Translator: CinderTL
What the hell is this place?
Xu Sanyan had never felt so utterly powerless, not even when he faced Ci Sheng at the Wondrous Sound Temple.
At least there, his Spiritual Power had remained, allowing him to stake everything on a desperate gamble.
But now, stripped of every shred of Spiritual Power, even a suicidal last stand was beyond his reach. His only salvation lay in the panel, which preserved a sliver of hope.
Great Solitary Mountain...
The Yue Clan woman had spoken those three words with such conviction. Could that pitch-black mountain range truly bear that name?
But what good was knowing its name now?
Shush... shush...
The sound of robes brushing against the bamboo bed reached his ears. Xu Sanyan cautiously cracked open his eyes, revealing that the old scholar had left.
After waiting a while longer, Xu Sanyan stirred slightly, listening intently for any sign of the scholar's return. He detected nothing amiss.
Phew...
Secretly relieved, he quietly retrieved the book and carefully flipped through it until he found the Lying Ox Classic. It was a simple poem, just a few lines long—easily memorized after a few readings.
He never imagined he would one day have to sneak around to read.
The room grew darker. Xu Sanyan glanced out the window. The sky seemed shrouded in a black cloth, blocking out the light, with only slivers of brightness escaping through the gaps, casting a faint glow.
Suddenly, the Yue Clan woman beside him startled awake, leaping to her feet, her eyes wide with terror. "Souls! Souls!" she cried.
Xu Sanyan's heart lurched. Sensing danger, he hastily shoved his book into his robes and lay down on the bamboo bed, feigning sleep.
No sooner had he closed his eyes than the old scholar's voice echoed in his ear: "Disturbing your classmates warrants three strokes of the disciplinary ruler."
Cold sweat trickled down Xu Sanyan's temples, but he dared not wipe it away, praying the scholar hadn't noticed him.
The Yue Clan woman slipped back into her dazed state, obediently extending her hand to receive the three sharp cracks of the ruler. The sound reverberated in Xu Sanyan's ears.
He could almost feel the bone-deep sting of the punishment.
"Back to sleep," the scholar commanded.
The Yue Clan woman obediently lay back down, the bamboo bed creaking softly beneath her.
Xu Sanyan's heart pounded in his throat. Though his eyes remained shut, he knew the scholar hadn't left. He had the unsettling feeling that the old man's gaze was fixed on him.
As the sound of footsteps faded, the old scholar turned to leave.
Suddenly, Xu Sanyan felt an icy touch at his temples, as if a pair of large, cold hands were gently stroking him. The sensation sent a shiver of terror down his spine.
He's... wiping the cold sweat from my temples?!
Xu Sanyan's breath hitched for a moment before returning to normal. The hands withdrew, and with a final set of footsteps, the old scholar departed.
Xu Sanyan was shaken to the core. He knew he hadn't fallen asleep. He was absolutely certain of it.
But why hadn't the old scholar harmed him?
Could it be because... he hadn't broken any rules?
Xu Sanyan thought back carefully. His first beating had been for tardiness, and his second for sneaking around.
The Yue Clan trio had faced similar consequences. Their first beating was also for tardiness, while the second and third were for disturbing the classroom.
So... as long as you followed the rules, you were safe?
Then why had the others shrunk so drastically?
The assignments!
They couldn't complete the teacher's assignments. Each failure earned them three strokes of the disciplinary rod, and as the missed assignments piled up, they gradually diminished in size.
Lacking self-awareness, they moved like automatons, mechanically following the routine: attending classes when the bell rang and returning to their beds when dismissed, never completing their assignments.
Xu Sanyan felt he was beginning to understand.
Coupled with the Yue Clan woman's earlier mention of "souls," he speculated that their souls might have somehow become separated from their bodies for some unknown reason and inexplicably ended up in this world.
But the crucial question remained: how could he escape?
Brute force was out of the question. He didn't have the strength, and even Big Yellow Tooth could overpower him. How could he possibly fight the elusive, ghostlike lecturer?
His mind raced with thoughts as a deep weariness washed over him. Xu Sanyan desperately tried to stay awake, but before he knew it, he had drifted into slumber.
Time passed unnoticed until the sky brightened. The deafening clang of a copper gong shattered the silence, jolting them awake.
Eyes snapped open, clearing of the haze. The dormitory erupted into chaos.
"I want to get out of here!" someone wailed in despair.
"Da! Gu! Shan!" another hissed through gritted teeth, their small face contorted with venom.
When you're weak enough, even your anger seems almost endearing.
The three members of the Yue Clan quickly gathered together. Though they all appeared to be in their late twenties, the Yue Clan woman, who had endured the most strikes from the disciplinary rod, now looked like a young woman of eighteen or nineteen.
Their own survival was now their priority, and they no longer had any thoughts of apprehending Xu Sanyan.
Clang!
The second strike of the copper gong plunged everyone back into confusion. Obediently, they lined up and shuffled toward the school.
The old teacher stood behind the lectern, disciplinary rod in hand, testing each student individually. "Recite the Lying Ox Classic."
A child stood frozen in place.
"Incomplete homework. Three strikes," the teacher said, administering three sharp blows with the rod.
Xu Sanyan, positioned in the middle of the line, silently observed. He noticed that the teacher always stated the reason before striking, as if following a strict rule.
As the line advanced, Xu Sanyan spotted a toddler, barely knee-high, perhaps two or three years old. After receiving three strikes, the child vanished completely, dissolving into thin air.
Xu Sanyan pressed his lips into a thin line. The child's divine soul had likely been extinguished, leaving no hope for revival.
The line continued to move forward until it reached Xu Sanyan. The teacher's gaze was impassive. "Recite the Lying Ox Classic."
After a moment's thought, Xu Sanyan began, "Green grass glistens with morning dew, a shepherd boy leads his ox by the nose-rope..."
As he finished reciting the poem, a peculiar light flickered in the teacher's eyes. He stared intently at Xu Sanyan before finally declaring, "Homework completed."
The moment the words faded, a dim, arcane light poured into Xu Sanyan's head. His eyes snapped open as he felt something enter his body...
It was unlike Spiritual Power or vital energy, something beyond description. The soul-deep pleasure it brought made him tremble, barely suppressing his inner excitement.
Xu Sanyan gently closed his eyes, and his mind seemed to fill with foreign fragments... remnants of incomplete memories that didn't belong to him?
He saw "himself" leading men into a Hu family's home, murdering the husband and raping the wife, unmoved by her cries and pleas.
The brutality was familiar, yet Xu Sanyan had no recollection of ever committing such acts.
The scene shifted. He found "himself" soaking in a bathtub, his chest adorned with two firm, rounded breasts as white as a rabbit's. A small black mole marked his left pectoral.
His gaze drifted to the blurry reflection on the water's surface: a bewitching woman lightly licked her crimson lips, seemingly admiring her own ravishing beauty.
The memory fragments shattered again. This time, he was a young man seated on an ornate wooden chair, a book cradled in his hands. Yet his eyes were riveted to the birds outside the window.
Xu Sanyan tried to force his attention back to the book, but found himself powerless. He was merely a first-person observer, unable to influence the events unfolding within the memories.
(End of the Chapter)
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