"Jinx's Eleventh Trial: Make a Sensational Entrance."
"At lunchtime, go to the cafeteria and find a hope that can be ignited, achieving a sensational effect."
"Time limit: three days."
At lunchtime, Tang San was eating in the cafeteria when he suddenly received a message about the God Trial in his mind.
He looked around, but couldn't find anything that looked like a hope that could be ignited.
Shaking his head, Tang San set the trial aside for now and peacefully continued his meal.
The next day, during Yu Xiaogang's private lesson, both master and disciple seemed distracted.
Gangzi was still wrestling with his final doubts.
Tang San, meanwhile, was thinking about how to complete the God Trial.
The lesson slowly came to an end amid the strange atmosphere.
Without a word between them, master and disciple both headed for the academy cafeteria.
Usually, Yu Xiaogang went straight to the second floor to eat. Sometimes, he even called Tang San along to buy him an extra meal.
Today, however, Yu Xiaogang stood ramrod straight in the middle of the first-floor cafeteria.
His disciple Tang San looked at him, utterly confused.
"Teacher, aren't you going to the second floor?"
"Don't mind me, Xiao San. Go get your food."
Yu Xiaogang's expression was extremely solemn—more solemn than Tang San had ever seen it. Even when they'd encountered a Datura Snake in the Soul Hunting Forest, Yu Xiaogang's face hadn't been this grave.
"I understand, Teacher. Just let me know if you need anything."
"Mm."
To preserve the last shred of dignity he had as a teacher, Gangzi had to send Tang San away first.
The time before Tang San returned was his last chance.
Looking around, he saw the students busily wolfing down their meals.
Feeling a twinge of guilt, Yu Xiaogang took several white radishes out of his Soul Tool and stuffed them into his mouth.
A moment later, Gangzi's face had turned a mottled purple and green. Some of the students had already noticed the conspicuous, expressionless middle-aged man.
"Isn't that the Grandmaster? What's he doing standing in the middle of the cafeteria?"
"Who knows? With that look on his face, it's not like he's about to lose control of a fart, is he?"
"..."
As soon as that student's guess left his mouth, a cloud of purplish-green gas appeared behind Yu Xiaogang.
"Pffft~~ pffft! Pffft pffft pffft pffft pffft pffft pffft pffft..."
A string of muffled blasts thundered through the entire cafeteria. Their echoes lingered in the rafters, refusing to fade even after three days.
The deadly stench that followed sent many students retching.
The food they hadn't swallowed yet went to waste.
After the muffled blasts continued for dozens of seconds, some students with poor resistance had already fainted in the cafeteria.
The quick-witted ones were already sprinting for the exit.
Some even pointed at Gangzi in the middle of the cafeteria and cursed him out.
"What the hell are you doing, you useless piece of trash?"
"Have you got no manners? People are eating here!"
"Like master, like disciple. You're both a pair of good-for-nothings!"
Yu Xiaogang answered with a second round of farts. The renewed rumbling took down another batch of students who hadn't escaped the cafeteria in time.
This time, even some upperclassmen on the second floor caught a whiff of the deadly gas.
"What's that sound? What's that smell... Urgh!!!"
Ten toxic gas bombs in a row, and the whole cafeteria was shrouded in purplish-green gas.
Just then, Tang San returned to the hall with his meal.
The poison gas that filled the cafeteria nearly knocked him off his feet.
"T-Teacher... what are you doing..."
Looking at Yu Xiaogang in the middle of the poisonous fog, Tang San suddenly seemed to realize something.
He dropped his tray, then took a piece of flint out of Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
"So that's it. This is the hope that can be ignited."
"As expected of my teacher. He even knows exactly what I need most."
"Becoming increasingly enlightened, Tang San stepped forward, grabbed Yu Xiaogang, and led him to the cafeteria entrance. Then he lit the flint and tossed it inside."
"BOOM!"
Flames shot into the sky. Real men never looked back at an explosion!
A wicked smile hung on both master and disciple's lips as they slowly walked away from the cafeteria.
In their minds, they both heard the notification that their trials were complete.
"Teacher, I'll head back to the dorm first."
"Go ahead. I have something to take care of, too."
"Jinx's Eleventh Trial: Make a Sensational Entrance, complete."
"Reward: 30 days of cultivation; Soul Ring age increased by 10 years."
The reward wasn't as good as the Tenth Trial's, but Tang San had barely lifted a finger this time. He soon accepted the drop in reward.
At the current rate, he figured that by the Fifteenth Trial, the rewards would probably be on par with those from the Tenth.
And by the Twentieth Trial, he'd surely receive another generous reward.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang had returned to his dorm and immediately checked his gains.
"Plague God's First Trial: The Fart on Arrival, complete."
"Reward: 5 days of cultivation; Soul Ring age increased by 2 years."
Don't underestimate five days of cultivation. Yu Xiaogang had been stuck at level 29 for nearly twenty years, and no matter how he trained, he could no longer generate any Soul Power.
Yet those five days of cultivation had turned into real Soul Power, added directly to his cultivation.
Thanks to those five days' worth of Soul Power, Yu Xiaogang successfully broke through the Soul Elder threshold.
The ecstatic Gangzi couldn't help shedding tears.
"Don't bully a poor middle-aged man. I can finally cultivate again!"
"Let the storm come—or rather, let the farts come even harder!"
After gaining a real benefit, Yu Xiaogang had no doubts left about the Plague God. He might as well have been reborn thanks to it.
Whatever the next trial was, he would do everything in his power to complete it.
Perhaps the Plague God had heard Gangzi's heartfelt words, because it immediately issued the next trial's instructions.
"Plague God's Second Trial: When the greenhouse effect arrives, not a single fart is innocent."
"Do your part to warm the climate of Douluo Continent."
"Leave your mark on Nuoding City's four main roads and make a deep impression on twenty people."
Gangzi's face darkened at once. He'd just been thanking the Plague God from the bottom of his heart.
What the hell? Why was it this kind of thing again...
"Forget it. The trials set by the Plague God must have a reason. As the trial-taker, all I need to do is carry them out properly."
In the upperclassmen's dorm, Lu Xian took the meal he'd packed earlier back to his room and began eating.
Hearing the system's wish-fulfillment notification, Lu Xian couldn't help curling his lip in disdain.
[Wish rating: F. Executor completion: 150%.]
[Reward: 20 days of cultivation; Soul Ring age increased by 6 years.]
[Wish rating: F. Executor completion: 100%.]
[Reward: 60 days of cultivation; Soul Ring age increased by 30 years.]
The gains from Tang San, the Destined Worker, were still acceptable to Lu Xian. Gangzi's results, on the other hand, were too painful to look at.
Twenty days of cultivation at Gangzi's pace—what was that compared with Lu Xian cultivating for two days? It was even worse than cultivating on his own!
Fortunately, he'd also gained an increase in Soul Ring age. Otherwise, he would have wanted to kill Gangzi.
If his Second Soul Ring had successfully been bound to Hu Luobo, he'd have two Destined Workers by now.
Then his cultivation speed would surely have shot up like a rocket.
All because of that guy's fart.
Over the next few months, Gangzi tried farting in all kinds of places and successfully became another figure despised by Nuoding City's people.
As for the other one, naturally, it was his beloved disciple, Tang San.
By now, the two of them had earned the titles of God of Misfortune and Fart Immortal in Nuoding City. They were no less hated than rats crossing the street, with everyone shouting to beat them.
The master and disciple, however, didn't care in the slightest. If anything, they rather enjoyed it.
There was a certain feeling of "They laugh at me for being mad; I laugh at them for not seeing through it."
Before you continue