As chaotic thoughts ran through Han Shuo's mind, pain wracked his entire body, and that little witch Lisa was still beating him wildly. Poor Han Shuo was terribly frail. The first blow to his nose had brought tears streaming involuntarily from his eyes, and falling out of the tree had left him dizzy with pain. All he could do was curl up on the ground and expose his fleshiest parts for Lisa to hit-his buttocks, for instance.
But after a short while, Han Shuo suddenly discovered something remarkable. The wisp of demonic essence inside his body happened to reach his buttocks, and wherever it flowed, Lisa's kicks no longer hurt quite so much.
After the demonic essence passed through the areas that had been burning with pain, the pain eased considerably, and there even seemed to be a-very comfortable sensation.
Han Shuo was baffled. This "Solid Body" realm of the Demonic Cultivation Art really is a form of self-torture. As his thoughts wandered, that wisp of demonic essence moved into his right buttock. Then Lisa kicked him, and her foot happened to land precisely where the demonic essence was.
"Ah!" "Ow!"
Two cries, one high and one low, suddenly rang out from Han Shuo and Lisa respectively. Lisa had suddenly found Han Shuo's right buttock harder than iron or stone. Excruciating pain shot through her little foot, and she immediately pulled it back, crying out.
Han Shuo, on the other hand, felt no pain at all where Lisa had kicked him. Instead, it felt extremely comfortable. With his entire body aching, the sudden pleasant sensation there made him involuntarily let out a soft cry. And that soft "ah" sounded indescribably-lewd, as though...
"Brian, you idiot, why have you got rocks in your pants?"
Lisa rubbed her little foot, as lustrous as jade, and shouted angrily. Several female students from the Necromancy department had gathered around Han Shuo and Lisa, their eyes bleary with sleep as they stared coldly at Han Shuo.
His nose no longer hurt so much, and his tears had stopped flowing uncontrollably. Han Shuo shifted and sat up on the grass. Looking around, he discovered that the magic apprentices Amy and Athena, along with Bella, a junior mage like Lisa, were all glaring angrily at him.
There was murder in the air...
Compared with Lisa, Amy, Athena, and Bella were much less attractive. They were all sixteen or seventeen, and not particularly pretty to begin with. Having their sleep disturbed would affect their looks, too, so naturally, all three were in a terrible mood.
"Idiot, what are you looking at? Tell me, why have you got rocks in your pants? I kicked you and bruised my beautiful foot! Ooh... it hurts."
The little witch Lisa stared coldly at Han Shuo, speaking haughtily with her hands on her hips. But she kept lifting her left foot, which looked rather odd.
An idiot, huh... Han Shuo sneered inwardly. Then, wearing a blank expression, he climbed to his feet with some difficulty and chuckled foolishly. "No, I haven't got any rocks in my pants!"
Turning his back to the four girls from the Necromancy department and presenting his buttocks to them, Han Shuo began undoing his pants as he spoke. Before he could pull them down, four screams pierced the night, followed by panicked footsteps.
"Brian, you fool, put your pants back on right now, or I'll kill you!" Lisa hastily shouted, though her voice was plainly flustered.
"Oh," Han Shuo answered stupidly, while snickering inwardly. A few innocent little flowers like you-how could I not handle you?
Once the one boy and four girls were standing face-to-face again, Lisa scrutinized Han Shuo for a while before saying resentfully, "I'll let the rocks in your pants slide. What were you planning to do, climbing the tree outside my window in the middle of the night?"
Chuckling foolishly twice, Han Shuo pointed at a tattered sack in the tree and said as though it were only natural, "Get that torn sack down!"
"What are you getting a gar-bage-bag for in the middle of the night?" Lisa felt as though she was about to go mad with anger and roared furiously.
Just then, the junior mage Bella sighed softly and said to Lisa, "Oh, Lisa, can't you see by now that Brian's gone mad? It looks like your Wraith didn't kill him, but drove him insane instead. Why bother arguing with a madman?"
Athena seemed very sleepy. Covering her mouth, she yawned and said, "Oh... we have classes tomorrow. I'm going back to bed. You deal with this, Lisa."
Amy seemed somewhat sympathetic toward Han Shuo. She silently looked at him a couple of times, shook her head, and sighed softly without saying anything else, then turned and left along with Bella.
Had Han Shuo not acted so foolish, he would probably have faced the other three girls' anger as well as Lisa's. But since he was mentally unwell, the three naturally would not argue with a madman. They let Han Shuo off and went back to their sweet dreams.
After the three students left, only Lisa and Han Shuo remained. Lisa glared fiercely at him for a few moments, then said coldly, "Go do whatever you're supposed to do. I'll settle this with you in a couple of days. I'm tired today. If you dare disturb my sleep again, it won't just be punches and kicks. I'll use magic to drive you mad all over again!"
