Chapter 247: Personal Mission, First Meeting with the Master

Datong Prefecture City, Tunmen District.

This is the old district of Datong Prefecture City; the houses are all single-story, the streets are not paved with concrete, the ground is riddled with potholes, and trash can be seen everywhere.

A skin-and-bones man walks shakily down the street, sniffing as he goes.

Pedestrians who see him on the road cast looks of disdain, because his appearance clearly shows he has smoked too much opium and his addiction is acting up.

In this Tunmen District, there are many who have ruined their families and even sold their wives and children to smoke opium, so the people here are extremely disdainful of opium smokers, feeling even more disgust than they do toward prostitutes in brothels.

Soon, this addict walks into a courtyard with an excited expression.

This courtyard is a secret opium den; although it is called a secret den, many people actually know it is operating here. Some have gone to report it, but there was no result at all; instead, the people who reported it died not long after.

Consequently, no one went to report it again.

A moment later, seven or eight masked blade-wielders suddenly rushed out from an alley, running toward this courtyard with murderous intent.

"You..."

The person guarding the courtyard gate did not even have time to shout before being split in two by the incoming blade light!

Following this, these masked blade-wielders charged into the courtyard.

Soon, shrill screams and pleas for help rang out from within.

Nearby residents and passersby, seeing the corpse at the courtyard gate and hearing the commotion from inside, all chose to stay far away.

No one went to report it.

In a warehouse in the Shayuan District, goods were being unloaded.

Crates of goods were being moved down from a truck and placed into the warehouse.

On the surface, these goods were merely fresh fruit, but in reality, they were batches of military hardware!

Dozens of guards with guns at their waists were patrolling around the warehouse.

Suddenly, several figures rushed toward this side from the distance.

"Who goes there?"

"Stop!"

"Open fire—"

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Intense gunfire rang out, followed by the sudden appearance of blood.

One of the figures held dual blades, moving so fast that their shadow was almost invisible; as the blade light swept past, several guards were slashed into pieces!

These few people who had suddenly killed their way in were all martial arts experts, and they quickly broke through the outer defensive line and entered the warehouse courtyard.

The workers who had been unloading goods in the courtyard were already so frightened that they scattered and hid.

"Who are you?"

Several burly men wielding cold weapons rushed out of the warehouse, one of whom roared like thunder:

"You dare to rob the Cannon King's goods?!"

"Heh!"

The person holding the dual blades pointed at the other party with a blade and sneered:

"I am robbing you!"

Having said that, he charged toward the other party.

"You're courting death!"

The burly man who had just spoken also met him with a blade.

Both of them erupted with internal force; they were both martial masters who had trained their internal force!

After exchanging only a few moves, the large truck in the courtyard was ripped apart by the two of them!

"Iron Peak Breaking Formation Art, are you from the Iron Peak Sect?"

The burly man recognized the newcomer's style, both shocked and furious.

"Die—"

The newcomer did not waste words with him at all, using only killing moves.

Ten-plus minutes later, the battle subsided, and the crates of military hardware were transported away again...

On this day, over a dozen secret opium dens in Datong Prefecture City were wiped out, with blood flowing like a river!

Besides this, a batch of the 'Cannon King's' military hardware worth over 200, 00 was hijacked.

People in the underworld all knew that the 'Blade King' had begun to strike back, and from the very first move, he displayed the momentum of wanting to take on two at once!

March 2nd.

Li Fei walked into the Academic Affairs building to collect his rewards for February.

He still ranked at the top of the academic credit leaderboard, so he could continue to collect rewards.

"Hello, I am here to collect the academic credit leaderboard rewards; this is my student ID."

Li Fei walked into an office and handed his student ID to a staff member.

"Student Li, do you still want the same elixirs you chose last time?"

The staff member asked.

When Li Fei came here to collect his rewards last month, he had chosen a batch of martial arts cultivation elixirs that were hard to buy outside from the list.

"Yes, I want those again, sorry for the trouble."

Li Fei said politely.

"Alright, please wait a moment."

The staff member stood up and left.

A moment later, that staff member did not return; instead, Wen Ke, wearing a light cyan cheongsam and black-rimmed glasses, walked in.

"Professor Wen."

Li Fei quickly bowed.

Wen Ke smiled and waved her hand, handing the bag in her hand to Li Fei; the bag contained exactly the elixirs he wanted:

"I happened to have something to find you for, so I brought the medicine along."

Li Fei took the bag: "I wonder what the matter is?"

Wen Ke looked at him: "In a while, a personal mission will be posted in the mission hall at the Qingyun Building. Go and accept it; it will be good for you."

"Ah?"

