《Rebirth Of An 8000 Years Old Mage》


 2 Blue Crystal Orb

    The school had finally ended, Xiao Yang was on his way home but he couldn''t help noticing a stone-like object inside his pocket. After pulling it out for examination, he noticed that the stone was awfully familiar.


    The stone-like object was a blue crystal orb, it was slightly transparent and the object was disturbingly light, about as light as a feather despite being the size of a large logan. When it was in Xiao Yang''s hand, certain concentrated energy could be felt from it.


    He attempted to absorb the energy into his body, but try as he might, he couldn''t absorb a single bit from it and the orb remained unaffected.


    It took Xiao Yang a few minutes to finally remember that the crystal orb was an item dropped by the SSS Class portal, after killing the boss. However, when he first received the item, the orb was just a plain grey sphere stone that he thought was useless.


    The orb was later discovered by this body''s predecessor in a random local pawn shop. He originally bought it because he thought it looked nice.


    During class today he fell asleep like usual, but he suddenly felt an intense pain surge throughout his body, he couldn''t open his eyes nor can he shout for help. It was then that he quickly realised that he was poisoned, the first suspect he thought of was his cousin Qian Lee, who once attempted to poison him in the past. The reason? Well... for a common lover, it appears that he was successful in this time around and now it was too late for him.


    It was at that time that the predecessor passed away, and Grandmaster Chen took over the body. How? He does not know, but what he does know now is that this blue crystal orb must have something to due with his reincarnation.


    "Chen Xiao Yang, it seems fate had bought us together. I promise to investigate and avenge your death." Xiao Yang, with a serious stone, vowed to the sky.


    As for the professor''s crush, well for over eight-thousand years he had never fallen in love with a single woman. Probably because he was constantly busy training throughout his entire life, he probably has never even seen a romantic movie, maybe he never even seen a movie.


    The man is a true virgin for over eight-thousand years, thanks to the increase in life span as his elemental tiers increases.


    Element Tiers are automatically calculated by the system, everyone''s elements start at E-Class, in order to increase one''s tiers, they would have to consume elemental cores dropped by creatures within the portal. However, the elemental cores must be in match with the consumer''s elemental power. If one''s elemental power is lighting then they would have to consume elemental cores with lighting attribute.


    Elemental Cores are also had their own ranks. If an E-Class lighting elemental mage consumes a D-Class lightning elemental cores then the user would receive 10 E-Class elemental points. However, a mage could not receive points from elemental cores that are a lower rank than them.

 3 The Qian Family

    When Xiao Yang arrived at a traditional manor where his predecessor lives, two young guards were standing at both ends of the entrance, and they looked at Xiao Yang with disdains.


    "Psst... Do you reckon he could receive an element tomorrow?" One of the guards asked the other one as Xiao Yang passed by.


    "Poof! That would be impossible, his elemental talent is too low and he is only a bastard''s son" He waved his hand then continued by saying, "His result for last year''s test was the worst. He couldn''t even light up a single elemental crystal, that just shows how bad his talent was."


    Xiao Yang ignored them, he knew that they were referring to the predecessor. As unpleasant as their words sound they weren''t wrong though, Xiao Yang used to get bad scores in every single test, it wasn''t because his talent was bad, but he doesn''t receive the same resources as everyone else as the bastard''s son. Xiao Yang''s mother, Qian Xian left with an unknown man without the family''s permission and came back with a son half a year later. No one knows who she went with and what happened.


    As a result, they never considered Xiao Yang to be part of the family, he doesn''t receive private tutoring nor does he receive high-class elemental fluid to cultivate his talent on a specific element.


    Before he reaches the place he lives, an elegant young lady in the garden sitting on a swing, she had a petite body, fair skin, and eyes as bright as a star. Her name was Zhang Yuxi, the childhood sweat heart of the previous Xiao Yang.


    From he remembered, Xiao Yang used to sneak out of the manor just to meet up with her when they were little, however, the Zhang family soon discovered this and because of Xiao Yang''s poor talent, they prohibited them two from seeing each other.


    Normally it was Xiao Yang the one who sneaks up to the Zhang manor to occasionally meet up with her, so it was quite rare for her to actually come looking for him so openly today.


    She soon walked up to him and said, "Xiao Yang, I have come here today to tell you that I''m already engaged with Qian Lee, and this is my own decision."


    Although he doesn''t know what the previous Xiao Yang would say, he himself clearly has no personal relation for her so he sincerely replied, "Congratulation".


    Yuxi after hearing that though he was just being stubborn, and that he would continue to try to chase her, "It doesn''t matter whether you can receive an element tomorrow or not, I have already made my decision and both families had already agreed to the engagement".


    Xiao Yang was not interested in speaking with her, so he just continued walking past but suddenly another young lady came running towards him. She stops right in front of Xiao Yang with her hand on her chest to control her breathing, seemed to be looking for him for quite a while.


    "Xiao Yang quickly comes with me, the elders are having a heated argument with auntie!" She quickly grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him off in another direction. She was one of Xiao Yang''s cousin, Qian Fei.

 4 The Qian Family Continued

    In the meeting hall of the Qian Family, a man seated on a throne-like chair and four elders as subordinate, sipping their teas as they think about how they might dismiss the young woman''s request who was standing at the centre.


    The young woman was the daughter of the man who is sitting on the throne-like seat; she was also Xiao Yang''s mother. If it wasn''t for the common knowledge of elemental powers increases the lifespan of a human. Everyone would think it was impossible as everyone in the hall looked awfully younger than their actual age. The oldest person among them was a 126 years old elder, but he looked like he was only in his early 60s, and he only processes a single D-Class Element.


    "Patriarch, the Elemental Will Strengthening pills should be given to the most talented youngsters, as they have the likeliest chance of becoming a dual element mage." One of the elders shouted.


    "That''s right; our clan can only afford four pills each year. We cannot waste it on a trash without any talents" Said another elder, who continued by saying, "Besides his surname is Chen, not our Qian".


    Before another elder was about to speak, the patriarch waved his hand to gesture them to stop. He gave her daughter another look before he went on to say, "Qian Xian, you know that our clan is in desperate need for talent for this year''s annual Youth Tournament. Plus Xiao Yang''s chance of receiving an element is already so low".


    Even though he was the patriarch of the clan, he could not make any decision without consulting to the elders who were still a couple of years older than him. If Xiao Yang''s received a high score in his test, then he would at least had a valid reason to give him an Elemental Will strengthening pill, but alas he couldn''t.


    "Father, there are only three people in the Qian Clan that are going to attend the elemental ritual this year, I beg you to please give the last remaining pill to Xiao Yang" Qian Xian pleaded, her eyes looked wet.


    Just before the patriarch was going to reply to her, a young-looking couple arrived inside the hall; they were Qian Xian''s big brother and her sister-in-law, "Father, the Elemental Will Strengthening pill is too precious to be given to an outsider".


    "Brother, how can you say he is an outsider? He is still your nephew."


    "Nephew? He is just some bastard''s son who you bought back home. It was your choice to go with that poor man and live a hard life than the young master of the Huang family." The woman sneered.


    The elders, after hearing the woman''s words all nodded in unison, and one of them said with a shameful tone, "That''s right! Our Qian family could have received many resources for our young generations."


    Qian Xian bit her lip; there was nothing she could say in front of those shameless people. Ever since treated her as a stranger ever since she bought Xiao Yang back when he was little, all they can think about is the could-have-gotten benefit if she was to marry the young master of the Huang family.


    Xiao Yang had just arrived at the meeting hall, before arriving, he had already heard some of the words being said from outside, which led him to be somewhat infuriated. During the class, when he was knocked onto the ground, he was living through the memory of his predecessor as if he was him. For him, it was like 16 years, but it was only a couple of seconds for the students, after living through the memory of his predecessor, Xiao Yang had learnt the struggles they had been through and had also developed some feelings. After all, he was an orphan in his past life, those feelings were new to him.


    "Mum there''s nothing for us to beg these heartless people" Xiao Yang grabbed her by the hand and started walking out.


    "But Xiao Yang you needed the Elemental Will Strengthening pill for the ritual tomorrow"


    "Don''t worry mum, your son requires no such thing." Xiao Yang replied with confidence.


    The elders, after hearing that, thought he was simply being too naive and arrogant.


    "There is no way for him to become a mage with such a low score."


    "He is too naive, does he think that elemental power is easy to gain?"


    "For people like him, it''s best for them to experience it to actually understand how hard it is."


    Even the patriarch had the same thought as the elders, it was simply too difficult for ones to achieve elemental power with a low score such as Xiao Yang.

 5 Elemental Ritual

    The next day Xiao Yang arrived at the city square, where the Elemental Ritual takes place. Every year all eight planets align themselves around the sun, once all planets reach its designated location, a galaxy-wide spell is summoned. The spell absorbs the energy from space and is condensed into elemental energies, those energies can be absorbed by an elemental altar that has an area equivalent to two football pitch, shaped into a circle with a crystal-tip stone staff stabbed in the center. The origin of the altar remains unknown.


    Since ancient times, humans have been building civilization near the altar. The city that Xiao Yang is living in is called DongHe City from the Dong-Min Continent, the continent is ruled by Emperor Dong Li.


    Cities are also labeled in Classes, this means that the city reaches the requirement to become a higher class:


    Class-E City required at least 60 Class-E Mage as residents.


    Class-D City required at least 40 Class-D Mage residents.


    Class-C City required at least 25 Class-C Mage residents.


    Class-B City required at least 15 Class-B Mage residents.


    Class-A City required at least 10 Class-A Mage residents.


    Class-S City required at least 5 Class-S Mage residents.


    Class-SS City required at least 3 Class-SS Mage residents.


    Class-SSS City required at least 1 Class-SSS Mage residents.


    Cities with a higher class ranking are normally very populated as the class of a city represents the strength of the city and its capability of defending itself from portals opening.


    DongHe City is a Class-D City, with a population of over twenty thousand, but still, it has a long way to go before transforming into a Class-C City. Those who are Class-C mage normally leave the city to find a better life for themselves.


    Xiao Yang was standing in the city square among many of the young generations of the city, many audiences were seated on the stone stairs that are built around the city square. There was also a balcony reserved for the city lord and many of the Class-C mages. Qian Xian''s dad was also among the Class-C mages upon the balcony.


    As for Qian Xian, she was seated among the audiences, everyone was anticipated for the result this year.


    ...


    Ten minutes later, the planets finally arrived at their designated location and the spell is cast which prompts the altar to appear at the city square. Everyone was to take turns going upon the altar, once they are up there, they are required to hold onto the staff, when the staff lights up the colour that it creates will represent the elements the person receives.


    After ten-minutes, many people had already received their elements and now it was Xiao Yang''s turn. Xiao Yang walked up to the altar and held the staff with both of his hands.


    Everyone was anticipated with his result as they all know that he had the worst test result in the city for the annual school exam.


    When Xiao Yang held the staff, he felt a large bulb of energy vibrating in his pocket, it was the blue crystal orb. For some reason, it started vibrating in his pocket and after five minutes the vibration stopped, but throughout this time the crystal-tip on the staff remained clear.


    Many of the observers thought he failed to receive an element, which caused them to burst out in unison.


    "Ha! I told you that trash won''t be able to receive an element!"


    "He is the only one so far that failed to receive an element this year!"


    "Is his talent really that bad?"


    The crowds kept on mocking him, in fact, he wasn''t mad at all but confused. To the audience, he didn''t receive any element but he clearly heard an announcement.


    "Celestial Divine Body Received."


    Celestial Divine Body [Zodiac Universe]


    Ruler of the Zodiac Universe- All beings from the Zodiac Universe shall hail to the ruler.


    [All Elements Are Required To Activate]

 6 Becoming A Mage

    Another two-minutes had past and to the audiences, the staff had yet to react.


    "Sigh... It seems like he will have a hard life ahead of him without elemental powers." The city shaking his head as he continued to look toward the altar.


    But just before he was going to reach the maximum time limit of eight-minutes, a visible miniature wind was formed inside the crystal-tip stone staff. The audience was surprised, not because it was a powerful element, but because Xiao Yang was actually able to receive an element.


    Qian Xian at the moment started sobbing, she believed that as long as Xiao Yang had received an element then he still had a chance. A person without elemental power would be considered to be a commoner and most employers would rather hire people with elemental power as their fitness are generally higher than those without elemental power.


    "Wind Element Received"


    Wind Element [Class-E]


    Although wind element is not the best element one can get, especially in places like this where martial techniques are low-class and expensive. The highest martial technique in DongHe city is only a Class-C, plus it is not even suitable for wind elements, however, that is not a problem for Xiao Yang as he was a grandmaster who roamed the world for eight-thousand years. He had seen many high-class martial techniques and he himself even created a dozen high-class techniques that none had ever practised except himself.


    After the ritual was over, Xiao Yang headed back home with his mum, Xiao Yang stayed at the garden to practice his new gained element.


    However, he was also curious about was checking out his Celestial Divine Body, upon checking it out again on the system, he found that the body was also graded in class and according to the system, he must absorb cores of the portal itself. This would be a bit of a problem for him as there is only one core for every portal and its not like portal can just every day especially higher class. Not to forget that you also require a hundred points to reach each class.


    "It requires every elements to activate? I wonder if my elemental soul from my past life could activate it?"


    Normally speaking everyone have only one elemental soul, but since Xiao Yang was reincarnated he kept his old elemental soul from his past life as well as gained a new elemental soul of his predecessor. The elemental soul is used to storing elemental power but Xiao Yang''s former elemental soul is currently in a dormant state with his elemental powers.


    "In my past life, I had gained every single element and had also dedicated my entire life to reaching SSS level on all of them, but it was all because of that traitor Tan Ping, how dare he lock me inside the portal?!"


    "I, Chen Xiao Yang, swear to Heaven that I will once again rule the world and murdered that traitorous disciple."


    With fires blazing in his eyes, he attempted to activate the Celestial Divine Body using his elemental soul, and it worked. His body suddenly grown a few inches taller, hair as white as snow that reaches down to his waist, and eyes sparkling like the night sky.


    When the Celestial Divine Body is activated, he felt an immense power surging throughout his veins and organs. His dormant elemental soul was also awakened, allowing him to wield every single element once again, but sadly it was only for three seconds before the Celestial Divine Body gets deactivated and his elemental soul exhausted returning back to a dormant state.


    ''It seems like Heaven is on my side! But this won''t be enough, Tan Pin is now known as the Emperor of all emperors. He will have Class-SSS mages as protection, plus he himself already wield more than ten elements that are all Class-SSS.''


    Although the Celestial Divine Body might have enough power to defeat all of them, but three seconds time limit is way too short to even reach him, let alone kill him.

 7 DongHe Pavilion:

    In order for Xiao Yang to grow stronger, he must consume elemental cores that have Wind element attribute. However, elemental potion can also give the consumer elemental points when compatible.


    People with any fire type elemental power can learn to become an alchemist that can create varies type of elemental potions, however, elemental potions are created using varies types of herbs that are collected from within the portals. In lower-class portals, such resources are generally scarce and as a result, the price of an elemental potion is very demanding.


    ''I will never be able to get stronger without resources, I will need to find a way to make money.'' Xiao Yang thought to himself.


    ''ah-ha!'' It hadn''t been long since Xiao Yang was reincarnated, but he was already forgetting that he himself was a grandmaster who seen thousands of martial techniques and even created some himself which are still stored vividly in his memory. However, when it comes to drawing techniques down on a book, one must activate their elemental soul to the print technique''s essence into it.


    Martial techniques are too complicated to learn, this is why skilled masters print out the technique''s essence onto the book as a guide to those that read it. When one looks into the book with essence they would see the pictures as if it was alive, therefore they would understand it more.


    After activating the Celestial Divine Body, Xiao Yang quickly draws out the techniques onto a book, because of the time limit on how long the Celestial Divine Body can remain activated and plus the cool down period of a week, It took him an entire month to draw out three-quarter of the technique but this is already considered usable.


    In a low-class city such as DongHe City, a merely D-Class technique was considered top-rank. So in order to not stir up any commotion, Xiao Yang had only drawn out a C-Class technique.


    The technique is called Sword Faze, it''s a sword technique that confuses the opponent by creating many sword mirages, the opponent would think they were real. The technique can be practised by anyone but the full effect can only be cast by a C-Class mage or higher, simply because the technique requires a high amount of fitness to actually creates more realistic mirages.


    After leaving the Qian Manor, Xiao Yang hid in an empty alley and making sure no one is around, he put on a black cloak and a white mask that covered the upper part of his face.


    Xiao Yang then proceeded to make his way to the DongHe Pavilion, the pavilion is divided into many floors, each floor sells different type of good and services. There are a total of four floors, and those floors are: the Elemental Material Market, Potion Market, Weapon Market, and the Auction House.


    Upon entering the pavilion and up the floors to the auction house, Xiao Yang deliberately increased his aura to those equivalents of an S-Class mage, the aura of his past life was surprisingly kept after his reincarnation and luckily he had practised a technique that can control his aura.


    A beautiful maid standing at the entrance, upon detecting his aura, greeted him in and politely asked, "How may I help you, sir?".


    "I''m looking to for the supervisor who is in charge of the auction house", Xiao Yang deepen his tone to sound like a middle-aged man.


    "I shall notify the supervisor right away, sir", the maid walked off to inform the supervisor.


    Before too long, the maid returned with a middle-aged man wearing expensive clothing. The maid gestured, "Sir, this is our supervisor that is in charge of the auction house."


    The supervisor upon also detecting his aura was given a shocked by the power aura given off, "Sir, would you like to follow me to the private lounge?"


    "Okay"


    They quickly made their way to a balcony that overlooks the entire auction, Xiao Yang sat down on a comfortable wooden chair and the supervisor quickly pulled some tea onto the teacup for him.


    "Sir, How may I help you?" The supervisor asked humbly and trying to put up a humble smile, but ultimately it turned creepy instead.


    Xiao Yang ignoring the smile and just said, "I want to auction off an item of mine. Please call in your most trusted appraiser"


    After confirming that Xiao Yang was here to conduct business, he was now getting more anxious on what sort of item an S-Class mage might auction off. So he quickly calls in the appraiser.


    A short while later, a middle-aged man arrived in. He looked too young to be called an appraiser, but don''t be fooled by his look as he may as well already be in his 100s.


    Seeing the appraiser, Xiao Yang took out a book and placed it onto the table, which prompts the appraiser and the supervisor to closely inspect its content.


    Upon finishing inspecting the content, the appraiser said, "If I''m not wrong, this is a complete set of C-Class sword technique."


    The technique was actually still missing a quarter of its content, but they were unable to notice it. Xiao Yang wasn''t going to tell them that, so he just nodded and said, "Yes, it''s indeed a C-Class sword technique."


    The appraiser thought about it and then said, "Since it''s a C-Class then the starting bid would be 400,000 silver coins or 4 D-Class Elemental Coins."


    Elemental coins are made out of varies ores that are mined from within the portals. D-Class Elemental Coins are created using D-Class Elemental Ores and require a D-Class mage to forge it.


    Elemental Coins can be used as a weapon when activated using elemental powers. If an E-Class mage used a D-Class elemental coin then it will amplify its attack to the level of a D-Class, once used the elemental coin will vaporize.

 8 Old Geezers

    The pavilion announces the news of the C-Class Sword Technique and also sent a message to the city''s three major families, the Qian, Zhang, and the City Lord from the Fang Family.


    All three families patriarchs personally came to the pavilion with a common interest. The three families only have one C-Class technique each, they desire to purchase the technique to strengthen their clan. It is also to increase the chance of their young generation winning first place for the annual Youth Tournament, the winner of first place in the competition will get to become a student of the Thunderbolt Academy.


    The auction took about an hour and the result had finally come out, the C-Class Sword technique was sold to the Zhang family for 22 D-Class Elemental coins.


    Xiao Yang received 20 D-Class Elemental coins after deduction of the auction fees.


    "Sir, the buyer request to meet with you", The supervisor came back in and another two people were standing outside of the room.


    "Oh? Let them in". Hearing Xiao Yang''s approval, the two people came inside the room.


    Upon detecting Xiao Yang''s aura, he bowed down and said, "I''m Zhang He, patriarch of the Zhangs, may I know your name, sir?"


    Zhang He believed from the aura given off by this man in front of him is at least an S-Class mage, if he could get acquainted with him then his family could greatly benefit it. By then he would have the sufficient power to become the new City Lord.


    "You don''t need to know my name, is there a problem with the technique?"


    Xiao Yang knew exactly what he was thinking, but he does not want to join the Zhang family''s business of dominating DongHe city, especially he himself knew the attitudes of the Zhang family from his predecessor''s memory.


    After hearing what Xiao Yang said, Zhang He was quick to reply, "No no, the technique is excellent. We just wanted to invite you to the Zhang manor to have dinner with us if that is okay."


    "There is no need, I still have some important business to take care off" Xiao Yang stood up and descended down the pavilion.


    The person next to Zhang He was Zhang Yuxi, her froze element had already reached D-Class with the resources provided by her family. "Dad, our family also has a C-Class technique but why does this one feel a little different?"


    "That''s because the person who wrote this copy was at least an S-Class Mage, the essence in the book is much more in-depth compared to the other ones" Zhang He replied with admiration.


    ...


    Xiao Yang had arrived at a nearby lake after spending 10 D-Class Elemental coins to buy 20 D-Class Wind Element potions. Unlike elemental cores from beasts that guaranteed to receive elemental points, elemental potion gives a random number of elemental points.


    Because Xiao Yang is an E-Class mage, consuming a D-Class elemental potion will give a random number of E-Class elemental points. If he was to consume E-Class elemental potion then the maximum he gets will be one, of course, you may also receive zero points if you are unlucky.


    There is also a limit to one elemental potion per two days, so without wasting time, Xiao Yang started gobbling up a whole potion and sat down to meditate to absorb it fully.


    "6 Elemental Points Received [Wind]"


    After finally finishing absorbing the potion, Xiao Yang made his way back home but when he arrived home, Qian Xian''s face looked ill and with one hand rubbing against her back. Qian Fei was also there to support her.


    Xiao Yang quickly ran up to them and asked. "Mum who did this to you?!"


    Qian Xian didn''t reply, but Qian Fei quickly exclaims, "The elders accused aunty of breaking an expensive family artifact and with grandfather currently not in the manor, they sentenced her beating with wooden rods"


    "Those old geezers, how dare they hurt my mum?!" He clenched his fist and silently vow to heaven that he will return this humiliation back by tenfold.


    After bringing her mum back to her room, Xiao Yang quickly went back to the pavilion to purchase a C-Class healing pill with all his remaining coins. With the C-Class healing pill, Qian Xian will fully recover in five days. She did ask where the pill came from, but Xiao Yang just told her a made-up story of how he met an alchemist master and that he was asked to use his wind element to help control the fire, as a reward he was given one of the few pills created.


    Since today Xiao Yang had remained home in seclusion to absorb his elemental potions and secretly create new martial arts that are a better fit with his current fitness levels.


    He plans to gain a first place at the Youth Tournament, so he could become a student of the Thunderbolt Academy. As a student, the academy will provide him with placement and also allow up to two family members to live with him. It would be best to take his mum away from such wretch place.

 9 Mysterious Man

    Its been over a month and Xiao Yang had reached D-Class after absorbing all of the elemental potions.


    Chen Xiao Yang:


    Age: 16


    Lifespan: 200


    Elements:


    Wind [D-Class: 6 Points]


    During this time, he had also been creating his own martial art that better fit his current fitness level, and he had been successful in creating one martial art. It called Wind Slash, it''s a modified combination of two powerful S-Class martial art.


    Wind Slash uses the Wind element to propel the user past his opponent at a frightening pace, this repeats back and forth, allowing the user to keep slashing at the enemy. The technique is best used with a dagger.


    With Xiao Yang''s current fitness, he should be able to effectively exert 10% of the technique''s true power. This is considered really good as a D-Class, the effectiveness is only 2% if Xiao Yang didn''t modify it.


    As Xiao Yang retreated into his own thought, he suddenly detached a strong aura on the premise. The person was hiding their aura, but Xiao Yang could clearly tell that the person is an SSS-Class Mage.


    SSS-Class Mage would have proved no threat to him back in his past life, but now he was just a mage who had only just reached D-Class.


    "What is an SSS-Class master be doing in my yard?" The only chance for him to live is to fight for his life with the divine body activated.


    Soon after that, a shadow jumped out of the bush, revealing an adult-size man in a black cape and a grey patterned-mask that fully covered his entire face.


    "You can detect my level?" the man said in surprise.


    "What do you want?" Xiao Yang coldly shouted.


    The man tossed a bag onto the floor, before Xiao Yang could ask another question, the man had already disappeared out of sight.


    Xiao Yang examined the bag that the man gave him, and he was soon taken by surprise. The bag contained 20 bottles of D-Class Wind elemental potions and an authentic copy of the Iron Fists.


    Iron Fists is a C-Class martial technique that can be learned by anyone, the technique allows a person to temporarily transform their fist into solid iron.


    Xiao Yang has no idea who or why the mystery man provided him with such goods, but he wasn''t going to waste the elemental potions after confirming that they are also legit and as for Iron Fist, he wasn''t going to waste time learning it. Knowing that the technique maximum output is only C-Class.


    Xiao Yang had planned to remain in seclusion to level up and practice his martial art. The Youth Tournament is just a month and a half away.


    By that time he would also have to compete to get into the top 10, while the three big family gets to skip the battles with the commoners. The Qian family is also one of them, even though the still had a spare seat, they, of course, wouldn''t provide Xiao Yang with it.


    ...


    For a month and a half, Xiao Yang had been practising Wind Slash and gobbling up all of the elemental potions the mystery man gave him. He didn''t have much luck in the potions though, he only managed to gain 12 points from the 20 elemental potions.


    He currently has 18 E-Class Wind elemental points.


    The Youth Tournament was scheduled to begin today and citizens of DongHe City flocked to the town square where the tournament is held.


    When Xiao Yang reached the city square, everyone that was taking part in the tournament all looked at him as if they had seen a ghost.


    "Is he crazy, joining the tournament? He is going to get beaten hard"


    "Hey, brat! Don''t let me encounter you or I will beat the hell out of you!"


    Xiao Yang didn''t take any heed to them and just continued to walk off to sign up for the tournament. He was the 888th person to have join the tournament today, so he was given the number 888.


    On the balcony, a man and a woman sat firmly on a chair as the City Lord poured some teas for them. The two were B-Class mage sent from the Thunderbolt Academy to be in charge of this year''s competition at DongHe City.


    The man named Zhou Xun asked the woman, "Xie Ying, why did the elder change the rules specifically for DongHe City this time?"


    "I don''t know, but the elder said it was an order" Xie Ying replied with a wry smile.


    Zhou Xun didn''t ask anything after that and just continued to watch over the arena.

 10 Youth Tournamen

    "Before the tournament begins, I would like to announce a change of rules this year." Hearing the man on top of the balcony, everyone retreated in silent.


    The man then continued to say, "This year aside from the usual rewards, the top five participants will also be eligible to join Thunderbolt Academy. First place will also be rewarded with a C-Class elemental breast armour."


    Hearing that, the crowd quickly burst out in chatters.


    "Did I hear that right? Top five and you can join Thunderbolt Academy?!"


    "C-Class elemental beast armour?! That''s worth at least 50 C-Class Elemental coins!"


    "Thunderbolt Academy is very generous this year!"


    Everyone was fired up after hearing the potential rewards. The descendants from the three major families of DongHe are lusting for the beast armour.


    Majority of the participants came from a poorer family and they could not afford resources to level themselves up, so many people are still E-Class. But even so, they still wanted to try reaching the top ten and to gain the reward associated with it. They might even be able to join Thunderbolt Academy this year if reaching the top five.


    Due to a large number of participants, multiple matches are set out simultaneously to eliminate as many people as possible. So it didn''t take long before Xiao Yang was called up to the stage.


    "Number 888 vs number 657"


    The opponent that Xiao Yang is fighting against is an E-Class fire element mage, who seem keen to mock him, "You are Xiao Yang? Seems like today is your unlucky day"


    Soon after he said that he started to cast a stream of fire towards Xiao Yang''s throat, but Xiao Yang counter-attack by casting a blast of anguish wind. Like leaves against a leaf blower, the mage was blown off the stage and almost burning himself.


    "D-Class?!" Zhang Yuxi couldn''t help but exclaim.


    It wasn''t just her, everyone who watched Xiao Yang winning the match also had the same reaction. They then dismissed the idea and thought his opponent was just left off guard.


    However, they were soon proven wrong after Xiao Yang defeated opponents after opponents by blowing them off the stage.


    It was too hard to believe that Xiao Yang could actually have the sufficient resources to become a D-Class mage, they all knew he was the bastard''s son from the Qian family.


    "How is he this strong?! Did the Qian family provided him with elemental potions?"


    "It must be them, there''s no way he could get this strong without the Qians."


    "They must be using him to show off their powers! Look at his movements, that must be a high-class technique!"


    Elders from the Qian family was even more surprised, they knew clearly that they themselves had not provided any resources to him, but just how did he reach D-Class?


    "Xiao Yang must have stumbled across a treasure! We must confiscate it from him, how dare Qian Xian hidden this from us, it seems like she hadn''t had enough of the family discipline." One of the Qian family''s elder barked out.


    Among the observers was Xiao Yang''s mum, Qian Xian looked at her son with conflicted emotions. She felt happy watching her son winning the matches, but she''s confused to when he had gotten this strong.


    ...


    "Number 859 vs number 888"


    When they saw each other, they were both surprised. Turns out the opponent that Xiao Yang was fighting against was the same person who claimed to beat Xiao Yang up if they encounter each other.


    But after seeing Xiao Yang''s performance in the previous matches, his confidence of beating him up is close to nout.


