Zachary, who narrowly ran away from Elva, did not dare to return to the treehouse, for fear that she might be waiting there. He went to the back of the mountain to find a secluded location and then entered the system.
"That was so close! I should never provoke her again. She is such a horrible woman with a very bad temper! It's such a pity, though. I really tried to get Elva to have a good impression of me, but it's all for naught because of my negligence. At least I can finish the task first," Zachary said with a regretful sigh. He then took out the cloth bag from his pocket, opened it and poured out all kinds of colorful brassieres.
"Congratulations on completing the quest! You are awarded with a second-grade green cultivation-aiding pill!
Congratulations on completing the quest! You are awarded with a second-grade green cultivation-aiding pill!"
"That's weird. I finished only one quest, why did I get two rewards?" Zachary wondered if something went wrong.
"While you are doing the sub-quest 'Token of Love, ' you also completed the next sub-quest 'Kiss of Love' in the same series," explained Mimi.
"What the hell?! So that kiss was also a sub-quest?!" Zachary was shocked motionless. But then he felt somewhat lucky. If the system were to ask him to kiss Elva again, he would be doomed.
After Zachary received the rewards, the system issued the next sub-quest in the series named "Eliminate the Misunderstanding," which was for him to clear the misunderstanding between him and Elva.
"It seems that I must find a way to explain it to Elva," Zachary murmured. He couldn't help but sigh. However, Zachary was not someone who would give up easily. He immediately exited the system and started to think of the best way to resolve the issue between him and Elva.
The next day, as usual, Zachary went to the Logistics Hall first to receive the daily quest. He passed the notice board of the Welkin Sect on his way from the hall and saw that a lot of people gathered around the board.
He walked towards the notice board and heard some of the disciples talking. They were talking about the notice stating that the enrollment for the selection test of the Celestial College had begun. The disciples from the Welkin Sect were allowed to sign up and participate in the selection. The victorious disciple would be qualified to study with Bruce and Elva in the Celestial College.
'I should join this competition. Maybe luck is with me, ' Zachary thought to himself. He had heard about the Celestial College before, so he felt enthusiastic about joining it, and his enthusiasm was fueling his fighting spirit.
Zachary read the notice completely and then went to register for the selection test. He wrote his name on a piece of paper to register and placed it inside a cardboard box afterwards.
After he signed up, he started to walk towards the treehouse.
"It seems that a few 'flies' have been following me since this morning," Zachary said to himself. He then suddenly turned towards his back to try and spot his trackers.
Zachary did not use the Shadow Pace to shake off his pursuers that he called "flies." Instead, he led them around many twists and turns and to a remote and deserted place.
"Stop trying to hide from me! Come out now! Your poor tracking skills are so lame, only a three-year-old will not notice that you're following him..." Zachary shouted at his back after he suddenly stopped and turned around.
After he finished speaking, a few figures emerged from their hiding. His followers were a few disciples at the first grade of Mortal Level.
"Don't be arrogant, you garbage! We'll have you on your knees and beg for mercy! We can't wait to teach you a lesson!" the tallest disciple yelled back at Zachary.
"Who sent you?" Zachary asked. He relaxed himself and then crossed his arms on his chest as he stared at each of the disciples before him. He could tell that following him was not their own idea.
"You don't need to know that. You are just a loser!" He then waved a signal with his hand and several of the disciples rushed towards Zachary. They all expected to easily overwhelm him and teach him a lesson.
Mere minutes later, all the disciples were badly beaten by Zachary. They had to surrender to make him stop hitting them.
"Tell me now! Who sent you?!" Zachary tapped the head of the tallest disciple like tapping a watermelon. The disciple seemed to be the leader of the motley group and he was now kneeling before Zachary. He looked miserable with his bloody broken nose, swollen face and dirt all over.
The other disciples looked equally pitiful, for Zachary's attacks quickly turned their faces swollen as if a hundred bees took turns stinging them.
"It's... It's Bruce..." the tallest disciple replied. He spoke slowly because his swollen face made it difficult and painful to pronounce each word properly. He never thought that Zachary would easily beat all of them at the same time. They had the advantage of numbers and yet they were not able to lay a single blow on Zachary. He realized that Zachary's true strength was way beyond that of theirs. They all obviously underestimated Zachary's strength and suffered gravely for it.
However, out of their expectation, Zachary's advantage over them went beyond his strength. In fact, he also possessed another mysterious power—the God-slaying Formula, which was completely different from the ordinary cultivation methods. The system was not even willing to reveal the grade of the God-slaying Formula.
"Tell Bruce that if he has the balls, he should come to me on his own instead of sending weaklings! I will accept his challenge any time," Zachary said in a serious tone. "What will you say if someone sees you like this and asks why you are badly hurt?"
"That the injury was caused by our own clumsy fall!" replied them in unison.
"Ha-ha, you are at least smart enough to know what I mean! I will go first. Whether you leave this place or not is up to you." Zachary walked away laughing.
After returning to the treehouse, Zachary entered the system and went to the Living-dead Tomb first. However, Anne was still in seclusion, and there was no way to complete the main quest. He then decided to enter the cultivation quest mode and refine the two second-grade green cultivation-aiding pills awarded by the system.
After refining the two green pills, Zachary was only one step away from the third grade of Mortal Level.
It was getting dark outside, and the back mountain of the Welkin Sect was completely silent. Under the cover of darkness, several figures quickly passed by and approached the treehouse where Zachary lived.
At that same moment, Zachary had just completed the cultivation quest. He planned to rest before continuing his cultivation. Suddenly, the whole treehouse was illuminated by dazzling flashes of lights.
"Alarm! Danger! You are in danger!" The charming, near-monotonous voice of Mimi sounded over and over.
Zachary's muscles tensed and his eyebrows almost met at the center of his forehead. He briefly thought about what could be the nature of the danger and immediately exited the system. As soon as he re-materialized inside the treehouse, a thick cloud of smoke greeted him. He looked around and saw flames roaring. The flames had almost completely burned down the treehouse. A large amount of smoke had filled the treehouse. Voracious flames continued to burn the treehouse inch by inch and the rate accelerated with each passing second.
"Crushing Skill!" Zachary's black eyes turned purple and a burst of martial energy rushed out in the form of purple shadow.
A loud explosion accompanied the sound of large beams of wood being snapped into splinters. A purple martial energy broke through one of the walls of the treehouse, turning every wood it touched into splinters. In the blink of an eye, his treehouse completely collapsed into countless pieces.
Zachary closely followed the wooden splinters and flew out of the treehouse, as he forced himself through a wall of flames. He was protected by his martial energy and emerged unscathed.
Zachary briefly looked back at the treehouse. It was all in flames and even the trees had started to blaze with the spreading fire. The image of the flames blazed in his eyes, making them sparkle with anger.
"Who is it? Who dared set fire to my treehouse? Show yourselves!" Zachary shouted loudly. His eyes blazed with fire wilder and more murderous than the fire that took down his treehouse.