Monsters Die When Killed

"My name is Su Zhou. You’re Li Hanshan, right? Tell me your abilities, your power level, and any special skills you have. I need to know so I can plan what you’ll be doing next."

Su Zhou was as direct as ever, but for Li Hanshan, who was meeting him for the first time, his bluntness was far too overbearing.

Did he hate it? Of course not!

’This line of questioning has a real "overbearing CEO" vibe to it. That’s the stuff! It seems like I could work this into a plot. I’ll jot that down!’

With that in mind, Li Hanshan looked at Su Zhou as if he were some young, overbearing CEO. Su Zhou’s next, rather puzzled, follow-up—"Why aren’t you talking? I’m going to get mad if you don’t say something!"—was instantly transformed in Li Hanshan’s head into, "Why the silence? If you’re deliberately trying to provoke me, well, congratulations. You’ve succeeded!" and a whole host of other classic ’overbearing CEO’ lines.

So, he turned his head away.

To keep from actually laughing out loud.

Su Zhou: "?"

The expedition into a real Secret Realm was, without a doubt, the best source material. Li Hanshan had originally planned to adapt his squad’s adventure, along with Su Zhou’s battles, into his novel.

But he had to admit, it was all a bit too ’Long Aotian.’ Defeating a boss in thirty seconds? Where’s the suspense in that? So in the end, after struggling with how to flesh out the scene, Li Hanshan decided to lengthen the fight to make the plot feel more plausible.

After all, reality doesn’t have to make sense, but a novel does.

After the Secret Realm expedition, all that happened was returning to the Academy and welcoming the Divine Bird Garuda—Jin Qiong—to their ranks. He had to admit, Jin Qiong’s persona was pretty legendary. Another great character concept for Li Hanshan’s collection.

As for Li Hanshan himself, he had discovered the inheritance of the Chongming Bird in the Kunlun Secret Realm. It could mend the Li Family’s flawed bloodline, allowing them to speak normally without fear of their family curse.

But they had long since grown accustomed to their way of life, so returning to normal would still take a long time.

Besides, Li Hanshan didn’t think it was so bad. ’If I have a perfectly good reason not to talk, why waste the energy?’

Life at the Academy—studying, occasionally taking missions for credits—was gradually growing tedious. But that didn’t mean Li Hanshan was out of inspiration. He immediately started writing a tournament arc between two academies in his novel. As for inspiration for the tournament fights? That came directly from the internal combat training sessions in the Practical Combat System, of course.

And that wasn’t all. Every training session with Su Zhou and the squad would be radically adapted by Li Hanshan into a Chapter where his novel’s main characters went on a raid to fight a boss. In reality, they had yet to win even once, but in a novel, it’s a different story. Winning is just a matter of the author’s whim, isn’t it?

As his source of inspiration, Li Hanshan had a very favorable opinion of Su Zhou. The guy was his age, yet he was already a powerful professor. But he wasn’t arrogant or conceited in his daily life; he was actually quite approachable.

Li Hanshan would also occasionally see Su Zhou go out of his way to help anyone who needed it. Giving directions to someone who was lost, helping an elderly person with frail legs cross the street, even helping an old man who had fallen get back on his feet—he’d do it all.

A good deed a day. That’s what he always said. But Li Hanshan, who was frequently out searching for inspiration himself, saw Su Zhou helping others all the time. He seemed to genuinely enjoy it, never tiring, and he wasn’t the least bit worried about being scammed by the people he helped. But on second thought, that made sense. After all, who in this world could possibly get away with scamming Su Zhou? He could do good without any fear of repercussions.

However, there were times when Su Zhou’s refusal to ever hold back left the trainees, Li Hanshan included, feeling rather demoralized. He was always able to pinpoint everyone’s weaknesses, but his high-pressure training methods could be frustrating.

So, what truly earned Su Zhou Li Hanshan’s respect was one particular thing.

"Come on, eat up. This is some cheap roast duck from the Celestial Capital. Goes great with Erguotou."

The way Su Zhou would treat everyone to a meal every time they made even a little progress in training... the man practically glowed with an awe-inspiring radiance!

’Professor Su is such a good person!’

「June 11th, 2016.」

This time, the members of West Mountain Qinxing Academy’s Elite squad received a notice. They were to gather once again in the Kunlun Secret Realm for a top-secret special mission.

"Your primary mission is to travel to an Otherworld and establish a forward base. The actual exploration won’t be your responsibility. The professors, and even members of the Holy Seat, will be handling that personally."

Principal Qiu’s expression was grave as he explained the situation. He reiterated, "This concerns the fate of two worlds, perhaps even the very survival of human civilization. Do not be resentful of your role. Even establishing a forward base is a critical task... For this mission, you will be working alongside foreign allies. And you are the Elites trained by Zhengguo."

He didn’t need to say more. The unspoken message was clear.

From Principal Qiu’s briefing, Li Hanshan and the others learned that Zhengguo’s main exploration team consisted of ten members. Their own mentor, Su Zhou, was one of them, serving as the vice-captain. In fact, the team was full of surprisingly familiar faces.

Su Zhou, Jin Qiong, Bai Canglang... and Tang Yuan, who had been selected for his unique abilities, which had proven invaluable against the Beast God Realm’s Teleportation Barrier.

The Daoist Saint, one of the Thirty-Six Saints, was the overall commander for this operation.

A member of the Holy Seat was getting involved personally. This was truly an operation on an unprecedented scale. Realizing this, Li Hanshan finally understood the gravity of the situation. Although he wouldn’t know the full details until he entered the Kunlun Secret Realm, he already had an inkling of what was going on. And he was thrilled!

’A multinational joint operation of this scale... this could definitely be a massive, super-long story arc!’ The thought immediately filled Li Hanshan with motivation.

However, when Li Hanshan, Shao Qiming, and the others passed through the Teleportation Array and entered the Kunlun Secret Realm, they felt no passage of time. Instead, they were almost instantly hit by a terrifying wave of Suppression.

HUMMM— A faint ringing echoed in their ears. The ambient Spiritual Qi vibrated, dancing to the tune of someone’s power.

The Suppression felt like it came from the very essence of life itself. It carried no killing intent, yet it was a form of Majesty so profound it made one’s legs go weak, inspiring an unconscious urge to give up all resistance and prostrate oneself on the ground.

The source of the Suppression was distant and clearly not aimed at them. As a cultivator at Awakening Peak, Li Hanshan naturally didn’t lose his composure and recovered quickly. Even so, he felt his muscles tense up, his Spiritual Power instinctively shifting into a defensive stance.

’This feeling... Is that Dragon Aura?’

’And this Dragon Aura... it feels so familiar...’

Swallowing hard, Li Hanshan narrowed his eyes. He activated the Divine Techniques of the Chongming Bird and peered into the distance.

And then he saw it: churning gusts of Gale and flashes of Thunder Light at the very source of the Suppression.

"What’s going on? Did someone just unlock another Dragon King inheritance?" Guan Wanjing asked, his voice filled with confusion.

"What’s he up to now..." Shao Qiming muttered, seeming to have already guessed the cause.

Lii Yeyu said nothing, but her expression was just as bewildered.

"What else could it be?"

A nearby Zhengguo Government cultivator, who was guarding the Secret Realm Teleportation Gate, glanced into the distance and shrugged. "It’s probably Professor Su," he said, "having another one of his ’friendly negotiations’ with a newly arrived foreign team."

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