At this rate, within eight days, Lu Chuan would break through to Third Rank!

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 top.

"Pity, after breaking through to Third Rank, the Spirit Gathering Potion won't work anymore."

"And the cultivation provided by the art will also decrease as the realm rises. Maintaining such a fast pace will be difficult."

"Forget it, I'll deal with the future later."

"Right now, the goal is to break through to Third Rank!"

With that thought, Lu Chuan took another gulp of Vegetable Juice and continued cultivating.

Time flew by, and soon it was noon.

Having cultivated for half a day, Lu Chuan planned to temporarily leave seclusion and grab something to eat at the cafeteria.

Just then, the Principal suddenly came looking for Lu Chuan.

"Lu Chuan, there's something I'd like to ask for your help with," the Principal said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Help?"

Lu Chuan looked at the Principal with confusion. "What exactly is it?"

"Let's go to my office first. We'll discuss the details there," the Principal said.

Lu Chuan nodded.

Inside the Principal's office.

"You can talk now," Lu Chuan said.

The Principal took a deep breath, as if making a decision, then said, "Lu Chuan, I want you to act as bait."

"Bait?" Lu Chuan frowned, then seemed to catch on and pressed, "Is it related to the Heavenly Principle Cult?"

"That's right."

The Principal nodded and explained, "After investigation, we've confirmed that the Heavenly Principle Cult has many experts lurking near Lin City."

"As for their purpose, based on our speculation, there are roughly three possibilities."