The World Shakes

"Your master said you were Grade A Top?" Huang Yifan asked in an extremely strange tone.

"Yes... Maybe a little higher, but my master couldn't be sure."

Fang Che said, "My master didn't have conditions like those at our Martial Academy, after all."

"Your master is simply a super big idio—"

Huang Yifan blurted it out.

Only then did he realize that insulting someone's master to his face might provoke resentment. But when he looked at Fang Che, he found him perfectly calm, not bothered in the slightest.

Huang Yifan laughed loudly, exchanged a few polite pleasantries, and then sent Fang Che away.

"Go back and recuperate properly. Hurry up and practice. The others haven't arrived yet, so seize the opportunity to cultivate. The New Student Competition is especially important. You must take it seriously."

"Yes."

Fang Che left.

After watching Fang Che depart, Lu Jiaoshan finally couldn't hold back his question. "Why did you block me just now?"

Huang Yifan snapped, "What kind of stupid question is that? If I didn't need to block you, why would I have done it? Since I blocked you, obviously I didn't want you to know. And you're still asking? Isn't that like taking off your pants to fart—completely superfluous?"

Lu Jiaoshan stared at him in speechless disbelief. "..."

Damn, that makes so much sense I actually have nothing to say!

Huang Yifan immediately stood up, looking rather frantic.

"I'm going out for a while. I have something important to handle. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them to wait."

After saying that, Huang Yifan flew straight out through the window.

He looked so rushed that it was almost as if fire had been lit under his backside.

Lu Jiaoshan had yet to recover from the shock of discovering a supreme genius. He stared blankly outside, only to find that Huang Yifan had already vanished without a trace.

He couldn't help muttering, "What could possibly be important enough to make that old bastard this anxious?"

Huang Yifan was indeed rather agitated now.

If Fang Che's aptitude had been merely ordinary, he wouldn't have been in such a hurry.

But aptitude this astonishing and peerless was a matter greater than the heavens themselves.

The information that Fang Che was a member of One Heart Sect had come from Chen Ruhai. And Chen Ruhai had once been one of his old subordinates.

That man had a foul temper and was slovenly, but when it came to major matters, he was meticulous and had never made a mistake.

Yet Huang Yifan's investigation didn't match the intelligence.

And Fang Che was actually a prodigy capable of shaking the world.

That made this something that had to be taken seriously.

Whether the information was true or false, it was an earth-shaking piece of news.

Unless he got to the bottom of it, Huang Yifan felt he wouldn't even be able to sleep.

So he pushed himself to his highest speed and rushed to Azure Wave City with the urgency of a shooting star.

Chen Ruhai had shut the door and was rubbing his feet.

The smell inside was overpowering.

With a bang, Huang Yifan flew through the window. The next moment—

After a furious curse, there was another bang.

Chen Ruhai was kicked into the wall.

Then Huang Yifan shot back out with a whoosh.

Outside, he began cursing at the top of his lungs. "Can't you have even a shred of dignity? Every day, all you know is picking at your damn stinking feet!"

Huang Yifan was so furious he nearly died from the stench when he flew in.

The fresh air during flight had been wonderfully refreshing, but then he had taken a massive gulp of salted-fish odor.

The violent contrast nearly suffocated him.

A wave of nausea rose spontaneously, and his stomach churned violently. He almost vomited on the spot.

Chen Ruhai nearly shouted, "Assassin!" but hurriedly swallowed the cry. Sliding down from the wall, he quickly waved his hand. All the doors and windows flew open, and with a whoosh, he sent the room's air—and the flakes of skin rubbed from his feet—out the window.

In an instant, he was fully dressed and wearing an ingratiating smile. "Boss, Boss, what brings you here? Please, sit."

"Change places!"

Huang Yifan roared furiously. "And go wash your hands! Hurry up!"

Chen Ruhai hurriedly waddled out, shaking his backside. "Quick, quick... Find a clean room..."

A moment later, they were seated in a spotless reception room.

Chen Ruhai had washed himself completely clean and was glowing with vigor.

He even had several sachets of perfume hanging from him.

Their fragrance was rich and heady.

"You sit over there!"

Huang Yifan pressed Chen Ruhai into the seat farthest from him. Then he used spiritual energy to wash the chair beneath himself once more, followed by the entire room.

Only after closing the door did he set up a Soundproof Barrier.

To be fair, Huang Yifan normally wasn't a clean person.

He could even be called downright sloppy.

But when he came to Chen Ruhai's place, he had no choice but to become a model of hygiene.

It was simply... unbearable.

"Do you know why I came this time?"

Chen Ruhai immediately understood. "Fang Che has arrived at the Martial Academy?"

"Correct."

"Boss has designs on him?"

"Correct."

"How does Boss see him?"

Chen Ruhai asked.

"Under my mental pressure, he kept suppressing himself until he reached the point of collapse. There was nothing wrong with him. He was completely upright and kind, hated evil as fiercely as he hated personal enemies, and possessed both a chivalrous heart and a sense of justice."

Huang Yifan's eyes gleamed as he spoke each word. "Did you get it wrong?"

Chen Ruhai was just about to answer when Huang Yifan continued, "Think carefully before you answer. This matter is extremely important now!"

"Extremely important?!"

Chen Ruhai abruptly raised his head.

"Yes."

Chen Ruhai pondered for a moment before saying, "In that case, I won't make a definitive judgment. The information is from my personal collection and has passed through no one else's hands. Boss, you can make your own assessment."

He stood and went to his secret chamber.

Then he brought back a pile of documents.

They contained analyses of every word and action of Fang Che's.

Every sentence had annotations.

This included Night Dream's existence.

It also included all the intelligence Night Dream had sent back, as well as the actions taken based on that intelligence.

