Volume One: Awakening of the Dragon Soul Chapter 34: When Bandits Invaded the Village

“Ah—”
Sunlight streamed through the curtains, spilling across the quilt. Mo Xing climbed out of bed and stretched lazily. Yesterday had been exhausting, with the freshman assessment and the arrest of drug traffickers all packed into one day. Thankfully, the theory class professor was occupied with grading assignments this Monday, so there were no classes for students. Otherwise, Mo Xing doubted he could have held out.

“The sun shines bright and flowers smile at me—”
Mo Xing hummed as he brushed his teeth at the sink, glancing around with satisfaction. Everything was prepared: a brand new toothbrush, toothpaste, cup, and even breakfast laid out on the table. It must have been Zhang Zhihao, the legendary roommate, who had set it all up. Truly a roommate beyond compare! No wonder Senior Mian Hua and the others hailed him as the best roommate in the Royal Academy of Shengkong. The praise was well-deserved. With such excellence, he must have a legion of admirers.

“What are you mumbling about?”
A voice suddenly sounded behind him, making Mo Xing jump. He spun around to see Senior Mian Hua standing there.

“S-Senior Mian Hua!” Mo Xing stammered excitedly, nearly spilling his cup.

“Still so easily startled, Little Mo Xing,” Senior Mian Hua chuckled. “Finish brushing your teeth and washing up first.”

“Alright.”

Mo Xing hurried through the rest of his routine.

“Senior Mian Hua, how did you recover so quickly?” Mo Xing asked as he ate breakfast.

“Of course! Berserkers like me have excellent physical resilience,” Senior Mian Hua laughed, puffing his chest. “Especially someone as indestructible as me—a lion that can’t be brought down!”

“I see,” Mo Xing nodded, thinking privately that cockroaches were supposed to be the unkillable ones.

“By the way, Senior Mian Hua, what exactly happened before? How did you end up being kidnapped by Li Qingchi?” Mo Xing suddenly remembered.

“It’s a long story. It really all started in Scarf Town,” Senior Mian Hua sighed.

“You mean when the bandits attacked?” Mo Xing recalled Old Tian, the bandit leader he’d hit on the head with a small bowl.

“That’s right!” Senior Mian Hua nodded. “That day, you took down that bandit by surprise. Then, Shiyan and I broke free from the magical array and gave the rest of the bandits a thorough beating before tying them up.”

“In the afternoon, it was my turn to keep watch over the bandits. I went to Old Tian and asked who had taught him his skills. At first, he refused to say. But after I pressed him, he finally spilled the truth.”

“It was Li Qingchi?” Mo Xing asked.

“Exactly! That scoundrel!” Senior Mian Hua’s face darkened. “When I heard the name, I was furious. I grabbed him and demanded if Li Qingchi had ordered the attack. Old Tian nodded hard and said they’d been threatened by Li Qingchi, who was after something in the village. Their families had been taken hostage—they had no choice but to do his dirty work, and the promise of a pile of gold coins didn’t hurt either.”

“I wanted to ask for more details, but the Royal City Special Police arrived faster than expected and took all the bandits away,” Senior Mian Hua shrugged.

“No wonder you seemed so down at dinner that night,” Mo Xing said. “What about the bandits’ families? Were they found?”

“Yes. I heard they were discovered by the special police near the Moonlight Sanctuary. They were tied up, gagged, and blindfolded, but otherwise unharmed. According to their accounts, a masked figure had ambushed them and brought them there,” Senior Mian Hua explained with a shrug.

“And after that?” Mo Xing pressed on.

“Well, you, Shiyan, and I all returned to campus together, right? During registration, after the strength test, you stormed out in a huff, thinking you’d scored a zero—”

“Ugh, please don’t remind me. It’s embarrassing just thinking about it,” Mo Xing groaned, rubbing his forehead.

“Shiyan chased after you, leaving me to drag all three of our suitcases back to the dorm alone. I was exhausted!” Senior Mian Hua shook his head.

“But wait, don’t we have storage rings? Why did we drag our luggage?” Mo Xing asked, shaking the ‘Titan Ring’ Professor Apocalypse had given him.

