Era of Mist

Chapter 137: Chapter 136: Dragon Map Scholar?

The pain of his injuries didn’t even make him frown.

CRACKLE! SPARKLE! Flying stars drifted toward him one after another. The progress bar erupted in a brilliant glow, and the massive word ”Profound” materialized.

[Basic Fist Arts cultivation progress has advanced to Profound]

[Due to special insight, Basic Fist Arts has activated the special attribute ”Ruthless”]

[Ruthless: Attacks targeting the eight fatal points of the human body will be more lethal]

’Basic Fist Arts has leveled up!’

Shi Tiexin glanced at the notifications, his aura surging even stronger. He was already standing before the ninth person.

Shi Tiexin recognized this person. He was a classmate from his own class.

”You’re going to block me too?”

”I... I’m not going to block you.” The person gave a bitter smile. ”But Class President, why go this far? Didn’t you say that stepping aside at the right time isn’t a humiliation? Why must you insist on fighting this out today?”

”Today, I have no choice. For the sake of survival, I must fight!”

Shi Tiexin wasted no more words, striding past the person and continuing forward.

The classmate watched Shi Tiexin with a complicated expression, then pulled on the tenth person in front of him, and they both moved aside.

’He’s already past the halfway point!’

They said there were eight hundred people, but they couldn’t possibly line up in a single file like in the game Snake. Instead, they had formed a human wall twenty people deep. The ones Shi Tiexin truly had to face were the twenty in front of him, and the ranks on his left and right, a total of sixty people—”that’s all.”

Shi Tiexin’s aura grew stronger and stronger. Wherever he passed, those on his left and right didn’t dare to make a move. Besides, there was no need to ruin their own futures over something so trivial.

This guy was seriously vicious when he fought! He said it was a battle of life and death, and he wasn’t sparring. Didn’t they see that not a single person who had tried to stop him was still standing in one piece?

He struck down all who blocked his path, man or woman alike.

’Anyway, he’s not coming for me, so I’d better get out of the way... I’ll just step aside for now, then pretend to be all worked up and verbally condemn him from the back. That way, when He Chong asks about it later, I can say I verbally condemned the ”traitor.” I’ll have shown plenty of support, right?’

And so, amidst a tide of curses from all around, Shi Tiexin cut through the waves, forging a path upstream. The people blocking his way up ahead, feeling they had plenty of support, were under the delusion that they could stop him. Two more fools jumped out, eager to be put down.

”You little lowlife, you think—”

He went down.

”You’re all just f*cking shouting, not a single one of you is actually getting in there! Watch me finish this little bast—”

He went down too.

”You really don’t know your place, daring to pass through here? I—wait, wait! I didn’t mean to block you! Go on, go on. Civilized overtaking.”

’Next!’

At the front of the athletic field, the principal watched Shi Tiexin’s unstoppable advance against the current of people. He was somewhat astonished. He then glanced at He Chong, who was at the very front, and bellowed, ”What are you standing around for? Don’t waste the esteemed adults’ time! Someone, drag that troublemaker out of here! This farce should be over!”

”Hold on—”

Someone spoke up to stop him. It was none other than a staff member sent by the Student Union. The young man wasn’t very old. He looked at Shi Tiexin forging his way through the crowd, a look of keen interest on his face.

”Principal, it’s perfectly normal for Martial Artists to spar. That hardly counts as disrupting order, does it? Why get so angry?”

’Damn it!’

The principal’s heart sank. ’This guy whose identity I don’t know is a reckless hothead. He’s at that age where he’s easily swept up by passion, the perfect age to admire this kind of lone hero archetype!’

The principal’s eyes darted as a plan formed in his mind. ”Very well, then let’s proceed with the test as scheduled.” ’Since you say it’s perfectly normal, I’ll just act like nothing is happening over there. As long as the test here proceeds, it won’t matter even if that Shi Tiexin fights his way out through hell and high water.’

