Headmaster

Old Lu's courtyard was a complete mess, with scarcely any place to set foot. Yet the old man did not care in the slightest, seeming perfectly content to let it keep growing wild.

Left with no choice, Ning Chen first helped the old man tidy up the courtyard. If this continued, the place would soon become uninhabitable.

The first time he had come to this courtyard, the old man had dragged him here. It had been violent, yet warm as well.

In Old Lu's eyes, being crippled or not made no difference at all. His disability might even have been a little better than the "trash" those old men spoke of.

Old Lu's strike earlier had not been particularly heavy. The main reason was that Ning Chen had never recovered after being injured by the old eunuch. Coupled with the sunless torment in Netherworld Hell, the injuries within his body had worsened time and again. Once he fought, it was easy to trigger his old wounds.

Come to think of it, ever since he had arrived in this world, the thing he had done most was get injured. One injury after another—he seemed never to have fully recovered.

Fortunately, he was still alive!

Old Lu stood before the door, looking at the wheelchair beneath the busy young man. His brows furrowed slightly. Back then, it had been his first time making a wheelchair. Apart from adding a few little mechanisms to it, it had no other merits.

Now, making the wheelchair more nimble was truly no easy task.

A wheelchair was not something that could ever be very fast.

Ning Chen was in no hurry. He quietly waited for Old Lu to think it over while continuing to clean the courtyard. He had no idea how many days he would be gone after leaving, and if he did not thoroughly clean up for this old man, there might not even be a path to enter by the time he returned.

Someone like Old Lu, if placed in his world, would probably have been a mad scientist.

"Come here."

After a long while, Old Lu's brows knitted even more tightly as he called out.

Ning Chen threw the last piece of wood onto the mountain-like pile of rubbish in the corner, then turned his wheelchair and rolled over.

Old Lu stepped forward and pressed a hand onto the wheelchair. The next instant, an immense force bore down. With a bang, the wheelchair shattered into pieces, its fragments scattering everywhere.

"Old Lu, you—"

Ning Chen was startled. In that instant, he drew the Ink Sword and drove it into the ground with a clang, barely avoiding a face-first fall.

"Not a bad reaction."

Old Lu spoke indifferently, then bent down to pick up the two wheels from the ground and leisurely returned indoors.

Bang.

The door closed, and a detached voice came from inside. "Wait outside. You are not allowed in."

Only an idiot would want to go in, Ning Chen muttered. He then sat down where he was and waited in boredom.

Suddenly, his chest tightened, and drops of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Ning Chen held his chest with his left hand, irritation rising in his heart. This injury would not kill him, but continually coughing up blood was no solution either.

Closing his eyes, he circulated his true qi. Silver light ran once through his meridians, suppressing the injury again.

Within his dantian qihai, beneath the first Golden Page, the silver vortex was steadily growing, slowly revolving like a galaxy. Beside it, wisps of dark yellow true qi gathered, vaguely forming an independent little vortex. Another Golden Page floated above, constantly receiving nourishment from his true essence.

Over these past days, the growth of his cultivation had gradually slowed. He knew that he had reached a bottleneck. Fifth-Rank martial cultivation was the first barrier of the acquired realm, and many people became stuck here, unable to advance even an inch.

Geniuses like Qing Ling, the Divine Son, and Xia Miaoyu, who could smash through every obstacle and reach the peak of Ninth-Rank at such young ages, were still rare.

With his injuries suppressed, Ning Chen continued cultivating where he sat. Old Lu would not emerge anytime soon. Before returning to the palace, he had to seize every moment to improve his strength.

He did not know when his cultivation could break through to Fifth-Rank. The expansion of the silver vortex had gradually slowed as well. The quickest way for him to increase his strength now was to form the second vortex as soon as possible. It might prove unexpectedly useful in battle.

Over the past two days, the dark yellow vortex had grown far faster than the silver vortex, which had already reached its limit. Unable to break through Fifth-Rank, this was the best cultivation choice available to him.