Li Fei was stunned for a moment; he had not expected that Wen Ke would come specifically to find him just to say this.

"Professor Wen, I wonder what kind of mission it is?"

He had been at the Martial Arts University for two months now, and so far, he had not done a single mission.

One reason was that he was busy with classes and had too much to learn.

The second reason was that he was not currently lacking academic credits.

Last month, he was still number one on the Martial Master combat power leaderboard and earned another 40 academic credits; he now had 83 credits he could use.

"This mission is to accompany a professor from the school on a trip to Iron Peak Mountain."

Wen Ke said softly.

"Accompany a professor to Iron Peak Mountain?"

Li Fei was startled and immediately sensed that this mission was not simple.

Recently, the underworld of Datong Prefecture had been surging with activity, all related to the Iron Peak Sect. At a time like this, for a professor from the Martial Arts University to suddenly go to Iron Peak Mountain, it must be related to recent events.

"Why must I be the one to accompany them? Because I was the one who exposed Chen Xiang, who was hiding in the school, and the people hiding in the martial arts gym? Since the cause of all this was me, I must be the one to go?"

Li Fei's thoughts raced.

The fact that the Martial Arts University's special-grade lecturer Chen Xiang was actually colluding with spies from the Meijia Country was a scandal for the university. If an ordinary student had exposed such a thing, they might have been targeted by the school's higher-ups.

But Li Fei felt that he should not be; the value he currently displayed was far higher than that of a special-grade lecturer.

"Alright, I understand. I will go to the Qingyun Building right now."

Li Fei bowed to Wen Ke.

He was confident that the Martial Arts University would not harm him, so he decided to accept this mission and see.

After leaving the Academic Affairs building, Li Fei walked toward the Qingyun Building and soon entered the mission hall on the first floor.

As soon as he entered the hall, he saw a staff member walk up to a blackboard to update the mission content.

After the staff member left, Li Fei walked to the blackboard and looked up, only to see the mission in the top line written as:

【Personal Mission (036785)

Required Academic Credits: 200 credits

Mission Content: Discuss specific details with Professor Xu Jing

Mission Reward: 60 credits】

There were quite a few students around the blackboard, and they all showed looks of surprise upon seeing this newly posted mission.

Missions posted in the mission hall, like the classes taught by lecturers, all had a 'threshold.' This threshold was the total number of academic credits earned; one must meet the standard to be qualified to accept the mission.

The academic credits rewarded for personal missions usually did not exceed 20, and those exceeding 30 were very rare; a reward of 60 credits had never happened before!

This meant that as long as someone could complete this mission, they could graduate directly from the Martial Arts University.

"What kind of mission is this? The threshold is so high? And the reward is so much?"

"Who is Professor Xu Jing? Why have I never seen this professor teach a class?"

"How strange."

"..."

The students around were whispering among themselves.

Li Fei was equally curious, but he did not hesitate; after noting down the task number, he walked toward the task window to the side and handed over his student ID:

"Hello, I would like to accept a personal task, number 036785."

Tasks in the task hall can be accepted as long as the requirements are met, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Of course, if the task fails, 20% of the corresponding reward credits will be deducted.

The staff member took Li Fei's student ID to check; the total credit record on it was 204 points, which met the threshold requirement.

"Hello, you have successfully accepted personal task number 036785. This is the task voucher; please contact Professor Xu Jing within 24 hours."

The staff member handed Li Fei a piece of paper, on which his personal information and the time he accepted the task were written; in addition, it also contained the address where Professor Xu Jing was located.

"Okay."

Li Fei took the task voucher and left the Qingyun Building.

He was not in a hurry to find Professor Xu Jing, but instead returned to his dormitory first and then made a phone call to Lu Mengyang:

"Old Lu, it's me."

"Lord Li, do you have any instructions?"

"Use the fastest speed to help me look up Professor Xu Jing of the Martial Arts University; 'Xu' as in 'allow', 'Jing' as in 'competition'."

"Okay, I understand. I will reply to you within an hour."

"Good."

After hanging up the phone, Li Fei got up and walked to the locker on the side, took out a medicine bottle from inside, poured out an elixir, and swallowed it.

This elixir was to replenish nutrients for the 【Phantom Leaf】.

The 【Phantom Leaf】 had been in the Embryo-Nurturing Stage for over a month; during this month, in addition to taking medicine daily, Li Fei used the Dream-Like Command to stimulate the 【Phantom Leaf】 every five days to accelerate its growth.

Now, it was not far from the 【Phantom Leaf】 reaching the Body-Breaking Stage.

Li Fei had asked Zhao Yi; the other party had taken a total of 53 days to go from the Embryo-Nurturing Stage to the Body-Breaking Stage, and that was with the assistance of the Dream-Like Command.

