Zu An was unfazed by the threat. Instead of complying, he too stretched out his hand and demanded, “Hand over all of your ki stones, and I’ll treat it as if nothing happened at all.”

Man Yu lost his temper. “Brat, you’re asking for it!” He raised his mortar-sized fist and sent it flying toward Zu An’s face with ferocious speed and accuracy. This was the move that he had used to subjugate countless students who refused to obey him. One strike was all it took to erase every shred of confidence of his victim.

You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 177 Rage points!

Zu An was a little dissatisfied. The fatty seemed furious enough, but the Rage points he provided did not match up to his appearance. He raised a hand calmly and stopped the fatty’s punch with ease.

Man Yu gasped in utter horror. He tried frantically to retract his fist, but it simply wouldn’t move.

Zu An sighed deeply. “I asked you nicely, but you just wouldn’t listen. Must things really come to this point? Are you finally willing to hand over your ki stones now?”

His cultivation had already reached the third rank. In terms of strength, he was as powerful as eighty-eight adult men combined. This fatty was lower second rank at most, since he’d been sent to the Yellow class. There was no way this fatty could ever be a match for him.

Man Yu was unwilling to concede defeat. He sent his other fist hurtling toward Zu An, but again, it was stopped with extreme ease.

It seemed the fatty was unwilling to submit. Zu An had to rectify the situation. He tightened his grip around his fist.

“Ouch ouch ouch! Let go, let go!” Man Yu had his eyes squeezed shut in pain, and tears were about to leak out. He had not expected to be overpowered by this skinny monkey.

You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 66 Rage points!

“Cut the crap and hand your ki stones over!” Zu An’s tone was menacing. He tightened his grip further.

“I’ll hand it over, I’ll hand it over…” Man Yu could almost hear his finger bones creaking. He used his gaze to indicate the pouch hanging at his waist. “It’s there!”

Worried that there was some sort of mechanism hidden in the pouch, Zu An released Man Yu’s hand warily and instructed, “Take it out and hand it over to me.”

Man Yu quickly pulled out his pouch and poured out the ki stones inside. As he placed them one by one into Zu An’s hand, the fat hanging on his cheeks began to tremble.

You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 9 rage points! … 9… 9… 9…

“Huh? Only 7 ki stones?” Zu An could not hide his disappointment. He had dreamed of making a huge killing out of this, but who would have expected this bully to be so incompetent?

“I only managed to gather this many. As you know, very few cultivation resources are allocated to those in our class! This is all I managed to collect from those I can handle!” Man Yu explained anxiously.

“What about the ones you collected before?” Zu An demanded.

You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 666 Rage points!

Are you trying to suck me dry?!

Man Yu’s expression turned indignant as he exclaimed, “I really don’t have anything else. Most of what we collect needs to be submitted upward! Why don’t I just give you 2 ki stones and be friends with one another? I promise that I won’t report this matter upwards. Otherwise, once Boss Ye learns about it, you’ll be in deep trouble!”

“Oho, you’ve even managed to form a supply chain out of this trade?” Zu An was amused. “Who’s the Boss Ye you’re referring to?”

“Ye Chenliang from Third Grade Earth class, cultivation of upper third rank. A mere First Grade Yellow class student like you won’t be a match for him at all!” Man Yu sneered coldly.

Zu An’s forehead creased in a frown. That fellow is stronger than me. This is really a bit troublesome.

Noticing Zu An’s reaction, Man Yu laughed heartily. “Are you finally getting scared now? If you’re scared, you better hand everything over to me now!”

This was how human relationships worked. As soon as Man Yu noticed Zu An’s hesitation, he forgot all about his earlier promise of giving him 2 ki stones and instead demanded everything back.

“You sure talk a hell load of nonsense!” Zu An lost his patience and slapped Man Yu in the face, causing the latter’s consciousness to flicker for an instant. He stowed his newly-acquired ki stones away. “I’ll be taking all of these. Tell your Boss Ye to come and look for me.”

“You skwunk! You’ll wegwet it!”

“Heh, air is leaking out of your broken tooth. I suggest you stop speaking.”

…

You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 666 Rage points!

Zu An returned to the classroom, and saw Wei Suo looking around nervously. As soon as the latter saw him, he rushed over. “How is it? Are you fine?”

