With Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track beneath his feet, Tang San darted and weaved through the woods.
A disdainful smile still hung at the corners of his mouth.
There was no way these villagers would ever catch up with him.
But before long, he couldn't smile anymore. For three days straight, the villagers had stood guard outside their homes with hoes in hand. The moment Tang San showed himself, they would swarm him, intent on eliminating the destroyer of their homes.
That left Tang San at a loss.
The trial's time limit was only half a month. If he didn't start repairing the houses soon, he would be judged to have failed when time ran out.
Fifty houses were no small number, after all. Even half a month might not be enough to finish repairing them.
Fortunately, Tang San still had a trump card.
He activated the Bad Luck Domain. With Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track beneath his feet, Tang San led every villager who had lost a home through the domain, one after another.
That very day, a torrential downpour fell over Holy Soul Village.
The villagers who had lost their homes were drenched like drowned rats.
At last, they understood just how important a roof over their heads was. Their anger toward Tang San subsided for the moment, and they began searching for materials to repair their homes.
Of course, Tang San paid for it by getting his face intimately acquainted with cow dung.
The Bad Luck Domain wasn't something he could use without consequence.
Seeing that the villagers were too busy to chase him through the streets anymore, Tang San finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He took out the tools he had bought in advance and began going from house to house, helping the villagers make repairs.
At first, the villagers glared viciously at the culprit. But once they saw that Tang San was genuinely working hard to repair the houses, they finally tamped down their anger.
Nothing mattered more than rebuilding their homes first.
More than ten days of unrelenting hard labor left Tang San with hollow eyes and a face full of exhaustion.
At last, when the final house had been repaired, Tang San collapsed onto the ground, completely spent.
Seeing him like that, the villagers couldn't bring themselves to cause him any more trouble.
"Trial Fifteen, Art is Explosion, completed."
"Reward: 35 days of cultivation, 20 years added to Soul Ring age."
A stream of pure Soul Power surged through his limbs and body. Tang San immediately felt all his exhaustion vanish without a trace.
His face beaming with joy, Tang San bounded toward his own dilapidated thatched hut.
But halfway there, the smile at the corners of his mouth suddenly froze. Then, slowly, it twisted into something abnormal.
"Jinx Seventeenth Trial: Obsessed with Art."
"The villagers' homes still aren't grand enough. Tear them down and rebuild them on the foundations of the newly repaired houses."
"Time limit: one month."
Tang San's expression crumbled. He turned to look at the row of brand-new houses.
"Sorry, everyone. This is just the kind of trial-loving artist I am!"
The next day.
"Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!" "Rumble!"
"Tang San, I'll curse your ancestors!"
"Don't hold me back! Today, either that bastard dies or I do. There's no third option!"
Far away, at Notting Academy.
Little Rabbit was lying on a shared dormitory bed, swinging her feet, when she suddenly sneezed and felt a chill run down her spine.
"Achoo!"
"Weird. Why does it feel like I almost got contaminated by something filthy?"
"Never mind. I'll go get some carrots."
Inside Tang Hao's blacksmith shop in Holy Soul Village, Old Jack stared furiously at Tang San, who was clad head to toe in armor, his face hidden from view.
"Tang San, I gave you the village's only work-study student spot. It wasn't so you could come back after your studies and blow up houses."
"Sorry, village chief, but don't you think those houses were rather ugly?"
"I don't give a damn about their looks! Even ugly houses are better than having nowhere to live, aren't they?"
"Understood, village chief. I'll go help everyone rebuild their homes right away."
"Hmph. Get going. If they're not fixed within a month, I'll report to the officer at the Spirit Hall Branch that someone's causing trouble in the village."
"Yes."
Wearing his armor, Tang San set about preparing the foundations for fifty houses.
Behind him, a woman whose house had been destroyed kept smacking the back of his head with a rolling pin.
Clang, clang, clank—she struck in a steady rhythm.
As she hit him, she shouted:
"I'll teach you to mess around, you little bastard..."
Tang San silently congratulated himself on his foresight in making the armor. His hands never stopped moving.
By the end of the day, his ears were ringing, but he hadn't actually been hurt.
"Phew!"
"The path to godhood is always full of twists and turns. Tang San, you have to keep going!"
A month later, the houses were repaired.
Tang San packed his things and set off for Notting Academy in the middle of the night.
He was afraid Jinx would give him another mission to tear everything down three times.
"Trial Sixteen, Obsessed with Art, completed."
"Reward: 50 days of cultivation, 30 years added to Soul Ring age."
The generous reward brought a faint smile to Tang San's face as he walked. At least, for now, all the effort had been worth it.
The two trials had earned him a total of 85 days of cultivation, and Tang San had successfully advanced to level 17.
His Soul Ring's age had also reached 600 years.
As long as he persevered, he would be the most dazzling Jinx of them all.
Upon returning to the academy, Tang San was baffled by the crowd blocking the entrance.
He stepped forward and pulled a student aside.
"Hey, what's going on?"
The student turned, saw Tang San, then yanked his sleeve free and backed away several dozen steps.
"Y-you... don't come too close."
"You're asking what's going on? Your teacher's been farting at the school gate for three days straight."
"The entrance is full of poisonous gas. We can't even get in."
"Uh..."
Tang San immediately guessed what had happened. After all, the divine markings above his teacher's head couldn't be fake.
"So the teacher really isn't an ordinary person."
"Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned a god's favor."
"Looking at it this way, my Jinx is pretty humane. Maybe a little unethical, but at least there's a limit."
Tang San couldn't even imagine having to fart at the academy gate for three days.
If it came to that, he'd rather smash his head against a tree and die.
At the same time, he secretly admired Yu Xiaogang for enduring what ordinary people couldn't. A man like that was bound to achieve great things.
He checked into a cheap hotel. Three days later, Tang San returned to the academy entrance, just as it was time to register for the new semester.
Ignoring everyone's disdainful looks, Yu Xiaogang walked straight through the crowd of students and came to Tang San.
"Xiao San, hurry and register. Then come with me to take care of something."
"Yes, teacher."
Tang San didn't ask what it was. He turned and headed to the dormitory to put away his luggage, then went to register at the Academic Affairs Office under Little Rabbit's scornful gaze.
After that, he made his way back to the school gate.
Yu Xiaogang had already been waiting there for quite some time.
"Let's go, Xiao San."
With Tang San in tow, Yu Xiaogang headed straight for a restaurant.
Gangzi had just received a brand-new trial.
"Seventh Trial: Plague God's Reserves."
"As a Plague God, having an adequate energy reserve is essential."
"Go to a restaurant and eat a banquet of 200 dishes made from carrots, sweet potatoes, and potatoes in one sitting."
"You may not release any energy during the meal."
"Time limit: one day."
The reason Tang San hadn't refused Yu Xiaogang's invitation was, naturally, because he had received a trial too.
After the earlier dream team-up at the cafeteria, Tang San had more or less guessed that the Godhood his teacher had inherited was closely connected to Jinx.
Otherwise, their trials wouldn't keep being linked.
"Jinx Seventeenth Trial: Stop the Poisonous Gas from Escaping."
"Releasing poisonous gas indiscriminately is unethical. As a cleanliness-loving god, you must stop this from happening."
"Follow your teacher to the restaurant."
"Time limit: one day."
Before you continue