As for that Zhao Renjie who reached the Body-Possession Stage, he had taken over a hundred days to complete this stretch.

Art-type implants grow slower than martial-path implants, so the time required for cultivation is also longer.

Li Fei was far inferior to Zhao Yi in terms of compatibility, but he could withstand the stimulation brought by the Dream-Like Command for a longer time, so the growth rate of the 【Phantom Leaf】 in his body was even faster than that of Zhao Yi back then.

After taking the elixir, Li Fei closed his eyes to rest his mind, using the corresponding visualization method to accelerate the absorption and digestion of the elixir.

More than fifty minutes later, the phone on the table rang.

Li Fei opened his eyes, walked over, and picked up the receiver:

"Hello?"

"Lord Li, it's me."

Lu Mengyang's voice came from the phone.

"How is it? Did you find it?"

"My lord, you do not have the authorization to view the information on this Professor Xu Jing."

"I don't have authorization?"

Li Fei frowned.

His authorization was equivalent to a Level 4 Inspector, which was a Level 9 official, the pinnacle of second-class subordinate officials.

With such authorization, even if one were to investigate a powerhouse at the Dao Foundation Stage, one could at least find out some general information.

Yet, he had absolutely no authorization to check Xu Jing.

"Is the other party a Martial Arts Master?"

Li Fei asked.

"This subordinate only heard some rumors."

Lu Mengyang's cautious voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Tell me about it."

"This Professor Xu Jing is a figure who became famous more than thirty years ago. For so many years, he has been inside the Martial Arts University and has never made a public move again. This subordinate only knows that the other party was already a Dao Foundation Stage powerhouse more than thirty years ago, and a very strong kind of Dao Foundation Stage at that, having absorbed at least four types of implants!"

"Anything else?"

"There is also that this subordinate heard that this Professor Xu Jing had a very heavy murderous nature back then and seemed to have killed many people."

"Alright, I know. Sorry to trouble you, Old Lu."

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all! It is my honor to do things for you, my lord! Please feel free to give any instructions."

"Let's leave it at that for now."

Li Fei hung up the phone and stood where he was, lost in thought.

A Dao Foundation powerhouse who had already absorbed at least four types of implants more than thirty years ago; the possibility of him having forged his Martial Arts Foundation and becoming a Martial Arts Master now was very high.

Why would the Martial Arts University want a Martial Arts Master—and a Martial Arts Master with a very heavy murderous nature at that—to take him alone to the Iron Blade Gate at this time?

Li Fei pondered in the room for a long time, and finally took the Ghost-Slaying Blade and the prepared poison before walking out the door.

According to the address written on the task voucher, Li Fei arrived at the exotic beast breeding area of the Martial Arts University.

After he showed the task voucher to the guards on the perimeter, the other party let him in.

Afterwards, Li Fei walked on the designated small path, passed through a forest, and entered an ice field.

It was hard to imagine that one could see an ice field in a place where the average temperature was around 10 degrees.

Li Fei himself also had an exotic beast farm, but the scale was far inferior to this one at the Martial Arts University; he roughly estimated that the maintenance cost for this ice field, which was the size of several football fields, was probably over 100, 00 yuan per month!

Many exotic beasts could be seen on the ice field, and these exotic beasts were guarded by people nearby.

Li Fei did not approach those exotic beasts; after walking for a few minutes according to the signposts along the way, he arrived at his destination.

A wooden house was surrounded by a fence, and a young-looking man wearing white formal wear brought over from the West, wearing a black tie, was lying leisurely on a rattan chair.

The man was holding a snow-white fox in his arms, and he was gently stroking the white fox with his hand.

Li Fei walked outside the fence and saluted the man on the rattan chair:

"Student Li Fei, I have accepted the task and have come to report."

The man sitting on the rattan chair turned his head to look at Li Fei and revealed a gentle smile:

"You are Li Fei?"

"That is correct."

"I am Xu Jing."

"Greetings, Professor Xu."

"Hmm, no need for formalities."

Xu Jing stood up from the rattan chair while holding the white fox and walked toward Li Fei.

Li Fei looked at this professor carefully; the other party looked well-dressed and gentle, not looking like someone with a 'heavy murderous nature' at all.

However, ever since experiencing the intense contrast of Wen Ke, Li Fei no longer dared to trust these people who looked very gentle.

"Are you Hao Yi's student?"

Xu Jing walked in front of Li Fei, looked at him with a half-smile, and asked.

"Hmm?"

Li Fei was stunned for a moment, not expecting to suddenly hear the name Hao Yi:

"Does Professor Xu know my teacher?"

(End of chapter)