by Dragon King
“Stop complaining and do the test. I know middle school geometry is hard, so I prepared a test of geometry problems for you to write.” Hao Ren placed the paper before her.
“I haven’t done my homework yet!” Zhao Yanzi screamed.
“Then I’ll go since it’s a waste of my time if I stay.” Instead of arguing with her, Hao Ren stood up and turned to the door.
“Don’t!” Zhao Yanzi grabbed his hand suddenly. If Hao Ren left now, her mom would know that she had been slacking and would scold her.
“Then do the test.” Hao Ren nudged his hand-written test paper forward.
He had selected the problems carefully from the practice booklets and placed them in order of difficulty to suit Zhao Yanzi’s current level. He had spent a whole class copying the problems and the geometrical drawings; it was not an easy task.
Although Zhao Yanzi didn’t understand the effort he put in it, he knew he had done his best to help her.
“Stop nagging! I’ll do it!” Zhao Yanzi pulled over her backpack reluctantly and took out a pencil and an eraser. Then, she began writing the test in her bed, while lying on her belly.
Hao Ren looked at her, wondering what was up with her pose. However, he didn’t want to disturb her as she was doing the test.
Lying on her belly, Zhao Yanzi put the backpack under the paper and began to do the test with a big sigh.
Doing lots of practice problems was a traditional but effective way of getting a good mark on the exams. In order to tutor Zhao Yanzi, Hao Ren reviewed all the middle school concepts and even studied the new concepts that were added to the curriculum after his graduation from middle school.
It was not an easy job to be Zhao Yanzi’s tutor. With her unlikable personality and poor academic foundation, no wonder Zhao Hongyu had difficulty finding a proper tutor for her.
Zhao Yanzi knew Hao Ren was stubborn and wouldn’t bend to her tantrums; reluctantly, she began to write the mock test.
Furrowing her brows and nibbling the head of the pencil with puffed cheeks, she swung her lower legs back and forth while lying on her belly.
Hao Ren sat on the chair beside the bed, supervising her while checking the time. Seeing her swinging legs and frowning eyebrows, he found her a little adorable.
“I sat for a whole day, and my lower back is sore,” Zhao Yanzi turned to look at Hao Ren abruptly and said.
“What do you mean?” Hao Ren looked at her suspiciously.
“Massage my back,” Zhao Yanzi turned back to the paper and said.
Hao Ren froze for a moment since it was the first time that Zhao Yanzi gave him an “order.”
Hao Ren cleared his throat before scooting his chair toward her pink bed.
Zhao Yanzi turned her attention back to the paper with a frown.
“If you don’t massage my back, I won’t do the test,” Zhao Yanzi said casually with her eyes on the paper.
“Ok. I’ll try.” Gingerly, Hao Ren placed his hands on her lower back.
Her waist was slim, and he could feel her smooth and supple skin underneath her sweater.
“It’s sore! Do it!” Zhao Yanzi twisted her lower back while writing the paper.
“Ok, ok…” Tentatively, he patted her lower back lightly to appease her so that she could focus on the paper.
“Left, left!” Zhao Yanzi instructed while she drew the pencil across the paper.
While Hao Ren’s hands moved to the left, Zhao Yanzi yelled, “Right, right!”
Then, his hands moved to the right side of her lower back.
“Up a bit! Yeah! Right there! More!”
Hao Ren’s hands moved from her lower back to her upper back then to her shoulders, massaging her with the right amount of force.
After a while, Hao Ren heard no more instructions from her. Thinking that she was busy writing the test, he continued the massage and checked up on her.
Then, he found her soundly asleep!
Her posture was not ladylike at all. A trickle of saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth and traveled along her pencil onto the test paper that Hao Ren had spent hours to make.
“Well, you are enjoying my labor too well!”
Withdrawing his hands, Hao Ren pulled out the test paper from her dripping saliva. He gritted his teeth and had the urge to wake her, but he controlled himself.
Judging from her unladylike posture, Hao Ren was sure that she was not faking it. Obviously, she had been tired recently.