    "Weren''t you going to beat me up" Xiao Yang held his hand out.


    The young man cleared his throat and with a low tone he said, "This is not fair, you have the Qian family to back you up and now you bullying us commoners"


    "The world was never fair in the first place" Xiao Yang coldly said, threw a punch towards his face.


    The young man is only an E-Class mage, his strength was too low to take Xiao Yang''s punch, and so he was quickly knocked off the stage. The young man landed on the ground, with a bleeding nose.


    It wasn''t long before many people got disqualified and the fight for the top five had begun. It was too easy for Xiao Yang to beat his opponents, even those who are in D-Class as most had never practised any martial arts.


    The descendants from the three major families did not need to fight to get to the top ten, all they needed to do is fight for the top five. They only need to make sure Xiao Yang and the few commoners who made it to the end doesn''t take the top five places then they are all set on going to Thunderbolt Academy.


    When the match had begun, the few commoners that made it to the end with Xiao Yang were quickly defeated by the decedents of the three major families.


    It was now Xiao Yang''s turn and his opponent was Qian Lee, the one who poisoned Xiao Yang. Xiao Yang wanted to kill him, but the rules forbid any killings.


    Even if Xiao Yang had defeated him, he will still remain in rank 5 and will still be able to go to Thunderbolt Academy.


    "Never had I thought a bastard''s son would actually reach the top five." Qian Lee sneered.


    Xiao Yang paid no heed to him and simply just pulled out two daggers.


    "Ha-ha! Do you think those cheap daggers will be able to penetrate by the iron body?" Qian Lee''s elemental power is able to transform his out layer of his body into iron.


    Once transformed his strength will increase at the cost of speed. He would be as tough as iron but also as heavy as iron, it would be difficult for him to move without a good fitness level.


    Qian Lee was also a D-Class mage, so his strength should be around 80 bulls and with iron body activated his strength could increase up to 100 bulls. A person that hasn''t awaken their element has a strength of only 5 bulls and E-Class average around 40 bulls.


    Qian Lee activated his iron body and roared at Xiao Yang like a wild beast.


    Xiao Yang''s strength may not be comparable with Qian Lee''s when he has an iron body activated, but his speed has surpassed Qian Lee''s.


    ''Wind Slash''


    -Ching! Ching! Ching!


    Xiao Yang dashed around back and forth, using his daggers he continuously cut toward Qian Lee from all direction.


    With Xiao Yang''s speed, Qian Lee found himself unable to counter-attack. Every time the daggers collided onto his skins, a light mark was left on the surface. The impact was so loud that it sounded like someone was pouring a pile of coins onto the floor.

 11 Top Five

    Everyone was shocked by Xiao Yang''s ''Wind Slash'' technique, his attack was too fast that their eyes failed to track him. Their mouth was left wide open, but no words could be spoken out.


    The elders from the Qian family started to feel nervous, if Qian Lee loses this match then the potential reward they will receive will be limited. They doubt Xiao Yang was going to share the reward and soon he will be under the protection of the Thunderbolt Academy.


    Under Xiao Yang''s constant bombardment, the light marks on Qian Lee''s shiny skin soon started to deepen. Qian Lee was infuriated and kept repeating the same sentence in his head, "Damn it! I just need one punch to kill this bastard!".


    Xiao Yang''s speed was too fast for him to land a punch with his iron body activated if this was to keep going then soon his iron body will break under the fierce attacks, but if he was to deactivate his iron body then he would just lose sooner.


    Steam started to flow out as the marks deepen, not long after the attacks finally broke the iron body and bloody cuts were beginning to appear all over Qian Lee''s body.


    Just before Qian Lee was about to reach the point of collapsing, one of the Qian elders shouted, "Xiao Yang stop! If you keep going then you and your mother will be wiped off the family tree and band from returning to the Qian family!"


    Xiao Yang after hearing the elder''s shameless request got even more infuriated if it wasn''t because of the rule that forbidden killing then he would have cut Qian Lee''s throat by now.


    "Shameless!" Xiao Yang cursed them in his head, he cliched onto his daggers tighter and continued to slash across Qian Lee''s already bloodied body.


    "Ahhhhhh!" Qian Lee cried out loud before finally collapsing to the ground.


    Xiao Yang wanted to continue to beat him but he had to immediately stop, and let the medical team take him out.


    The crowds remained in silence as they watched Xiao Yang walked off the stage.


    "What an interesting lad, City Lord who is that young man?" The man from Thunderbolt Academy asked.


    "He is Chen Xiao Yang, an illegitimate son of the Qian Family." The city lord replied.


    "So the Qian family did not provide him with resources? But how can he become so power all by himself." The woman next to them asked with curiosity.


    "It does seem so from the reaction of the Qian elders. As for how he had gotten this strong, I do not know." The city lord replied with a wry smile, he himself is also curious of how Xiao Yang had managed to gain such power and techniques.


    The next match was Zhang Yuxi vs Qian Fei. With the new C-Class martial technique that Zhang Yuxi, she was able to quickly defeat Qian Fei with the sword mirages created by her. But even without the C-Class technique, Qian Fei would have still been defeated as her fitness is weaker than Zhang Yuxi.


    The next match quickly continued with Xiao Yang vs Qian Fei to secure for 3rd place.


    Qian Fei didn''t start attacking, but instead said with a wry smile, "Cousin, your skills are too powerful, I concede".


    Xiao Yang smiled and said, "You did good, cousin."


    Qian Fei and her dad was the only one that treated Xiao Yang and Qian Xian like family, they never criticize them either. They had always supported them against the elders.


    Qian Fei quickly left the stage and made way for Xiao Yang''s next opponent, Zhang Yuxi.


    Zhang Yuxi looked at Xiao Yang and coldly said, "I admit, I am surprised that you are able to make it all the way to 3rd place. But this is as far as you can go".


    Xiao Yang shocked his head and casually said, "No, I will get first place".


    "Xiao Yang, just give up! I will never love you, even if you gain first place." Zhang Yuxi thought he was doing all this to gain her attention, and seeing him defeat Qian Lee so brutally makes her think doubly so.


    Truth is Xiao Yang did it for personal revenge, not because Qian Lee was her fiance or for love. He replied back to her wanting to make it clear, "This is nothing to do with love".


    For some reason, she didn''t believe that and still strongly believe that Xiao Yang was still chasing her. Not wanting to prolong this conversation any longer, she pulled out her sword and dashed towards him.


    Yuxi activated her Sword Faze, shortly after that six identical swords appeared around Xiao Yang from all different directions.


    Xiao Yang knew that it was only a mirage and so he was unfazed from it. He raised his knife towards Yuxi.


    "Ping!"


    Xiao Yang knocked her sword out of the arena that was held firmly on her hand.


    Zhang Yuxi was left surprised, the skill was C-Class and she was able to already master the skill. Anyone lower than C-Class shouldn''t have been able to see through her swords but yet the man in front of her that she despises was able to do it.


    Xiao Yang blinked and asked, "Would you like to leave the arena yourself or should I help you?"


    Not wanting to give up, Yuxi cast her Ice element. A cold aura soon appears around her and a dense mist was swirling on her palms. Using her ice power, she created an ice sword out of thin air.


    The ice sword was sharp and was surprisingly sturdy despite the fact that it''s created by ice.


    Not believing that her C-Class technique doesn''t have any effect on Xiao Yang, she used the same old technique again towards him.


    Xiao Yang shook his head and said, "Lesson one, never use the same technique that doesn''t work" and with that being said, he himself used a different skill.


    It was Sword Faze, but the complete version.


    Just like Zhang Yuxi''s Sword Faze, six mirages started to appear around her from all kinds of directions. Unlike Yuxi''s version, however, Xiao Yang''s mirage not only copied his dagger but also copied Xiao Yang himself.


    The clones were identical and are almost impossible to decipher which one is real or not.


    Zhang Yuxi was confused and frighten, she was now surrounded from all different directions, she tried blocking the incoming attacks but none proved to be real.


    "Impossible! How is he able to clone himself?" Yuxi''s face turned grim as the clones that she attacked all disappeared one by one, leaving the real one wielding his elemental power.


    When she saw Xiao Yang fired a dense ball of wind towards her, it was already too late for her to dodge, and so she was brutally forced out of the arena, leaving Xiao Yang as the winner of this match.


    "Did Xiao Yang also learned sword faze?!"


    "No, his skill was different to Zhang Yuxi''s."


    "Guys! That was clearly Sword Faze."


    "Then why is it different?!"


    The crowds were having a heated debate about whether or not Xiao Yang was using Sword Faze.


    "How is that possible?! How can Xiao Yang''s know Sword Faze and even used it better than Yuxi?" Yuxi''s father, Zhang He had seen a copy of the technique and can clearly recognize that Xiao Yang was indeed using Faze Sword.


    The Zhang family''s face all turned grim, compared to their Sword Faze, Xiao Yang''s Sword Faze seem more complete. If that was true then the copy they bought was incomplete.

 12 Fang Qiong

    It was Xiao Yang''s final round to secure 1st place.


    His opponent this time was the City Lord''s granddaughter, Fang Qiong. She''s at the peak of D-Class, so it''s clear to say that her fitness is much better than Xiao Yang.


    Fang Qiong has a very attractive figure, fair skin, and a sweat face. She was in fact way prettier than Zhang Yuxi.


    The crowds were all attracted by her, they only knew that she was the most beautiful girl in DongHe City but it was rare to actually see her in person. If it wasn''t for the Youth Tournament, she probably would have preferred to stay indoors and practice martial arts.


    Even Xiao Yang thinks she was attractive, he began to thought to himself, "Very pretty indeed... Wait why am I suddenly being attracted by her? This must be an effect of being in someone else''s body, it can''t be my true feeling."


    Both of them draw out their weapons, Fang Qiong was using a long-thin sword, lights reflect off the surface of the sword. It was blinding to look at.


    Xiao Yang took the initiative to attack. Using Wind Slash, he dashed across the arena towards her and the distance between them soon closed in fast.


    However, just when Xiao Yang was about to reach her, thick vines suddenly grew out of the ground. It was as if the vines had a mind of its own, it quickly binds itself around Xiao Yang''s body. Xiao Yang''s arms and legs were trapped by the sturdy vines, unable to move.


    Seeing Xiao Yang unable to move, with the sword still in her hand, she quickly ran up to him and slash across his chest.


    "Did you think this can trap me?", Xiao Yang laughed in his head. Soon after six identical clones appeared around her.


    Seeing Xiao Yang using the same trick that defeated Yuxi, she smiled and thought, "It''s useless I already know where your real body is."


    Her sword landed across Xiao Yang''s body that was still trapped by the vines, but surprisingly her sword went right through and the entire body disappeared as if nothing was there in the first place.


    She frowned and looked around, confused by why the Xiao Yang she hit was just a clone.


    She then tried to summon the vines but before she could, Xiao Yang was already behind her and with a ball of Wind swirling on his hand.


    It was too late for her to dodge or block it, and so she too was knocked out of the arena.


    Maybe Xiao Yang failed to summon the ball of wind properly, but the wind that hit Fang Qiong was much gentler than the one used again his previous opponents. It was enough to push her out of the arena but unable to knock her onto the ground.


    Fang Qiong looked at Xiao Yang with confusion, "Was he able to exchange place with his clone?"


    She wasn''t wrong, Xiao Yang''s mastery of the complete version of Sword Faze allows him to switch place with his clone.


    "Mana: 0/200"


    It was a skill that drains the mage''s mana and because it was not an elemental power that Xiao Yang possesses, the skill can only be used once with Xiao Yang''s current mana capacity.


    After defeating Fang Qiong, Xiao Yang is now officially recognized as the number one champion of the Youth Tournament in Donghe City.


    Qian Xian was too happy that she started crying, "Chen Feng, if only you were here."


    Not far away, a man dressed in a black cloak stood firmly on top of a stone tower. After watching the entire competition, the man smiled before disappearing away.


    Back at the arena no one there ever suspected that Xiao Yang, the one they used to refer to as trash, became the number one genius of Donghe City.


    "He is scary!"


    "Just too powerful"


    "How and when did he get such strength?"


    Despite the many unanswered questions, the next match shortly began with Fang Qiong vs Zhang Yuxi, whoever wins the match will secure 2nd place.


    Although Zhang Yuxi also uses Sword Faze, she was unable to escape Fang Qiong''s summoned vines. Not wanting to receive any injuries, she quickly conceded the match just before Fang Qiong''s sword was about to land on her chest.


    With the Youth Tournament finally ended, the woman from Thunderbolt Academy announces the winners and the rewards.


    "1st place, Chen Xiao Yang. 1 C-Class Elemental Armor, 10 C-Class Elemental Coins, and 10 C-Class Elemental Potion"


    "2nd place, Fang Qiong... 7 C-Class Elemental Coins, and 7 C-Class Elemental Potion"


    "3rd place, Zhang Yuxi... 5 C-Class Elemental Coins, and 5 C-Class Elemental Potion"


    "4th place, Qian Fei... 3 C-Class Elemental Coins, and 3 C-Class Elemental Potion"


    "5th place, Qian Lee... 1 C-Class Elemental Coins, and 1 C-Class Elemental Potion"


    "Apart from the elemental potions, you will collect all of your other rewards today", The woman finished her speech then gave Xiao Yang''s a strange look.


    After that, the rewards were handed out to its deserving owners, and Xiao Yang had received his elemental armor with the other bonus.


    "C-Class King-Snake Armor Received" A female robotic voice ringed in his head.


    The elemental armor was a small ring that can be easily worn on Xiao Yang''s hand. When he put on the ring he was able to command it to activate the armor.


    When the armor was activated, a strange silver liquid developer Xiao Yang''s body which then eventually solidified into a full set of armor that covers his entire body apart from the head.


    The armor was made out of green scales of a snake. The armor provided little gap exposed to the enemy and was extremely sturdy against C-Class attacks and lower.


    "Mum, I''m sorry for getting you kicked out of the Qian family." Xiao Yang said apologetically.


    Qian Xian smiled and replied, "It''s okay, I had always wanted to leave the family long ago."


    "Don''t worry I will be able to take you with me to Thunderbolt Academy in three days." He said proudly.

 13 S-Class Master

    Everyone in DongHe city was curious about the origin of Xiao Yang''s power, especially the three major families of the city.


    In the Qian family''s meeting hall.


    All four elders and core members of the family were called in for a meeting, except the patriarch who was still out on a business trip.


    "Qian Ming, you must avenge our son!". She shouted while hugging her injured son, Xian Lee. She was also the woman that criticize Qian Xian in the last meeting.


    "Wang Yin, calm down! The city lord offers them to stay at his manor, there is nothing we can do right now." Qian Ming explained.


    "We can''t do anything now, but Qian Ching could." one of the elders commented.


    "That''s right, Qian Ching has been a student of Thunder Academy for two years now. His power is surely at B-Class!" Wang Yin proclaimed.


    "Qian Ching will show that respectful brat how to respect his elders."


    -


    At the same time, the Zhang family was also having a family meeting at their manor.


    "Patriarch how come Xiao Yang knows the skill of Sword Faze." One of the core members asked.


    "What''s more his version of Sword Faze is much more complete" Another added.


    The patriarch was just as muddled as they are. He shook his head then said with a low tone, "The technique was sold by an S-Class mage, it''s possible that Xiao Yang has some sort of relationship with that man. Perhaps a disciple of his."


    Zhang Yuxi was shocked hearing the possibility and she then asked, "But father, how can an S-Class be willing to take Xiao Yang as a disciple? He only awakens his element a few months ago."


    The patriarch sighed and replied, "That''s what I don''t understand about."


    The members looked at each other, but all they can see were clueless faces.


    -


    The City Lord knowing their predicament, generously invited Xiao Yang and his mum to say at the Fang manor, until they depart to the Thunderbolt Academy.


    Xiao Yang was currently standing in the meeting hall of the Fang family with the City Lord, the two people from Thunderbolt Academy was sitting down and silently staring at Xiao Yang.


    "Xiao Yang, would it be alright if you tell me where you have gotten the resources to become this powerful?", Xie Ying asked in a seductive tone.


    "Of course, I had gotten all of the resources and techniques from a fortunate encounter." Xiao Yang answered her with a straight face.


    She frowned after hearing that then asked, "Fortunate encounter?"


    "It was like this, a few months ago I encountered a severely injured man. I provided mediation for him and treated his wounds. The man later got better and he taught me Sword Faze, and left behind some elemental potions when he left." Xiao Yang then later described the clothes of the man.


    After hearing the man''s description, the City Lord exclaimed, "It must be him, that S-Class mage who sold the copy of the Sword Faze technique to the Zhangs at the pavilion."


    The news of an S-Class mage auctioning at the pavilion was heard by everyone at the time, so anyone that was at the auction was able to back up Xiao Yang''s description of the man. So Xie Ying and the man called Zhou Xun had no choice but to give up on pursuing the case.


    ...


    Time went by and the story of Xiao Yang''s fortunate was somehow leaked throughout the DongHe City.


    Many people became jealous of him and thought that the only reason he won first place was due to him being lucky.


    Fang Qiong, however, thought differently, having to experience Xiao Yang''s Sword Faze knew that being taught by an S-Class mage was not enough, he would have to be talented and also hardworking to achieve such proficient in using the skill.


    Unexpectedly for Xiao Yang, Fang Qiong came knocking on to his door and asked if he could practice with her.


    As they practiced together, Xiao Yang notices that Fang Qiong wasn''t someone who gives up so easily. Even after losing against him in all of the duels, she always managed to pull herself up for another one.


    Seeing that sky is about to get dark and Fang Qiong is still determined as ever, Xiao Yang cleared his throat and said, "Um... Fang Qiong the sky is already getting dark, we can practice tomorrow if you want."


    Fang Qiong looked up at the sky and then said, "Alright, just one more match then"


    After also losing that match, she kept her promise and made her way back to her room. She did, however, came looking for Xiao Yang again the next day and the next day.


    Seeing how determined she was, Xiao Yang was happy to oblige and he wasn''t going to pretend to get defeated. He was actually happy to see someone so determined, it was like seeing himself from another perspective.


    ...


    Three days had already gone by since the tournament, everyone was ready to depart to Thunderbolt Academy.


    Qian Lee however was still slightly injured and many parts of his body were wrapped in clothes. Still, he was determined to depart with them, Thunderbolt Academy is an opportunity that he can not afford to miss out on.


    There were three large carriages, the carriage was driven by various types of summoned beasts each of them was about the size of a large rhino.


    The two people from Thunderbolt Academy got into the same carriage.


    Qian Xian, Xiao Yang, and Fang Qiong together in one carriage.


    Qian Lee, Qian Fei, and Zhang Yuxi was together. Qian Lee was staring at Zhang Yuxi the entire time.


    Even though the two are engaged, Zhang Yuxi found it sick being creepily stared at the entire time.


    The journey will take ten days before they are able to reach Thunderbolt Academy, so they occasionally stop by at villages along their way.


    After seven days, they arrived at a particular village that was in the mid of a panic. The village was only E-Class but a C-Class portal unexpectedly appeared near the village.


    If nobody destroys the core of the portal, all of the beasts inside will come out and inevitably destroy the village and its residents.


    With the current power of the village, defeating a C-Class portal is an impossible feat.

 14 C-Class Portal

    The village''s population is made up of E-Class mages and the majority are children who haven''t even awaken their elements.


    "Xie Ying we must do something! They will surely die if we don''t help." Zhou Xun shouted in panic.


    Although both of them are B-Class mages, fighting against a C-Class portal would require the power of at least five B-Class mages. Their combined power is still nowhere near enough.


    Zhou Xun bit her bottom lip then said, "Alright we will join the attack team, you guys can join if you want."


    They looked at each other then eventually they all decided to join in. They were all educated to know how dangerous a C-Class portal can be, but even still they decided to join in.


    At the entrance of the portal, there they found a group of people composed of E-Class mages.


    One man from the group came and spoke to them, "Friends, could you please help us in closing the portal."


    The rest of the people looked at Xiao Yang and the others, waiting to hear their response. They knew that they would need as much help as possible to stop the portal from unleashing destruction to the town.


    Xie Ying looked around before replying, "Of course, how may we assist your team?"


    Everyone was bought to joy after hearing that, they were able to sense the power of Xie Ying''s team. They believed that with their combined power, they might just be able to close the portal.


    "We have sent a team of scouts inside but half an hour had passed by already, yet none came back. So we fear the worst has happened to them." Said the man shaking his head.


    After a short pause, the man continued by saying, "We are about to go inside now, it would be great if you could also join the attack."


    "Okay," Xie Ying quickly replied.


    They all entered the portal one by one. Once inside, they found themselves in a cave and a tunnel that leads deeper into the cave.


    There were rows of dense flowers growing on the side of the tunnel, they released a blue light that illuminated the entire tunnel.


    Once the flowers are picked, they lose their glow and turns into stone, making them useless to be used in alchemy. Not even Light element mages are able to make use of it.


    Xiao Yang turned around to look at Qian Xian who didn''t seem to have any weapons on her. Holding the C-Class armour ring up, he asked, "Mum put the ring on, it will keep you safe".


    "There is no need, your mum is a C-Class mage." She smiled and patted him on the head. It was embarrassing for Xiao Yang in front of all those people.


    As they ventured further into the tunnel, they found dead bodies scattered across the floor, they were confirmed to be from the scout team.


    Their skins were gruesomely torn apart and with bones bulging out of the surface.


    "This must be the work of a killer-wolf" A mage exclaimed.


    "Killer-wolf?!" Many of the mages shouted in unison.


    Killer-wolf looks just like a regular wolf, but their body is much bigger and their speeds are even faster than a regular wolf. They normally hunt in packs, they are known for their gruesome ways of torturing the victims before killing them.


    The mages were visibly shaking right now, if they were to be attacked by killer-wolves then they would inevitably perish. They were struggling to kill E-Class killer-wolves in the past, so killing C-Class killer-wolves would be nothing more but suicide.


    "What should we do? They could easily sniff out our scent and hunt us even in the outside world." A mage shouted.


    "We have no choice but to destroy the crystal core. It''s our only chance of survival." Xie Ying exclaimed.


    She wasn''t wrong, only by destroying the crystal core can they then escape and close the portal. If they don''t destroy the crystal core then the wolves will be able to leave the portal after two hours.


    While they were all dazed in their thoughts, a killer-wolf jumped out from the corner and its claws were headed right at an E-Class mage''s throat.


    "Watch out!" Xie Ying shouter, but it was already too late for her to help him.


    Just when the wolf was about to slice the mage''s head off, a humanoid figure emerges behind the wolf like a shadow with a dagger in both of its hands, the wolf realised something was wrong but it was already too late for him to retreat.


    The two daggers stabbed right inside its sockets and eventually drove into the wolf''s brain.


    When the daggers were pulled out, blood started to shoot out from both of its sockets like a fountain. The body of the wolf soon fell flat onto the floor and its life force completely exhausted.


    Everyone looked towards the humanoid figure and that was when they realised that it was a young man who came into the portal with them.


    "Xiao Yang!" The group departed from DongHe city recognised him.


    "Did he just killed a C-Class killer-wolf?" They all thought the same but the fact was right in front of their eyes.


    "Their weakness is their eyes" Xiao Yang explained.


    "Brother Chen, your reaction is too good!" Qian Fei complimented him.


    Xie Ying was totally shocked by what she just saw, a C-Class killer-wolf was easily killed by a D-Class mage, not even she could have guaranteed to be able to kill that quickly. She thought to herself, "How can his reaction be so quick? Could he had already detected the wolf''s present before it attacks that mage?"


    Xiao Yang was indeed able to detect the presence of the wolf way before it even attacked, right now he is able to detect another three killer-wolves coming towards their direction.


    He is able to take out one wolf at a time but three at the same time would be near impossible with his current strength, so he alerted the rest of them, "There''s another three coming!"


    Everyone quickly held their weapons and line up in a defensive formation, a minute gone by, but they still couldn''t detect the presence of any beasts.

 15 Three Killer-Wolves

    "Xiao Yang are you certain that there are wolves coming towards us?" Zhou Xun asked while looking around.


    "I bet he is just bluffing. Xiao Yang just because you are able to kill a killer-wolf doesn''t mean you more powerful than Zhou Xun and Xie Ying." Qian Lee sneered and then continued to say, "If there really were more wolves coming our way then why can''t Zhou Xun and Xie Ying detect them already?"


    The others started to feel the same way, if there really were killer-wolves headed towards them then why can''t the two B-Class mages detect it while a D-Class mage can?


    Xiao Yang didn''t need to explain to them as shortly after Qian Lee finished his sentence, three pairs of blue eyes appeared ahead of them.


    Everyone can see that those pairs of eyes are the same type to the killer-wolf that got killed earlier. It was fortunate that they heeded Xiao Yang''s command or else the whole team would have gotten ambushed by now.


    "Prepare for battle!" Xie Ying shouted as the three wolves started running towards them.


    With the speed of the killer-wolves, the distance between them quickly closes in. Some of the mages held their spears out to try to stop them, but one of the wolves launches high into the sky with its fang wide open.


    -Splash!


    A stream of high-pressure water was summoned towards the wolf, knocking it into the wall. The mage who summoned it was Qian Xian who wielded a C-Class Water Element.


    The E-Class mage quickly found themselves unable to pierce the skin of the wolves and many of them were starting to accumulate many wounds onto their body.


    It looked as if the wolves were just playing around with them, the wounds they inflict on their preys were shallow. They seem to enjoy their preys dying from the loss of blood.


    Xiao Yang''s group wasn''t doing very well too, although they were able to suppress the wolves'' attacks, but they were unable to inflict any damage to them.


    Xie Ying summoned her three beasts to engage with the wolves, the beasts were as big as a bull, they were semi-humanoid beast, the lower part of their body looks like a horse, but their upper part looks like those of a human with arms.


    The beasts were strong but their speed was still lacking compared to the killer-wolves. They too became a toy for the wolves to torture.


    Fang Qiong tried summoning her vines to restrain the wolves, but they proved too weak and was quickly destroyed, after all, she was still a D-Class mage.


    Qian Fei was able to cast her Healing Element to heal some of the E-Class mages, but it was too weak and slow to contribute much.


    Qian Lee and Zhang Yuxi weren''t able to participate in the fighting since they were unable to get close to the wolves. They only carried short-range weapons and Zhang Yuxi''s only learnt how to create a sword with her Ice Element.


    Zhou Xun was able to use his Support Element to increase his team''s power output. Support Element is extremely rare, they are able to cast support spells to their teammates, but because they don''t have a specific physical element they are incredibly difficult to level up. It''s no wonder Thunderbolt Academy is considered one of the best academy of all continents, they are even able to nurture students with Support Element to such a degree.


    Qian Xian while under the boost from the Support Element, she was able to keep the wolves from closing into them.


    If they allowed the wolves to get close to them then they would end up like the rest, however, if they can''t get close to them then they too can''t damage the wolves. If this were to continue then they would soon find themselves exhausted out of mana and energy.


    Knowing that they wouldn''t last long, Xiao Yang dashed toward one of the wolves with his daggers clenched tightly and shouted, "Fang Qiong, help me distract the wolves for a few seconds!"


    Fang Qiong did as she was told and summoned her vines to restrain one of the wolves.


    The vines only lasted for a few seconds, but that was enough for Xiao Yang to arrived in front of its face, with both of his daggers in hands, he brutally impale them into their eyes.


    Blood squirted up into the air, the wolf struggled for a few seconds before it eventually gave up the ghost.


    "Killer-Wolf killed [Elemental Beast Core Avaliable]"


    Just like killing the previous wolf, he heard the female robotic voice reminding him that the elemental beast core is available to extract.


    The wolves saw their companion being slaughtered by Xiao Yang and so one of them came rushing to him with murderous intent. The wolf jump right towards Xiao Yang''s face with its razor-sharp claws, the wolf slash it against Xiao Yang''s neck.


    Xiao Yang was quick to react to prevent his head from flying off his neck, and instead, the claws scratch his chest, but luckily only a few light marks were left on the C-Class armour.


    As the wolf ran past him, Xiao Yang grabs held of its fur and was now being carried around the battlefield with it.


    With the daggers in his hand, he proceeded to bury it deep into the beast''s sockets. The wolf violently slide onto the floor, forcing Xiao Yang to roll off it''s back.


    "Killer-Wolf killed [Elemental Beast Core Avaliable]"


    Now that two wolves were killed, the mages were able to corner the last wolf and with their spears, they were finally successful in impaling it into its socket.


    Everyone seems to be overjoyed by the victory, many were covered by their own blood and one of the mages even had his whole arm bitten off. Without a high-class mage or pills, his arm would never be able to grow back, Qian Fei was able to suppress the bleeding though.

 16 Unexpected Appearance

    As the group was chattering, an strong life force appeared in the vicinity and was quickly picked up by Xiao Yang. It was coming closer and closer to them.


    The group felt that something was wrong, looked towards the direction of the tunnel that leads deeper into the cave. There was no Blue Light Flowers growing further inward of the tunnel, so all they could see is a pitch-black looking void.


    "Ba-dump... Ba-Dump... Ba-Dump."


    The sound of heartbeat could be clearly heard from the distance, along with the scary echoes of something big breathing behind the mist.


    The group felt as if the very air they breathed in was sucked away into the void-like tunnel, but at the same time, they felt a strong force of the wind pushing them back and forth.


    Everyone was dead-silent when looking at the direction of the sound. They still couldn''t see anything but they would have already guessed by now that whatever it is, it wouldn''t be something pleasant to encounter.


    Not long after, the thick mist covering their views were soon cleared away and the frightening creature within it was finally revealed.


    The creature looked exactly like the Killer-Wolves that they just killed, but this one is much bigger, it was about the size of a large elephant and it''s furs looked to be made out of steel.


