The Thirteen Trials of the Deceptive Monk

"Face? What use is face? What I want is victory! Just you wait and see, I'll run out right now and announce that I've defeated the invincible Mingxiao. When you arrive looking disheveled and late, no one will believe it!"

"I'm telling you, you're finished this time! Even if Kano comes, he can't save you!!"

Behind Fang Mo came a demolition-like commotion as Ming Xiao unleashed a flurry of punches, shattering solid floor tiles into dust. At least this crazy woman remembered this was a "heretical" level sparring match; otherwise, the building would probably have collapsed long ago.

He uttered arrogant words, but his face remained ashen. These words could only provoke Mingxiao for a moment; once she came to her senses, she would naturally realize that his mental victory was useless... He was using this tactic to buy time so that he could obtain the real key to victory, that treasure that could decide the outcome in a battle of different levels.

—The original text by Lü Wenjun!

That wasn't just a standard alternate history text; it contained numerous rare artifacts related to phantom spirits, capable of turning the tide of battle if obtained. And judging from the aura emanating from Kano's side, they were incredibly close at that moment…

Fang Mo glanced out the window and saw Kano and the new students jumping out. The new students were holding boxes that had grown several times larger.

The original text is in that wooden box!

"Heaven is on my side!" Fang Mo laughed loudly.

·

"Lu Wenjun, let's reconcile." Kano said sincerely, "If this continues, none of us will escape a calamity. We will both suffer losses."

Lu Wenjun was also very rational: "Sure, you can reconcile if you remove the spell."

"How can I be sure you won't throw an X at me after I dispel the spell?"

How can I be sure you've truly lifted the spell?

Both of them wore regretful and sorrowful smiles, but their hands never stopped moving, and their feet chased after each other at lightning speed! Linggong pioneered the concept of obstacle course, attacking Kano from both sides, making him jump up and down. Pershka even summoned three beast witches as ambushes, who pounced on Kano from all directions!

"No—!"

Finally, Kano was embraced by a beast witch, and at that moment the box was right in his hand! Reiko burst into laughter!

"You lost, Kano-senpai!"

"Since that's the case, I'm not going to play the gentleman anymore!" Kano suddenly threw the box into the air. "Let's all go to hell together!"

Another mishit, and with no one to catch the ball, caused the box to expand rapidly in mid-air, growing to the size of several toilets. It soared into the air amidst the astonished and desperate gazes of the crowd, like a foul-smelling bomb hurtling towards their heads. At that moment, even Lü Wenjun felt despair.

However, at that moment, a proud figure descended from the sky and gripped the box tightly with his strong hands!

"?!" "Who?!" "You are—"

"Well done!" Fang Mo laughed.

That person was none other than Fang Mo, who had leaped from the second floor! He gripped the giant wooden box tightly, raising it high above his head like a champion athlete lifting a golden trophy. Facing Ming Xiao, he wore an incomparably smug and arrogant smile!

"I've won, Mingxiao!" Fang Mo laughed, "Heavenly Demon Palm Thunder!"

A beam of azure energy erupted from his palm. The four members of the Cheese group simultaneously reached out and exclaimed in surprise, but it was too late in the face of such a powerful spell.

Time seemed to slow down at that moment, and every detail was crystal clear. The four men, their hands still outstretched, instinctively pulled back. Fang Mo's expression shifted from surprise to astonishment, and was still in the process of turning to terror. He realized his hand was stuck in a strange golden liquid, and a few drops of golden fluid splashed out first, mixing its unique scent into the air.

Then, time returned to normal. The magical energy bravely broke through the wooden box's obstruction, and an indescribable, terrifying aura erupted instantly. The golden substance, amplified tenfold during its transmission, rained down upon Fang Mo!

So, what should be used to describe it?

Everyone present was speechless with terror.

Standing deep within the flowing water was a humanoid figure entirely covered in golden yellow. The semi-molten liquid had accentuated his sharply defined features, making him appear as if he were encased in a semi-molten wax figure—utterly terrifying. The eerie yellow substance was continuously flowing into his mouth. When he raised his hand, everyone shuddered, and a terrifying aura that shook the world erupted with his movement!

The silence was broken by a gasp. Mingxiao, who had just arrived, slammed on the brakes and blurted out her first reaction.

"—Shitman?!"

The man stood frozen in place, and then suddenly began to shake violently.

In despair, he raised his hands, summoning the surging ocean current. He stood at the center of the vortex and soared into the sky, the terrifying substance covering his body gradually merging into the current! This caused the vortex to change color! The color resembled a toilet finally flushed after a fierce battle!

"You all go and eat the large portions!!!" Fang Mo roared.

