"Here, we have more wounded here!"

"Gods damn it! Why didn't anyone tell me about this!?"

"Civilization!"

Sun Fang's roar almost drowned the panic of the members of the Confederation as his lungs finally felt the fresh air of the outdoors. Most of team Champion knew they had only been there for less than 6 hours, but it truly felt like they had been stuck there for a week.

"Are any of you injured?"

One of the members of the Confederation then approached them, checking on them one by one. Yun Hao was going to say that it was alright and none of them were injured, but the man suddenly stopped in front of him and looked into his eye.

"This one! Qi exhaustion!"

"...Me?"

Yun Hao could not help but look at his teammates as soon as the man pointed at him. Jia Ning and Sun Fang looked somewhat surprised, Jia Su, however, only nodded his head.

"You've been generously using your qi since the start, Yun Hao," Jia Su mentioned, "We've been trying to warn you but you wouldn't seem to listen."

"But I feel fine?" Yun Hao blinked a couple of times as he looked at his hand-- which was now trembling erratically, "W... what?"

And as soon as he realized that, a heavy pressure slowly emerged from his stomach, slowly crawling all the way towards every part of his body. Although it wasn't as painful as when he had his meridians unlocked, it was still enough to make Yun Hao scream.

"It's probably adrenaline," Jia Su let out a short sigh, "You'll be fine, think of it as just me taking revenge on you."

"T... that was Sun Fang's idea."-- was what Yun Hao said as he was dragged away in a stretcher. Jia Su's head slowly turned towards Sun Fang, who was now trying to avoid his eyes as hard as possible. But after a few seconds, he let out another scream.

"Your sister was also in on it! She was the first to agree!"

"N... no!" Jia Ning quickly waved her hand, "B... but it was a solid plan, though."

"You guys!"

Jia Su hoped that what happened would never resurface again. But alas, everything was recorded live through his camera.

***

"She... she wasn't involved in this! She was just a normal human!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have involved her. Time to wake up, Yun Feng. You do not belong in this world."

Yun Hao could once again feel himself trapped inside the trunk of a car, and the only thing he could do was listen as the people outside talk.

"We... we had a family."

"A family? With a normal human and that... that thing? You escaped from us... to live in a lie?"

"He is my son! He has a name, it's--"

"--Yun Hao."

"Ha?"

Yun Hao doesn't know how many times it has been, but ever since he became a cultivator, he had always been waking up looking at an unfamiliar ceiling-- this time, he found himself inside what seemed to be a room in a hospital.

But his dream… he had been dreaming of that memory a lot lately.

Yun Hao struggled to get up as the weight of his body seemed to have tripled itself. But still, even with his whole body trembling, he managed to pull himself up. He immediately felt all of his blood go up, instantly covering his whole head with nausea.

If it wasn't for the old man standing on the corner of the room, staring at him like some kind of sleep paralysis demon.

If he wasn't mistaken, this old man was the cultivator in charge of the Treasure Hunt.

"Yun Hao."

And seeing as he uttered his name, he was the one who woke him up from his state of unconsciousness, "That is your name, correct?"

"...Yes?"

Yun Hao could only furrow his eyebrows from confusion as the old man started approaching him. Just what exactly did this old man need from him? However, Yun Hao's eyes quickly opened wide as soon as he saw a thing in the old man's hands.

"That's…" Yun Hao quickly recognized it-- it was the Beast Core he got from killing the grey-claw mole. He instantly pocketed it when he found it; he was going to try and duplicate it first, before giving it to Jia Su, who valiantly almost sacrificed his life in order for them to kill the grey-claw.

"Oh, this?" The old man let out a slight chuckle, "You don't have to worry."

The old man then lightly threw the beast core to Yun Hao, "You got it fair and square from a treasure hunt, the Confederation won't be confiscating it. I just took it so the other staff won't be tempted to steal it. But I must say, mighty impressive for a Mortal realm cultivator to kill a level 3 beast."

"...I didn't kill it alone."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," the old man then let out a long and deep sigh, "I came here to express my gratitude."