Zu An burst into laughter. “If you’re really that concerned, why didn’t you follow me into the forest to back me up?”

Wei Suo shrugged and said, “Given how weak I am, I would only have dragged you down if I had gone with you. If I had gotten caught and was used as a hostage, you’d have had to waste your energy trying to rescue me.”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you’re a beautiful woman. Why would I bother rescuing you?” Despite that damning statement, he still tossed a ki stone over to him.

“T-this…” Wei Suo stared at the ki stone in his hand in bewilderment. “Where did you get it from?”

“That darned fatty appreciated how handsome I was and gave it to me,” Zu An replied casually.

“How is that possible?” Wei Suo exclaimed. “That fatty has someone backing him. You need to be careful of him!”

Zu An didn’t think much of it. “Backing? Is his backing bigger than the Brightmoon Duke?” Even though he wasn’t highly-regarded in the Chu clan, it was not something privy to outsiders. It would be a waste if he didn’t use this card well.

“Indeed,” Wei Suo nodded in agreement. “Marrying the First Miss of the Chu clan has really catapulted you up to the moon.”

After returning to his seat, Zu An asked Wei Suo in a hushed tone, “How do we use ki stones?”

Wei Suo was intrigued to hear that question. He hadn’t expected Zu An to be clueless about something that was so common sense. Nevertheless, he still explained it patiently. “Place the ki stone on your palm and drive your cultivation technique accordingly. Absorb the ki from the stone to nourish your body.”

Zu An racked his mind, and realized that the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra didn’t contain any techniques that allowed him to directly absorb ki. Unwilling to give up, he placed a ki stone on his palm and willed his body to absorb the ki. Nothing happened.

He recalled that the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra had been described as an alternative route to cultivation. Instead of the conventional method of absorbing ki to temper one’s body, it relied on sustaining injuries to grow stronger.

Frustration grew within Zu An. If he’d had a choice before, he would surely have switched out this masochistic cultivation technique for a different one as soon as an opportunity arose. However, his life-and-death fight with Pei Mianman the night before had shown him the true prowess of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra.

As they had fought, he had found himself growing stronger and stronger, up to the point where his strength had rivalled hers. On top of that, he realized that for every cultivation rank he mastered, he would gain a phoenix hatchling imprint. No matter how foolish he was, it was apparent to him that this technique possessed extraordinary prowess. It would be a waste to give up on it.

This meant that ki stones were completely useless to him. Zu An took some time to consider this issue before nudging the fellow seated beside him. “Hey, lad. You want to buy my ki stones?”

Wei Suo’s eyes lit up. “How many do you have?”

“I have 7 of them,” Zu An replied. If he could sell them for 10 gold taels each, and factoring in the silver taels that he had saved up thus far, he would be able to pay off his debt of a thousand silver taels.

Of course, he was reluctant to fork out his own money to repay the debt of that dead idiot, but the mysterious woman in the gazebo had warned him that really bad things would happen if he were to break a contract. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

He wondered if he would get an opportunity to see her again. Should I find some time to drop by the gazebo?

“How much are you going to sell them for?” Wei Suo asked.

Zu An wrapped his arm around Wei Suo’s shoulders as he said, “You mentioned earlier that hardly anyone would sell ki stones, making it an invaluable resource. Since we’re brothers, I shan’t take advantage of you. 11 gold taels each. I’ll even give you a special discount and round it down. 75 gold taels!”

Wei Suo blinked his eyes. “I know that I’m not very smart, but you shouldn’t try to fool me either. Shouldn’t it be 70 gold taels after rounding down?”

Zu An grunted in displeasure. “If that’s the case, I would have just asked for 10 gold taels each! 75 gold taels is the lowest I can go, and that’s after factoring in our friendship as well!” Zu An passed the bag of the ki stones over. “Here, take the ki stones and give me my money.”

Wei Suo replied bitterly, “I don’t have that much money.”

Zu An frowned. “How much do you have then?”

Wei Suo flipped through his pockets, then turned his large, innocent eyes toward Zu An. “I have 54 silver taels.”

Zu An nearly erupted there and then. “If you can’t afford it, why in the bloody world did you ask for the price?”

