Era of Mist

The shorty’s flying kick, her legs striking like a coiled snake, seemed to flash before his eyes again. She hadn’t been throwing her life away in despair; rather, she had been unleashing all her strength, skill, wisdom, and strategy until the very last moment. Even with only her legs left, she had still perfectly embodied the essence of the Snake Form Fist—a brilliant display of feints and reality, bluffs and true strikes.

No, it was even stronger, even more formidable than her previous Snake Form!

The Snake Form is treacherous, but it’s easy to get trapped in its cunning and lose one’s drive. In that final moment, however, the shorty had fused the ferocious courage of a Tiger Form into her Snake Form—a commitment to advance with no retreat, to face death with no hope of survival.

That was no longer just the Snake Form.

The shorty’s final flurry of kicks was no longer that of a venomous snake, slithering on the ground, hiding in the woods, and waiting for an opportunity in the mountains and marshes. It was a Jiao—a flood dragon, soaring through the air, fierce and deadly venomous!

’That shorty was really something else.’ Thinking about it, her skills weren’t that much higher than her opponents’. The reason she could score so many instant kills was that her fighting style was one of "kill in an instant or be killed in an instant." But it wasn’t just her fighting technique that was strong; it was her unyielding fighting spirit—her refusal to retreat or give up, no matter the time or situation—that was her greatest strength.

A snake transforms into a Jiao after three hundred years.

’That must be what it’s like.’

Shi Tiexin could truly feel the spirit of the shorty’s martial art, and his heart seemed to resonate with it. The brush in his hand moved like a dancing dragon, but he no longer saw the words. ’It doesn’t matter if I place or get a reward. Since I’ve entered this competition, I have to give it my absolute best.’

’Just like that shorty, Shi Yu Lei. As long as I live, I will never stop striving!’

SWISH. With the final stroke finished, Shi Tiexin didn’t even glance at his own work. He simply turned and walked away. A staff member stared blankly at the calligraphy; anyone working here had a discerning eye. By the time he thought to look for Shi Tiexin again, he was already gone.

Leaving the Cultural Affairs office, he headed straight for the sky-rail station. Looking at the sun in the sky, Shi Tiexin’s thoughts were crystal clear.

’Go back, sleep, cultivate, then go take the qualification test!’

A little after four in the afternoon, Shi Tiexin returned to the Mu Yuan District. True to his word, Little Dog Si Chongtian had actually come to the entrance of the Orphanage tower to wait for him.

Shi Tiexin hadn’t told Big Baldy.

As the Iron Tyrant, it was easy enough for him to arrange a room for Little Dog. Besides, given Little Dog’s personality, he probably wouldn’t appreciate Big Baldy worshiping him like a god. If Big Baldy’s bootlicking got too out of hand, it might just end up annoying Little Dog.

So, Shi Tiexin decided to handle it himself. He’d let him stay here for a couple of days and then see if he could help Big Baldy make a connection.

But all that was secondary. After settling Little Dog in, Shi Tiexin maintained his cool and aloof Big Brother Tie persona, returned to his room, and fell into a deep sleep the moment he lay on his bed.

In his dreams, the Champion Scholar Stone’s grand classroom appeared as scheduled.

His Math and Rhetoric skills were both at the Perfect level, but they hadn’t broken through to the second tier, stuck at a point with no room for advancement. The Champion Scholar Stone was intelligent in how it allocated points, and knowing what Shi Tiexin wanted, it filled his dreams all night with content from the first tier of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Natural History.

At ten P.M., Shi Tiexin opened his eyes, once again marveling at how incredibly proficient the Champion Scholar Stone was at the sciences.

POP, POP, POP. The golden stars were never absent, appearing every time he woke from his dreams. There were fewer stars this time, but Shi Tiexin was actually happier. Today, the other four subjects had finally reached the Profound limit!

CRACKLE! A golden aura flared up as all four progress bars simultaneously shot up to Profound 99.

Natural History had benefited from Little Dog’s contribution, but the three science subjects—Physics, Chemistry, and Biology—were purely the result of the Champion Scholar Stone’s solid, hard-earned skill.

’Amazing!’

’Worthy of the First Guard Champion Scholar!’

’Although these subjects were inherently simpler than Math and Rhetoric, reaching the Profound limit in them was still an extraordinary feat.’

Of course, he set those marvels aside for the moment.

Shi Tiexin looked at the four progress bars, his spirits soaring.

It was like the clouds parting to reveal the moon; things were so difficult before breaking through the bottleneck, but now everything was going smoothly. Following his Rhetoric skill reaching Perfect in the afternoon, all four major subjects had now reached their limit in the evening, lined up neatly for him to choose from.

’Looking at the twenty-five points of Celestial Golden Light Melting Fluid from the award certificate, which subject should I spend these points on?’

’Before, I had no choice. I’d just max out whichever one came first, and I was happy just to have one at its limit.’

’Now that I have so many at the limit, I’m finding it hard to choose. Suddenly, the Celestial Golden Light doesn’t feel like enough, and I’m caught in a dilemma.’

’Different subjects increase different attributes, after all.’

’No, I can’t make a rash decision.’ Shi Tiexin slapped his thigh and decided to ask someone in the know. Before, he had been the most knowledgeable person in the entire Orphanage; most of the other orphans didn’t even know the first thing about aura. But now? A fresh-faced kid had delivered himself right to his doorstep. Wasn’t he the perfect person to ask for advice?

Shi Tiexin left his room and stomped off to find Si Chongtian.

When he found Si Chongtian, the boy was looking this way and that, seeming to find everything interesting.

"Come on, I need to ask you something." Shi Tiexin quickly pulled Si Chongtian back to his room, closed the door and windows to block out the sound, and hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Xiaosi, there’s something that’s a bit difficult to bring up, but I have to ask you about it now. If you find it too offensive, you don’t have to answer."

Little Dog grew curious. "What is it?"

’Difficult to bring up?’

’Offensive?’

All the hair on Little Dog’s body stood on end, and he shook his head so hard it looked like a rattle. "No, no, no, Big Brother Tie, I’m not gay! Definitely not gay! I only came back with you to see what your living situation is like! I don’t have... *those* kinds of intentions! Please, don’t misunderstand!"

’Gay?’

"I wasn’t fucking asking you about that!" Shi Tiexin almost smashed a fist into the boy’s forehead. But then he remembered this "puppy" was probably even stronger than Gao Shaoling, so he managed to hold the punch back.

Shi Tiexin was in no mood to beat around the bush. He got straight to the point. "I just want to know, do the Six Basic Heart Techniques have any special effects when you cultivate them to the very end? Of course, I know this is a cultivation secret, so I’ll understand if you’re not comfortable sharing."

To Shi Tiexin, any accurate piece of information about cultivation was incredibly precious—not something one would share for free, in his opinion. At least in the Orphanage, no one would ever do such a thing.

But Little Dog didn’t seem to care at all.

"Oh, so that’s what you were asking! There’s nothing inconvenient about sharing that." Hearing it wasn’t a question about his orientation, Si Chongtian let out a huge sigh of relief and started talking a mile a minute. "Big Brother Tie, the Six Basic Heart Techniques really do fundamentally improve a Cultivator. This improvement is critical, very effective, and it will have a long-term impact on the cultivation of all future advanced heart techniques. It’s a priceless treasure, a now-or-never opportunity."