Within the confines of the classroom, a silent atmosphere was disrupted by the arrival of Mr. Deng, their math teacher, whose brisk footsteps echoed through the corridors and into the room. Students sat in their seats with bated breath, as they awaited the recent test scores.
Mr. Deng proceeded to call names out one by one, each announcement met with applause and laughter. When he reached Mo Fan's name, there was a collective hush, with the teacher announcing, "Six points!" . Laughter erupted in the classroom. All eyes turned to the back where Mo Fan sat, his black hair casting a shadow over his eyes, his gaze never leaving the textbook.
"Mo Fan, you should learn from Mu Bai. He managed to score 96 on this exam. How can you get single digits on the exam?" Deng Yongchuan sighed, his expression softening momentarily. How can such a troublesome student be in my class? When he first entered the school, his grades were top-notch. However, after entering high school, his grades quickly fell. With his exam scores being such a tragic sight, it caused the class average to drop as well.
"Teacher, Mo Fan doesn't even live up to his name. Mo Fan… he's not average at all! He's way below average—he's practically a nobody," Mu Bai sneered.
"He really is a disappointment!" another student chimed in.
"Mu Bai, you always find the best ways to put people down without even cursing."
"Mo Fan is just dragging us all down. What a joke!"
Countless taunts once again filled the room.
Zhang Xiao Hou, seated next to Mo Fan, couldn't stand it anymore. He slammed his hand on the desk, grabbing everyone's attention. "Enough! Mu Bai, just because you have talent doesn't give you the right to belittle others. Mo Fan works just as hard as anyone else."
Shaking his head, Mr. Deng raised his hand, leading to the class gradually quieting down. As the bell to the school day rang
.....
"Mo Fan, are you interested in playing volleyball?"
Mo fan smirked, "Can't I have some things to do"
"Helping Old Man Ying again? You're really brave for going to the cottage behind the mountains. By the way, I picked up some Xuanhuan and Mohuan novels. Do you want to borrow one?"Â
No, it's fine, and you should cut down on the novels. You're getting addicted.
After parting ways with Zhang Xiao Hou, Mo Fan yawned, shouldered his bag, and headed towards the back of the mountain.
The back of the mountain was the academy's back entrance; basically, no one actually used it. Old Man Ying, whom Zhang Xiao Hou mentioned, was the guard of the academy's back mountain. In order to ensure the safety of the students—and prevent students from sneaking out to internet cafes—the school had appointed Old Man Ying as the keeper of the back entrance.
Old Man Ying had no friends or family. When he had passed away, there were no questions asked about him; thus, the school carelessly buried him.
Mo Fan and Old Man Ying were quite familiar with each other. Before the old man passed away, he had also left some things for Mo Fan. He only remembered the old man's good intentions today; hence, he decided to take a look at the thatched cottage.
Old Man Ying had always said that he was the descendant of some historical bigshot, so he was in possession of a five-thousand-year-old antique ring.
Mo Fan had seen that ring before; it was completely pitch black and didn't look anything like an antique. However, the most important thing was that he had brought it to an appraiser to get appraised; the owner had thrown Mo Fan out while questioning how he could have the face to say that this copper ring—smelted from a charcoal stove—was an "antique." Ever since then, Mo Fan has stopped believing in Old Man Ying's bragging.
Mo Fan wanted to take the things Old Man Ying had left behind as something to remember him by.
Old Man Ying was a magnanimous gatekeeper; he was very indifferent toward the topics of life and death. Mo Fan wished for him to pass away in peace. Death was not the end of everything; perhaps you can start your life somewhere else?
"Would you believe me if I said that in this plane that holds science in high regard, there is another parallel plane that practices magic? In that plane, you don't study science, but magic…."
This was the kind of crazy talk that Old Man Ying would always tell Mo Fan, which was why Mo Fan firmly believed that when he passed away, Old Man Ying had gone to a different plane to restart his life—and live a more extravagant one while he was at it.
The ring was easily found within the wooden box under his bamboo bed. As Mo Fan opened it, he felt a faint, obscure aura emanating from the box—it did indeed feel quite mysterious. However, Mo Fan, being fifteen-sixteen years old, didn't believe that there would be something like a cultivation technique in this world. He definitely did not believe the recluse, who said that if Mo Fan wore this ring and practiced this cultivation technique, he would be able to save the universe.
The pitch-black ring was an ordinary-looking ring. If one wanted to know the most peculiar thing about the ring, it would be that the interior had eight very small holes.
The moment Mo Fan put it on, he felt a heart-freezing chill. This thing that made him shake in the heat of summer was quite strange.
"Strange my ass." As Mo Fan thought this over, he denied the idea in his head.
Mo Fan was struck with sudden sleepiness, but he still had to work that night. Thus, he arranged the bamboo mat and laid down inside the house to sleep first. At 10 PM, he would have to go to the 24/7 supermarket to be a clerk, and he would work till 6 in the morning…
A sliver of blood-red light shone through the cracks in the mountains, casting a crimson glow over the forest and the small, thatched cottage. It was like a colossal door in the dark that was slowly closing. The radiating light in the darkness was slowly being sucked inside the door. As the sunset completely disappeared beneath the mountains and as dusk came to rule the world, the back of the mountain seemed as though it was covered with a misty layer of a bizarre color.
From far away, this area seemed like it continued into nothingness. Under the blood sun was an indistinct scene around the water, like a mirage!
The youth inside the thatched cottage slept soundly, unaware of the ear-piercing humming emitted by the ring on his finger.
...
In the Mu family manor, a figure stood on the balcony, staring at the ink-black sky filled with countless stars. The moonlight cast a silvery glow on the exquisite mansion, its meticulously enhanced garden, and the tall iron fences that enclosed it.
The figure's expression was unreadable; he gazed up at the sky. A smile touched his lips as he muttered, "The moment has finally arrived."