Chapter 1 - Huge Changes to the World
“Mo Fan, six points!”
After the Math teacher—Deng Yongchuan—had said this, the class began to laugh loudly.
Nearly everyone turned their heads around to look at the short, black-haired youth who was sitting at the very back of the classroom. This youth was Mo Fan, the one who only got a single-digit score on the exam.
“Mo Fan, you should learn from Mu Bai. He was able to score 96 despite the exam being this hard. How could you only get a single digit score on the exams? Don’t sully your own name,” Deng Yongchuan sighed.
How could 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, and with his exam scores being such a tragic sight, it caused the class average to drop as well.
“Teacher, he doesn’t even live up to his name: Mo Fan. Mo Fan... he’s not average at all! He’s levels lower than average—he's practically a dreg. 1” the student called Mu Bai called.
“Hahaha”
“He really is!”
“Mu Bai truly lives up to his reputation, he can insult people without swearing. Mo Fan is indeed not average, he has already become trash!”
The entire class began to laugh and it wasn’t until Deng Yongchuan began his lecture that they finally stopped.
…..
“This Mu Bai makes me sick. He thinks he’s amazing just because he’s handsome, has good grades, and knows how to play musical instruments!” The person who sits next to Mo Fan—Guan Gu—said.
“He’s just a childish ****.” Mo Fan said with disdain.
“Do you want to play volleyball when the school ends?”
“Can’t go, I’ve got stuff to do.”
“You’re going to help Old Man Ying again? After all, you’re the only one who dares to go to the thatched cottage behind the mountains. Oh right, I got me some Xuanhuan and Mohuan novels, do you want me to lend one to you?”
“You can put it in my bag, however, you should read less novels. You’re addicted.” Mo Fan said.
……
To a student, the most beautiful bell sound is naturally the one signaling the end of class. After the end of an entire day filled with dull classes, Mo Fan yawned as he carried his bag while walking to the back of the mountain.
The back of the mountain was the back entrance of the academy; basically, no one actually used it.
Old Man Ying who Guan Gu 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 relatives nor friends. 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 stuff 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 descendent of some historical big-shot, so he was in possession of a five thousand year old antique ring.
Mo Fan have seen that ring before; it was completely pitch black, and didn’t look like some 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 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 over somewhere else?
“Would you believe me if I said that in this plane that holds science in high regards, there is another parallel plane that practises 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 is fifteen-sixteen years old, he 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 practised 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—which any artisan was able to make.
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 a sudden sleepiness, but he still had to work that night. Thus, he arranged the 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...
……
He was extremely sleepy, thus he fell asleep very quickly.
A sliver of blood-red light shone through the mountain cracks from the setting sun, dying the forest behind the mountains and the small, thatched cottage red with it’s glow.
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. Beneath the blood sun was an indistinct scene around the water, like a mirage!
The youth sleeping inside the thatched cottage was still snoring, little did he know that the ring on his finger was emitting an ear-piercing humming sound. It was as if it was reacting to the reflection of the mirage that revealed the world’s true calling.
“Bum~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~”
As it trembled, so did the entire space!
Shui Nan Middle School was located in Nanshan in the city. Nanshan was much taller than the rest of Xia City.
The city was already brightly lit up; the streets, shops, buildings, the Grand City of Xia was radiating a magnificent brilliance. Old people who were taking walks after dinner, older ladies who were dancing in the public squares, the children who chased each other in the small valleys, and lovers who were having dates in the park….
The evening didn’t leave people with any insecurity or fear. On the contrary, they were actually enjoying getting off classes for the day, getting off work, and relaxing after dinner. However, if one were to look closely toward the location of Shui Nan Middle School—the south side of the mountain—they would have discovered that the campus that should have been shining bright had been shrouded in a muddled layer.
This space was originally peaceful like the water’s surface, but at this moment, a Spatial Tunnel appeared—spiralling like it was being devoured—causing it to be increasingly fierce, although silent!
On one side was a peaceful city with glorious lights!
On the other was half a mountain swallowed by the black spiral!
