Chapter 8: The Student's Lesson and the Shattered Core
The path leading to the Dragon-Vein Chamber was steep, jagged, and narrow—a natural bottleneck designed to protect the Academy's most precious resource. But today, the geographical bottleneck had been replaced by a human one.
Lu Feng stood in the center of the trail. His Grade E robes, once a symbol of shame, were now clean and tight against a physique that had been rebuilt by the Vortex Compression method. His breath was shallow, his heartbeat steady, and his eyes—once clouded with the resentment of a cripple—were now as sharp as polished obsidian.
Across from him, the three members of the 2-Star Supreme Teacher Investigation Team stood with their flying beast, a massive Blue-Winged Eagle, tethered to a nearby rock. The leader, Elder Wei, adjusted his purple robes, his face a mask of disbelief and offense.
"Move aside, boy," Wei commanded, his voice carrying the heavy vibration of a Golden Core - Level 5 master. "We are here by the mandate of the Pavilion. Your 'Teacher' is being summoned for questioning regarding the assault on Elder Yan and the use of forbidden demonic arts. Obstructing us is a capital offense."
Lu Feng didn't flinch. The pressure of a Golden Core master, which should have crushed a Foundation Establishment student to his knees, seemed to flow around him like water around a boulder.
"My Teacher is currently perfecting a lecture," Lu Feng replied, his voice calm and resonant. "He told me that if three 'Masters' can't even see the flaws in their own path, they aren't fit to climb this mountain. He said... your presence would pollute the mountain's Qi."
The two elders behind Wei gasped. One of them, a lean man named Elder Feng, stepped forward. "Insolence! Do you know who you are talking to? Elder Wei is a Master of the 'Heavy Mountain Palm'! He could flatten this entire block with a thought!"
"A Master of the Heavy Mountain Palm?" Lu Feng tilted his head, a faint, mocking glint in his eyes. "Teacher mentioned that technique. He said it's less of a 'Mountain' and more of a 'Puddle'. The user concentrates too much weight in the elbow, leaving the shoulder joint disconnected from the Dantian's flow. Am I correct, Elder Wei?"
Wei's eyes widened. His shoulder had been a source of dull ache for years—a secret he had shared with no one. "How... how could a brat like you know of my internal circulation?"
"I don't know it," Lu Feng said, stepping into a stance. "My Teacher knows it. And he taught me how to break it."
The Duel of Logic and Might
Elder Wei lost his patience. To be analyzed and dismissed by a Grade E student was a humiliation he couldn't endure.
"I will teach you the difference between Heaven and Earth!" Wei roared.
He lunged forward. His right hand expanded, glowing with a muddy, brown light—the Heavy Mountain Palm. The air around his hand became dense, the pressure enough to crack the stone path beneath his feet. It was a strike that possessed the weight of ten thousand kilograms.
[Inside the Dragon-Vein Chamber]
Tian Mo sat with his back to the entrance, his eyes closed. Beside him, Su Qingyuan (the Saintess) and Mo Ling (the Princess) watched the entrance with bated breath.
"Shouldn't you help him?" Su Qingyuan whispered, her voice filled with concern. "Elder Wei is at the mid-stage of the Golden Core. Lu Feng is only at the Foundation Establishment."
"Size and rank are the illusions of the weak," Tian Mo said, not moving a muscle. "Lu Feng has my 10x Foundation. His Qi is denser than Wei's. And more importantly, he knows where the 'crack' is. Watch."
[Back on the Mountain Path]
As Wei's palm descended, Lu Feng didn't retreat. He didn't even raise his own hand to block. Instead, at the very last micro-second, he took a half-step to the left and drove his index finger into a very specific point: the hollow just below Elder Wei's armpit.
Ting.
It was a sound like a needle hitting a bell.
Elder Wei's massive, glowing palm strike suddenly sputtered. The brown light flickered and died. The immense weight he had gathered didn't hit Lu Feng; instead, the momentum was redirected back into Wei's own shoulder.
CRACK.
"AAAAAUGH!" Wei screamed, stumbling past Lu Feng. He hit the stone wall of the cliff, his arm hanging limp. The 'Mountain' had collapsed upon its creator.
"The shoulder joint," Lu Feng said, turning around slowly. "Teacher said it was the 'Flaw Node'. You use your elbow as a lever, but your shoulder is the hinge. A hinge with a rusty pin cannot support a mountain, Elder."
The other two elders, Feng and Zhao, stood frozen. They hadn't even seen Lu Feng move his Qi. It was pure, surgical precision.