    Looking at the dead wolves on the ground, the creature''s eye suddenly turned from blue to dark red. It was as if it had activated battle mode and was ready to crush the offenders.


    "Oh no, we can''t be that unlucky to encounter a King Killer-Wolf!" One of the mages finally broke the silence.


    "Roar!" The scream from the creature alone was enough to push them back a few steps away.


    Suddenly the creature started to rush towards them, they tried to run but one step from the creature was equivalent to 50 steps from the human so the distance between the mages and the beast was quickly shortened.


    Those who were in the King''s path were quickly trampled on, some met their ends with the claws, and others were simply gotten swallowed by the beast without even chewing.


    The number of E-Class mages quickly dropped by half of its original number and there was no indication of it stopping too, fighting back the beast proved to be a futile endeavor.


    Soon it was just Xiao Yang''s group and a few E-Class mages remaining, what''s more, they were quickly cornered by the beast and all escape routes were quickly cut off.


    The beast swung his claw towards Xiao Yang''s chest, the attack was too quick to dodge. The armor scales on his chest was ripped apart, exposing his skins underneath, but he was left unharmed.


    As long as the entire armor wasn''t broken, it should be able to slowly repair itself once it returns back to the ring. If the entire armor was broken then the ring itself would shatter beyond repair.


    The beast seeing that Xiao Yang was still alive, swung another attack towards Xiao Yang. Just like the previous attack, he was unable to dodge it.


    "Damn it!" Xiao Yang cursed, there was no way out for him, apart from activating his Celestial Divine Body.


    Just as he was about to activate the Celestial Divine Body, a black figure flew towards the beast and knocking it with a single punch. The punch managed to send the beast flying into the wall, a deep crater was left on the wall and the entire tunnel shaking.


    Everyone had their eyes fixed at the black figure that was floating in the air. Upon inspection, it was a man in a black cloak and wearing a grey patterned-mask that covered its entire face.


    No one recognizes who the man was but Xiao Yang knew that he was the same mysterious man that came looking for him last time.


    "Why is he here?" Xiao Yang thought to himself.


    The King killer-Wolf seemed to be seriously injured by that punch and its unable to get up from the ground.


    The mysterious man once again swung its fist towards the wolf''s head. but this time with my more power concentrated.


    The power of the fist was able to break the entire skull and exploded its brain into bits and pieces, they all splatted across the wall.


    Soon after that, the lifeless body of the King Killer-Wolf began to vaporize, leaving a small ring behind just like the one Xiao Yang is wearing.


    The man grabbed the ring that was still floating in the air, he looked towards the group and tossed the ring towards Xiao Yang.


    "Ownership Transferred. C-Class King Killer-Wolf: Wolf Blade Received"


    Just like last time, when Xiao Yang looked up to ask him a questions, the man already disappeared without a trace.


    "Who exactly is he?" Xiao Yang thought to himself.


    The crowds were even more confused, they were unsure of what they just saw. They couldn''t believe that the invincible King Killer-Wolf that they were trying so hard to kill and escape, easily had its head blown into bits.


    On top of that, the man received an Elemental Gear but decided to give to Xiao Yang instead. That did make sense to them though, since he was able to kill the wolf in just two punch then there wasn''t really a need for a merely C-Class Elemental Gears.


    Xiao Yang decided to put on the ring and activated it. Moments later a regular-sized sword appeared on his hand, the sword was incredibly sharp and sturdy. For some reason, it felt like a blue mist was being given off from the blade, but there was clearly no blue mist to be seen.


    "With this, we can easily clear the portal!" A mage exclaimed with a level of admiration.


    Qian Lee however didn''t seem happy seeing Xiao Yang receiving the blade. "Why is it always him to receive all of the good stuff?!"


    C-Class King Killer-Wolf: Wolf Blade


    Blue Mist: Low Chance of blinding the opponent for 3 seconds.


    The effect only works on C-Class or Lower. The chance will increase if the opponent was lower than C-Class.

 17 Celestial Divine Body:

    "Who was that man?" Qian Fei asked.


    Everyone looked at each other, but no one could answer her. To them, it was the first time ever seeing the mysterious man.


    All they know was that the mysterious man that they just saw, save their lives and even left them with all the spoils.


    Xie Ying thought for a while then said, "Someone like him who has the power of at least an S-Class mage wouldn''t be simple. He must be a big shot from a rich and prestigious family or a core member of a powerful organization."


    Most of them nodded in agreement. Someone with such a family would be impossible to nurture in an ordinary family.


    In order to become powerful, not only do you have to be talented in understanding the essence of the element, but also a large amount of resources, and that doesn''t often come cheap. That''s is why the majority of the entire population is still at E-Class, most would only awaken one element in their entire lifetime.


    "Alright, I think we should continue our way to look for the crystal core." Xiao Yang reminded them of the purpose of coming here in the first place, as everyone was still dazed in their own thoughts.


    Everyone agreed and started walking forward but before they could take any further steps, Qian Lee who ran ahead of them and with open arms he shouted, "Stop! Xiao Yang, I believe everyone here has the shared ownership of that sword"


    The mages looked at each other in a conflicted emotion, they too desire the weapon too.


    A regular C-Class weapon would have sold for a high price, let alone a King Tier. It would have at least sold for at least 2 A-Class Elemental Coins, such amount not even the three major families of DongHe City could earn in a year.


    "Qian Lee what are you spouting about?! That man clearly gave the sword to Xiao Yang!" Qian Fei yelled out, looking annoyed.


    "Who said it was given to only Xiao Yang? He was just lucky enough to be in front of everyone." he sneered.


    Qian Fei looking more annoyed, she is embarrassed to actually have the same blood with such a shameless person running through her veins. She clenched her fist then shouted, "When Xiao Yang was in the battlefield fighting against the wolves, you were hiding behind cowardly, When the King Killer-Wolf came out you were the first to run away, so tell me what gives you the right to deserve any ownership of the sword?"


    "You..." Qian Lee bit his lower lip but didn''t say anything. It wasn''t like there was anything he could have further said.


    The rest of the mages seemed to agree with Qian Fei, Xiao Yang was the one who killed most of the wolves and if it wasn''t for him they would have been all amused and perished by now. Technically speaking they owed him their lives.


    "Qian Fei is right, Xiao Yang contributed the most in the battle." Xie Ying, agreed.


    Xiao Yang looked around and said, "I admit I desire to keep this sword, but of course I will also compensate you. How about this, I keep the sword and all of the kills from this raid I will take none of it."


    The mages all lighten up after hearing that, they haven''t cleared the entire dungeon yet and so there must be more regular killer-wolves. C-Class Elemental Cores sells for a high price, especially rare types such as killer-wolves that are scarce but in high demand.


    "Then if no one object it, we should get going now before the portal fully opens up." Xie Ying said.


    With the new C-Class King Tier sword in hand, they were able to quickly slaughter the remaining killer-wolves, without further resistance they quickly found themselves in a large dome.


    There was an altar and at the center was a blue shard-like crystal, the crystal releases a mystical glow.


    Xiao Yang walked up to the altar and with the sword in his hand, he slashed it at the crystal. The crystal broke upon impact and pieces of blue lights were floating in the air like fireflies.


    Everyone else didn''t seem to notice it, but the blue light was slowly being absorbed by his skin and he soon felt familiar energy rising in his body but then it died down when the light was fully absorbed.


    "64 E-Class Celestial Divine Points Received"


    "Celestial Divine Body Duration Increase By 16 Seconds."


    Xiao Yang bought to joy hearing that his Celestial Divine Body level up the same way as regular elements. The Celestial Divine Body is currently still at E-Class and so absorbing a C-Class Crystal Core would give him a random number of E-Class points from 0 to 100.


    #Note: C-Class = 100 E-Class


    Now that his the Celestial Divine Body could last up to 19 seconds in total, he would now be able to kill enemies that are stronger than him or at least be able to escape any sticky situation he might be stuck in.


    Even with 19 Seconds of the Celestial Divine Body, going against SSS-Class mages would still be very difficult and highly risky. It would be best to stay low-key and not attract any big shots to himself.


    "Xiao Yang... Xiao Yang?!" It was Qian Fei''s voice, and when Xiao Yang finally snapped out of the daze, he quickly found himself being stared at by everyone.


    He swallowed his saliva and thought to himself, "Did they see me absorbing the lights?"


    "Xiao Yang are you okay? You were standing there motionless for more than a minute now." Qian Xian asked worriedly.


    "Fheww, so they didn''t see it?" Xiao Yang wiped the sweat off his forehead and replied, "Oh I was just thinking back how crazy it was today."


    They all understood what he was saying, he would be mad not to be frighten by what happened today, especially it was his first time.

 18 Thunderbolt Academy

    After the crystal core was destroyed, the mages managed to retrieve all of the crystal cores. The village offered Xiao Yang''s team to keep some, but they decided to refuse the offer as the village was still in a bad shape, especially after many of its mages got killed.


    The group was still on a tight schedule to get to Thunderbolt Academy so they had to quickly leave the village, they were glad to be able to save the village from potential destruction.


    Throughout the later journey, Qian Xian looked a bit depresses. Xiao Yang noticed this and so he asked, "Mum are you feeling alright?"


    "Uh? oh... yeah, I''m fine." Qian Xian wasn''t hurt or anything, nor did she get traumatized by the event, but it became of that mysterious man who appeared out of nowhere to save them. She felt a familiar, yet distance feeling when she first saw that man, she couldn''t quite grasp what it was.


    ...


    After another three days, they finally arrived at the entrance of Thunderbolt City.


    Xie Ying had explained to them the history of Thunderbolt City to them before they arrived here.


    Thunderbolt City doesn''t belong to any particular continent and is independently ruled by the founder itself. It only has a history of just over ten years, yet it became this powerful in such a short time period.


    Thunderbolt Academy is the only academy in the city, it''s built on top of a mountain and its most precious treasure is the Elemental Thunder Pool. It''s a large pool hidden beneath the mountain and the only entrance is through a cave that is heavily guarded, no one is allowed inside without the explicit permission of the elders.


    Thunderbolt City also has a large forest called Thunderbolt Forest. The forest is a hotspot for portals to appear, the elders decided to allow the portals to open so that the forest could be used a training ground for the students.


    Any portals that are S-Class or higher are quickly destroyed to prevent powerful beasts from populating, arrays are built around and within the forest to separate areas according to the classes of the beasts.


    Emperors from all continents desire to gain the rich resources that the land has to offers but they knew that war would inevitably break out if they do try to claim the land. Thunderbolt Academy had made a deal with all five continents to allow the princes and princesses to study in the academy but in return for the protection of the five continents.


    Upon arriving, Xie Ying quickly bought them to register and take them to their assigned living areas.


    Since Xiao Yang had bought his family member with him, he was given his own house for one year rent-free. During the time, most would people normally set up their own business in the city or hunt for beasts to sell their elemental cores.


    Xiao Yang and his mum quickly settled in their new home. Their new home was about the same size as their previous one that the lived back in DongHe City.


    There wasn''t much to do for the time being so they both decided to explore the streets and markets of the city.


    There were many merchants, restaurants, and shops. The market seemed to be quite competitive with each other, but none of them could be rival with one specific business. It was the Golden Sky Pavilion, unlike a small pavilion such as DongHe Pavilion. Golden Sky Pavilion is a large franchise that operates throughout the five continents, it offers the best quality weapons and potions, as well as other services such as auction or gambling stones.


    They decided to head into the pavilion and upon entry, a young man greeted them and kindly said, "Welcome to the Golden Sky Pavilion, sir." He looked towards Qian Xian then confidently continued by saying, "This must be your girlfriend here, at here in Golden Sky Pavilion, we have the best quality jewellery you can find in the whole of Thunderbolt City. Oh right we also have a special sale today for the gambling stone section, would you like me to take you there?"


    "Huh... girlfriend...?" Xiao Yang was confused, he looked towards Qian Xian and realised what the man was saying. Even though Qian Xian is a 38 years old mother, her appearance still looked like a 16 years old teenager. This is just one benefit of a C-Class mage.


    "Oh... no, she is..." Xiao Yang was trying to explain to the young man that it was in fact her mum, but before he could, Qian Xian suddenly held on to his arm like how a couple does, then with a charming smile she said, "Yes, please guide us to the floor where this special event is held."


    Xiao Yang looked at his mum with a wry smile but thought to himself, "Mum I know I am handsome but please have some self-restraint. This is incest!"


    The young employee quickly guided them to the gambling stone sections. Xiao Yang then thought to himself again, "Don''t normally parent say gambling is bad? So why is she taking me there?"


    They shortly arrived under the guidance of the young employee, after the employee left, Xiao Yang asked, "Mum why are you taking me to the gambling section?"


    Qian Xian replied while laughing, "Oh, it just reminds me that one time where your father tried to prove to me that he was a very lucky person, so he chose to play gambling stones even though he never even played it in the past."


    Xiao Yang with a wry smile asked, "So did he win anything?"


    "Ha-ha... No, in fact, he couldn''t even find a single elemental core on any of them."


    "Maybe I will have a better luck than him," Xiao Yang said with a serious tone.


    Qian Xian blinked then replied, "Of course you will."


    Xiao Yang thought she didn''t believe him so he said, "Fine, I prove it to you."

 19 Divine Eyes

    Stacks of stones from all kinds of sizes and shapes are all piled up on a long rectangle-table, they are priced based on their size.


    The stones are extracted from those portals that people called ''Undead Portal'', this is because the entire place is guarded by beast souls.


    Beast souls have a transparent-like ability that allows them to go through objects such as walls or swords, making them a natural-born assassin.


    The only way to kill them is when they transform back into a physical state during their attempts to attack their opponents. Once they are killed, their entire body crumbles into stones of various sizes and shapes and there is a chance that one of them has an elemental core inside of them. So many would choose to sell them as gambling stones to maximize their profit.


    All of the stones from the beast soul has a marking on it to indicate that they are authentic soul stones. and shows the element they associate with, but it won''t tell you whether there is an elemental core inside or not. Only after smashing it will you then be able to find out.


    Xiao Yang was confident that he will be able to gain a profitable stone, not because he is confident in his luck but ever since he received the Celestial Divine Body, he noticed that he had also gained a couple of abilities. One of such is a passive ability that allows him to detect the elemental auras of humans, beasts, objects that contain elemental powers.


    People who are extremely skilled can still accurately decipher a mage''s true aura even if they try to hide it, however, Xiao Yang''s ability is able to not only accurately decipher the class of the mage but also the elements they wield and what class they are in.


    Few could accurately detect the level of the beasts just based on their auras. Aura of an object is unheard of and thought to be non-existent, but ever since Xiao Yang activated the Celestial Divine Body, he gained this newly passive ability that he could use even without the Celestial Divine Body activated. He named the ability, ''Divine Eyes.''


    While using his Divine Eyes, Xiao Yang was able to accurately read the powers of all the mages on the same floor. The majority of them are D-Class mages like Xiao Yang, there''s also quite a lot of higher ranking mages, the highest was at B-Class.


    On the tables, there were many different types of soul stones, they came in different shapes and sizes. With the Divine Eyes, Xiao Yang was able to tell that majority of the rocks are empty and only a few actually have an aura on them.


    Xiao Yang was able to tell what class those soul stones are based on the aura they emitted out. After scanning for a while, he settled down on buying a soul stone that was no bigger than a pocket-sized chest.


    Many people who saw it thought that buying a stone that size would have been too risky, the size of the stone could barely even fit an elemental core inside. Despite it being the cheapest Water Element Soul stones with a price of only one C-Class Elemental Coin, many would still opt-in for a bigger stone that costs at least triple the price.


    "I''ll just pick this one" Xiao Yang pointed at the soul stone.


    The employee after hearing Xiao Yang''s choice thought he was poor and inexperienced, but he still wanted to double-check and so he asked, "Sir, are you sure you want to choose this one?"


    "Yes, I''m sure" Then he handed one C-Class Elemental Coin to pay for the stone.


    "Um... Alright then." The employee took the soul stone and laid it onto a flat circular-board. It was made out of 100% steel.


    There was a muscular man next to it and he was holding a gigantic hammer, Xiao Yang could easily tell that the hammer was an A-Class elemental weapon.


    Once the stone was laid neatly onto the board, with both of his hand the man lifted the hammer high into the air before slamming back down.


    ''Boom''


    The outer layer of the soul stones began to crumble into specks of dust, revealing a smooth blue crystal. The blue crystal was glowing slightly, and the surface looked as if it was the entire sea itself trapped inside a pocket-sized crystal.


    Everyone looked towards the crystal with jealousy, the employee who sold the stone to Xiao Yang was even so. The elemental core that Xiao Yang had just received was an A-Class Water elemental core, if Qian Xian was to absorb it then she has a chance to receive 0-100 C-Class elemental points.


    Seeing the employee unmoving, Xiao Yang grabbed the elemental core himself and brushed off the remaining dust.


    Xiao Yang wanted to leave the pavilion with his mum since he is already satisfied with what he has received, there weren''t any profitable soul stones left anyway.


    However, before they could make their way down the stairs, two people were blocking their path.


    It was a young man wearing a luxurious golden-coloured garment and holding an expensive-looking looking hand-fan, it even has the emperor seal on it. He seems to be deliberately showing off his hand-fan.


    Next to the man was a beautiful woman, she holding the man''s arm tightly.


    They were both D-Class mages, meaning they are also new students who just joined the academy.


    Thunderbolt City has strict rules when it comes to deciding who to enter the city. Only a few family members of the student are allowed in, guards or servants are not allowed to enter with them, but that doesn''t stop people from bringing a mass amount of their wealth with them.


    "Friend, would you be willing to sell that elemental core to me? Money is not a problem for me." The young man proudly asked.


    "Sorry but I''m not planning to sell the element core." Xiao Yang replied. He was going to give the elemental core to Qian Xian, so she could continue to level up to B-Class.

 20 Martial Genius

    The young man was still calm and confident that he will be able to get his hand on that A-Class Water Elemental Core, so he then said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Dong Xia, the second prince of Dong-Min Continent."


    Before the young man introduced himself as the second prince of the Dong-Min Continent, the crowd all thought he was just another young master from a rich and renowned family, but now the crowd was shocked to see him.


    "Oh my! it''s really is Prince Xia!"


    "I heard that he is extremely talented in martial arts"


    "Right! Not only is he handsome but he is also so talented!"


    The majority of them were either commoners or young Descendents of some rich family. If they could develop a friendly relationship with the prince then their future would surely be prosperous.


    Many thought that Xiao Yang who looked to be a commoner would surely sell it right? One it would sell at a very high price and two, it''s would be a chance to gain some friendly relationship with the prince. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone.


    "I sincerely apologize, but as I said before, I am not planning to sell the elemental core." Xiao Yang replied without a flinch of his emotion changing.


    The crowd were shocked by his reply, such a great opportunity was right in front of him, yet he still turned it down as if it was nothing. Either he was crazy or he is also another prince of another nation that they just haven''t recognized yet.


    The prince looked a bit upset, but he didn''t say anything. He couldn''t gain the item through speech nor could he gain it by force. In Thunderbolt City, all fighting is strictly prohibited and those who break the rules will be punished by the disciplinary Hall, it doesn''t matter what if you are a prince or a princess of a nation.


    Xie Ying had already explained the rules to Xiao Yang, and so he thought that the prince would have no choice but to let them go.


    Before he could move, another man''s voice could be heard among the silent crowd, "Aiyowei isn''t this my genius cousin, Chen Xiao Yang?"


    A young-looking man soon emerged out of the crowd with a sinister smile, the man walked up to the prince then he humbly bowed down to him, "Your highness, it is my honor to be able to meet you."


    Prince Xia squinted his eyes to look at the man, "Who are you?"


    "Your highness, my name is Qian Ching, and that person over there is my cousin, Chen Xiao Yang." He then continued by saying with disdain, "It truly is a shame to say this, but he is an illegitimate son of our Qian family, but he is also the number one genius of DongHe City."


    "Oh? Number one genius?" The prince looked confused, how can a bastard''s son be the number one genius?


    Qian Ching smiled, then replied, "Yes, he is the number one champion of the Youth Tournament in DongHe City."


    The crowd was infuriated by what they just heard, and looked at Xiao Yang with disdain.


    "How arrogant number one genius? Just because you became the number one champion?"


    "Yea! Everyone here is the number one champion otherwise how are we here?!"


    "I thought he was someone with a powerful background like the prince, but it turns out his only a bastard''s son! Ha-ha!"


    "How dare he act so arrogant and highly in front of the prince?! Some bastard''s son wants to compare himself to the prince?"


    Qian Ching hearing the crowds, smirked and quietly thought to himself, "Chen Xiao Yang, this is what you get for going against the Qian family. How dare you hurt my little brother Qian Lee?"


    The girl next to the prince seem to be getting impatient and so she moaned, "Your highness, I really wanted that elemental core."


    Prince Xia lifted a linger against her lip and with a quiet but charming voice he said, "Shhh, everything that you desire will be yours. Don''t worry".


    He then turned his gaze back to Xiao Yang, flapping his hand-fan he said, "Sell the elemental core to me now, not only will I forget about your previous rudeness but I will also reward you handsomely."


    Xiao Yang found it quite laughable, he used to be the most powerful grandmaster that ever roamed the world, no one dared to frighten him, not even the emperors. But now a mere prince was threatening him to sell his stuff and some commoner dared to mock him?


    Xiao Yang then replied coldly, "No."


    Qian Xian who was next to him was starting to get worried, although she feels infuriated by the criticism, she doesn''t want to have Xiao Yang endangered. There are still ways that people could harm him, such as during a school hunting at the Thunderbolt Academy, there won''t be enough elders to watch over the whole forest.


    The crowds however were getting more infuriated and annoyed by Xiao Yang''s display of arrogance and naiveness.


    Prince Xia was visibly mad right now, his eyes were burning like fires. He had never in his life seen someone so disobedience in front of him, and never had he thought it was a mere low-life commoner who disobeyed him.


    While still gazing at Xiao Yang with killing intent, he clenched both of his fists and a dominating pressure suddenly appeared inside the room. Everyone that was in the room felt like a large boulder was strapped onto their back, they could barely stand onto their feet.


    The crowds suddenly started to shout in excitement and admiration.


    "Martial Aura!"


    "No wonder the prince is a genius of martial arts, he could even stimulate martial aura at such a young age!"


    "Martial aura represents one''s talent in martial arts, the heavier the pressure is the more talented that person is in the understanding of martial arts."


    "Let see how that arrogant brat still dares to disobey the prince now!"


    The crowd all turned their gaze back to Xiao Yang, but what they saw next shocked them. Xiao Yang and Qian Xian who was being directly hit by the aura was unaffected, they were standing there as if there wasn''t any pressure at all.


    "Such a weak aura and you dare try to show it off in front of me?" Xiao Yang silently laughed to himself, he was exerting his own martial aura but he also capped it to the same level to Prince Xia.


    "Is that all you got?" Xiao Yang asked coldly.


    "I don''t believe it!" Prince Xia thought to himself, he then proceeded to increase the intensity of the aura to the max he could possibly output.


    The crowds by now were all kneeling on the ground with their hands on the floor to support their body, only the high-class mage was still standing.


    Even with such pressure, Xiao Yang and Qian Xian were still standing on there feet, there was no sign of any struggles.


    Qian Xian was dumbfounded, everyone was visibly seen struggling under the dominating pressure, but she felt nothing at all.


    Prince Xia was unable to continue exerting his martial aura, so he quickly retracted it. He wanted to pull out his sword and slice Xiao Yang''s throat but at alas here couldn''t.


    Everyone felt the pressure disappeared and so they slowly got back up from the floor, they were still shocked by what had just transpired. If Xiao Yang was able to withstand the martial aura then it would indicate that he himself is a genius of martial art.


    Qian Ching also shocked by Xiao Yang''s ability, but he still hasn''t gotten what he wanted yet. "Damn it, I can''t let him just leave like that."


    Qian Ching thought for a moment then his face quickly smiled viciously again, "Xiao Yang do you dare to challenge his highness to a gambling bet?!"


    "Xiao Yang, if you lose you would have to hand over all of the elemental core you have on you, you also have to get on your knees and bark like a dog three times."

 21 Untitled

    "I don''t see any benefits in me joining, so why should I?" Xiao Yang was confident in winning the game but he wasn''t going to do something time-wasting that doesn''t even benefit him.


    Prince Xia smiled then said, "If you win then I will hand over my an A-Class King Tier weapon, and Qian Ching will have to get on his knees and bark like a dog."


    "But Prince..." Qian Ching was about to ask something but Prince Xia cut him off and said, "Don''t worry I am confident in my own skills."


    He then looked towards Xiao Yang again then asked, "How about it? You even benefit more than us if you win."


    The crowds were all excited after hearing that an A-Class King Tier weapon is on the state, but then again they didn''t believe Xiao Yang was going to win anyway.


    "Did you hear that? Prince Xia is willing to give up his A-Class King Tier weapon!"


    "Yeah, not only is it A-Class but it''s also a King-Tier. It could even be on par with some of the regular Tier S-Class weapons."


    "It sounds good, but then again there is no way that he could win it."


    "That is true, Prince Xia is known as the King of Gambling"


    Many people didn''t believe Xiao Yang would win that game, but they are certain that he will not be able to resist such an offer. An A-Class King Tier Weapon would have been treasured as a family heirloom even among the richest and most influential nobles, let alone a commoner.


    "So how is it? Will, you dare to challenge his highness in a bet?" Qian Ching sneered, he then thought to himself, ''Ha-ha! I''m looking forward to seeing you bark like a dog''


    Xiao Yang smiled then replied with only one word, "No, I have don''t want to waste my time playing around with some kids."


    "That''s right, I knew you can''t resi... Wait what?" Qian Ching wasn''t expecting Xiao Yang to turn down such an opportunity.


    ''No, I can not just let him leave like that'', Qian Ching then shouted, "Xiao Yang! Are you scared is that what are?"


    "That''s right, Xiao Yang if you truly are afraid then hand over the elemental core and I will be benevolent enough to forget about your insults." Prince Xia was angered by Xiao Yang''s attempt to embarrass him by calling him a kid, ''How dare he look down on me! Don''t think of leaving so easily.''


    "Why should I hand it over? The item is rightfully mine." Xiao Yang replied, he then held onto his mum''s hand and started to walk past them.


    They tried blocking him, but Xiao Yang quickly exerted his martial aura to an even higher level than before and everyone who was in the room including those that didn''t fall down before, all fell on to their knees. They even had to use their hands to support themselves.


    ''Why does he have such a dominating aura?'' Prince Xia and the others thought to themselves, they tried to resist it but the attempts proved futile.


    Prince Xia and Qian Ching were unable to get up, all they could do is watched as Xiao Yang slowly makes his way out of the pavilion with his elemental core still in hand.


    "Ahhh! Chen Xiao Yang, just you wait!" Prince Xia was screamed like a banshee, but Xiao Yang had already left the pavilion with his mum by now.


    On there way home, Qian Xian was looking at Xiao Yang worriedly and asked, "Xiao Yang, you shouldn''t have offended him. You never know what he might do to you in the future."


    "Mum nothing will happen. There is no way that he could harm me, even if he tried." Xiao Yang reassured her.


    Qian Xian silently shocked her head and thought, "He really is arrogant and naive like him."


    "Mum this A-Class Elemental Core should be able to get you up to a B-Class Elemental Mage." Xiao Yang handed the elemental core to her.


    Qian Xian felt conflicted, she is happy that her son did all this just for her, but she is still worried that harm will get to him, "Xiao Yang, you really shouldn''t have done that. It was not worth it."


    "Everything is worth it for you, mum." Xiao Yang shyly said. Never in 8000 years had he said anything similar to what he just said.


    In his previous life, Xiao Yang was an orphan and he never had the chance to feel what it was like to have a mother. Now that he has a loving mother in his second life, Xiao Yang felt the urge and responsibility to protect her.


    ...


    Next day Xiao Yang and the others all met up at the assembly ground of Thunderbolt Academy, many people were there but none of them knows each other. Except for the people that came with Xiao Yang, everyone else either got first place in the Youth Tournament or they are the direct Descendents of the royal families.


    If news spread out that five students were enrolled in the academy from the same city this year would ultimately become shocking news and a controversial topic, but so far none of them revealed the truth, none of them wanted to reveal their rank in the Youth Tournament.


    "Xiao Yang, do you think we will be able to reach the 6th-floor of the Martial Tower?" Qian Fei asked.


    "Martial Tower?" Xiao Yang didn''t understand what she was referring.


    Qian Fei looked surprised, then said, "Xiao Yang didn''t you know that Thunderbolt Academy has it''s very own library? The library is a large tower called Martial Tower."


    Qian Fei then explained, "The lowest class techniques are stored on the first floor and the powerful S-Class techniques are stored on the 6th floor, but the higher the floor you are on the more pressure you will experience."


    "That''s right the higher the floor the heavier the pressure you will experience, one must have a strong martial aura to be able to withstand it." Fang Qiong said, seeing that Xiao Yang really didn''t know anything about the Martial Tower.


    ''There''s no point, I already know a lot of martial techniques.'' Xiao Yang was completely uninterested in going to the Martial Tower. A mighty SSS-Class technique wouldn''t even catch his eye, let alone a mere S-Class.


    It would also be a hassle to return the technique back after the time limit expires, Xiao Yang would rather use the time to continue to practice and consume the ten C-Class Elemental Potion that he got from the Youth Tournament.


    Five powerful S-Class mages momentarily arrived at the assembly hall, everyone who was chatting all stop and turned their gazes towards the five powerful mages.

