Ling Han really had not thought that this would happen. He had just barely set up the restriction around his courtyard, and he already had a night visitor coming in for a visit.
One has to understand that the place he was occupying now could actually be considered a haunted house, a place no one would be living in. If one argued that there so happened to be a burglar who had no understanding of the inner workings of the Academy and somehow stumbled onto this place to commit theft, then the possibility of this happening was really too low.
Who could this thief be?
"Rustle," Hu Niu suddenly stood up. She had the alert senses of a wild beast. Her nose might be even more powerful than a dog's, and she may have already caught the scent of the thief.
"Shh!" Ling Han gestured her to stay quiet. He had no desire to scare off the thief. He wanted to know why the latter had come first.
Hu Niu was firmly ensconced in his hold, and she immediately became quiet. However, her eyes still brimmed with a baleful look. In her beast-like way of looking at the world, this was her territory, and anyone who dared to trespass—whoever it was—should be bitten to death.
A dark figure made their way inside, yet did not move around everywhere. They only walked around the living room once before fumbling about a table a few times. After a while, the intruder turned around and left quietly.
A sliver of a smile crossed the corners of Ling Han's lips. At the instant the intruder had left, Ling Han had taken advantage of the moonlight to clearly see the face of the intruder.
Wei He Le.
Ling Han walked into the living room, lit a candle, and approached the table.
There was a wooden box on the table, and inside lay a few cheap little trinkets. When he opened the box, he saw that there was something new within.
A badge carved in the shape of a violet.
'This is?'
Ling Han could not hold back a strange smile as he took out another violet-shaped badge from within his pocket. This had been gifted to him by the Third Imperial Prince.
Now he had two such badges.
Why had Wei He Le secretly stuffed a violet badge into his hands?
"Oh!" Instantly, he understood what was going on here. This was an attempt to set him up. There would definitely be someone who would be reporting having lost the item, and Wei He Le would lead people to his place. Naturally, they would find the lost item here, and by that time, there was no way he would be able to escape being accused of "theft".
Moreover, the stolen item was even a token of the Third Imperial Prince. No one would dare to suppress this issue, and by that time, the lightest punishment he would get would be expulsion from the Academy, but it was another story whether the Third Imperial Prince would send his own people to deal with him or not.
The unfortunate thing was that Wei He Le would never have imagined that he would have coincidentally encountered the Third Imperial Prince today; he had even been presented with a violet badge from the latter.
However, even if he had not met the Third Imperial Prince today, since he had discovered the existence of this scheme, there was no way that he could still be successfully set up.
'Since you want to play, then I'll play with you a bit,' Ling Han smiled calmly, and replaced the lid of the box, having no intention at all to remove that badge from within.
A cold gleam flashed through his eyes. Since there was someone who wanted to die so desperately, then he would just have to let him die.
He returned to the inner chambers and began cultivation.
After his divine sense had been strengthened, the efficiency of his cultivation had risen to a whole new level. As massive amounts of Spiritual Qi gushed into him, it was all absorbed by his Five Elements Mix Chaos Lotus, and with the strict control granted to him by his powerful divine sense, this Spiritual Qi was swiftly converted into Origin Power to strengthen his Origin Nuclei.
"Originally, I would have needed around a month to rise to the next layer, but with how things are now, probably half a month would be enough," Ling Han smiled.
After his divine sense was completely exhausted, he began to cultivate the Indestructible Heaven Scroll in order to advance from Body of Dead Tree to Body of Rock Cliff. When he has completely grasped Body of Rock Cliff, he'd be able to parry sharp weaponry with his bare hands. The sturdiness of his physical body would become even more terrifying than that of some races with exceptionally powerful natural defense.
When he had finished cultivation, there had already appeared a sliver of white in the east. It was only now that he lay down to rest. Meditation could substitute for a part of the sleep he needed. Thus, he only needed to sleep for one or two hours, and it would be enough for him to be energetic for the rest of the day.
