"Brother An, wake up. How can you sleep in the middle of the exam?" A voice struck him and when he opened his eyes, everything swirled for a moment before his vision stabilized.

Reality seemed unfamiliar briefly, and all he could sense was his pulse pounding like an engine pushed to its limits. The thumping grew stronger with each tick of the clock. He worried that if he couldn't calm his heartbeat, it might burst through his chest and take off on its own.

Aiden placed his sweaty palms on the table and looked up. Lan Yueya poked him with a cold metal stick, jolting the remaining sleep from his eyes as nearby students eyed him strangely.

His lips moved, but no words emerged. His mouth felt parched, as if all the moisture had vanished. The quickening thud of his heart only made the situation worse.

There was a Water Gandoma Plant in front of Lan Yueya. Plucking a leaf, he squeezed the droplets into his mouth, letting a warm current of the plant juice rush into his stomach.

"Junior brother, are you mad? Why are you drinking juice from a poisonous plant?" A monitoring senior rushed to him and yanked out the crushed leaf from his hand before tossing it away. "I know you are a trash student, but if you want to die, then die under someone else watch," he shouted, and everyone turned toward them.

Fuck! He was making trouble for himself.

"Who said it was poisonous?" Aiden asked, enjoying the warmth inside his stomach. The juice tasted a bit sour, but anything was fine for him right now. He was parched up like a dry corpse in the desert, and he needed something to ease that up.

"What is going on?" Elder San asked from the front of the room before walking toward them.

The senior brother turned and bowed toward elder San

"Elder San, this fool ate this plant." He had a fierce look on his face, and Aiden realized this would mean trouble. In an hour long exam, he had fucked up twice, and this might get him kicked out of this place.

Fuck.

His palms became sweaty, and his inside churned. Anxiety bubbled inside him and the sour taste of the juice at the back of his tongue made it harder to suppress it. He felt the suppressing gaze of elder San landing on him as he shifted in the chair.

"Li An, why did you eat a poisonous plant? Let me see your pulse." Elder San extended his hand and Aiden gave him his wrist.

"Your pulse is …" Elder San's frown darkened. "Why is your…" elder San paused and looked around before picking up the plant to his eye level. "Li An, if you can answer my question correctly, I'll declare you passed this exam."

"Please ask, elder San. Disciple will answer truthfully," Aiden said.

"Why did you drink the juice?"

"Because I was feeling nervous and needed water, but no one would have given it to me." Aiden eased up. The elder hadn't blamed him for anything, so it meant there was a chance to get out of this mess.

Elder San picked his parchment answer paper. "It seems like you have already correctly answered seven questions. Tell me, why did you drink a poisonous juice? Give me the correct answer, not some random bullshit."

"Elder, the plant is not poisonous in its current state."

"What nonsense. Are you looking down on us?" A monitoring senior brother shouted, pointing a finger at him.

"Senior brother, if you know nothing, then please stop talking. This plant is not poisonous and elder already know it. If you questioning, then you are insulting elder's knowledge. Are you really willing to do that?" Aiden snapped back.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"What nonsense." The senior brother snorted. "Everyone knows the Water Gandoma Plant is a poisonous plant. Don't sprout nonsense in front of the elder."

"Then why am I still alive?"

"You must have drank an antidote in advance and want to just show off."

Aiden glanced at the elder San but he gave him a judgemental look as if he wanted Aiden to prove his theory.

"Sister Lan, do you trust me?" he turned to the naive girl.

"With my heart."

"Then drink this." He plucked another leaf and squeezed it into her mouth.

"What the fuck are you…" The senior brother wanted to strike him but elder San stopped him.

"Use your brain. I won't let anything happen to Lan girl. Li An, you have passed the test along with Lan Yueya. Come with me," elder San spoke.

"But elder, she just drank poison. Shouldn't we take her to infirmary?" The senior brother continued pushing his agenda, so Aiden smacked him on his shoulder and he fell down like a wooden log thrown from the air.