“Can’t I ask for the sake of it?” Wei Suo replied with a shrug.

Zu An’s face darkened. He was done with talking. He pressed Wei Suo down under the desk and began hitting him.

“Hey, didn’t you say that we’re brothers?!”

“It was a lie.”

…

The next lesson was a military strategy lesson conducted by a teacher from the Military Department.

“To win without a fight, leaving the soldiers completely unharmed, that’s the goal of a true general. Compliments! Compliments! Through supporting one another through tough times, a sense of camaraderie and a relationship of mutual interest can be formed. Common enemies will be fought down together, and common interests shall be pursued in cooperation. This is the way to winning without losing a single soldier; an offense without a battering ram; a defense without a moat…

“When a hawk strikes, it pulls in its wings and lies low first. When a ferocious beast assaults, it lowers its posture and prowls warily first. When a true sage moves, it should display the gullibility of a fool…”[1]

Once again, Zu An found himself utterly lost. It was almost as if a fly was buzzing around his ears, leaving him so annoyed that he was on the verge of exploding. He couldn’t accept that he had to go to school again after transmigrating, and be forced to sit through such torturous lessons.

He felt that he was wasting his life away. It was already bad enough that he’d wasted his previous life. Was he going to squander this life away on useless nonsense like this as well?

For a moment, the thought of standing up and walking out crossed his mind. However, the teacher standing before him possessed a cultivation of upper third rank, not to mention he was an official of the royal court as well. It was best for him to keep a low profile.

Yup. It’s not too late for me to run away after his lesson too.

Despite Zu An’s prayers, this lesson didn’t pass by in a flash. It dragged on and on, a long and gruelling ordeal. By the time the class was over, he was on the verge of going crazy.

“This won’t do! I must leave this place!” With a darkened face, Zu An rose and stormed out.

Wei Suo quickly caught up with him and spoke with a fawning smile. “Are you heading to the canteen to have your meal? Let’s go together. I’ll treat you!” It was apparent that the earlier beating had been extremely effective in winning him over.

His comment reminded Zu An that it was already the afternoon. If he left right now, he would still have to eat lunch and waste his precious money on buying a meal! It seemed much better to eat in the academy first before leaving.

As they walked, Zu An suddenly remembered Old Mi’s instructions. If he were to leave school without making any progress on his mission, that fellow wouldn’t let him off the hook easily. He turned to Wei Suo. “Speaking of which, given how well-connected you are in this school, do you happen to know a person named Wei Hongde?”

“Of course, he’s my older brother! Do you know him?” Wei Suo asked curiously.

“Your older brother?” Zu An narrowed his eyes doubtfully. Wow, this sure is a coincidence. “But your names don’t sound alike to one another.”[2]

“Who says that brothers need to have similar names?” Wei Suo grumbled. “My older brother’s name sounds so old-fashioned, unlike mine. Wei Suo, Wei Suo; don’t you think my name sounds awe-inspiring?

Zu An stifled his laughter. “Yes yes yes, your name sounds much cooler. Is your older brother in school right now?”

“He is. His talent is much better than mine, so he’s currently in Grade Three Earth class.” Envy surfaced in Wei Suo’s eyes.

“What does your family do?” Zu An needed to know more. He couldn’t figure out why Old Mi wanted him to get close to Wei Hongde.

“My father used to work for the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, but a few years ago, he chose to move to Brightmoon City for his retirement. Of course, we can’t compete with your Chu clan,” Wei Suo replied.

Chamberlain of Palace Revenue?

Based on what he knew, the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue was one of the Nine Ministers, governing the emperor’s treasure vault. Most of those working for him were the trusted eunuchs and servants of the emperor. What does Old Mi intend to do by having me get close to this Wei Hongde?

A harsh cry echoed through the air. “Boss Ye, that’s the fellow who stole our ki stones!”

Sensing what was coming, Wei Suo bounded to one side like a frightened rabbit, as if disavowing any relationship he might have had with Zu An.

1. This is an excerpt from Six Secret Strategic Teachings, Military Secret, attributed to Jiang Ziya.

2. Wei Hongde sounds like an upright name whereas Wei Suo has connotations of being a despicable person.