The sewers of Bo City. One week before the duels for the Underground Holy Spring.
The tunnels reeked as foully as ever. Even after nearly three years spent hunting One-Eyed Rodents in this godforsaken cesspool, I had never quite grown accustomed to the stench. Thankfully, my forays down here were drawing to an end.
A year and a half ago, just a week after our practical exams, I had approached Tang Yue and sold her a small vial of water drawn from the pool near the One-Eyed Wolf's cave for five million yuan.
Along with the vial, I dropped a carefully weighed hint: I mentioned that I'd tested the water on the sewer rats and found it drove them into a hyper-aggressive frenzy. I added that, judging by the surging number of newly gnawed tunnels beneath our feet, someone was clearly planning to unleash a horde of beasts-and perhaps not just rats-directly into the city, bypassing the military perimeter entirely. A two-front pincer movement to wipe Bo City off the map.
The intern judge had left in deep thought. If she failed to summon help from the Magic Court after such blatant clues, I would lose all faith in humanity, abandon my plans, and retreat to the mountains to cultivate in isolation.
Just in case, I spent my spare time collapsing the tunnels beneath the city myself, using the souls harvested and condensed from the killed monsters to strengthen the stars of all my elements. The extra cultivation would speed up my eventual breakthrough to the Intermediate level.
It was a pity I couldn't transfer anything possessing its own soul back to my original reality-or bring anything out-as my current power was still too weak. Still, nothing stopped me from fusing with a Soul Seed right there in that world before returning home. It was just a shame I couldn't empower my allies the same way.
Speaking of allies, Zhang Kong might have grumbled and huffed, but the man was honest to a fault. Though it took him six months to stretch out the delivery, he ultimately handed over every single reward he had promised.
By High-Tier mage standards, he hadn't spent an astronomical sum-roughly thirty to forty million yuan, the price of two weak Spiritual Seeds. But considering his duties as garrison commander left him little time for side earnings, and given his stubborn refusal to ask his family for a single cent, it was impressive he managed to pay it off at all. At the very least, with that many defensive artifacts distributed, I had far less reason to worry about the students when the coming catastrophe struck.
After sealing yet another tunnel, I glanced at the subterranean map I had drawn entirely from the memories of my past life. It wasn't a silver bullet, but once I cleared every marked breach, I intended to sweep the sewers a few more times just to be absolute certain.
«Ah, no rest for the wicked,» I sighed weary, absorbing a fresh soul from a slain One-Eyed Rodent to reinforce another star. Fool around as I might in my daily life, when duty called, I took my work seriously. Back to it, then.
The Mu Family Estate. The day of the duels for the Underground Holy Spring.
One luxury vehicle after another wound its way up the mountain road, streaming into the sprawling grounds of the Mu manor.
Distinguished guests arrived in steady succession: Principal Zhu accompanied by the top students of Tianlan Magic High, Commander Zhang Kong, Vice-President Yang Zuohe of the Magic Association, Chairman Du Xiao of the Hunter Union, alongside a host of other local dignitaries, their retinues, and their privileged heirs.
Mu Zhuoyun and Mu Yuan greeted every high-profile guest in person. First and foremost, the gathering marked Mu Yuan's coming-of-age ceremony; the duels for access to the Underground Holy Spring were merely the opening entertainment. Naturally, the fights were scheduled first-no one wanted to watch a brawl after a heavy banquet.
Once the crowd took their seats around the grand circular arena-an open-air stone amphitheater covering an area equivalent to eight basketball courts, featuring a natural dirt floor-the master of ceremonies stepped forward to whip the crowd into a frenzy.
«Time flies, and age catches up with us all! So let us throw our full support behind the rising generation! Today, right here on this stone, the finest young mages of Bo City will battle for glory! Excepting, of course, my own daughter, who stands in a league of her own!»
No one dared contradict Mu Zhuoyun. Word had already spread across the city that she had broken through to the Intermediate level two weeks prior-a milestone her father had boasted about to anyone with ears.
«Our opening match features the two top-ranked students of Tianlan Magic High! Give it up for Mu Bai, ranked number one, and Mo Fan, ranked number two! Whichever of these bright young men emerges victorious will earn the honor of testing his might against my heir and the hero of tonight's celebration-Mu Yuan!»
The crowd broke into enthusiastic applause.
Patriarch Mu certainly knew how to work a crowd, framing the event so that the winner was merely «testing his strength» against his successor, subtly placing us on a lower tier. It didn't matter. I felt no sympathy for the undercover Black Vatican zealots anyway, and I intended to show him just how wrong he was.
With those thoughts in mind, I calmly stepped down into the arena. From the opposite entrance emerged Mo Fan, dressed in casual clothes just like me.
«Looks like your family didn't bother dressing you up, tea boy!» Mo Fan called out, attempting to needle me with my childhood nickname. While the original Mu Bai would have ground his teeth in fury at the slight, it only amused me. The provocation fell flat.
«No need to hide your nerves behind cheap jokes,» I replied smoothly, tossing the jibe right back. «I heard your sister awakened the Healing element? At least you won't have to pay for a doctor after I'm done with you-and the house calls are free!»
Before our verbal sparring could escalate, a sharp gong echoed across the arena, signaling the start of the match.
Without hesitation, I launched a first-tier Ice Spell, Ice Spread: Freeze, directly toward him. It was a probe-he was bound to dodge it anyway, so there was no point in wasting precious mana on a heavy assault. My instincts told me he wouldn't give me time to recover if I overextended.
Mo Fan immediately aborted his spell formation and leaped to the side. Exactly as expected. Not only did I outpace him in casting speed, but he had also been trying to weave a far higher-tier spell right out of the gate.
I closed the distance and repeated the sequence, driving him back twice more until he realized he was being systematically herded into a corner.
Gritting his teeth, a look of grim determination crossed his face as he began casting anew, clearly intent on tanking my next hit to complete his spell. A first-tier Ice Spread would only bind his feet, and a second-tier wouldn't do much more. Above his raised hand, a vibrant purple Starlight Path began to weave itself into existence.
Oh no, you don't, my friend. Without relying on magic equipment-and using strictly the public element I was known for-I couldn't dodge a direct Lightning strike. And neither of us had agreed to pull out defensive gear.
Almost instantaneously, my hand released the third-tier spell, Ice Spread: Shackles. A blast of frost surged forward, intended to encase him entirely while generating a localized blizzard to obscure his line of sight.
To be safe, I immediately leaped away from the spot where he had last seen me. If he managed to finish his cast before the frost locked him down, I didn't want to be standing there. Sure enough, a split second later, a third-tier Lightning Strike slammed into the dirt where I had been standing a heartbeat before. Typical Mo Fan-fighting like a cornered beast until the very last second.
I quickly cut off the flow of magic to dissipate the blizzard, wanting to avoid giving him hypothermia. I had intentionally dampened the spell's force to prevent serious harm, but the human body-even a mage's-was a fragile thing.
As the swirling frost cleared, it revealed Mo Fan's form covered in a thin sheet of ice, with the medical squad already sprinting toward him across the dirt.
Gasps of shock and disbelief echoed from the surrounding stands. To my mild disappointment, the crowd wasn't marveling at my swift victory; they were reeling from the realization that the boy had revealed a second element. Life truly wasn't fair-you win the match, yet your opponent steals the spotlight with a double-element talent.
«The victor is Mu Bai!» the referee announced.
Ah well, I mused. I'd take the win all the same.