Taking Stock

Ma Hui steadied himself. He knew Qi Da was talking nonsense, hiding the real reason.

But he had no proof...

After all, what if some rare treasure really could alter the great array?

The path of martial arts was endless. Anything was possible...

Besides, more than a million people in Chenyang City had indeed been saved because of this!

For that alone, Qi Da was a hero beyond question, not someone for them to interrogate!

Wasn't it perfectly normal for a Warrior to have a few secrets of his own?

"Since Principal Qi insists that this is the 'truth,' I'll report it that way.

The higher-ups are waiting for an explanation."

Qi Da waved a hand, unconcerned. "Go ahead."

"There's one more thing... I want to take a look at this array."

"The array markings couldn't withstand the strain. They've already shattered." Qi Da wasn't surprised by Ma Hui's request. He led him to the open area on campus.

Ma Hui stomped, and the concrete ground rippled in layers, surging up like waves!

Qi Da's eye twitched at the sight. He felt a little pained... but said nothing. The Martial Suppression Bureau would surely compensate for the damage Ma Hui had caused.

He followed Ma Hui's gaze to the broken, jumbled array markings.

But he knew little about arrays, and could only recognize a few common ones.

As for the markings beneath their feet... even though they had lost their effect, their complexity still made his head spin.

Ma Hui was no different. He was the kind of person who recognized array markings, but the markings didn't recognize him...

He hadn't come to study them anyway. He just snapped a whole batch of pictures and uploaded them to his terminal.

"What a pity..."

"What is?"

"Of course it's a pity the array's broken."

Qi Da fell silent. He had suspected that Chu Yuan had deliberately destroyed the array.

But leaving such a vicious array in Chenyang City would have been a problem. It was just as well that it was gone...

Qi Da had no desire to wake up one day and find himself refined into a pill.

"I'll be going. And... congratulations in advance, Principal Qi." After taking pictures of the array markings, Ma Hui prepared to leave.

Qi Da had saved Chenyang City. That was a great deed, and he would naturally be rewarded for it.

Great Qin had never let Warriors work for nothing.

"What about my students?" Qi Da asked. He meant the promising students the Martial Suppression Bureau had taken away earlier under the pretext of "preserving the flame."

But when Ma Hui heard him, the smile on his face slowly faded. "They... should be home by now."

"What do you mean, 'should'?"

By the time Chu Yuan finished cultivating, night had fallen. He sent out his Spiritual Sense and saw Han Cui and Chu Ying eating in the living room.

Han Cui knew her son was cultivating, so she hadn't called him.

Chu Yuan wasn't hungry, either. Since entering Foundation Establishment, he had reached a state where he no longer needed food. Ordinary food was actually a burden on his body; after eating, he still had to clear out the impurities...

But some things couldn't be measured that way. At the very least, Chu Yuan greatly enjoyed sharing meals with his family.

He didn't hurry out. First, he took stock of what he had gained.

He had ten "Blood Pills" refined from Warriors' bodies, along with twenty-one Spirit Nourishing Pills refined from the strange creatures and Warriors' souls.

Chu Yuan had just come up with those names himself.

There had naturally been more than just this handful of enemies in the Blood Sea Soul-Locking Array.

He simply hadn't bothered with the weak ones. The weakest ones he had refined had been at the fourth realm...

The Blood Pills could enhance his cultivation, while the Spirit Nourishing Pills could strengthen his Spiritual Sense.

He shouldn't have to worry about cultivation pills for a while.

No wonder so many people insisted on becoming demonic cultivators. They cultivated so quickly... If he were a little more ruthless and fed the experts from the Martial Suppression Bureau and the military, along with all the people of Chenyang City, into the Blood Sea Soul-Locking Array, he could probably push himself to the Golden Core Stage even without any more cultivation methods, couldn't he?

Chu Yuan let his thoughts turn dark for a moment, then considered his need for a cultivation method.

In truth, cultivation methods weren't hard to obtain. The simplest way was just to ask Qi Da for one.

And Qi Da probably wouldn't refuse him.

But the principal was only a Warrior in the Supernatural Realm. The cultivation methods he could get through his connections... probably wouldn't be the best!

Even with the system's conversion, the quality of the resulting method still depended on the original.

If Chu Yuan hadn't hidden his contribution this time, he could have used it to ask the authorities for the finest cultivation method available.

But he didn't want to draw attention to himself too early...

"Tsk." Chu Yuan shook his head and walked out of the room.

Han Cui heard him and looked over. "Your food's in the pot."

Chu Ying said excitedly, "Big brother! You're done cultivating!

I'll get you a bowl!"

Before Chu Yuan could answer, she scampered into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of rice.

Chu Yuan couldn't help laughing. He hadn't seen her act so eager to please in a long time, not since she'd started getting rebellious...

He straightened his chopsticks and said unhurriedly, "I heard Mom say you 'skipped class' again?"

The smile froze on Chu Ying's face. "I didn't... Mom's framing me!

I just dawdled a little today. I hadn't even made it to school yet..."

Han Cui set down her chopsticks with an exasperated laugh. "Now I'm framing you? Your homeroom teacher called me about this last time, too..."

Chu Yuan couldn't help asking, "Mom, why have you never told me?"

"You're at a crucial point right now. Don't worry about this.

I was planning to go to her school and talk to her homeroom teacher in the next few days, but then all this happened..."

Chu Yuan nodded. He could understand Han Cui's concerns.

"Why are you skipping class?"

Chu Ying lowered her head and muttered, "I just... I just feel like I can't get into my studies..."

Chu Yuan sighed. "Sigh, how can you do that? Look at the Warriors these days. How many of them are illiterate?

If you don't study hard, you won't even be able to understand cultivation methods in the future..."

"Oh, big brother, I get it!

I promise I won't skip class anymore, okay?"

Chu Yuan chuckled and didn't press her further, though he felt a little puzzled.

From Chu Ying's expression when he observed her with his Spiritual Sense just now, the reason she didn't want to go to school didn't seem as simple as she claimed.

But what else could it be?

Bullying?

That was the first possibility Chu Yuan thought of, but he quickly ruled it out.

Chu Ying's clothes were clean every day, and there were no bruises or wounds on the skin she left exposed. It didn't look like she was being bullied.

He would have to wait until school started and go there himself to take a look...