“Damn girl…” Hao Ren glanced at her before tucking her into her quilt. Then, he took the paper to the desk to check her answers.
She only had finished half of the test, and the answers she gave were mostly wrong. Since Hao Ren selected the problems, he knew the concept that was tested by each problem. Therefore, he had a general understanding of Zhao Yanzi’s weaknesses in Geometry.
He marked the paper carefully before analyzing her mistakes. He checked his watch and found that it was already nine o’clock; he needed to go back to his dorm.
He looked back and saw Zhao Yanzi still soundly asleep in her bed. She seemed quite like Little White when she slept.
Hao Ren didn’t wake her up and urge her to finish her homework. He took out her homework and did some of the difficult problems. Placing the answers beside her homework, he stood up quietly before turning off the light and shutting the door behind him.
Zhao Hongyu was checking an architectural design in the living room. Despite the threat from West Ocean, she didn’t want to leave her work behind.
When Hao Ren tiptoed down the stairs, Zhao Hongyu looked up. “The tutoring session is over?”
“Yeah.” Hao Ren nodded and walked into the living room.
“How was Zi today?” Zhao Hongyu asked him.
“Well, she worked hard today.” Hao Ren covered for Zhao Yanzi.
“I hope she studies hard and understands the hardships in life.” With a slight sigh, she looked at Hao Ren. “I’ll drive you back to school, ok?”
Hao Ren declined immediately. “No, thank you. I’ll take the bus back to school. Where’s Uncle?”
“He went out to handle some emergencies.” Seeing the concerned look on Hao Ren’s face, Zhao Hongyu continued, “Don’t worry. It’s something related to his business.”
Hao Ren nodded. Besides managing the Dragon Palace, Zhao Guang had to manage the businesses on land. After all, the businesses on land related to the activities of the cultivators of East Ocean. Also, Zhao Guang and Zhao Hongyu were working hard to create a steady and peaceful environment for Zhao Yanzi.
When Zhao Hongyu walked Hao Ren to the door, something occurred to her. “Oh, you have a spirit beast that is capable of flying, right?”
“Yeah.” Hao Ren looked at her curiously, not knowing why she brought it up.
“Since that is the case, you can fly in the city on your spirit beast.” Zhao Hongyu looked at him. “As long as you put a stealth energy sphere around you, ordinary people can’t see you.”
“But cultivators can’t…” Hao Ren was about to raise a question when he suddenly realized that the dragon cultivators couldn’t fly due to the supervision of the inspectors.
Now, he was an inspector!
Little White rolled out from Hao Ren’s necklace. With a booming sound, it turned into its snow lion form with golden paws and white fur.
Hao Ren put a reddish-pink energy shield around him and got onto Little White’s back. It flew high in the air.
Since Su Han, the regional inspector of East Ocean City, was now recovering from her injuries in the East Ocean Dragon Palace, as Su Han’s assistant, Hao Ren was now the highest ranking official among the cultivators in East Ocean City.
259 Recruiting Me into a Club?
With flames burning around its paws, Little white flew steadily in the sky with Hao Ren on its back. As a common species left behind in the mortal world by the Sky Mountain Sect, Little White had a very average bloodline, which meant that it had almost no chance of advancing and evolving.
&nbs
p; Although the common species of spirit beasts had traces of ancient godly beasts’ bloodline in their bodies, the traces of bloodline were so thin that they were extremely difficult to activate. Even the adult snow lions living in the Snow Lotus Cave on the Sky Mountain could only activate the most basic innate power such as Fire-ball Spell and Frozen Spell after eating snow lotuses for many years.
However, with the large number of elixir pills Hao Ren fed it, Little White, though not an adult yet, had activated its flying ability and had even developed the fire-elemental power!
It meant that Little White, which had been despised by that girl on Fifth Heaven, now possessed the power of level 1 spirit beast.
If Hao Ren fed it elixir pills every day and Little White cultivated hard, it might have a chance to completely activate the ancient bloodline in its body and advance into a godly beast.