’You want to fight for first place, but what happens when you get here and find twenty people have already been tested? What’s the effect of that? It’s a comedic effect, that’s what! He’ll be a permanent laughingstock!’

So the principal immediately shot He Chong a look. ”He Chong, aren’t you going to come up and get tested?”

He Chong was just about to step forward.

Then, the young man from the Student Union spoke again with a smile. ”Alright, let’s proceed with the normal test. However, my dear student,” he said, turning to He Chong, ”are you really planning to just quietly and furtively become the backdrop for an absurd comedy?”

He Chong’s feet froze in place once more.

The principal grew anxious and couldn’t help but snap, ”You...”

But at that moment, a buzzing sound rang in the principal’s ears. He felt dizzy, and the words died in his throat.

Alarmed, he looked over and saw the young man’s hand forming a Sword Formula. He had silently deployed some kind of isolating mental technique.

”Principal, I believe that a scholar should press forward bravely and strive ceaselessly. I don’t think what’s happening today is a joke. On the contrary, I admire this kind of courage.” The young man’s expression turned serious. ”The Origin Saint and the Scientific Saint established the Great Dao so that all people would strive. The Saint of Space-Time created secret realms so that all people would dare to fight!”

The young man glanced at the principal, his smile vanishing, revealing a startlingly imposing aura. ”Before I came, I heard that the Star Worker School was a stagnant pond of corruption, that from top to bottom, everyone was in cahoots, and that the teachers were just going through the motions. It was said the stench was unbearable.”

”This school is a Student Union school. It exists to cultivate talent for all of humanity, not to be the private tutor for a single family. Since your esteemed school bears the name of my Student Union, you will follow the Student Union’s rules.”

”Principal, allow me to be blunt. I came here today to evaluate your institution and see whether your esteemed school is still qualified to continue operating.”

The principal was stunned. He truly never expected this young man to say such things.

Nervous? No, before he felt nervous, the principal felt it was absurd.

’Utterly absurd!’

’You’re just a wet-behind-the-ears kid! I show you respect because you were sent by the Student Union, but at your young age, you dare to talk about shutting down the school? You think I don’t have connections in the Student Union? Who the hell do you think you are?!’

But just then, the principal suddenly realized that the older Student Union officials who had come with the young man hadn’t said a single word. These more mature and steady individuals weren’t stopping the young man’s ”outrageous” behavior.

The principal was startled. ’This young man... who exactly is he...?’

The young man continued, ”A moment ago, I saw a greenhorn whose stance was unsteady and whose fighting spirit was weak—clearly a pampered princeling. And yet he could act so high and mighty, flaunting his power, and eight hundred people didn’t dare to challenge him face-to-face? Heh, what a great disappointment. But now, it seems your esteemed school isn’t entirely without someone of fighting spirit.”

The principal couldn’t be bothered with that now. ”Sir, you are...”

SWISH! SWISH!

The young man raised his hand in a Sword Pointing gesture and traced three lines in the empty air, forming a glittering symbol.

The moment the principal saw it, a cold sweat broke out all over his body.

’Void Traces!’

’A Dragon Map Scholar!’

This young man was a Dragon Map Scholar!

The highest, most elite, and most noble rank among the Scholar Union Bachelors! Compared to a Dragon Map Scholar, what the hell was his so-called ”Official Bachelor” status worth!

And right now, there was only one Dragon Map Scholar from the Student Union who would appear in Tumu Fortress Space City: the prized disciple of the Lord Sacrificial Officer! The principal’s hair was about to stand on end. Then, the symbol in the void flashed, and the principal instantly froze solid. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even move his eyes. He could only stand there, stupefied, his entire cultivation base at the Peak of the Second Heaven rendered as useless as a decoration.

”Shhh—” The young man smiled faintly. ”Principal, why don’t we just watch for now, shall we?”

The principal couldn’t even shift his gaze. He could only stand there like a wooden club, drenched in a ceaseless cold sweat. And He Chong, who was standing right next to him, hadn’t noticed a thing.