Chapter 43 - First Place?

Tian Longmeng felt his entire body freeze. He turned around slowly to see Instructor Qin's smile that was not a smile.

"Of all the people, it had to be this guy." Tian Longmeng thought. He already observed that Instructor Qin is not like the other instructors. All the other instructors seemed to be reverence or cautious around him, so it was not hard for Tian Longmeng to guess that he was a bigshot.

Then given the "strength equals status" culture in Tang Fei City, Tian Longmeng could already surmise that Instructor Qin must be quite strong as well.

Tian Longmeng thought of an excuse but he quickly dismissed it. There was no excuse that could save him from being caught trespassing and leeching the essence of an instructor's herb garden. He was lucky, he might get off with just being expelled.

Instructor Qin looked on at Tian Longmeng's creased brow and sighed. He did not raise any questions or delivered judgment; he just handed a small wooden sheet to the pitiful child. However, that did not stop him from starting a mini lecture. "I never knew that we had a little troublemaker in our academy records. I might have to make a bit of adjustments."

Tian Longmeng stiffened. He did not know what to do and he began to sweat. Instructor Qin noticed that he was probably pushing the innocent child a bit too far so he wrapped up his talk. "In any case, you are probably unacquainted with the rules and traditions here so a severe punishment may be too much. Get out of here while I am still filled with generosity."

"Yes, sir." It sounded as if the gates of Yama had given him pardon so Tian Longmeng shot up and ran as fast as he could from the herb garden.

Instructor Qin was left sighing to himself. Normally, should a person be caught in the herb garden without permission, they would be sentenced to a day of suffering in the Mountain Pressing Array; regardless of their status. However, that innocent and desire for cultivation that Tian Longmeng displayed as he was cultivating shook the heart of Instructor Qin.

Tian Longmeng displayed the pinnacle of a heart devoted solely to the perfection of martial arts, and Instructor Qin could not bear to punish someone for such conviction. Instructor Qin left towards the north while murmuring; "well, it should not happen again. I should also compensate Instructor Ji for this."

As Instructor Qin was thinking, he remembered the tyrannical aura he felt earlier this day. "Such as sharp difference. People would call me crazy if I said that kid could possess such ferocity." He laughed as he arrived at his residence.

...

Speaking of arriving at residence, Tian Longmeng started closing in on his as well. He was following the directions from the small wooden sheet Instructor Qin gave him.

It is called a note tablet, and it can hold as much written information as the material can handle. Because the level of cultivation skills are too complex, it cannot hold on a note tablet; however, general information is able to hold perfectly on one.

"Hall 405, Hall 40- got it." Tian Longmeng quickly passed through the avenues of houses and found his. The first thing he noticed as he entered the residence was that the place was at most half the size of his home in the Desolate Wilderness; his house was not even that big anyways.

The residence only had two rooms, a small bathroom, and a big space that includes a kitchenette, a bed, and a table with a chair. On the bed were the white uniforms and blue sash alongside two pill boxes and a note tablet.

Tian Longmeng glanced at the note tablet. "This seems to be the access to the preliminary chapter of the Western Tang Technique. This should be the sect's defining cultivation skill but I should not be too hasty about this."

Tian Longmeng was correct. Although it is the sect's defining technique, Tang Fei Martial Academy does not restrict the practice of other cultivation skills. In fact, the library is full of other cultivation skills. Not to mention the fact that Tian Longmeng has a powerful and wise elder within the Ark of the Majesty; so, he should not be lacking options.

Tian Longmeng picked up the pill boxes and gave them a peek. A whiff of strong, metallic scents escaped from the first box and a strong autumn aroma crept from the second. Tian Longmeng contemplated. "This silver one should be the Iron Body Pill and the fiery red pill should be the Inducing Strength Pill."

Tian Longmeng was barely able to deduce this from the information about 'lower level pills that benefit him' that Elder Canglong gave him. Based on what he knew, these pills would be a tremendous help in cultivation; especially the Inducing Strength Pill that can provide an equivalent amount of essence to that of two instructor gardens.

"But why would I be receiving these?" The puzzled Tian Longmeng looked at the note tablet that Instructor Qin gave him once more and focused on the bottom text.

"1st in Strength Test - 1 Iron Body Pill. 115th in Talent Test - Nothing. 1st in Pagoda Test - 1 Inducing Strength Pill."

"For achieving 10012 points in the sudden death round, Tian Longmeng has attained rank 186 in the official rankings and accumulated 5 moon jades. Placed in the special class. Classes begin in 2 days' time."

Tian Longmeng's eyes almost popped out of his sockets and fell into his wide-open mouth.

"What do you mean first in the pagoda test? How did this happen?" Tian Longmeng was genuinely confused. What was this about sudden death? Could that be the endless round of enemies he faced after the Bright Black Talent died? Why was he now in the rankings all of a sudden?

It took Tian Longmeng some time to refocus his mind and process this spring of information. However, after thinking things through, he was able to infer some things.

"So, could the sudden death actually be apart of the official ranking test? If so, then it would explain why there is a point system." Tian Longmeng sat on the bedside and ruminated on the details of the note tablet. "But, 10012? I guess killing that much would probably earn that amount of points."

He decided not to let this information stress him out too much. After all, he had two days to think about how he should conduct himself.

"Eh, I will go tomorrow and collect the jade stones. I'm way too tired!" With that, Tian Longmeng dropped on his back and slept away.