Condemning the Heavens

Seeing how easily Xue Wei agreed, Lan snickered, but he said nothing and Xue Wei once more sat down and reached out with his senses to find another target.

At the start, he did nothing more than enter their minds, and slowly adjusted to the feeling of his soul being parted into two.

He never stayed in the minds of his targets for more than a few moments, as they were completely vulnerable in that state.

Soon, a rumor started spreading through the Genius Camp about the young experts spacing out for a short moment, completely unaware of what was happening.

Xue Wei then went further and started using his ability to put them to sleep, making his targets fall asleep while they were in the middle of walking.

The rumors were filled with confusion and surprise, but when they asked the captains and the commander what was happening, they soon found out the cause for their strange experiences.

Someone was cultivating a spiritual martial technique, but as to who it was, they would not say.

Everyone was enraged. All the one layered Earth Warriors experienced falling asleep while randomly walking through the camp, and the more people Xue Wei practiced Mind Infestation on, the better and better his control became.

Soon, the day arrived where Lan had to leave. The entire Genius Camp had gathered together to say their farewell. Some were filled with indignation, others with disgust, and some with disappointment as they looked at this prophet.

It was clear that Lan knew exactly what every single person was thinking, but he was unfazed by it as he turned to the commander and cupped his hands.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay here for some time," he began stating his farewell, "I am hesitant to leave. While I was here, I found something precious. Something that I wish I could take with me, but I understand the rule that everyone must participate in the army."

Lan sighed and shook his head with a depressed expression on his face.

"My darling Xue Wei, it will be so hard to be without you in the future, but look after yourself! I will eagerly await the day you finish your military service; then I hope you will come to the center of the continent to find me!"

Hearing Lan speak, everyone felt a shiver run down their spines, Xue Wei included, and a look of disgust appeared on his face.

It was clear that Lan had every intention of keeping this silly masquerade up all until he was gone. However, although it annoyed Xue Wei to no limits, he still felt that he owed Lan a debt of gratitude, and thus he said nothing to make him lose face in front of the whole group of people.

Seeing him being quiet, the others’ eyes almost bulged out, and the girls were blushing. It was not every day they saw such a heated love story being enacted right in front of them.

"Well then, I am off," Lan said, and right after his voice had appeared, he vanished into thin air.

It was as if he had teleported. A slight ripple in space could be felt by the commander, but no one else could even sense this ripple, and some of them rubbed their eyes, unable to believe that he had vanished right in front of them.

The commander smiled wryly; he knew that the strength of this man was so shocking that not even Primordial Beasts would fight him.

As soon as Xue Wei saw Lan vanish, he turned around and left. He had now learned a whole lot of things from Lan, and amongst others he had learned how to perfect his Shattering Mountain Palm, his Azure Light Finger, and his Sacrificial Stab.

He had learned how to transform his arms in accordance with the Azure Dragon Scripture.

He had learned the Seed of Mirage, learned how to create copies of himself, and he had learned the Mind Infestation.

Alongside this, he had also learned how to control his strength, control his Qi flow, and take control over the attack he was executing.

He had also been taught a few life-saving abilities. All in all, Xue Wei understood that he had learned a lot from Lan, and his strength was now more than double what it had been when he had met this annoying prophet.

"Time for me to learn the Kick of Forgotten Kings," Xue Wei thought to himself, "but first I have to claim my resources and the things that I was promised to me by the commander when Lan leaves."

"I am still ranked last. Although I have broken into the first layer of the Earth Warrior rank, I have not challenged anyone yet," Xue Wei mused to himself as he walked back into the tent city.

The middle of the tent city was where the Genius Camp was located, and it was also the location of all the other tents that contained all the things useable for the geniuses.

There was the arena where one could battle against Fierce Beasts, deserters, and criminals.

There was a tent that contained martial techniques. There was a tent containing medicinal herbs.

The dining hall was located in the middle of the Genius Camp together with the baths and the latrines.

There were also training fields with dummies made from black gold, only available for the members of the Genius Camp.

There was also a tent called the contribution point tent. One could gain contribution points in specific ways; the easiest way was that one would be given a specific amount of contribution points every month, depending on one’s rank.

