A Chilling Disillusionment

When he had later gone to Star Dou to hunt soul beasts, he had been capable of absorbing a thousand-year Soul Ring, yet the Soul Ring of the most suitable age had backfired on him. Two companions had died on the spot, and he had barely escaped with his life.

Now, he would never break through to Soul Ancestor for the rest of his life, and his body was covered in injuries.

Flender had sent people to take them back to their hometowns, but he had not offered a single coin in compensation. His reason was that the academy's funds were tight, and their expulsion had been due to personal issues unrelated to the academy.

Qin Ming put down his chopsticks, unable to eat another bite.

Of course, he could have offered a few words of comfort, explained dean Flender's difficulties, and emphasized Shrek's teaching philosophy. After all, he, Qin Ming, had succeeded.

But when he tried to speak, the words caught in his throat.

After all, Qin Ming was merely the one and only exception.

He understood that he had simply been lucky. Those classmates who had been slightly inferior to him had ultimately become Feng Yuan.

For the first time, Qin Ming felt a chill toward the alma mater he had been grateful to for more than a decade.

Later, he continued eastward, crossing the empire's most fertile plains.

The estates of those great nobles were built more grandly than imperial palaces, yet the calluses on the tenant farmers' feet were thicker than their shoe soles.

Outside one estate, he personally witnessed a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old tenant girl being whipped to the ground by the steward's horsewhip, merely because she had failed to clear the mud from the road in time.

The girl lay prone on the ground.