by Dragon King
At this moment, a beam of golden light dashed near the carriage.
As a cultivator of Xun-level, Premier Lu sensed the fluctuations of nature essence nearby and was immediately alerted.
In the dirty Taoist robe with footprints on it, Little Daoist Zhen appeared before the carriage, standing on a circular dharma treasure.
Seeing that he was only at Li-level, Premier Xia relaxed and lifted the pass token hanging on his belt. “I’m the premier of the West Ocean Dragon Clan. I’m passing on an emergency!”
Besides the four ocean dragon clans, the other dominant force in the ocean was the Demon Sea which was full of high-level demons. Outside of these five major forces were some small demon forces.
Premier Lu had brought the pass token of the West Ocean Dragon Clan with him. Once it was shown, the minor demon forces would back off even if they didn’t recognize the carriage.
The small forces of five to six demon wouldn’t dare to work against the dominant force of the West Ocean Dragon Clan.
“It’s you that I’ve been looking for!” Little Daoist Zhen took out a small yellow flag and pointed it at the carriage.
“This Li-level demon couldn’t even recognize the pass token! What dharma treasures could he have?” Premier Lu thought as he raised his hands and formed a blue light shield around him and the carriage.
Swoosh! Swoosh… Beams of golden light broke Premier Lu’s light shield and instantly turned the steel carriage into a sieve.
Bang! The carriage collapsed, and Zeng Yitao tumbled out.
Astonished, Premier Lu thought he had entered the territory of Demon Sea by mistake. He was about to explain when Little Daoist Zhen waved the yellow flag again.
The two demon horses fled, and many beams of golden light overwhelmed Premier Lu.
His exquisite red robe was turned into rags.
Zeng Yitao was sent into unconsciousness when a few golden beams hit his head; he didn’t even see who the attacker was!
Then, Little Daoist Zhen waved the yellow flag again!
Hundreds of golden beams shot toward Premier Lu and the unconscious Zeng Yitao like daggers.
Knowing he was no match for the golden beams, Premier Lu scrambled to one side.
Without Premier Lu’s cover, Zeng Yitao’s body was pierced by more than a dozen golden beams! Before the golden beams, his body was as fragile as a piece of cheese!
Little Daoist Zhen put the yellow flag away and drove the flying dharma treasure away after the revenge.
After he got kicked, he had returned to his small room in the southwest corner of the East Ocean Dragon Palace and dug out his fastest flying dharma treasure and the most powerful attacking dharma treasure. Without changing out of his dirty robe, he ran out of the East Ocean Dragon Palace to chase them.
With his weak cultivation strength, he could only use the powerful offensive dharma treasure three times. Otherwise, he would do more damage to Zeng Yitao.
Besides, this place was some distance away from the East Ocean Dragon Palace, and complex forces were lurking around. Little Daoist Zhen, a Li-level demon with great treasures on him, didn’t dare to linger.
With several holes on his body, Premier Lu looked at Little Daoist Zhen, who was dashing away, in fear. Then, he scrambled to the side of Zeng Yitao and tried to help the Crown Prince to stand up.
Seeing the blood-stained body, Premier Lu didn’t know if the Crown Prince was still alive or not. He looked around and couldn’t find a trace of the two demon horses.
Then, he looked back at the shattered carriage and sighed heavily, “The West Ocean Dragon Clan is in bad luck this year; even the Demon Sea is working against us!”
While Premier Lu was crying over the bloody Crown Prince, Hao Ren had just finished all of his classes.
The setting sun was stunning; it dyed everything in gold.
He left his books in the dorm before walking out of the southern dorm area to take the bus.
“Hao Ren!” a clear voice sounded behind him.
He turned and saw Xie Yujia jogging toward him in a dress.
She dressed beautifully. Her pink jacket and deep blue dress matched each other perfectly, and the high waisted dress underneath the open jacket made her legs look longer and accentuated their elegant lines.
The dress was not fancy, but it was simple and elegant.
“Are you going out on a date?” Hao Ren looked at her and asked without thinking. He remembered that she was not dressed like this during class, so she must have changed into them afterward.
