Monkey and Zong were sent flying by a brutal blow from Mr. Qian.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Yu Fei could kill a third-realm cultist with a single strike. In truth, he couldn’t have withstood more than a few blows himself, to say nothing of Zong and Monkey, who were still ordinary people.

Zong’s entire body was embedded in the car, his chest caved in. He was dead.

Due to the angle of his trajectory, Monkey had crashed into a rapeseed field. He was still breathing, but faintly.

Yu Fei stood his ground instead of giving chase. He had a nagging feeling that someone was watching him today. A faint, chilly sensation—a feedback from his [Insight] ability—had been clinging to him, a clear sign of unfriendly intent.

A short while ago, that chill had turned into a gentle warmth. ’Hmm, that means they’ve developed a good impression of me. But who is it?’

Then, just moments ago, when he cut down the cultist nicknamed Steel Blade, that warmth had suddenly blazed into a fervent heat.

’Who in the world is it? Are they infatuated with me?’

Yu Fei’s mind raced. ’Someone who can follow me and stay hidden... Is there anyone like that in Tianning County?’

He feigned nonchalance and scanned his surroundings, but found nothing.

His [Insight] ability was effective within a hundred-meter radius, yet it revealed nothing. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The situation was too uncertain; self-preservation came first. That was why he hadn’t pursued the other attacker who had fled.

Han Qiubai planned to make contact with Yu Fei. She had placed a mark on the fleeing cultist, hoping he might lead her to a welcome surprise.

She was just about to execute a graceful Body Technique, float down before Yu Fei like a celestial maiden, and then introduce herself. It would make a huge impact and leave a lasting impression. Apparently, boys of seventeen or eighteen were suckers for this kind of thing. For a thousand points, she was willing to go all out.

Suddenly, Han Qiubai stared in horror in the direction the cultist had fled. An incredibly bloodthirsty, primal, and ferocious aura was hurtling toward them at astonishing speed. Its owner made no effort to conceal their murderous intent and rage!

"’This is trouble...’ Forgetting all about her grand entrance, Han Qiubai leaped in front of Yu Fei. She turned her head and said urgently,"

"Run! Or hide! Now!" Her expression was grim.

Yu Fei froze for a second, only to see a sharp, beautiful woman in denim shorts and a ponytail suddenly appear before him.

An ardent wave of goodwill radiated from her. He instantly understood: this was the beautiful woman who had just dropped from the sky and had been watching him all day.

Her Body Technique was so swift, so devoid of any aura fluctuations, that he had barely registered her movements before she abruptly appeared. Yu Fei judged that her cultivation realm must be above the third realm.

A beautiful woman with an extremely high cultivation realm and benevolent intentions had just appeared out of nowhere, frantically telling him to hide as if some great calamity was approaching.

’What should I do?’ Yu Fei decided to take her good advice.

His seven-fold-enhanced reaction speed made his thought process incredibly fast. In Han Qiubai’s eyes, her words had barely faded when Yu Fei leaped into the rapeseed field and began putting distance between them.

"Uh..."

She was a little bewildered. ’Is this prodigy really that decisive?’

Before she could think, a blood-red dragon of energy charged straight at her from the distance. Han Qiubai took the full force of the attack.

She circulated her Inner Qi, drew her sword, and thrust.

BOOM!

The area within a thirty-meter radius looked as if it had been devastated by a massive explosion. Trees were snapped in half, the bluestone road was pulverized, and a ring of dust billowed outward.

Han Qiubai’s sword hand trembled slightly. She hadn’t detected any fluctuations of Inner Qi; the attack contained only the pure power of Qi Blood.

’But how can someone in the Body Tempering Realm possess such immense Qi Blood? Since when did the Illuminati have a Body Tempering Martial Artist this powerful?’

Han Qiubai’s demeanor grew grave.

The dust slowly settled, revealing the two figures locked in a standoff.

The killing intent emanating from Han Qiubai intensified. She stared fixedly at her opponent—a dark-skinned, gaunt man, his face a web of wrinkles. His eyes were crimson, giving him the look of a madman or a demon.

From the rapeseed field, Yu Fei suddenly popped his head out, looking delighted.

