Chapter 3: What Just Happened?!

Qian Sanjiang was considering how he was going to report this matter to the pope.

Clearly, he's already mastered the basics of the Seven Blood Spirit Swords. I'm sure the pope will be very happy to hear that he's made such great progress in such a short time.

Qian Sanjiang was thinking about how to use Fang Che as a conversation starter to suck up to the pope.

There were many other elders that he had to compete with, so it could never hurt to be on good terms with the pope.

***

Fang Che was seated in the carriage, resting with his eyes closed, but internally, he was assessing those aspiring warriors that "just so happened" to have been at the scene.

Wei Zihao is the most suspicious of all, but he's most likely not acting alone. Qing Ziyue seems suspicious at all, but there's no point in going after them now, and we're also still too close to Green Wave City, and if I kill them, that could cause trouble for the Fang Clan. Besides, I can keep them around and use them as tools in the academy, so it would be a waste to get rid of them. I have to cherish resources that I can abuse as I please.

I wonder what the warrior academy is like. I never went to warrior academy in my past life, so I don't know the rules. Right now, Ye Meng is with me, and there are most likely people watching me from the shadows as well. Neither the Hall of Protectionists nor the One Heart Church would allow me out of their sight. I wonder how the Golden Horn Flood Dragon's cultivation is coming along. I want to bring it with me for this trip, but I don't know if I'll be able to.

A contemplative look appeared on Fang Che's face as he cast his gaze toward the Hundred Miasma Peak.

The mountain was on the outskirts of the Myriad Spirit Forest, so it was only less than three hundred kilometers away from his current location.

The problem is that if the Golden Horn Flood Dragon still hasn't reached a formless stage, it'll only be a liability to me.

In the end, Fang Che decided to leave the Golden Horn Flood Dragon for now.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

He would rather wait a few more months, even an extra year or two, than risk having the Golden Horn Flood Dragon exposed or, worse yet, captured by the Protectionists.

With that in mind, Fang Che rid himself of that train of thought.

The Golden Horn Flood Dragon was a future ally that he had prepared even before Ye Meng's arrival.

As a soul body, it would serve as an exceptional messenger.

During the plan that he had hatched against the Su Clan, his secondary objective was to send the search party to its death so that their souls could nourish the Golden Horn Flood Dragon's soul body.

He was waiting for the Golden Horn Flood Dragon to attain a formless state before having it join him, and he still intended to do this, even with Ye Meng by his side.

***

Finally, the carriage reached the Myriad Spirit Forest, where the coach driver had already turned back.

He was just an ordinary person, and he didn't dare to go any further.

Fang Che offered to purchase his carriage from him for twice the price, and the coach driver readily agreed before departing on foot.

However, he was perplexed about why Fang Che had chosen to wait until now before buying the carriage from him instead of buying it earlier.

Of course Fang Che wasn't going to buy the carriage early. He wanted to enjoy sitting as a passenger for as long as he could.

Once the coach driver left, he would have to fill his role, while Ye Meng would become the passenger.

From here onward, he would have to do everything himself, but it felt unfair for him to serve as coach driver for his maidservant, so he had insisted on riding as passenger for as long as possible.

"Get inside, I'll drive the carriage!" Fang Che snapped with a displeased expression.

Ye Meng was stunned to hear this, staring at Fang Che in a flabbergasted manner.

What's going on? Could it be that he's finally realized that I'm a beautiful woman to be cherished?

"If you still haven't made a breakthrough by the time we're out of the Myriad Spirit Forest, it's back to the brothel for you!" Fang Che harrumphed coldly, then set the carriage into motion.

Ye Meng: "......"

***

Ye Meng sat in the carriage with her legs crossed and a speechless look on her face.

Fang Che had abandoned her and the carriage to venture into the forest to hunt for demon beasts on his own.

How could he leave me here? I'm only supposed to be a third-rank Warrior Disciple to him, is he not worried that I'll be nothing more than a pile of bones by the time he gets back? He's not chivalrous in the slightest!

At the moment, she truly was concerned about the prospect of being attacked by demon beasts, not because she feared for her own safety, but instead because she would be forced to expose her own power.

***

Fang Che was gliding through the forest in a wraith-like manner, producing not even the slightest sound.

He was targeting demon beasts below the sixth tier.

One hundred first-tier demon beast spirit cores equated to one point at the academy, as did fifty second-tier demon beast spirit cores, ten third-tier cores, and two fourth-tier ones. A single fifth-tier demon beast spirit core was worth two points, while a sixth-tier one was worth twenty points.

However, sixth-tier demon beasts were roughly on par in combat prowess with fifth-rank Warrior Masters, and as for seventh-tier demon beasts, those were far beyond what Fang Che could currently handle.

Fang Che wasn't targeting any first, second, or third-tier demon beasts as that would make for excruciatingly slow progress.

Hence, he ventured deep into the forest from the get-go, paying no heed to the startled first and second-tier demon beasts that fled for their lives.

However, the deeper he ventured into the forest, the more he was struck by the feeling that something wasn't right, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was.

Finally, he drew to an abrupt halt in front of a dense spruce of shrubs.

Everything around him felt very wrong, but once again, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

He carefully scanned his gaze over his surroundings.

This sense of something being wrong was coming from the environment around him, so he was paying particular attention to his surroundings.

All of a sudden, the two men that he had killed earlier sprang into his mind.

Earlier, the two of them had been standing under a large tree with leaves that were extremely thick and vibrant.

In contrast, the leaves on the trees around him were all very thin, not exactly malnourished, but certainly nowhere near as exuberant as the leaves from before.