Xie Yujia pouted. “With whom!?”
Realizing his mistake, Hao Ren asked hurriedly, “Why are you dressed so beautifully today?”
Recently, Xie Yujia got more beautiful. According to Yu Rong’s gossip, more and more guys have begun to pursue her.
Although everyone knew that Xie Yujia had Hao Ren as her boyfriend, her pursuers hoped that they could win her over from him. After all, she and Hao Ren didn’t seem like they were spending a lot of time together, and that gave the guys hope.
“I’m going to LingZhao Middle School. Want to go with me?” Xie Yujia smiled lightly and asked him.
“What a coincidence!” Hao Ren was surprised.
“Are you heading to LingZhao Middle School, too?” Xie Yujia was also surprised. “I was invited by my former teacher to watch a play.”
“Ugh, same with me, but it was Zhao Yanzi who asked me to go.” Hao Ren scratched his head. “Let’s go together.”
“I wonder who is playing the heroine,” Xie Yujia walked with Hao Ren toward the bus station and said casually, “I once played Juliet.”
279 A Competition Across Time
A bus came, and Hao Ren and Xie Yujia quickened their steps and got on it.
“You played Juliet before?” After sitting down, he asked Xie Yujia.
“Yeah. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the play that LingZhao Middle School does every three years.” Xie Yujia nodded, playing with her hair.
She tried to catch her breath from the short jog before continuing, “My partner of that play was the most handsome guy in the school, so a lot of girls were jealous of me for playing Juliet.”
Hao Ren smiled. “Yujia, you were the prettiest girl in the school, right?”
“No, that wasn’t me!” Xie Yujia shook her head immediately.
Blushing, Xie Yujia continued, “The pictures of the play that I participated are still displayed in the Arts Hall in the school.”
“I will go see them later.” He did want to see the pictures of Xie Yujia in middle school. Last time when he was in her room, he didn’t see the photos of her playing Juliet.
“Oh, how is your cultivation going recently?” Xie Yujia changed the subject.
“It’s going steadily,” Hao Ren answered.
Since he had unlocked three openings with lightning cultivation last weekend, his cultivation strength had grown. After he went back to school, he couldn’t find a place to summon the lightning to temper his body; he had to absorb the five-elemental essences the regular way and tried to balance the elemental essences with the data Lu Linlin and Lu Lili provided him.
In the mornings, Hao Ren jogged around campus before going to the small forest to practice the fundamental boxing techniques. After classes, he would go to tutor Zhao Yanzi in the evenings and come back to his dorm on Little White.
His life had fallen into a routine.
On the second thought, he had not been with Xie Yujia except sitting behind her during classes. No wonder the guys outside of their program were beginning to pursue her.
“I reached-level 3 of the Qi Refinement Realm, and the old Grandma taught me how to make elixirs,” Xie Yujia said.
Sitting on the bus, they talked about cultivation with such ease as if they were talking about homework.
“Making elixirs?” Hao Ren was curious.
“Yeah. The Life-Death Note the old Grandma taught me is capable of making elixirs.” Xie Yujia nodded. “After a few days’
practices, I’m familiar with the process and should be able to make the Beauty Pills.”
Hao Ren had a hard time believing it. After all, she was only at level 3 of the Qi Refinement Realm, and even the Core Formation Realm cultivators had to spend years practicing before they could master the techniques of making elixirs.
If Xie Yujia could make elixirs after a few days of practice, then the art of making elixir would be too easy.
Seeing the disbelief on Hao Ren’s face, she bit her lip. “I think making elixirs is almost the same as cooking; the key lies in the control of the fire. The Life-Death Note is like the spatula, and what I need now is fire.”
“Ugh… Making elixirs is almost the same as cooking?” Hao Ren thought; he almost choked.
However, on the second thought, none of the cultivators seemed to be able to cook.
“I’ll need to borrow Little White to make the elixir pills,” Xie Yujia said.
“Little White… ok,” Hao Ren agreed after a moment of hesitation.