“Silly! Storage rings come in various grades. Ours only hold weapons and small items. You know how much luggage we had,” Senior Mian Hua shrugged. “Zhang Zhihao’s storage bracelet is high-level—he can fit almost anything in there.”

Mo Xing muttered, recalling how, last night, Zhang Zhihao had seemed like a real-life Doraemon, producing medical tools, snacks, a small stove, and all sorts of things from his bracelet.

“Anyway, back to the point. On my way back to the dorm, I ran into that scoundrel Li Qingchi. He told me to meet him behind the mountain on Sunday morning.”

“I cursed him, asking why I should go. He just smirked and told me to come or not, as I pleased. That infuriated me, so I yelled back that I’d be there—who was afraid of whom? He just smiled and slipped away.”

“So you went to meet him yesterday,” Mo Xing said.

“Yes. I waited there all morning, but he never showed. I started to think maybe the coward had chickened out. Just as I was about to leave, a masked man blocked my path.”

“That must have been Li Qingchi?” Mo Xing guessed.

“No, it wasn’t him,” Senior Mian Hua shook his head, his brow furrowing. “It was someone else—someone with an overwhelming presence. I demanded to know who he was and told him to move. He calmly replied that he was from the Cult of Darkness. When I heard that, I was shocked. The Cult of Darkness is a notorious cult! I asked what he wanted, warning him not to act up on school grounds. He answered coolly that he was inviting me to the Divine Arms Tower—they needed a good subject for their experiments.”

“I cursed him for being crazy—how dare he target me? Suddenly, he spun around and flicked several poisoned needles from his sleeve into the nearby bushes. That’s when I realized Shiyan was hiding there. She couldn’t dodge in time and collapsed instantly from the poison!”

“In a panic, I drew my greatsword from the storage ring and fought him, but he was ruthless and used some unknown technique to knock me out.”

“When I woke up, I was in the hospital. I heard it was you and Zhang Zhihao who rushed to the Divine Arms Tower to rescue me,” Senior Mian Hua paused, then gave Mo Xing a thumbs up. “Thank you, truly, little brother!”

“Oh, it was nothing. I just did what I could. The real credit goes to Zhang Zhihao,” Mo Xing said, scratching his head.

“Even if you didn’t get the glory, you did the work. Thanks all the same,” Senior Mian Hua laughed.

Mo Xing nodded.

Sunlight streamed in from outside, filling the room with energy.

“Oh! I almost forgot to tell you something,” Senior Mian Hua suddenly slapped the table.

“What is it?”
Mo Xing had just finished breakfast and was wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“In half an hour, all the freshmen need to gather at the Hades Training Ground. The school is about to announce the assessment results,” Senior Mian Hua said.

“What? I thought the results weren’t going to be announced until two in the afternoon?” Mo Xing asked, frowning.

“Check the clock on the wall, brother!” Senior Mian Hua snickered.

Mo Xing turned and glanced at the wall clock—

“T-Twelve o’clock…”

“Twelve fifty-five!”

“My goodness, I slept that long?” Mo Xing was shocked.

“What did you expect?” Senior Mian Hua laughed. “Sometimes you sleep like a lazy pig. I remember you once slept three days and three nights straight.”

“I was sick then, though,” Mo Xing shrugged.

“Mo Xing, have you noticed how much you’ve changed?” Senior Mian Hua said with a smile.

“Changed? Changed how? Did I get fatter?” Mo Xing scratched his head, puzzled.

“Hahaha, no, no. I meant your personality has changed,” Senior Mian Hua pointed at him.

“How so?” Mo Xing asked.

“Haven’t you noticed you’re much more outgoing now? You don’t stammer when you talk anymore,” Senior Mian Hua chuckled.

“Now that you mention it!” Mo Xing exclaimed, surprised. After these days of ‘tempering,’ his introverted nature seemed to be giving way to cheerfulness.

“Well, enough chatter. Hurry and get ready to head to the Hades Training Ground,” Senior Mian Hua said, clapping Mo Xing on the shoulder. “No matter your results, you’ll always be my good brother.”

“Uh… okay!” Mo Xing nodded, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was heading off to some fateful reckoning.