One could also gain contribution points from participating in the arena or challenging the higher ranked experts on the Genius Camp ranking.

Having a breakthrough to a higher level also granted you contribution points.

These contribution points could be exchanged for medicinal herbs and martial arts techniques. A few shops within the Inner City of the capital also accepted contribution points as a currency, so that one could buy armor and weaponry, but the price was rather exorbitant.

Xue Wei went to the contribution tent first; here he found a captain who had the task of looking after the tent.

"Name?" the captain asked as he looked into a big book that was right in front of him, and Xue Wei answered right away.

The captain flipped through the book before he found a page where it said: Xue Wei.

"You have broken through to the Earth Warrior rank – this gives you a thousand contribution points," the captain said. "Apart from that, you have five hundred contribution points from passing the test to join the Genius Camp, and finally you will get three hundred contribution points for your current rank in the Genius Camp Rankings."

The captain hesitated for some time before he opened his mouth again. "You can rent a high ranked martial technique for five hundred contribution points, a superior for five thousand contribution points, and a profound for ten thousand contribution points," he started explaining.

"These techniques are gained through the blood, sweat, and tears of our soldiers, and thus they are hard to get your hands on, but if you do not have martial techniques, then you will die soon. Even if you have strength, it is useless if you cannot use this strength."

"I would suggest that you do not use your contribution points for now and save them up so that you might be able to buy one superior skill when you are about to leave the camp next year."

Xue Wei cupped his fists and thanked the captain before he completely disregarded what he had said.

It was not that what he had said did not make sense, but Xue Wei had his Heritage Ring and was able to pull out a wide array of abilities whenever he felt like it.

Currently, he had techniques that could save his life and make him a serious opponent for even the third layer Earth Warriors, but what he needed from the contribution points was medicinal herbs.

He wished to increase his strength as much as possible. Although he was not going to rush it, he was still not going to be slower than necessary.

Since this was the case, he went straight to the tent that sold medicinal herbs.

The tent city was bustling with life, as the other geniuses had also gone back to the tent city after seeing Lan off, but this procession of experts all made space for Xue Wei while looking at him with strange expressions on their faces.

Xue Wei completely ignored them, but before he could reach the tent that sold medicinal herbs, he was blocked by a group of youngsters.

"Your protection has left," one of them said with a voice that dripped with enmity. "Back in the capital, do you remember crippling a young man who had done nothing to you? All he did was riding the streets and minding his own business?"

Hearing the way it was being described, Xue Wei snorted but he said nothing. He just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the speaker.

The speaker was a one layer Earth Warrior. He was a youth like all the other ones present in the camp, but his stature was also very average. He was not too tall, neither too short.

He was wearing silk made by Fierce Beasts, but when looking closer Xue Wei saw that it did not seem to have any supplementary effects.

He had an arrogant expression on his face, and it was clear that he was a noble-born youngster from the capital who looked down on everyone and did not know the difference between heaven and earth.

Others saw what was happening and came to a stop to see how it would play out. That was when someone suddenly took a step forward. "Please don’t cause trouble for Young Hero Xue Wei," he said with a smile on his face.

"Young hero?" The arrogant person snorted at the word, but he then seemed to choke on the words when he realized who it was that spoke.

"Of course he is a young hero," the person who interrupted continued to speak casually. "Our esteemed Crown Prince has acknowledged him as a friend, and we all know that he only acknowledges dragons amongst men. He is the only family member of Primordial Beast Hunter Xiao Lei, and a dragon does not father dog sons; it is clear that he is no ordinary individual."

"If this was not enough, then we all know that this young man has a special physique. Just look at him. In little more than half a year, he has already managed to break into the Earth Warrior rank. Now tell me, if that is not the stuff heroes are made of, then what is it?"

Xue Wei felt that this person was praising him excessively as if he had some other purpose, but he was not about to say anything. For now, he was not in the mood to fight anyone, so even if this person had an ulterior motive, it was better than engaging in a battle with the group of experts that had blocked his path.

Xue Wei just stood back, his arms crossed over his chest as he curiously observed what was going on as if it had nothing to do with him.

The others were also observing what was happening with increasing intensity. They were curious as to who exactly would win this verbal sparring.