A Duel

An Chen then began his training routine.

Some mornings, he attended classes at the academy; other times, he went to Elder Chen's place to learn theories about Wuhuns and Soul Rings. At noon, he cultivated his Soul Power. In the afternoon, he set aside time to train his body in the back mountain. At night, he would spare a little time to pray to The Fool in the latrine.

The Acting Method mentioned that to fully digest a Potion, one had to play the role represented by its name. The Potion he had consumed that day was the Seer Potion.

He guessed that The Reader involved secret prayers, so every night, when all was quiet, he went to the latrine to pray to The Fool.

Sometimes, he also attempted the Ritual Magic contained in the knowledge bestowed by the Potion—purification, Talisman crafting, protection.

But whether the materials were wrong or some crucial step was missing, none of those spells ever succeeded.

Still, during this time, he discovered something interesting: activating Spirit Vision seemed to help digest the Potion.

After discovering this, he developed the habit of observing others with Spirit Vision.

He observed everyone—the people on the streets, his classmates at the academy, even Elder Chen.

He looked at their health and watched the fluctuations in their emotions.

But keeping Spirit Vision active for too long consumed his Spirituality.

At first, he did not know this.

Once, after his Spirituality was exhausted, he felt only a tearing pain in his head. He sensed something beside him staring at him, while strange sounds rang in his ears.

It was a kind of "noise" that could not be described in words, like ancient murmurs, metal scraping, rotting matter squirming, and the drawn-out, hollow breathing of some enormous creature on the verge of death.

It was almost exactly the same as what he had felt on the night he drank the Potion.

Fortunately, An Chen did not panic. He hurriedly began to meditate.

Before long, the feeling of being watched from the darkness disappeared, and the murmurs in his ears stopped as well.

After that incident, An Chen no longer dared to be reckless. Whenever activating Spirit Vision made his head start to spin, he immediately shut it off and rested for a while.

And so, three months passed.

Under the combined effects of Elder Chen's nourishing meals and daily training, An Chen's body became completely different from what it had been three months ago.

When he had hunted the Shadow Leopard, he had been completely exhausted after delivering the final blow with his pot.

Now, he could run a full round trip through the back mountain with weighted iron blocks on his back without turning red or losing his breath.

Two letters had arrived from home during those three months, and An Chen replied to both.

He wrapped the Gold Soul Coins he had saved from his stipend inside the letters and entrusted them to a merchant caravan to take back. That money was enough for An Dashan and his wife to live well for quite a while.

The digestion progress on the System Panel had also risen to 23% through An Chen's daily use of Spirit Vision and his nightly prayers in the latrine as part of his Acting Method.

No new missions had appeared either, aside from absorbing a Soul Ring.

His Soul Power had also risen from level thirteen to level fifteen.

"Brother Pot, hurry! Shitou's in trouble!" Qian Yiming grabbed An Chen's arm, sweat pouring down his face in panic.

"What happened?" An Chen hurriedly emerged from meditation and asked anxiously, "What's going on?"

"Shitou's surrounded by a group of people in the Cafeteria. They're demanding that he kneel." Qian Yiming pulled An Chen toward the Cafeteria.

An Chen's heart sank. With no time to think, he followed Qian Yiming at a run, crossed the Playground, and rushed into the Cafeteria.

A circle of spectators had already gathered inside.

At the center of the crowd, Shitou was cornered beside a dining table, with a red mark on his cheek. He had clearly been slapped.

His neck was stiff, his back teeth clenched tightly as he glared stubbornly at the people before him.

Four people stood opposite him. The leader was an eight- or nine-year-old boy with slicked-back hair. A gleaming silver hammer emblem was pinned to the collar of his dark blue silk robe—the emblem of the Wu Family in the city.

He was Wu Lei, the young master of the Wu Family who had clashed with An Chen and Shitou before and received a disciplinary mark from the dean of discipline.

Now, he had three lackeys behind him, and his arrogance was even greater than it had been three months ago.

"Hmph. These boots of mine are made from the hide of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast. Can you afford to compensate me?" Wu Lei shook the vegetable leaves from his leather boots and looked down at Shitou.

"It... it wasn't me." Shitou trembled with rage.

"If I say it was you, then it was you." Wu Lei drawled. "Either twenty Gold Soul Coins, or kneel down and lick my boots clean. Your choice."

Twenty Gold Soul Coins.

The surrounding crowd drew sharp breaths.

Not to mention Working Students—even ordinary students could not save up that much in a year.

An ordinary Soul Master earned one Gold Soul Coin a month. Twenty coins meant twenty months.

Shitou's face flushed red. His fists clenched with crackling sounds, yet he could not say a single word.

"Can't pay? Then kneel for me." Wu Lei sneered and gave his lackeys a look. "Help him out."

Two lackeys stepped forward with vicious grins.

"Wait."

A hand reached out from the crowd and firmly pressed down on one of their shoulders.

An Chen pushed through the spectators, walked up to Shitou, and shielded him behind his back.

"It's you."

Wu Lei's gaze fell on An Chen's face. He froze for a moment, then recognized him. At the beginning of the school term, it had been this brat and that Little Fatty who had made him embarrass himself in public and earned him a disciplinary mark from the dean of discipline.

What he remembered even more clearly was that this poor brat somehow knew Elder Chen. Elder Chen was an honored guest whom the academy head and city lord had jointly invited, and his father had specifically warned him not to provoke Elder Chen.

"So it's you." Wu Lei's tone unconsciously softened by several degrees. "What, are you going to pay for him? Twenty Gold Soul Coins."

"Whether he dirtied your boots," An Chen said calmly, "you know that perfectly well."

Wu Lei grew irritated under that calm gaze.

Was this brat trying to use Elder Chen to pressure him? If he really made a move today, that old man would be knocking on the Wu Family's door tomorrow.

But if he simply let it go, how could Young Master Wu continue to hold his head high at the academy if word got out that he could not even deal with two poor brats?

"Fine." Wu Lei suddenly grinned. "Since you want to stand up for him, we'll settle old and new grudges together. Three days from now, at the academy's back mountain, a fair fight. Three against three. What do you say?"

An Chen nodded and answered, "Fine."

Wu Lei lowered his voice. "This is a fair duel. Don't count on Elder Chen. Even if the old man comes, he won't have anything to say."

An Chen stared at him. "Fine. Back mountain, three days from now."

"Straightforward." Wu Lei waved a hand and strode away with his three lackeys.

The spectators in the Cafeteria gradually dispersed, though some still whispered, "These Working Students really don't know their place..."

An Chen's eyes flickered. Out of habit, he activated Spirit Vision and quickly swept his gaze over Wu Lei.

The color of his aura was normal. The red around his limbs was bright and active, suggesting that he exercised or trained in martial arts regularly. He was not some useless noble brat from the novels An Chen had read before transmigrating.

There was also a layer of restless red in his emotional aura. No wonder he was so quick-tempered. Above that lay a faint dark layer. What was he worried about?

Shitou approached with a worried look, rubbing his swollen cheek. "Brother Pot, are you really going to fight them? Or... maybe I should just apologize."

Without turning around, An Chen said, "Do you think he'll let it go if you do?"

Shitou pursed his lips and said nothing.