Fell into a Pit

Xian Wu bent down and quietly told Lu Piao how to get his Soul Force back.

Xian Wu enunciated clearly, every word reaching Lu Piao's ears.

"No, I don't want it! I don't want it anymore, okay? You can have all that Soul Force!" Lu Piao hurriedly let go of Xian Wu's thigh and darted behind Du Ze like a startled rabbit. He huddled together with the others, trembling all over.

If he could get his Soul Force back, why wouldn't he? Was there something wrong with Lu Piao's head? Unable to hold back his curiosity, Du Ze asked, "Lu Piao, what's the method? Tell us."

"Ah!!!" Lu Piao suddenly let out a shriek like a woman's, then angrily shouted, "W-what the hell are you asking for? If you're so curious, just let Xian Wu suck on you once, and then you'll know!"

Du Ze turned away sheepishly, at a loss after being scolded.

"Big Brother, what's the method?" Zhu Jun Xiang asked.

Xian Wu grinned wickedly and beckoned to Zhu Jun Xiang. "You want to know? Come here, and I'll let you experience it for yourself."

"N-no, thank you, Big Brother." Xian Wu's smile sent a chill down Zhu Jun Xiang's spine. He didn't know what the method was, but it definitely couldn't be anything good. His big brother often did things in unexpected ways.

Xian Wu snorted. "If you don't want to know, forget it. I'm going out for a bit. You guys can keep cultivating."

The most important thing right now was to get a Bronze Demonic Spirit and unlock his Soul Force limit.

First of all, his Soul Force limit was too low. He could only hold ninety-nine points.

Second, his body had already been strengthened to its limit. Absorbing too much Soul Force would cause him to explode.

He currently had twenty-two points of Soul Force. Absorbing one hundred points from Xiao Ning'er would put him at exactly one hundred.

It didn't matter that he'd only be one point over the limit. He'd still explode.

Where could he find a Bronze Demonic Spirit?

A Bronze One Star Demonic Spirit was worth tens of thousands of Demon Spirit Coins. Nie Li was managing their money, and they only had around ten thousand Demon Spirit Coins. If they spent it all, they'd have nothing left to live on.

Oh, right. Xiao Ning'er might be suffering from Extreme Cold Syndrome.

If he cured her illness, it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask her for a Bronze Demonic Spirit, right?

Her family was a Prominent Family. They were loaded.

A common Bronze Demonic Spirit was practically nothing to her family.

"Good. It's settled, then." Having made up his mind, Xian Wu left the library and headed to the Trial Grounds, ready to wait for his prey.

Dusk fell, and the rosy clouds began to fade.

The entrance to the Trial Grounds was brightly lit.

"Big Brother, what happened?" Xian Wu asked in confusion when he saw that the guard had a white bandage wrapped around his head.

The guard checked Xian Wu's student badge as he complained. "Ah, don't ask. Some idiot was digging pits all over the Trial Grounds. I fell into one while on patrol."

"Fell into a pit?" Xian Wu's mouth twitched. It seemed like they were responsible.

"I heard that Vice Dean Ye Sheng nearly fell into one, too, when he came to investigate the missing Horned Sheep this morning," another guard said, gossiping.

The injured guard kindly warned him, "Most of the pits have been filled in, but the Trial Grounds are still full of holes. Be careful walking around at night, kid."

"Alright, go on in! If you spot anyone suspicious digging pits, set off a signal flare. Someone from the academy will be there right away." The other guard slowly opened the gate.

"Okay, see you later, Big Brother Guard!" Xian Wu added, not knowing whether it was guilt or something else that made him say it.

"Yeah, see you!" The guard waved dismissively and slowly shut the gate.

"Phew..." Xian Wu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Luckily, they didn't know he'd dug the pits. Otherwise... wouldn't they have hauled him off and cut him open for research?

It wasn't completely dark yet, so Xian Wu could easily make out the pits along the path.

After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he arrived at Xiao Ning'er's campsite.

He lit a campfire with practiced ease, then practiced Dragon Form Fist and Tiger Strike Palm as he waited for Xiao Ning'er to arrive.

The sun had set, and night had quietly fallen.

Xiao Ning'er appeared!

But she was filthy, her hair was a mess, and several leaves were stuck in it. She looked as though she'd just crawled out of some pit.

Xian Wu awkwardly touched his nose. Had Xiao Ning'er fallen into one of the traps he'd dug?

"Student Xiao Ning'er, what happened to you? How did you end up looking like this?" Xian Wu hurried over and pretended to be concerned.

The social queen, Ning'er, drew her gleaming new Azure Moon Short Sword and pointed it at Xian Wu, scolding him in a sweet voice, "Get lost! Stay away from me!"

She wanted nothing more than to run her sword through the bastard in front of her.

She'd had the worst luck today.

The bastard in front of her had taken every advantage he could during the day, and that evening she'd stepped into empty air and fallen into a deep pit. What had she ever done to deserve this?

She was so furious she was about to lose her reason.

"Don't attack me. Let's talk this out." Xian Wu held up his hands halfway to show he meant no harm. "I came here today because I want to make a deal with you." He followed Xiao Ning'er to the campfire.

"A deal? What deal?" Xiao Ning'er took a bronze mirror from her Space Ring and asked as she picked leaves out of her hair.

She had no idea what Xian Wu was up to, so she decided to hear the bastard out first.

Xian Wu cleared his throat, straightened his back, and asked loudly, "Are you sick?"

"Come here." Xiao Ning'er smiled and beckoned to him with a slender finger, her expression charming and alluring.

"What are you planning?" Xian Wu swallowed and stepped closer.

"I'm going to run you through!"

If Xian Wu hadn't dodged quickly, he would've had a hole right through him.

"What are you doing? Ouch!" Xian Wu jumped in fright.

Xiao Ning'er snapped, "You're the one who's sick! Your whole family's sick! Did you come here just to piss me off? Get lost! If you don't leave, I'll throw a throwing knife right through you, got it? @#￥##@￥@"

As though she'd found an outlet, Xiao Ning'er poured out all the frustration she'd been holding in all day.

Xian Wu took a verbal beating and could only stand there with his mouth hanging open, unable to get a word out.

"Take a look at this." Xian Wu suddenly pointed to his own face.

Xiao Ning'er's brows drew together in disgust. "Look at what? Just looking at your face makes me sick."

For some reason, she felt much better after scolding Xian Wu.

"Uh..." Xian Wu froze for a moment, then continued, "Don't you think my face looks a little different from yesterday?"

"What's di—" Xiao Ning'er stopped halfway through. It did look a little different, but she couldn't put her finger on what had changed.

Xiao Ning'er narrowed her beautiful eyes, confused.

Xian Wu prompted her, "The bruises on my face are gone." He leaned closer to Xiao Ning'er and said happily, "Look, they're gone, aren't they? They've disappeared, haven't they? Doesn't that make me look—" He'd only made it halfway over when Xiao Ning'er's short sword forced him back.

"What do your bruises have to do with me?" Xiao Ning'er pouted and added another piece of firewood to the campfire.

Speaking of bruises, she had two on her body as well, though at least they weren't on her face like Xian Wu's.