 22 Chapter 21:

    "We are the five elders in charge of the outer-disciples." One of the elders spoke up; he then continued by saying, "Those who can get into the top one-hundred in this year''s final exam will get promoted to inner-disciples and those who didn''t make it will be expelled."


    Even though this rule had been known ever since Thunderbolt Academy was founded, yet it was still shocking for the students to hear it from the elder.


    One-hundred people may sound a lot, but there are about 500 new students this year, the chance of securing one of the one-hundred places would certainly. This is even more so for students who came from a less fortunate family, and they would have to solely rely on themselves to hunt for elemental cores in the Thunderbolt Forest, while the rich could easily just buy them and all they have to do is focus on leveling up.


    Not long after, the elder spoke again, "Every student can choose up to one martial technique from the Martial Tower, what class the technique is will depend on your talent." The elder paused for a moment then went on to say, "You may also freely enter Thunderbolt Forest, but do remember that you are solely responsible for your own safety."


    The students were also given a month to practice their martial technique, then they would have to return back to the academy to attend lectures and training sessions.


    The five elders, after finishing their speech left the assembly ground. The students started to chatter again about the upcoming final exam for outer-disciples, even though the exam will take place in a year, some of the students already began feeling nervous.


    They didn''t want to waste any further time, so most of them already started to head straight to the Martial Tower.


    "Xiao Yang, we should also make our way to the Martial Tower now; otherwise the line will be huge!" Qian Fei suggested.


    ''I should also stop wasting any more time.'' Xiao Yang thought then he quickly replied, "You two should go by yourself. I just remembered that I still have something that needs to be taken care of."


    "Plus, I could go there at any time." Xiao Yang added.


    "Alright then, but remember that its best to practice earlier than later." Qian Fei wasn''t going to keep forcing him if he didn''t want to go.


    "Yes, don''t worry about it. See you later." Xiao Yang waved at them as Qian Fei, and Fang Qiong left towards the same direction as the rest.


    ...


    Xiao Yang returned home, Qian Xian seems to have secluded herself in her room. It would take her along time to finish absorbing the A-Class Elemental Core, but once absorbed, she would have a very high chance of becoming a B-Class Mage.


    Xiao Yang didn''t want to disturb her, so he went straight to his room, he quickly bought out a box containing ten C-Class Wind Elemental Potions.


    ''With this, I will surely be able to reach C-Class by the time I get back to the academy.'' he thought to himself.


    In a month''s time, Xiao Yang would have to return to the academy to attend mandatory lectures and training sessions. Of course, Xiao Yang would rather prefer to use the times to level up, but alas he couldn''t.


    Without wasting any more time, he pulled out the glass lid of the potion and started gobbling up its contents.


    A cooling sensation spread throughout his body from his stomach, but that cooling sensation soon became violent. Xiao Yang felt his organs were being torn apart by a wild storm.


    Unlike the D-Class potions that Xiao Yang had taken in the past, this C-Class potion is much more violent and unstable. How elemental points he can get depends on how much he can endure, if he could endure it all the way to the end and fully absorbed the potion, then he will receive the maximum amount of elemental points.


    Xiao Yang quietly endured the pain, ''This pain is nothing compared to what I suffered in the past!''


    Suddenly, Xiao Yang''s pupils disappeared and his eyes turned plain white, his body was glowing with holy light.


    Xiao Yang didn''t know what happened, he had never experienced such thing before even in his past life. The sudden change of his body stabilized the energy in his body and lessen the pain, with that Xiao Yang''s absorption was dramatically increased.


    "10 D-Class Elemental Points Received [Wind]"


    Two days later, Xiao Yang had finally finished absorbing an entire potion. What would have taken him four days to absorb one potion, had only taken him two days.


    After absorbing the potion, Xiao Yang''s body seemed to have returned back to normal, his pupils reappeared and the holy light disappeared.


    ''Is this another ability of the divine body? If that is true then my absorption rate would be halved'' Xiao Yang excitedly thought to himself.


    He didn''t want to waste any more time thinking over it, so he quick;y drank another potion. Like before, the energy became unstable and his organs felt like it was being torn by an angry storm.


    Shortly after Xiao Yang''s body began to change again as well as the shining of the holy light. The energy in his body began to stabilize and the pain he is experiencing lessen. The absorption rate had also increased just like before.


    ''After this, I should use the remaining time to go hunting in the Thunderbolt Forest.'' Xiao Yang continued to absorb the energy and endure the pain.


    Chen Xiao Yang:


    Age: 16


    Lifespan: 200


    Celestial Divine Body [E-Class Celestial Divine Points: 64/// Duration: 19]


    Elements:


    Wind [D-Class: 16 Points]

 22 Chapter 22:

    "We are the five elders in charge of the outer-disciples." One of the elders spoke up; he then continued by saying, "Those who can get into the top one-hundred in this year''s final exam will get promoted to inner-disciples and those who didn''t make it will be expelled."


    Even though this rule had been known ever since Thunderbolt Academy was founded, yet it was still shocking for the students to hear it from the elder.


    One-hundred people may sound a lot, but there are about 500 new students this year, the chance of securing one of the one-hundred places would certainly. This is even more so for students who came from a less fortunate family, and they would have to solely rely on themselves to hunt for elemental cores in the Thunderbolt Forest, while the rich could easily just buy them and all they have to do is focus on levelling up.


    Not long after, the elder spoke again, "Every student can choose up to one martial technique from the Martial Tower, what class the technique is will depend on your talent." The elder paused for a moment then went on to say, "You may also freely enter Thunderbolt Forest, but do remember that you are solely responsible for your own safety."


    The students were also given a month to practice their martial technique, then they would have to return back to the academy to attend lectures and training sessions.


    The five elders, after finishing their speech left the assembly ground. The students started to chatter again about the upcoming final exam for outer-disciples, even though the exam will take place in a year, some of the students already began feeling nervous.


    They didn''t want to waste any further time, so most of them already started to head straight to the Martial Tower.


    "Xiao Yang, we should also make our way to the Martial Tower now; otherwise the line will be huge!" Qian Fei suggested.


    ''I should also stop wasting any more time.'' Xiao Yang thought then he quickly replied, "You two should go by yourself. I just remembered that I still have something that needs to be taken care of."


    "Plus, I could go there at any time." Xiao Yang added.


    "Alright then, but remember that its best to practice earlier than later." Qian Fei wasn''t going to keep forcing him if he didn''t want to go.


    "Yes, don''t worry about it. See you later." Xiao Yang waved at them as Qian Fei, and Fang Qiong left towards the same direction as the rest.


    ...


    Xiao Yang returned home, Qian Xian seems to have secluded herself in her room. It would take her along time to finish absorbing the A-Class Elemental Core, but once absorbed, she would have a very high chance of becoming a B-Class Mage.


    Xiao Yang didn''t want to disturb her, so he went straight to his room, he quickly bought out a box containing ten C-Class Wind Elemental Potions.


    ''With this, I will surely be able to reach C-Class by the time I get back to the academy.'' he thought to himself.


    In a month''s time, Xiao Yang would have to return to the academy to attend mandatory lectures and training sessions. Of course, Xiao Yang would rather prefer to use the times to level up, but alas he couldn''t.


    Without wasting any more time, he pulled out the glass lid of the potion and started gobbling up its contents.


    A cooling sensation spread throughout his body from his stomach, but that cooling sensation soon became violent. Xiao Yang felt his organs were being torn apart by a wild storm.


    Unlike the D-Class potions that Xiao Yang had taken in the past, this C-Class potion is much more violent and unstable. How much elemental points he can get depends on how much he can endure, if he could endure it all the way to the end and fully absorbed the potion, then he will receive the maximum amount of elemental points.


    Xiao Yang quietly endured the pain, ''This pain is nothing compared to what I suffered in the past!''


    Suddenly, Xiao Yang''s pupils disappeared and his eyes turned plain white, his body was glowing with holy light.


    Xiao Yang didn''t know what happened, he had never experienced such thing before even in his past life. The sudden change of his body stabilized the energy in his body and lessen the pain, with that Xiao Yang''s absorption was dramatically increased.


    "10 D-Class Elemental Points Received [Wind]"


    Two days later, Xiao Yang had finally finished absorbing an entire potion. What would have taken him four days to absorb one potion, had only taken him two days.


    After absorbing the potion, Xiao Yang''s body seemed to have returned back to normal, his pupils reappeared and the holy light disappeared.


    ''Is this another ability of the divine body? If that is true then my absorption rate would be halved'' Xiao Yang excitedly thought to himself.


    He didn''t want to waste any more time thinking over it, so he quick;y drank another potion. Like before, the energy became unstable and his organs felt like it was being torn by an angry storm.


    Shortly after Xiao Yang''s body began to change again as well as the shining of the holy light. The energy in his body began to stabilize and the pain he is experiencing lessen. The absorption rate had also increased just like before.


    ''After this, I should use the remaining time to go hunting in the Thunderbolt Forest.'' Xiao Yang continued to absorb the energy and endure the pain.


    Chen Xiao Yang:


    Age: 16


    Lifespan: 200


    Mana: 200


    Celestial Divine Body [E-Class Celestial Divine Points: 64/// Duration: 19 Seconds]


    Elements:


    Wind [D-Class: 16 Points]

 23 Thunderbolt Forest:

    After 20 days of continuous absorption of E-Class potions, Xiao Yang had finally reached C-Class.


    ''I should hunt some wild beasts'' During his 20 days of seclusion, Xiao Yang had been relying upon nutrition fluids, they were enough to keep him alive and healthy, but it didn''t help with the feeling that his stomach was still empty.


    The next morning, Xiao Yang went to the Thunderbolt Forest, Qian Xian had managed to find a new job as a sales assistant and so she didn''t accompany him to the forest.


    With Xiao Yang''s student badge, he was able to enter the Student-Exclusive section, this section is heavily controlled with array to prevent any high-class elemental beasts from being mixed with low-class elemental beasts.


    The B-Class section is the highest level an outer-disciple is allowed to enter, Qian Xian told him not to go to any section that is higher than D-Class, but Xiao Yang ignored her warning and entered the B-Class section.


    With his martial techniques and thousands of years of experience, he believed that he could easily kill the B-Class beasts. Plus, he still requires more high-quality resources to support his growth, even if there weren''t any matching element beasts, he could easily sell it off and use the money to buy potions.


    "First, I will have to fill up my stomach." Xiao Yang started hopping across the tall trees, in search of a small elemental beast that he could easily roast.


    Not long after he was able to hunt down an elemental boar-like beast. The boar was able to wield the power of lightning but with Xiao Yang''s sneak skills, he was able to easily kill it without it ever even knowing how it died.


    The beast was a B-Class, so he managed to receive a B-Class Lighting Elemental Core.


    Xiao Yang quickly started a fire and cut out the beast into small miniature-sized cubes, the meat was then impaled onto a skewer and carefully seasoned.


    As the meat gets roasted above the fire, a sweet aroma hovered across Xiao Yang''s nose, "Mhhm... It''s just like the old days."


    The bit into the meat and the juice instantly melt into his mouth, he may have been over 8000 years old, but the way he eats looked more like a wild child, pieces of meat and seasonings covered his face.


    "Could it be because I''m reincarnated in someone else body, why do I think it tastes better than the one the old days?" he asked out loud.


    As he continued to devour the meat, Xiao Yang was suddenly alerted by a powerful aura in the vicinity. "Why is there an A-Class beast in this area? Wait... There is also a C-Class mage fighting it."


    Xiao Yang was able to easily decipher whether an aura was coming from a beast or a human. "It seems like the mage is in trouble. I''m full anyway so I should go and check it out."


    Xiao Yang dashed across the trees again and followed where the aura was coming from. Not long after he found a mage struggling to defend himself from the A-Class beast.


    The mage hasn''t been injured so far, but he will soon run out of energy and collapse from fatigue. He had long black hair, snow-white skins, and a white garment, he looks just like your stereotypical scholar.


    The beast was a giant mammoth, but it wields the power of Stone-Body which allows it to transform its whole outer body into stone, apart from the eyes.


    The mage had an A-Class elemental sword, but his martial skills were not strong enough to defeat the beast, all he could do was to keep knocking the beast away by its horns.


    The mage seemed to have detected Xiao Yang''s present and so he shouted, "Friend, please kindly help me defeat this beast!"


    Xiao Yang was still standing on top of a tree trunk, he shouted back, "Then how would you suggest splitting the loot?"


    The mage casually replied, "You can keep all of it."


    "Alright, but do keep your promise." Xiao Yang jumped off the tree and managed to land on the back of the giant mammoth.


    The giant mammoth realizing that Xiao Yang was on his back, it quickly spun around in circles and slamming itself against the trees to try to get rid of him, but none managed to get rid of him.


    Xiao Yang was holding tightly on one of its ears and with his elemental ring in hand, he summoned his C-Class King Tier Wolf Blade.


    Xiao Yang quickly jab the blade into one of its eyes and managed to damage the brain of the giant mammoth, blue bloods started to flow out of it like a river.


    The mammoth tried closing its eyes to trap the sword but Xiao Yan was quick enough to pull it out. The beast tried to run away while closing both of its eyes, but it didn''t last long as its blood quickly drains away and it''s mana dramatically dropped to zero.


    Without any mana left, the beast couldn''t activate his Stone-Body. Xiao Yang took this opportunity and stabbed the sword right on top of its head and managed to penetrate right inside the brain.


    "Roar!"


    The beast cried out with all its energy before it quickly collapses to the ground. ''Boom!''


    "A-Class Stone Mammoth Killed: Elemental Core Available"


    Xiao Yang was delighted, the price of an A-Class Elemental Beast would be at least 5 A-Class Elemental Coins.


    "Are you going to keep your promise?" Xiao Yang looked at the mage.


    "Of course" The mage didn''t hesitate to respond.


    From the mage''s elemental class and gears, Xiao Yang believed that the man is from a very rich and prestigious family. To be able to get to C-Class at such a short amount of time prove how talented he is.

 24 Dong Zhou

    The mage walked forward and he respectively gestured with his hands, "This one is named Dong Zhou. Thank you honorable one for saving my life. How may I address this honorable one?"


    "Chen Xiao Yang. You can just call me Xiao Yang." He respectively gestured back, seeing that he showed so much respect to him, Xiao Yang was going to show it back.


    Xiao Yang quickly cut open the head of the giant mammoth and with a dagger, he started to dig through its brain. He eventually found the A-Class elemental core, he looked at Dong Zhou and said, "It''s best to leave the area since an A-Class elemental beast appeared, it would mean that an A-Class elemental portal would have broken out without the elders knowing."


    Dong Zhou nodded in agreement, if an A-Class portal had really been broken out in this section then that would mean that there will be more A-Class beasts. It would be unwise to stay in the area, he was already struggling to fend off one beast, let alone a few more of them. "I agree, but brother Chen may I ask what you will be planning to do with this body?"


    Many alchemists and blacksmiths would pay a high price for A-Class elemental materials, so it would be a great shame if they were to leave the body. However, the giant mammoth is about the size of a small house, even with Xiao Yang and Dong Zhou''s combined strength, they would still be unable to take it out of the forest.


    Xiao Yang hesitantly replied, "It''s too heavy for me to carry it out, so I will have to just abandon it here."


    Dong Zhou thought about it, then proposed, "How about this brother Chen, we should report it to the elders that a possible A-Class portal have been broken out, and we could ask them to kindly help us transporting the body out."


    "Alright, then we will do as you say." It would be great if the elders could lend a hand to help transport the body, but most importantly they would be able to get ensure the safety of the B-Class section, otherwise, people''s lives would be at risk.


    Xiao Yang followed Dong Zhou to report the incident to the elders, during the journey Xiao Yang was able to learn a little bit about Dong Zhou, he comes from a rich family of one of the capitals, ever since he awaken his elemental power of ice, Dong Zhou had been practicing martial arts and focused on leveling up this whole time.


    Dong Zhou normally stays indoor to practice, but today he wanted to go out and train in the Thunderbolt Forest, but unexpectedly he encountered an A-Class elemental beast. He is also new to the academy just like Xiao Yang, so defeated an A-Class beast just after reaching C-Class was too much of a stretch for him, if it wasn''t for Xiao Yang he would have most likely ended up dead by now.


    "Brother Chen, what about you?" Dong Zhou asked, wanting to learn the background of Xiao Yang.


    "Me? I''m just an illegitimate son of the Qian family from DongHe City." Xiao Yang casually replied.


    Dong Zhou was dumbfounded, he thought that Xiao Yang would come from a rich and prestigious family since Xiao Yang is already a C-Class elemental mage, he never expected that Xiao Yang would be an illegitimate son from a family of a small city. The power that Xiao Yang had previously shown was much better than Dong Zhou.


    "I''m sorry..."


    "Its nothing, I have already cut ties with the Qian family after leaving DongHe City." Xiao Yang replied without any change of emotion.


    They both arrived back at Thunderbolt Academy and managed to find one of the five elders that is in charge of out-disciples.


    "An A-Class portal?" The elder asked in surprise then continued by saying, "But if it really was an A-Class portal then the array should have detected it."


    "We haven''t mistaken it elder, me and brother Chen had really encountered an A-Class elemental beast."


    "That''s right elder, I have also taken out the elemental core." Xiao Yang took out the elemental core.


    The elder looked at the elemental core in shock, it was indeed an A-Class elemental core, but just how did the two manage to kill it? "Cough... Alright, I shall go and scan the area."


    The elder quickly left, Xiao Yang and Dong Zhou didn''t get the chance to ask about the giant mammoth''s body.


    "Umm... Brother Chen, maybe we could ask him later." Dong Zhou said with a wry smile.


    "It''s fine, the most important part was to ensure that the B-Class section is safe from A-Class beasts." Still without any change of emotion.


    Dong Zhou nodded in agreement then asked, "Brother Chen, how about we go hunting together in the Thunderbolt Forest again next time?"


    Xiao Yang stared at Dong Zhou who looked sincere, Xiao Yang preferred hunting alone but since Dong Zhou was sincerely asking then he was going to allow it this time. "Alright, How about next week?"


    Dong Zhou looked excited and he quickly replied, "That''s a promise then, Brother Chen."


    "It''s already late, I shall take my leave then." Xiao Yang said,


    "Safe Journey, Brother Chen." Dong Zhou replied with a respectful gesture.


    Dong Zhou stayed there, staring behind Xiao Yang before he disappeared into the horizon. Dong Zhou said to himself, "Interesting..."

 25 Martial Ar

    Ever since that incident, Thunderbolt Forest''s security had been tightened up by the elders. According to the elder, the detecting array responsible for alerting them when a higher class portal appears in the lower section had failed, but luckily there were no casualties.


    The elders decided to allow Xiao Yang and Dong Zhou to choose another martial technique from the Martial Tower as a reward, but the reward was pretty much useless to Xiao Yang.


    It was fortunate enough that he still retained the A-Class Thunder Elemental Core and he managed to sell it to the Golden Sky Pavilion for 8 A-Class Elemental Coins. In total, he has 8 A-Class Elemental Coins and 9 C-Class elemental Coins, or 80009 C-Class elemental coins. Xiao Yang planned to save them up for now, since he didn''t have anything thing particular he wanted to buy yet.


    The one-month break had been over and so Xiao Yang would have to return to the academy and attend lectures. The lectures talk about the weakness of varies types of beasts and the danger of different types of portals that they might need to wary about.


    Everything they taught about in the lectures is already a well-known fact for Xiao Yang long ago and he quickly found it boring, but to the majority of the students, it was something new to them and something that they must pay extra attention to as it might just one day decide their life and death.


    When it came to training, however, Xiao Yang was able to freely practise his martial arts and ease his boredom a little bit.


    "Brother Chen, what sort of martial art are you practising?" Qian Fei asked after watching Xiao Yang practise by himself for a while.


    "Wind Breath" Xiao Yang replied, then continued by explaining, "It''s allowed me to condense my wind elemental power onto my sword and release a sword breath."


    "Brother Chen''s martial art must be a B-Class right? Me and Qiong Fang only got ourselves a C-Class." Qian Fei asked.


    Wind Breath was an S-Class technique, but with Xiao Yang''s current fitness, he can only display 25% of its full power. However, even if it''s only 25% of its full power, the technique is still enough for Xiao Yang to rival with most of the A-Class martial arts.


    "Aiyowei, did someone say they got themselves a B-Class technique?" It was Qian Ching, he was accompanied by Qian Lee and Prince Xia.


    "But unfortunately your B-Class martial art is still inferior to Prince Xia''s A-Class martial art." Qian Ching smirked.


    Prince Xia also looked to be extremely excited, he been wanting to return the embarrassment back to Xiao Yang ever since that incident at the Golden Sky Pavilion. In truth, Prince Xia had only gained himself a B-Class martial art from the Martial Art, but he personally bought a copy of the A-Class martial art from the Dong Continent.


    The onlookers that heard the conversation, were all filled with jealousy and admiration. Majority of them had only gotten themselves a D-Class, while only a handful of people managed to get a B-Class.


    "A-Class! No wonder Prince Xia is known as a genius of martial art!"


    "Even if their two martial art is one class different, the power gap between them is like a mountain."


    "This is the difference between a genius and an amateur"


    The crowds continued to mock Xiao Yang and praise Prince Xia, even though most of their martial art is inferior to the two, they only saw them two when talking and never thought about their own.


    "Xiao Yang we should just ignore them." Qian Fei quickly suggested.


    "Mhm." Xiao Yang nodded.


    Xiao Yang quickly got back to his training and just ignored the three troublemakers.


    "Xiao Yang I suggest you not to show off your martial art next time, it''s embarrassing." Qian Ching said.


    "That''s right, also don''t ever even mention that you are the illegitimate son of our Qian family." Qian Lee shouted.


    The three continued to try all they can in an attempt to provoke him to a fight, but they all proved useless in the end, it was as if Xiao Yang didn''t hear them.


    ...


    "That Damn brat! How dare he ignore me!" Prince Xia spoke in anger.


    Qian Ching thought for a moment then said, "Your highness, I have a plan."


    Qian Ching whispered into his ear, and an evil smile quickly appeared on Prince Xia''s plan.


    "Alright, we will proceed with your plan." Prince Xia tossed him a small pocket size bag of elemental coins.


    "Thank you, your highness. I will not disappoint you."


    Qian Ching quickly departed away, with a vicious smile he spoke to himself, "Xiao Yang, this time you will die for sure."


    -----


    Chen Xiao Yang:


    Age: 16


    Lifespan: 300


    Mana: 300


    Celestial Divine Body [E-Class Celestial Divine Points: 64/// Duration: 19 Seconds]


    Elements:


    Wind [C-Class: 3 Points]

 26 Cleaning Away Ants

    Last time Xiao Yang promised Dong Zhou to go hunting in the Thunderbolt Forest again, but the entire forest was closed for two weeks for maintenance. So they decided to postpone it to today.


    Xiao Yang could tell that Dong Zhou''s martial arts had rapidly improved over the past few weeks, most of the B-Class beasts were no match to him and was easily slaughtered within three moves.


    "Your martial arts had improved by a lot." Xiao Yang complimented him.


    Dong Zhou replied with a wry smile, "You are too kind, how can my martial art be compared to Brother Chen''s."


    "Oh, by the way, Brother Chen. I heard that you have offended Prince Xia, ain''t you afraid that he is going to retaliate?" Dong Zhou asked with a level of seriousness.


    "What''s there to worry about?" Xiao Yang asked with a cold face.


    "I know that fighting is prohibited in Thunderbolt City, but he could still hire people to silently assassinate, also..."


    Before Dong Zhou could finish what he was going to say, Xiao Yang said with a smile, "They are already here."


    "Huh... Who?" Dong Zhou asked looking around, confused.


    "Just some ants who doesn''t know their limit." Xiao Yang coldly replied.


    Not long after, Dong Zhou''s eyes widen as he was now able to detect five-strong life force heading towards them at an astonishing pace.


    The five-figures came to a stop and stood high above the tree branches. They were all B-Class mages except one of them is still a D-Class mage, that D-Class mage was Qian Lee himself.


    "Xiao Yang, if you kowtow three times and bark like a dog, then we will let you live. Otherwise don''t blame me for not giving you a chance." Qian Lee shouted, his eyes were wide open with a vicious smile on his face.


    Dong Zhou bit his bottom lip and thought to himself, "This is bad, there are four powerful inner-disciple here, even with Xiao Yang''s skill he wouldn''t stand a chance against them."


    "Dong Zhou, have you ever seem a dead human-body before?" Xiao Yang asked without any emotion.


    Dong Zhou was confused by that question, "Huh...? Um... Yes"


    Xiao Yang smiled towards the people on the tree and said, "Good, cause you are going to see a lot!"


    They don''t understand why but after hearing Xiao Yang''s word, a sudden shiver went down their spine.


    Qian Lee gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "Xiao Yang! Stop acting tough, do you really think you are that powerful?"


    Qian Lee then commanded the four mages, "Go kill that bastard and don''t leave any witness!"


    "Ha-ha-ha! Do you think some mere ants could hurt me?" Xiao Yang smirked as he summoned his C-Class King Tier Wolf Blade.


    In a blink of an eye, Xiao Yang appeared right behind one of the B-Class mages and gently slashed the sword again his throat, the mage''s head flew off its shoulder and blooded shot up to the sky like a fountain. Xiao Yang coldly exclaimed, "Be it human or beast, those who go against me only have one outcome..."


    "DEATH!"


    The remaining mages looked as if their eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. They thought that this was going to be an easy and high paying job, never have they expected that their target was a monster that could even kill a B-Class mage in a single move.


    None of them was able to track his movement, only when he appeared will they then know where he is, however, by that time it was already too late.


    Dong Zhou seemed also look to be in an absolute shock, he swallowed his saliva and thought to himself, "Was he this powerful last time...? But how is this possible, he is also a C-Class mage yet the differences between him and me is vast."


    "Ahhh!" One by one the B-Class mages all got their head separated from their shoulder, try as they might, they could not move a single muscle, it was as if they were petrified and they could only scream before their death.


    Qian Lee was so shocked by the scene that he even lost his balance and fell off the tree. All the mages that came with him had been brutally slaughtered in front of him and what''s more, he couldn''t muster a speck of energy to try to run away.


    "No! Stay away from me you monster!" Qian Lee screamed as Xiao Yang slowly walked towards him with his sword dripping down boiling blood onto the ground.


    Xiao Yang coldly stared at him and laughed out, "Ha-ha! Monster? I think you have underestimated me."


    "No please, I beg you don''t kill me! Prince Xia and my brother will not let you go like this!" Qian Lee pleaded in every way possible and continues to tremble with his back against the wall.


    Xiao Yang held the sword against Qian Lee''s neck and the sword slightly dug into it as blood started to slowly flow out. "Qian Lee, you tried to poison me again and again. Have you ever thought that one-day karma will bite back at you?"


    "No...no please don''t kill me. I promise to never provoke you again! Please, Xiao Yang, we are family ain''t we?" Qian Lee cried out.


    Xiao Yang chuckled and said, "Family? That''s funny, I thought the elders already kicked me out?"


    "No Xiao Yang, if you let me live, I can ask the elders to add you back to the fam..." Before Qian Lee could finish, Xiao Yang slid the sword deeper into his neck and cut open its artery.


    "Cu..uh.huu." Blood rapidly spray out of his neck, he tried to hold onto it but soon he lost the energy too and eventually his vision of the world. It was a painful sight to watch, one might faint if they don''t have a strong mental state.


    Xiao Yang unsummoned his sword and gazed at Dong Zhou, the gaze gave him a shiver down his spine.


    "Those who follow me by my side will naturally be treated well, but those who betrayed me. I don''t think I have to explain that." Xiao Yang spoke as he slowly leaves the forest.


    Dong Zhou knew what those words meant, Xiao Yang wanted him to keep quiet and not tell anyone about what had taken place today. Dong Zhou quickly replied, "Brother Chen, I will never betray you."


    After Xiao Yang left, Dong Zhou thought to himself, "I''m glad I am not your enemy."


    There are many things that can worry Dong Zhou, but there are few that can threaten him. "It''s best to keep a friendly relationship with him, he would benefit me a lot when that time finally comes."

 27 Imprisoned

    The bodies of the five-mages were discovered by other disciples that went hunting in the forest, the scene was a total massacre and some even fell sick from seeing it. It was quickly reported to the elders and an extensive investigation was launched to search for the murderer.


    The next day in Thunderbolt Academy, Qian Ching intruded into Xiao Yang''s classroom during a lecture still taking place.


    "Chen Xiao Yang! Payback my brother!" Qian Ching roared as he rushed toward Xiao Yang with a C-Class elemental sword drawn.


    "Stop! How dare you break into my classroom and attack my student?!" The teacher shouted as she wields her Vine Elemental power.


    Vines suddenly grew beneath Qian Ching and quickly restraining him, the teacher''s elemental power was A-Class so Qian Ching had no chance of breaking it or escaping.


    "Teacher Lan! Chen Xiao Yang killed my brother Qian Lee, he must die!" Qian Ching exclaimed.


    "Shut up! My classroom is not the courthouse if you have a problem then report it to the Disciplinary Hall." Teacher Lan glared at them.


    Teacher Lan took out her communication stone and requested them to send someone from the Disciplinary Hall over here to deal with the situation. Her eyes looked as if she was going to kill somebody.


    Not long after the Disciplinary Hall sent one of its elders to the scene, the elder took the two outside, leaving the students and Teacher Lan in the classroom. The students wanted to gossip but with Teacher Lan there, no dare to muster a single word.


    The elder was a middle-aged man who wore a rugged-looking shirt that exposed his muscles on his arms. With his arms crossed, he stared at the two with an intimidating face.


    "Say, why did you break into the classroom?" The elder asked in a deep voice.


    Qian Ching who was still infuriated pointed at Xiao Yang and shouted, "He killed my little brother."