"Demonic arts!" Feng shrieked, drawing a long-blade. "He's using demonic soul-sight! Kill him!"
The two 2-Star teachers attacked simultaneously. Feng's blade whistled with wind-Qi, while Zhao unleashed a volley of 'Spirit Needles'.
Lu Feng exhaled, and for the first time, he unleashed his 10x Refined Qi.
BOOM!
An aura of pure, translucent white light exploded from him. It wasn't just light; it was a physical force. The wind-blade was shattered mid-air. The spirit needles were vaporized before they could touch his skin.
Lu Feng moved like a blur. Thwack. Thwack.
Two strikes. One to Feng's wrist, one to Zhao's solar plexus.
Both 2-Star Masters were sent flying backward, landing in a heap at the feet of their Blue-Winged Eagle.
"My Teacher says," Lu Feng said, standing over them, "that a 2-Star badge is earned through wisdom, not through bullying students. You are failures as teachers. Go back to the Pavilion and tell them... tell them Tian Mo is no longer an 'Assistant'. He is the Standard."
The Shadow in the Pavilion
As the defeated 2-Star Team scrambled onto their beast and took flight in a cloud of shame, Shadow Guard #1 flickered back into the Dragon-Vein Chamber, merging with Tian Mo's shadow.
Tian Mo opened his eyes. The golden light was back, but it was deeper now, reflecting the Divine Library's evolution.
"The 2-Star Investigation Team has failed," Tian Mo mused. "But this will only bring the 3-Star Elders out of their holes. Mu has realized that he cannot defeat me with Academy politics. He is going to try a 'Professional Challenge'."
Su Qingyuan looked at him. "A Professional Challenge? That is the most brutal form of academic warfare. If a teacher challenges another in their primary profession, the loser must destroy their own Dantian and leave the Kingdom."
"He won't challenge me in Teaching," Tian Mo said, standing up. His presence now felt so immense that even the Princess, Mo Ling, felt like she had to look up at him. "He knows I am a monster in the classroom. He will challenge me in my Auxiliary Profession."
"Which one?" Mo Ling asked.
"Apothecary," Tian Mo replied. "He knows I took the Physician badge. He suspects my alchemy is my weak point. He is wrong."
Tian Mo walked to the center of the chamber and looked at the remaining crates of Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
"Lu Feng! Qin Yue! All of you, gather round."
The nine students, fueled by Lu Feng's victory, gathered with burning eyes.
"The Academy thinks that to be an Apothecary, you need a million-gold furnace and rare herbs from the Southern Wastes," Tian Mo said. "They are wrong. To be an Apothecary, you only need to understand the Flaws of Matter. I am going to teach you how to refine a Foundation Compaction Pill using nothing but the 'Trash' herbs growing on this mountain."
Trial of the 2-Star Apothecary
The next morning, the Apothecary Guild Hall of the Hung Kingdom was packed. Word had spread that the "Demon Teacher" Tian Mo was coming to take the 2-Star Apothecary exam—out-of-turn.
Grandmaster Ouyang, a 3-Star Apothecary with a beard that smelled of sulfur and charcoal, sat on the high throne. Beside him was Vice-Principal Mu, who was whispering frantically into the Grandmaster's ear.
"He is a fraud, Grandmaster!" Mu insisted. "He uses illusions to make his pills look pure. You must set the difficulty to the maximum!"
Ouyang looked at the entrance. "If he can pass the 'Thousand-Herb Blind Scan', he is no fraud. If he fails, I will personally strip him of his Physician's badge."
The doors swung open.
Tian Mo entered. He wasn't alone. He was followed by his nine students, each carrying a small, wooden basket filled with common weeds and moss they had picked from the Grade E dorms.
The audience erupted in laughter.
"Is he going to make soup?"
"Those are 'Blue-Leaf Weeds'! They're used for feeding pigs!"
Tian Mo ignored the mockery. He walked to the center of the hall, where a massive, Golden Dragon Furnace stood.
"I won't be needing the furnace," Tian Mo said.
Grandmaster Ouyang stood up. "The 2-Star exam requires the creation of a 'Spirit-Condensing Pill' with at least 60% purity. You cannot refine a pill without a furnace, Tian Mo. The heat must be contained."
"Heat is just a form of energy vibration," Tian Mo replied, his eyes scanning the Golden Dragon Furnace.
[Ding! Scanning Golden Dragon Furnace...]
[Total Flaws: 56. Primary Flaw: The air-vents are misaligned by 2 degrees, causing a 'Cold Spot' in the center.]
