After that night, Xie Jianyu no longer ignored Zhang Fengxi at school. They exchanged polite greetings and behaved amicably enough toward each other to be good classmates.
Following Xie Jianyu's example, Jiang Muchen too followed suit. If one looked close enough, though, one could see a corner of his lips twitching violently when he came face-to-face with Zhang Fengxi.
Zhang Fengxi was relieved.
He was content with their current relationship.
He spent the next four months diligently studying under the Grand Tutor, practicing martial arts under Commandant Jiang, and also spending more time with Liu Wenyuan.
Before long, the class at Crystal Jade Pavilion ended. The Grand Tutor already prepared a huge graduation mission for all of them.
Zhang Fengxi had been looking forward to this mission for a long time. It was because the goal of the mission was to slay the Thousand-Legged Centipede Spirit.
In his past life, the young alphas failed miserably. Their failure incited the wrath of the evil spirit, which then proceeded to ransack ten villages in three days and three nights, killing more than 20,000 innocent human beings.
It was a nightmare that Zhang Fengxi loathed to repeat.
That morning, the young alphas gathered at Crystal Jade Pavilion. Some wore full-fledged battle gear from head to toe and carried weapons that were too big for their bodies. No wonder, because these weapons were borrowed from their worrisome parents.
It did more harm than good, Zhang Fengxi thought to himself. These children were not used to wielding such gigantic sabers and heavy swords. Might as well give them a lighter but decent sword to use for the mission.
Zhang Fengxi brought such a sword with him. The sword had no name, but it was made from excellent steel material.
Just like in his past life, he was grouped with Jiang Muchen, whose weapon of choice was a bow and a quiver full of arrows.
When the groups were announced, Jiang Muchen looked like he would rather be grouped with the Thousand-Legged Centipede Spirit to slay Zhang Fengxi instead.
This life's Jiang Muchen was a lot less friendly than in the past.
No wonder, because this life's Zhang Fengxi was extra nasty toward Xie Jianyu.
At this time, both of them were considered weak and useless compared to six years later. Jiang Muchen was not going to be much of a help. Zhang Fengxi only hoped that he could take good care of himself. When he told Jiang Muchen the same sentence, the latter quickly became infuriated.
"Zhang Fengxi! Do you think that you are the God Of War? Why don't you go and kill the Thousand-Legged Centipede Spirit on your own if you are so capable???" he cried out angrily.
"..."
Jiang Muchen should learn a thing or two about temper management from his little uncle.
The Grand Tutor led the young alphas to the edge of heaven. The alphas rode their spiritual mounts to the Great Sage Valley. The valley was surrounded by a mountain range, in which the Thousand-Legged Centipede slept for more than a thousand years.
Human greed prompted the villagers to dig through the mountain in search of some gold ores and gems. They ignored the many evil-warding talismans that the gods pasted at the mountain walls, thinking that the talismans were nothing but a fraudulent scheme to hide riches away.
As a result, the villagers woke the spirit from its long slumber. As soon as the spirit awoke, it demanded food. The good news was that the spirit was trapped under the mountain. The bad news was that the mountain was close to crumbling, thanks to the many dug-up sites.
That's why this task was given to the young alphas as a graduation mission. The spirit itself was dangerous, but it was weakened greatly by its rocky prison. There were altogether seven different mountain entrances that the alphas could enter to access the gigantic centipede's body.
Zhang Fengxi and Jiang Muchen were originally tasked to attack at the fifth entrance, but Zhang Fengxi wanted a better spot to attack. Once he arrived at his assigned entrance, he went straight to the third entrance.
One of the three alphas who were assigned to the third entrance already arrived. He was puzzled to find Zhang Fengxi there.
"Prince Fengxi? What are you doing here?"
"Switch with me," Zhang Fengxi said in a hurry. "Go to the fifth entrance. Trust me, it is better for you that way."
The alpha shook from fright. Before he decided to accept or reject Zhang Fengxi's offer, an angry voice behind Zhang Fengxi rang out.
"Zhang Fengxi, what is the meaning of this?"