Little White loved to eat and hated working; maybe it was time for it to do something useful.
“The Life Note the old Grandma gave me can gather essence, but I always find it difficult to circulate it. The trouble lies in the Zhangmen Acupoint. Did you encounter this problem when you first cultivated?”
Xie Yujia took the opportunity to ask him fundamental questions about cultivation.
The stuff the old Grandma taught her was too profound, and she explained the basics very little.
Xie Yujia was too bashful to trouble the old Grandma with such simple questions, so she turned to Hao Ren.
“The Zhangmen Acupoint?” Hao Ren thought back to when he first started cultivating. “It is a bit difficult. You must concentrate on breaking through the Qimen Acupoint before you can unblock the Zhangmen Acupoint.”
As a grandmaster of the Soul Formation Realm, the old Grandma couldn’t remember such small details in the early cultivation stage, just like great writers who sometimes had trouble remembering the spelling of some words.
However, Hao Ren had just reached Zhen-level and thus had a clear memory of the process when he cultivated and broke through the Spirit Concentration Scroll. Although he didn’t know about the cultivation technique Xie Yujia was practicing, the general idea of all basic cultivation techniques was unblocking acupoints and straightening out meridians with nature essence.
Kan-level was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm, and the process of breaking through the Spirit Concentration Scroll was equivalent to the Qi Refinement Realm. The only difference between the human cultivators and dragon cultivators was that the latter had an easier time before Zhen-level due to the existence of dragon cores. While human cultivators divided the Qi Refinement Realm into ten levels, the Spirit Concentration Scroll of the Dragon Tribe only had three levels.
Xie Yujia took the opportunity and asked him a few more questions. Hao Ren told her everything he knew from his experience since they only talked about the process of cultivation and didn’t touch the specific techniques.
The exchange between low-level cultivators was beneficial to them. As the only disciple of the old Grandma, Xie Yujia had no peers, so talking to Hao Ren was very helpful to her.
While they talked, the bus arrived at LingZhao Middle School.
Many luxurious cars were parked on both sides of the school gate. Undoubtedly, they belonged to the parents who came here to watch the show.
It was almost time to start, so Hao Ren and Xie Yujia hurried into the school.
The night view of LingZhao Middle School was very pretty; lights shone on the lake and trees around it, giving people a peaceful feeling.
The venue of the show was the Arts Hall. Not familiar with the layout of the school, Hao Ren followed Xie Yujia.
The street lights highlighted the pretty views of the campus. Walking on the pebbled path, they felt like they had gone back to the time when Xie Yujia was still a middle school student in LingZhao Middle School.
The moment they entered the Arts Hall, lively crowds of students and parents came into their sights.
Pictures were displayed in showcases in the Arts Hall. Hao Ren walked along the exhibition and finally found Xie Yujia’s picture.
In the picture, Xie Yujia was dressed in a beautiful Western dress, pure and pretty. Her smile looked as natural and beautiful as the white jasmine displayed on stage.
Looking at the picture, Hao Ren found it difficult to believe that Xie Yujia was not the most popular girl when she was in middle school.
“Yujia, here you are!”
Luo Ying, Zhao Yanzi’s Class Advisor, suddenly appeared behind them.
“Hello, Ms. Luo!” Xie Yujia quickly greeted her, and Hao Ren bowed slightly as well.
Seeing them together again, Luo Ying was convinced that Hao Ren was Xie Yujia’s boyfriend. She looked him up and down and felt like his temperament was much better than before.
“Who is playing Juliet this year?” Xie Yujia asked her.
“Hehe, you don’t know?” Luo Ying glanced at Hao Ren and said, “It’s Zhao Yanzi from my class.”
“Oh, it’s her!” Xie Yujia was surprised.
“The students voted for her in the school’s forum. She didn’t want to play at first; but after knowing that you had played the part before, she suddenly changed her mind,” Luo Ying explained.
Hao Ren smiled and finally understood why Zhao Yanzi wanted to play Juliet and rehearsed so hard.
She wanted to surpass Xie Yujia’s performance as Juliet!