    The elder then asked, "What is your proof?"


    "He is the illegitimate son of our Qian Family and he had always had the thought of killing the entire family, so it must have been him." Qian Ching then continued by saying, "I heard from my little brother that Xiao Yang has an S-Class mage backing him. He must have asked him to murder my brother!"


    "An S-Class?" The elder asked.


    "That''s right, you could ask the two mages that went to DongHe City during the Youth Tournament to represent Thunderbolt Academy." Qian Ching replied he then thought to himself, "The Disciplinary Hall will not let go any lead relating to the murder case."


    "Elder, as long as we capture Xiao Yang, that S-Class will eventually show up to help him." Qian Ching smirked.


    "Ha-ha!" Xiao Yang suddenly burst out laughing.


    "Xiao Yang what are you laughing at? Are you trying to disrespect the elder?!" Qian Ching asked pointing his finger at him.


    "Qian Ching, do you really think that your words can easily fool the elder?" Xiao Yang waved his hand.


    Qian Ching shouted, "What do you mean?!"


    Xiao Yang grinned and replied, "First of all, why in the world would an S-Class be helping me to dirty his hand? and secondly, do you this think an S-Class mage is able to get past the security of Thunderbolt Academy?"


    The arrays that are set up at the Thunderbolt Forest are SS-Class arrays, even an SS-Class mage would struggle to break through it so let alone an S-Class mage. The only way to get past the array is with an authentication badge, such as an outer-disciple student badge, the badge can only be used by the person itself and once used the name of the mage is automatically recorded down.


    What''s more, the section that Qian Lee''s group went in was the Student-Exclusive Zone, outsiders are prohibited to enter so the only possible S-Class mages are the elders of the academy itself.


    "Mhm... You are not wrong, an S-Class mage would never be able to break through the array." The elder spoke as he strode his moustache.


    "We have no record of any elders go into that section of the forest during that time, nor was there any other mages that are B-Class or above." The elder explained.


    Xiao Yang looked at Qian Ching and asked, "Qian Ching, you can''t possibly think that I have the ability to kill four B-Class mages and a D-Class mage at the same time right?"


    At the time of the discovery, rumours had already spread throughout the entire Thunderbolt City so it wasn''t weird for Xiao Yang to know the victims'' classes.


    "Tch, who knows what kind of trap you tricked them into."


    "Alright, since there is no solid evidence that suggests Xiao Yang be related to the murder case, I hereby declare this case to be clos..." Before the elder got to finish his declaration, Xiao Yang suddenly shouted, "Wait!"


    "Chen Xiao Yang do you have something that you wanted to say?" The elder continued to glare at him. If it was others then they would have inevitably been trembling by now, however, the person was none other than the reincarnated Grandmaster Chen.


    "Yes, I do actually."


    "Then please speak"


    Xiao Yang took a deep breath then shouted, "I, Chen Xiao Yang would like to accuse Qian Ching of causing unnecessary disruption to the class, and attempted assault of a junior student."


    "Mhm, indeed I almost forgot about that." The elder then turned his gaze toward Qian Ching and asked, "Qian Ching how do you plead?"


    Qian Ching face turned pale and he started to slightly tremble, "What...? No elder, I was trying to gain justice for my little brother."


    The elder angrily stated, "Qian Ching, I hereby sentence you to three-months in Thundermare Prison."


    "What? No, you should be sentencing him, he is the culprit behind those murderers." Qian Ching shouted as he was being dragged away.


    ''Are the two genius of the Qian family really this dumb?'' Xiao Yang thought as he shocked his head.

 28 Engagemen

    A month had passed but the serial killer behind the massacre case still hasn''t been found and the Disciplinary Hall had put up a reward for any information that might lead to the arrest of the killer. The reward was very tempting too, many flocked to the forest in search of any possible clues, but apart from the victim''s blood, the scene was so clean that it was as if it was done by a professional.


    Meanwhile, the Qian family had already received news about the death of Qian Lee and the imprisonment of Qian Ching.


    "No... no how can this be possible?" Xian Lee collapsed onto the ground after she finished reading the letter.


    "Which big shot could have he possibly offended?" Wang Yin asked he didn''t think that his two sons would be dumb enough to go off offending the descendant of some prestigious family.


    "I just hope that whoever they offended wouldn''t come and bite the Qian family." One of the elders exclaimed.


    The letter was sent by the officials of Thunderbolt Academy, so it didn''t contain the incidents between Xiao Yang and Qian Ching. The Qian family all went into a state of panic, believing that trouble might soon bestow upon their family.


    "Qian Fan, you should send a letter to your Qian Fei and ask her what exactly happened to her two brothers." The elder asked.


    "Alright." Even though he didn''t like his two nephews, but this matter involves the whole of the Qian family, as well as the safety Qian Fei.


    "Patriarch Zhang please you can not go in like this, I must inform the elders first." One of the servants that were guarding the gate suddenly shouted.


    Patriarch Zhang stormed into the meeting hall and exclaimed, "I have already received a letter today from my daughter, informing me that Qian Lee had been murdered!"


    "Patriarch Zhang please calm down first. Here have some tea." One of the elders tried to consult him.


    Patriarch Zhang held out one of his hand and with a serious voice said, "No need, I have come here to inform you that the engagement between my daughter, Yuxi and Qian Lee is over."


    "Patriarch even though Qian Lee had past away, he still has his elder brother Qian Ching, who had been in the Thunderbolt Academy for two years. He is a C-Class mage now." Before Wang Yin could finish, Patriarch Zhang suddenly interrupted him, "Tch, who wants some poor waste who is still locked in Thundermare Prison."


    Patriarch then straightens his back and proudly proclaimed, "My daughter had already informed me that she is already engaged in a relationship with his highness the Second Prince of Dong-Min Continent, Prince Xia."


    The Qian family''s face turned pale and Wang Yin quickly spoke, "But the engagement between Yuxi and Qian Lee was proposed by the two families'' patriarch. Why don''t we wait for our patriarch to return from his trip?"


    "Qian Lee is dead and the person engaged with Yuxi is his highness himself, Prince Xia. What can your patriarch possibly do?" Patriarch Zhang exclaimed before he turned and started to leave.


    Just before he was about to leave the meeting hall, Xian Lee suddenly shouted, "I know it now, It was all because of that sl*t Zhang Yuxi''s fault. If not how can Qian Lee be murdered and Qian Ching be imprisoned?"


    "Tch, watch your mouth, Madam Lee. This is Prince Xia''s woman that you are talking about, one can be easily accused of treason." Patriarch Zhang grinned, he had been longing for the seat as a City Lord of DongHe City, but now, don''t say DongHe City, all neighbouring city can be easily taken under his control.


    "And also don''t frame the innocent, my Yuxi has nothing to do with this. She told me that Xiao Yang was behind the murder of Qian Lee and the imprisonment of Qian Ching." Patriarch Zhang then left the manor.


    The Qian families face all turned grim, Xian Lee murmured to herself, "Xiao Yang...? Ahhhhhh!"


    ...


    "This is Dong Zhou... Dong Zhou this is Fang Qiong and Qian Fei." Xiao Yang introduced them to each other.


    Dong Zhou with a hand-fan on his hand, clutched together in a respecting gesture and slightly bowed down, "It''s my honour to be able to meet Brother Chen''s good friends."


    "Uh? Oh, it''s our honour to meet you too. Dong..." Qian Fei blushed, unable to figure how to address him properly.


    "If you don''t mind you could call me Brother Zhou."


    "Oh... Alright, Brother Zhou." Qian Fei''s face turned slightly pink.


    "Since today is the weekend and if everyone doesn''t have anything to do today, how about I invite everyone for some Dim Sum?" Dong Zhou proposed.


    Xiao Yang looked at each other then nodded, "Alright."


    Not long after the four of them went into an expensive dim sum restaurant. They managed to get the second-floor seat that overlooked the first floor.


    They ordered a few selections and started chatting with each other.


    "Brother Zhou, can I ask how did the two of you meet each other?" Qian Fei shyly asked.


    "It was that time when I encountered an A-Class beast in the Thunderbolt Forest, it was thanks to Brother Chen that I am still alive today." Dong Zhou held up his cup to toast Xiao Yang.


    -Bang!


    On the first floor, seven powerful mages dressed in military armor, one of them kicked an entire table upside down, knocking all of the foods onto the floor.


    "Everyone line up now!" One of the mages shouted who seem to be their commander. He was an S-Class mage and all six of his subordinates were all A-Class.

 29 The Tai Empire.

    The people downstairs had no choice but to comply and lined up, then the commander ordered his subordinate to inspect all of their faces with a drawing of a young man in hand.


    "Who are those people?" Qian Fei whispered.


    Dong Zhou quickly replied, "They are soldiers from the Tai Empire, I''m surprise that they were granted access to Thunderbolt City."


    "The Tai Empire?" Xiao Yang asked, never had he ever heard of the Tai Empire in his past life.


    Dong Zhou nodded then replied, "The Tai Empire is a small empire founded four-hundred years ago, but recently the emperor had passed away causing a scandal among their royal family for the crown." He paused then went on to explain, "A man called, Tai Ping managed to kill his whole family and proclaimed himself to be emperor the new emperor, unfortunately for him, his niece Prince San managed to somehow survive and escaped."


    "If it is a small empire then how come they managed to gain access to Thunderbolt City." Fang Qiong asked.


    "Emperor Ping is supported by the Song-Min Continent, one of the benefactors of Thunderbolt Academy, it would be hard to gain approval but not impossible." Dong Zhou explained.


    After they finished inspecting the people downstairs, one of the subordinates went up to the commander and said, "Commander! There is no sign of the suspect so far."


    "All of you leave this place now!" The commander yelled and quickly the people from downstairs all started to leave the restaurant.


    The commander looked up and shouted, "Everyone from the second floor, get your ass down here immediately!"


    Everyone started to make their way downstair but Xiao Yang quickly stopped his group, "Stay, there is no need for us to go down."


    "Xiao Yang what are you doing? The guy is an S-Class." Qian Fei whispered with a panicking tone.


    "In my eyes, he is just an ant. Plus this is Thunderbolt City, fighting is strictly prohibited. If he dares to lay a hand on us then he must have a death wish." Xiao Yang emotionlessly explained.


    After the people all got the inspected, the subordinate once again reported it back to their commander.


    "Damn it, let''s go to another place. I don''t believe that traitor could hide forever." The commander shouted before he started to leave the restaurant.


    One of the subordinates suddenly shouted, "Commander! There are still people upstairs."


    The commander looked up and squinted his eyes, "Were they deaf or something? Why ain''t they down here?"


    "How dare you brats disobey my orders, get all of your ass down here now!" The commander yelled.


    Xiao Yang placed the teacup down onto the table, looking down at them and shouted, "Why the hell is there a dog barking downstairs?"


    Everyone in the restaurant including Fang Qiong and the others was all shocked. The person Xiao Yang was talking to was obviously an S-Class.


    The face of the commander turned red, he thought to himself, ''Who is this brat? How dare he called me a dog?''


    "Brat, who are you to dare talk to me like this?" The commander yelled.


    Xiao Yang coldly replied, "You don''t deserve to know."


    The commander gritted his teeth but held back his anger, he couldn''t afford to offend someone without knowing their real identity. For what they know, the person could be a prince of a powerful nation.


    "I am one of the commanders of the Tai Empire''s army, we are here under the order of Emperor to capture the traitorous Prince San after receiving a report of someone spotting him here." The commander softens his tone a little. He then continued to say, "Could you all please come down here and let us have a proper check?"


    "No, you can come up here yourself." Xiao Yang was still annoyed that his meal was being rudely interrupted by them, he wasn''t going to simply let the man boss him around like that.


    The commander clenched his fists, but quickly gave up the idea of beating him up without knowing the Xiao Yang''s background. "Let''s go up."


    The commander with his subordinates, made their way up the stairs as Xiao Yang continued to calmly drink his teas. The others were still frozen in shock, some were even sweating a little.


    "May I please know your names?" The commander quickly asked.


    "Qian..." As Qian Fei was about to introduce themselves, Xiao Yang quickly interrupted her, "As I said, you don''t deserve to know our name!"


    The commander once again held back his anger, he was about to make his way out after seeing the faces of everyone, but one of the subordinates pointed the floor next to Xiao Yang and shouted, "Commander Look! That pendant."


    Another subordinate quickly went to pick the pendant up and gave it to the commander, the pendant was a miniature seal made out of green jade with four words engraved on it.


    The commander held the pendant up and exclaimed, "This is the traitorous Prince San''s pendant! Say! What is your relation with him?"


    Everyone was shocked by the pendant including Xiao Yang. When he first saw the pendant, he thought that it was just an item lost by someone so he didn''t pay attention to it and just left it there, hoping that the person who lost it would come back. Never had he thought that the pendant belonged to the infamous Prince San.


    "I do not know who Prince San is, that pendant was already there when I got here." Xiao Yang calmly replied.


    "Brat! I suggest you tell us the truth or else all of you will be arrested for being accomplices of that traitor." The commander held his anger back till now since he discovered key evidence of Prince San being here then he must get to the bottom of this in order to capture him.


    Xiao Yang coldly replied, "I told you, I do not know who you are talking about. That pendant was already here, if you are looking for the owner then I suggest you to quickly search elsewhere."


    The commander was greatly infuriated by Xiao Yang attitude, he pulled out his sword to threaten him, "Don''t make this difficult for us, I''ll give you another chance to tell us the truth!"


    "You dare pull your sword against me." Xiao Yang slammed his teacup onto the table and glared at him with his cold, deadly eyes. The commander was able to sense a heavy killing intent that caused a shiver down his spine and all of his hair on his body to stood at ends.

 30 Murder!

    The six subordinates were dumbstruck by their commander''s sudden reaction, they knew full well that their commander was going to aim the sword at that young man''s neck, but for some reason, he stopped mid-way. It was as if he was afraid of something.


    Qian Fei seeing the commander pulling the sword out screamed and tightly embraced herself to Fang Qiong, but now seeing that commander stopped without saying another word, she was left confused. So was the others, none of them could detect the killing intent, except the commander himself.


    Droplets of sweat started to form on the commander''s forehead and he thought to himself, "How can a child have such a scary killing intent? It''s much scarier than any beasts I had ever met!"


    "So what if his killing intent is strong, his power is only at C-Class!" The commander thought to himself and quickly closed the distance between the two.


    The sword was drawn just a centimetre away from Xiao Yang''s neck, but he remained calm and undisturbed as if he didn''t care at all.


    The commander slowly asked, "Where is that traitor Prince San?"


    "How should I know?" Xiao Yang coldly replied he continued to glare at the commander, making him uncomfortable.


    The commander gritted his teeth but held back the desire to kill him, he coldly asked again, "One last chance or your head will fall off."


    Xiao Yang continued to glare at him and coldly replied back, "I suggest you take your sword away otherwise I won''t be responsible for what will happen next."


    "Ha-ha, what possibly can a merely C-Class do to me?" The commander laughed out, he refused to believe that Xiao Yang was able to harm him.


    "You asked for it." As soon as Xiao Yang said that, the commander immediately retreated with his sword. Although he didn''t believe Xiao Yang could do anything to him, seeing how fearless and confident the young man was, he was unable to shake off the feeling that something was not quite right.


    Next second, Xiao Yang immediately stood up and shouted, "Someone quickly come, the commander of the Tai Empire is murdering people!"


    The commander was now infuriated after being tricked by Xiao Yang, his desire to chop his head off was heavier than ever. He immediately held his sword up and slashed it across Xiao Yang''s back while shouting, "Brat, how dare you humiliate me!"


    The sword came slashing down at an incredible speed, the others all looked at it in fear, if Xiao Yang was to be hit by it then he would inevitably get decapitated and killed. They closed their eyes unable to stand seeing their friend dying in front of their eyes.


    -Ping!


    Just before the sword was about to land on the bank of Xiao Yang, a middle-man in a rugged-looking shirt grabbed hold of the sword with one of his hand that was wearing sturdy-steel gloves.


    The man''s eyes were burning with fire, he intimidatingly said, "Commander Li, who gave you the brazen to attack one of our student in Thunderbolt City?"


    Xiao Yang turned around and immediately recognised the man to be the same elder from the Disciplinary Hall. Xiao Yang knew from the beginning that the high elders wouldn''t have just let some outsiders into the city without having to assign someone to watch over them and he knew that they wouldn''t just stand there when one of their people is about to get murdered under their watch.


    The elder was also an S-Class mage, wearing that high-class gloves in his hand, he was able to stop the sword and lock it into place to prevent the commander from taking it out.


    Commander Li was even more furious now, not only did the young man just humiliated him but also schemed him into trouble with the elders.


    "This brat over here had that traitorous Prince San''s pendant, we suspect that he is an accomplice of his." Commander Li quickly replied.


    The elder turned to look at Xiao Yang, while still holding the sword in place. He quickly recognised him from the last incident and he said, "It''s you again, why have you gotten into trouble again?"


    "Elder, it''s not my fault you must believe me. That pendant was already here when I got here, I have no connection to its owner." Xiao Yang replied innocently.


    "I''ll deal with you later!" The elder turned his gaze back to Commander Li then threateningly said, "Commander Li, have you finished searching around yet? If you have finished, then I suggests you to immediately leave the city."


    Commander Li unsummoned his sword then said to his subordinate, "Let''s go!"


    No matter how much he desires to kill Xiao Yang, he couldn''t. This wasn''t the Tai Empire''s territory nor are they in friendly term with each other, if he killed the student then the other major continent would gain an excuse to a go to war with the Tai Empire.


    After the Commander left with his subordinates, the elder turned back to Xiao Yang and glared at him angrily. Xiao Yang quickly held his hands up and said, "Elder, I telling you the truth, I am innocent!"


    "Don''t let me catch you next time." The elder thought about punishing him, but after Xiao Yang shouted that the commander was going to murder someone, many people had already gathered around the restaurant, so to not make a further scene the elder quickly gave up the idea.


    Seeing the elder leave, Xiao Yang quickly bowed down and said, "Have a safe journey, elder."


    After that, he immediately sat back down and poured himself some tea. He continued to eat his food as if nothing had just happened, the others all looked at him in a daze.


    Xiao Yang noticed that they weren''t eating so he asked, "The food is so good, why don''t you guys try some?"


    Dong Zhou cleared his throat and quietly asked, "Um... Qian Fei, does Brother Chen have short term memory problem?"


    "Um...no, not that I''m aware of." She replied with a wry smile.


    "Guys you know I can hear you right? I am perfectly healthy whether that is physically or mentally, alright? Now quickly eat up before the food gets cold." Xiao Yang said with an annoyed tone.


    They started eating, but still felt awkward and shocked by what just happened, however, as times go by they started chatting and slowly forgot about the incident.


    Xiao Yang looked at Fang Qiong and Qian Fei, he noticed that they are still at D-Class. Both of their elements are quite rare when it came to resources, this is even more so for Qian Fei''s healing ability, such element are very hard to find resources to cultivate. There may be abundance of resources to get them to D-Class but any higher than that, they will start to struggle.


    Throughout all of the continents, there are no more than eight S-Class Healers, no one had ever gone beyond S-Class except Grandmaster Chen who even he took thousands of years to cultivate that element.


    "Hey, why don''t we go hunting in the Thunderbolt Forest tomorrow? You two need some resources to start cultivating." Xiao Yang suggested.


    Qian Fei excitedly replied, "Brother Chen are you really going to help us?!"


    Xiao Yang nodded in response, "The resources for both of your elements are rare, it''s best if we work together to get you two up to a higher class, otherwise you two probably wouldn''t even stand a chance at the final year exam."


    "Alright!" Qian Fei yelled.


    Fang Qiong smiled and nodded to agree with the plan.


    "I will be very happy to help too." Dong Zhou chuckled.


    ...


    Commander Li and his subordinates were escorted out of the city, they were all infuriated by the incident.


    "That damn brat! He better not leave the city or else I will dice him and feed him to dogs." Commander Li cursed.


    One of the subordinate nervously approached the commander and asked, "Um... Captain what should we do now?"


    "Since we discovered the pendant then that boy must be in the city. I will report back to the emperor and have him send some guards to monitor the entrance for that boy and his accomplices" The commander replied.

 31 Hunting

    Just like they promised, the group met up at the C-Class Student-Only section of the Thunderbolt Forest. The weather was like usual, calm from wind and clear from rain.


    "The weather is nice like always." Qian Fei said, looking up into the vivid blue sky.


    Perhaps it was the doing of the high elders but throughout their couple of months of living in Thunderbolt City, they had never seen a drop of rain being poured from the sky.


    "I have already asked a few students, they told me a place where we can have a high chance of encountering beasts that has Vine or Healing element." Dong Zhou then pointed at the half-folded map of the forest.


    "Mhm, we will follow you then." Xiao Yang nodded. Dong Zhou was more organised and smarter than he initially thought, he knew that Dong Zhou had been trying to get himself onto his good book but Xiao Yang had kept his guard up just in case he turned out to be like that traitorous Tan Ping.


    They followed Dong Zhou to a sacred looking area in the forest, there were many different types of beasts roaming around and some of which had the same elements as Fang Qiong and Qian Fei.


    Together in a team effort, they quickly hunted down the beasts that had the compatible elements, unfortunately, there were only a few of them. At the end of the hunting, they only managed to obtain 4 C-Class Vine Elemental Beast Cores and 3 C-Class Healing Elemental Beast Cores.


    "It seems like there ain''t any more left in this area." Qian Fei sighed, she then asked, "Brother Zhou, do you know any other places that we might be able to hunt more?"


    Dong Zhou shocked his head and replied, "I''m sorry, I this is the only place I know."


    "Alright, we should make our way ba..." Just before Xiao Yang gets to finish his sentence, a purple vortex suddenly appeared out of thin air in front of him.


    Fang Qiong looked at Xiao Yang, no idea of what he happened, she asked, "Xiao Yang are you okay?"


    "Guys look behind you." After he said that, they all turned around and saw the same vortex as Xiao Yang.


    "A portal!" Qian Fei shouted in shock.


    Qian Fei looked at it for a second then asked, "Should we attack it before it before the monsters get released?"


    Fang Qiong inspected it then said, "From the looks of the energy being given off by the portal, it should be a C-Class."


    "I don''t think we should, we only have two C-Class mages and two D-Class mages. Attacking a C-Class portal would require at least the power of five B-Class mages." Dong Zhou explained.


    "Xiao Yang, what do you think?" Dong Zhou asked, the rest all turned their attention to him.


    Xiao Yang thought, "With my C-Class King Tier weapon, killing regular C-Class beasts should prove easy, but if a King beast appeared like last time then things might get out of hand."


    Xiao Yang gave them all a silent stare, then finally decided to say, "Let''s attack it."


    They all looked worried after he said that, but Xiao Yang quickly took out three coins and gave them each an A-Class elemental coin. "This is an A-Class elemental coin, with this we shouldn''t have any problem attacking the portal even if a King beast appeared."


    They all thought about it for a few seconds then all nodded in agreement.


    Seeing that Xiao Yang said, "Alright then since no one disagreed, but we all must stay close and be on our guard at all time."


    They all went inside the portal with their weapons drawn. They were quickly teleported to a new world, it was a large desert and no matter which way you look, there was only an endless stretch of sands.


    Luckily the purple vortex was still there so if they needed to, they could easily just teleport away with it.


    "Where are all the beasts and the portal core?" As soon as Fang Qiong finished asking that questions, the ground suddenly went into turmoil and a large amount of sand from the distance suddenly rises up the ground.


    The sands eventually grey a hundred metres tall then it slowly slid back down onto the ground, revealing a hundred metre high up structure. The structure looked to be a large tower made out of sandstones, it was somewhat decayed and slightly damaged, but the structural integrity seems to still be standing strong. There were about 10 floors.


    "It seems the Elemental Portal Core must be inside of that tower." Dong Zhou said while looking at the tower.


    "Mhm, we should make our way they with caution" Xiao Yang started to lead the team to the entrance of the tower.


    As soon as they got nearer to the entrance, the ground started to rumble again and two giant holes suddenly appeared at the from of the entrance and two large scorpions suddenly appeared out.


    The scorpions had shiny shells and were well protected in every part of its body, there was no visible weakness.


    The scorpions seem to have noticed their presence so it suddenly started crawling towards them. The distance quickly shortened and with their poisonous tails, they violently hatched it towards Xiao Yang and the others.


    The speed was too incredible for them to dodge so Xiao Yang and Dong Zhou used their elemental weapons to block the attack.


    -Ping... Ping


    They both managed to successfully block the incoming attacks but due to the force being exerted by the scorpions, they both got knocked back a few metres. Fang Qiong and Qian Fei were behind them when the scorpions attack so they too got pushed back by the force, luckily the ground was made out of sand so they weren''t seriously hurt upon landing.


    Xiao Yang''s C-Class King Tier weapon was left with a slight dent on it, while Dong Zhou''s super-fin sword was left unscathed, his sword was an A-Class King Tier weapon.


    After they got launched back, the group were forced to be separated into two, Dong Zhou and Qian Fei were now in one side while Xiao Yang and Fang Qiong were on the other side, both groups were threatened by a scorpion.


    Up until now they still had no idea what sort of element the two scorpions associate with so they couldn''t act bluntly.

 32 Sandstone Tower

    The scorpions continued to chase them with its tail, so far it still hasn''t shown it''s elemental power.


    "Damn it... let''s just try to kill one first." Xiao Yang stop and turned around to face the scorpion that was just ten-meters away from them.


    Xiao Yang held his sword with both of his hands, then with his Wind elemental power, he charged up its energy around the bade. When it was fully charged up he violently slashed it three times toward the direction of the scorpion, creating three sword breaths.


    \u003cMana: 150/300\u003e


    All three sword breaths hit the exact same spot of the scorpion, despite its tough shells the scorpion still got split into two halves. Gluey purple blood started to gush out of its flesh and the scorpion instantly died without a struggle.


    "B-Class Wind Desert-Scorpion Killed. Elemental Core Available."


    Fang Qiong instantly recognized Xiao Yang''s ''Wind Breath'' technique that he showcased back when they were practising in the academy. She was shocked by the power of the technique, Xiao Yang once told her that it was a B-Class technique but from what she just saw, the technique could have been counted as a top-level A-Class.


    The other scorpion who was busy chasing Dong Zhou and Qian Fei suddenly stopped after noticing that its companion was brutally slain by Xiao Yang.


    The scorpion became infuriated and so it started to charge towards Xiao Yang with its razor-sharp tail.


    As it got closer, Xiao Yang has drawn his sword and readied his elemental power, but suddenly a strong wild wind appeared around the scorpion. The wind picked up all of the sands into the air around them, covering their views, they were unable to see where the scorpion was and under the constant cry of the storm, they were unable to hear any footsteps either. The two were now trapped in an endless sand storm.


    The opponent is B-Class so Xiao Yang''s own Wind Element was unable to counter-attack it. Dong Zhou and Qian Fei were unable to see anything nor could they charge into the storm to help their friend.


    Fang Qiong held raised her sword, unable to decipher anything behind the powerful thick sand storm. Despite their suppressing situation, both of them didn''t lose hope and stood firmly with their swords.


    Suddenly a dark shadow of a razor-sharp tail emerged out of the sand storm at an incredible pace, it was headed straight for Qian Fang''s chest. It was too late for her to dodge.


    -Ding!


    In a blink of an eye, Xiao Yang gathered as much strength as he can to deflect the attack. Luckily it worked, but the scorpion was unharmed and it was able to instantly disappeared into the storm, out of their sight.


    "Stay close to me!" Xiao Yang shouted in the middle of the loud storm.


    Qian Fei nodded in agreement, she was shocked once again by Xiao Yang''s quick reaction and speed.


    The truth was, Xiao Yang had his Divine Eyes to help him track the elemental energy being emitted by the creature. Otherwise, even with his quick reaction, there would have been no way for him to catch up with the attack with his current speed.


    ''Damn it!'' Even though he is able to track the scorpion''s location, his'' Wind Breath'' would not work in the storm as the creature is a higher class Wind Elemental wielder. All he could do now is stay alive until the creature runs out of mana.


    -Ding!...Ding!...Ding!


    The scorpion continued to sneak attack but it was always discovered by Xiao Yang and get deflected away. The scorpion soon started to get drained out of energy, so it increased the speed of the attack, but that was still not enough and the attacks still got deflected away.


    After witnessing it for a while, Qian Fei was able to tell that Xiao Yang started moving before the scorpion''s even emerged out of the storm. It was an incredible sight to see, it was as if Xiao Yang was able to see the future.


    Dong Zhou and Qian Fei were incredibly worried by now, it been about half an hour, they are still unable to see or hear anything, but then the wind suddenly got weaker and the sand storm became clearer.


    Eventually, the scorpion had completely drained away it''s mana and was forced to stop the sand storm. Seeing that Xiao Yang and Fang Qiong was unscathed, the scorpion turned around and started running back toward the tower.


    "Trying to run? No chance!" Xiao Yang jumped high up into the sky then with his sword in hands, he slashed it down toward the direction of the scorpion. A huge sword breath came down upon the scorpion''s back, the shell cracked upon impact and eventually, its whole body got split into two halves.


    "B-Class Wind Desert-Scorpion Killed. Elemental Weapon Available"


    After that the body of the scorpion was suddenly lit up in purple flame and eventually turned into ash, the ash started to condense into the shape of a golden ring with a purple crystal embedded on it.


    "B-Class Wind Desert-Scorpion Spear Received"


    Xiao Yang quickly grabbed the ring and quickly summoned the weapon, a golden spear with a purple spearhead suddenly appeared in Xiao Yang''s hand.


    The spearhead was covered in Mana-Draining poison, once the opponent is wounded by the spear, its mana will quickly start to get drained away.


