Chapter 124: Leaving
Truth be told, Xu Min was rather indignant and upset. The Immortals had not stepped in when he was in a bad situation. They had not stopped his opponent when he consumed the Energy Gathering Pill and instead waited to see how Xu Min would handle it. However the moment he had released a bit of his hate and killing intent they had acted immediately. Now they even had the guts to ask him to save the person who wanted him dead.
In the beginning, Xu Min respected these elders.As things were now, he no longer respected them. If anything, he was disappointed in their obvious favoritism of the elf in front of him.
Even though Xu Min felt as such, he still understood what things were appropriate to say and what things should be kept to himself. He walked towards his opponent.
Sighing, he wondered if it was the right decision to save him. Although he was unwilling, he had to respect the headmaster. Thus Xu Min closed his eyes and projecting himself into the elf’s inner soul. Everywhere he went he encountered remnant energies of his hate. His mind picked up every single ounce of energy before he gathered it all in one large ball just outside the stomach of the expert.
Having gathered all the hate in one place, Xu Min forced it out of his body. A small black mist started to evaporate from his skin. The energy that evaporated into the air was being sucked back into Xu Min's body where he poured it into the hate that was within his core. Although this dark energy was poison to others, it was fuel for Xu Min. This hate drove him to move forward.
"This heavenly ranking means nothing," Xu Min mumbled to himself as he narrowed his eyes. Why would anyone care about being the strongest at the Academy; Xu Min was not even the slightest bit interested in continuing after the present events. All he wanted was to reach the seventh-star rank, so he could enter the Blood Pagoda once more, finish the final trial and then visit the Zhong family to gain his revenge.
Looking at the Immortals of the Academy, Xu Min snorted. All respect was gone. He turned to leave without even caring about anything around him. He was sure that the experts present would be looked after by the Immortals. They were the real students of the academy after all.
Looking at Xu Min's departing back the headmaster shook his head regretfully. He understood the young man's thoughts, and he felt guilty. He understood their reactions and bias between students was not acceptable. He had shown too much favoritism. However, in his defense, Xu Min had so many secrets that the only one way see them was if he was pushed like he had been pushed this time.
Sighing the headmaster stopped looking after Xu Min. Instead he turned to the many students that were all looking at Xu Min with fear in their eyes. Even the light fairy, who had been chatting merrily with him earlier, was hesitating whether to follow him or not.She too was scared.
The feeling of hopelessness which had descended upon them, the sudden clenching of their heart and the headaches that had left them completely vulnerable to their opponent had shocked them all, especially when they understood that this was just the remnant energy. Thinking about how the main body of this energy had invaded the elf on the stage, everyone shivered in fear. Was it truly possible to survive?
The mist that had left Xu Min had not only permeated the ones on stage where he had been fighting, but it had also spread to the entire area. Even the other platforms where rankers had been fought had been affected.
"We will stop the heavenly ranking for today. The fights from today will be restarted tomorrow with exception of the one against Xu Min and Li Feng. Li Feng consumed a pill and was disqualified; Xu Min goes on to the next battle." the headmaster announced.
His words surprised everyone. They were sure that Xu Min had used some demonic martial arts. After seeing the headmaster announcing him as the winner, they realized Xu Min’s attack was not a demonic spell or curse, but still, it was so deadly, so powerful.
The audience was in an uproar. If this was not a demonic art, then what else was it? What could it possibly be that would leave such an effect on everyone? Even the elf whom he had fought was still unconscious on the stage, surrounded by Immortals which kept checking his pulse and his vitals.
"Everyone return to your dwellings and spend the rest of the day cultivating," another immortal called out. Although these elves and fairies had a lot of theories that they were discussing with one another, they dared not go directly against the orders, and slowly they all moved towards their rooms in the dorms.
Xu Min arrived in the cabin that he had been given and saw that both Cao Cao and Ye Ling were present. They were looking at him with excitement and expectations, clearly waiting to hear how he had done today. When he saw them though he just laughed a little at how ridiculous the day had been; he quickly told them what had happened.
Hearing about what had happened, both Cao Cao and Ye Ling were as indignant as Xu Min. Both started complaining about favoritism and how elves and fairies could not be trusted.
These two beasts and their outbursts made Xu Min laugh a little; the sourness within his heart started to subside.