Furthermore, the shrubs were quite thin and scraggy, and it was clear that they were very old.

Similarly, all of the trees here were far smaller than the ones that he had encountered when he first entered the forest, but judging from their bark, these trees had to be far older than the ones outside.

There were some decomposing animal carcasses in the shrubs.

Fang Che examined them to discover that they were at a very advanced stage of decomposition, but somehow, the color of their fur was still rather vibrant.

Fang Che fell into deep thought as he continued to examine his surroundings.

There's something wrong with this place. Given that hardly anyone ever comes here, the trees here should be really healthy and strong, but that's not the case here. Could it have something to do with the natural environment here?

There was no sense of peril, only an inexplicable silence.

It was so quiet here that he could clearly hear the beating of his own heart, and he felt slightly on-edge.

Aside from that, he didn't discover any other abnormalities.

I can't just ignore this feeling, but for now, let's get some points.

***

A perfected camouflaged horned snake slithered out of the undergrowth, and its forked tongue shot forth, catching two second-tier demon foxes nearby before dragging them into its mouth.

Right as it was enjoying its meal, a sword descended out of the sky, piercing straight through its head.

Its body instantly began to spasm and writhe violently, felling several nearby trees, but its struggles were futile, and before long, the life was drained out of its body.

Moments later, the sword was pulled out before lopping off the snake's head.

Fang Che dripped its blood onto his badge, then dug out its inner core and placed it onto the badge as well.

The blood and the inner core vanished in unison, and he was rewarded with half a point, revealing that the snake had been a fourth-tier demon beast.

Fang Che was a little underwhelmed by this, and he immediately darted deeper into the forest.

Fifteen minutes later, half a point had turned into three.

***

Fang Che was sitting on a tree branch, eating some dried rations with a grim look on his face.

He had slain six fourth-tier demon beasts for only three points.

Given his extensive experience from his past life, he was very familiar with the habits of demon beasts, thereby allowing him to track them down far quicker than others. Otherwise, his returns would've been even more underwhelming.

It was clear that one hundred points was not going to be an easy quota to fulfill.

I have to find a pack of demon beasts. All of the plants in this entire area are displaying signs of malnourishment. Why is that?

Fang Che sprang down from the tree.

Several hours later, he returned to the carriage, covered in blood.

Ye Meng was playing the role of a terrified maidservant, trembling in the carriage as she sobbed, "You're finally back, Young Master!"

"You're such a coward," Fang Che scoffed as he changed into a new set of clothes, then threw his dirty clothes at Ye Meng.

"Wash that when you get the chance."

After six full hours of toil, Fang Che had only earned twenty-one points, nowhere near his target of one hundred points.

The carriage trundled onward for several dozen kilometers, following which Fang Che abandoned it once again before darting into the forest.

Ye Meng noticed that prior to diving into the undergrowth, he had stopped momentarily, seemingly to inspect the nearby trees, something that was rather perplexing to her.

What's so interesting about those trees?

***

There were many other young warriors also racing through the forest, some of whom were even locked in battle.

Fang Che quickly made his way past them like a speeding arrow, entering the outskirts of the forbidden area, where he would surely find more powerful demon beasts.

Sure enough, he discovered a pack of fifth-tier Blood Tooth Demon Wolves in a canyon.

It was a pack of over a hundred wolves, amounting to close to three hundred points!

Fang Che was ecstatic to see this, and he began to hatch a plan for how to wipe out the wolf pack.

The demon wolves weren't just going to stand there and wait for him to kill them, and such a large pack had to have a wolf king among its ranks.

Just like the plants in the area, these demon wolves were also looking a little malnourished.

It seemed that everything in this area was only just barely getting by. The land provided them with enough to live, but not enough to thrive.

Even the trees that had animal carcasses laying beneath them didn't appear any more exuberant. It seemed that those carcasses weren't providing the trees with any additional nutrients.

Fang Che observed his surroundings for a while before departing, only to return shortly thereafter with a pouch of medicinal powder in his hand.

***

In a certain hall in White Cloud Warrior Academy, a group of academy instructors were observing an illusory screen before them.

On either side of the screen was a pillar that was laden with rainbow spirit crystals, providing the energy to support the screen of light.

On the screen were countless names, attached to which was the number of points they had earned.

"There are quite a few applicants this year," an academy professor mused in an intrigued manner. "Even ten thousand spots weren't enough."

"We can only hope that the ten-thousandth-ranked applicant doesn't get more than thirty points," another professor sighed.

"It's fine. Over all these years, the biggest new cohort we've ever taken in has only been 8,200, so we shouldn't be in any danger of going over ten thousand."

"That's right. The applicants at the bottom are still on zero points, and it's already been a day."

"I just checked earlier, and all those outside of the top 9,200 are on zero points, while many others are also on less than one point."

"Have the top one hundred spots been filled?" an old man with a white beard asked.

"Not yet, but someone has already secured more than fifty points."

"Oh? Show me."

Everyone looked up at the top ten names, the first of which was Qiu Yunshang with sixty-two points.

After that came Ding Jieran with forty-nine, Xie Gongping with forty-eight, Huo Churan with forty-seven, Mo Ganyun with forty-three, Fang Che with thirty-nine, and Ximen Xuri with thirty-eight.

***

As they were watching, Fang Che's points suddenly jumped up to forty-three before quickly jumping up again to forty-five, then forty-seven, then forty nine...

Before long, his points quota had reached ninety-one, placing him firmly at the top.

Everyone was astonished to see this.

What just happened?!