Taking Stock of the Spoils

Ma Hui calmed his emotions. He knew Qi Da was spouting nonsense and concealing the true source of the event.

But he had no evidence.

After all, what if there really was some exotic treasure capable of tampering with the grand array?

The path of martial arts is boundless; anything is possible.

Moreover, the over one million citizens of Chenyang City were indeed saved because of it!

Based on this alone, Qi Da was a hero beyond reproach, not someone they should be interrogating.

For a martial artist, isn't it normal to have a few secrets of one's own?

"Since Principal Qi insists on this 'fact,' I will report it to my superiors as such. They are still waiting for an explanation."

Qi Da waved his hand, indifferent. "Report it then."

"There is one more thing... I want to examine this array."

"The array patterns were overloaded and have already shattered." Qi Da was not surprised by Ma Hui's request and led him to the open ground of the school.

Ma Hui stomped his foot, and the concrete ground rippled in layers, surging like ocean waves!

Qi Da's eyelids twitched, feeling a pang of heartache, but he said nothing; in any case, the Martial Suppression Bureau would certainly have to compensate for the damage Ma Hui caused.

He followed Ma Hui's gaze, looking at the broken, chaotic array patterns.

However, his own research into arrays was shallow, limited only to identifying a few common ones.

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

Ma Hui was in the same boat; it was a case of the array patterns recognizing him, while he didn't recognize them.

But he hadn't come to study them anyway; he simply snapped a pile of photos and uploaded them to his terminal.

"What a pity..."

"What's a pity?"

"That the array is broken, of course."

Qi Da fell silent. In truth, he suspected that Chu Yuan had destroyed the array on purpose.

But such a malevolent grand array was no good thing to leave in Chenyang City; it was better off destroyed.

Qi Da certainly didn't want to wake up one day and find himself refined into a pill.

"I'll be going now. And... congratulations in advance, Principal Qi." Ma Hui prepared to leave after finishing his photos.

Qi Da had saved Chenyang City, a great merit that would naturally be rewarded.

The Great Qin never let a martial artist's efforts go to waste.

"What about my students?" Qi Da asked. He was referring to the promising young talents the Martial Suppression Bureau had taken away under the guise of "preserving the seeds."

To his surprise, the smile on Ma Hui's face slowly faded as he heard this. "They... should be home by now."

"What do you mean by 'should'?"

It was already dark by the time he finished his cultivation. Chu Yuan probed with his divine 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 for him.

In truth, Chu Yuan wasn't hungry. After stepping into the Foundation Establishment realm, he had achieved inedia and no longer needed to consume mundane food.

It was actually a burden on his body, requiring him to purge the impurities afterward.

However, some things aren't measured by logic; at the very least, Chu Yuan enjoyed the act of eating with his family.

Without rushing to head out, he first took stock of his gains.

There were ten "Blood Pills" refined from the physical bodies of martial artists, and twenty-one "Spirit Nourishing Pills" refined from the souls of martial artists and strange entities.

These were names Chu Yuan had given them on the spot.

Naturally, there hadn't been only that many enemies in the Blood Sea Soul-Locking Array.

It was just that he hadn't bothered with the weak ones; the lowest level he had refined was that of a Fourth Realm expert.

The Blood Pills could enhance his cultivation, while the Spirit Nourishing Pills could strengthen his divine sense.

For the short term, he shouldn't have to worry about cultivation pills.

No wonder so many people insisted on becoming demonic cultivators; their cultivation speed was truly fast. If he were a bit more ruthless and fed the experts of the Martial Suppression Bureau, the military, and all the citizens of Chenyang City into the Blood Sea Soul-Locking Array, he might have been able to push himself to the Golden Core stage even without subsequent cultivation techniques.

Chu Yuan felt a flicker of darkness in his heart, but he immediately began to consider the matter of cultivation techniques.

In reality, techniques weren't hard to obtain; the simplest method was to ask Qi Da directly.

And Qi Da would likely not refuse him.

But the principal was, after all, only a martial artist in the Supernatural Realm. The techniques he could provide through his channels... were likely not the best!

Even with the system's conversion, the quality of the resulting technique was still related to the original.

If he hadn't hidden his achievements this time, he could have used them to demand top-tier cultivation techniques from the authorities.

However, Chu Yuan didn't want to be targeted by others prematurely...

"Tsk." Shaking his head, Chu Yuan walked out of his room.

Hearing the commotion, Han Cui looked over and said, "Food is in the pot."

Chu Ying, on the other hand, said excitedly, "Brother! You've finished your seclusion! I'll go get you some rice!"

Before Chu Yuan could even speak, she scurried into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of rice.

Chu Yuan couldn't help but chuckle; ever since the girl had entered her rebellious phase, he hadn't seen her act this sycophantic in a long time...

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

The smile on Chu Ying's face stiffened. "No way... Mom is framing me! I was just dawdling today and hadn't made it to school yet..."

Han Cui put down her chopsticks, unable to laugh or cry. "I'm framing you now? Your homeroom teacher called me just last time..."

Chu Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Mom, why didn't you ever tell me?"

"You're at a critical stage right now, so don't worry about these things. I was planning to go to her school to talk to her teacher these past few days, but then this whole incident happened..."

Chu Yuan nodded, understanding Han Cui's concerns.

"Why did you skip class?"

Chu Ying lowered her head and muttered, "It's just... I just feel like I can't get into the lessons..."

Chu Yuan sighed. "Sigh, how will that do? Look at the martial artists today; which one of them is illiterate? If you don't study hard, you won't even be able to understand cultivation techniques in the future..."

"Oh, Brother, I get it, okay! I promise you I won't skip class anymore, alright?"

Chu Yuan chuckled lightly and didn't press her further, though he felt a flicker of doubt in his heart.

Judging by the expression he had observed on Chu Ying's face with his divine sense just now, the reason she didn't want to go to school didn't seem as simple as she claimed.

But then, what could it be?

Bullying?

Chu Yuan immediately thought of this possibility, but just as quickly dismissed it.

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

He would just have to go see for himself when school started...