Thus, amidst the roars of the shit-man, the screams of many freshmen, and the wails of many upperclassmen, the vortex of unbearable stench magnified tenfold and descended upon the entire student dormitory.

This was the large-scale collective psychological trauma event that was later recorded in the history of Trista College.

Later generations called it with reverence and awe:

Shit fills the thousand-year-old cave!

Chapter 25 Seeking Kind People to Take Me In (Double Update Today)

"I will never forget this day in my life," said Lü Wenjun.

“I really want to erase all memories of this day,” Linggong said.

They sat huddled on a small hill several kilometers away, the summer night breeze carrying a faint, eerie atmosphere. The area below the hillside was submerged by murky, filthy water, with most of the ancient cave floating on the surface, like the legendary, fallen Atlantis.

Senior Mingxiao, being experienced, immediately protected everyone and led them to safety upon seeing the situation was dire. She even had the leisure to rescue their backpacks and belongings. However, the demon who caused the disaster was still rampant, Fang Mo standing atop the Thousand-Year Cave. He had transformed into a water giant over twenty meters tall, constantly scooping up filthy water globs and indiscriminately hurling them around.

His roar could be heard throughout most of the college: "Eat! Why aren't you eating! Eat!"

"Caw—the boss's gone mad—"

"Boss, please stop throwing poop!"

"I feel like my sense of smell has gone awry—"

Fang Mo laughed wildly: "Don't even think about running away! I ate so much, and you all have to eat it too! I'm going to throw it all into the teaching building so everyone can share it!!"

The water giant began its advance towards the teaching building, only to be stopped by the valiant senior Mingxiao. At this moment, Fang Mo was as if possessed by a demon god, his aura so overwhelming that even Mingxiao found it difficult to defeat him.

The crowd could faintly hear her roar: "Stop throwing shit!"

“Ah, I see a pink-haired spider,” Reiko said.

"It must be Polly who was woken up."

"Senior Polly rushed over... Golden light emanated from her body... She angrily rebuked Fang Mo for throwing X on the third floor..." Pershka covered her face, "It's supposed to be a rare battle between high-level mages, but I have no desire to watch it at all."

"I don't want to touch cheese for the next ten years." Kano's eyes were lifeless.

That bastard also retreated to the hillside, but by now everyone was too exhausted to be angry with him. Although Senior Mingxiao had protected everyone, she hadn't been able to defend against that omnipresent aura, and now everyone smelled just like... well, not much different from Senior Fangmo.

Lu Wenjun gagged twice: "I'm begging you, please don't talk about cheese."

"Even though I know it's not your fault, I still really want to beat you up," Pershka said.

"Just this once, I really wanted to beat up my past self from two hours ago," Lü Wenjun said. "I should have bought that more expensive canned herring from the supermarket..."

Pershka raised his voice: "You have absolutely no idea how to spell the word 'memory'?!"

"Canned fish provides a lot of nutrition, so what's wrong with its smell!"

Linggong weakly raised her hand, standing between the two: "It's already embarrassing enough, I'm begging you two to stop arguing..."

"Speaking of which, why did so many of you come?" Kano asked. "Wasn't Lu Wenjun supposed to be the only one in the original plan?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

It took everyone nearly ten minutes to figure out the whole story. After listening, Pershka summarized, "In short, isn't this all Fang Mo's own fault? He tried to scheme against a junior just because the junior performed well. He only has himself to blame for ending up like this."

“That’s right, that’s right.” Kano nodded repeatedly.

Lu Wenjun angrily retorted, "Hey, don't try to absolve yourself of all responsibility. If you hadn't interfered, this would have been over long ago!"

Kano pretended not to hear: "Miss Reiko came to explore our Thousand-Year Cave, and Lü Wenjun is a resident. But what brings Miss Pershka here?"

Lu Wenjun was also curious. Leaving aside the reason for Mingxiao's sudden appearance, Pershka's attitude of knowingly venturing into dangerous territory was also strange. What was she doing in this godforsaken place after school? She shouldn't have even taken her urban legends class yet.

Pershka stood up: "I came to see you, Kano-senpai."

Kano pointed to himself with both fingers, his face full of innocent question marks.

"Kano-senpai, you are the only Academy Star in the last 100 years, right?"

Kano nodded: "Yes~"

Lu Wenjun was genuinely surprised: "Academy Star? You?"

"Why has there only been one person in a hundred years?" Ling Gong asked, puzzled. "There's always a first-place winner in the exams every year."

Kano shook his finger: "No, no, being first in the overall semester evaluation is only one of the conditions for becoming the Academy Star. The specific conditions are clearly written in the student handbook, but 99% of students never even look at it before graduation."

Pershka looked down at him: "Then, Kano-senpai must have received the reward of selecting original texts himself. That is to say, he must have seen the catalog of the school's main library."

