The morning sunlight spilled through the gap in the curtains onto the bedside. Jiang Han woke up with a start from his sleep, a few cold beads of sweat still clinging to his forehead.
The final scene of the dream remained vivid: that gentle woman in white was forcibly dragged away by a hideous black shadow, disappearing into the endless darkness. He subconsciously reached out and grabbed at empty air, the unfinished shout "Give it back to me" still lingering on his lips.
"Up so early, did you have a nightmare?"
At the dining table, Jiang Yu was biting into a piece of bread, curiously sizing up her brother. She had tied her hair into a high ponytail today and wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans, exuding a youthful vibe.
Jiang Han listlessly swallowed a couple of mouthfuls of porridge and sighed, "Don't mention it. Just started a relationship and got driven apart."
"Hah? When did you start dating?" Jiang Yu looked bewildered.
On the way to school, the street-side breakfast stalls were steaming with heat. As Jiang Han was walking, he was suddenly drawn to a strange fluctuation.
He saw the auntie selling pan-fried buns. The flat pan she was waving in her hand was actually faintly glowing with a flowing light. The flames rising from the bottom of the pan didn't come from a gas stove but from some kind of spiritual power fluctuation.
"In this day and age, even breakfast stalls are this hardcore?" Jiang Han stared, a bit stunned.
The auntie nimbly flipped the pan-fried buns in the pan. Seeing someone stop, she greeted enthusiastically, "Young man, want two baskets? This is a skill passed down from the ancestors, slow-roasted with spiritual fire. Guaranteed to make you feel full of energy!"
Jiang Han shook his head and continued walking to school. This world was indeed full of weirdness everywhere; even the lives of ordinary people couldn't escape the shadow of spiritual artifacts.
As soon as he stepped through the classroom door, Fatty Zhang Yuanyuan came up like a spy, looking panicked as he pulled Jiang Han into a corner.
"Jiang Han, something big happened! I ran into a ghost last night!"
"Hmm?" Jiang Han raised an eyebrow. "You ran into one too?"
Thinking of the lost ghost that had scared him half to death last night, Jiang Han actually felt some empathy.
Zhang Yuanyuan nodded with lingering fear, lowering his voice and saying, "I met an auntie selling fruits on my way home. I saw her apples were glowing red, so I asked if they were sweet. She said if they weren't sweet, I wouldn't have to pay, so I bought two. But after eating them, I felt they were sour and wanted my money back. She actually scolded me for being shameless!"
Speaking of this, Zhang Yuanyuan's chubby body trembled. "You don't think she's the kind of ghost who specializes in scamming people for organs, do you?"
Jiang Han rolled his eyes speechlessly. "It's good enough she didn't beat you up. Stop chatting up strangers at night in the future."
"Why?" Zhang Yuanyuan looked blank.
Jiang Han was too lazy to explain and walked straight to his seat. Not long after sitting down, a commotion suddenly erupted at the classroom door.
Everyone's eyes instantly focused there. A girl with an icy temperament walked in. It was Bai Ruoxue, who had just tested for a Heaven-tier spiritual artifact yesterday. Her entry into the Tianji Pavilion was practically a done deal.
Zhang Feng reacted the fastest. He immediately stood up, his face full of smiles as he asked, "Classmate Bai, what an honor. Do you have any instructions?"
Bai Ruoxue didn't even look at him. She scanned the classroom with her gaze and walked straight toward Jiang Han.
"I'm looking for Jiang Han."
The whole class instantly fell silent. Dozens of eyes stared at this side in unison. Zhang Yuanyuan was so nervous he didn't know where to put his hands; he wanted to talk to the goddess but didn't dare to open his mouth.
Jiang Han looked up at the proud white swan before him, his expression calm. "What do you want with me?"
Bai Ruoxue went straight to the point. "That Green-tier Soul Jade Chen Yuan gave you yesterday, I want it. Thirty thousand. Will you sell it?"
So that was why.
Hearing this, Zhang Feng's expression changed slightly. The experience in the wilderness yesterday involuntarily surfaced in his mind, and a surge of sourness instantly rose in his heart.
Who could have imagined that the Green-tier Soul Jade would end up in the hands of Jiang Han, this "trash" with only three skill slots?
Now Bai Ruoxue was willing to pay thirty thousand to buy it, meaning Jiang Han could earn a huge sum for nothing.
However, Jiang Han replied lazily, "You're too late. I've already absorbed that Soul Jade."
A hint of displeasure flashed in Bai Ruoxue's eyes, but she didn't say much and turned to leave.
Watching her back, Zhang Feng couldn't help but say in a sarcastic tone, "Jiang Han, you really don't know when you're well off. Bai Ruoxue is a future core member of the Tianji Pavilion. With your meager aptitude, keeping the Soul Jade is just a waste. You might as well do the noble thing."
Jiang Han looked at him with a half-smile. "Since she's so important, why don't you donate your family fortune to her to spice things up?"
Zhang Feng choked, then his face turned red as he retorted, "I'm not like you! I have seven skill slots. My future contribution to humanity will be far greater than yours!"
"Really? How come I don't remember you being very brave when we were chopping melons and vegetables yesterday?" Jiang Han retorted without mercy.
Zhang Feng was furious from embarrassment. "That was just the beginning! You'll know what a world of difference is in the future!" After saying that, he angrily flicked his sleeve and returned to his seat.
Jiang Han shook his head, calculating in his heart. Bai Ruoxue actually only wanted to buy that Green-tier Soul Jade for thirty thousand; she was practically trying to pick it up for a song. That thing dropped from the Green Wood Demon. Just the market price of the "Emerald Shadow Slash" skill alone was worth more than that.
"Jiang Han, Bai Ruoxue is so pretty and talented. She came to buy something from you, why couldn't you give her some face..." Zhang Yuanyuan next to him muttered quietly.
Jiang Han tapped him lightly on the forehead. "You don't know what you're talking about."
Zhang Yuanyuan rubbed his head and added, "By the way, after the natal spirit artifact test yesterday, I heard the selection list for the Tianji Pavilion is coming down today."
Just then, the homeroom teacher, Zhou Yan, walked into the classroom holding a document. The entire room instantly held its breath.
The Tianji Pavilion, this colossal entity with a thousand-year legacy, was a holy land in the hearts of all Spirit Users. Being selected meant a bright future.
Zhou Yan stood on the podium and began reading names. The students whose names were called were overjoyed, while those who weren't called hung their heads in dejection.
Jiang Han observed for a while, then suddenly whispered to Zhang Yuanyuan, "Did you notice? The ones being called all went to that wasteland yesterday."
"Huh? Did they?" Zhang Yuanyuan looked blank.
The corner of Jiang Han's mouth curled up slightly. It seemed the Tianji Pavilion indeed valued combat courage. Yesterday's hurdle had filtered out many "geniuses" with high scores but low ability.
As the list was announced one by one, those students with multiple skill slots who hadn't gone to the combat test began to regret it deeply.
"Zhang Feng."
Zhou Yan read out this name. The corner of Zhang Feng's mouth turned up, wearing an expression of as expected. Sycophantic sounds immediately rang out around him.
He turned his head to look at Jiang Han, mocking him silently with his mouth shape: You, are, done, for.
In his view, although Jiang Han went to the scene, the hard injury of having only three skill slots meant he absolutely couldn't pass the Tianji Pavilion's threshold.
However, just when everyone thought the list was finished, Zhou Yan's voice sounded again.
"Jiang Han."
...