The sun set and the moon rose, the natural order of heaven and earth shifting. The door remained unopened. Ning Chen sat motionless in the courtyard, allowing the cold frost to soak his clothes.

Under the moonlight, an enormous dark yellow whirlpool formed in the courtyard, centered on Ning Chen as it madly devoured the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Without the bottleneck between realms to restrain it, the dark yellow vortex expanded all the way. In a short time, it faintly showed signs of standing toe-to-toe with the silver vortex.

Yet such growth ultimately had its flaws. Without the tempering of a realm, the dark yellow vortex seemed inferior in both quality and quantity. It was always difficult for it to attain the boundless, overwhelming pressure of the silver vortex.

Just then, the door opened. Old Lu stepped out, weariness on his face, but his aged eyes were bright as starlight.

Ning Chen opened his eyes, reined in the aura around him, and quietly watched the old man before him.

"Kid, what is martial cultivation for?" Old Lu asked.

"Fighting," Ning Chen answered honestly.

"And the sword in your hand?"

"Killing people."

"What if the person you want to kill, or the person who wants to kill you, has their own hardships?"

"What the hell does that have to do with me?"

Old Lu burst into hearty laughter and said approvingly, "That is exactly what I like about you—shameless without the slightest attempt to hide it."

"Thank you for the compliment," Ning Chen accepted calmly.

"The wheelchair is finished. No need to thank me."

"You are overthinking it."

Ning Chen looked at the new black wheelchair beside Old Lu, a brilliant gleam bursting from his eyes. He then slapped the ground with his right hand, his body suddenly soaring up before landing on the wheelchair.

The next moment, the wheelchair spun a thousand turns, streaking trails of light across the courtyard. Ning Chen abruptly stopped and looked at Old Lu. "Old Lu, let's exchange a few moves."

Old Lu laughed loudly and replied readily, "You are asking for a beating."

Bang!

Old Lu's figure flashed, and his right palm tore through the air. Even with seventy percent of his cultivation suppressed, it remained unstoppable—powerful beyond all reason.

Ning Chen retreated swiftly, avoiding the edge of the attack. After seven steps, he formed a finger seal with his left hand, darted close, and thrust two fingers toward the Tianzong acupoint on the old man's right shoulder.

Old Lu turned sideways and evaded the move. Yet Ning Chen was faster. With a clang, he drew the Ink Sword with his right hand. One sword, blameless—he pressed another half step closer.

"Devious!"

Old Lu cried out in alarm. He no longer dared suppress the aura around him. It erupted with a boom, a terrifying pressure sweeping out and sending Ning Chen flying.

Screech—

Ning Chen's Ink Sword plunged into the ground, carving a trail two zhang long before he finally stopped.

"Old Lu, do you have no shame?"

Ning Chen's face was filled with anger as he demanded.

"Hehe, a slip. A slip."

Old Lu's face reddened, a rare sight. Using cultivation to overpower a junior in a fight was indeed rather disgraceful. Still, this brat's moves were truly strange. They were not exceptionally fast, but their angles and timing were so tricky and difficult to deal with.

He still remembered when Ning Chen had first arrived at the academy. His legs had been crippled, and his martial cultivation had only just reached acquired Second-Rank. Aside from having a passable personality, he had been good for nothing else.

Only a few months had passed, yet that little rookie had made such tremendous progress.

It seemed that a person's potential truly had to be forced out. Talent and disability could become obstacles, but they were not absolute factors.

"Old Lu, I'm leaving. Goodbye."

His purpose achieved, Ning Chen truly did not want to see Old Lu's infuriating face any longer. He waved, turned his wheelchair, and left.

"Don't come back," Old Lu said impatiently.

"Next time, I'll bring you some imperial wine from the palace."

In the night, Ning Chen's figure gradually receded, about to vanish from sight.

Old Lu's expression changed at once. Changing his tune, he stretched out a hand and shouted, "Kid, you are welcome to come again next time!"

