This Isn't Fair

The next morning, Su Xianling, who had promised to take Chu Heng training, never came for him. He had no choice but to head to the training ground alone.

On the way, a rhythmic tramp of footsteps caught his attention. He looked back and saw a squad of fully armed soldiers marching down the street toward the western outskirts, their armor plates clattering with every step. Two Soul Masters wearing Spirit Hall badges led the way, and pedestrians hurried aside wherever they passed.

Chu Heng stood by the road and watched the procession pass. Nott Junior Soul Master Academy lay in the western outskirts.

It seemed Spirit Hall had already made its move.

Chu Heng stood on tiptoe and looked around, but saw no sign of Su Xianling.

Forget it. She said she'd handle it, so I should just get on with training. Once the procession had gone, Chu Heng turned toward the northern outskirts again.

Besides, he had something more pressing to deal with: the system reward he still hadn't claimed.

The quest reward had actually been issued yesterday. But after seeing what it was, he hadn't claimed it right away. Instead, he'd spent the whole afternoon at the training ground, trying to grasp the Qi Observation technique.

He had drained his Soul Power several times without getting the feel of it. With no other choice, he'd have to use his cheat...

[Congratulations, Host, on completing the story check-in: A Work-Study Student's Dignity]

[Issuing quest reward...]

[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: Purple Demon Eyes]

Chu Heng shook his head helplessly. He'd been worrying about how to tell how tough the targets were. Talk about perfect timing!

At the training ground, Chu Heng looked at the targets Su Xianling had replaced. He closed his eyes and stilled his mind. When he opened them again, a faint trace of purple flashed deep within them, and the targets before him seemed a little clearer.

He focused on one target, trying to tell how it differed from the one beside it. But after staring for ages, he still couldn't make out anything beyond the grain of the wood and tiny scratches on its surface.

"..."

He had celebrated too soon. As with Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon and Jade Hands, the system had given him the cultivation method and insights into its use, but mastering it would still take practice.

What was more, according to the method in his mind, cultivating Purple Demon Eyes required the wisp of purple qi that came from the east at sunrise. Chu Heng glanced up at the sun, already above the horizon, and sighed. He'd missed his chance for today.

For now, he could only familiarize himself with how to use it.

He raised his right hand. Pale blue light gathered into a pistol, its muzzle aimed at a stationary target ahead.

If I can't tell by looking, I'll shoot them all and find out.

Chu Heng watched the target fall, then shifted his aim to the next one.

Over the next few days, Chu Heng woke even earlier than Su Xianling.

Whenever dawn approached, he sat by the window and waited for that touch of purple to appear on the distant horizon. Once his brief cultivation session was over, he hurried through breakfast and headed to the training ground.

He practiced shooting through the day, recovering whenever his Soul Power ran out, then starting again once it had mostly returned.

Repeating this routine, he began to get the hang of it.

Purple Demon Eyes couldn't show him a target's toughness outright, but it let him notice details he had missed before, such as subtle vibrations that were hard to see with the naked eye.

By comparing those details with the Soul Power each shot consumed, he could estimate roughly how much force he needed after a few tries.

He still guessed wrong sometimes, of course. But it was a vast improvement over relying entirely on luck as he had at the start.

As for Qi Observation...

Chu Heng could only say he was still learning. Su Xianling's explanation seemed to make sense when he heard it, but whenever he tried to sense it himself, he couldn't quite get there.

Purple Demon Eyes, on the other hand, had become something he could use fairly well in target practice after a few days.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out in quick succession, and two stationary targets fell one after the other.

Chu Heng studied the next target for a moment, put a little more Soul Power into his shot, and pulled the trigger. The target tipped backward and fell.

"Not bad."

Su Xianling stood nearby, watching him knock down target after target. Satisfaction showed in her eyes.

She had stayed with Chu Heng throughout the past few days, explaining other theory to him while he recovered his Soul Power and occasionally having him practice new exercises.

Su Xianling didn't know Chu Heng had Purple Demon Eyes. But she had watched him go from needing repeated follow-up shots to needing fewer and fewer. Today, he could take down every stationary target in the first set with a single shot. She thought he had an exceptional talent for this.

Chu Heng couldn't help smiling at her praise, though he quickly wiped the smile from his face.

The second set was next: ten moving targets crisscrossing in different directions. Chu Heng focused on them, a hint of purple flickering in his eyes.

When he first started practicing, a change in one target's movement could easily make him lose track of the others. With Purple Demon Eyes to help him, he could just barely keep up now.

Unlike with the first set, he had to keep one target in his sights until it reached a suitable position before firing.

But Su Xianling seemed to have made this set especially difficult for him. She had altered the targets so that some of the weaker ones showed signs of being tougher, making it easy for Chu Heng to misjudge them.

She had done the reverse to some of the tougher targets.

Bang!

The target shook but stayed upright. Chu Heng frowned, switched to another target that was easier to deal with, and knocked it down. Then he turned back and put another shot into the first one.

The wooden target hit the ground. As the number of targets dwindled, Chu Heng's breathing grew heavier.

At last, the final target in the second set fell. But when he checked how much Soul Power he had left, his satisfaction vanished.

[Current Soul Power: 23/163]

That's all I have left?

Chu Heng glanced at the third set. Another ten targets.

Forget it. I give up...

Chu Heng sat down on the ground and ran through the numbers again in his head. The more he calculated, the less sense it made. The Soul Power he'd used to knock down those targets hadn't been perfectly efficient, but he couldn't have wasted much. Yet he was nearly out before the third set had even begun...

Add up what those targets cost...

Chu Heng looked up at Su Xianling, aggrieved.

"Big Sis!"

"What is it?"

Su Xianling had been fiddling with an arrow. At his call, she looked over.

Chu Heng pointed at the targets still standing.

"This isn't fair!"

Su Xianling raised an eyebrow.

"How isn't it fair?"

"All these targets together take more Soul Power to knock down than I even have!"

The more Chu Heng said, the more certain he became. He got to his feet.

"Even if I never miss, never need a second shot, and use exactly enough force to knock down each one, I still won't have enough!"

No wonder that, after all these days of practice, there were always a bunch of targets left standing at the end, even though he did better each time.

He'd thought he just hadn't learned enough, but it turned out...

Chu Heng looked at Su Xianling, his face full of wounded indignation.

"Big Sis, did you do this on purpose?"

Su Xianling couldn't hold back. She covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling with laughter.

"I never expected you to manage it yet..."