That day, True Lord Xuan Yue had personally sealed off Wei Yuan’s otherworldly fortune. It was because the fortune did not, strictly speaking, belong to him. Its true form lay somewhere in the Beyond, and Wei Yuan’s absorption of otherworldly fortune to cultivate the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting was akin to theft. After siphoning from it for three hundred and sixty five days, True Lord Xuan Yue worried that the otherworldly fortune would undergo some sort of transformation or worse, fly into a rage. That was why he had personally sealed it off and told Wei Yuan to start tempering his body.

Zhang Sheng had already explained the ins and outs of the situation to him. Not two years had passed since that day, so why had the otherworldly fortune reappeared?

Still, he had already begun tempering his body. He was no longer converting the fortune into his foundation. Thus, the reappearance of the otherworldly fortune shouldn’t constitute a big problem… right?

Heart beating with trepidation, Wei Yuan opened his mouth and took a big gulp of lunar essence. While doing so, he saw a wisp of black qi entering his stomach together with the lunar essence.

This time, he felt even clearer than usual. Be it the lunar essence or the spirit qi of the Vigor Nurturing Pill, over ninety percent of it had vanished to somewhere… or consumed by something.

The black qi didn’t disappear, however. He could feel it floating inside his sea of consciousness. Not only was he intimately familiar with it, he knew that he could manipulate it as he pleased. It was his otherworldly fortune after all. In his experience, this sliver of fortune was more or less enough to activate Outlawed by Heaven and Earth one time.

And so Wei Yuan began to swallow lunar essence day after day. Every day, a wisp of black qi would enter his body and float in the middle of his sea of consciousness.

The minor exam wasn’t far off now. As expected, Bao Yun was planning to scout out the Traditional Party again. Of course, by “scouting”, she really meant another showdown. It was going to be a big one too as the exam was very, very near. Both sides had mobilized almost all of their numbers for it.

The Reform Party had far fewer numbers than the Traditional Party to begin with, so everyone was a part of the main force. As much as Wei Yuan wished to focus on his cultivation, he ultimately could not resist Bao Yun’s cajoling. She forced him to borrow another ten thousand taels before dragging him off to the battlefield.

Several months had passed since the last fight. The Body-tempering stage was one of the fastest stages of one’s cultivation, so a lot of people had gained new abilities and strength during this time.

Wei Yuan had tempered eighty percent of his flesh at this point. Considering his extraordinary hardiness, no one was more suited to be the vanguard than him. Thus, he took the lead and charged toward the Traditional Party.

It was like a giant bear rushing toward a flock of birds and causing them to scatter in every direction. Both sides were intimately familiar with each other’s strengths and weaknesses at this point, so as soon as Wei Yuan charged, the Traditional Party students immediately sidestepped, flashed, or leaped out of his way. Their movement took them at least ten zhang away from their original position, so by the time Wei Yuan reached his destination, no one left for him to attack. The Traditional Party students near him had all chosen to step around him and attack the Reform Party students in his rear instead.

Looking at their dodges, it was clear that most of the Traditional Party students had finished tempering their blood. In fact, they had to be close to finish tempering their bones. When a cultivator had finished tempering their blood, their physical capabilities would be further enhanced, and their speed would resemble the wind. If they had finished tempering their bones as well, then they could advance or withdraw as swiftly as lightning. Wei Yuan simply couldn’t catch up to them.

Wei Yuan might be a rampaging bear of immeasurable strength, but what could he possibly do against a flock of birds? Nothing. He could not grab even one of them.

The Traditional Party’s tactic instantly threw Bao Yun’s arrangements into disarray.The two sides inevitably got embroiled in a chaotic melee once more.

This again…

Wei Yuan hid a sigh knowing that he was going to get a beating once more. He wondered how many enemies he could pin down this time.

It was at this moment a blurry ball of bluish green light flashed from his flank.

A Dao spell?!

Wei Yuan was surprised by this. Most of the Dao arts of the Palace of Absolute Beginning were executed based on the primordial spirit. Thus, one couldn’t execute a Dao art without having tempered their primordial spirit. This meant that his attacker hadn’t just tempered his spirit, but had done so for some time.

The ball of light came far too quickly for Wei Yuan to dodge. It struck him squarely on the shoulder before exploding into several pieces of tiny but incredibly sharp water blades. It instantly shredded half of his shirt and left behind a couple crisscrossing wounds.

Wei Yuan’s skin was glimmering slightly like fine treasure. In fact, it looked like he was carved out of high quality jade. It was a characteristic of someone who had tempered their flesh to a certain extent. Everyone else displayed similar characteristics as well, but no one looked as obvious as him.