The northern city that had just entered its summer eve became an incomparably astonishing scene!
The entire space-time had changed, and the cause of it was this tunnel that was unexplainable in scientific terms.
The center of the Spatial Tunnel was the thatched cottage behind the mountains.
The colossal whirlpool suddenly diffused followed by it vanishing into nothingness. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
A certain person who was still sleeping soundly had no idea about the colossal changes to the world, that he had fallen into a parallel world.
……
……
The empty mountain experienced a sudden rain, which gave the scorching summer day a fierce cold punch, suppressing the overwhelming heat.
The air in the morning was particularly good, and the warm meat-buns by the school gates released an alluring smell. The dazzling golden youtiao gave a mouth-watering scent.
“Seventh Uncle, I’d like some soymilk and youtiao.” A youth with a messy appearance sat down on the stool as he said this to the old man who sold youtiao.
“Coming.” The old youtiao man swiftly served the soymilk, purposely filling up the cup as a smiled radiated across his face, “Mo Fan, you are about to take the magic exams, you should put some effort and strive to get into the University of Magicians so you can bring our Clan some face.”
Mo Fan blankly stared at the Seventh Uncle who was selling breakfast by the school gates. He carefully thought to himself and reckoned that he probably misheard, thus he nodded as he ate.
Yesterday, he slept so much that his head felt dizzy; he felt as though he had dreamt about a journey that took several centuries. When he woke up, he felt like a lifetime had passed; he didn’t know where east, south, west, and north were, nor whether it was morning or noon.
Mo Fan wolfed down his food, his hand holding half of the youtiao. As he was about to bite into the youtiao, he suddenly felt something heavy at his side. A half-bald man in his thirtys sat down next to him, his body reeking of cigarettes.
“Mo Fan, eating breakfast, eh?” The bald man smiled as he greeted Mo Fan.
“Good morning, Superintendent Hu.” Mo Fan hastily smiled as he greeted him back.
This man was the prominent Superintendent Hu, he wore a suit that didn’t suit him every day and his forehead shone brightly.
“I’m not wearing my watch, what time is it?” Superintendent Hu asked, exposing his yellow teeth.
Mo Fan took out his broken Nokia to look, “Still another fifteen minutes before the bell rings.”
“Crap, I’m late. I still haven’t finished my Magic Theory PPT—I don’t have time to finish my breakfast…” As Superintendent Hu stood up all of a sudden, Mo Fan suddenly tilted over.
“Boss, I don’t need the soymilk….Walking to the office is far too slow—whatever—it doesn’t matter if I use some magic.” Superintendent Hu stood there talking to himself.
Mo Fan was very puzzled, he felt like Superintendent Hu was speaking in an alien language.
Just as he thought he heard wrong, the soymilk shop’s canopy turned over in a incomparably strange way. It was as though compressed air had bubbled forth from within the soymilk shop...
As the evil wind came by, it messed up Mo Fan’s hair and rustled his clothes.
“Wind Trail, Fast Stride!”
As Superintendent Hu suddenly muttered to himself, his misfitted suit began to move on his body in an indescribable way—it was as if there was a gale inside his clothes.
His tie fluttered, and his trousers began oscillating. How could there be wind on a calm morning such as this, and it ruthlessly blow toward Superintendent Hu?
“Sssssh~~~~”
An azure light flashed. Mo Fan could see an indistinct thread of a beautiful starlight moving to surround Superintendent Hu’s whole body. The starlight flashed as it moved.
“Student Mo Fan, teacher will leave first. Do your best in studying!” Superintendent Hu turned around and exposed his yellow-toothed smile to Mo Fan.
Mo Fan seemed a bit taken back. Before he could come back to his senses, he heard a “swoosh” sound!
The slightly plump, bald Superintendent Hu—with the suit that seemed out of place—followed the dust trajectory from the swirling wind and hastily made his way toward the school!
His stride was exceptionally quick. The students wearing their student uniforms seemed immobile, which let Superintendent Hu travel in high speed through them, leaving behind a shocking dust trail...