"Thank you Brother Tang Ze, I won't let your kindness be in vain," Xu Feng said once Tang Ze had finally begrudgingly once again agreed to do what he had said he would do in the first place before learning it involved waking up early. "As a matter of fact - there was a little secret that I never ended up telling anyone - but I'll let you know before I pass onto the next life. I think this secret will help you greatly!"

"Whatever," Tang Ze said. "Now turn around - I need to change back into my uniform!"

Had Xu Feng’s ghost been watching him all this time when he had been in here? Because Tang Ze had changed many times while in this room...

Whatever, at this point it was too awkward a point to even ask about.

"What took you so long?" Yin Tiang asked when Tang Ze finally came back to see that they were almost done cleaning. Yin Tiang had thought initially that Tang Ze had used the opportunity to goof off somewhere, but a look at Tang Ze's facial expression said there was something else going on.

"What happened?" Zhang Long asked. "You look like you've... seen a ghost!" He then laughed at his own joke before adding, "No, seriously, what's going on? Are we done for? Did you get caught?"

"No, I just ah, saw something really weird," Tang Ze said. He then cleared his throat. "Um, I wanted to actually know something - how was Xu Feng? I mean, what kind of person was he?"

"Xu Feng? Why are you asking of him all of a sudden?"

This was a rather weird and abrupt change of topic- to the other squad members it was quite odd that Tang Ze was now asking about their deceased friend.

Tang Ze hadn’t asked anything about the guy before now, and given the fact that Xu Feng was dead, there was little point in pursuing that line of questioning, now then was there?

"No reason, just curious," Tang Ze said.

He didn't get much on Xu Feng, only that he had really wanted to advance in cultivation when he had been alive - more badly than anyone else for whatever reason. That was what led to his downfall in the end.

The others probably knew far more than that about Xu Feng, it's just that they likely didn't see how any of it was relevant to Tang Ze so they didn't actually tell him that much.

Tang Ze later went to sleep still wearing most of his Supernatural Sam costume while he did so, and something very odd happened - even before Xu Feng tried to wake him up.

He had the same dream where he was in the same cavern.

While he was still in that cavern; the exact same one where he felt there was a lot of Qi (and there must have been quite a considerable amount if even someone like him could tell this), and he still could feel like someone else was there. But, he could actually see someone else besides him here this time!

There was what looked like to be the ghost of a woman sitting near the lake in the center. She hadn't noticed Tang Ze's presence yet - but this was the first time that Tang Ze had seen her despite having this same dream many times before.

Before he could step any closer to the woman to investigate, he heard someone almost yelling into his ear.

"Brother Tang Ze wake up!"

The dream ended and he flicked his eyes open to see Xu Feng's ghost standing over him. Or hovering, really.

Whatever.

"Alright, let's head out," Tang Ze said. He had made another replica 'watch' which he absorbed Xu Feng into, after which he could still 'hear' him.

Tang Ze gently opened the door. The others would still be asleep, and he, as stealthily as possible, exited their common area.

He didn't really need to hide as he walked out, mainly because there were a good number of other Initiates already up. Some of them gave him and his clothes an odd look, but by now many were aware of his reputation and that he tended to parade around in costumes sometimes, so no one stopped him as he neared the outer wall of this building.

The chilly morning air made him shudder before he took a good look at where he was going to go.

The men's and women's divisions were separate, on separate mountains.

Naturally, there were many on the men's side who wanted to visit the other mountain - since the rules forbade such, and given what lay on that side was a tantalizing dream for many of them, it had the allure of forbidden fruit. A sacred spring to which none were allowed entry, but which nonetheless many dreamed of!

The normal entrance was of course, well-guarded because of this.

"How do you intend to get in?" Xu Feng asked.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Tang Ze could 'hear' Xu Feng through the watch, but no one else could. However, if Tang Ze wanted Xu Feng to hear him, he had to speak out.

"It doesn't matter if there are guards at the front gate, we'll just enter in through the back door!"

"...I don't know if that's some kind of innuendo, Brother Tang Ze but..."

"No! I mean, the front gate is guarded, but no one is watching the other side of the wall too closely!" Tang Ze said.

Of course, no one really needed to watch that side. They were atop a mountain of course- so how were people going to get over it?

By flying? Anyone with that technique had better things to do than sneak into the women's side. And in case someone that powerful did manage to sneak in, a few measly guards wouldn’t have done anything! Not to mention such a person would likely have stealth-type techniques like invisibility as well.

But that was exactly what Tang Ze planned to do!

He couldn't fly nearly as fast as he could otherwise if he was actually wearing his superhero costume, during which he could easily out speed a jet fighter, but he could still float along at a somewhat leisurely pace.

And even if he was wearing another costume, the 'permanent' effects still remained!

So, if Tang Ze lived long enough, there was the possibility of stacking various power sets on top of each other. He might become unrivaled not just in the Raswatian Empire, but in the entire world as well!

