ASER - Chapter 65
Chapter 65: Secret Technique
Her reaction at that moment was undoubtedly one of the most quick-witted instances of her life.
A'Diao showed no particular reaction, instead continuing naturally and gently, adding, "...go for a late-night snack? Do you prefer crayfish or barbecue? Big sister will treat you."
Oh, so that was what she meant?
Jiang Yena's ears turned so red they looked as if they might bleed, and he stammered that there was no need.
That's good, I don't have any money anyway.
A'Diao was about to retreat when, with a click, the hall lights switched on. Head Teacher Qu Jiangnan's office door slid open automatically, revealing Qu Jiangnan and Song Ling, both looking at her.
Their expressions and gazes were peculiar. Qu Jiangnan calmly asked, "I'm hungry too. Your treat? Buy a little extra; this place is spacious enough, we can lay it all out."
A'Diao: "..."
Pressured by the Spiritual Energy constantly flickering at Qu Jiangnan's fingertips, and to avoid being strung up on a tree branch at three in the morning, A'Diao ultimately ordered takeout for them.
Barbecue and crayfish. That glutton Tuoba had a ridiculously large appetite; the moment he opened his mouth, he asked for thirty jin of crayfish.
Is he even human? He's a bear!
A'Diao shot him a look that could kill.
Tuoba, while eating crayfish, noticed her glare and raised an eyebrow. "Want to go a round?"
A'Diao immediately backed down. "No, no, no, you eat, please eat. It's all yours."
Later, however, she asked Song Ling, "What were you and Tuoba doing here so late at night, looking for the head teacher?"
They're already on the team, surely they're not trying to undermine me?
Song Ling, though aloof, had a good temperament. "I encountered some issues in my cultivation, and since the teacher was online, I came to find her. I ran into Classmate Tuoba on the way; he wanted to fight me and followed me all the way here."
In the dead of night, really just for a fight? Perhaps he just finds you attractive...
A'Diao's imagination ran wild. She felt Tuoba was no good and disliked him even more, but alas, she couldn't defeat him at present.
Qu Jiangnan ate little, washed her hands, and then left by herself.
The others dispersed after a while. As A'Diao and Song Ling walked together, Song Ling suddenly said, "There might be an assessment in a while. Experts like our head teacher might select the most talented students for private tutoring. Tuoba might have such intentions, which is why he's trying to build connections; the same goes for others, naturally. Besides, these assessment rankings come with rewards, mostly arranged by the Dean. I suggest you focus a bit more these days."
A'Diao: "?"
Song Ling gave her a deep look. "I saw that little booklet of yours with Tian Zhongye. He bought one and said it's very useful, but isn't it quite distracting?"
She was reminding her out of goodwill. A'Diao couldn't explain about her unique mental abilities, but she thanked her. "It's alright. My reasoning is that working on this can enhance my knowledge, consider it a personal study habit. I've done this since I was young when I studied. Right now, everyone thinks cultivation is paramount, but from my perspective—the schools or departments that truly hold core power don't just want top-tier martial experts; they also need people with sharp minds. Other schools only have written exams, but their standards aren't as high as the Academy's. The illusionary realm plus written exam model is personally overseen by the Dean, which indicates he's looking for precisely this kind of talent. This Dean seems to have good connections with the higher-ups, doesn't he?"
"Oh, and Qu Jiangnan was also assigned from above. She seems to be aligned with the Dean, doesn't she? Judging by the school's administrative structure, her position is rock-solid."
Those in high positions have a broader view, so A'Diao could glean fragments of core secrets from them.
If one solely focused on martial prowess, thinking it's enough to just pass cultural subjects without being a burden, they would likely suffer in the end.
From Chen Xun, she had seen that the imperial court and the Ministry of Education's trend in valuing talent wasn't entirely skewed towards martial disciplines.
Song Ling frowned slightly, lost in thought, and finally said, "You might be right. Perhaps after the college entrance examinations, the most elite schools might require a total score in martial combat while also separately listing requirements for relevant cultural subjects. In the initial period, places like Kyoto University weren't even the most advanced centers of learning; some had even higher standards."
