Pirated Manual

"Ah!" Lei Xuan seemed even more surprised than he was. He hurried over a few steps and asked in astonishment, "I didn't even use my full strength. Judging by your speed just now, you've definitely trained in battle aura. Why didn't you use it to block?"

Li Junshan raised his sleeve and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then shook his head with a bitter smile. At most, my body's been modified by Xenomorph genes. What kind of bullshit battle aura do I have? I got careless.

"Come on," Li Junshan said. After just one exchange with him, he knew that with physical strength alone, he was absolutely no match for Lei Xuan. "I'm going to release my summoned beast."

Lei Xuan nodded and backed more than ten steps away. Once he had steadied himself, Li Junshan willed it, and the Xenomorph that had fused with Hopping Rabbit genes was released. The moment the Xenomorph appeared, with its unique murderous aura and vicious, savage traits, cries of alarm rose from the crowd.

When Lei Xuan saw the Xenomorph, a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and his expression grew much more cautious.

Whoosh. The Xenomorph sprang dozens of meters into the air and pounced viciously down at Lei Xuan. At the same time, its tail curled forward, its long tailbone whipping above its head.

Lei Xuan's spirits surged. Not only did he not retreat, he stomped hard on the ground and leapt up, shooting more than three meters into the air. In midair, he avoided the Xenomorph's foreclaws and smashed a fist toward its chest.

The Xenomorph instinctively twisted its body, dodging Lei Xuan's right fist that flickered with arcs of electricity. As its body ran out of force and dropped, it took advantage of the motion to lash its tail, and the coldly gleaming tailbone stabbed fiercely down toward Lei Xuan's back.

Lei Xuan seemed to have grown a third eye on the back of his head. His body shifted slightly sideways in midair, avoiding the Xenomorph's stabbing tailbone. Then he forced his body downward and pursued the Xenomorph.

The Xenomorph's tailbone struck empty air. As it withdrew, it curved into an arc, then suddenly tightened and wrapped around Lei Xuan's right leg, leaving him no way to dodge. The instant it landed, the Xenomorph slammed Lei Xuan hard into the ground.

Bang.

The tremendous sound of Lei Xuan hitting the ground made the watching students' expressions change despite themselves. Seeing its attack take effect, the Xenomorph dragged Lei Xuan's burly body back with its tail in a sudden yank.

"Zzz..." From the Xenomorph's drooling mouth came an involuntary scream. It rapidly retracted its tail; Lei Xuan had struck it once on the tail with his right fist wrapped in crackling arcs of electricity.

Flashing to the Xenomorph's side, Lei Xuan sucked in a deep breath and jerked his head aside, dodging the somewhat limp tailbone the Xenomorph stabbed at him. His left fist, flickering with flame, smashed into the Xenomorph's chest, and the Xenomorph let out a shriek as it flew backward.

Lei Xuan did not stop. He charged forward at high speed and grabbed the Xenomorph's tail as it trailed through the air, intending to swing it up and smash it into the ground. Suddenly, he heard Feixi scream, "Careful!"

Lei Xuan felt a fierce chill and killing intent behind him, and goose bumps rose on the back of his neck. His body suddenly froze. Slowly letting go of the Xenomorph's tailbone in his hand, he turned his head with difficulty, and his face instantly turned ashen.

Behind his head, a Xenomorph had opened its enormous mouth, drool pouring like a river. The inner jaw in its mouth was contracted into a small lump, and its cold, emotionless eyes stared fixedly at Lei Xuan. Its sharp tailbone, flashing with the light of death, was raised high above his head.

The academy naturally had its rules. Challenges were common, and injuries often occurred, but killing was absolutely not allowed. Though Lei Xuan knew this clearly in his heart, he still could not help feeling a chill of dread.

"I lost." Lei Xuan gave a dispirited sigh. He had not sensed this Xenomorph at all. If that Xenomorph had truly gone for the kill just now...