Kano nodded.

"I would like to ask you, senior, is there really a copy of the Jade Catalogue in the Trista College's main library?"

Lu Wenjun was startled upon hearing this, and he noticed that even Ling Gong's eyes had changed.

What's going on? The Jade Catalogue is clearly the target of Agent Vishys's organization, so why is Pershka also looking for this book? And Ling Gong is also reacting... Do they all want this original text as well?

Kano remained silent for a while, seemingly reminiscing about the past.

"How should I put it..."

He held up a finger and said cheerfully, "In conclusion, the Jade Record is in the library of this school, which I have personally confirmed."

"But?" Lü Wenjun said.

“But usually, no matter how high your score is, you won’t get this book.” Kano smiled mischievously. “Do you know how the reward for being the Star of the Academy is claimed? You have to go into the library, take the original text you want from the shelf, and say, ‘Please give me this book,’ and only then will the headmaster give it to you.”

"And if you enjoy exploring the library in your spare time, you'll discover a fascinating fact—this book is nowhere to be found, not on any shelf or in any row. In other words, you absolutely cannot find it!"

Pershka narrowed his eyes: "But, senior, you've seen this original text with your own eyes, haven't you?"

"Where exactly is that book~?" Kano put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "I'll leave that to you all to find out. It would be so unromantic to deprive your juniors of their fun!"

Suddenly, the spot where Kano had been vanished into thin air; he had simply disappeared. Pershka seemed thoughtful, a hint of doubt flickered in Reiko's eyes, while Lü Wenjun silently observed the other two. A silence fell between the three of them.

Finally, it was Pershka who broke the silence first.

“From now on, we are competitors,” she said.

Lu Wenjun said blankly, "I don't understand what you're saying."

"It shouldn't have come to this..." Ling Gong smiled bitterly.

"Why pretend to be deaf and dumb? Aren't we all here for the Jade Catalogue?" Pershka said frankly. "Then let's compare and see who comes out on top during the next semester. In any case, I will definitely be the one who gets the original text in the end!"

She gave the two no time to react, and then walked down the hillside after speaking.

Seeing that proud expression, Lü Wenjun felt a surge of anger rising within him. He rushed forward, cupped his hands into a megaphone, and shouted in a childlike manner, "What a powerful declaration, Miss Runner-up! But I've already secured first place this semester. Before you launch into your grand pronouncements, you'd better think about how to beat me!"

Pershka immediately stopped, turned around and said, "Alright, I look forward to the day you take on the challenge, Mr. Champion!"

She stormed off, seemingly quite bothered by her runner-up title. Lu Wenjun, hands on his hips, laughed heartily, displaying an arrogant and smug air.

Ling Gong tugged at his sleeve: "Wen Jun, your image, your image is ruined."

"I don't care! I've disliked her for a long time. What I hate most is this kind of arrogant and self-important person!" Lu Wenjun gritted his teeth.

Are you making fun of yourself...?

"How can I, a refined and cultured gentleman of the old school, be compared to such a tyrannical person!"

Linggong hesitated several times before finally taking out the original food basket and saying in an exceptionally gentle tone, "Let's leave it at that. Would you like some dessert?"

"I'm really hungry, thank you."

It was past seven o'clock, well past dinner time, and they shared croissants and egg tarts under the gradually darkening sky. Linggong's croissants, which had been warm when she bought them, were now completely cold, and the pungent smell made them taste even more miserable. They couldn't help but smile wryly at each other's pitiful state.

"Speaking of which, the evil aura from before..."

“The cheese must be cursed!” Lü Wenjun said with certainty.

"Let's leave it at that," Linggong thought for a moment. "What should we do about the Thousand-Year Cave?"

"If Senior Fang Mo can produce so much water, he should also be able to help everyone wash their houses, right..."

"If the teachers intervene..."

“If I were the teacher, I wouldn’t have bothered.” Lü Wenjun gloated. “I bet Professor Ji thinks they deserved it.”

Linggong chuckled twice, then suddenly asked, "Does Wenjun also want to obtain the 'Jade Record'?"

This question was exactly what Lü Wenjun had in mind, but he knew nothing about this original text and had no idea what its meaning was. He couldn't answer for a moment, so he could only ask in return, "And you?"

Ling Gong fell silent, gazing at the darkening sky.

“The elders in my hometown have high hopes for that original text, but a tiny monster like me can’t possibly hold such a great book,” she said. “I’m more interested in where the book is than the book itself.”

"Your interests are really strange..."

"Exploring the treasure trove of mysterious scriptures in an ancient academy, doesn't that sound incredibly adventurous?" Reiko exclaimed excitedly. "After hearing what Kano-senpai said, I decided that this is my goal for this semester!"