However, Hao Ren and Little White didn’t know about the situation. Little White just ate when it was hungry, and Hao Ren would feed it two Essence Replenishment Pills each day to stop its badgering.
Sitting on Little White’s back and looking down at the city from a height of hundreds of meters above the ground, Hao Ren felt a wondrous feeling. Little White was also enjoying the breeze; it flew leisurely, as fast as a floating balloon.
Just months ago, Hao Ren had never imagined that he would be able to ride a lion and look down at the entire city from the sky as an ‘inspector.’
Matters with Zhao Yanzi, West Ocean, school, and more were all forgotten as he stared at the brightly lit East Ocean City in the quiet sky above the city.
He had wanted to live an ordinary life, but he had to adapt to the changes and get used to new things.
“Little White, let’s get down!” he ordered in a low voice as he patted Little White’s neck lightly.
With a low roar, Little White dashed toward the East Ocean University campus below them.
Like a shooting star, they arched toward the ground.
Bang! Little White landed in the small forest.
Hao Ren, who was enjoying the amazing feeling and the beautiful city view from the sky, jumped off Little White’s back dizzily and slapped its head. “Damn dog! Couldn’t you land gently?!”
Little White looked at him innocently with its big black and watery eyes.
“Well, this is an extra elixir pill for you!” After taking out an Essence Replenishment Pill from the wooden box in his hidden space, Hao Ren tossed it into Little White’s mouth.
Little White felt wronged a moment ago, but it instantly became joyous. Transforming into its mini size, it ran around Hao Ren’s ankles, rubbing its head against his legs like a kitten.
“You have no backbone!” Picking it up by the back of its neck, he tossed the beast into his hidden space.
During the night, the dew was substantial in this forest, and that was why no student couples came here to make out. It provided Hao Ren with a perfect landing place.
After straightening his clothes, Hao Ren walked out of the forest before crossing the campus and returning to his dorm.
Huang Jianfeng and the others were playing cards in the dorm, and they would never have imagined that Hao Ren had been patrolling the city in the sky. They thought he went out with Xie Yujia, so they didn’t ask him any questions when he came back to the dorm late at night, right before the gate would be locked up.
Hao Ren was no longer the same person he was two months ago, but his buddies saw him every day and didn’t notice the transformations.
Next morning came.
Zhao Jiayi had spent the night in the stadium practicing and didn’t return to the dorm. Ever since he became the Captain of the Basketball Team, he got quite busy.
Seeing that Cao Ronghua and Zhou Liren were still soundly asleep, Hao Ren washed up and went jogging. Cultivation could improve his physical strength, but it couldn’t give him combat ability in melee battles.
After running 20 laps around the campus, he went to the small forest where he landed last night and practiced horse stance punch 1,000 times. After the high-intensity workout, he only sweated slightly.
It was still early, so he practiced the Fundamental Boxing Techniques, that he learned from the Dragon Palace, nine times. The movements were not hard for Hao Ren in his current state.
However, it was a test of physical strength and endurance to make each movement accurate and proper.
After all, this set of boxing techniques were used to train the soldiers in the Dragon Palace, and the lowest-leveled soldiers were at Li-level. In other words, this set of boxing techniques with no name was the training technique for cultivators!
After practicing it nine times, Hao Ren was soaked in sweat even though he had reached Zhen-level. It was a top-rated set of boxing techniques that could toughen one’s muscles and bones.
Zhao Jiayi or Zhou Liren probably would have collapsed to the ground with fatigue after practicing only half of the boxing techniques. Some movements were beyond their strengths and abilities; if they forced themselves to do those movements, they probably would break their bones or get cramps.
Exhaling deeply, Hao Ren walked out of the small forest and toward Academic Building C with his bag in his hand.
It was breakfast time, so Hao Ren merged into the crowds in the direction of the cafeteria, planning to have breakfast before going to class.
“Hello…”
Suddenly, a tall and thin girl wearing a pair of glasses stopped Hao Ren.