Li Junshan smiled faintly. Xenomorphs were born cold-blooded assassins, absolute experts at ambushes. Besides, Lei Xuan's attention had been completely drawn by the first Xenomorph and had not noticed the second Xenomorph Li Junshan released circling behind him.

Li Junshan took back the Xenomorphs. Before he could speak, a voice came from the edge of the field.

"Lei Xuan, you haven't lost yet," Feixi shouted loudly. "Put on your Black Iron Armor, take up your sword, and fight him again!"

"Shut up." Though Lei Xuan was somewhat simple and acted entirely on joy or anger, he was not stupid. The moment he heard Feixi say that, how could he not know that he had been used by the siblings? He strode toward Brandon.

Brandon subconsciously took a step back, his face pale as he explained, "Lei Xuan, listen to me."

"Listen my ass," Lei Xuan cursed. "You bastard from the Harriman Family, listen up. If something like this happens again, I'll break every bone in your body. Damn it, all you know how to do every day is bully people weaker than you, or insult commoners. What the hell are you? I've been sick of you for a long time."

"And you too, you stinking woman. I thought you were somewhat interesting before, but you actually wanted to use me. You two bastards, are your damned eyes blind? Get lost."

Brandon and Feixi did not dare talk back. The former's face was pale, while the latter's face was livid, and they lowered their heads as they walked away. The other noble youths with them exchanged looks and, in tacit understanding, scattered.

Lei Xuan spat at their backs, then turned and walked toward Li Junshan, still muttering curses under his breath.

"You've got some skill. I think you're not bad as a person. Let's get acquainted." Lei Xuan walked up to Li Junshan and held out his hand, saying frankly, "Lei Family, Lei Xuan."

"Uh." Li Junshan took his hand, blinked, and said, "Harriman Family, Nicholas. You can call me Xiaoshan."

"Uh!" Lei Xuan was dumbfounded. Scratching his black hair, he said somewhat awkwardly, "You did say that bastard Brandon was your cousin just now. I forgot. Is your injury all right? I saw you didn't dodge, so I pulled back some of my battle aura."

"Heh, I'm fine." Li Junshan had only felt uncomfortable for a moment at the time. Knowing Lei Xuan had shown mercy, he laughed heartily a few times.

"Actually, I might not have lost." Seeing that the onlookers were gradually dispersing, Lei Xuan said quietly to Li Junshan, "If I put on the Black Iron Armor my mother gave me, and if the Thunderbird Rapier were in my hand, your summoned beasts wouldn't have gotten the upper hand. Let's try again someday when we have time."

"You'd definitely lose." Holding back a laugh, Li Junshan also said quietly, "I have several more summoned beasts like that. A few days ago, three of them tore a Battle Master apart alive."

"Ah!" Lei Xuan was stunned, then immediately burst into loud laughter.

"Interesting. Come on, I'll treat you to a drink." Lei Xuan gave Li Junshan's shoulder a bold slap.

Li Junshan smiled and said, "Forget it. I live in Room 309 on the fifth floor. Come find me for a drink when you're free. Right now, I still have to go find my mentor."

Lei Xuan mysteriously put an arm around Li Junshan's shoulder and said in a low voice, "It's Randolph, right? No problem. That old guy is a famous lecher in the academy. I heard he once ran to the girls' dormitory to peep at female students bathing, and afterward the dean gave him a harsh lesson. He's easy to deal with. If he has any complaints about you, come find me. I'll settle it for you."

"Boy from the Lei Family, what bad things are you saying about me now?"

Lei Xuan and Li Junshan looked up and saw Randolph walking over unsteadily.

"Mr. Randolph, how would I dare say bad things about you?" Lei Xuan said with a cheeky grin. "Xiaoshan is my brother. Please look after him from now on."

"Get lost," Randolph scolded with a laugh. Lei Xuan smiled and walked toward the academy's northern district, calling loudly, "Xiaoshan, I'll come find you tonight and take you somewhere fun."

