Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Mining

  "Stop, do you want to kill me? You damn bastard!" Du Fei stood still, one hand tightly grasping the whip that was coming at him. Meng Wei floated in mid-air, a smug expression on his face as he looked at Du Fei and said: "I think you're looking for death, daring to curse me. Watch me kill you." After finishing speaking, Meng Wei suddenly lashed out with the whip, Du Fei's hand grasping the whip felt a sharp pain, and he quickly let go. At this time, Du Fei only felt a wave of heat emanating from his palm, it seemed that Meng Wei's speed and strength in whipping out the whip were also extremely great. Just as Du Fei was reacting, Meng Wei's whip had already struck again, Du Fei once more heavily took another blow from Meng Wei's powerful strike.

  "Ahh..." The sound echoed through the entire square once again. At this point, Meng Wei had been flogging Du Fei for over an hour, and the sky was gradually brightening up. Du Fei's body was now covered in wounds from the flogging, his clothes were torn into strips by the whip, and under the tattered fabric, there were lash marks all over his skin. Even Du Fei's strong face couldn't escape the ordeal, with deep whip marks etched onto it.

  "Alright, I won't hit you anymore. The sky is already brightening up, let's end the morning lesson here. There are also school arrangements later." Meng Wei put away the tool he used to beat Du Fei while speaking. Du Fei was standing in place, touching the wounds on his body, and his painful expression made people laugh.

  "Your grandfather's, I suspect you have a mental problem." Du Fei said while looking at the wounds on his body.

  "Hmph, kid, this is still considered gentle on you. If you can't take it, you can apply to the school to change teachers." Meng Wei sneered.

  "Cut it out, you think I'm really afraid of you? Just wait till I have the power and you'll know how formidable I am." Du Fei said fearlessly.

  "You don't have the power yet, so stop talking nonsense here." Meng Wei said.

  "Right, you mentioned earlier that the school has a unified arrangement, what is it?" Du Fei asked Meng Wei.

  "Later on, the school will organize you all to go mining in the mines, and then you'll know," Meng Wei said.

  "Mine? Mining?" Du Fei muttered to himself. As Meng Wei had now slowly walked up beside him, Du Fei looked at Meng Wei with a lingering fear, afraid that Meng Wei would make some kind of "sneak attack" on himself.

  "What's wrong? Am I that scary? You're shaking like this?" Meng Wei said. As he spoke, several loud bell sounds suddenly rang out: "Dong... dong... dong..."

  "The school bell rang, and the morning class was about to start. Do you want to attend?" Meng Wei asked Du Fei.

  "What's this early class?" Du Fei asked.

  "This is a morning class that every student in our Hawthorn Academy must attend, it's equivalent to the morning exercise." Meng Wei explained.

  "I'm not going, I'm like a bird released from its cage now. Besides, didn't you already give me an early lesson? What's the point of attending that thing? I need to find a place to rest for a while." Du Fei said.

  "Oh, fine, suit yourself, you're on your own, I'll come find you after my morning class. You'd better not be wandering all over the place, or else you'll have to answer to me if I don't see you around." With that, Meng Wei gave Du Fei a fierce glare before disappearing into the crowd in the square.

  In a short while, the quiet Hua Yuan Academy was filled with the sound of chatter. The students were all dressed and ready to go, rushing towards the square where their teachers were waiting for them. Within five minutes, the students had all gathered in an orderly fashion on the square, surrounding the mysterious Hua Yuan Holy Robe which stood at the center of the square, forming a huge circle around it.

  "Everyone, please be quiet." As soon as the words came out, the square instantly fell silent. The previously noisy square could only hear the sounds of insects and birds chirping. All the students looked up at a high platform, where a figure stood, none other than Guan Shan, the director of the teaching department.

  Here is the translation:

  "The scene on the field had already quieted down, and Guan Shan spoke again: 'Everyone, today is the first day of our new school year at Hua Yuan Academy. Many new students have arrived, so I need to announce the rules for morning class.' Guan Shan paused, looking out at the crowd in the square, before continuing: 'From now on, there will be no noise during morning class. I just took a look, and all the commotion was coming from you new students. If anyone still makes a racket like today, they will not be let off lightly.' As soon as Guan Shan finished speaking, the new students looked at each other nervously but didn't dare make a sound. The older students, on the other hand, stood quietly in their original positions without any reaction, clearly having gone through this before and knowing the severity of the situation. Suddenly, thousands of students sat down cross-legged to meditate and regulate their breathing. Meanwhile, Du Fei had already hidden himself in a grove of trees to meditate."

  The morning class lasted for about an hour, with the purpose of allowing students to cultivate and regulate their bodies at dawn, making sufficient preparations for a day of practice. The location of the Hao Yuan Academy was also in the midst of high mountains, surrounded by lush vegetation, with thousands of years old trees visible everywhere. The early morning was also the time when the yuanqi density was the most concentrated at the Hao Yuan Academy, and it was the best time to cultivate and regulate one's body. The Hao Yuan Academy was originally a place with a relatively dense yuanqi, much denser than the outside world. This morning class had been a compulsory course at the Hao Yuan Academy for hundreds of years. From these details, it can be seen that the person who built the Hao Yuan Academy had extraordinary vision.