She stared at Hao Ren for a few seconds before giving him a warm smile. “Do you have any interest in joining our club?”
Hao Ren looked at her and shook his head. “Not interested.”
“Unlike the ordinary school clubs, ours is an internal club called the Association of the Five Dragons,” She continued.
“The Association of the Five Dragons?” Hao Ren activated the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, looked at her carefully, and saw a pale blue light around her. She belonged to one of the water-elemental dragon clans, but Hao Ren didn’t know which branch she was from, lake, river, or stream.
Seeming to have sensed Hao Ren’s question on his mind, this girl introduced herself in a low voice, “I belong to Dongting Lake. You should be a member of East Ocean, right? Since we belong to the same circle, we should have each other’s back.”
Hao Ren thought for a moment, but he still shook his head.
When he was below Zhen-level, the so-called ‘circle’ ignored him.
Now that he had broken through to Zhen-level, they immediately sent someone to recruit him, trying to pull him into their circle to strengthen their force. Hao Ren wouldn’t fall for their tricks.
Besides, there were all kinds of conflicts between the different circles, and Hao Ren didn’t want to be a part of it. With a wave of his hand, he walked out of the cafeteria.
On his way to the Academic Building, several senior students came to him and invited him to join their mysterious clubs. Hao Ren refused them all.
When he walked around the campus as a low-level cultivator who was working on the Spirit Concentration Scroll, they pretended not to see him. When some big events happened in the Dragon Tribe, and they met on the roadside to discuss, they had never thought of including Hao Ren. Even when Huang Xujie tried to bully him, none of the so-called ‘fellow dragons’ offered help.
That was why Hao Ren ignored them now.
“Are you sure that you won’t consider our offers? We have many cultivation discussion groups, and we could trade low-tier dharma treasures with each other inside our association.”
“The head of our club is a Dui-level master, and he will give you some guidance. You’ve just reached Zhen-level, but it’s difficult to solidify your realm without the guidance of a master.”
“We have many single dragon girls in our club. If you find someone you like, you two can practice dual-cultivation…”
Hao Ren’s refusal didn’t dissuade them. Three representatives from three clubs followed Hao Ren tig
htly.
“To be clear, I’ll join none of your clubs.” Afraid that they would follow him into the classroom, Hao Ren stopped to make his attitude clear.
“Although Zhen-level is not weak, it’s not powerful either. Since you are around the school every day, I suggest you join one of our clubs.”
One of them began to threaten him.
“Well, do you mean that you guys will find opportunities to attack me if I don’t join any of your clubs?” Hao Ren asked them in a harsher tone.
“Right!” the three of them answered at the same time.
After all, in East Ocean City, there were only about eight cultivation clubs; none of the Zhen-level students could stay independent!
They had been indifferent to Hao Ren when he was below Zhen Level. However, he had to join one of them after he reached Zhen-level!
On the surface, they talked about taking care of each other. However, their real purpose was to strengthen their force to overpower the other clubs.
“We’ll give you three minutes to consider. You must choose one of the three clubs!” The senior-looking student gave Hao Ren an ultimatum.
They forced him to join one of them! They thought that Hao Ren wasn’t very powerful as a Zhen-level cultivator.
The other two representatives surrounded him with their arms crossed.
Judging from the lights they emitted, Hao Ren knew that each of them was on or above Zhen-level. If Hao Ren refused to join one of their clubs, they would put down a red energy sphere and attack him.
None of the Zhen-level students could stay out of their control; it was the unwritten rule. Of course, after a cultivator joined one of the clubs, he or she would have to contribute to the club by handing in money and offering labor.
Uninterested, Hao Ren turned around and continued toward Academic Building C.
“Stop!” The senior student launched an attack suddenly.
As the vice-president of the Sea Light Club, he was a Gen-level cultivator, and he wanted to pull Hao Ren into his club.
Hao Ren blocked his arm and leaped half a step forward. Meanwhile, the other two representatives entered the fray.
Since Hao Ren had expressively told them that he wouldn’t join any of their clubs, they decided to teach him a lesson.