Chapter 9

As Duan Cai left the classroom he could feel the eyes of everyone still on him. It felt like they had all gotten an interesting show that they had not expected at the start of the day. Some of the kids had even taken to whispering about how interesting the day had been from witnessing the early morning fight between him and Amos. From his understanding it seemed those that had seen both events thought of the moment Oliver threw chalk at Duan Cai as a bonus for their entertainment. He could not understand why mortals would find such amusement in a little thing, but he was not going to bother with it. His mind was set on leaving class as quickly as possible.

His eyes flicked a hint of golden light as his hearing heightened to listen to the words around him. For a moment he lost all other senses while walking so he paused where he stood. The sounds of other voices slowly began to fade away as his hearing extended even further until he was listening to the sounds of the outside world beyond the building he stood inside of. He could hear the sounds of the cars, birds, even the trickling sound of water dripping from an outdoor faucet on the side of the building. No matter how many noises he could hear though his focus was tuning into the sound of someone he could sense a cultivation level from.

The person was clearly not suppressing their ability and he knew it could only mean that they were trying to draw him out. With so many mortals around him, however, he had no intent to bother with the person as long as they did not make their own move. If they wanted his attention they were going to wait til he decided to give them face himself. Duan Cai did not like others thinking they could summon him like a mere dog. His eyes sparked for a moment before he closed them. Returning his hearing slowly back to normal he began to realize someone was standing beside him trying to get his attention.

"Duan Cai?" Shea waved her hand in front of his face with a worried expression.

"Yes?" He asked her as he could see the shaking fear in her eyes. It was obvious to him that she thought something was wrong.

"You were really out of it a second ago.. Are you alright?" She leaned in closer to him as she inspected his face for a hint of anything that might be wrong with him. For a moment it felt like she could not realize how close she had leaned in towards him because her face quickly blushed as she took a step back embarrassed from her own actions.

"This girl.."

Duan Cai sighed as he placed his hand down on top of Shea's head and smiled at her. Even when the body he was in had been a mortal soul she had still worried about the old version of Duan Cai as well. It was clear that she was truly a reliable friend to those close to her. Though he could not comprehend the girl completely he still found her interesting in a sense at times. Even his simple motion of placing his hand on her head seemed to cause the girl's eyes to sparkle with appreciation towards him. It felt like he was rewarding a puppy for doing something good for it's owner.

"There is nothing wrong with me. I was just thinking and zoned out for a moment." He said to her in a calm tone to help her relax.

"Really?" She puffed out her cheek as if she could not believe his words with a frustrated look.

"Yes!" Duan Cai smiled and started walking again as she followed closely at his side with a smile while she held her books close to her chest with both her arms.

From the side he caught a glimpse of Oliver Iker walking towards the stairway. It looked like the man was heading towards the roof alone. As he thought about it more for a moment something felt off about the situation from the look on Oliver's face. The man clearly looked like something was frustrating him highly at the moment. There was obviously something going on and Duan Cai felt curious as to what it was. A sudden pulse in the air caught Duan Cai's attention and he glared more intently at the now empty space where the man had been a moment ago before dashing up the stairway.

"Is the teacher always like that?" Duan Cai tried to make conversation with the girl as he wanted to know more about the man from earlier, Oliver Iker. There was something about the man that made him feel curious. To Duan Cai it felt like the teacher was a cultivator hiding his aura in front of the others around him while in the school.

"Why are you asking such a thing suddenly? He's been around for years you know how he is.." Shea looked up at Duan Cai again with curiosity in her eyes.

"Forget it, Shea. I have something I must take care of right now. I will see you later." He smiled and patted her on the head again before turning to dart off in a different direction.

Duan Cai did not want to make his own actions obvious to Shea or anyone else so he darted outside the building. To a normal mortal it would simply look like he was a kid skipping a class at the moment which many of the delinquents in the school often did, including the soul that had once owned his body, so he felt no worry towards getting confronted over such a thing. His feet started to glow a golden color as he dashed across the pavement and lunged his body into the air to land himself on a branch of a tree in front of the school. His eyes were fixed on the roof of the building where he could sense two auras coming from.

"So it wasn't me being summoned this time?" A hint of a smile formed on Duan Cai's face as he realized he was not the only cultivator in the school building. There was a cultivator around his mortal body for the past few years and the soul had just been unaware of it the whole time. The situation was starting to feel more amusing to him.