True Lord Still Abyss

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Chapter 8: True Lord Still Abyss

The bell rang, and the entire classroom erupted like a pot boiling over. Almost everyone rushed toward the cultivation rooms at once, while only the few students near Chen Beiwu rose at a leisurely pace.

Most students at Shouhe No. 2 Middle School came from fairly comfortable families and could afford the spirit stones needed to rent cultivation rooms. As a result, the school's first-tier high-grade cultivation rooms were always packed. Securing one meant winning a race.

Chen Beiwu was different. His wallet was rather thin, so he normally used the free first-tier mid-grade cultivation rooms, where he hardly ever had to compete with anyone.

As for Xu Ziqing and her companion, they came from cultivation Lineages with substantial means. They usually used second-tier cultivation rooms and probably thought little of the school's first-tier rooms.

"That's so unfair!" Xu Lingling complained. "Last time I was late, our homeroom teacher made me stand for a whole period. My legs were exhausted! Why didn't Chen Beiwu have to stand?"

"Look at your grades, then look at Beiwu's. Since when was this world fair?"

Liu Yan suddenly chimed in from the side. "As our homeroom teacher says, get one step ahead, and you'll stay ahead at every step. Beiwu managed to contract a spirit beast in his second year of high school, making up for a Qi Refining cultivator's weakness. You could call him a once-in-a-century genius at Shouhe No. 2 Middle School-an immortal sect prospect even the principal has to take seriously."

"Pfft, keep puffing him up. Getting into the Thirteen Immortal Sects isn't that easy." Xu Lingling curled her lip and looked at her best friend. "Even a cultivation prodigy like Ziqing wouldn't dare say she's guaranteed admission to the Thirteen Immortal Sects, let alone Chen Beiwu."

"Lingling, stop." Xu Ziqing interrupted her friend's grumbling.

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

What did he mean, he couldn't tell my front from my back? That blind fool! My figure is pure, natural beauty!

At her words, Chen Beiwu lifted his gaze slightly.

A ray of early morning sunlight streamed through the window onto Xu Lingling's glossy black hair, casting a soft halo over her delicate features and creating an illusion of fresh-faced innocence.

Yes, an illusion!

Xu Lingling wore a crisp blue-and-white school uniform. Her sleeves fluttered in the breeze, revealing glimpses of skin so pale it looked almost sickly. She seemed as though a gust of wind might carry her away, giving her a somewhat frail air, but "weak, helpless girl" had absolutely nothing to do with her.

What did that mean?

A cultivator's first lesson: never judge an enemy's strength by appearances alone. Xu Lingling was a textbook example.

At any rate, Chen Beiwu had never seen a "weak, helpless girl" who could uproot a weeping willow, wield the entire tree as a weapon in practical combat class, and defeat ten classmates in succession without running out of strength.

She even had a nickname known throughout their year: "the humanoid tyrannosaur." Almost no student dared provoke her.

Beep, beep!

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

He took it out and saw that his homeroom teacher, Wang Kui, had approved the spirit beast purchase eligibility application he had submitted yesterday. The other message was an eligibility confirmation from the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

Noticing the delight he could barely hide, Xu Ziqing asked, "Is that a message from the Spirit Beast Pavilion?"

"Yes." Chen Beiwu made no attempt to conceal it. "The departure date is set for the fifteenth of this month."

"Mine is that day too." Xu Ziqing smiled gently. "We should be heading to Fallen Dragon Prefecture with our teacher then."

Although a Golden Core True Person was stationed in Far Sky County, the county was not qualified to build a Spirit Beast Pavilion exclusive to the Immortal Alliance.

Cultivation talents from the six nearby counties who wanted to claim the spirit beasts allocated by the Immortal Alliance had to travel to the prefectural city, one administrative level above Far Sky County.

"By the way, Lingling and I are going to Still Abyss West Lake this afternoon to enjoy the greenery and fish. Would you like to come?" Xu Ziqing invited him.

Among the hundred arts of cultivation, the Fishing Dao was a minor, unranked path, but it could still help cultivators nurture their character and refine their sensibilities.

Some cultivators with exceptional comprehension could even use the Fishing Dao to gain insight into nature and advance their cultivation.

The Fishing Dao had not actually been popular in Fallen Dragon Prefecture until True Lord Still Abyss burst onto the scene three hundred years ago.

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

The most widely circulated and fondly discussed tale about him was "only the willing take the hook." Even Chen Beiwu had heard it countless times.

Fang Shanglong had grown up poor and possessed unremarkable talent. Before eighteen, he had been utterly ordinary, with no hope of even entering the Ninety-Nine Orthodox Sect. Yet 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 an entire month.

Passing cultivators all shook their heads at the sight, saying that without using spiritual power, he would not catch a single fish that way even in a hundred years.

Yet half a year later, a Redtail Goldfish with an exceedingly rare bloodline leaped high out of the Still Abyss River and bit the hook, allowing Fang Shanglong to contract it.

From then on, Fang Shanglong's cultivation advanced rapidly. In just six short months, he gained admission to the Mirror Lake Sword Sect. He eventually attained the rank of True Lord and took his Daoist name from the Still Abyss River.

Once the story spread, some cultivators in Fallen Dragon Prefecture became fascinated with the Fishing Dao, visiting the Still Abyss River to fish whenever they had nothing else to do. Others merely followed the crowd to try their luck, hoping to become the next True Lord Still Abyss.

"Maybe next time." Chen Beiwu declined politely.

Watching the two girls recede into the distance, Liu Yan remarked, "Just what I'd expect from you, Shouhe No. 2 Middle School's famous wall of steel."

"?" Chen Beiwu looked at him in confusion without saying a word.

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

"How boring. If you put that attention into cultivation, you wouldn't have failed to make even the top fifty in our year this time." Chen Beiwu glanced at him, then turned to leave.

"Tch, how could cultivation be sweeter than Xu Ziqing?" Liu Yan shook his head. "I shouldn't have to tell you-you must have heard of the Fallen Dragon Xu Family's reputation. They're a cultivation Aristocratic Clan with a Nascent Soul True Lord holding the fort!"

"What, do you want to live off a woman?" Chen Beiwu stopped.

"Hehe, so what if I do? These days, plenty of cultivators would get on their knees for a soft meal and still couldn't find a way in. And Xu Ziqing is one delicious soft meal."

Liu Yan spoke frankly. "Xu Ziqing is tall, beautiful, and sweet-voiced, with outstanding aptitude. Although she's a concubine-born daughter of the Xu Family rather than a daughter of the principal wife, she could still easily obtain the five Foundation Establishment spirits."

"If you could win her heart, reaching Foundation Establishment in the future would be a breeze."

At that, Liu Yan looked at Chen Beiwu, his voice tinged with regret. "Unfortunately, I'm plain-looking and have average aptitude, with only a metal true spiritual root. If I had your looks and aptitude, I might have already carried the beauty home."

"Merely reaching Foundation Establishment doesn't require the five Foundation Establishment spirits at all." Chen Beiwu shook his head and headed straight for the cultivation rooms.

Those who walked different paths could not make plans together.

Although he and Liu Yan shared a desk, their differing personalities and principles meant they were not particularly close.

"Merely reaching Foundation Establishment?" Liu Yan stared in the direction Chen Beiwu had disappeared, his voice laced with jealousy. "How arrogant. Without the help of the five Foundation Establishment spirits, even an earth spiritual root only has a fifty-percent chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment-just twenty percentage points higher than a true spiritual root. One day, you'll regret it!"

(End of chapter)