Still, that would likely take millennia to accomplish, and right now, Tang Ze was still very much the person he was from back on Earth.

In other words, someone who thought that the two minutes you had to wait to cook instant noodles was too long a time to wait for!

He still did not have a lot of patience for many things.

And so, Tang Ze slowly drifted along, under the cover of darkness, away from where he knew the watch would usually be.

He did however, complain the whole way through.

"I don't get why I have to wake up so early in the morning. Humans are diurnal animals, aren't they? So why make us wake up when we're not even fully awake? There aren't even things like coffee or energy drinks to wake you up here and by the time I'm done with my chores I can't even feel like I can take a nap or something..."

"I have never heard someone complain so much about having to wake up so early," Xu Feng said.

Honestly, even for a ghost who had nothing better to do, it was quite tiring to hear.

That said, complaining aside, they had no problems leaping over the wall.

Right - the women's side! A paradise that normally they could not reach, unless one had specific work, and that too only during the day during certain restricted hours! Not to mention even during those fixed times, one could only enter certain areas and could not roam freely into spots like the hot springs.

During the night - forget about even entering!

Unless you were someone like Tang Ze.

"So, do you happen to know where it is that we're supposed to be looking for?" Tang Ze asked.

"Right over there, I think that's where the flowers are," Xu Feng said.

Tang Ze didn't encounter many people - although there were some out and about, being that they had early duties, the sun hadn't even come up yet. And those people weren’t going through the bushes like he was, they were headed towards where they had work.

The sky had barely begun to lighten as they reached their destination - and though there had been some close calls, they were able to move without being discovered.

Tang Ze's lack of cultivation actually helped here - given that no one could sense his Zeroth Realm level of cultivation, meaning that it wasn't easy to find him. Otherwise he would’ve needed to master some kind of stealth technique to hide his Qi, else he’d be found out in about five minutes.

"There she is!" Xu Feng said.

Tang Ze honestly didn't understand how it was that Xu Feng could 'see' given he was still in the watch, but he didn't let that bother him.

Tang Ru was extremely beautiful - with flawless skin and long eyelashes.

She was taking care of the Yellow Apricot Flowers, treating them each with a tenderness that evoked a picture of a mother gently stroking her newborn’s cheek.

She looked ethereal in the early morning light, like a fairy twirling through a celestial garden!

Tang Ze could understand how it was that Xu Feng had fallen for someone like her.

Of note, she was not wearing an Initate’s uniform, but that of a regular member. She didn’t look old enough to have served for thirty years, so that meant that she was probably at the Qi Refinement stage. Which likely meant that she came from a wealthy family or had great talent.

"Alright, how do you want to tell her how you feel?"

"Can you let me use your mouth? It'll be easier than relaying words through you. That way, it's really coming from my own heart, you know," Xu Feng said.

"What do you mean 'let me use your'-" Tang Ze was about to ask when he felt a spectral essence grab onto his tongue. Naturally - his body fought to get rid of this invading presence and expelled it.

"Stop resisting!" Xu Feng complained.

If it was so easy for ghosts to possess people, there would be far more possessions in this world! But if it was just a normal spirit like that of Xu Feng, even one of the weakest people could easily resist a spectral assault.

It was the spirits of people who had been Nascent Soul or Eternal Soul cultivators that one really needed to watch out for - such as by using talismans to ward off possession by such people.

There were also several demons and evil spirits that might attempt to take hold of a living person’s body, though once again, the ones strong enough to do so were thankfully very rare.

As it was, it was highly likely that Tang Ze’s Supernatural Sam getup also provided some protection from spirits.

"Alright," Tang Ze said, and let Xu Feng command his tongue for now, as he jumped off the ledge he was standing upon and landed in front of Tang Ru.

Naturally, Tang Ru gasped when she saw someone just leap out of the shadows like that. "Please don't be alarmed, Senior Sister Tang Ru!" Tang Ze said. "I just had something I wanted to say to you - and to only you! These are the feeling from the bottom of my heart! Please here them out!"

For now, that was actually Tang Ze talking.

This whole plan would go up in flames if Tang Ru screamed for help, but while she was shocked by his presence, she didn't.

"How - how did you get here?" she asked. Tang Ze had to note that she had a pretty cute voice too - no wonder that Xu Feng had fallen head over heels so badly for her. A shame that they couldn’t get together, given Xu Feng would pass away to the next life soon.

"That’s not important right now," Tang Ze said. "What is important is why I came over here."

Tang Ru had half a mind to scream for help - but on the other hand, she had heard of a new Initiate by the name of Tang Ze joining who had some odd powers, and was vaguely curious as to what this was about.

Also, why was he dressed so weirdly?

And now, Xu Feng began to speak through Tang Ze.

"Tang Ru," Xu Feng said. "I wasn't able to say this before back when I was alive, because I was too scared. But... before I passed on, I wanted to make sure you knew… just how much of a bitch I always thought you were!"