Chapter 15: Enemies on a Narrow Road

During evening self-study, Chen Hai was as usual.

Sitting upright in his chair, he held a textbook in his hands, but his mind was occupied with various pieces of knowledge related to Tao Cultivation.

A few days ago, he had returned the Nameless Ancient Book.

He had memorized everything recorded in it without missing a word.

Although the content was arcane and difficult to understand, it mostly described the Tao Cultivation system.

What was truly profound and mysterious were the things that had poured into his mind when he had inadvertently glimpsed that terrifying existence.

He had pondered over these things for days, yet the more he pondered, the more he realized the vastness and depth of that knowledge.

Now, what Chen Hai had comprehended from it was only a fraction of the total information stream.

At this time of the day, students like Chen Hai, who were poor performers, could even lie down and sleep in class, as long as they did not disturb others, and the teachers wouldn't care.

He was only pretending to study out of habit.

Compared to Chen Hai, Zhang Yong was even more excessive.

During the first period of evening self-study, he was clearly still there, but halfway through, he had disappeared.

He had probably sneaked out.

Teacher Chen, the homeroom teacher, merely glanced a few times at the empty seat without saying much.

After coming to his senses from the world of Taoist Skills, Chen Hai checked the time, and it was already around 8 PM.

The classroom was still quiet, with mostly just the sound of pens scratching on paper.

A small portion of students were pushing for the last sprint before the college entrance examination, but most appeared to be studying diligently. What they were actually doing, only they themselves knew.

With Chen Hai's vision, he could clearly see that the student sitting next to him, the brother with glasses, was engrossed in a book. The outer cover was a Chinese textbook, but the content inside was all ellipses of "uh-huh" and "ah-ah."

"It's already dark, now is not a good time for visualization and cultivation!"

"How about I try a soul departure?"

His eyes swirled around, and this thought suddenly popped into Chen Hai's mind.

The power of the moonlight was very beneficial to soul-related Cultivation.

For Chen Hai, having his soul body bathed in moonlight after a soul departure was a form of Cultivation.

After only slightly hesitating, he had already made up his mind.

Sitting upright at the desk, he took a deep breath and started to imagine himself standing below a cliff, ready to leap down.

'Whoosh...'

Soul departure was something Chen Hai had grown familiar with.

A cold wind whispered, and his soul body easily popped out of his own body.

"It's so cold!" A few students sitting near Chen Hai seemed to sense something unusual.

They tightened their clothes, looked around, saw nothing amiss, and picked up their textbooks to continue their hard studies.

"Damn, it's so hot..." Chen Hai's reaction, however, was exactly the opposite.

In the small classroom, with more than fifty people gathered, the yang qi seemed a bit too strong. Just after his soul departure, he felt waves of heat and discomfort.

Fortunately, as someone who had entered the Night Tour Realm, he could barely withstand this wave of heat.

However, staying in the classroom made him feel very uncomfortable.

The more remote and desolate the place with fewer human traces, the more likely it was for paranormal events to occur.

In places bustling with human energy, the likelihood of such incidents taking place is significantly lower.

In many areas, if there is a mass grave or a chaotic burial ground—the kind of place that brims with misfortune—schools are often built over them.

The reason for this is quite simple: these places—the schools—possess inherent qualities that suppress evil, thanks to the human and cultural energies they accumulate.

Attempting soul departure inside a classroom would make him feel uncomfortable all over, and the main reason was exactly this.

Realizing the reason, Chen Hai walked straight through the wall and went outside the classroom.

Here, the invisible heatwaves around him decreased substantially, and the extreme discomfort he initially felt was almost completely gone.

This senior year classroom was on the third floor of the school building, and feeling too lazy to take the stairs, he simply jumped up from the railing.

He floated gently down and landed in the small garden in front of the building.

For an ordinary student, jumping from the third floor would likely result in death or severe injury.

But for Chen Hai, in his soul state, this had no effect whatsoever.

Standing in the garden, he looked up at the moon in the night sky.

Strips of moonlight fell upon his soul body, seeping in through his scalp, and the sensation was so exhilarating and comforting, he felt almost celestial.

Immersed in the delightful feeling of the moonlight entering his body, only a brief moment had passed.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

Suddenly, a series of footsteps sounded inappropriately, jolting Chen Hai awake.

A group of people approached the small garden.

After stopping not far from where Chen Hai was, the leader pulled out a pack of cigarettes and distributed one to each person.

After lighting the cigarettes, these daring individuals began to puff away right there.

"Guys, Brother Bing here is having a rough night!"

"That Chen Hai, he needs a severe lesson; otherwise, I won't be able to sleep at all tonight!"

"But violence is strictly prohibited in school, so I have to wait until he leaves campus to teach him a lesson."

"However, this guy is a boarding student, and if he stays inside the campus, it will be problematic for us."

"Like the saying goes, 'three cobblers make a Zhuge Liang.' Let's figure out a way together to lure that kid outside school."

...

The person who was speaking was Qian Bing.

It was uncertain whether it was because enemies often cross each other's paths or for some other reason.

Before they knew it, they were discussing how to deal with Chen Hai right in front of him.

"Should I manifest the leech soul body to frighten them until they pee their pants?"

Their conversation didn't miss his ears, and suddenly such a thought crossed Chen Hai's mind.

Using a soul body to scare people could allow yin qi to enter their bodies, genuinely causing some harm.

The last time Qian Bing got scared, he was listless and had nightmares relentlessly, which was why he had to be hospitalized for a few days.

"If I don't show myself and just scare them from the shadows, it seems like it would only be a superficial solution."

"After being listless for a few days, they certainly won't learn their lesson and will still try to cause me trouble."

"Forget it, I won't take any action for now; let's see what tricks they come up with!"

After weighing his options for a while, Chen Hai dismissed his earlier thoughts and silently pondered.