Setting Out

Li Hong approached with a warm smile;

Chu Yuan suddenly asked, "What is Li Chen to you?"

"Li Chen is my cousin." Li Hong seemed not to notice Chu Yuan's coldness toward him. "My family has already uncovered the truth about his death. It really had nothing to do with you;

I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you some time ago."

Chu Yuan was a little surprised by his attitude, but he merely nodded and said nothing more;

Li Hong continued, "The Jianmu Project slots were, after all, bought from Principal Qi by the Li Family, so they can't go to waste;

so... I came.

It has nothing to do with you, so you can rest easy."

"You seem to know quite a lot..."

Li Hong smiled but said nothing more;

Seeing this, Chu Yuan ignored him and chatted with Yang Yi.

Only then did Chu Yuan learn that, on the day of the Day of Vengeance attack, Yang Yi had also been taken away by people from the Martial Suppression Bureau;

His father, who was in the Supernatural Realm, had sensed that something was wrong, but the Martial Suppression Bureau had temporarily conscripted him... so he hadn't been able to protect Yang Yi right away.

As Jiang Fei had said;

the Warriors from the Martial Suppression Bureau assigned to protect Yang Yi's group had simply found a secluded place to hide them, then gone off to look for their own families.

For people who hadn't been within the Blood-Sucking Array's range to begin with, there wasn't much wrong with that.

But Yang Yi and the other seeds had been marked by the Blood-Sucking Array from the start... without a high-level Warrior to suppress it, their qi and blood had kept getting drained!

Fortunately, it hadn't lasted long, so there had been no irreversible consequences;

but their foundations had still suffered some damage...

Yang Yi had been at home for the past two days, having his father repair his foundation with a secret art.

"Whew, I almost got screwed to death..."

"Almost getting screwed to death is still better than actually dying."

"That's true..."

As they spoke, a minibus slowly pulled into the school.

Qi Da came over and reminded them, "Warriors from the Martial Suppression Bureau will be accompanying you. Be careful on the way."

The Secret Realm was, of course, not on school grounds, or even in Chenyang City;

"We'll go to the provincial capital first, then enter the Secret Realm through the Martial Suppression Bureau's teleportation array there.

The whole trip should take less than ten hours;

if you want to sleep, get some rest. If you're really bored, then cultivate," Jiang Fei said lazily. His attitude wasn't exactly bad, but it wasn't exactly good either.

First High School had three slots, and Second High School and Third High School naturally had slots too, with three each.

Jiang Fei's job was to take them to the provincial capital, then bring them back after the trial ended... he was basically their babysitter;

"Um... teacher, have some water..." A girl nervously held out a bottle of juice.

Jiang Fei chuckled, took it, and drank a mouthful, then turned to give Chu Yuan a meaningful look;

Chu Yuan: "..."

Seeing Jiang Fei accept her goodwill, the girl relaxed too;

"Teacher, are a lot of people taking part in this Secret Realm trial?"

The others in the bus pricked up their ears to listen.

"Of course. There are nine just from Chenyang City. Across the whole country... how many do you think there'll be?"

"Several... tens of thousands?"

"Not tens of thousands, but there should be ten or twenty thousand."

"Huh?" The girl's face fell. Tens of thousands of people, including prodigies from places like the Divine Capital... how could she possibly compete with them?

No matter how generous the rewards were, they were still just a pie she wouldn't get to taste.

"Scared?"

"A little..."

"It's fine. We all have two shoulders and one head. What's there to be afraid of?

At worst, you can treat it as a chance to broaden your horizons... the top hundred all get rewards. If you can't get first place, can't you at least fight for a spot in the top hundred?"

Perhaps the words from this powerful Warrior of the Martial Suppression Bureau gave the girl confidence; the worry on her face eased a little;

"Thank you."

Jiang Fei waved a hand. "Also, a lot of Martial Academies are keeping an eye on this trial;

if you perform well, even if you don't place, it'll still help you a lot with the college entrance exams!

You might even get recruited early..."

He casually dangled another carrot, and the girl returned to her seat, fired up with determination.

The atmosphere inside the bus was fairly quiet. A few people whispered among themselves, making it easy to feel drowsy;

Chu Yuan watched the scenery passing outside the window. There wasn't a soul in sight;

Ever since martial arts had resurged, there had been no more countryside or small towns. Everyone lived in cities.

That was because the first enemies humanity faced weren't the Alien Race, let alone the supernatural;

they were the mutated beasts that had evolved from the wild animals of nature...

Living in the wilderness was dangerous with those creatures around.

Although humanity had eliminated that threat later on, the habit had already taken hold...

"What are you thinking about?" Jiang Fei sat down beside him;

"Nothing... Have you finished your medical leave?"

"How could I? The bureau's short-staffed, so I'm working while sick." Jiang Fei sighed, then lowered his voice. "Be careful of that Li Hong from your school."

Chu Yuan nodded. "I know."

At least for now, Li Hong didn't seem to harbor any ill will toward him;

At first, Chu Yuan had thought Li Hong was after him, but on second thought, a powerful clan like the Li Family of the provincial capital had plenty of people to support.

The resources allotted to each person had to be limited. If you got an extra bite, I'd get one less... Li Chen's death might not necessarily have been a bad thing for Li Hong.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the chance to take Li Chen's slot...

"As long as you know what you're doing."

"But I still don't understand. How can he be in the Internal Breath Realm?" Chu Yuan asked curiously;

In the past, it had already been impressive for even a few Warriors to reach the Internal Breath Realm before the college entrance exams. How come, with about half a month still to go before the exams, just about anyone they picked out was in the Internal Breath Realm?

Were geniuses really that common now?

He'd had a cheat, but had Li Hong had one too?

Jiang Fei curled his lip. "He used some tricks, obviously. Didn't you see how he's been cultivating nonstop since he got on the bus?"

"Pushing himself too hard?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously, wrecking yourself just for one Secret Realm trial... is it worth it?"

"You don't understand. That cultivation art is really precious... if his foundation gets damaged, he can find a way to repair it later;

if he misses out on that art, then the opportunity will be gone for good.

There'll be plenty of people like him among the participants in this trial."

"Now you've got me curious... what kind of cultivation art is it?" Chu Yuan asked. He was looking forward to his own future cultivation art too;

"The Martial God Record! Its creator was a supreme powerhouse in the Ninth Realm!

Unfortunately, he fell into a trap on the Outer-Heaven Battlefield and was surrounded and killed by the Alien Race..."

"The Ninth Realm..."