"Teacher? How did you get here so fast?"

Yu Fei hurried over to Yan Sea. He had to admit, his teacher’s current appearance and aura were completely unexpected, a far cry from his usual self. Judging by his look and presence, he looked more like a member of an evil cult than the Illuminati did.

Seeing his prized student was unharmed, the crimson in Yan Sea’s eyes faded. He said with relief,

"As long as you’re all right. Do you know her?"

He said, glancing at Han Qiubai.

"Her..."

Yu Fei didn’t know how to explain. This powerful, beautiful woman he’d never met before clearly had a good opinion of him, but he didn’t actually know her.

"Teacher, I don’t know her, but I don’t think she has any malicious intent."

Yan Sea understood. Yu Fei had the ability to sense malicious intent, which was how he was always able to detect cultists ahead of time. It seemed this young woman wasn’t an enemy. Besides, no one from the Illuminati could possess such pure Inner Qi.

Han Qiubai had also put the pieces together. The moment Yu Fei had called out "Teacher," she realized this was all a misunderstanding.

This man must be the backup Yu Fei had messaged for earlier. It looked like he was his teacher.

Seeing that the man was still on guard, Han Qiubai quickly explained, "I’m from Yuqing University. My name is Han Qiubai, and I’m a third-year student. I’m not with the Illuminati."

"Yan Sea. I’m a martial arts teacher at Nanguan Second Middle School. Yu Fei is my student."

Han Qiubai sheathed her longsword. "Shall we verify?"

Yu Fei was a bit lost. ’Verify what?’

He then watched as Yan Sea and Han Qiubai took out their phones and opened an unknown app. After they both entered their fingerprints, they each scanned a QR code on the other’s screen, confirming their identities.

With that, the tense, hair-trigger atmosphere finally dissipated.

"A top student from Yuqing University! Welcome." Yan Sea’s expression softened, and the beast-like torrent of his Qi Blood subsided.

Han Qiubai was inwardly stunned. Yu Fei’s teacher was clearly no ordinary man; she had never seen anyone in the Body Tempering Realm with such overwhelmingly powerful Qi Blood.

She looked at Yu Fei and remarked,

"You flatter me. Your student is the real prodigy. To grasp Sword Intent at the first realm and slay a third-realm Martial Artist... Even if the Illuminati are trash, that’s still an incredible achievement."

Yan Sea was stunned. "Sword Intent?"

He shot a look of delighted surprise at Yu Fei.

Yu Fei felt a little embarrassed being praised so highly by a beautiful upperclassman from one of the Seven Great Universities. ’Hmm... feels good!’ he thought.

"You’re too kind, Senior. I was just lucky enough to recently achieve a minor mastery."

Although he was speaking to Han Qiubai, Yan Sea caught the key information.

"’Minor mastery of Sword Intent?’ Yan Sea was ecstatic. This was the best news he had heard in years.

Yu Fei had planned to tell Yan Sea after his college entrance exams at the end of senior year, but he hadn’t expected his senior to reveal it under these circumstances.

Han Qiubai was incredibly envious. ’Is he even human?’ she thought. ’Sword Intent? And he calls it *minor* mastery?’

Countless people couldn’t even grasp the first step toward Sword Intent, and she, of course, was one of them.

His heart filled with joy, Yan Sea suddenly recalled Han Qiubai mentioning that Yu Fei had slain a third-realm opponent. He asked,

"Yu Fei, what exactly happened here?"

Before Yu Fei could answer, Han Qiubai jumped in.

"Let me explain. I probably have the clearest picture of what happened this afternoon. It all starts with the prodigy nomination application submitted by Nanguan Second Middle School..."

"Prodigy nomination application?"

Yu Fei was completely baffled. ’There’s an application with such a cringey name?’ He’d always thought ’prodigy’ was just a title, not something you applied for.

Han Qiubai explained, "It’s the ’Special Talent Identification Form’..."

That only made Yu Fei more confused. But he didn’t interrupt her, simply listening quietly as this peeping-tom of a senior recounted the events as she had seen them.

To be honest, he was also wondering how the cultists had managed to target him so precisely.

As Han Qiubai continued her story, Yu Fei finally began to understand the full picture.