True Lord Still Abyss

The end-of-class bell rang, and the whole class burst into commotion. Almost all the students made a beeline for the Cultivation Rooms, while the few near Chen Beiwu got up at a leisurely pace.

Most students at Shouhe No. 2 Middle School came from well-off families and had no shortage of Spirit Stones to rent a Cultivation Room. As a result, the school's First-Tier Upper-Grade Cultivation Chambers were always full, with one room hard to come by. Students had to race for them.

But Chen Beiwu was different. His wallet was rather thin, so he usually used the free Middle-Grade First Tier Cultivation Rooms, where he rarely had to compete with anyone.

As for Xu Ziqing and Xu Lingling, they came from a Cultivation Lineage and had exceptional family backgrounds. They usually used Second-Tier Cultivation Rooms and probably looked down on the school's First-Tier ones.

"This is so unfair!" Xu Lingling complained. "Last time I was late, the homeroom teacher made me stand for the entire class. My legs were tired from standing. Why doesn't Chen Beiwu have to stand as punishment?"

"What are your grades, and what are Beiwu's? Where in this world is there any such thing as fairness?"

Liu Yan suddenly cut in from the side. "As the homeroom teacher says, one step ahead means always ahead. Beiwu contracted a Spirit Beast in his second year of high school, making up for a Qi Refining cultivator's weakness. You could say he's a once-in-a-century genius at Shouhe No. 2 Middle School, an Immortal Sect prospect the principal takes extremely seriously."

"Pfft, you're just talking him up. Getting into one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects isn't that easy." Xu Lingling curled her lip and looked at her best friend. "Even a cultivation prodigy like Zi Qing wouldn't dare say she's certain to be accepted by one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects, let alone Chen Beiwu."

"Lingling, enough," Xu Ziqing said, interrupting her friend's chattering.

"Hmph, I'll say what I want. He's always bullying a weak girl like me," Xu Lingling muttered.

What did he mean, "back turned"? What a fool-she had a perfectly natural, beautiful figure!

At that, Chen Beiwu raised his eyes slightly.

A ray of the rising morning sun streamed through the window, spilling over Xu Lingling's glossy black hair. It happened to cast a gentle halo over her delicate features, giving her a fresh, pure air-an illusion.

That's right, an illusion!

Xu Lingling was wearing a fresh blue-and-white school uniform. The sleeves of her jacket fluttered in the breeze, revealing skin so pale it was almost sickly, as if a gust of wind could blow her away. She had a rather delicate air, but she had absolutely nothing to do with the words "weak girl."

What did that mean?

A cultivator's first lesson: never judge an enemy's strength by appearance alone. Xu Lingling was the perfect example.

In any case, Chen Beiwu had never seen a "weak girl" who could uproot a weeping willow, use an entire willow tree as a weapon in practical class to defeat ten classmates in a row, and still have strength to spare.

She also had a famous nickname among the second-year students: "Humanoid Tyrannosaurus." Almost no students dared provoke her.

"Beep beep!"

Just then, the phone in Chen Beiwu's pocket vibrated twice.

He took it out and checked. His homeroom teacher, Wang Kui, had approved his application to purchase a Spirit Beast, which he had submitted yesterday. The other message was a qualification confirmation from the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

Noticing the joy Chen Beiwu could barely hide, Xu Ziqing asked, "Is that a message from the Spirit Beast Pavilion?"

"Yeah." Chen Beiwu didn't hide it. "The departure date is set for the fifteenth of this month."

"Mine is the same day." Xu Ziqing smiled gently. "We'll probably set off for Fallen Dragon Prefecture with the teacher then."

Although a Golden Core True Person was stationed in Far Sky County, it wasn't qualified to build an Immortal Alliance-exclusive Spirit Beast Pavilion.

If cultivation prodigies from the six nearby counties wanted to claim the Spirit Beasts allocated to them by the Immortal Alliance, they had to go to a prefectural city of a higher rank than Far Sky County.

"By the way, Lingling and I are planning to visit Still Abyss West Lake this afternoon to admire the scenery and fish. Would you like to come?" Xu Ziqing invited him.

