The vice chancellor raised his hand high, directing it toward Li Xuan's face. This time, Li Xuan caught his arm firmly, but it felt as if the weight of a mountain were pressing down on him.
The vice chancellor stared at Li Xuan's fingers gripping his wrist. He raised an eyebrow, skeptical and unimpressed, a devilish grin spreading across his face as he watched Li Xuan struggle to hold back his hand.
"Pathetic," he hissed.
His hand suddenly blazed with dark red spiritual essence, releasing black smoke as though it were burning. The dark flame spread across his hand, enveloping Li Xuan's in the process.
Li Xuan's face twisted in pain. His muscles contracted, and he jerked violently, forced to release his grip.
The vice chancellor's other hand flashed out, slapping Li Xuan across the face and sending him crashing flat to the ground.
He calmly placed his hands behind his back, as though his work were done. With a sigh, he turned and began walking toward the lone olive tree nearby.
"I have to say, you've tried," he said, his voice suddenly softer, almost sweet.
Li Xuan could no longer suppress his anger. Even if this middle-aged man was the vice chancellor, he had gone too far meddling in matters that didn't concern him. The Li family was far beyond his right to lecture about. Such behavior was unacceptable in any institution.
"But again, you have failed," the man continued, his voice lower now, tinged with something like sadness,something Li Xuan couldn't understand.
"Who are you?" Li Xuan asked, brushing dirt from his clothes.
"You aren't qualified to know my name," the vice chancellor said, his tone rising harshly.
An invisible pressure crushed down on Li Xuan, forcing his knees to buckle. He struggled not to bow to such arrogance. The gravity felt tripled, every small movement of his muscles weighing twice his own body weight.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat felt squeezed shut. "I'm not sure this is the kind of behavior expected from a chancellor like you."
The vice chancellor grinned, playing idly with his fingers behind his back.
"Oh? You dare question my authority?" he said, casting Li Xuan a sharp side glance.
"Hmm… since you dare talk back to me, I'll give you a chance. If you complete your punishment, I'll tell you my name."
His feet began to rise slowly off the ground. As he levitated, he looked down to see Li Xuan still struggling to stand. The pressure vanished instantly.
Li Xuan looked up. The vice chancellor stared back with those devil-black eyes.
"Go and prepare. You and your friends had better get ready for the hunt."
His ascent quickened, and he dissolved into black mist that faded into the air.
Li Xuan spat blood onto the ground. He pressed a trembling hand to his chest, trying to slow his breathing. This was the first time he had truly experienced the vice chancellor's cruelty,the kind students only whispered about.
He clenched his other fist, knuckles cracking. "Every debt shall be repaid."
He knew exactly what the man meant by "friends." It referred to the other so-called culprits,the students who were punished for failure. Their task was usually to hunt assigned beasts, and while there were supposed to be supervisors to intervene if things went too far, that usually happened only after you'd broken a few bones.
There was no need for him to return to class. His next destination was the edge of the Mingdu Forest—where punishment and torture awaited. His steps were unsteady, his body swaying as he staggered forward.
A passing student saw him and stared, trying to figure out what had happened.
Such abuse should have been reported, but at Mingdu, a complaint without powerful backing would get you expelled before you could utter a word. Li Xuan brushed the thought aside.
He kept walking until he reached his destination. The punishment ground stood like a large compound, walled on all sides, close to a massive gate. It wasn't the torture hall itself butmore like the entryway to it.
There were five students already there, most of them seniors from the inner academy. Two were sparring in a rough form of kickboxing.
One threw a punch. "Fifty kilograms!"
The other caught it easily, but his feet sank into the concrete, sending rubble flying.
"Sixty kilograms!"
Another blow, heavier than before. Li Xuan could tell from their technique that each punch carried the weight they called out—and if he were in their place, his bones would already be broken.
The other three were doing nothing serious—one leaned lazily against the wall, while two others chatted idly.
When they heard footsteps, their heads turned in unison. Silence fell. Li Xuan lowered his gaze, trying to hide the shame written all over him. It wasn't that he was a junior being punished—it was the way he looked, like someone who'd been dragged through dirt before arriving.
"Jissh, what happened to this one?" sneered the boy leaning on the wall.
Li Xuan recognized him. He was one of Mingdu's prized students, a prodigy nearly on par with Lu Shan. His abilities specialized in healing and support magic, making him a Magus—though Li Xuan thought that term was a stretch.
Many mocked him as a "fake Magus" because his healing took time to circulate through the body instead of healing instantly. The ridicule had hardened him over the years, turning him into a brat who hid his bitterness behind arrogance.
"Well, not sexier than the previous junior, I'll say," one of the others chimed in.
"Careful who you're talking about. Isn't she way younger than you?"
"Age is just a number—like twelve. But she's definitely an eighteen, don't you think?"
They laughed crudely.
Li Xuan ignored them. He didn't know them, and they didn't deserve his attention. But one of the others caught his eye—someone oddly calm, familiar somehow. The memory refused to surface. The boy's composure, however, made Li Xuan feel less intimidated.
The other two grinned idiotically—like chickens, if chickens had lips. Li Xuan didn't need to ask why they were here; their behavior made it obvious. Bullies usually earned their way to the punishment grounds.
He walked toward the only person who seemed remotely sensible—a young man, perhaps in his twenties, standing behind a broad stone pillar half his height.
"Name?" the man asked, glancing up briefly.
Li Xuan didn't answer. Instead, he placed his hand on the pillar, where wrist bangles—shaped like metallic cuffs—hung in a row. Everyone else wore one, so he assumed he had to as well.
After a year at Mingdu, he had learned the procedures of every "ritual," including punishment.
The man picked up a bangle and gestured for Li Xuan to give him his hand.
Li Xuan stretched out his shaking hand, his knuckles raw and bleeding.
The man clasped the bangle around his wrist. "You don't seem like the type of culprit. Though… I'd be lying if I said I hadn't seen that girl."
"Which girl?" Li Xuan asked, meeting his gaze.
"Some young lady," the man said, leaning back against the pillar where a wooden tablet rested. "She's far too noble to be punished—but crime doesn't pay, as they say."
Li Xuan's eyes flicked toward the students again. Skipping class counts as a crime now? he thought bitterly. Mingdu Soul Academy felt more like a military camp than a school.
He exhaled sharply and turned.
His eyes widened the moment they landed on her.
She was… breathtaking. More womanly than before—elegant, confident, radiant. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating, perhaps a side effect of being slapped silly by the vice chancellor.
The approaching figure's thighs were partly exposed through slits on both sides of her robe, short pants barely covering what they could, the long fabric flowing down to her heels.
"Xiao Fengqi," he breathed.
Her face was partly veiled, revealing only her eyes but Li Xuan didn't need to see more. He could recognize her aura anywhere.
She was no longer the shy girl in short heels. Now she wore golden-red ones that made her seem taller—different, radiant, and utterly transformed.
Li Xuan couldn't help but stare. She looked like she had stepped out of a dream.