Although Xu Min was feeling better, deep within him he felt how the hate was rolling and constantly moving around. Fighting the constraints that he had placed upon it, he needed to use some of his energy to keep it pushed down.
"This child has so much hate within his body," one of the Immortals sighed. He was carrying the unconscious elf towards the hospital wing of the academy, "with all that hate I fear that he will not be able to survive when he encounters his heart demon."
Many of the other immortals nodded their heads, all of them seemed to agree with this man, and they all sighed.
"Perhaps he will bring us great things in the future," the headmaster finally said, wanting to not agree nor disagree with the other experts.
"There is no reason to stay here any longer," Xu Min finally decided. "I don't care about winning or losing the heavenly rankings," Xu Min told the beasts with a certainty, "I need to break into the seventh star. Once this happens, then I can move to the Blood Pagoda. I can feel that I am very close to breaking through because of my hate erupting in my body and forcing my potential out."
"Since it is like this, let us go to the Blood Pagoda tomorrow morning," Xu Min decided. "It is quite deep into the Immortal Valley, so I need to travel for quite some time. During this travel, I will battle beast after beast.I am sure that I will reach the seventh star by the time we arrive at the Blood Pagoda. If we don't then we can camp outside of the pagoda for a short while until I break through."
Xu Min had already made up his mind. Since he had decided, he stood up and left the cabin, heading straight for the herb location where Mu Jianyao was living. He had already expected that the day's battles would have been canceled and he was correct. The whole academy ground was empty, no elves or fairies could be seen anywhere.
Xu Min entered the herb garden and walked around for some time, surprised that he could not see Mu Jianyao anywhere. After some time he shook his head and went to the desk where she usually would hand medicines to the students.
Finding pen and paper, Xu Min wrote a message to her, explaining that he was sorry that he could no longer participate in the heavenly rankings. He had a very important place he needed to go, somewhere where he would be able to increase his strength once again.
He wrote down what had happened to him and his sister to explain the hate within him and said that he needed to get revenge before he could let go of the hate within him.
He also made sure to point out that the one who was to take this revenge was him or he would never be satisfied. Thus he had to work harder than ever before. He needed to take this opportunity to be able to increase his strength faster rather than stay and play games with other students who were fighting for nothing more than a rank as the best in an academy. Xu Min needed real experience rather than just sparring matches.
Finally, Xu Min thanked Mu Jianyao for everything she had done for him. Although they had not known each other for long, he had learned better control over his Spiritual Energy, and he had acquired better control over his elemental affinity.
The fire which he had absorbed earlier was now much easier to control. Even though it was still not at the point where he had a domain level of control, he was becoming much better.
Xu Min ended the letter with a promise. He promised that as soon as he had taken care of his revenge, he would return to the academy and spend some more time with them. For now, though, the most important thing in his life was to get revenge.
Finishing the letter, Xu Min returned to his cabin and looked at Cao Cao and Ye Ling. Both were laying down, cultivating. Xu Min quickly packed everything from the cabin into his storage treasure before he looked at the two beasts.
"Although I said we would leave tomorrow, I think it might be better to leave now," he said decisively, "there is something going on, and I wish to avoid being caught."
The two beasts did not care where they were. For them, the most important thing was to be together with Xu Min. Wherever that would be, it doesn't matter.
Leaving the academy, Xu Min sent a glance back at them. Had it not been for the way he was treated, then he would have stayed for a longer time. Nevertheless, now that the hate had erupted, Xu Min understood how big an influence it had on his life. He did not have the time to leisurely live at the Academy. He had to increase his strength as fast as possible so that he could gain his vengeance.
Once he finished his vengeance, then it would be time for him to live. It would finally be time for him to enjoy life. Then he would return to Mu Jianyao and the few friends he had made at the academy.
Thinking like this, Xu Min smiled. He also missed one specific person whom he had left for some time before. He truly missed Yong Meilin, his Meilin, who was working hard as an auctioneer.
Making his way through the Guardian Tree, Xu Min cleared his mind. Now was not the time to think about all the great things waiting for him when he had finished his revenge. Right now all he could focus about was gaining strength for his revenge. The face of his sister kept floating in front of him; he gritted his teeth. The Zhong Family was going to pay for what they had done.