Anyway, Wei Yuan looked down on his shoulder and glanced at his wounds. They were so thin that they resembled red threads, and a single bead of blood just barely squeezed its way out of them. He felt confused.

Water Blade was a Dao spell that could cut through metal and jade, but this… was his fellow student walking the path of fake immortality or something?

Wei Yuan was still feeling confused when a couple more flashes caught his attention, and he saw four or five balls of colorful light flying his way. It looked like the Traditional Party had more than one student who was tempering their spirit.

The Dao spell moved as swiftly as lightning. Again, it was simply impossible for him to dodge it. The next thing he knew, Thunder Threads, Fire Pellets, Wind Needles and whatever else exploded against his body and ripped his clothes to shreds.

Wei Yuan felt dizzied and disoriented by the barrage of Dao spells. Never before had he been bombarded by Dao spells. His vision was a blur of intertwining flashes and flying shreds of fabric, and his head felt as though several burly men were taking turns pounding it with sledgehammers. He could not help but feel a little panicked.

He staggered back a couple steps before he managed to catch himself. When he hurriedly looked down at himself, he saw countless red dots spread across his torso. They were inflicted by the Wind Needles. He also spotted a couple small yellow spots here and there. These were inflicted by the Fire Pellets. Finally, he discovered several fine scorched marks. They were inflicted by the Thunder Threads. Together, they inflicted what you would call a minor injury against Wei Yuan. It was also utterly ineffective.

The Traditional Party students who unleashed the Dao spells were no less stunned than Wei Yuan. They couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong with the Dao spells they had invested much time and effort into practicing.

Of course, the Dao spells were hardly the Traditional Party’s exclusive privilege. Since the main force of the Traditional Party was focusing on Wei Yuan, the rest of the Reform Party was free to unleash their own attacks. Cui Yu summoned a Wind Snake that instantly swept seven or eight Traditional Party students off their feet.

Seeing that his faction was about to lose, an inconspicuous student belonging to the Traditional Party suddenly glared at Wei Yuan with hatred before unleashing a cyan beam from his sleeve!

The cyan beam reached him in just the blink of an eye. It looked like a tiny dagger, but for some reason, his senses were screaming of danger. At a critical moment, Wei Yuan did everything he could to turn his body sideways.

The dagger easily pierced through his chest and emerged out of his back, eliciting a huge shower of blood!

A mystic artifact?!

Wei Yuan was astonished. Had someone forged their Dao Foundation?

An immense amount of Dao power was rampaging inside his body. As he hadn’t yet tempered his blood, bones, and internal organs, they were mighty fragile to put it mildly. As if his strength was flooding out of his body together with his blood, Wei Yuan found himself straining to stand in just a moment.

He was a bull-headed one, however. He refused to collapse just like that.

Seeing that Wei Yuan was still standing, the dagger turned around in mid-air and shot toward his heart. Whoever was controlling it, they were planning to put another hole in him!

Wei Yuan desperately tried to evade the attack, but he was gravely injured, and the mystic artifact was moving as swiftly as lightning. There was just no way he could dodge out of the way.

It was at this moment a girl wearing a goose yellow dress jumped on top of Wei Yuan. Caught off guard, the dagger sank into the back of her heart!

As for Wei Yuan himself, he could not support the sudden weight and collapsed together with her.

“Miss Bao!!” Everyone was stunned to see Bao Yun being stabbed in her vital spot. They all stopped fighting in a hurry.

Neither Wei Yuan nor Bao Yun were moving. From the students’ perspective, the dagger was sunk so deep into her back that only the hilt was showing. The bloodstain was rapidly spreading across her shirt as well.

Enraged beyond words, Xiao Yun’s eyes suddenly grew completely bloodshot. Holding his arms in front of himself, he pulled until veins were bulging on his body as if he was lifting an invisible mountain. A ball of light erupted between his arms, and the surrounding spirit qi converged within the light and kicked up a storm.

As the wind howled, the ball of light grew as bright as a red sun in just the blink of an eye. Everyone present was extremely familiar with the energies shooting into the air. It was the sign of a Dao Foundation being forged. Xiao Yu was already on the verge of a breakthrough, but no one expected him to attempt it in a fit of fury, much less succeed.

“Die!” The red sun in his lap suddenly flew out and descended on top of the boy who threw the mystic artifact!

Although the boy had also forged his Dao Foundation, the terrible pressure of the sun prevented him from moving a muscle. He could only watch with a ghastly complexion as the red sun descended toward him.

It was at this moment a sigh came from the air. “This is going too far.”