C3 Returning to the Campus

After stowing all his belongings in the storage ring, Xiao Han approached the familiar two-story villa. On Blue Star, martial prowess was held in high esteem, and at Starry Sky Academy, a premier institution for Spirit Weavers, this was especially true. Each year, the ten most exceptional students were awarded their own private villas.

Xiao Han retrieved his key and unlocked the villa door, finding everything inside just as he had left it. Each villa boasted a dedicated Martial Arts Field for training. Upon reaching the underground field, Xiao Han stripped off his shirt and stood bare-chested at the center of the expansive area.

The Skybreaker Spear materialized in his grasp, and he began to brandish the weapon with sudden ferocity. His movements and footwork grew increasingly intricate and unpredictable. Despite losing all his cultivation upon rebirth, his mastery of the Spear Intent remained intact.

A fierce and ruthless aura radiated from Xiao Han, transforming the environment into an illusionary battlefield strewn with corpses and rivers of blood. He had once emerged alive from such carnage, his aura of slaughter far surpassing that of inexperienced youths.

His Spear Intent was domineering, characterized by relentless offense. For Xiao Han, the best defense was a relentless attack, a philosophy embodied in his Spear Technique.

The God Slaying Spear Technique, a form he had devised himself, felt perfectly natural in his hands. Although he had arrived at the academy in the morning, his training had extended into the twilight hours.

Setting aside the Skybreaker Spear, Xiao Han returned it to the storage ring. Achieving the Foundation Building level was not a feat to be accomplished in haste.

With a swift motion, his hands came together, forming a seal. Xiao Han bellowed with commanding force, "Wind! Rise!"

A volley of wind blades sliced through the air, striking the walls and leaving deep gashes in their wake. Now, his vital essence depleted, he could only summon a handful of wind blades, though he surmised that conjuring fireballs would be similarly taxing.

The concept of magic arts was foreign to Blue Star, where Spirit Weavers prioritized weapon mastery. Even though traces of magic could be found in certain sword techniques, they didn't constitute true magic arts.

Xiao Han's cultivation was already significantly stronger than that of an average Spirit Weaver, and with the added benefit of magic arts, he was without a doubt unparalleled among his peers.

A final competition was scheduled for the end of the semester to establish the new top ten rankings. Last semester, Xiao Han was ranked tenth, but this term, he was confident he could claim the top spot.

After getting dressed, Xiao Han intended to make a trip back to his rental. He still had many belongings there that he hadn't moved yet.

As Xiao Han stepped out of his residence, he encountered a couple.

"Xiao Han? Weren't you expelled from the academy?"

The man, upon seeing Xiao Han, furrowed his brow, puzzled as to why Xiao Han was on campus.

It was quite the coincidence that he recognized the couple. One was his ex-girlfriend, Xie Yue, and the other was Yu Haifeng, the man who had taken both his Aquablade and his pride.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I've regained my status as a student at Starry Sky Academy."

Xiao Han's tone was less than friendly as he addressed them. Yu Haifeng, who was in the early stages of the Awakened Realm, could easily discern Xiao Han's cultivation level. Upon realizing that Xiao Han was merely at the early period of the Spirit Energy Realm, Yu Haifeng scoffed in contempt.

"Hmph, early Spirit Energy Realm? How are you any different from before? You're still worthless."

"Pfft, exactly. I can't fathom where you, a mere early-stage Spirit Weaver, get such audacity. I must have been blind to have ever seen anything in someone as clueless as you."

Xie Yue's face twisted into a sneer. She was a beautiful girl, but her words were anything but.

"I'm not interested in bickering with you right now. Please move; you're in my way."

Xiao Han forcefully contained the rage boiling within him. He had only just returned to the school and had already dealt with Han Junchao upon entering. He had no desire to strike these two again; standing out too much was not a good thing.

"Look at you, all bluster and no substance. I've seen the arrogant, but never someone with neither strength nor backing trying to act tough. What, do you still think you're the golden boy of yesteryear?"

Perhaps driven by the desire to show off in front of a woman, Yu Haifeng brazenly approached Xiao Han, intending to condescendingly pat his cheek.

"Looking for trouble, are you?"

Xiao Han wasn't looking for a fight, but that certainly didn't mean he was afraid of one!

Crack!

"Ah!"

Yu Haifeng's scream pierced the air as Xiao Han, with a swift and unexpected move, grabbed and twisted his hand into a grotesquely contorted position.

Thud!

A brutal knee strike followed, and Yu Haifeng was overcome with a searing pain in his abdomen. He tried to fight back, but the agony was so overwhelming that his body lost the capacity to resist.

A surge of Spirit Energy flooded into Yu Haifeng's body. Xiao Han was far from merciful. You wanted to be arrogant? You wanted to strut around? Well, let's see how you fare without your cultivation!

Several of Yu Haifeng's critical meridians were shattered, his cultivation dissipated in an instant, leaving him a broken man, incapable of further cultivation.

After discarding Yu Haifeng on the ground, Xiao Han's steely gaze found Xie Yue.

Xie Yue, visibly shaken and disoriented by fear, panicked at the sight of Xiao Han's menacing look. In a frantic move, she drew a longsword from her storage ring and yelled at Xiao Han, "Stay back!"

With a chilling smile, Xiao Han advanced slowly towards Xie Yue, who, in her terror, brandished her longsword wildly at him.

Her cultivation level barely reached the late period of Spirit Energy, while Xiao Han, now in the late period of Qi Refining and with a cultivation on par with a Spirit Weaver, saw her swordplay as nothing more than child's play, akin to a kid swinging a stick.

Xiao Han effortlessly caught the incoming slash of the longsword with Spirit Energy clinging to his hand. With a surge of power, Xie Yue's longsword snapped in two, the pieces clattering to the ground.

"I generally don't strike women, provided the situation is ordinary," Xiao Han said icily to Xie Yue before vanishing from her sight.

Staring at the broken longsword, now missing half its length, Xie Yue was bewildered and uncertain. Hadn't Xiao Han's Blade Spirit dissipated? And his cultivation was merely in the early stages of Spirit Energy. How could he be so formidable?

She could sense that Xiao Han's current power likely surpassed even his former peak.

...

The rental house was sparsely furnished. Xiao Han entered and swiftly collected all his belongings. Gazing around the first home he'd had in this world, he felt a twinge of reluctance to leave. But what could be done? In the end, he had to go.