When dawn came the next day, he went over to Mo Gao's courtyard to discuss the art of the sword with him again.
One of them was an expert in the art of the sword, while the other had an exceptionally high level of comprehension, and so naturally they would be able to use each other as reference and thus improve themselves. They had only experienced two discussions with each other, yet the benefits both had received were quite deep.
"Peng, peng, peng." Just when the two of them were embroiled in a fierce discussion, they heard someone banging on the door which rudely interrupted their conversation.
Mo Gao suddenly looked extremely displeased. His fondness for the art of the sword had almost reached the level of insanity. Once he was embroiled in a discussion about sword techniques, even if it was the Gods themselves here for a visit, he would ignore them. He walked over to the entrance, opened the door, and saw that there were over ten people standing at his doorway.
"Is Ling Han here?" A young man dressed in green-colored long robes took one step forward, his chin proudly raised, looking extremely arrogant in his demeanor.
However, he did have the right to be arrogant, for he was astonishingly in Gushing Spring Tier, a much more powerful martial artist than even Mo Gao.
"Who are you people, and what are you looking for my student for?" Mo Gao questioned instead of stepping out of their way and allowing them entry.
"Teacher Mo, we are members of the Discipline Committee!" Another young man dressed in black walked forwards, though his tone was much more even. Of course, this had something to do with his cultivation level, because he was similarly in Element Gathering Tier, so he did not have much of an advantage over Mo Gao in terms of cultivation level.
"Don't speak so much nonsense, tell Ling Han to come out quickly!" The young man in green robes shouted impatiently, with no hint of caring about Mo Gao.
Mo Gao stared blankly for a moment, and then said, "What offense has my student committed that requires the Discipline Committee to take action?"
The Discipline Committee, as the name suggested, was an organization that was in charge of enforcing the rules and regulations of the Academy. However, the majority of the members of this committee were students, and it could also be considered as a type of part-time job, for the members could earn academic points. Moreover, the members also possessed a considerable amount of power in the Academy, so quite a lot of students desperately thought up ways to squeeze themselves into the Committee.
"We suspect that he is involved with a crime of theft, so there is a need for us to search him and his room. Teacher Mo, you aren't thinking of covering for a criminal, are you?" The green-clad young man said coldly, showing no respect to Mo Gao at all.
"Nonsense!" Mo Gao was instantly enraged. In his heart, the sword was the most sacred existence in this world, and Ling Han had such a high talent in the art of the sword. The sword would reflect the swordsman's heart. How could such a person be a thief?
"Get lost!" He raised his hand and pointed at them furiously, almost about to draw his sword in ire.
"Mo Gao, even if you're a teacher of the Academy, you still have no right to cover for a criminal!" The green-clad young man said, his eyes passing over Mo Gao to look into the courtyard, "Get out of my way, or else I will apprehend you on the basis of obstructing law enforcement!"
Mo Gao was so angry his whole body was shaking. He was a teacher of the Academy, yet he was actually now berated and insulted by a mere student! His right hand was already lying on the hilt of his sword, a cold light shining from his eyes, ready to make his move.
"Teacher Mo!" Ling Han walked over to them, smiled softly at Mo Gao, and said, "Since they're here to look for me, then just let me deal with this matter!"
Mo Gao hesitated for a moment, but still lowered his right hand from the hilt of his sword. He would of course not simply watch as his own student was bullied by others, but he too wanted to know what was really going on here.
Ling Han's eyes swept over the entourage, and a smile of realization played about his lips—in this group of over ten people, he had recognized two of them to be Feng Luo and Wei He Le. He opened his mouth to say, "These two should not be members of the Discipline Committee, right?"
"They are indeed not, for they are the ones who reported the loss," the green-clad young man said, his eyes fixed in a stare at Ling Han. "Let me advise you not to have any delusions. In front of me, there is no one who can conceal their crime!"