The two spoke no more, each understanding the implications.
The appointed time to venture into the catacomb arrived. Early in the morning, a hovercar sped out from the gates of Jinling Academy, heading towards a catacomb in the suburbs. Soon, this news reached the Cui Clan.
Cui Liang, far away in Kyoto, gave a cold smile upon receiving the news. However, being cautious, he still asked a Cui Clan confidant, "Are you certain that hovercar is a rental?"
"Yes, we've checked. The vehicle came from a rental agency, and there is indeed a rental record under Chen A'Diao's name, heading towards the suburbs..."
"Good."
Cui Liang felt reassured.
Half an hour later, the Chen family's hovercar passed through a suburban area.
The area was sparsely populated, with few flight paths used by other vehicles. After a drone surveyed the vicinity and confirmed no one was passing through, two other hovercars revealed themselves from a distance, transitioning from covert pursuit to an encircling maneuver. Both simultaneously activated their light cannons, locked on, and fired.
Four light cannon projectiles, aimed from different angles, converged and struck the hovercar.
An explosion! The hovercar instantly erupted into a massive fireball. Subsequently, the vehicle and everything within it were incinerated into scrap metal, falling heavily from the sky amidst a shower of explosive debris and sparks.
After the crash, the two attacking hovercars dispatched a small drone to investigate. The bird-shaped drone, with large, red, fly-like compound eyes, emitted beams of light, beeping as it scanned the wreckage on the ground, trying to determine if there were any carbonized human remains...
A minute later, the news reached the phones of Cui Yong of the Cui Clan and Cui Liang in Kyoto. The expressions of the father and son were almost identical.
Astonishment was quickly followed by alarmed realization. "Retreat and hide immediately! Quickly!!!"
Cui Yong, far away in his residence, issued the command, and the two hovercars immediately sped away from the scene.
Simultaneously, the individuals in the car responsible for the assassination mission received a signal from their reconnaissance unit: the government's patrol forces, responsible for the security of officially ranked families, had been mobilized.
Damn it!!!
That hovercar was registered under Chen Ran's name and logged in the official government archives. According to the imperial court's protection laws for officially ranked individuals, if such hovercars were attacked, the relevant armed forces were obligated to investigate and provide aid.
Damn them, the Chen family is so treacherous!
"We have to escape, otherwise if we're caught and interrogated..."
Even if they didn't expose their employer, their employer would likely kill them to silence them.
Assassinating the family members of a fourth-rank official was a capital offense, and the Cui Clan wouldn't dare take such a risk. That was why Cui Liang had them verify the hovercar's identity. Who could have known the vehicle had been switched?
The scarred man driving, his face ashen, said, "You're mistaken. It's not a matter of if we get caught; right now, we need to worry about being silenced permanently."
"Official Cui has likely already dispatched people to eliminate us. Cut off all mobile signals and electronic devices immediately! Hurry!"
Song Ling watched A'Diao, who had suddenly made them switch vehicles and was now nonchalantly eating beef jerky in the car, and thought to herself that this person was truly cunning.
But she didn't voice her thoughts about the underlying situation, afraid of frightening Tian Zhongxiang and the other two.
At that moment, the three of them were still snacking while cross-checking their supplies.
It was their first real venture into a catacomb, and they were quite nervous, but A'Diao appeared to be the calmest among them.
Tian Zhongye asked curiously, "A'Diao, aren't you scared?"
"Of course, I'm scared. But with you here, little old me isn't afraid anymore," A'Diao cooed.
"..."
Including Lao Wang, who was driving, all five felt a wave of acute discomfort from her words; it was truly awful.
Twelve noon.
Outside the vehicle, the landscape grew increasingly desolate. Lakes and marshes had dried up, the surrounding mountains and forests were barely visible in the distance, and wild grass grew abundantly.
"This is already the Little Tangshan region. However, that catacomb was merely detected by official equipment when it first appeared. Since the imperial court hasn't yet dispatched anyone to clear it, its exact location is unknown. We'll have to find it."