  "The morning class is over, please stand up." Guan Shan said to the students on the playground. At this time, a sound of standing up echoed across the playground. Guan Shan saw that the students were not making any noise and smiled comfortably: "Good, please let the new students stay, and the old students will have lunch under their teachers' arrangement." After finishing speaking, he saw those old students leave the playground in an orderly manner under their teachers' leadership, leaving only a few hundred newly reported students on the playground. Guan Shan scanned the students present and suddenly asked with a strange expression: "Is anyone still missing? Please ask each teacher to count the number of students in their class. One person is still missing." After a while, those teachers reported one by one to Guan Shan about the number of students in their classes, but every class had a full attendance, which made Guan Shan extremely surprised. Suddenly, Meng Wei appeared in front of Guan Shan, who exclaimed: "Meng Lao Er, it's you." Meng Wei looked at Guan Shan and said: "Guan Lao Er, one student from my class is missing."

  "Then why don't you hurry up and call your students over? Don't you know what happened today?" Guan Shan questioned.

  "I know." Meng Wei finished speaking and suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight, causing a commotion in the entire scene. The students were also shocked by Meng Wei's disappearance method, their faces filled with surprise. At this time, Du Fei was meditating with his eyes closed, but he felt a large hand grab him and lift him up suddenly. As soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in front of the new students, and the person who grabbed him was Meng Wei. Meng Wei threw Du Fei onto the square, and Du Fei fell to the ground with a thud, his clothes torn and dirty. The new students saw Du Fei's disheveled appearance and burst out laughing, holding their stomachs in pain. Du Fei looked at the crowd in front of him with a puzzled expression, unsure of what was happening.

  "Silence." Guan Shan's stern rebuke was accompanied by a sudden gust of wind that swept towards the students present, causing them to fall silent in alarm. It was clear that the gust of wind was Guan Shan's method of calming the students. The students instantly understood that Guan Shan's strength was formidable, and now there was not a single sound on the scene.

  "I now announce that after you have had breakfast under the leadership of your respective teachers, you will go to the mine to dig for minerals. What you need to pay attention to, your teachers will answer one by one at that time. My requirement is only one, which is to follow the school rules and regulations. If you violate them, I absolutely will not be lenient." Guan Shan said with a particularly severe tone at the end, making all the students present look fearful.

  "You son of a bitch, you're crazy, throwing me down from such a high place!" Du Fei stood up and scolded Meng Wei and Guan Shan. At this time, Meng Wei was also twitching his face uncontrollably due to Du Fei's scolding. However, Guan Shan turned around and couldn't stop laughing secretly. The students and teachers present were all shocked and stared at Du Fei in amazement. They never thought that Du Fei would dare to scold his teacher in public, and they all sweated for him. Meng Wei saw Guan Shan's smile and also scolded in a low voice: "You old mixed hair, aren't you going to announce the dismissal? Do you want me to lose face in front of these students?" Guan Shan saw Meng Wei's expression and strongly held back his laughter, clearing his throat and saying: "Dismissed." With Guan Shan's order, the teachers led their students away from the square one after another.

  "Haha, so it's this kid! I'm telling you, Meng Lao, this is a talented individual. You must teach him well and not waste the principal's good intentions!" Guan Shan said with a soft voice, patting Meng Wei's shoulder lightly as he spoke, before bursting into loud laughter. Meng Wei was furious, his eyes blazing with anger as he stared at Du Fei on the square, who sat cross-legged on the ground, looking pleased with himself and closing his eyes to bask in the sun.

  "You scoundrel, see how I'll deal with you today." Meng Wei suddenly appeared in front of Du Fei and grabbed him again, disappearing into the square. In a short while, a miserable cry was heard from the nearby woods, apparently Du Fei had been fed a full fist by Meng Wei.

  Half an hour later, the two of them arrived at a very secretive mountain cave entrance. Two guards wearing the uniform of the Hawthorn Academy stood beside the entrance, with several bold and powerful characters written above it that read "Mining Cave". The mining cave itself didn't look particularly special, and looked no different from any ordinary mountain cave. The only difference was that this mining cave seemed to have been around for an unknown number of years, at least a few hundred. The two guards were extremely respectful when they saw Meng Wei, bowing their heads in greeting. Meng Wei nodded his head in response, while the other students who entered the cave avoided him and Du Fei, not daring to come within two meters of them.

  "Is this the place? Did you remember what I told you earlier?" Meng asked sternly, turning to Du Fei who was standing beside him with a bruised face and tattered clothes. Du Fei had been beaten even more severely than the pig's head from yesterday. Du Fei slowly opened his eyes and replied, "I know."

  "Alright, I know, you can go in now." Meng Wei said with his hands clasped together in front of his chest.

  Du Fei also walked into the mining cave with a wronged expression...