It was a competition across time!
Zhao Yanzi, who was in middle school, wanted to defeat Xie Yujia when she was in middle school!
280 Little Beauty in Costume
“It’s almost time. Let’s go in to watch the play,” Luo Ying said.
“Ok!” Xie Yujia nodded. After casting another glance at her picture displayed in the showcase, she walked into the auditorium.
Obviously, she missed her middle school days; it was the most peaceful time in her life, and she had missed Hao Ren the most during that time.
She had begun to understand love at that time, and her longing for her Little Older Brother got even stronger.
In the auditorium, the students and parents had all taken their seats, and the place was as lively as a movie theater ten minutes before the movie began.
The stage was all set, and the actors and actresses were backstage doing last minute preparations.
Hao Ren didn’t see Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu. Therefore, he could only sit with Xie Yujia and Luo Ying in the boisterous auditorium
Lights and music were all ready.
It was a full house, and it began to quiet down gradually.
With ballet dancers entering the stage, the play began.
Hao Ren was not familiar with Western plays. Instead, he had watched Beijing Operas on TV with Grandma and knew a lot of Chinese classical plays.
Under the spotlight, students who were playing aristocrats dancing at a ballroom.
As the music entered a small climax, Zhao Yanzi, in the stunning costume, slowly walked from the left side of the stage to the center.
She was wearing the dress and the jacket that Hao Ren bought for her. With makeup on her gorgeous face, she stunned everyone with her beauty.
“So beautiful…”
Hao Ren heard the admirations from the guys sitting behind him.
Very soon, a boy in a formal suit strolled onto the stage from the left with a wine glass in his hand.
Hao Ren looked at the boy closely and found that his looks were ok but not at all handsome.
“The boy who was going to play Romeo was Zeng Yitao, a Grade 11 student from the High School Department who had just transferred to our school. However, he skipped school for several days and was replaced by this boy. I heard that Zeng Yitao had dropped out.” Luo Ying said casually.
Hao Ren heard their conversation and finally understood why Zhao Yanzi had been in su
ch a good mood when she found out that Zeng Yitao was imprisoned in the East Ocean Dragon Palace.
“Tonight, the moon looks especially lonely,” Zhao Yanzi looked up and spoke in the center of the stage.
She had a small microphone attached to the dress near her neck, so her clear voice spread to every corner of the auditorium.
From her voice, Hao Ren could tell that she was a little nervous.
“This lady… looks beautiful from behind…” the boy who was playing Romeo walked toward Zhao Yanzi while murmuring to himself.
The other students on the stage danced around them.
“A bit stiff,” Luo Ying commented.
“Maybe they didn’t have enough rehearsals,” Xie Yujia said.
“Yeah. Your group rehearsed for at least one month, and you were the most hard-working ones,” Luo Ying agreed.
Luo Ying had her comparisons, but for the students from both High School Department and Middle School Department, Zhao Yanzi’s beauty made up for all the minor issues in her acting skills.
While the play went on, and Hao Ren was amazed that the lazy Zhao Yanzi had memorized all the lines.
When the conversation on the balcony ended, the curtains closed slowly, signaling the intermission.
The students talked about Zhao Yanzi’s beautiful dress while they went out to the bathrooms or to buy drinks.
Hao Ren checked his watch and realized that one hour had passed! Even though he didn’t know much of Western plays, he was immersed in Zhao Yanzi’s performance for a full hour!
He carefully listened to all her lines, observed all of her facial expressions, and noticed all of her change in tones.
“With only one week of rehearsals, they are doing great,” Xie Yujia stood up and said as she took a deep breath.
“Well, yeah.” Luo Ying agreed reluctantly.
She only meant to give Zhao Yanzi a challenge by making her play the heroine and had not expected that Zhao Yanzi could give such an excellent performance.
“Maybe Zhao Yanzi isn’t as a lazy girl as I thought,” the Class Advisor thought to herself.
“Since you know Zhao Yanzi, why don’t you guys go see her backstage?” Luo Ying glanced at Hao Ren and Xie Yujia and suggested.