"Gratitude for what?"

"I saw the video. Your team managed to eliminate 2 grey-claws, as well as a good number of giant ants," the old man muttered, "You prevented more deaths by doing so, which is probably why I only received light punishment from the Confederation."

"I… see."

Although Yun Hao appreciates the act, as soon as he found out that it was this old man's fault that they almost died in the first place, he could not help but let out a sigh and just shake his head.

"I only did what I had to do to survive," Yun Hao muttered, "If there is anyone to thank, then it should be the guy with the green hair, Jia Su."

"I saw the video," the old man once again repeated his words, "Without you there, they would have died within an hour."

"..."

"As thanks, you can have that," the old man said as he pointed at the desk beside Yun Hao's bed.

"!!!"

Yun Hao almost jumped in shock as he saw a shining plant just casually sitting on a vase beside him. Isn't this… the Glass Moringa? He then once again looked at the old man to confirm, only to see him nodding his head.

"Please also tell my thanks to the green-haired kid," the old man then once again bowed, before casually stepping out of the room.

"Huh." Maybe the old man wasn't that bad at all, Yun Hao thought. He had always imagined that most cultivators were arrogant pieces of shit that always wanted to use people to their own advantage, making sure to cripple someone daily; but it would seem some were alright.

Yun Hao then once again looked at the Glass Moringa, completely perplexed as to what he was going to do with it. He had a prior deal that was forced upon him by the Head of the Song family to give any treasure he got from the hunt… but technically, this was given to him.

"..." Yun Hao then quickly shook his head from the thought. Song Chao was definitely part of the cultivators who cripple someone daily. He also had a strange anger towards him; perhaps it wasn't wise to agitate him once more.

But there was one thing he could do-- Yun Hao let out a short smile as he looked at the shiny plant. It was time to duplicate a tre--

"Yo, giraffe. You alive?"

Yun Hao's thoughts were instantly disrupted as soon as Sun Fang's voice entered his ears. He was going to retort, but he just didn't feel like it now.

"How are you feeling, Yun Hao?" Jia Ning then added as she entered the room. And after a few more steps, she let out a small chuckle, "This is the 2nd time we're visiting you in a hospital bed. We might get used to this."

"Don't jinx it," Yun Hao quickly shook his head, "Why didn't anyone tell me I was draining my qi too much?"

"...We all told you," Jia Ning could only sigh as she heard Yun Hao's words, "And… and about that. We… we--"

"We think you should go to school, Yun Hao," Jia Su then followed as he stepped inside and closed the door, "For all of our sakes."

"...School?"

Yun Hao blinked his eyes a couple of times as his eyes scanned his teammates.

"Yes," Jia Su nodded his head, "You are the leader of team Champion, Yun Hao. If you fall during battle, we'll all fall."

"That…"

In truth, Yun Hao thought that team Champion would only be a one time thing, after that, he would be doing his own thing. He had always been alone in doing things and never worked in a team before this.

But he would be lying if he said that it wasn't nice to have someone to rely on for once.

"There are a lot of things you could learn from the internet," Jia Su followed, "But this isn't one of-- is that the Glass Moringa!?"

"...Yes, the cultivator in charge gave it to me."

"I see," Jia Su nodded, but after a few seconds, he cleared his throat, "A… anyway, back to the topic at hand. We could have eliminated the giant ants without relying on the grey-claw, but you were wasting too much of your qi because you do not know how to control it properly."

"..."

"W… we really think you should come attend the academy with us, Yun Hao."

"Or not, you'll only cause trouble in Echo Hills anyway."

"You're the one who suggested this, Sun Fang."

"This man speaks the bullshit!"

Yun Hao could only once again look at his teammates as he tried hard to think on their words. Enroll in another school when he just left that toxic environment behind? Was it really worth it to go through like that again?

"S… so, what do you think, Yun Hao?" Jia Ning stopped Sun Fang and her brother from bickering as she stepped forward, "Do you…

...want to go to school with us?"