Consuming the Midnight Fox Pill he had previously bought from the Outer Sect Shop, erratic and chaotic spiritual energy spread throughout Li Jian’s body and dantian.

Spitting out more blood, Li Jian collapsed onto the ground unable to stand any longer.

Li Jian clenched his body while his cultivation broke through into the 4th level. Power filling his veins, the spiritual energy continued to barrage his body and organs.

The white crystal glowed vibrantly and began rotating, stabilizing the energy.

Li Jian gazed at the Blood Fanged Tiger with a glint of light radiating from his eyes.

‘I’ve broken through and I’m still alive!’

The Blood Fanged Tiger flew towards Li Jian and opened its mouth readying to rip him into pieces.

Li Jian stood up and gathered all of his spiritual energy into his right hand with the air around his hand distorting.

As the tiger closed in, Li Jian swung his fist.

The moment his fist connected, immeasurable power destroyed the tiger’s signature fangs and exploded through to its skull.

The area around the impact sent waves of pressure outward in a spherical shape creating a crater in the ground.

Li Jian looked down at his fist before he dropped back to the ground falling unconscious.

“...I will avenge you…”

“...There will come a day…”

“...reincarnation…”

“...I will find you…”

“...Those who’ve forgotten about me...”

“...Those who’ve betrayed me…”

“...will all perish.”

Li Jian slowly woke up and was unable to move. With no strength left in his body, he tried looking around.

“Where am I…”

“Brother Li”

Lee Gang, crying, yelled out hurrying to Li Jian’s side.

“Brother Li, we’ve been worried about you! We thought you were dead!”

The two twins looked at Li Jian wiping their tears from their eyes.

They were still situated in the Veiled Mist Forest, and Li Jian was badly wounded laying against a tree.

“Li Jian, eat this! I spent most of my contribution points to prepare these in advance. I hoped we wouldn’t need them, but I’m glad.”

Lee Gang, who was still sniffling, took out some light blue herbs feeding them to the weak Li Jian.

After an hour, Li Jian gained some strength and his complexion looked a little better.

“Thank you brothers… What happened to Lu Bao and the other two?”

“I was being chased by Jia Xi and He Ra, but the Meng brothers came just in time to turn the fight back at them!”

“We chased them off and came back to the river, but couldn’t find the White Fanged Tiger anywhere. We heard a loud explosion and figured it was you and Lu Bao fighting, but all we found was you lying there on the ground half dead next to this Blood Fanged Tiger corpse…”

“What happened after we all separated Brother Li?!”

Li Jian told the story of the Blood Fanged Tiger's appearance and Lu Bao’s retreat. From beginning to end, the boys couldn’t stop shaking from excitement, amazement, and awe.

“To think you fought and killed this mutated Blood Fanged Tiger all by yourself?!”

“Ya even broke through to the 4th level! You’re a monster!”

“Big Brother Li, I will follow you anywhere!”

“Settle down Fatty Lee, hahaha.”

“In any case, let’s just skin this Blood Fanged Tiger and complete the mission. I think it’s best for us to get to the sect as soon as possible for our own safety.”

“I’ll carry ya Brother Li, you’re too weak right now to travel.”

“I’m fine, I can endure a little longer.”

When Li Jian tried to stand up, the pain from consuming the Midnight Fox Pill still lingered causing him to fall over.

“Brother Li! Let us help you!”

“Okay, if there’s any danger along the way just leave me be.”

“We will not be leaving you.”

“We ain’t leavin’ ya.”

“I told you already; I’m going to follow you anywhere!”

“Thank you brothers. Let’s get going. It's too dangerous here.”

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With a face of gratitude, Li Jian hooked his arms around Meng Jiao and Meng Zhao as the two supported him.

The group travelled back towards the city taking a different path as a precaution against Lu Bao since he had followed them on their journey unnoticed. With Li Jian injured, they didn’t want to take anymore risks.

Although moving along a new path, the group was not met with any new dangers and was able to make it back into the city and sect in three days.

The sun had just set and it was already night time.

During their travels, Li Jian was able to stabilize his cultivation and had stopped his internal bleeding.

“I’m going to stop by the infirmary to see if they can fix my broken arm. I’ll meet you guys at the mission board tomorrow afternoon.”

“You can turn it in without us Brother Li; we all have classes tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll see you guys next time. Have a good night brothers!”

The four split and Li Jian followed the path towards the infirmary.

The full moon was peeking out behind dark clouds, surrounded by perfectly scattered, glittering stars. There was a faint wind that was swaying the leaves of the nearby trees.

Turning the corner was a large cherry blossom tree drooping over the side of the road. Atop the main, long branch of the tree was a small girl staring out at the night sky.

When Li Jian walked along the road passing by the tree, he glanced at the girl.

‘It’s the girl from the library...’

The girl, the night sky, the cherry blossom tree, the full moon, the stars, and the slight breeze had all created a beautiful scene in Li Jian’s mind that he would never forget.

Noticing a pair of eyes staring at her, the girl glanced at Li Jian before looking back at the sky. Although her hair had covered most of her face, Li Jian knew she had the most beautiful face.

Without breaking the tranquility of the silent night, Li Jian continued on and entered the infirmary where he was given a cast for his broken arm.

