"Beep-beep—beep-beep!!!"
In the night, the crisp, piercing ringtone echoed off the cliff face.
Lin Ye sat on the slanting trunk of a pine tree, breathing lightly. He raised his eyes to glance at his watch.
23:00. It had taken him about two hours in total, including a short break.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. Feeling the damp mountain breeze, he let the heat rise from his chest.
This body was still lacking.
At his peak in his previous life, climbing a mere hundred-meter cliff—even with its slippery face—would have taken him less than half an hour.
"I'm still too weak," he murmured with a sigh.
He leaned back against the pine tree. The pale moonlight fell into his eyes, and a contented, relaxed smile appeared on his face.
For no particular reason, he thought of the time in his previous life when he had successfully conquered Master of Fate. Back then, too, he had been alone, looking at the moon.
The moon I see now never shone on my past life, but this time, I can go farther.
A little over an hour later, at the far end of Yamada Village.
Lin Ye stood before a low courtyard wall and stepped straight into the yard.
He walked to the tiled house, took out the cash he had withdrawn that day, counted out twenty-four bills, and placed them on the chair beside the door.
Once he was done, he glanced at the dark window and turned to leave.
After an unknown amount of time, the moon shifted, and a pale fish-belly white glow appeared on the horizon.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
A colorful rooster with a black tail hopped onto the courtyard wall and crowed at the sky.
Soon, the door creaked open, and an old man in black cotton clothes walked out.
He breathed in the fresh air, ready to enjoy a set of health-preserving exercises, when his gaze suddenly fell on the chair beside him.
A neat stack of bright red bills lay there. He froze.
Only after a while did he pick up the bills and look toward the winding mountain road beyond the courtyard.
After a few seconds of silence, he pressed his palms together and bowed once, then quietly put the money away.
*
*
*
In the bedroom, Lin Ye sat quietly by the window, watching the sky grow bright.
His gaze passed over the alarm clock: 05:58.
Summer mornings always came a little early.
He opened his phone and sent his advisor a photo of the Black Spiral Grass he had taken.
"Teacher, I've come across some Black Spiral Grass. Can the lab take it?"
There were thirty-two stalks of Black Spiral Grass in all. He had kept seven as potion ingredients, leaving twenty-five.
If the lab bought them at the price listed on the academy intranet, he'd get ten thousand yuan—enough to solve his immediate money troubles, with some left over.
Even if they couldn't, as long as he got more than three thousand, he wouldn't be taking a loss.
He put down his phone and took a stone mill about the size of a bowl from his backpack. He had bought it at the mall to grind Dieluo Seeds.
Turning it over in his hands, he muttered, "According to the process, the Dieluo Seeds need to be roasted until they're reddish-brown before grinding."
"Once they've been ground into an oily paste, pour it into a pot, then use the water-substitution method... Was it boiling water or warm water?"
"Right, add boiling water and stir. Then shake out the oil."
After confirming the process, he didn't rush to get started.
The head coach would be teaching in two hours. Grinding the Dieluo Seed Oil would take at least three or four hours from start to finish, so the timing conflicted.
The head coach only taught once a month, if that. His lesson took priority over making Dieluo Seed Oil. Lin Ye couldn't afford to miss it.
"Bzzz-bzzz~"
Just as he was about to take a shower first, his phone vibrated twice.
[Teacher Zhuang]: "All right. Something's come up on my end, so I'll be delayed a few days. Your senior will be back the day after tomorrow. You can go to the lab building and find him then."
[Teacher Zhuang]: "I'll buy them at the market price: four hundred per stalk, ten thousand in total. Once the accounts are settled, I'll have your senior transfer the money to you."
Reading his teacher's reply, Lin Ye felt a warmth in his heart.
Normally, fresh Black Spiral Grass needed to undergo several rounds of processing before it could be used as a medicinal ingredient.
So fresh Black Spiral Grass should have been worth less, but his teacher was paying him the price for dried stalks.
