Book 2: Studying for the Rise to Prominence of the Human Race – Chapter 11: Stormwind Scorpion 1
“AHHHH!”
A piercing cry cut through the sky.
Bai Yihong had never imaged that Su Chen would dare make a move against him. However, this person was not all talk. The moment his finger broke, he jabbed the fan in his other hand towards Su Chen.
Su Chen didn’t retaliate, instead choosing to apply layers of defensive barriers to protect himself.
The folding fan slammed into them, releasing brilliant sparks.
He was just about to launch another attack when a voice came from the sky. “Stay your hand! Battling in the Hidden Dragon Institute is forbidden!”
The pain from his finger had caused Bai Yihong to lose all rationality. How could he pay any heed to the Institute’s rules? He yelled, “You dare injure me? I’ll kill you!”
The barriers protecting Su Chen were destroyed in that moment. Bai Yihong swept his fan out in front of him, striking at Su Chen.
Su Chen did not try to resist. He stood there silently, allowing the attack to reach him.
“How presumptuous!” The voice from earlier snorted angrily.
His voice was like a clap of thunder, exploding with a sudden bang.
The brilliant curtain of light popped like a bubble, leaving behind a rainbow-like light lingering in the air.
Countless motes of rainbow-colored lights floated in midair, shining with a captivating, dazzling luster.
Bai Yihong was sent flying as he spit out a mouthful of blood.
His attack was forcefully shattered and he was injured by the rebound of his Origin Power.
The voice resounded. “If I tell you to stay your hand, you stay your hand. You dared to ignore my direct command; are you courting death? The Hidden Dragon Institute doesn’t allow personal battles. You took the initiative to attack, so you will be fined 10 contribution points. You ignored my commands, so you will be fined an additional 20 contribution points as well as a day of confinement!”
“What?” Bai Yihong was stunned. He pointed at Su Chen. “What about him? Why doesn’t he receive any punishment?”
“I didn’t see him make a move against you. All I saw was you attacking him. Are you telling me I’m wrong?”
“He didn’t make a move!?” Bai Yihong yelled angrily. “He was the one that made a move first. He broke my finger!”
“From what I saw, you attacked him several times over, ignoring my commands in the meantime. Are you sure you didn’t break your finger while attacking him? You’re useless.”
Bai Yihong was enraged. He wanted to continue arguing, but a gust of wind appeared. From it a hand reached out and grabbed him. He was pulled up into the air and moments later dropped into confinement.
Su Chen expressed his gratitude to the sky. “Thank you, Senior, for your fair judgment of the situation.”
The voice spoke into Su Chen’s year, “Hmph, take it easy next time. I helped you this time for Hanyan’s sake, but this was the only time.”
With a gentle smile on his face, Su Chen replied, “Many thanks. If I caused you any trouble, you may take 10 of my contribution points as well.”
When he had made his move, Su Chen already considered those 10 contribution points lost.
During his three excursions to the Scarlet Mountain Range he had learned an important principle: as long as he had the ability to receive punishment, some breaches of regulation were worth committing.
Since the Hidden Dragon Institute punished students by taking away contribution points, all he needed to do was earn more than he lost.
“Hehe, such a small matter poses no trouble for me.” The personal instructor didn’t take away his contribution points. “This brat won’t leave Hanyan alone. I’m sick of him and merely borrowed your hand to teach him a lesson, hehe.”
It seemed the old man had been searching for a reason to deal with this guy, who was always flirting with his disciple, for quite some time now.
The old man disappeared in a fit of strange laughter.
However, Su Chen understood full well there was nothing in the Institute that could escape the eyes of people like the old man. After all, they possessed large quantities of Origin Energy, and they could use the formations in the Institute to assist them.
Su Chen was just about to leave when he saw Bai Yihong’s servant still loitering.
Bai Yihong was sent into confinement, but his malicious servant seemed to have gone unpunished.
When Su Chen thought about how this servant had incited everything, anger arose in his heart.
The servant knew something bad was about to happen. He attempted to flee with all his might.
Su Chen harrumphed. “Did I say you could go?”
He waved his sleeve. Numerous air tentacles appeared and bound the servant up. Su Chen casually struck out, instantly knocking the servant out. He wasn’t a student of the Hidden Dragon Institute, so the Institute’s rules didn’t apply to him.
He took the servant with him back to his dorm. When Iron Cliff saw Su Chen had brought a person back with him, he was shocked. “Who is this guy?”
“I don’t know, and it’s not important,” Su Chen carelessly replied. “Force that vial of medicine I left on the table down his throat.”
“That bottle of Tenacity Medicine? Wasn’t it a failure?”
“That’s why I’m letting him drink it. He will help me determine where the problem lies.”
“Understood.” Iron Cliff grabbed the servant by his collar and dragged him to the table.
Tenacity Medicine was a medicine that was meant to toughen one’s skin. It was medicine that could be used to supplement the cultivation of a body refinement technique. It was considered a benchmark entry-level alchemist medicine. That was also to say that those who could successfully refine such a medicine were considered official alchemists.
Su Chen had been studying alchemy for several months, and he possessed some innate talent for the field. With the support of the Immortal Temple, his improvements were lightning-fast.
But even so, the Tenacity Medicine’s complex recipe and its elaborate concoction method stumped Su Chen.
To create medicines in the Primordial Continent, you needed to do more than to toss a bunch of ingredients together. Only the lowest-level medicines were concocted in this fashion.
High-quality medicines all had their own methods of concoction. A constant stream of Origin Energy was usually necessary to stimulate the medicinal power and blend the components together. The reactions had to be carefully controlled and timed to produce a complete medicine.
Three different methods were needed to balance and blend the Tenacity Medicine properly. Any discrepancies would result in failure. The most frustrating was that it was often hard to pinpoint at which stage failure had occurred.
If someone could cooperate with him, helping him better understand the medicinal properties, he might be able to discover at which point during the process he made a mistake.
Su Chen was pondering on where he would find such a person, when this servant presented himself to him.
“He’s ingested the medicine.” Iron Cliff walked over to Su Chen and informed him. “He’s currently in the corner screaming and whining about something. He says he is someone from the Divine Wind Mountain’s Chang Clan and that we’ll regret this later. Master……”
Su Chen gently laughed. “Chang Clan? Not the Bai Clan? What, are you scared?”
“No,” Iron Cliff replied confidently. “My life is master’s. I’ll do whatever master tells me to do. I’m just worried about master; after all, Bloodline Nobility Clans aren’t easily provoked.”
“Not easily provoked?” Su Chen muttered in a low voice.
He was reminded of Bai Yihong’s bossy, high-and-mighty attitude.
People like him and encounters like this were extremely common in this world.
Su Chen’s expression sank slightly, then he said, “Iron Cliff, I’ll be searching for a personal instructor.”
Iron Cliff’s eyes lit up. “You want to find a personal instructor? Good plan! With the support of a personal instructor, even Bloodline Nobility Clans can’t afford to provoke you lightly. Right, master, who’s the Senior you want as your personal instructor?”
Su Chen gently knitted his eyebrows. The reason he wanted a personal instructor wasn’t because he needed a backer.
In the end, he told Iron Cliff, “The personal instructor I want is called Shi Kaihuang.”