The training grounds were bustling with activity and, when Alex arrived, all heads turned towards him. Many stared full of hate and killing intent while the most were simply curious. His condition was no secret and it was only a matter of time he would get thrown out from the academy. But there were people who would’ve loved to kick his ass before that happened, if not kill him, thus arriving here was almost like signing own death sentence.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jamil reacted first and ran to him, “Do you know …”

“Ye, that’s why I came. Don’t worry.” Alex nonchalantly said.

“You have a serious brain damage.” Jamil sighed.

“As I said, don’t worry. I’ll be fine!” Alex said and patted his shoulder and then, as if remembering something said, “Wanna spar?”

“Wtf!? Don’t shout it out so loud – half of the guys will come over to …” Jamil said deeply shocked, but Alex interrupted him.

“But you’ll be the first. And don’t hold back, alright? Except, stop when I give up. That is, in case you actually manage to win.”

“Oh, I’ll win! Someone needs to fix that stupid brain of yours!” Jamil angrily retorted, “Here or in the arena?”

“Here is fine. Let’s just draw a circle.” Alex said.

Half a minute later, under the cheers of the crowd, he flew from the ring and landed face first in the dirt.

His nose was bleeding, he was completely dirty, but to the big surprise of the onlookers he happily smiled and said, “Nice one, Jamil! You win this time!”

“This time?” Jamil got angry again, “Do you need me to teach you another lesson?”

“Not today, man! I think I’ll spar with someone else and come back to you when I’m a bit stronger.” Alex said full of confidence.

While most people, including Jamil, tried to process what Alex just said, one of the young saints came forward and said, “Alright. Then spar with me!”

“Sure!” Alex happily nodded, “Your name is Talal, right? Do you have the ticket?”

“What?” Talal was confused.

“The challenge ticket. Let’s be honest – I’m not sparring with you without a judge present. You’ll just kill me otherwise!” Alex explained and other youths around them nodded – that was definitely so.

“I already got the ten wins this semester, so why don’t we …” Talal wanted to suggest they would have a ‘casual’ spar, but Alex shook his head.

“No way! I’ll only spar with those who have their challenge tickets.”

“Ok! Let’s go! My judge will be here in few minutes!” Another youth came forward and Alex immediately agreed.

When they were admitted to the academy, he completed his challenges on the second day and afterwards most of the strong students followed his example. Alex’s idea was to practice first with those who were a bit weaker, thus the ticket rule. Of course, the judge being present was nice as well, at least in the beginning.

Five minutes later, when the judge arrived, the youth effortlessly defeated Alex immediately landing a palm on his chest and then clocking him on the right eye. Alex knew Jamil held back earlier, but didn’t realize the disparity between him and his fellow students became this big after loosing his soul particles. This was another great wake up call.

When Alex got up on his feet, he barely could stand straight, but another eager opponent arrived. Actually the guys were already making a line deciding who would be the next to kick his ass, while some were placing bets on how many hits he could take during the next match.

Alex only inwardly laughed at all of this – everything went just as he expected and even better. Somehow the whole bunch remained civil. Apparently the death of their two fellow students was at least partially forgotten.

After resting for half an hour, Alex was beaten up again and after another hour, again. Afterwards he thanked the crowd and promised they could continue the next day or the day after. Then, under the confused eyes of other students, he dragged his sorry figure to the Southern peak, washed up and changed. Then he threw a piece of flint and a chunk of iron in a shoulder bag along with a couple of torches and went for a walk.

Needless to say he went to his new ‘spa’ and this time the trip was quite educational. First of all, under the light of a torch he learned that the person or people who made the tunnel processed the stones that blocked the tunnel and it was possible to use them as primitive doors. At some places they even sealed the tunnel hermetically and it was probably because it was intended to not only prevent animals and insects from getting in, but also block the air, that was rich with Qi, from leaking out.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Be as it may, after entering Alex accurately pulled the stones back to their appropriate spots and only then arrived to the last cave room.

It turned out to be completely different from what he imagined. Under the weak lighting of the torch he held in hand, Alex observed the walls, ceiling and the floor in deep shock. All of it was engraved with strange runic markings that led to the center of the room. There was the ‘magic’ pond he passed out in, but instead of crystal clear spring water, inside was a white milk-like substance.

Alex walked around the room looking at the markings, but then it struck him that the place was not naturally formed at all, but meticulously crafted by an expert. He didn’t care who, because the markings were obviously much older than the current emperor or maybe even the empire and only the tunnel leading to the place was dug relatively recently.

He suddenly realized that the atmosphere was completely different from when he arrived here the first time and not because he illuminated the surroundings. The waterfall was no more! The lack of the sound of falling masses water felt weird to him when he left the last time and now only a rare droplet fell from an opening in the ceiling at the back of the room.