The nurse had rubbed some spiritual medicine onto his arm before placing the cast on him.

“Your arm should heal in a few days or less. Be more careful.”

“Thank you nurse.”

Li Jian left promptly and followed the road back. As he came upon the cherry blossom tree once again, he looked up but found no girl.

Although slightly dissatisfied, Li Jian didn’t stay any longer and walked back to his house. After arriving back home, he jumped onto his bed, releasing all of the stress and tension from the last few days.

‘Vengeance and reincarnation... Betrayed and forgotten…’

As Li Jian pondered these words, a wave of tiredness and exhaustion knocked Li Jian to sleep.

The next morning when Li Jian woke up, his injuries had all healed earlier than expected.

‘Didn’t think my arm would heal with one nights rest..’

Li Jian removed the cast, stretching his arms and muscles before walking out the door.

When Li Jian exited his home, a particular figure was standing there in a jade-green robe.

“Mu'er?”

“Jian'er, I was just about to knock.”

Li Mu’s whole character had dulled with a lifeless expression, yet seemingly dark. Rather than the usual smile and upbeat attitude, this Li Mu seemed different.

“I’ve tried looking for you Mu'er… Where have you been??”

“Training. I just came to say hello. I had no idea you even passed the recruitment exam, but I started hearing your name recently. I’m going back into closed-door training, so be safe…”

Before Li Jian could even speak another word, Li Mu had already left and disappeared leaving behind a lingering aura of the 6th level of the Mortal realm.

Li Jian had been stunned silent. Li Mu was only in the 3rd level before being accepted into the sect. What benefits had Li Mu earned? He had clearly become an inner sect disciple with the obvious jade-green robes on.

‘This isn’t the Li Mu I know…’

Shaking his head, Li Jian decided to not worry about it until he had his own affairs in order.

‘For now I’ll go and turn in the requested fur for the mission.’

Li Jian walked towards the mission board with a large backpack.

Next to the mission board was a small building with a man sitting behind a table. This was the man handling all of the missions and rewards.

“Greetings senior, my name is Li Jian and I am part of a squad of four that accepted the Fanged Tiger fur request. I am here to turn in the requested item.”

The man behind the counter rummaged through some files until he pulled out a piece of parchment.

“Lee Gang, Meng Jiao, Meng Zhao, Li Jian - Fanged Tiger Fur: 100 contribution points - D grade mission. Okay, let me see the fur.”

“We failed in bringing in the White Fanged Tiger fur, but I hope this will do?”

“The request specifically stated a Fanged Tiger’s fur. If you don’t have it, then you’ve failed and will not be receiving the reward.”

At that instant, Li Jian unveiled fur that was blood-colored from his backpack attracting many gazes of the disciples nearby.

“Hey… is that a Blood Fanged Tiger’s fur…?”

“This guy’s only at the 4th level, there’s no way he killed something like that!”

When the fur was brought out, the man closed his mouth and couldn’t say a single word. After a few seconds, Li Jian looked around wondering what the man was doing…

“Uhh… So will this do or not..?”

Being woken up by Li Jian’s words, the man regained his composure and laughed.

“Hahaha, of course this will do! To think you went out and found a Blood Fanged Tiger. The request definitely doesn’t specify what kind of Fanged Tiger fur, but because it was a D grade mission, white fur would have been sufficient. Give me one moment before I reward you.”

The man brought forth a jade slip and became silent for a couple minutes.

“Okay, Disciple Li Jian. I’ve gotten permission to give you a special reward: 800 contribution points.”

800 contribution points! The disciples who were watching couldn’t help but boil in jealousy and envy.

‘So if we split it evenly, that’s 200 to each of us… Not bad! Even if I disregard the fact that my life was on the line for this, this is quite the reward!’

“The reward will be split amongst my squad evenly.”

“No problem, just have them drop by any time and I will present them with their rewards accordingly.”

“Thank you senior.”

Li Jian turned and left, making his way out of the sea of jealousy currently surrounding him. Within this sea of disciples, there was a certain lackey watching Li Jian; Jia Xi.

‘He’s still alive! And he’s in the 4th level?!’

Li Jian walked casually, not towards his home, but towards a particular mountain.

‘I should rest a little more, but there's this lingering feeling like I don't have much time to waste.’

‘Lee Gang warned me not to take on the Jade Moon Trial when I was in the 2nd level, but things are different now. I’m already at the 4th level, I think the time is now.’

----------Near the residential district----------

Jia Xi ran as fast as he could to Lu Bao’s home. When he arrived, he knelt down onto his knees in front of Lu Bao as he spoke.

“Boss Lu! Li Jian is still alive!! And that’s not the only thing... He’s even broken through to the 4th level!”

Hearing the name Li Jian, Lu Bao smashed the table next to him with all of his anger.

"So the rat is still alive?!"

‘Master Lu already told me he’ll ignore my affairs and protect me. Hmph, the sect won’t care about a single outer sect disciple dying anyways.’

“Where is he?”

“He’s headed for the Jade Moon Trial.”

‘The heavens are blessing me with such an opportunity. Princess Bai won’t be here to save him this time.’

With a wicked and malicious smile on Lu Bao’s face, he exited his house and headed towards the Jade Moon Trial.