    Even though the spear was a B-Class weapon, Xiao Yang''s C-Class King Tier Killer-Wolf blade wouldn''t be considered inferior to it either. Xiao Yang preferred to use a sword as it''s more compatible with his current elemental power, so he quickly transferred the ownership to Fang Qiong, "Here, I believe you still don''t have an elemental weapon yet."


    "Ownership Transferred Successfully"


    Fang Qiong eyes widened, she was unable to believe what she just heard, "Xiao Yang, you do realise that a B-Class weapon is worth a couple of B-Class elemental coins right?"


    "Of course I do." Xiao Yang said with a serious tone then continued by saying, "If I were to sell it, the pavilion would earn most of the profit, I would rather gift it to a friend than let a stranger scam me."


    Xiao Yang didn''t think twice when giving it away, in his previous life, he had casually given away many powerful SSS-Class weapons so let alone a B-Class would make his heart sore.

 33 Golems

    "Umm... Thank You. I will return this favor in the future." Fang Qiong''s cheeks became slightly pink, but Xiao Yang didn''t notice it and just replied, "There''s no need since we are friends."


    Xiao Yang didn''t care for anything else, as long as they don''t betray him, then he was going to keep treating them well.


    "Xiao Yang! Fang Qiong!" Qian Fei shouted as she and Dong Zhou ran up to them.


    They were both worried after the sandstorm suddenly appeared and completely covered their view, but they felt relief after seeing that their two friends were unscathed.


    "Are you two hurt anywhere?" Dong Zhou asked.


    "We are fine, the scorpions had already been taken care of by Xiao Yang" Fang Qiong nodded.


    After the incident, Xiao Yang had retreated into his own thought for a bit, he felt kind of bad for almost failing to protect his team members. It was thanks to his ''Divine Eyes'' ability, otherwise, with his current speed, Fang Qiong would have been dead long ago.


    He had to keep reminding himself that he is no longer the invincible, Grandmaster Chen. He could no longer act so carelessly like he used to otherwise he could put himself in serious danger or even worse, the people close to him.


    ''Am I too impulsive?'' He asked himself in his head.


    "Hm? Brother Chen are you alright?" Qian Fei asked after noticing that he was spaced out.


    "Ah yes I''m fine, should we continue to the tower?" Xiao Yang asked.


    They all looked at each other, then with a determined face, and nodded in unison. They weren''t harmed in any way so far and the creatures can be easily killed as long as they do it quick enough before it uses its elemental power.


    Xiao Yang quickly cut open the only remaining scorpion''s body and extracted out the elemental core, then they all entered the sandstone tower.


    Upon entry, they found themselves in a wide circular empty space, there was no furniture or anything, only rubbles and a stair headed straight to the second floor.


    Xiao Yang''s Divine eyes were unable to detect any elemental readings on the first floor, so it was safe to presume that there weren''t any hidden creatures around.


    "We should make our way to the next floor." Fang Qiong said after looking around thoroughly.


    The rest nodded in response and started heading up the stairs one by one. They still kept their guards on and with their swords drawn out to ready for any possible threats.


    Slowly and cautiously they found themselves onto the second floor, unlike the first floor, there were two sandstone statues of an identical golem holding a spear. The statues were about three meters tall, they were looked to be inanimate and was guarding the stairs to the next floor with their spears crossed against each other.


    Seeing how inanimate and unresponsive the statues are upon their arrival, the others began to walk forward towards the statue.


    "No stop! Don''t go near them!" Xiao Yang shouted.


    They were all startled by his sudden words, they were unable to detect any life-force on both of the statues, so why did he shout in such a rush?


    "Brother Chen, what is it?" Qian Fei asked nervously, they all took a few steps back away from the statues.


    "The statues are alive." Even though he couldn''t detect any life-force, but his Divine Eyes are able to detect that the statues have a large elemental force emitting from it. That was enough for him to determine that the statues were not normal and that it was something dangerous.


    "Alive...? But there doesn''t seem to be any life-force being emitted from it." Qian Fei and the others'' face turned grim, if it was true then they could have fallen into a trap unknowingly.


    Xiao Yang stepped forward, with his sword in hand he utilized ''Wind Breath'' to generate two sword breath towards the two statues.


    The two statues took the hit without any resistance and instantly shattered into sands. There was no movement or any sign that shows the statue being alive, but Xiao Yang was able to tell that the elemental force was still there and that he also didn''t get any announcement by the system of any killings.


    The rest all looked confused, the statue didn''t resist the attack and was instantly shattered just like any normal statues would, but then the remaining pile of sands that was left from the statues suddenly floated up into the air then eventually moulded itself into two large statues, they were identical to the previous ones.


    "What is happening? Is actually alive?" As soon as Qian Fei said that, the two golem statues began to move towards them.


    Xiao Yang utilized his ''Wind Breath'' technique again, but this time the sword breath went through the statues instead and the statue remained unharmed. It looked as if the statue had suddenly turned its body into sand for a second.


    No matter what technique Xiao Yang used, the attacks would just go through its body and the statues won''t even get harmed a bit. Dong Zhou tried swinging his sword at the statues, but it seems that even his A-Class King Tier sword became useless against them.


    The statue seems to be infuriated by it and so it suddenly swung its large solid arm towards Dong Zhou''s chest. Even though the statue''s speed is slow, Dong Zhou was extremely close to it and it was already too late for him to pull back.


    Luckily he used his sword to block the attack and absorbed most of its power, but he was still launched across into a wall and coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    "Damn it, why is it so tough?" Dong Zhou gritted his teeth and did his best to use his sword to support him up from the ground.

 34 Elemental Powers

    Fang Qiong tried to use her vines to restrain the golems but it was quickly proven useless and just a waste of mana.


    Xiao Yang swung his blade across the golem''s neck, but it was as if he was cutting water, the golem remained unscathed and its neck quickly reattached itself.


    The golem''s face suddenly twitched as if it was smirking at him, the golem then suddenly had its mouth wide opened. Xiao Yang was able to clearly see that elemental energies were quickly building up in the golem''s opened mouth, soon the golem roared out and sending a ball of compressed wind hurling towards Xiao Yang.


    ''Not good!'' The attack was too quick for him to dodge, and if he was hit by the attack, his bones would likely to shatter into pieces upon impact.


    Xiao Yang decided to pull out an A-Class elemental, the elemental started to float above one of his palm and electricity started to grow around it. The coin started to glow brightly then soon Xiao Yang felt an enormous amount of energy suddenly seeking into his body, with all his strength, he refined the energy into a compressed ball of wind that was large than the golems.


    In a blink of an eye, Xiao Yang released the compressed ball of energy that he built. Xiao Yang''s ball of Wind met with the golem''s, the two attacks collided but only one of them survived and soon that attack was headed toward the golem.


    Even though the power had been reduced, it was still sufficient enough to smash the golem into dust, however, the dust floated up into the air and just like last time, the golem gets resurrected again.


    After using the coin, Xiao Yang''s mana had dropped all the way to zero, making him temporarily unable to use his elemental power.


    ''It''s still not enough?'' Xiao Yang knows that in order to destroy the golem, he would need to smash the stone that contained the golem''s elemental core, but the golem''s resurrection speed is too fast for him to reach the corpse.


    Then suddenly, Dong Zhou managed to slow down one of the golems with his Ice power, but he only managed to slow it down for a few seconds before the ice started to melt again and the golem return to its original speed, however, that gave Xiao Yang an idea of how to beat the golems.


    "Dong Zhou, use the elemental coin!" Dong Zhou instantly knew what Xiao Yang was planning to do, so without any delay, he pulled out the A-Class elemental coin. Sparks of electricity appeared around the coin and the coin started to shine brightly as the energy surges into his veins, the air around him started to become colder.


    With the enormous amount of power stored in his body, he quickly released a chain of frosts cloud towards the two golems.


    The two golems were trapped in the frost cloud and when the cloud dispersed, what left was two frozen crystal clear statue. Not even a single vibration could be felt from it, the temperature of the room had dropped dramatically and had become freezing cold.


    Dong Zhou and Fang Qiong who was closest to the golems, took the chance to swing their sword at it. The golems came crashing down like a jig-saw, amid the pile of rubble was a palm-size rock made out of sandstone, it had a crusty surface that exposes a cloudy gemstone inside.


    When they smashed the two rock, a scream could be heard from it then, and two Wind elemental beast cores were revealed from it.


    "Is it over?" Qian Fei asked.


    Xiao Yang was able to confirm that there was no longer any elemental reading being emitted from the rubble apart from the two elemental cores.


    Several minutes passed by and there was no sign of the creatures being resurrected again. So Dong Zhou replied, "It seems so."


    "We should quickly continue up the tower before the portal fully opens up." Xiao Yang was already walking up the stairs.


    After collecting the elemental cores, the others followed him up the stairs.


    Fortunately, they didn''t meet any more powerful beasts like the previous one, they were able to easily deal with them and after several battles, they finally reach the stair that led them to the final level.


    Xiao Yang quickly scanned the room with his Divine Eyes, but he wasn''t able to see any elemental readings other than the portal core itself that was floating on top of an altar.


    Xiao Yang didn''t want anyone else to break it, so he quickly walked past the rest. The portal core this time had dense cloud floating inside of it.


    He quickly drew his sword and slashed it across the surface of the sphere-shaped portal core. The portal core cracked into pieces of tiny shards, the shards soon vaporized into a silver-cloud and eventually formed a ring-like object.


    "B-Class Divine Airsoft Revolver Received."


    The familiar robotic female voice rang in his head and he suddenly felt something teleported into his pocket. When he reached into the pocket with his hand, he was able to feel a ring-like object.


    He was shocked and excited at the same time, not many things could spark a speck of excitement into him nowadays, but receiving an elemental tool from destroying portal cores were unheard of and so he is curious about the newly discovered weapon.


    He tried to control his excitement by putting up a stern face so that others don''t get suspicious, he looked at them and luckily they didn''t seem to saw what happened. He believed that he was the only one who saw the forming of the ring from the grey-cloud, otherwise, the others wouldn''t be so calm right now.


    "Cough... Alright, I think we should make our way back now." Xiao Yang acted as if nothing had happened and just started walking off the altar.


    They all agreed and followed him back, they weren''t in much of a rush though, Dong Zhou''s injury was able to heal up with Qian Fei''s elemental power.


    \u003cdiv id="urban_overlay" style="


    left: -10px;


    top: -10px;


    width: 0px;


    height: 0px;


    "\u003e \u003c/div\u003e

 35 B-Class Divine Airsoft Revolver

    The next day, Xiao Yang left Thunderbolt City and headed to a secluded forest that is 5 miles away from the city. He wanted to test out his newly gained B-Class Divine Airsoft Revolver, however, he doesn''t want anybody to witness it since he doesn''t know the power and damage the revolver might propose.


    The forest was full of prying beasts so many nearby villagers would stay away from such place, there was also an abundance amount of stone boulders, perfect for testing out the weapon.


    Xiao Yang summoned took the ring out and wore onto one of his fingers. When the ring is activated, a silver slime looking liquid appeared on his right hand and then instantly molded to the shape of a silver revolver.


    There were many beautiful lining on the revolver and a comfortable wooden handle for him to hold onto. It looked just like any other low tier elemental revolvers, you wouldn''t even be able to tell the difference from a distance.


    Elemental revolvers are very hard to obtain and are very hard to find in the market, that''s because many wouldn''t even bother selling them as they are labeled to be one of the weakest elemental weapons.


    The most common class for revolvers are only E-Class, any class higher than C-Class is unheard of due to there rarity and unpopularity. They tend to cost a lot of mana to create one bullet for the revolver but the damage created by it is extremely small.


    Xiao Yang is excited to witness the extent of a weapon that is obtained from breaking a portal core, though he doesn''t have much hope in it since the weapon is a revolver type.


    "You have been following me here all the way from Thunderbolt City. It''s about time that you reveal yourself." Xiao Yang shouted with a cold voice.


    The bushes nearby suddenly vibrated violently, then a man eventually emerged out with a sword.


    Xiao Yang is able to tell that the man is an S-Class and was also wearing an S-Class armor, while his sword was only an A-Class. If a regular S-Class met in battle with the man then they would inevitably get heavily injured or even killed in the end if they weren''t careful enough.


    "Ho-ho, not bad. It seems like you are able to detect me all along." The man smirked.


    "Let me guess, you are one of those dogs from the Tai Empire." Xiao Yang pointed the revolver at the man.


    The man didn''t seem to care about the revolver being pointed at him and just laughed out, "Ha-ha, that is some bad attitude you got there. Ain''t you scared that I will rip your limbs out?"


    "Do you even have what it takes?" Xiao Yang grinned.


    The man laughed out again and shouted, "If I were to kill you here, nobody will ever know who did it, the Thunderbolt Academy will just think it''s done by some powerful wild beasts."


    -Bang!


    Xiao Yang pulled the trigger and a bullet went hurling out of the gun in full power. The nearby trees and bushes started to sway back and forth as a dense vapor was left behind the trail of the bullet.


    \u003cMana: 200/300\u003e


    -Ping!


    In a blink of an eye, the bullet reached the man''s body, making a loud noise that echoed throughout the forest.


    The man smiled mockingly toward Xiao Yang, but then suddenly he felt a surge of pain throughout his body, and immediately his face turned grim.


    He reached the spot where the bullet landed with his hand and felt something watery was dripping flooring out of it onto his hand.


    Looking down onto his chest, he could now clearly see the source of the pain, and a large amount of blood slowly flooded out of the peanut size hole on his chest.


    Both him and Xiao Yang were shocked by the power of the revolver, the man was an S-Class mage and was also wearing an S-Class armor, yet the bullet still managed to penetrate through the armor and into his chest.


    If the man didn''t have the S-Class armor then the bullet would have surely gone through his chest and came out clean.


    The man''s body started shivering, and he thought to himself, ''Such a powerful weapon, that damn Li! How dare he lied to me that the brat is weak?!''


    The man had lost too much blood, his body became numb and powerless. He tried stopping the flood from flowing out with his hand, but it was proven useless.


    Xiao Yang took a few steps toward him and once again raised the revolver at the man, but this time towards his head.


    The man panicked as he realized his situation was now helpless, "What are you doing?!"


    Xiao Yang coldly replied, "Does it need explaining?"


    The man cleared out his saliva and exclaimed, "I am a commander from the Tai Empire, if you kill me, the Empire won''t let you live."


    "Tit tit... If I were to kill you here, nobody will ever know who did it, the Tai Empire will just think it''s done by some powerful wild beasts." Xiao Yang grinned.


    -Bang!


    The man''s head exploded from the inside out, the S-Class armor and the ring shattered into ashes seconds after his death.


    Xiao Yang left the secluded forest and just went to another nearby forest, he still hadn''t properly tested out his revolver yet.


    After a whole day of playing around with his revolver, he realized that he could control the impact radius and power by limiting the amount of mana and compress the air around the bullet.


    The more mana he inserts into it, the more powerful the bullet is going to be, and by compressing the air around the bullet, he could increase the speed and penetration.


    "This revolver is better than a peak S-Class weapon!" Xiao Yang started to like the revolver and he is also curious about what might happen when he upgrades it.


    B-Class Divine Airsoft Revolver [Upgradable]


    [10/100 B-Class Points]


    Requires 90 More Points To Upgrade To A-Class.


    Salvage Revolver To Gain 0-10 B-Class Points.

 36 Ruckus Among The Public.

    Its been over two months since that incident had taken place, and the headless body of the S-Class mage had finally been discovered by his subordinates.


    When the body was taken back to the Tai Empire to inspect, the body had already been rotten along time ago and many of its flesh had already been devoured by wild beasts. There was no evidence left on the body that may suggest the man be murdered by a weapon.


    King Ping, who is the self-proclaimed king of the Tai Empire was infuriated by the news, the death of an S-Class mage was a huge loss for the empire. Throughout the Tai Empire, there are only three S-Class mages, himself and Commander Li are the only remaining S-Classes.


    If not for the protection of the Song-Min Continent, other continents and empires would have already taken the chance to invade them.


    "Execute all of them!" King Ping slammed his fist on the throne and ordered the execution of all of the subordinates that was under the command of the dead commander.


    "Your majesty, please have mercy!" The subordinates pleaded but were quickly taken away by the soldiers.


    King Ping looked toward Commander Li and angrily asked, "Is there any news of my traitorous nephew yet?!"


    Commander Li bowed and replied, "Not yet, your majesty. Prince San seemed to be still hiding within Thunderbolt Academy, I have already ordered my men to monitor the city gate."


    "Mhm, kill him as soon as you have the chance. I will be going into seclusion soon to breakthrough to SS-Class, so don''t disturb me unless it''s absolutely necessary." King Ping stood up and started leaving the meeting hall.


    Just before he left, he turned around and said, "Also investigate the death of our S-Class mage."


    Commander Li bowed to acknowledge his request.


    ...


    Back in Thunderbolt City, the news of an S-Class mage had unexpectedly leaked throughout the city.


    The high elders advised everyone not to leave the city if it is not an urgent matter, they feared that an S-Class portal or higher had broken out and the beasts had been out hunting humans, so they had also sent out a few elders to hunt them down.


    For the time being, everyone is remaining caution and followed the advice of the high elders of not leaving the city, as long as they remain within the city wall, they will be 100% safe from all possible threats unless the portal broken out was beyond an SS-Class.


    Xiao Yang was the only one who knew that the death of that S-Class mage was not due to a high-class portal outbreak. He wasn''t worried that the death of the S-Class mage would trace back to him though, as many people would have left Thunderbolt City at that time, and the majority of them were much more powerful than him, but in order to not get suspicious he himself had also refrained from leaving the city for the time being.


    So for the past months, he had been absorbing the elemental beast cores that he obtained from the last portal attack, he managed to acquire a total of 80 C-Class elemental points.


    It was a school holiday ad so the group decided to meet up again in town.


    "Brother Chen, do you think the elders will be able to find those powerful beasts?" Qian Fei asked.


    Xiao Yang calmly replied, "I hope so, the lives of the nearby villagers now lies on their hands."


    Dong Zhou also added in by saying, "Ever since that the news of a dead S-Class mage nearby, many supplies that were scheduled to be delivered to Thunderbolt City had been halted."


    "Yea, the prices in the city had dramatically inflated as a result. If they don''t hunt it down quickly then the price would just continue to rise." Fang Qiong nodded.


    After hearing that, Xiao Yang thought for a minute. He didn''t care for the death of the S-Class mage causing a massive ruckus about some powerful beasts in the loose, but he didn''t want the innocent people to suffer in the City.


    The rich may not suffer from sudden price inflation, but the people from a poor family would surely will. They were already struggling to keep up with their living expenses, but now the price had suddenly increased if the problem isn''t fixed soon enough then many would risk of going into poverty.


    ''Ah damn it... I was too impulsive again, never had I thought it would be such a mess!'' He had killed many people in his past and present life, but this was his first time regretting it.


    Xiao Yang thought about it then said to himself, ''They just need to know that there is no powerful portal breakout then everything will go back to normal.''


    "Hey, why don''t you guys go to eat together? I just realised that I have some that I need to take care off." Xiao Yang said with a wry smile while scratching the back of his head.


    "Is it really that important?" Qian Fei pouted.


    "Yea, sorry... It''s really important. I must go now, see you guys next time." Xiao Yang quickly turned around and left.


    "Ha-ha, If Brother Chen says it is important then it must be. We should get going before all of the seats are taken." Dong Zhou politely held his hand out to lead the direction.


    The three of them arrived at the same Dim Sum restaurant that they went last time and ordered their favourite dishes.


    "You two are Brother Chen''s childhood friend, so you must know the training he does to become this powerful right?" Dong Zhou suddenly asked curiously.


    The two looked at each other then shock their head, Qian Fei replied, "I have known him my entire life, but never have I witness him training himself."


    Qian Fei and Fang Qiong were also wanted to know the answer too, Fang Qiong had heard many rumours about Xiao Yang since childhood, but all of them talks about how he is no different to a trash and a leach of the Qian Family.


    Dong Zhou frowned then asked, "He must have some sort of special training right? Or maybe a master that helped train him."


    After hearing that, Qian Fei suddenly realised something and replied, "Right! I heard from Brother Chen that he met a powerful master for passed on his techniques to him."


    Dong Zhou suddenly brighten up and quickly asked, "By any chance, you know that master''s name?"


    "Brother Chen said that his master never gave him a name." Qian Fei said with a wry smile.


    Dong Zhou thought for a minute then asked another question, "I know that Brother Chen currently lives with his mother in Thunderbolt City, but what about his father?"

 37 Tai Empires Military Camp

    Tai Empire''s Military Camp near Thunderbolt City.


    The soldiers that were on duty quickly opened the wooden gate and welcomed the returning patrol team. The patrol team had a large cart full of goods that were covered in blankets, and a few domestic livestock.


    One of the soldiers went up to the patrol team''s leader, and excitedly asked, "Brother! What did you bring us this time?"


    The patrol leader laughed and uncovered the large blanket that was covering the cart full of goods, "Ha-ha, this should last us for a couple of months!"


    The cart was full of meat, fruit, wheat, along with other expensive household items. The patrol leader then said to the soldier, "You won''t believe how much fun we had with those countryside beauties, you should come with us next time."


    "It was truly amusing! That girl even tried to kill me with my sword, ha-ha!" Said a soldier of the patrol team.


    "Right! That girl''s father even begged on his knees to let his daughter go, but I just slit his throat!" Another soldier casually shouted as if it was nothing.


    "We even confiscated all of their money and live stocks." Said one of the soldiers who was jogging a bag full of coins in his hand.


    The soldier who first greeted the patrol team worriedly asked, "But brother, wouldn''t we get into trouble with Thunderbolt City if we keep this up?"


    The patrol leader laughed out again and replied, "Nah... I heard that they are still busy hunting down some powerful beasts. Plus, the Tai Emperor is under the protection of the Song-Min Continent, there is nothing to worry about."


    -Bang!... Bang!...


    Two explosions suddenly appeared over their head and followed by a violent gust of wind that came out of appeared out of nowhere.


    The soldiers not knowing what just hit them tried their best to stay conscious and hold onto something to prevent them from getting launched by the wind.


    All of the tents were blown away, including all of the equipment and armors that were in it. They violently flow with the tide of the wind, bashing against each other and slamming into everything that was in its way, the soldiers were no exception to its regime.


    After a few seconds, the wind finally started to die down, and the items that were flying around in the air eventually came to a stop.


    All of the soldiers laid on the ground, exhausted and injured. Although there were no casualties, several of them were heavily injured, some even had their limbs cut off from the explosions, most of them were part of the patrol team that came back.


    The healers tried to tending the wound of the soldiers, but they themselves were also heavily injured. Plus they were just B-Class healers, healing decapitated limbs are just out of their league.


    The soldiers cried out in pain and trying to understand what just hit them.


    "Ahhh, my legs!... I can''t feel my legs!"


    "What happened!"


    "Where did that wind came from?!"


    "Are we under attack?"


    "Soldiers of the Tai Empire!" A loud middle-aged man''s voice suddenly echoed from the sky.


    The injured soldiers looked up in the sky and saw a man dressed in a white cloak with a golden mask that covered half of his upper face. The man was hovering in the air with both of his hands behind his back. The man emitted a scary and dominating aura that of an SSS-Class.


    The solders shudder upon detecting the aura; they felt numb and defenseless. None of them even tried to draw out their weapons, either its, because they don''t want to provoke the ire of that man or they know that it would be useless, if the man wanted them dead then none of them would be able to live to see the next day.


    ''Who is he?''


    ''Why is an SSS-Class mage attacking our camp?!''


    ''Is the Tai Empire under war?''


    Many thoughts ran through the heads of the soldiers, but then the man spoke again with an intimidating tone, "Listen up! All soldiers of the Tai Empire must vacate this region and never return!"


    "The Tai Empire must deliver 100 A-Class Elemental Coins to Thunder Valley by tomorrow as compensation to the damages done to this region!"


    "Failure to satisfies my demands will result in the demise of the Tai Empire!... I don''t think I need to remind you of what happened to one of your commanders!"


    The soldiers were all shocked, everyone previously thought that the commander was murdered by a bunch of powerful elemental beasts, but now a powerful mage had publically confessed that he was the one behind the gruesome death of their commander.


    The man after he finishes announcing his demand, flew away into the distance before eventually disappearing into the horizon.


    The soldiers who were still able to walk quickly left the camp and made their journey back to the Tai Empire.


    News of the incident quickly spread throughout the land as many locals who were near the camp had heard of the explosions and the demand of the unidentified mage.


    Since such a large scale incident happened near Thunderbolt City, the high elders personally visited what remained of a military camp belonging to the Tai Empire.


    The high elders wanted to fully investigate the incident and the unidentified mage, if what the rumor was true about an appearance of an SSS-Class mage, then Thunderbolt City could get into trouble if conflict ever breaks out. They are afraid that the powerful mage may hold a grudge toward the academy for their negligence of the incident regarding the local villagers and the Tai Empire.

 38 Thunder Valley

    Commander Li had to take care of the Minster affairs due to the absence of King Ping, "Mhmm... It seems the rebellion is still not settled, as long as Prince San is still alive."


    "Report!" A guard suddenly stormed the meeting hall and immediately knelt down.


    "Report to commander! Our military camp was attacked by an SSS-Class mage, many of our men are severely injured." The guard shouted.


    "What?!" Both the ministers and the commander all stood up from their seats in shock.


    "Did you say SSS-Class?" Commander Li asked nervously.


    "Yes, he also demands the Empire to deliver 100 A-Class Elemental Coins to Thunder Valley by tomorrow and vacate all of our troops from the region." The guard replied then continued by saying, "We also found out that the death of the late commander was related to him!"


    "Why would an SSS-Class mage wanted to go against us?" The ministers asked they couldn''t fathom what reason it might be for him to kill one of their S-Class commanders.


    "Its... its..." Commander Li glared at the guard who''s tone was shuttering and quickly became impatient, "Say it!"


    The solider quickly replied, "Ah yes! Its because our troops were harassing the local villagers and confiscating their goods. This unintentionally provoked his ire."


    "What?! He killed one of our commanders and injured our men just because of some low life villagers? Does he even know how much resources it takes to cultivate an S-Class mage and he still wants us to pay compensation?!" The ministers all exclaimed in dissatisfaction.


    One of the ministers thought about then asked, "Why don''t we request the help of the Song-Min Continent? Surely they have the power to fend off an SSS-Class mage!"


    The ministers all looked at each other and mumbled to themselves, then suddenly another guard stormed into the room, "Report!"


    "What is it now?!" Commander Li was getting frustrated.


    The guard quickly replied, "Report to commander! The Song-Min Emperor had sent a message saying that if we don''t quickly sort this out then the deal between the two-nation shall be forfeited!"


    When going against an SSS-Class, casualties are always guaranteed even if Song-Min Continent has two SSS-Class mages. The Song-Min Contininet would like to preserve as much power as possible especially in such a time where wars between powerful nations could easily break out at any moment.


    -Bam!


    Commander Li slammed his fist and a large chunk of the table fell onto the floor, "Fine! We will satisfy their demands!"


    "But commander!" The ministers wanted to say something, but commander Li quickly raised his hand, ordering them to stop.


    "It''s decided! We can''t afford to infuriate both parties." Commander Li believed that if King Ping was here, he would choose to do the same even if he managed to become an SS-Class.


    ...


    The next day, Commander Li personally went to Thunder Valley along with a chest full of elemental coins, escorted by over two-hundred soldiers that are all A-Class.


    Unlike in Thunderbolt City, Thunder Valley is constantly raining and thunders would strike the ground every few seconds.


    The troops had some had time walking along the wet and muddy landscape, some were unlucky enough to be struck by lightning, but luckily their fitness was enough to keep them going.


    When they finally arrived at the meeting point, Commander Li was surprised to see that three high elders from Thunderbolt Academy were already there.


    "Why are the high elders of Thunderbolt Academy here?" Commander Li angrily asked, he still didn''t forget what happened during his time in Thunderbolt City.


    "Why can''t we be here? This place belongs to our Thunderbolt Academy." One of the high elders replied.


    Then another high elder suddenly exclaimed, "I heard that the troops from the Tai Empire had been stealing and harassing villages that are under the rule of our Thunderbolt!"


    Commander Li clenched his fist but held back his anger, he doesn''t want to create any more unnecessary enemies. The Tai Empire is still weak, he could not do something that might endanger the relationship between the Tai Empire and Song-Min Continent.


    -Boom!


    An unknown explosion struck the ground ahead and everything was thrown into turmoil when a violent wind suddenly appeared. The thick mist around them made it hard for them to see what lies ahead of them, all they could see was a shadow of a man standing behind the mist.


    When the wind finally died down and the thick mist becomes clearer, they were now able to see a man dressed in a white cloak and wore a golden mask that covered his upper part of his face.


    The man was emitting a dominating aura that of an SSS-Class, the man''s face seems to be absent from any emotions and the man''s eyes were crimson red.


    After witnessing the dominating aura of the man, Commander Li''s body felt stiff, it was his first time meeting an SSS-Class mage. He had seen the aura of an SS-Class but the difference is like a cup of water and a reservoir.


    "Thunderbolt Academy''s three high elders greet this venerable one." The three high elders respectively bowed down.


    Xiao Yang frowned, he didn''t expect the three high elders of Thunderbolt Academy would be here. He thought that the Tai Empire had managed to convince the academy to support them to defeat him, seeing how they bought so many troops with them.


    His Divine Airsoft Revolver may be able to injure SS-Class mages but there are three of them and what''s more, he already used up most of his mana when he stimulated that huge explosion with his revolver.


    Xiao Yang with his hands behind his back, calmly asked, "How may I help the three high elders of Thunderbolt Academy?"


