12. Southern School of Tomb Raiding

On the first day of school, the chubby Gao Xiaohua sidled over, though his eyes drifted toward the class beauty, Li Xiaoya—the flower of their class and the object of his secret affection.

“Fatty, don’t talk about me. Have you reviewed these past few days? If you can’t get into the top ten this time, getting into a key university might be a problem. Who knows if your dad will let you off?” Chen Fengyun asked with a grin.

“What’s so great about the top ten? My goal this time is to be in the top eight of the class and the top hundred in the grade. But what about you—do you dare aim for first in the class and top three in the grade?” Gao, patting his chest, replied, then asked mischievously.

“What’s so special about the top three? Fatty, my goal is first in the grade, top hundred in Rong City,” Chen Fengyun declared, pounding his own chest.

He wasn’t boasting without reason; just last night, his parents had taken him to dinner with family friends. Their friend’s child was in their third year at Rong City No. 4 High School, also in the liberal arts track, and ranked around the top hundred in the city. Although Chen Fengyun’s results were decent at his own school, in the first major exam, his city ranking was over three hundred. The parents’ friend gloated throughout the meal about how well they educated their child, leaving Chen Fengyun’s parents rather embarrassed. So he resolved to do better, to give his parents some pride.

“Hahaha, did you all hear that? Chen Fengyun says he’ll get first in the grade and break into the city’s top hundred in the second major exam. That’s headline news!” Unexpectedly, as the two friends bragged, a classmate overheard. Liu Zhiqiang stood up and shouted, drawing the entire class’s attention.

“He talks big without even thinking.”

“Yeah, he may be one of our top students, and aiming for first in the grade is ambitious but possible. But to hope for the city’s top hundred? Pure fantasy.”

“I heard in the last major exam, our school’s top liberal arts student was only ranked one hundred and twentieth in the city. To compete with the geniuses at Four-Seven-Nine? Having dreams is good, but you have to keep your feet on the ground.”

“Let’s not be so harsh. You never know—what if he really does it?”

The class buzzed with discussion. Some thought Chen Fengyun was just boasting, others encouraged him, and a few were genuinely impressed. Chen Fengyun only smiled faintly—let reality speak for itself.

By the final semester of senior year, all the new material had long been covered. Every day was filled with practice, drills, and tests. At the start of the term, each subject held assessments, followed by weekly, monthly, and diagnostic exams.

Unlike his classmates, Chen Fengyun didn’t bury himself in his books. Whenever class ended, he’d head to the field for some activity, always full of energy, always the first to hand in his exams.

“Chen Fengyun scored another perfect in math—does he have a cheat code or something?”

“No kidding—he got a perfect in English yesterday too. Unbelievable.”

“Damn, he even scored one forty-six in Chinese. Do you think he can really make the city’s top hundred?”

“I used to think it was impossible, but seeing him score over two seventy in liberal arts comprehensive these past few days… Even the city’s top hundred might not have that kind of strength.”

In the days leading up to the second diagnostic exam, as various tests and weekly exams rolled around, Chen Fengyun began to show his full strength. Math was almost always perfect, English often so, and even Chinese and the comprehensive subjects were high-scoring. Gradually, talk of his ambition to break into the city’s top hundred was being taken seriously.

In truth, Chen Fengyun wasn’t even putting in his full effort. He could finish a comprehensive practice volume in a single class period. If he really went all out, he might even be able to vie for the very top spot in the city.

“Now that I have the Spirit Gathering Array, I can practice cultivation at home. But the spiritual energy in the city is nothing like the mountains—the pace is painfully slow. I’ll have to find another way to speed up my training. Right, there’s an antique market not far from the school. Maybe I’ll check it out this weekend and see if I can find anything useful.”

These days, Chen Fengyun’s mind had been occupied with his cultivation. For now, there seemed no other solution but to search the antique markets for items with special energy.

Fortunately, Rong City is a metropolis of over ten million, with seven or eight antique markets of various sizes—plenty to explore. Whether he could find anything truly special, though, would come down to luck.

As Chen Fengyun resolved to start searching the city’s antique markets for treasures, meanwhile, in a valley below the Jade Balance Peak of Qingcheng Mountain, a group of five led by “Uncle Eight” returned, fully equipped.

“Strange, this is the place. Why is the stone door gone?” The group stood outside Master Yuanhua’s stone chamber, staring at the collapsed slope. A goateed old man frowned.

“Yeah… It’s only been half a month. How could there have been a landslide?” Uncle Eight’s brow furrowed as well, a shadow flickering in his mind, though he said nothing.

“Old Eight, didn’t you say you were spotted by forest rangers last time? Could they have found this place and reported it to the local government, who then sent people here?” asked a hawk-eyed man.

“We can’t be sure. Four and I had just entered Qingcheng Town when the police started chasing us. We only just managed to shake them off and escape. We don’t even know how they found us, let alone what happened here,” Uncle Eight replied with a shake of his head.

“Second Brother, Four, Eight—could it have been those from the Northern Faction? We’ve been watching this place for over half a year. Maybe someone from the North caught wind of it?” piped up a man with a sharp voice.

“Third Brother has a point. Something about this is off. It’s the New Year—nobody would come out here for fun. And if it were the authorities, there’d be a bigger commotion. So it could well be those Northerners,” the last member, a burly man, added.

“Whatever the case, since we’re here, we should dig and take a look. Whether there’s anything inside or not, at least we’ll know for sure,” the hawk-eyed man decided.

Without delay, the five set to work, equipped with pickaxes and entrenching tools, their movements swift and practiced. They quickly unearthed the spot where the stone door had been, finding it shattered into several pieces.

Still, they didn’t give up, digging deeper. After half a day, they finally uncovered the stone chamber. But the stone table and bed inside had been smashed, and there was nothing left to find.

“A pity—the few items Four and Eight brought back before were real antiques, at least five or six hundred years old. I’d wager there were more treasures here, but someone beat us to it,” the hawk-eyed man sighed at last.

“Second Brother, we should keep an eye on the local markets. If someone did take antiques from here, sooner or later they’ll show up for sale. Once we spot them, we can trace the seller and see who’s bold enough to snatch business from the Southern Faction,” the burly man said darkly.