Chapter 9: The Dangerous Dance
Academy life was a carefully choreographed dance of avoidance.
Li Wei's morning routine:
Check System for Lin Xue's locationPlan routes that stayed 15+ meters awayAttend classes she WASN'T teachingHide if she came near
It worked. For three days, he successfully avoided detection.
Then came the class schedule update.
"All first-year students are REQUIRED to attend Instructor Lin's combat fundamentals," the notice read.
Li Wei stared at it in horror.
Required.
Mandatory.
No way to skip without getting expelled.
PROBLEM DETECTED
Event: Lin Xue's class: MANDATORY
Attendance: Cannot avoid
Distance during class: 5-8 meters
> Result: She WILL sense your soul.
> Recommendation: PANIC
"Helpful," Li Wei muttered.
That evening, Yue Mei climbed through his window (security was truly a suggestion here).
"I heard about the class problem," she said.
"Got any brilliant ideas?"
She pulled out a small talisman—barely the size of a coin. "Soul Masking Talisman. Hides your spiritual signature for three hours. Super rare. I stole it from the guild vault."
Li Wei took it carefully. "Will this actually work?"
"Against normal detection? Yes. Against someone soul-bonded to you?" She made a 50-50 gesture. "Maybe? Worth trying."
Not exactly reassuring.
But it was better than nothing.
The next morning, Li Wei activated the talisman and entered the combat training hall.
Fifty students stood in neat rows. Li Wei positioned himself in the back, as far from the instructor's platform as possible.
Distance: twelve meters.
Safe. Barely.
Lin Xue entered, and the room fell silent.
She was even more intimidating in person. Ice-blue eyes swept across the students with cold assessment.
"Combat is survival," she began. "In the real world, enemies won't wait for you to be ready. They'll strike when you're weak. Afraid. Unprepared."
She paced the platform.
"This class will fix that. By the end of the semester, you'll either be warriors... or corpses."
Someone gulped loudly.
"Pair up," Lin Xue commanded. "Spar. I'll observe."
Students scrambled to find partners.
Li Wei paired with a nervous-looking girl named Mei Chen. They exchanged cautious strikes—neither really trying to hurt the other.
Lin Xue walked between pairs, correcting stances, offering brutal feedback.
And getting closer.
Ten meters.
Nine.
Eight.
Li Wei's heart pounded. The talisman was active, but would it work?
Seven meters.
Lin Xue stopped.
Her head tilted slightly.
No no no—
She turned, looking directly at him.
Li Wei froze.
"You," she said.
Oh god. This was it. He was exposed. Dead. Game over—
"Your stance is sloppy," Lin Xue said coldly. "Feet shoulder-width. Guard higher."
Li Wei adjusted quickly. "Yes, Instructor."
She studied him for another second—
Then moved on.
Six meters away now. Then eight. Then twelve.
Li Wei exhaled slowly.
The talisman worked.
Barely.
CLOSE CALL!
+25 System Points for survival
Talisman Duration: 2h 47m left
> Use wisely!
Class ended without incident.
Li Wei practically ran back to his dorm.
He had maybe a dozen more of these classes to survive.
This was fine.
Everything was fine.
Totally fine.
Days passed.
Li Wei settled into academy rhythm. Morning classes. Afternoon cultivation. Evening practice with Yue Mei (who'd somehow bribed guards to let her visit regularly).
His cultivation progressed steadily. Stage 5 to Stage 6 bottleneck approaching.
He made a few tentative friends—fellow students who didn't ask too many questions about his past.
And he managed to avoid Lin Xue's detection in every class.
The talisman held.
Then, on day twelve, everything went wrong.
Li Wei was walking to the library when he heard shouting.
"Stand aside, student!"
Academy guards rushed past, weapons drawn.
"What's happening?" Li Wei asked a passing senior.
"Intruders. Someone broke through the barrier."
Li Wei's stomach dropped. "Who?"
"Assassins, apparently. Looking for a wanted criminal hiding in the academy."
No.
No no no—
⚠ ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ⚠
Threat: 4 Shadow Veil Assassins detected
Target: YOU
Location: Main courtyard
> Yue Mei is engaging them!
Li Wei sprinted toward the courtyard.
The scene was chaos.
Four assassins in black, all Core Realm stage, fighting against Yue Mei—who was laughing like a maniac as she parried four blades at once.
"HUSBAND!" she called cheerfully. "Your assassin friends came to visit!"
"They're not MY friends!"
Academy instructors were arriving. Elder Frost. Others.
And Lin Xue.
She surveyed the scene, eyes narrowing. "Assassins targeting a student? Which one?"
One assassin pointed directly at Li Wei. "Zhao Tian! We have a contract!"
Everything stopped.
Every eye turned to Li Wei.
Lin Xue's gaze locked onto him.
She started walking. Purpose in every step.
Eight meters.
Seven.
Six.
The talisman's duration had run out an hour ago.
She was going to sense his soul signature.
Game over.
Li Wei prepared to run—
Yue Mei appeared between them.
"He's not Zhao Tian!" she said quickly. "That's Li Wei! Different person! These idiots have the wrong target!"
The lead assassin snarled. "We have his SOUL SIGNATURE. We can sense—"
"You sense MY husband," Yue Mei interrupted. "Who happens to look similar. Coincidence!"
Lin Xue stopped at exactly ten meters.
Right at the edge of detection range.
Her eyes met Li Wei's.
For a terrible moment, he thought she knew.
But then—
The world twisted.
Gravity reversed. The sky turned purple. The ground became a ceiling.
Everyone froze, disoriented.
The assassins stumbled, clutching their heads. "What—what kind of formation is this?!"
A figure emerged from the shadows of the academy gate.
It wasn't Elder Frost.
It was a woman in ink-stained robes, wearing thick glasses and looking like she hadn't slept in a week. She held a brush in one hand, painting glowing runes in the air.
Elder Xiao Yun. Head of the Formation Department.
"You're noisy," she mumbled, voice quiet but amplified by the array to boom across the courtyard. "I was calculating the resonance frequency of a Thunder-Fire hybrid array, and you made me lose count."
She adjusted her glasses.
"Intruders. Academy Rule 47: No killing students. Unless it's me doing it for science."
The lead assassin glared. "Elder Xiao! Hand him over! That's Zhao Tian!"
Xiao Yun blinked tiredly. She looked at Li Wei.
Ten meters away.
She squinted.
"Soul signature matches," she mumbled to herself. "Frequency 47.88 Hz. Unmistakable."
Li Wei's breath stopped.
She knew.
"However," Xiao Yun continued, yawning. "Academy Rule 1: Sanctuary is absolute. Also, you stepped on my experimental moss patch."
She flicked her brush.
"Begone."
The space warped violently. The four assassins were yanked backward by invisible chains of gravity, screamed, and were launched over the horizon like catapult stones.
Ding. A star twinkled where they vanished.
Silence returned to the courtyard.
Gravity normalized.
Xiao Yun sighed, scratching her messy hair with the back of her brush. She turned to Li Wei.
Her eyes behind the thick glasses were sharp. Intelligent. And filled with recognition.
"Student Li Wei," she said. "Come to my lab. Now. I have... experiments that need a volunteer."
She didn't wait for an answer. Just turned and shuffled away.
"And bring your stalker friend," she added, waving at Yue Mei.
Yue Mei poked Li Wei. "I think you're in trouble."
"I think I'm saved," Li Wei whispered. "Or I'm about to be dissected."
"Either way, exciting!"
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading! As mentioned before, Chapters up to 29 are now available on Patreon!
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