Huang Yifan read extremely slowly.

He practically chewed over and contemplated every single character.

Throughout it all, he didn't say a word.

When he arrived, it had only been morning.

But by the time he finished reading the documents, it was already midnight.

He hadn't said a word, taken a sip of water, or even moved from his spot.

He had chewed over and pondered every recorded detail several times.

The crowing of roosters arrived in sync with a sliver of dawn.

Only then did Huang Yifan finally set down the dossier. He closed his eyes, leaned his head back against the chair, and silently sank into thought.

Chen Ruhai had stayed beside him the entire time.

He likewise hadn't dared make the slightest sound.

After a long while, Huang Yifan opened his eyes. "According to the information, there's no doubt that Fang Che is a member of One Heart Sect. But I still trust my own test and judgment. This Fang Che should be a good child."

Chen Ruhai's expression didn't change. "This subordinate wouldn't dare say anything about that. The reason I notified Boss was merely to nip trouble in the bud and guard against the worst."

"I understand. I'll keep a close eye on him."

Huang Yifan sighed softly. "Don't follow me today. I'm going to look around Azure Wave City."

Then he said, "Once I'm done, I'll go back. I won't say goodbye when I leave."

"Since Boss came from so far away, why not stay for a simple meal before leaving? Your junior brother happens to be able to play host—"

"Go to hell! Eat with you? Even immortals wouldn't be able to swallow a bite!"

Huang Yifan rolled his eyes.

He casually tossed over two bottles of pills. "Take one every seven days. There are a hundred pills inside. Come find me when you've finished them."

"Yes."

Chen Ruhai received them as if they were priceless treasures.

"The Thousand Layer Corpse Poison can't be resolved, but you can't just smash the jar and throw it away, either. It's already spread to your feet, and now you can't even hide one of them? You're a hall master, for heaven's sake! What kind of appearance is this?!"

Huang Yifan scolded him.

"Yes, Boss is right."

Huang Yifan waved his hand and vanished without a trace.

Chen Ruhai sighed and stood there quietly for a long while before returning to read the dossier himself once more.

Then he opened the side of his bed, placed the dossier inside, and locked it again. He disguised the outside, then set his pillow on top.

Huang Yifan stayed in Azure Wave City for three full days.

Only then did he return.

Meanwhile, Fang Che quickly returned to House of the Virtuous.

"Young Master, you're back."

Night Dream came forward eagerly, helping Fang Che remove his cloak and hang it on the coat rack. As she did so, she said, "The large courtyard next door has also been bought. I don't know who bought it. Young Master hadn't returned, so I didn't dare ask around."

"Oh?"

A flicker passed through Fang Che's eyes.

When he had bought his own residence, the place next door had still been vacant, with no one living there.

He had only just bought his, and now someone had moved in next door? It's either One Heart Sect or Guardian Hall.

Fang Che knew what was going on. He said, "Someone bought a house, and you have to meddle in that too? You really do stick your nose into everything. You've done nothing but eat these past few days without improving at all. When are you going to break through? Hurry up and cultivate!"

As usual, he gave Night Dream another scolding.

Night Dream pouted.

This fellow truly had a hard time saying anything nice.

Fang Che had already gone to practice. He didn't care in the slightest which side the people next door belonged to. If they were from One Heart Sect, they would contact him on their own.

And if they were from Guardian Hall, he could simply leave them to Night Dream.

That very night.

Fang Che was jolted awake from his dream.

He could only feel the earth beneath him trembling slightly. This wasn't the shaking of a single patch of land—it was more like... a tremor on a colossal scale.

As an old hand, Fang Che immediately realized that someone immensely powerful was fighting somewhere he didn't know how far away.

The aftershocks of the battle had shaken a certain earth vein, causing a slight earthquake here through the vein's transmission.

"With tremors like these, the battle must be taking place extremely far away. And anyone capable of causing such shaking is simply unimaginable."

Fang Che lay on the bed, feeling the tremors, his heart filled with horror.

An existence this powerful could probably blow even my former self into ash with a single breath. Who was it?

The next day.

Fang Qingyun held a welcoming feast for Fang Che. Taking advantage of the occasion, Fang Che fed Fang Qingyun the Heavenly Vein Vermillion Fruit he had kept.

Fang Qingyun didn't notice anything from beginning to end. A few other students were chatting animatedly beside him, so he drank until he was thoroughly drunk.

He went back and fell asleep.

By early morning.

Several of Fang Qingyun's roommates were jolted awake by the stench.

"Holy crap... Fang Qingyun, did you shit yourself?!"

The group covered their noses and fled outside. Someone picked up a brick and hurled it through the doorway at Fang Qingyun's bed, where he was snoring loudly. "Damn it, even if you drank, you can't just take care of business right in your blankets..."

Fang Qingyun woke slowly. Sensing the room's rich fragrance, he couldn't help cursing loudly. "Who shit themselves?"

An hour later.

Freshly washed Fang Qingyun was surrounded and beaten senseless by his roommates.

The bedsheets, quilts, and everything else were completely unusable. They were taken out and burned on the spot.

Then, completely at a loss, Fang Qingyun groveled and pleaded. Only after promising a month's worth of meals did he finally manage to shut a few mouths.

The others reluctantly agreed not to spread the word about how he had "soiled an entire quilt."

It was settled.

Fang Qingyun also breathed a sigh of relief.

But he knew perfectly well that he absolutely had not soiled himself! So what on earth had happened?

He had eaten a meal with his cousin...

It was not until three days later.

Only then did news arrive about the earthquake in the dead of night.

Blades and spears had clashed, and the blade had lost by one move! As soon as the news broke, the whole world was shaken!