With that, the little witch Lisa glared at Han Shuo once more and walked away with a somewhat awkward gait. As she entered, she cried softly, "It hurts! That fool actually put rocks in his pants. My Wraith really did drive him mad."
After Lisa went inside, silence returned. Watching her enter, Han Shuo felt a lingering fear. Fortunately, Lisa had not used Necromancy. With her power as a junior mage, another Wraith sent at him might truly have driven him insane.
With everyone gone, Han Shuo did not linger either. Cursing under his breath, he dragged his exhausted, frail body miserably toward his Supply Storeroom.
After returning to the Supply Storeroom, he haphazardly shoved aside the rubbish littering his little bed, lay straight down, and buried his head to sleep.
The next day.
Han Shuo was sleeping soundly when the door to the Supply Storeroom suddenly opened, followed by a loud cry of "Aah..."
Opening his bleary eyes, Han Shuo turned over and saw a chubby boy with short blond hair and a dark bruise around his left eye, wearing the same coarse servant's clothes. Pointing at Han Shuo in alarm, he stammered, "You... you..." unable to form a complete sentence.
"Oh, it's you, Jack. What are you doing in my room?"
Chubby little Jack was the same age as Brian. Perhaps because they shared the same misfortunes, Jack was one of the few people in the Necromancy department who treated Brian relatively well. His family was poor, and two years earlier, his father, Old Jack, had sent him to work as a servant at the Babylon Academy of Magic and Martial Arts, earning a few silver coins a month.
Although Jack was a servant like Brian, he had not been sold to the Babylon Academy, so he had his personal freedom. Brian, by contrast, had been sold to the Babylon Academy of Magic and Martial Arts as a slave by a slave trader.
Because Jack was not a slave, although he did the same servant's work and was also bullied by the Necromancy students, they did not treat him as they treated Brian. They beat and scolded him and occasionally used him for little experiments, but they did not disregard his life as they would a slave's.
Brian had always envied chubby little Jack, because Jack could eat his fill at every meal and did not have to endure such inhuman torment. Meanwhile, Brian was the only person around whom Jack could find a little confidence, so the two were very close.
"Phew, you scared me to death! Brian, you're not dead! That's wonderful!"
"What's wonderful about it? I'm starving! Jack, have you got anything to eat? If you do, hurry up and give it to me. I'll pay you back later!"
After saying this, Han Shuo noticed that chubby little Jack had fallen silent and was staring stupidly at him, the two bean-sized eyes in his plump face looking very peculiar. Han Shuo frowned and asked impatiently, "What's wrong? Am I that good-looking?"
Jack froze, then looked at Han Shuo even more strangely. "All these years, you've never asked me for food on your own. You only ate when I gave you something. And you never spoke to me the way you just did. Brian, I think you're different!"
Startled, Han Shuo thought that Lisa and the others had noticed nothing different about him, yet this stupid fat boy Jack had sensed it from his very first words.
Thinking it over and searching Brian's memories, Han Shuo realized that Brian barely spoke to the Necromancy students. He simply did whatever they told him to do, with hardly any interaction. But Brian and Jack did talk from time to time. Although Jack usually spoke while Brian listened, they had spent a great deal of time together. No wonder Jack had noticed the difference so quickly.
With a laugh, Han Shuo smiled faintly and said, "When Lisa's Wraith hit me this time, I nearly died. After that, I felt I hadn't been living the right way before. I want to change myself a little."
At this, Jack let out a relieved breath and nodded. "So that's it. I thought getting hit by the Wraith had made you stupid!"
Han Shuo: "..."
"Here, this is some black bread I hid away. Take it and eat. It really is wonderful that you're not dead. Everyone thought you'd died, and since they hadn't found a new servant yet, they gave me your work. I had to get up early this morning to come here. I was rushing on the way and accidentally bumped into Bark, and he beat me up. Even my left eye's bruised!"
As he handed Han Shuo a blackened loaf, chubby little Jack spoke happily. It seemed that not having to do Brian's work made Jack very pleased.
Looking at the bruise around Jack's left eye, Han Shuo viciously bit into the black bread and suddenly said furiously, "Bark hit you again? He's out of control! Come on, let's get revenge!"
Jack jumped in fright, sprang up, and grabbed Han Shuo, using his body weight to hold him back. Astonished, he hastily said, "Brian, have you gone mad? Haven't we gotten used to this long ago? Bark's a magic apprentice in the Necromancy department! It's not the first time we've been beaten. We're lucky when he doesn't come looking for trouble. What revenge could we get?"
Han Shuo snorted coldly. "Don't worry. I have my ways. I'm mad. By now, the students in the Necromancy department should all know I'm mad. I'm fucking mad-who am I afraid of?"
Shouting, Han Shuo dragged Brian out of the Supply Storeroom with his head held high. The demonic essence inside Han Shuo's body seemed to be circulating even faster!
Before you continue