Without turning back, Ning Chen waved his hand and gradually disappeared into the night.

Old Lu sighed wistfully, then turned and returned indoors. No work tonight. Time to sleep.

Ning Chen returned to the academy. Little White Horse had already come back from The Master's place, and when man and horse met, they immediately felt close again.

Little White Horse brought its face close, just about to show its delight, when Ning Chen pushed it away. "Go away. Your brother needs to sleep. Do as you please."

With a bang, Ning Chen shut the door, leaving Little White Horse alone in the courtyard, unable to understand how it had offended its strange master again.

Nothing happened through the night. Early the next morning, Ning Chen left the academy without even waking Little White Horse, who was still asleep.

He was going to see the Headmaster. There was no other reason—only to offer a word of thanks.

The Headmaster's residence within the academy was no secret. Everyone in the world knew of it.

Outside a small forest in the academy stood an ordinary house in quiet stillness. Such heavy snow had fallen outside, yet within a hundred zhang around the little house, everything was clean and dry, without a flake of snow.

Ning Chen arrived outside the house and respectfully said, "Headmaster, Ning Chen requests an audience."

With a soft creak, the door opened. Before him stood an old man in coarse cloth robes. His appearance was ordinary, and he looked no different from any common elderly man on the street.

Yet this was one of the five strongest people in the world, the Headmaster of Tiancang Academy.

"Mm."

The Headmaster nodded. He was not unfamiliar with the young man before him. The Empress had never asked anyone for anything in her life, yet she had broken that rule for this youth.

"I came to thank you, and also to bid farewell," Ning Chen said.

"Why are you leaving?" the Headmaster asked calmly.

"To return to the palace."

"For what?"

Ning Chen fell silent and did not answer.

The Headmaster frowned and pressed the question. "You do not trust me?"

Ning Chen fell silent again. That was answer enough.

A life-saving favor and trust were two different matters. There were few people in this world whom he could trust, and the Headmaster saving him would not change that.

"You may leave."

The Headmaster flicked his sleeve and turned back into the house.

"Thank you, Headmaster."

Ning Chen bowed, then turned and left as well.

Their meeting had lasted only a few breaths from beginning to end. The Headmaster was busy, and Ning Chen was no idle man either, so neither wished to waste words.

At the root of it all, the two were not familiar.

One had acted at another's request, while the other had been unable to help himself. There was, in truth, no need for them to become acquainted.

How could there be so many instant friendships, so much respect for the old and care for the young, in this world?

The gap in strength would forever be the greatest barrier standing between people.

The Headmaster was in the innate realm. Ning Chen was in the acquired realm. The difference of one day was the difference between heaven and earth.

Ning Chen was not a mediocre man, so he would not do mediocre things.

Little White Horse was still sleeping in the courtyard. Ning Chen waited there until it woke up. He had something to tell Little White Horse, and guilt weighed on his heart, so he needed to gather himself first.

More than half an hour later, Little White Horse slowly woke. Seeing its evil master standing before it, its body jerked, all sleepiness vanishing in fright.

"I'm leaving."

Ning Chen had worked himself up for a long time, but in the end decided to say it directly.

Snort.

Little White Horse stood up, preparing to leave with him.

"I plan to go alone."

Ning Chen stared at Little White Horse and spoke calmly.

Snort, snort. Panic appeared in Little White Horse's eyes, and anxious sounds came from its throat. It did not know what it had done wrong again.

"It is not your fault. I broke my word, but I still have to leave."

Ning Chen forcibly suppressed the reluctance in his heart and sighed softly. There were too many dangers on this journey. Whether he could return was still uncertain. He could not let Little White Horse risk its life with him.

"Whimper..." Little White Horse lowered itself, pleading mournfully. Faint tears of entreaty rolled in its large eyes.

"Ah."

With a silent sigh, Ning Chen hardened his heart and left, never willing to look back even once...