"Your furnace is flawed, Grandmaster," Tian Mo said, pointing at the base. "It leaks 12% of its heat through the legs. If I use it, it will pollute my herbs. I prefer the 'Void Refinement' method."
The hall went silent. Void Refinement was a legendary technique used by 5-Star Apothecaries in the Central Continents. It involved using one's own Qi to create a temporary furnace in the air.
"You? Void Refinement?" Ouyang scoffed. "You are at the Foundation Establishment realm. Your Qi isn't stable enough!"
"My Qi is 10 times denser than yours, Grandmaster," Tian Mo said.
He raised his hands. The "pig weeds" and common moss flew out of the baskets, suspended in a sphere of white, vibrating Qi.
[Initializing: Alchemy Logic.]
[Target: Foundation Compaction Pill (Refined).]
[Adjusting Frequency to vaporize impurities...]
Tian Mo's fingers moved like he was playing an invisible harp.
Zzzzzzt—
The common weeds began to glow. Under the intense pressure of his 10x Refined Qi, the moisture in the herbs didn't just evaporate; it was "Editted" out. The green leaves turned into a pure, emerald liquid, while the brown stems turned into a golden powder.
"Look at the logic, students," Tian Mo said, his voice carrying over the gasps of the crowd. "A 'Blue-Leaf' is 99% water and fiber. But that 1% is 'Primal Earth Essence'. By destroying the 99%, we liberate the 1%."
He merged the emerald liquid and the golden powder.
BOOM.
A pillar of green light shot up from his hands, hitting the ceiling of the Guild Hall. The scent of a thousand flowers suddenly filled the room—a sign of 'Pill-Aroma Manifestation'.
Tian Mo opened his hands. Floating in his palm were three pills. They weren't the usual muddy brown of a 2-Star pill. They were clear as emeralds, with silver veins pulsing inside them.
[Ding! Refinement Successful.]
[Purity: 100% (Zero Flaw).]
[Grade: 2-Star Peak - Sovereign Quality.]
Grandmaster Ouyang practically tumbled down from his throne. He ran to Tian Mo, his hands shaking as he looked at the pills.
"Zero... Zero Flaws?" Ouyang whispered. "I... I have spent sixty years at the cauldron, and I have never seen a pill without a single speck of impurity. And you made it from... from weeds?"
Tian Mo handed the pills to Ouyang. "The weeds weren't the secret, Grandmaster. The secret was knowing that your furnace was a lie."
Tian Mo then turned his gaze to Vice-Principal Mu, who looked like he wanted to vanish into the floorboards.
"Mu," Tian Mo said, his voice echoing with a chilling finality. "You challenged my auxiliary professions. I am now a 1-Star Physician and a 2-Star Apothecary. I have two badges. You have a failing Academy and a dying reputation."
Tian Mo pinned the new 2-Star Apothecary badge to his chest.
"Now," Tian Mo said. "I believe there is a 2-Star Supreme Teacher Exam scheduled for this afternoon. I'd like to sign up. And since I've already proven I can teach 'Trash' to beat 'Masters', I assume the 'Student Demonstration' part is already waived?"
The First Political Trap
As Tian Mo walked out of the Guild Hall, he was stopped by a messenger in the Royal Guard's uniform.
"Teacher Tian! The King has sent me. There is a problem at the Northern Border. The Otherworldly Demonic Tribe has sent a 'Diplomatic Envoy'... but they are demanding you specifically."
Tian Mo's eyes narrowed.
[Ding! Quest Triggered: The Demonic Negotiation.]
[Objective: Do not let the envoy speak. Their voice contains a 'Soul-Eater' virus.]
[Reward: Shadow Guard #2 Unlock.]
Tian Mo looked at his students. "It seems our 'Face-Slapping' has reached the ears of the demons. Princess, Saintess... it's time to see if the Hung Kingdom has the spine to stand behind a 'Trash Teacher'."
Mo Ling drew her sword, her eyes burning with her new Golden JCore power. "I am the sword of the Kingdom, Tian Mo. Where you lead, I strike."Su Qingyuan nodded, her silver needles glinting. "And I am the shield."
Tian Mo looked at the horizon, where a dark, purple cloud was beginning to blot out the sun.
"Good," Tian Mo said. "Because I don't plan on negotiating. I plan on Correcting their existence."
The Technical Log (Chapter 8 Summary)
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pacing | 1 Battle + 1 Alchemy Exam (Full Detail). |
| The 10x Gap | Lu Feng (Foundation) beats Wei (Golden Core) via Logic. |
| Aura Farming | "Void Refinement" with weeds. |
| Logic | Flaw Nodes in the Heavy Mountain Palm & Furnace vents. |