Among the hundred arts of cultivation, the Fishing Dao was a lowly little path, but it could still help cultivators cultivate their character and refine their temperament.

Some cultivators with exceptional insight could even use the Fishing Dao to comprehend nature and improve their cultivation.

In past years, the Fishing Dao hadn't really been popular in Fallen Dragon Prefecture. That changed three hundred years ago, when True Lord Still Abyss emerged out of nowhere.

True Lord Still Abyss's original name was Fang Shanglong. He was from Level Sky County and had graduated from Mirror Lake Sword Sect, one of the Seventy-Nine Upper Sects. He was a renowned Nascent Soul True Lord in Fallen Dragon Prefecture.

The story of his that spread the farthest and was talked about the most was "the willing fish takes the bait." Even Chen Beiwu had heard it countless times.

Fang Shanglong was born into poverty and had ordinary talent. Before he turned eighteen, he'd been completely unremarkable and had no hope of even getting into one of the Ninety-Nine Orthodox Sects. But he never gave up. Every day, he fished on the Still Abyss River with a straight hook suspended three feet above the water.

He kept at it for a whole month.

The cultivators who passed by all shook their heads, saying that if he didn't use Spirit Power, he wouldn't catch a single fish even if he fished for a hundred years.

Then, half a year later, a Redtail Goldfish with an extremely rare Bloodline leaped high out of the Still Abyss River and took the hook. Fang Shanglong contracted it.

From then on, Fang Shanglong's cultivation advanced rapidly. In just half a year, he got into Mirror Lake Sword Sect, eventually attained the position of a True Lord, and took Still Abyss as his Dao title, after the river.

After this story spread, some cultivators in Fallen Dragon Prefecture became fascinated by the Fishing Dao. They would head to the Still Abyss River to fish whenever they had nothing to do. Others, however, simply followed the trend and tried their luck, hoping to become the next True Lord Still Abyss.

"Maybe next time." Chen Beiwu politely declined.

Watching the two girls' figures gradually recede, Liu Yan sighed. "As expected of you, the famous Steel Wall of Shouhe No. 2 Middle School."

"?" Chen Beiwu looked at him in confusion and said nothing.

"Hey, Beiwu, do you really not know, or are you pretending not to?" Liu Yan asked helplessly. "Xu Ziqing obviously likes you. I don't believe you can't tell."

"Boring. If you put your mind to cultivation, you wouldn't have failed to make the top fifty in this year's rankings." Chen Beiwu glanced at him, then turned to leave.

"Come on, how can cultivation compare to Xu Ziqing?" Liu Yan shook his head and wagged it smugly. "I don't need to say more-you must have heard of the Fallen Dragon Xu Family's reputation. It's a cultivation clan with a Nascent Soul True Lord at its helm!"

"What, are you thinking of living off a woman?" Chen Beiwu stopped in his tracks.

"Heh, so what if I am? These days, plenty of cultivators would get on their knees for a chance to live off a woman, but can't even find a way in. And Xu Ziqing is such a catch."

Liu Yan spoke frankly. "Xu Ziqing is tall, beautiful, and sweet-voiced, with outstanding aptitude. Although she isn't a legitimate daughter of the Xu Household and was born a concubine's daughter, she can still easily get the Five Foundation Establishment Spirits."

"If you can win her heart, achieving Foundation Establishment in the future will be a piece of cake."

As he spoke, Liu Yan looked at Chen Beiwu, his voice tinged with regret. "Too bad I'm plain-looking and have average aptitude, with only a Metal-Attribute True Spiritual Root. If I had your looks and aptitude, I might have already won the beauty's heart."

"Foundation Establishment is nothing. I don't need the Five Foundation Establishment Spirits." Chen Beiwu shook his head and left for the Cultivation Room.

They were on different paths and had nothing to say to each other.

Though he and Liu Yan shared a desk, their personalities and outlooks meant they weren't particularly close.

"Foundation Establishment is nothing?" Liu Yan stared blankly in the direction Chen Beiwu had disappeared, his voice tinged with jealousy. "What arrogance. Without the Five Foundation Establishment Spirits to help, an Earth Spiritual Root has only a fifty-percent chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment, just twenty percent more than a True Spiritual Root. One day, you'll regret this!"