Alex went over to take a closer look and saw that the underground river actually didn’t flow at all. It’s level had dropped by almost half a meter and there was a visible gap under the stone wall where it once flowed.

‘Good thing I guessed the right riverbank back then.’ Alex thought to himself.

Indeed, the other side of the stream was a plain wall and if he paddled towards that, he might have panicked in the dark and got pulled away, under the cliff. Who knows if he would’ve survived that.

Alex sighed and shook his head getting rid of unnecessary thoughts and went over to the center of the cave.

‘What a beautiful hot tub!’ He inwardly grinned observing the milk-white pond, ‘But did I soil the content or was it like that before?’

He carefully tasted the water, but then an urge to drink the whole pond empty assaulted him again.

‘Ok, it was like that before!’ Alex happily deduced and rushed to undress, but then stopped half way.

He thought for a moment, then undressed, carefully sunk in the river at the side, cleaned himself and only then climbed out and got in the pond.

‘Ordnung muss sein!’ He joked to himself slowly letting the feeling of ecstasy wash over him.

From that day on Alex’s routine completely changed. He spent most of the time soaking in the pond, but in the mornings went to the training grounds to get beaten up. After a dozen days his presence almost became a norm and didn’t cause any commotion. Some of the guys even softened up to him, gave real advice and helped him train.

The remaining eleven saints still hated him to the bones for ‘daring’ to kill one of their own and a couple even had their challenge tickets left over that immediately translated into a harsh beating. But no matter how he was beaten up, Alex managed to show up the next day fresh and full of smiles.

While everyone thought he had a serious brain damage, only Alex understood what and why he was doing. When he first began his training in the cultivation world, Bill gave him a great advice and even created a special technique for him. All of that allowed him to survive, but the ending of his last life proved it was not close to being enough.

He knew many theories and even techniques, but actually had no clue how to properly use any of that. All he knew was to dash in, perform a quick attack and then retreat, but at this level it became laughable. Indeed, the teens of this academy were becoming Qi warriors one after another and Alex had fallen far behind.

Even if he was a Qi warrior himself, in an honest spar he had very little chance against opponent of an equal strength, to not speak about stronger ones. He desperately lacked practice and since everyone was willing to lend a hand, he happily allowed then to teach him. Adil was right – every being we meet in our lives is our teacher and the students of this academy unwillingly became Alex’s combat trainers.

“What the hell are you doing here? Do you even remember how to write?” Adil angrily barked at Alex the moment he stepped in the library.

“Yup!” He happily nodded and then theatrically bowed, “Nice to see you, your sainthood! I came to write my essay since there are only two days left.”

“Do you even need to write? What about the challenges?” Adil snorted, but in his voice Alex could clearly discern worry.

“What do you think?” He cheekily smiled.

“I think that because of the trashing you get every day your memory has been damaged.” Adil snorted again, “You need to win TEN official challenges, but you haven’t even picked your tickets from the office!”

“Sigh, old man.” Alex shook his head, “You really make me worry about you. We haven’t seen each other only for a few days, but your knowledge has degraded so much! Ok, let me help you since it was you who told me the rules two years ago – I need to win ten official challenges, but I can be the challenger as well.”

“You mean … hahaha!” Adil’s eyes widened in surprise and he began to laugh happily.

“Yup, you guessed it.” Alex laughed along, “Now and then I managed to win, but no one really noticed since I always got beaten up in the end.”

Suddenly Adil became serious and said, “But the next semester won’t be so easy. The saints …”

“They’ll try.” Alex finished his sentence with a cheeky smile plastered all over his face again.

Adil looked at him closely and then sighed, and said, “Alright. Just don’t get cocky again.”

“With all the beating I’ve gotten? Not in this life.” Alex confidently said. In fact, he was certain he wouldn’t become cocky ever again – not in this life, not in any of the next lives. Even the fact that today he got back to fifty five soul particles was no reason to get complacent.

The whole academy was shaken again when Alex remained there for another semester. Students and even some of the teachers were confused, but he did everything by the book. Of course, it was not that hard, but the shock was understandable since everyone expected him to drop out.

Alex changed his schedule once again. In the mornings he went to the training grounds to practice, afterwards he listened to lectures and then spent the rest of the day in the library reading and copying. The nights he floated in the ‘Qi pond’, how he called the place, cultivating at alarmingly effective pace.

For now most students were still stronger than him, but it was only the matter of time till he overtook them. The saints were also a problem, but also – only for now. He already had few ideas for the soul brand, but continued to suppress the urge to create one because the peculiarities of the Qi pond allowed him to find new soul particles conveniently quickly.