Training? Wild Monsters?

After a day of rest, the two began preparing for their next training expedition.

Once their cultivation reached a certain level, academy students could apply to train in the Black-Corner Region.

The training was dangerous. Students had even lost their lives, but that could not shake their determination to become strong.

The academy did not leave them entirely unprotected, either.

There were two ways to train: alone or in a group.

Those who went alone were confident in their strength. The academy truly left them to it; they had chosen their own path.

For group training, students formed teams. The academy assigned each team a senior student from the Inner Academy to guide the Outer Academy students through the Black-Corner Region.

Group training was relatively safer.

Given Wu Bai and Han Yue's cultivation, it would have been reasonable for the two of them to form a team of their own.

But they did not.

They could not abandon the Han Family members who had come with them, or the friends Han Yue had made recently.

So they chose group training.

The boys followed Wu Bai, and the girls followed Han Yue.

Some of Han Yue's friends tried to switch sides, but she ruthlessly shut them down.

"I wonder who'll lead our team?"

As one team after another departed, the young people around them grew restless.

Wu Bai and Han Yue exchanged smiles, unconcerned.

Even without a senior student to lead them, they were confident they could bring everyone back.

Wu Bai suddenly looked up at the sky. A few seconds later, a figure flew toward them.

"Vice Dean?"

"Haha, indeed. It's me."

Hu Gan had changed into casual clothes today and looked like a refined old gentleman.

Seeing Wu Bai's surprise, he explained with a smile, "The academy doesn't encourage excessive protection, but for a genius like you, there's no such thing as too much."

"By rights, the youngsters from the Inner Academy should be leading you. But considering how important you are, and how unreliable a certain someone is... I decided to take you through the Black-Corner Region myself."

Hu Gan smiled helplessly. Asking that glutton to handle serious business was expecting rather too much of her.

Besides, as long as Wu Bai developed normally, he would become at least a Sixth-Rank Alchemist. The academy could hardly treat a talent like him the same as its other students.

"Come on. Let's go."

Half a month later, the training ended.

The whole expedition had been uneventful, with nothing worth recounting in detail.

If Wu Bai had gained anything, it was a clearer understanding of what most people on the Dou Qi Continent were like.

They practiced a few Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques and commonplace Yellow Tier Dou Techniques. Such people were everywhere in the Black-Corner Region—"minor monsters" for Jia Nan Academy's gifted students to gain experience from.

A Dou Shi, or someone who had learned a Profound Tier Dou Technique, counted as a relatively impressive "mutant monster."

A Da Dou Shi was a rare elite monster. At that level, they could pick off the more mediocre students—the "easy targets"—instead of remaining ordinary monsters. With luck, they might even make a fortune.

But!

If they were unlucky enough to encounter one of the academy's geniuses, especially a student who practiced top-grade Profound Tier Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills, there was no escaping their fate as "elite monsters." They became another achievement for a budding genius.

Those Da Dou Shi elite monsters generally practiced Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills no higher than mid-grade Profound Tier, and most were low-grade.

In a direct clash, a High-grade Profound Tier Dou Technique could crush them with ease.

A Dou Ling expert was an exceedingly rare "boss-level" monster.

Still a monster, mind you.

Ordinary students would not provoke a Dou Ling, and a Dou Ling would not bother with ordinary students.

The ones they ultimately faced were the geniuses among the students. But those geniuses were no easy prey. Their Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills were high-grade even by Profound Tier standards, giving them the means to fight above their level.

And those "boss-level" Dou Ling monsters made perfect backdrops for a genius's feat of "fighting above their level."

Wu Bai's group had little luck. They met no "boss-level" monsters, only a few Da Dou Shi "elite monsters" leading several packs of ordinary monsters, with a few "mutant monsters" mixed in.

Needless to say, those monsters all became experience for the students.

With such an overwhelming advantage in Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills, all they had to do was use their Dou Techniques and aim reasonably well. Losing was harder than winning!

On top of that, the team had a "healer": medicine for wounds, Medicinal Pills that restored Dou Qi, pills that countered common poisons, and all kinds of pills for sudden bursts of power.

Even if they needed something unusual, as long as it was below Fifth Rank and the required Medicinal Herbs were not too rare, it could be refined on the spot.

Seen that way, the "monsters" of the Black-Corner Region were dreaming if they thought they could swallow a team like this.

Especially with a Peak Dou Emperor watching over them, even if he did look like a kindly old grandfather...

And if the worst happened and several Dou Huang experts targeted them, Wu Bai could still pull off a round of "spirit possession."

That was why Wu Bai found the expedition rather dull.

There had been no challenge at all. One Three-Star Da Dou Shi had defended himself with his Dou Qi Armor at full strength, only to be charred by Wu Bai's Flood Dragon Flame.

There was no helping it. The gap in their Cultivation Techniques, Dou Techniques, and Dou Qi levels was too wide. Combat instincts meant nothing if he lacked the raw power to defend himself.

Wu Bai and his teacher had even seen through the man before the fight began.

Petty tricks like poison or sneak attacks could not escape their senses.

But that was the real world. Everyone thought they were destined for greatness, blessed with extraordinary luck and certain to achieve something remarkable.

In the end, most were merely stepping stones beneath the feet of geniuses.

"So I need to stay humble. I can't get too arrogant."

After the expedition, Wu Bai parted ways with Han Yue and returned to the Inner Academy to continue cultivating.

Boring as the experience had been, it had still given him food for thought.

For one thing, a higher Dou Qi level really was an advantage. No one on the Dou Qi Continent believed in lowering their own cultivation to make a fight fair. Beating someone weaker was nothing to be ashamed of.

Those with lower cultivation should go home and ask themselves whether they had trained hard enough—or slacked off again lately.

People in their thirties and forties could bully teenagers without the slightest guilt.

None of the excuses mattered. If you were young and easy to bully, that was reason enough.

In the Black-Corner Region, the harshest truth of a world ruled by extraordinary power was laid bare: weakness was the original sin.

And so, after returning from the expedition, every student threw themselves into cultivation with renewed vigor.

Of course, that would not last long. Just a little while.

But in three months, this year's Inner Academy Selection Tournament would begin.