    We don''t dare! We are only here to apologize for our neglect of taking care of the villager''s wellbeing. The academy is willing to compensate the villages, we would like to ask this venerable one to forgive our negligent." One of the elders quickly bowed down and solemnly replied.

 39 Untitled:

    Xiao Yang nodded in response to the three high elders, then walked past them to meet Commander Li.


    Commander Li clenched his fist and force himself to bow down him, then politely said, "It''s an honor to meet this venerable one, I am Commander Li, currently in charge of the Tai Empire under King Ping''s order."


    "Where are the coins?" Xiao Yang coldly asked.


    Commander Li gestured his men to bring out a heavy-looking chest, they then quickly unlocked the lid, revealing a shiny pile of coins that all have the marking ''A'' forged on both size of its surface. The coins all emitted an elemental aura, indicating that they are genuine A-Class elemental Coins.


    "Venerable one, would it be alright if you could hear out my request?" Commander Li continued to bow down and asked.


    Xiao Yang silently stared at him then replied, "Speak!"


    Command Li quickly replied, "The Tai Empire is currently looking for the traitorous Prince San, would it be alright if we keep a few guards in the religion as a watch out for him?"


    "No" Xiao Yang coldly replied without giving it a second thought.


    "Please I promise the new guards won''t disturb the local villagers." Commander Li quickly added, he was given the order to find and eliminate the missing prince at all cost, if the prince is left alive then the rebellion would continue to grow.


    "I don''t think I need to repeat myself, do I?" Xiao Yang''s tone deepens to a more intimidating voice.


    Commander Li bit his bottom lip and replied, "We will follow and fulfill ever request of this venerable one."


    Xiao Yang walked up to the chest and closed the lid, he turned around to look at the three high elders from Thunderbolt Academy.


    The three high elders noticed this and quickly came forward then asked, "Does this venerable one have any request?"


    "Can I trust you to take these coins and distribute it to the affected villagers?" Xiao Yang calmly asked.


    The three high elders quickly replied, "Of course, venerable one. Please leave it to us."


    "Mhm..." Xiao Yang nodded then said, "Then I shall take my leave now."


    Xiao Yang walked forward to the direction of the thick mist that led deeper into the Thunder Valley. No one dared to follow him in fear of provoking an SSS-Class mage''s ire, they all just watched as the white cloak slowly disappeared into the abyss.


    ...


    Half an hour had passed, and Xiao Yang had walked several miles deep into the valley. It was completely covered in frogs, there was no light source around, there was a constant noise of thunder but no flashes of light could be seen.


    The valley was still raining but the air felt strangely dry, Xiao Yang looked around then said to himself, "They should have left by now, I should just turn back around."


    Originally he only wanted to stay in the valley for a while until everyone fully left, but he decided to head deeper into the valley out of curiosity but so far all he found was wet and sticky mud, there was not a single speck of plant life.


    -Roar!


    The sound of a beast suddenly roared within the deeper part of the valley, Xiao Yang felt that the wind was getting stronger and was now slowly pushing him back.


    The atmosphere in the vicinity also felt heavier and the air became even colder, Xiao Yang summoned his C-Class King-Snake Armor and his Divine Airsoft Revolver.


    \u003cMana: 254/300\u003e


    His mana was still not fully replenished yet, he could only use his revolver two times at full power, but that would be enough to kill any S-Class beasts or even a regular class SS-Class beast.


    Using his Divine Eyes, Xiao Yang is able to mimic a faint elemental reading from the distance that was covered in heavy fog, the fog was so thick that it might as well been a solid wall, not even a single light could go through it.


    As the creature came closer toward him, the elemental reading became brighter indicating that the amount of power the beast has. Not long after the elemental reading became even brighter and now it has the power of an SS-Class, but Xiao Yang was still calm and unafraid, he believed that two-shot from the revolver is enough to kill it as long as he could hit the beast''s vital parts.


    Xiao Yang aimed his revolver towards the direction of the beast, but suddenly he froze his muscles and the revolver only got lifted up halfway.


    The elemental reading of the beast didn''t stop growing bigger like how Xiao Yang had predicted, but it has now grown stronger than a regular SS-Class beast, and it didn''t even stop there.


    The distance between him and the beast had finally shortened, he could now accurately detect the beast''s aura, what came next made his muscle stiffened.


    ''Why would there be a King-Tier SS-Class beast be here?!'' The power of a King-Tier SS-Class could even surpass those of a regular SSS-Class beast, what''s more there size is much bigger making their attacks much more difficult to dodge.


    A beast of this magnitude could easily kill an SS-Class mage with a simple swing so let alone Xiao Yang who was just a C-Class, even with the combined might of the revolver, killing it would still be an impossible foot.


    The distance between the two quickly shortened and Xiao Yang was able to now see that the beast had three crimson eyes.


    Eventually, it''s entire lion-like body emerged out of the thick mist, Xiao Yang was able to recognize that it was an SS-Class King Tier Three-Eyed Lion. The lion had white furs with black strips on it like that of zebras, it''s entire body was bigger than a house.


    -Roar!


    The beast roared out and sending a tangible sound wave toward Xiao Yang. The wave hit across Xiao Yang chest, sending him back several meters away.


    Xiao Yang landed on the slimy mud and coughed a mouthful of blood. Unable to get up, he felt like his ribs got shattered apart.

 39 The Abyss of Thunder Valley

    Xiao Yang nodded in response to the three high elders, then walked past them to meet Commander Li.


    Commander Li clenched his fist and force himself to bow down him, then politely said, "It''s an honor to meet this venerable one, I am Commander Li, currently in charge of the Tai Empire under King Ping''s order."


    "Where are the coins?" Xiao Yang coldly asked.


    Commander Li gestured his men to bring out a heavy-looking chest, they then quickly unlocked the lid, revealing a shiny pile of coins that all have the marking ''A'' forged on both size of its surface. The coins all emitted an elemental aura, indicating that they are genuine A-Class elemental Coins.


    "Venerable one, would it be alright if you could hear out my request?" Commander Li continued to bow down and asked.


    Xiao Yang silently stared at him then replied, "Speak!"


    Command Li quickly replied, "The Tai Empire is currently looking for the traitorous Prince San, would it be alright if we keep a few guards in the region as a watch out for him?"


    "No" Xiao Yang coldly replied without giving it a second thought.


    "Please I promise the new guards won''t disturb the local villagers." Commander Li quickly added, he was given the order to find and eliminate the missing prince at all cost, if the prince is left alive then the rebellion would continue to grow.


    "I don''t think I need to repeat myself, do I?" Xiao Yang''s tone deepens to a more intimidating voice.


    Commander Li bit his bottom lip and replied, "We will follow and fulfill ever request of this venerable one."


    Xiao Yang walked up to the chest and closed the lid, he turned around to look at the three high elders from Thunderbolt Academy.


    The three high elders noticed this and quickly came forward then asked, "Does this venerable one have any request?"


    "Can I trust you to take these coins and distribute it to the affected villagers?" Xiao Yang calmly asked.


    The three high elders quickly replied, "Of course, venerable one. Please leave it to us."


    "Mhm..." Xiao Yang nodded then said, "Then I shall take my leave now."


    Xiao Yang walked forward to the direction of the thick mist that led deeper into the Thunder Valley. No one dared to follow him in fear of provoking an SSS-Class mage''s ire, they all just watched as the white cloak slowly disappeared into the abyss.


    ...


    Half an hour had passed, and Xiao Yang had walked several miles deep into the valley. It was completely covered in frogs, there was no light source around, there was a constant noise of thunder but no flashes of light could be seen.


    The valley was still raining but the air felt strangely dry, Xiao Yang looked around then said to himself, "They should have left by now, I should just turn back around."


    Originally he only wanted to stay in the valley for a while until everyone fully left, but he decided to head deeper into the valley out of curiosity but so far all he found was wet and sticky mud, there was not a single speck of plant life.


    -Roar!


    The sound of a beast suddenly roared within the deeper part of the valley, Xiao Yang felt that the wind was getting stronger and was now slowly pushing him back.


    The atmosphere in the vicinity also felt heavier and the air became even colder, Xiao Yang summoned his C-Class King-Snake Armor and his Divine Airsoft Revolver.


    \u003cMana: 254/300\u003e


    His mana was still not fully replenished yet, he could only use his revolver two times at full power, but that would be enough to kill any S-Class beasts or even a regular class SS-Class beast.


    Using his Divine Eyes, Xiao Yang is able to mimic a faint elemental reading from the distance that was covered in heavy fog, the fog was so thick that it might as well been a solid wall, not even a single light could go through it.


    As the creature came closer toward him, the elemental reading became brighter indicating that the amount of power the beast has. Not long after the elemental reading became even brighter and now it has the power of an SS-Class, but Xiao Yang was still calm and unafraid, he believed that two-shot from the revolver is enough to kill it as long as he could hit the beast''s vital parts.


    Xiao Yang aimed his revolver towards the direction of the beast, but suddenly he froze his muscles and the revolver only got lifted up halfway.


    The elemental reading of the beast didn''t stop growing bigger like how Xiao Yang had predicted, but it has now grown stronger than a regular SS-Class beast, and it didn''t even stop there.


    The distance between him and the beast had finally shortened, he could now accurately detect the beast''s aura, what came next made his muscle stiffened.


    ''Why would there be a King-Tier SS-Class beast be here?!'' The power of a King-Tier SS-Class could even surpass those of a regular SSS-Class beast, what''s more there size is much bigger making their attacks much more difficult to dodge.


    A beast of this magnitude could easily kill an SS-Class mage with a simple swing so let alone Xiao Yang who was just a C-Class, even with the combined might of the revolver, killing it would still be an impossible foot.


    The distance between the two quickly shortened and Xiao Yang was able to now see that the beast had three crimson eyes.


    Eventually, it''s entire lion-like body emerged out of the thick mist, Xiao Yang was able to recognize that it was an SS-Class King-Tier Three-Eyed Lion. The lion had white furs with black strips on it like that of zebras, it''s entire body was bigger than a house.


    -Roar!


    The beast roared out and sending a tangible sound wave toward Xiao Yang. The wave hit across Xiao Yang chest, sending him back several meters away.


    Xiao Yang landed on the slimy mud and coughed a mouthful of blood. Unable to get up, he felt like his ribs got shattered apart.

 40 SS-Class King-Tier Three-Eyed Lion

    The Three-Eyed Lion started to sprint towards Xiao Yang and the distance between the two was quickly closing in by every breath.


    Xiao Yang loaded the revolver with two bullets at full mana capacity and took aim at the head of the Three-Eyed Lion, but the lion suddenly sped up and with its sharp claws, the lion swings it across Xiao Yang''s chest.


    Xiao Yang turned around to evade the attack, although he managed to evade the fatal attack, the claw still managed to graze the side. The C-Class King-Snake Armor that Xiao Yang was wearing, instantly shattered into individual snake scales, and the ring that Xiao Yang was wearing momentarily turned into dust that was soon blown away by the wind.


    "Bleigh!" Xiao Yang was knocked into the side of the valley and coughed out another mouthful of blood. He held his hand on the deep cut that was left on the side of his chest, but the blood just kept flowing out of it.


    "Damn ant!" Xiao Yang took aim with his revolver again, and this time he managed to fire one shot from it.


    -Boom!


    The bullet landed on the lion''s face at full power, but all it did to the lion was a slight skin wound. There was barely any blood coming out of it, however, that was enough to infuriate the lion even more and it has now become even faster than before.


    The lion raised it''s paw, crushing Xiao Yang onto the slimy mud. He felt an entire mountain was now placed against his back.


    Xiao Yang was now trapped beneath the lion''s paw, face down onto the mud, barely any space open for him to breathe.


    The lion applied more pressure and Xiao Yang was now forced into the mud several meters deep, and the lion wasn''t going to stop there, it kept lifting it paw and almost gently slamming it on Xiao Yang''s body.


    The lion didn''t want to just kill its prey straight away but torture its prey. The lion seems to roar out in excitement and smiled ear to ear, displaying his shiny white teeth.


    After several minutes of torture, the lion seems to finally lose its interest, the lion raised its paws once and slammed it onto the Xiao Yang''s chest once again, but this time with much more strength infused into it, the attack was going for the kill.


    Just as the lion''s paw was about to land on Xiao Yang''s chest, a sudden holy light suddenly shone from Xiao Yang''s entire body, the light illuminated the entire Thunder Valley.


    The lion''s face turned grim after sensing immediate danger, but it was too late. The attack was already initiated and there was nothing the lion could have done to pull it back, and so instead of slowing down, the lion''s paw sped up along with much more strength infused into it.


    -Boom!


    A fist suddenly slammed across the face, sending its body several meters up into the air before finally crashing back down, shaking the entire valley.


    The lion tried to stand back up, but all its bones on all four of its legs seemed to have severely fractured.


    -Roar!


    The lion cried out in agony, one of its eyes that was fixed at his glabella was swollen from that direct punch. Blood was visibly seeking out of its eyelid.


    With its remaining two eyes, the lion gazes toward the direction of the holy light, then suddenly his eyes looked as if it was about to fall out of its sockets. The holy light was coming off from the same person who he was torturing just a few seconds ago, but now that person was glowing with a holy light and emitting a powerful dominating aura.


    Xiao Yang''s hair was turned snow white and was reaching down to his waist, his body grown several inches taller and his eyes were now sparkling like the night sky.


    The lion roared again, but this time it was to beg for mercy. The lion tried to move once again but failed under the extreme pain of his fractured bones.


    "Mercy?" Xiao Yang asked the beast as if he understood what the lion previously said.


    "There is no such word in my dictionary!" Xiao Yang suddenly launched forward toward the lion and slammed his fist across the body of the lion, knocking the lion into the air once again.


    When the lion landed back onto the ground, Xiao Yang persistently slammed his fist across its body, resulting in the lion being quickly buried several meters deep into the slimy mud. The lion kept crying out in agony but there nothing it could do to stop it.


    Just like that, Xiao Yang continued to torture the lion for a couple of seconds, before finally infusing his mana into his fist and landing a final blow onto the lion''s forehead.


    -Boom!!!


    "SS-Class King-Tier Three-Eyed Lion [Sonic] Killed. Elemental Core Available."


    Xiao Yang''s fist penetrated the lion''s forehead then landed onto the ground beneath it, resulting in a massive explosion. A massive mushroom cloud covered the entire of Thunder Valley, and the very foundation of the valley was put into turmoil. The sound of the explosion was heard several miles away.


    Xiao Yang''s Celestial Divine Body had now reached its limit and so he quickly transformed back to his original form. The holy light immediately disappeared and the entire valley returned back to its former darkness.


    Xiao Yang was completely exhausted after using his Celestial Divine Body, he laid there flat onto the ground next to the elemental core that was left from the lion.


    He lazily moved his eyes towards the elemental core and smiled, but then cracks suddenly appeared onto the surface of the core like spider webs.


    -Ching!


    "Elemental Core Destroyed."


    After a few seconds, the elemental core burst into pieces of useless shards and a female robotic announcement ringed inside of his head after that.

 41 Aftermath

    It has been an entire week since that incident that had taken place in Thunder Valley.


    Xiao Yang had secluded himself in his bedroom this whole time, ever since he got back from the valley, he had completely exhausted himself and accumulated a large amount of fatigue.


    Fortunately, the school holiday wasn''t over yet so he still had some times to rest it out, otherwise, he probably would have had to skip all his lessons, and such behaviour would have been unacceptable in Thunderbolt Academy.


    Even though he hadn''t been outside for an entire week, he was still able to gather news and intel to update himself with what was happening outside through his communication stone.


    The communication stone allows him to connect and access the vast amount of networks that are available, some networks allow you to advertise the item you wanted to sell and the location for meet up, there are also social networks that allow you to connect with other users.


    Thanks to this, Xiao Yang was able to found out that the incident from the Thunder Valley was now a hot topic among the social networks. Many people were discussing what happened to Thunder Valley.


    The large explosion from Thunder Valley had caused the very foundation of the valley to become unstable and few days after that, the entire valley crumbled into dust, the valley was now described to be a wasteland and the thick is that originally covered the valley was now slowly dissipating.


    "I went to check the valley out yesterday, discovered a massive crater!"


    ''What could have caused such destruction?''


    ''From what I heard, the SSS-Class mage entered the valley and about half an hour later, the explosion suddenly shook the entire region. So it''s likely that SSS-Class mage.''


    "SSS-Class mage...? Is it the same guy for fought the Tai Empire and forced them to pay compensation tot he villagers?"


    "Who exactly is he?"


    Many speculated the identities of the unknown SSS-Class mage but none of them was able to find out any leads. Some even speculated that he was the Grandelder of Thunderbolt Academy, but that was quickly dropped since the Grandelder wields the power of lightning and from what they saw, the massive crater was created by raw strength, something that only mages with elemental power such as Iron Body could do.


    Qian Fei and the others sent Xiao Yang a private message to ask about why he hadn''t been out for the whole week, and Xiao Yang just replied saying that he is busy studying martial art for the upcoming mock exam.


    After the battle with that Three-Eyed Lion King, Xiao Yang had accidentally stumbled onto a new discovery regarding the usage of the Divine Revolver. Unlike most ordinary elemental weapons, the Divine Revolver has the ability to retain the mana that was stored in it, while the user''s mana still could get replenish over time. He discovered this after finding out that the bullet that was left from the last battle was still stored in the rifle, what''s more, the man didn''t decrease over time and kept its full power.


    Since then Xiao Yang had been loading up the revolver with bullets that are stored with the maximum allowed mana capacity, but he only stored six fully powered bullet and left two slots empty so that he could freely choose how much mana he want to put in them since the only way to get rid of them is to shoot it out and the user could not reabsorb the mana.


    ...


    Thunderbolt Academy Assembly Ground.


    The holiday was over and the student immediately went back to the academy to gather up for the mock exam.


    The elders in charge of the outer-disciples began to explain the rules to the student.


    The mock exam composed of three stages.


    The first stage is the elemental knowledge test, its a written knowledge test to find out the individual student''s understanding in a particular element. The student must not choose the elements that they currently wield, but a different element that they should have started to study.


    The second stage is beast hunting, the students would have to hunt down a specific amount of beasts to be considered a pass, and the elemental cores will be used as evidence of a kill. Students would have to go through an array to make sure they didn''t bring any elemental cores beforehand.


    The third stage is the tournament competition. Mages who wield none destructive elemental power such as healing would compete with other mages with a none destructive elemental power, its to compete against one''s martial arts with others.


    Failing one of the stages will not result in immediate failure and the student will still be able to advance to the next stage.


    "Isn''t it unfair to allow elemental tools?" Qian Fei asked, sounded a little bit frustrated.


    Elemental tools such as elemental armours and weapons are allowed in the second and third stage of the exam. This means that these from the rich family who could afford elemental tools would have a greater advantage.


    "I agree." Fang Qiong nodded.


    "The world was never fair in the first place." Xiao Yang coldly replied.


    Qian Fei and the others instantly understood him, as unfair as it may be, it was the truth. In a real battle, your enemy wouldn''t just restrain themselves from using their elemental tools just because you don''t have one since their very life it at state. This was exactly what the academy wanted to tell them, it''s best to let them face reality sooner than later.


    The poor get poorer and the rich will just get richer after all this was a world where the strong rules over the weak.

 42 Academy Mock Exam

    The first stage, written exam.


    The written exam tests the student on their fundamental understanding of an element, you are allowed to choose more than one element to be tested on, but since there wasn''t any reward doing so nor would it affect the final academic score, Xiao Yang only just picked one randomly.


    Many students seemed to struggle during the test, but it was nothing for Xiao Yang.


    After finishing off the exam papers, Xiao Yang handed it in and immediately left the classroom, he wasn''t the only one to do so though, many others did the same. Although the reason may have differed slightly.


    Dong Zhou also finished his papers, but he chose to take another test for a different element, he was among the few who took the mock very seriously.


    With the remaining time, Xiao Yang practices his martial arts on the training field since he had nothing to do.


    Elemental weapons such as revolvers are unpopular so there ain''t really many martial arts that are compatible with them, not even Xiao Yang who was formerly Grandmaster Chen had any martial arts that were compatible with the revolver.


    Ever since he got attached to the weapon, he had been trying his best to create his very own custom martial arts for it, although he had invented many martial arts before, none of them was close enough to the one that he is currently still making.


    "Brother Chen!" Qian Fei shouted as she ran up to him along with Fang Qiong.


    "How was it?" Xiao Yang asked.


    Qian Fei replied with a worried tone, "We both only managed to choose only one element."


    "It''s fine, I only did one too. You just needed to get a good score in at least one element to pass the exam." Xiao Yang said reassuredly.


    "Xiao Yang, is that a B-Class Revolver?" Fang Qiong asked curiously, revolvers that are at D-Class was already extremely rare.


    Xiao Yang nodded and replied, "Don''t underestimate it''s power though"


    "Huh? Ain''t these type of weapons are the weakest among the weakest weapons?" Qian Fei asked looking confused. Even if the revolver was a B-Class, it''s power should be the weakest among the other B-Classes.


    "You''ll see it when the second stage of the exam starts." Xiao Yang replied with a sly smile.


    The first stage exam ended, and Dong Zhou finally came out. He didn''t seem to be in a happy mood though, he looked even more worried that Qian Fei.


    ...


    The second stage, beasts hunting.


    The day after the written exam, the students all met up on the gathering grounds again. In this exam, the students are allowed to team up together and teleport to the same location by the array.


    Thunderbolt Forest is a dangerous place and this time the elders added a few A-Class elemental beasts into the student exclusive areas. So to ensure the safety of the student, each student is given a crystal bead containing a spell in it that teleports the student out of the forest when the bead is broken.


    Students were also given a map to track their location in the forest, each beast class zones are also labelled onto the map.


    Each student must obtain at least 20 B-Class elemental cores by tomorrow morning. 1 A-Class elemental cores will be equivalent to 10 B-Class elemental cores.


    The students also get to keep the cores at the end of the exam.


    There were many who teamed up to create a large hunting group, they had also offered to invite Xiao Yang and the others to join them, but they ultimately refused and just stayed as a small group themselves.


    The main reason was that Xiao Yang strongly refused to join them.


    "Brother Chen, are you sure that we shouldn''t join them?" Qian Fei asked she was worried that the other large groups would outnumber them and rob them off elemental cores.


    Xiao Yang nodded and confidently replied, "I''m sure, trust me its best that we don''t join them."


    Having a large group would have the advantage of outnumbering the beasts and you will also be protected by the group from others robbing you. However, such a large group would be hard to control, civil war could occur when they disagree with each other of how to split the elemental cores and tools gained.


    The advantages would just turn into disadvantages, and this is why Xiao Yang strongly disagree with joining them.


    The students stepped onto the teleportal platform in groups then the elders activated the array which randomly teleport the groups to a different location of Thunderbolt Forest.


    Xiao Yang was able to detect the a few powerful auras nearby, it must have been the academy''s elders. The elders are secretly monitoring the students to ensure their safety, especially after releasing the A-Class beasts into the area.


    Upon checking the map, Xiao Yang was able to found out that they were teleported somewhere near the outskirts of the forest, it was also not that far from the zone containing A-Class elemental beasts.


    "I think we should hunt down A-Class beasts to accumulate the cores much faster." Xiao Yang suggested, If they were to just hunt down C-Class elemental beast then in total the group would have to kill at least, 80 beasts, also if the beast dropped elemental tools then it wouldn''t drop any cores along with it.


    "Isn''t that too dangerous?" Qian Fei asked.


    Xiao Yang shook his head, "There''s nothing to be worried about, the elders will be heavily monitoring that area."


    "But even so, do we have enough firepower to take down one?" Fang Qiong asked.


    "Cough!... Sorry." Dong Zhou suddenly coughed out to prevent himself from laughing. He had seen Xiao Yang taking down four A-Class mages before, so taking down A-Class beasts shouldn''t be much of a problem for them.

 43 Second Stage: Beast Hunting

    Xiao Yang and the rest of the group quickly made their way to the zone where the A-Class beasts are said to be located, they didn''t really concern themselves much with the C-Class beasts that they came across on their way, but any beasts that were brave enough to try to get in their way were quickly slaughtered by the.


    There was a large river that was stopping them from going to their desired destination, but luckily Dong Zhou was able to temporarily freeze the river using his elemental power and so the issue was quickly solved.


    After that they didn''t encounter any trouble with the beasts nor the environment, however, they were rudely stopped by a large group of about thirteen students. They didn''t seem to want to let Xiao Yang and the rest past through.


    One of the mages who was wearing a B-Class elemental armor seemed to be the leader of the group walked up to Xiao Yang and with a smirk face, he shouted, "Leave all your elemental cores and we will let you go!"


    Qian Fei and the rest became infuriated upon hearing that, they did collect a few C-Class elemental cores on their way, but they didn''t seem to like the idea of surrendering it away.


    Xiao Yang, however, remained expressionless. With his Divine Eyes, he was able to detect that the group had managed to obtain a large number of elemental cores themselves, although Xiao Yang didn''t really need the C-Class elemental cores, it wouldn''t hurt to sell them and make a few pennies.


    Besides, it would also act as a warning to those who would cross their path in future exams.


    Xiao Yang closed his eyes and nodded profusely as if he had made up his mind.


    The leader seeing Xiao Yang''s weird reaction, asked "So you have finally decided?"


    Xiao Yang completely ignored the question and summoned his revolver, he pointed it at the man and calmly shouted, "Alright, this is a robbery. Leave all your elemental cores and I shall let you leave!"


    Everyone became dumbfounded by his sudden bold demand, except Dong Zhou, of course, he firmly believed that a few amateurs won''t be much of a trouble for Xiao Yang. This, however, wasn''t the case for the others, a group that was in front of Xiao Yang all began to laugh, they all thought he was crazy.


    The reaction probably would have been different if Xiao Yang pulled out a different weapon, but the weapon that Xiao Yang pulled out was a revolver that is infamous for being the weakest among the weakest elemental weapons.


    Xiao Yang transferred some manas into one of the empty slots and fired the gun towards the leader who was wearing a B-Class elemental armor.


    A bullet instantly flew out of the barrel and was headed towards the man at an unprecedented speed. The man didn''t even have enough time to react to it, but even if he did, he would have put complete trust into his armor.


    Just as the bullet was about to hit the man''s chest, it suddenly exploded a few inches away from the man. The bullet that Xiao Yang had just fired wasn''t meant for penetration but to create a bullet with an explosive characteristic.


    "Ahhhh!"


    The man who was the bullet was directed at, felt like he was hit by a miniature storm, and was quickly flown back several meters away.


    Under the impact of the explosion, the scales on the man''s elemental armor was being shredded one by one, even the shirt that was underneath it was shredded into a rag, exposing his redden belly.


    The man landed flat against a tree, some of his men tried to help him get up but the majority of them were too shocked to even react to it.


    They were all surprised by the firepower of the revolver, many of them were able to tell that the revolver was also a B-class but from what they just saw, the revolver could be considered to be a peak B-Class weapon.


    The injured man who just got back to his feet with the help of his men, shouted, "What are you guys doing? Attack him! The weapon must have drained a lot of his mana."


    Many of them all charge towards Xiao Yang with their weapons drawn, but minutes later they were all lying down on the ground, groaning on their swollen bellies.


    It was true that the revolver would use a lot of mana, but Xiao Yang was able to adjust it without having to waste a drop.


    "Ahhh!" The leader screamed in pain as Xiao Yang pressed down his foot onto the poor man''s leg.


    "Plea... Please, please! let me go, take it.... just take it!" The man reached out to his satchel and tossed it to Xiao Yang.


    Xiao Yang loosens the pressure that was being pressed again the man''s leg and glared across the rest of them.


    The rest of them realizing that there was no way out for them too, and so they too surrendered their satchels that were full of elemental cores.


    "Now shoot!" Xiao Yang commanded with his revolver still drawn out.


    The group ran away into the dense forest as fast as they could, leaving Xiao Yang and the rest counting the elemental cores that they just harvested.


    After counting the total elemental cores, Xiao Yang divided it fairly among the rest, but they seem to be more interested in the revolver than the elemental cores.


    "Brother Chen where did you obtain that revolver?" Qian Fei asked.


    There was no doubt that it was a revolver type, but the power of the revolver that Xiao Yang had just shown was slightly different than what the rumors had claimed. Perhaps the beast that dropped it is the reason for such a difference?


    "I obtained it after killing an eagle-like beast." Xiao Yang calmly replied.

 44 Beast Hunting Continue

    Xiao Yang and the other continued their journey to the A-Class zone, and upon arriving at their destination, they immediately discovered three A-Class Elemental beasts.


    The beasts were busy fighting each other and didn''t seem to have noticed their arrival. Beasts often times kill each other that of a different species to them, so it wasn''t a rare sight.


    "We should wait for them to finish fighting and just take the advantage after that." Dong Zhou suggested. They all hiding behind thick bushes.


    Xiao Yang quickly replied, "No, that would be a waste of time. You guys could take out that giant rhino, while I deal with the other two."


    They all looked at each other before eventually nodding their heads. They believe that if it was Xiao Yang, he would have no problem in distracting the other two beasts while the rest takes out the other one.


    Dong Zhou and the others all jumped out of the brushes and charged towards the giant rhino with their weapons drawn.


    -Roar!


    The beasts finally noticed their presence, roared in anger. They weren''t fond of their battles being rudely interrupted by some measly humans.


    However, they ignored the other two beasts and focused onto the giant rhino, just like how they planned.


    The giant rhino, seeing that he was the only one being targeted, became even more infuriated. It roared again and started to run towards them.


    Fang Qiong summoned her vines, which quickly restrained one of the legs of the giant rhino to the ground. Fang Qiong managed to break through to C-Class after absorbing the elemental cores that were obtained from the previous hunting, as a result, the vines became much more sturdy and had some spikes growing out of its surface, but even with all this it was only able to restrain it for a few seconds and the giant rhino quickly broke out.