"Sorry for the trouble, Teacher," he replied.
"Bzzz-bzzz~"
[Teacher Zhuang]: "All right, I'm busy right now. I'll tell you about the gathering when I get back. No need to reply."
Lin Ye read his teacher's message and quietly turned off the screen, which reflected his face.
Compared with his previous life, his face looked less angular, the corners of his eyes softer. He no longer seemed so sharp-edged.
"Is this... what it means to be bound to others?"
He murmured to himself and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling.
"The shackles of being human..."
He sat dazed for a long time before abruptly coming to his senses. Fine beads of sweat had formed on his forehead without him noticing.
He took a deep breath, his gaze settling on the cover of Elementary Potionology Notes on his desk.
"Kalon Ismayil."
He silently repeated the name.
After a few seconds, he stood and headed for the bathroom.
After showering, he warmed up with some boxing exercises and headed straight to the gym. By the time he reached the entrance, it was already half past seven.
He pushed open the gym door. A gust of wind shot toward him, and he immediately sidestepped to dodge it.
"Whoosh—!"
A burly figure hurtled past and crashed straight into the door. He hit the floor with a thud.
"Cough! Cough!"
After coughing a few times and easing the tightness in his chest, Lei Long pushed himself up with the doorframe.
A bright red footprint ran from his lips to his forehead, with five distinct toe marks lined up above his eyebrows.
Lin Ye looked at Lei Long, completely bewildered.
He turned to look at the center of the hall. The students stood in three rows on the training platform.
They were all in his cohort; there weren't any senior students. It seemed they'd arranged it that way on purpose.
The most eye-catching figure stood beside the training post, dressed in black training clothes. She was barefoot and slowly lowering her right leg.
She was tall and slender, wearing rimless glasses, with long legs and a height of around 175 centimeters.
Her wheat-colored arms were bare, their muscles clearly defined. She looked tremendously explosive.
Her long black hair was simply tied up in a high ponytail. She looked barely over twenty and had delicate features even without makeup.
Her posture was straight and athletic. A slender gold chain hung around her neck, and there was something about her that was hard to describe.
"Hiss—!"
Lei Long sucked in a breath and looked at Lin Ye, managing a pained smile.
"Sorry about that, classmate. Get in line first. This is our branch gym's head coach, Head Coach Lin Fei."
He raised a hand to cover his forehead and gently rubbed it, looking a little embarrassed.
"Senior! Over here!"
Yan Yi called out from the line, raising an arm to wave at him.
"Classmate, get in line."
Lin Fei glanced over. Her voice didn't sound particularly feminine; it was like that of a boy who hadn't yet reached puberty.
Lin Ye nodded and hurried over to stand beside Yan Yi.
"What happened?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know. I just got here too. I only saw the head coach beating up Coach Lei," Yan Yi whispered back.
She had arrived only a few minutes before Lin Ye. By then, the head coach had already been beating Coach Lei for a while.
There was no denying that Coach Lei could take a beating.
The head coach had left a footprint in the Ripple Ironwood floor, which was almost as hard as steel. She was unbelievably strong.
An ordinary person would have been kicked in half by a blow like that, or had their head blown apart.
But all Coach Lei had to show for it was a footprint on his face.
Martial arts, thrilling combat!
Now this was what martial arts was all about!
At the front of the line, Lin Fei crossed her arms and watched Lei Long approach with his back hunched. Her expression turned stern.
"I've told you to read the coaching manual more often, but you never listen!"
"What the hell have you been teaching in the introductory course?! You're seriously teaching the levels as one, two, three, four, and five?"
"Is your brain full of shit? Are you planning to go up the mountain and fight a tiger?"
"I'm talking to you! Are you deaf? Are you deaf or what?"
Thud!
With a muffled impact, Lin Fei slammed her forearm into the training post beside her.
The leather covering burst apart, and the steel frame inside bent a full ninety degrees.
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