When he passed Fate, Lei Xuan stopped again, patted Fate on the shoulder, and said loudly, "As expected of Xiaoshan's friend. You've got backbone. Not bad, not bad."

Fate's right shoulder sank, and he immediately grimaced in pain, but Lei Xuan had already turned and walked away.

Li Junshan nodded to Fate with a smile. Seeing him walk toward the magic teaching building, he then caught up with Randolph.

"Everyone go home. There's no class today," Randolph called out to the summoning class students beside him, who were pointing and whispering about Li Junshan.

The students of the summoning class stood far away, all somewhat excited. Hearing Randolph's words, they waved to Li Junshan from a distance and dispersed.

Sedern and Nancy stood in the distance, looking at Li Junshan with complicated expressions. Only when they saw him look over did the two turn and leave.

Catching up to Randolph in a few steps, Li Junshan asked him, "Mentor, what kind of person is Lei Xuan? I saw him curse Brandon and the Harriman Family, and he seemed completely unrestrained. Also, his battle aura was cyan, which means he's only a high-level warrior, but I felt like his strength was even greater than a Battle Master's. I nearly suffered a big loss just now."

"This kid's a freak." Randolph reluctantly dragged his eyes away from a female student passing by and said as they walked, "His father, Marquis Lei Wei, is a famous military commander of the empire. He cultivates lightning-type aura, and they say he's about to break through from Battle Saint to the Battle God rank, but his temperament is much steadier. Lei Xuan's fiery temper mostly comes from his mother, Murong Linghuo. She's a warrior too, cultivates fire-type battle aura, and is a Great Battle Master, but her temper is much worse."

"That freak Lei Xuan cultivated dual lightning and fire battle aura five years ago. Even though it's only the cyan battle aura of a high-level warrior, with the support of dual-type battle aura, his strength is indeed greater than that of an ordinary Battle Master. His mother, Murong Linghuo, is especially protective of her own. In the academy, he fears neither heaven nor earth, and no one wants to provoke him. But his nature isn't bad. He usually doesn't bother other people. He's just a little lustful, always circling around the pretty girls in the academy, though I haven't seen any of them last long with him."

Lustful? You have the nerve to say that? Who could compare with you when it comes to lust? You actually dared to sneak off and peep at female students bathing. No dignity at your age, Li Junshan thought to himself.

No wonder York's Battle Master guard could keep fighting me for quite a while that day, yet couldn't take a single bare-handed move from Lei Xuan. Looks like that kid really is a freak, Li Junshan thought.

As they spoke, the two returned to the empty summoning class. Randolph led Li Junshan to a seat in the corner and asked, "That summoned beast of yours is very unusual. Where did it come from?"

This was hardly the first or second time Li Junshan had been asked that question, so he recited the same nonsense as usual.

Randolph frowned and asked, "Then where did you learn summoning before?"

Li Junshan shook his head, took out the summoning booklet he carried with him, and said, "I taught myself. I just followed this summoning manual."

Randolph took it and flipped through a few pages. His brow furrowed, and he said, "Where did you get this thing?"

"I bought it," Li Junshan said. "Picked it up from an old beggar, a unique family heirloom. Supposedly, it was teaching material personally compiled by Mr. Arnoliva when he taught at the Imperial Academy. It's out of print now."

Randolph immediately stared at Li Junshan as if he were looking at an idiot and said, "A unique family heirloom? If this counts as unique, then I could take off my big underpants and send them to the Imperial Museum to be displayed as an antique."

"Summoning has developed to this day, and though it's declined somewhat, its teaching materials are all compiled from the wisdom and experience of those who came before. This book of yours isn't just ancient; it's full of mistakes. I'd guess that back when Mr. Arnoliva's summoning notes first became popular, someone outside made a knockoff. Out of print? More like pirated. Back then, it was worth a few copper coins at most."