    It couldn''t be helped since the giant rhino was two classes higher than Fang Qiong.


    Qian Fei quickly took out a bow that she was carrying and drawing the string to full length with a steel-arrow. She gently let go of the string and the arrow instantly flew out towards the rhino.


    The steel-arrow landed onto one of the giant rhino''s eyes with great precision, but the arrow only managed to lodge itself into its eye and didn''t go any deeper. Half of the arrow was sticking out of the surface of its eye.


    The giant rhino cried out in pain, with blood slowly dripping down onto the ground from the wounded eye. The giant rhino changed its target and started to charge toward Qian Fei, who still haven''t managed to draw another arrow yet.


    Fang Qiong, in an attempt to stop the giant rhino''s advance, summoned her vines from the ground again, wrapping one of its legs. Dong Zhou did the same and summon ice to completely freeze the leg that was wrapped by the vines.


    They all thought that the vines would just break like last time and the giant rhino would just continue its advance, but to their surprise, the vines didn''t break and were still restraining the giant rhino''s leg to the ground. It seems that freezing the giant rhino''s leg help reduced its strength so that the vines could overcome it.


    Without wasting any time, Fang Qiong took the opportunity to summon her B-Class Wind Desert-Scorpion Spear Received. With the spear in her hand, she threw it like a javelin towards the giant rhino.


    The spear pierced through the giant rhino''s eye without any resistance and managed to drill all the way into its brain.


    -Roar!


    The giant rhino cried out in pain and span around uncontrollably before finally tripping onto the floor then it stopped moving, and just to be sure, Dong Zhou impaled his sword into the head of the giant rhino.


    All three of them cheered out loud to celebrate the kill, it was there first time killing an A-Class beast. Even to Dong Zhou, who met one in the past was killed by Xiao Yang.


    "Yeah! We finally killed it" Qian Fei shouted.


    "Wait what about Xiao Yang?!" Fang Qiong suddenly shouted, their face all turned grim after suddenly realising that Xiao Yang was meant to distract the other two beasts. They were too focused on killing the giant rhino, all they heard was two gunshots and that was it, they suddenly became worried.


    All three of them simultaneously turned around to look at the direction of Xiao Yang, then their jaws suddenly dropped to the ground and their eyes popped out of their sockets.


    The scene was a bloody mess, thick blood was flowing out of the two beasts from a small hole that what looked to be a bullet wound. The two beasts were lying flat on a pool of their own blood, and what stood before them was Xiao Yang, who had his arms crossed as if he was patiently waiting for the others to finish.


    "How... How is this possible?" Qian Fei asked, her she almost choked on her own words. Qian Fei and Dong Zhou both were just as surprised as her.


    Xiao Yang who was patiently standing near the two corpses, still with his arms crossed instructed, "Dong Zhou, quickly retrieve the elemental cores."


    "Wha... What? Oh...Right!" Dong Zhou quickly summoned his A-Class King Tier sword and started to cut the body of the beasts. Half of his mind was still blank.


    "It will be night soon, I will prepare the campfire to cook the meat." Xiao Yang finally moved from his position and headed nearby to collect some woods.


    Fang Qiong and Qian Fei who didn''t know how they should react, looked at each other for answers.

 45 Untitled

    It was already night, Xiao Yang and the others gathered around a campfire. Xiao Yang was busy preparing the meat onto the screwer, the meat came from a giant cow that Xiao Yang had killed and was nicely diced by Dong Zhou.


    Before the exam started, the elders had already informed them that they would be staying in the forest until the next morning, so Xiao Yang was already prepared many spices and other seasonings.


    They also prepared many thick blankets for the night, it was there was time camping outdoor, except for Xiao Yang, of course, such thing in the past was common to him. As a result, he had developed a talent in cooking with foods that are found from the outdoors.


    After a while of roasting, the meat became finely cooked, a sweat and spicy aroma hovered under their noses.


    Qian Fei''s eyes widened at the sight of the meat, and some saliva could be clearly seen dribbling on the side of her lip, it looked as if she had been processed.


    Qian Fei and Dong Zhou had a similar reaction, they all looked as if they haven''t eaten anything for the past few days, they even tried to eat it before it was finished, but Xiao Yang was quick to stop it, it wouldn''t be good if they all get diarrhea after this.


    "It''s finished now." As soon as Xiao Yang said that, all three of them quickly snatch a screw and started to devour the meats like a wild beast. Xiao Yang looking at the site was unsure of whether the beast that they are eating now was wilder or the three that were in front of him.


    "Mhm! Brother Chen, since when did you have such a talent in cooking?" Qian Fei asked who was still in the middle of chewing her food, spices covered the side of her face, in fact, all three of them had some sort of seasonings stuck to the side of their face.


    "Cough, I just learned a few tricks over time, that is all." He tried to look away from them and eat his own skewer.


    "Food!" Just as they were silently eating the food, a voice suddenly broke out the silence.


    A young man suddenly ran out of the brush and started running towards them with salivas dripping on his mouth.


    "Who are yo..." Dong Zhou was about to ask who he was, but the young man snatched a skewer and started to devour the food like a beast.


    "Mhm!" The young man shouted in delight, he truly looked like he hasn''t eaten for a few days.


    Xiao Yang was quite annoyed by this sudden event, the young man could have at least asked them and they would have allowed him to eat with them since there was plenty of spare meat from the giant cow.


    "Who are you?" Dong Zhou asked again.


    "Mhm, it''s good but a little bit too spicy" The young man ignored the question again and started to give an opinion on the food.


    "Mhm, I''m a bit thirst, is there any fruit juice?" The young man asked looking around with his mouth still full of food.


    Everyone''s expression was a mixture of surprise, shock, and annoyed. Especially Xiao Yang, not only did this young man in front of him ate the food without their permission, but also criticized his food for being too spicy, what right does he have to criticize his food?


    "Ah!"


    The young man seeing Xiao Yang''s stern and cold expression fell back against a tree. He could sense a killing intent being emitted from the cold eyes that are glaring at him.


    The other three realized this and tried to calm him down.


    "Brother Chen, there is no need to be angry over this." Qian Fei and fang Qiong stepped in front of him with their hand raised to block him from getting closer to the frightened young man. They didn''t want to see the young man being brutally beaten up.


    Dong Zhou, however, held Xiao Yang back on the shoulders, it would be great if Xiao Yang would just simply beat up the young man, but he knew that there was a high possibility of the young man getting killed instead.


    That is why he had to tightly hold Xiao Yang back to prevent him from getting near the young man if he started killing, then they would surely all get into trouble for a murderer. Plus no matter how rude the young man is, he should deserve to be killed.


    Xiao Yang forced himself to smile and asked the young man, "So how do think of the food?"


    The young man unable to grasp the situation and read the atmosphere, relaxed a bit, and happily replied with his eyes closed, "Mhm, no bad, it was just too spicy. It was still a bit lacking to a professional chief, but I would still give it a 7 out of 10."


    Dong Zhou''s face turned pale after hearing the young man continued to talk without thinking, just like a child even though he is at least 16.


    "Really?..." Xiao Yang replied, still forcing himself to smile.


    "Yes, that is right!" The young man quickly replied. Upon opening his eyes, the young man shivered this was because Xiao Yang had somehow taken out a rope and was slowly walking towards him with the desire of strangling him.


    "Wha... What are you doing?!" The young man asked, trying to back away but was blocked by a tree behind him.


    "Brother Chen calm down! You don''t have to do this." Dong Zhou tried his best to hold him back, he thought to himself, ''Where did that rope come from?''


    "No! Don''t come near me, you lowly commoner, how dare you!" The young man shouted.

 46 Let me go!

    The young man, unable to run away from Xiao Yang''s grasp, was quickly tiered against the rough surface of a tree.


    "Ahh! How dare you tire this young master up!" The young man screamed out of his lung.


    Dong Zhou, sighed in relief, ''Thank God, he didn''t kill him!"


    "Let me go!"


    "You will regret this!!!"


    The young man continued to shout and cursed at Xiao Yang who was now standing in front of the tired up young man with a murderous gaze.


    Xiao Yang leaned forward to one of the young man''s ear and whispered so that only them two could hear it, "Listen here, you are the first person to insult my food and survive... You better stay quiet before I change my mind."


    The young man nodded profusely, he was frightened by Xiao Yang''s murderous gaze, he felt like if he said another word then that would be the last. His eyes suddenly became wet and he had to bit down his lips to prevent himself from making any noise.


    "Brother Chen we should just release him, it''s still night time, he is going to get a cold." The young man nodded agreeing to Qian Fei.


    Xiao Yang comfortably sat down against another tree and replied with a stern face, "No, who knows what he might do if we release him. He might even attract other groups or beast to us."


    The young man quickly shook his head and said, "Please trust me, I won''t tell the other groups!"


    The young man hesitated for a moment then added, "In fact, I was kicked out from the group that I was in!"


    Xiao Yang calmly took a sip of fruit juice from his bottle and expressionlessly replied, "I''m not surprised."


    "What is that supposed to mean?!" the young man gritted his teeth and shouted.


    Xiao Yang stared at the young man for a second then gave up, "Sigh... I''ll release you tomorrow morning."


    "What?! Are you going to keep me here all night? Release me at once! That is an order!" The young man kept screaming out of his tongue.


    "Shut up! This is for your own safety too, do you even know that you are currently in the A-Class zone right now?!" Xiao Yang picked up a cloth and shoved it into the young man''s mouth.


    "Xiao Yang isn''t this too much?" Fang Qiong asked worriedly.


    Xiao Yang shocked his head and replied, "No, if we let him out there during the night, he will surely get injured badly, the elders couldn''t just monitor everyone at the same time."


    They wanted to convince Xiao Yang to release the young man again but quickly gave up seeing how determined he wanted to keep the young man tired up in the name of the young man''s safety.


    Xiao Yang gave a glance at the young man again, who continued to struggle on the rope. The young man has short blonde hair and a chubby face, he was slightly shorter than the rest but he had a considerably large stomach.


    Perhaps he didn''t notice it before, but the young man was wearing a rich and delicate garment that is specially made for royals.


    The delicate patterns on the garment symbolize that the young man is a low titled member of a certain royal family, as for what royal family he is from, Xiao Yang couldn''t tell.


    The state of the garment, however, looks tainted and slightly shredded. There is clear evidence of the young man experiencing some sort of hardship and intense weather conditions. It was an uncommon sight to see, considering the young man is at least a royal.


    After a while, the young man finally gave up and just closed its eyes peacefully to get some rest. His face looked as if he was still hungry even after eating a whole stack of roasted meat.


    Xiao Yang pondered for a moment before reverted his focus to the surroundings, they all agreed to switch turn in guarding while the rest get some rest. Thou it wasn''t really necessary since Xiao Yang is able to detect movements in the surrounding even when he is in a sleeping state.


    Depending on their class, mages don''t require much sleep anyway, it''s more of luxury since many would continuously hunt down beasts and cultivate their elemental powers.


    ***


    Tai Empire Commander Office:


    "What did you say?!" Commander Lee asked in surprise.


    The guard who was kneeling on the floor quickly replied, "We have received reports of someone spotting Prince San in Thunderbolt Academy."


    Commander Lee''s face quickly calmed down into an indifferent expression and started to silently ponder in thoughts.


    The guard seeing the commander not replying back asked, "Commander should we..." The guard swiped his hand under his neck, gesturing the suggestion to assassinate the prince.


    Commander Lee glances back to the guard then held his hand up, "No, we can''t risk angering that mysterious SSS-Class mage again."


    "Plus it''s unnecessary, there is no threat in leaving him alive as long as he stays in that city, but if he dares to come out then..."


    Commander Lee went silent again, but the guard understood his intention without him saying anything further.


    If he wanted to stay in the academy, Prince San would have to leave the city and complete a long journey field task assigned by the academy. By that time they could easily assassinate him without anyone tracing it back to them after all many students had died during their journey from all kinds of unforeseen events and natural disasters.


    The academy won''t investigate the death of the students since the task itself was to survive to the end. If they couldn''t even do that then they have no qualification to stay in the academy.

 47 Chased

    It was already morning and they only have a couple of hours before the second stage of the mock exam ends.


    They did get attacked by a few elemental beasts but they were quickly and silently taken care off, without having to disturb the other member''s rest.


    Majority of the beasts were attracted to the tied up young man, who was still in deep sleep and is dribbling saliva on the side of his mouth.


    ''Is this guy for real?'' Xiao Yang couldn''t understand how the young man even slept so peacefully while almost getting killed by some beasts during the night.


    Xiao Yang sighed before summoning his blade and slashed it against the rope, causing the young man to fall face flat onto the floor.


    "Ah!" The young man quickly sat up and rubbed off the dirt that was stuck onto his face.


    Xiao Yang looked at the young man then said, "I suggest you to quickly quicken you pace before the exam ends."


    "Tch! I will remember this!" The young man exclaimed before turning around and headed away in a different direction.


    "We should also get going now, otherwise we won''t have enough elemental cores."


    The rest nodded in reply and quickly packed up the blankets.


    "Ahhh! Someone help!" A familiar voice suddenly exploded out from the surrounding. It came from the same direction where that young man went.


    -Sigh


    Xiao Yang sighed and slowly headed to the direction of where the noise came from, the rest also followed behind.


    When they got there they saw two elemental monsters chasing behind the young man, one of them was a large bee, about the size of a human head, and its fur looked to be made out of steel.


    The other beast was a giant cockroach about a meter in length, its shell was made out of black stone with some golden patterns on its surface.


    "A-Class King-Tier beasts?" Xiao Yang muttered in confusion, but the others were confused about Xiao Yang''s sudden sentence.


    They could all clearly detect that the two beasts had a life force of that of an A-Class beast. They weren''t able to understand why Xiao Yang thought they were King-Tier, plus the array had ensured that there were no King Tier beasts in this forest, otherwise it would have already been teleported out of this area.


    Xiao Yang was completely sure that the two beasts were in fact King-Tier, thanks to the help of his Divine Eyes.


    ''It seems the array only filters the elemental beasts based on their life-force readings.'' Xiao Yang nodded in understanding the situation.


    After a while, the young man seems to have started to get exhausted and the two beasts were already closing into him.


    "Please help me!" The young man noticed their present and desperately pleaded form their support.


    Dong Zhou and Fang Qiong looked at Xiao Yang who didn''t seem to want to help at any minute, so the two took the initiative and charged towards the two beasts with their elemental weapons summoned.


    In a blink of an eye, the two of them were in front of the beasts, Fang Qiong quickly impale the spear into the smooth stone shell of the giant cockroach while spinning the spear to create the effect of a drill.


    The spear quickly made a contract with the surface of the stone shell and started to drill a large hole behind the back of the giant cockroach.


    Bits of dust flew in every direction then followed by a slimy purplish liquid which started to ooze out from the beast and quickly got tossed into the air by the force of the drill.


    At the same time, Dong Zhou''s sword slashed across the hard steel plated body of the gigantic bee.


    -Ching!


    The sword cut into the defense of the beast, causing bright sparks to fire out.


    Almost instantly the body of the bee was cut into two halves. Though it didn''t come as a since Dong Zhou''s sword was an A-Class King-Tier elemental weapon, there won''t be a difference between cutting a block of steel and cutting a block of tofu.


    It did however took a large bite at their mana since their fitness is not enough to wield the weapons and so they had to borrow the necessary power by exchanging it with their mana. This is especially true for Dong Zhou since his fitness is only that of a C-Class mage while he was using an A-Class King Tier weapon.


    The too of them became excited, satisfied by the fact that they are quickly slain the two beasts in one go without having to waste much of their mana reserves, but then there face changed from an exciting face to a dumbfounded one.


    Qian Fei quickly notice their expression and so she asked why, but the two still remained silent. Xiao Yang however already knows the answer to their sudden change of face.


    While the two were still pondering over the elemental cores that they just obtained, the young man was busy panting out of breath.


    Xiao Yang and Qian Fei slowly walked towards them, but then his face suddenly turned grim, ''Not good!''


    "Everyone take cover!" As soon as Xiao Yang shouted that, he formed a ball of condensed wind and fired it toward the young man.


    The attack hit the young man''s fluffy stomach, quickly sending him into a tree behind.


    -Bleigh!


    The young man who just got violently attacked by Xiao Yang''s elemental power coughed out a mouthful of blood.


    The rest quickly took heeded Xiao Yang''s command and took cover behind the nearby trees. Xiao Yang himself also quickly took a few steps back.

 48 Fusion!

    In a span of a few seconds, everyone managed to successfully hide behind some kind of solid obstacles, and in a blink of an eye later, an unknown blurry beast suddenly violently peck down onto the ground before shooting back up into the sky.


    A three-metre deep mark was left behind the ground where the young man once stood.


    They uttered a sigh of relief, but their expression quickly turns grim as the beast was now circling around them in the sky, it seems to also be preparing to dive down again in an attempt to snatch prey.


    They tried to cover themself as much as possible behind the trees, but they already knew that it would be useless since the beast could just easily tear it apart along with them.


    ''Beast Fusion!'' Dong Zhou gulped, beast fusion is when two or more beast fuse themselves together to combine their fitness and powers, however, such event is extremely rare as all of the beasts would have to sacrifice themselves to the host beast, and this can not be done forcibly.


    The combination of an A-Class King-Tier Three-Eyed Lion and an A-Class King-Tier Razor Eagle resulted in a gryphon-like creature. Its head was that of a giant eagle but with three eyes instead of two, and its body was that of a lion but covered with razor-like scales that are a hundred times tougher than steel!


    The fusion had also led to the combination of its fitness and intellect, the beast now has a fitness that of a low-level S-Class beast. There is also the possibility of elemental power mutation as a result of two different elemental powers being combined, but there is also the possibility of it only remaining one of its elemental powers.


    -Scree!


    The beast plunged itself towards the ground, once again its target remained to be the young man who was now unconscious from the impact of Xiao Yang''s sudden attack.


    Without further delay, Xiao Yang loaded one of the empty slots of the revolver with his mana then calculated the beast''s position before finally pulling the trigger.


    -Bang!


    Despite the beast''s incredible speed, it was still unable to dodge the incoming bullet and took a hit onto the left side of its body, the wing that was slightly shielding it had a large lump of its flesh turned off.


    The bullet exploded upon impact causing a large amount of the outer layer of its muscles to be shredded. If it wasn''t for the beast''s tough scales, then the bullet would have inevitably shredded its organ instead.


    -Boom!


    The beast, unable to withstand the pain and steady itself in the air, quickly plummeted to the ground, creating a massive crater and dust to fill the air.


    ''It seems I miscalculated the amount of mana I should use.'' Xiao Yang was aiming to one-hit kill the beast but he underestimated the strength of the beast''s scales. Though it didn''t matter since the fell away from where the young man was lying down.


    Just as Xiao Yang was about to shoot the beast again, Fang Qiong quickly threw her spear into the beast''s fleshy wound like a javelin.


    The spear drilled into the beast''s muscle, shredding its layers one by one before finally reaching its organs.


    Despite the struggle of the beast, the spear continued to shred every single bit of its organ causing bits of bloody tissues to fly around into the surrounding.


    After that, the beast stopped its futile struggle and its life-force quickly depleted.


    Fang Qiong quickly fell to the ground on her knees, her muscles became exhausted after using up every ounce of mana into that attack.


    This would have been extremely dangerous if she didn''t have the protection of the group, since exhausting all her mana is equivalent to exhausting all her strength, causing her to lose all ability to defend herself.


    No mage would do such a thing unless they didn''t have any choice.


    Glancing back at the beast, the body suddenly emitted a purple glow before its entire body decomposed into little purple firefly-looking shards then eventually condensed into a small purple ring.


    Dong Zhou picked up the ring and handed it to her, there is no way to tell what sort of elemental tool it is except the person who has ownership of the ring; the person who killed the beast.


    Fang Qiong took the ring then smiled, before handing it to Qian Fei.


    "Huh?" Qian Fei asked in confusion.


    Qian Fei summoned the elemental weapon, and almost instantly a purple slime-like liquid appears and moulded into a purple patterned crossbow.


    The front of the crossbow shaped like the head of the eagle with three eyes and had an eminent of thunder element within it, such power could easily paralyze it''s opponent or even cause heavy damage to them.


    Qian Fei looked at the weapon and immediately fell in love with the weapon, her specialty was in archery and had always been obsessed with all kinds of long-range weapons.


    Fang Qiong smiled and replied, "If I remember correctly, you don''t have an elemental weapon. I believe this one will do great with you!"


    Xiao Yang nodded in agreement, he knew that his cousin has a great talent in long-ranged weapons.


    "Are you sure?" Qian Fei asked while staring at her eyes.


    -Nod


    "Thank you!" Qian Fei quickly inspected the weapon once again but then said worriedly, "It seems the bolts ain''t included."


    They will only have a couple of days left to rest before the third stage starts, and bolts are extremely sensitive when it comes to elemental weapons, one must have it custom made to match its slotting.


    "That''s easy" Dong Zhou chuckled then quickly activated his ice elemental power.

 49 Mock Tournament Part I

    Before the second stage of the mock exam finally ended with the loud announcement of the elder, Xiao Yang and the rest managed to obtain a sufficient amount of elemental cores to pass the exam.


    Feeling pity and a bit guilty, they decided to leave two A-Class King-Tier elemental cores for the young man who was still unconscious when the exam ended.


    The two cores were just enough for him to pass since the academy would just recognize the two King-Tier cores as a normal A-Class core.


    They decided to leave the King-Tier core and not the normal one because the market price for a King-Tier core is much lesser than the regular core of the same class.


    This was due to the berserk nature of the energy stored in King-Tier cores, making it harder and much more painful for mages to absorb the elemental essence from it.


    Many mages would opt in to absorb a regular type elemental core than a King-Tier since there ain''t any benefit in doing so; maximum points gainable is still ten.


    ...


    As per rules, the students were all given three days to rest after reporting their gains, and the result was quickly announced at the end by the elders.


    Out of the 534 students who participate in the second stage beast hunting exam, only 215 students managed to obtain the required amount of elemental cores at the end. If this was the real final year exam, then at least 319 would have been disqualified by now.


    The result, however, didn''t really come as a surprise, since everyone knew that the elders had put a limit on the number of beasts available to be hunted in the forest, making it more competitive.


    So without wasting any time, the student all went into seclusion to replenish their mana, practice their martial arts or absorb the compatible elemental cores that they might have obtained from the hunting.


    ...


    Like a blink of an eye, three days had quickly past by and the students once again assembled at the assembly ground, before they were all led to an open tournament ground.


    In the tournament ground, there is six separate rectangle battle stage, each battle stage is 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and was levelled a meter above the ground.


    There was at least one S-Class elder standing by each battle stage, their job was to monitor the battle between the students and to immediately stop the fight if the student is threatened with heavy injury by an attack.


    There were also four elders standing by at a raised platform, looking over the entire tournament ground, they all wield the elemental power of healing at B-Class, though they also wield other elemental power at a higher class.


    Standing between those four elders, was an elemental beast that looked to be some sort of large bird but its mouth was like that of a sea horse.


    It doesn''t take a genius to guess that the beast is a healing type, many could tell that the beast was an A-Class.


    Many pondered how the academy had managed to tame the beast. There were no visible slave marks on the beast, meaning that the only possible reason is that the beast has some sort of mutual relationship with the academy.


    Perhaps the beast was born from an elemental beast egg obtained by the academy, such egg would be extremely expensive, especially it''s elemental class and it''s elemental power.


    Many continental nations would rage war to obtain one, but of course, raging war against Thunderbolt Academy would lead to war against all of its backers.


    When Xiao Yang arrived at the tournament ground, he saw many people gazing up at a specific direction with an astonishing expression.


    Xiao Yang cast toward the direction they were all facing and quickly found a large green-jade looking crystal shard floating in the air as if gravity never existed in the first place.


    Xiao Yang quickly recognizes that the green-jade looking crystal shard was a display tablet made from rare and expensive Magnetic-Jade that is mined from the worlds inside the elemental portals.


    The jade tablet had a smooth and polished flat surface on one side, while all the other three were rough like the surface of an old crusty tree.


    On the flat surface of the display, the tablet was embedded with words written in golden thread-like material that could be erased and changed at any time.


    The words were so small that it would have been impossible for a human to see the writings from such a distance, but for some reason, when the students gaze towards the display tablet, their vision suddenly zoomed in, it was as if their eyes were right in front of it.


    On the very top of the tablet displayed the rules;


    I) Killing is prohibited.


    II) The use of Talisman is prohibited.


    III) Mages who are depleted of mana will automatically lose the next round.


    IV) Martial Arts that could damage or cripple elemental souls are prohibited.


    V) No fighting is allowed after the battle is announced to have ended.


    \u003cThose Who Failed To Follow The Rule Will Subject To Heavy Punishment!\u003e


    The part below the rules is a leaderboard showcasing the number reference of the student along with their current rank, as well as the current battle that is taking place, but currently, it''s all empty.


    Every student has received an identification badge at the beginning of the year, each badge has a unique identification number. This is anonymous to the others except for the elders of the academy.


    As a result, many students decided to wear a mask to hide their identity for unknown reasons, the elders didn''t care about it since the end result will be the same.

 50 Mock Tournament Part II

    Everyone managed to quickly find a seat among the spectator areas and a couple of minutes later, the displayed tablet suddenly changed;


    [Combat Type Mages:]


    #PLATFORM 1: Number 127 VS Number 238


    #PLATFORM 2: Number 483 Vs Number 328


    #PLATFORM 3: Number 263 Vs Number 125


    [Support Type Mages]


    #PLATFORM 4: Number 234 VS Number 435


    #PLATFORM 5: Number 464 Vs Number 444


    #PLATFORM 6: Number 124 Vs Number 123


    The students who are had there number on displayed momentarily stood up and headed to the there designated platform.


    Cheers momentarily exploded out among the crowds after some recognise the big shots among the combatant or their friends.


    Xiao Yang and the rest just sat together among the crowds, they too were excited to witness the battle, but at the same time, they also anxious to find out who they will be fighting themselves.


    So was everyone among the crowds, some were even praying to heaven so that they don''t meet any strong opponents or someone who has a powerful elementary weapon.


    They knew that it was futile and was now all down to their luck, the system automatically picks the combatants using a random and none biased method.


    The first few matches quickly came to an end with people getting completely driven out of the match or getting their powers outmatched by those who wielded powerful elementary weapons.


    Majority of the people who opt into using elementary weapon wore a mask to cover their face, even thou everyone knew that elementary tools are allowed, many still berate the users for being shameless.


    Of course, there was a few who didn''t wear a mask but still opt into using their elementary tools, one such person was Prince Xia. Who would dare to offend him and effectively offending a Continental-Level-Nation?


    ''Shrouded-Heart!'' Xiao Yang suddenly became stunned when he gazes toward a particular platform and recognised the martial art that one of the combatants used.


    The combatant who used the martial art ''Shrouded Art'' was a teenage girl who was around 16 to17 years old.


    Xiao Yang was shocked that she was able to learn and utilize martial art at such a young age with little flaw to be seen.


    Shrouded-Heart is a C-Class martial art that causes the opponent to lose the will to fight as well as the possibility to make the opponent get distracted by their own heart demon. Shrouded-Heart is a martial art that is very hard to learn and only the most talented people could comprehend it, the majority of such are normally at the age of 30 years old.


    The young teenage boy who was her opponent started the match feeling optimistic but soon as time went by, his face slowly turned to a nervous and worrying face.


    He felt somehow that his opponent was unbeatable, and started to quickly lose confidence in winning the battle. In the end, he quickly lost his will to fight and unknowingly dropped his sword.


    ''She should have no problem in winning against opponents that is at the same or lower class than her unless her opponent has a very strong will.'' Xiao Yang inwardly praised her.


    ...


    The tournament quickly went on until finally one of the people from their group was called out, Dong Zhou.


    Dong Zhou had been intently watching the matches and at the same time preparing himself to be called out to the match at any time. His face''s expression showed that he was confident in winning the match even before seeing his opponent.


    At the start when they both came onto the platform, Dong Zhou didn''t summon his elemental weapon wanting to win the match without having to use any weapons, but he had to change his mind when his opponent summoned a giant A-Class elemental hammer.


    Dong Zhou''s opponent was a young man who introduced himself as ''Tank'', he has a well-built body, but despite that, he still had to carry the giant hammer with both of his hands. The giant A-Class elemental hammer the man is holding has a giant turtle symbol embedded on the two sides of the hammer.


    The match between Dong Zhou and Tank had quickly drawn the attention among the crowd''s thanks to Dong Zhou''s majestic looks as well as the curiosity of the two A-Class elemental weaponry.


    With their weapons drawn, Dong Zhou decided to remain positioned and allowed his opponent to make the first move instead. Whether it was an act of courtesy or genuine tactics, no one knows.


    Tank began to storm forward with his heavy hammer, his every step echoed like the sound of a beating drum.


    Just five metres away from each other, Tank suddenly slammed the hammer down towards the ground. Upon contact with the ground, the two turtle symbols that were embedded onto the surface of the hammer suddenly light up with a green glow, causing an invisible shock wave with a radius of 10 metres to break out.


    The crowd who was watching Tank swinging the hammer down to the ground was confused, they thought that something was going to happen but yet there didn''t seem to be any further explosion or affects.


    They became more confused when they saw Dong Zhou''s face suddenly changed, his body started to vibrate.


    ''Why does my body suddenly feel so heavy?'' Dong Zhou felt like his body was now twice the weight than before, he thought that gravity suddenly doubled but what he didn''t know was that it was only a mere illusion caused by the A-Class hammer.