"He was talking too much." Aiden walked behind elder San along with Lan Yueya.

Elder San didn't even cast a glance at the fallen senior and walked forward like nothing happened.

"Li An, you are an interesting fellow," Elder San said to him once they entered the same room they had been before. "You have reached layer nine Refinement Realm and yet you are a labor disciple. Why are you hiding your cultivation level?"

"Elder San, shall I tell you the truth?" Aiden asked. He had realized he had exposed himself, and there was no point in hiding things from everyone.

"Speak. I'm listening."

"I was nobody a few months ago, and I messed with a wrong person, so they pushed me hard on all the fronts. They made me scrub toilets, courtyards and what not." He sighed, being a voice to Li An's pain.

"I can vouch to him, uncle San. Those bastards forced him to do those things."

"Let him talk, Lan girl," Elder San said, his tone irritated.

"While cleaning, I found a green pill behind one of the elder's house, and when I ate it, my cultivation base increased in a single night. I felt like having a new life, and my pores just opened up and what I read became my memory."

"What kind of pill?"

"It was a green, beautifully carved pill and it had one line on it which looked amazing. It was sour to the taste, but the moment I touched it, I knew it was an exceptional pill."

"Second Life Pill. Only that pill can produce such a miracle. Did you steal it, boy?"

Aiden tensed up.

"How can he steal? Brother An would never steal. It's his destiny to find that pill and reach layer nine Refinement Realm." Lan Yeuya roped her arm around his and smiled sweetly.

"Lan girl, stop meddling in the sect's business. Even the old man wouldn't be able to save you if you mess this up."

"Elder, I'm telling you the truth. Has any elder reported a missing pill?"

"No, but why would an elder report a missing pill?" Elder San asked.

"How would I know? I waited a month before consuming it, hoping that someone will start asking, but when no one said anything, I ate it."

"You could have submitted the pill yourself. Isn't that being a good disciple?" Elder San asked.

"Elder San, if you were at my place, stuck at lower levels of the Refinement Realm for years, what would you have done?" Alex asked, his cheeks flushing. He was channeling all the hatred Li An felt in his heart with those words. "Those bastards forced me to scrub toilets because I was too weak to do anything, and yet you expect me to submit the pill I got because of my destiny to the sect? What was the chance that those bastards wouldn't have framed me, or taken the pill for themselves?"

"Uncle San, how can you ask poor brother An to do something like this?" Lan Yueya rested her head on Aiden's shoulder and sobbed hard.

Aiden wanted to push her away, but he wiped his own tears, invisible tears. However, this girl was getting annoyed quite fast. She was a trouble, and he hated troubles.

Elder San sighed hard. "How did you know the herb wasn't poisoned?"

"The herb only becomes poisonous when exposed to the sunlight. Once exposed, its color will grow pale, but this herb is as fresh as morning dew, and I don't see any decoloration. So, this isn't poisonous, but instead possesses a lot of water, which I needed at that time because my mouth was parched up and I felt like dying." Aiden rubbed his sweaty neck. That last message what was that. Was it a dream? He felt weird because of that message, but it flashed for a moment and then he woke up fucked up.

"It wasn't a dream, brat. I'm inside you, but you can't hold me for long. Find me something or someone to possess else I'll attack you from inside." The same voice raged inside his mind like a caged animal. He knew the intensity very much because he had seen many prisoners who acted like this.

System: Quest Update

Chain Quest: Corpse's Dick

Difficulty: Super Hard

Category: Optional

Sub-quest 1:

Time: 1 Hour

You have found a clue about the host that you have possessed. Find a host body for the old ghost and you will be rewarded.

Objective: Find a host body for the old ghost.

Quest Rewards:

One Battle Skill (Rarity: Normal)

One Cultivation Potion.

Rid of the annoying voice in your head.

Quest Failure: You will lose 5 stat points from a random stat.

[b]

Damn it. What the fuck was inside his mind?