This small catacomb was located in a wilderness area, with no villages nearby. As it didn't pose an immediate threat to civilian lives or state property, the government hadn't paid it much mind. Instead, they hoped various wilderness exploration teams would deal with it, thereby conserving their own military resources.
Since the team had Song Ling, a veritable pillar from the prominent Song Clan, there was naturally no need to skimp on resources. After all, unlike A'Diao, whose status was somewhat questionable, Song Ling was genuinely and heavily invested in by the Song Clan.
As for Song Ling, though she appeared ethereal and detached from worldly concerns, she was, in reality, remarkably clear-headed and perceptive. She didn't put on airs, saying things like, "I mustn't rely on my family's advantages. I must fight unassisted, conquer catacombs on my own, for that is the faster path to growth..."
She did no such thing. She valued her life and was therefore meticulous and cautious about her equipment. This time, she had brought an advanced detector: Restricted Item, Code Bing-3423—Demonic Spirit Organism Detector No. 7.
Detector No. 7 was a small, pangolin-shaped mechanical device. About five minutes after Song Ling activated it, it provided an alert.
An energy signature of a spirit core was detected within a three-kilometer diameter.
Indeed, the device's detection principle was based on sensing the energy fluctuations of spirit cores. It featured two reconnaissance modes: one for directly locating spirit cores, and another for detecting spirit cores encased within flesh-and-blood bodies. The latter would, of course, indicate the position of a demonic spirit.
However, because it involved complex, flesh-and-blood bodies, the signal was weaker due to the intervening layer, resulting in a larger search radius to pinpoint the location.
"We have four days. After that, we must return to the academy for classes. Let's head down. We should clear out a wave quickly and get back to school to tackle those exam papers." As A'Diao mentioned the exam papers, her expression visibly darkened.
The others felt much the same.
The so-called "study packs" were truly monstrous... The sheer volume was overwhelming, and worst of all, the content was incredibly difficult to digest, utterly baffling, and demanded immense mental effort. Initially, some students had protested, arguing that the current priority was Spiritual Energy cultivation and that wrestling with such challenging knowledge would hinder their progress. The teachers hadn't said much, merely reducing the difficulty for the protesting students later on and providing them with a different study pack.
A'Diao, however, was not like those students. She hoped to use these study packs to improve herself and, in turn, perfect her next exam preparation guide.
Were those study packs? That was money! That was a source of her mental energy!
It wasn't that those other students were foolish, merely that they made different choices. The five members of her team shared a similar disposition: proud to the core, each believing they could manage, and unafraid to push themselves to their limits, even if they grumbled about it verbally.
The hovercar landed on a patch of overgrown flatland. Song Ling set down No. 7, which immediately burrowed into the earth and began its frenetic survey.
A'Diao instructed Lao Wang to drive the vehicle directly towards Lingcheng.
Lao Wang seemed worried. "Does the Master know about this? Should we request a guard detail from the estate?"
"No need. He doesn't have many capable fighters under his command anyway."
"..."
The Third Miss never bothered to conceal her disdain for Chen Ran when they were out.
Lao Wang was accustomed to it. He boarded the vehicle and sped off, careful not to leave any traces. He wasn't a fool; the sudden change of vehicles was inherently suspicious.
He wondered if Official Chen was aware of the situation.
At the Lingcheng Prefectural Office, Chen Ran, of course, already knew. The authorities in Jinling had contacted him right after the vehicle explosion to inquire about the situation. He had been stunned for a moment but quickly deduced that the Cui Clan was trying to assassinate Chen A'Diao.
Only Chen A'Diao would have been using that particular vehicle from Jinling.
Thus, Chen Ran reacted within seconds. Chen A'Diao had undoubtedly gone to the catacomb and wouldn't reappear for several days. Therefore, for the time being, he would act as if she were dead. He had to escalate this incident!
The Cui Clan had gone too far!
And so, in the conference hall, before many Lingcheng officials, he cried out in grief and indignation, lamenting how his daughter might have been killed in an explosion, and so on. Then, steadying himself on a table, he opened his mouth and unleashed a family heirloom: a secret technique.
Wow! He spat out a large mouthful of blood.
His subordinates: "!!!"
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