I Can See the Lines of Fortune - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Cerulean Empire

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

When she saw Mo Xiaobai walking over, Mu Yuzhu opened her mouth, and asked, “What happened? Why did you stay in the bathroom for so long?”

Mo Xiaobai pulled a chair out and sat down. He shook his head and smiled as he replied, “I’m fine.”

Mu Yuzhu nodded. She didn’t find it suspicious. She placed a piece of fragrant meat with both sides fried until golden-brown in his bowl.

“You will be participating in the elites’ trial today, right? Have more food and adjust your state of mind.”

Mo You looked at Mo Xiaobai sternly. He opened his mouth, and said, “Xiaobai, although the graystone hill chosen by your school is a normal level first-rank hollow realm, danger is always present. You must maintain vigilance all the time, do you understand? Especially when you meet strangers! In the hollow realm, the hardest thing to predict is the human heart!”

Mo Xiaobai looked at Mu Yuzhu and Mo You. He realized that they didn’t seem to notice the white lights around him. He felt a little calmer.

As expected, these lines were just illusions after his headache.

Mo Xiaobai nodded seriously. “Yes, I understand.”

Mo You and Mu Yuzhu were experienced adventurers, and they had been to many hollow realms, so Mo Xiaobai listened to their advice.

Mo You had been telling him the same thing ever since he knew that Mo Xiaobai was going to the hollow realm. Mo Xiaobai didn’t even know how many times he heard these sentences. It was hard for him to forget them.

Mu Yuzhu smiled, and said, “At first, we planned to bring you to the hollow realm to train you after you achieve your breakthrough. We didn’t expect your school to have such a plan. It’s not bad. I know graystone hill. If you’re lucky, you can find some items that are suitable for you.”

Mo Xiaobai bit the meat and gave a look of anticipation.

Ever since he was young, Mo Xiaobai heard that there were many magical beasts and treasures in the hollow realm. Lucky people were able to become wealthy in a single night. Those that were unlucky would die inside.

He had been anticipating an adventure in the hollow realm for a long time. Now, he finally had his chance.

At this moment, Mo You thought of something, and opened his mouth. “Oh, right, come back home directly after you finish your lessons for these several days.”

Mo Xiaobai’s hands stopped in mid-air. He was a little confused. “What happened?”

Mo You pointed to the newspaper at the side. “Yesterday, a little girl was killed. The culprit hadn’t been found.”

Mo Xiaobai was stunned. He turned and looked at the newspaper. There was a photo on the front of the newspaper. There was a huge pile of blood in the photo.

“She was dismembered. Not all her body parts had been found. The murderer hadn’t been caught yet.”

Mo You’s expression was a little serious.

Mo Xiaobai looked at the blood on the photo. He felt a chill in his heart. The meat in his mouth didn’t taste fragrant anymore…

He hurriedly nodded his head. “You know that I don’t wander around outside.”

Mo You smiled instantly when he heard this. “I’m not that worried about you. Oh, right, have you reached the peak of Body Tempering?”

Mo Xiaobai nodded. “Yes.”

Mu Yuzhu’s eyes lit up. She smiled as she said, “Not bad. In that case, you need to start opening your force points now. Your progress is similar to mine when I was young. As expected of my child. You have good potential.”

Mu Yuzhu seemed a little proud.

Mo You nodded in satisfaction too. “Not bad. You are hardworking too.”

Mo You and Mu Yuzhu were all three-points high-level Force Warriors. They established the Youzu Expedition Team, and were both famous warriors in Pingxi Town.

When he was young, Mo Xiaobai was told that the limit of a person’s achievement depended on his talent, while the bottom line depended on his hard work. Talent was hard to change, but one could choose to be hardworking.

Mo Xiaobai was hardworking too. Also, his talent was not bad, so he was able to reach the peak of Body Tempering at 16 years old. He was the number one in Moonlight Secondary School in Pingxi Town.

Mo You continued, “After you come back from the elite trial, we will go to the adventurer branch to take a look at superior-grade refined force techniques.”

“Superior-grade?” Mo Xiaobai opened his eyes wide. “Superior-grade items are very expensive, right? I think middle-grade is enough.”

Refined force techniques were special skills that one could use to absorb forces and increase their cultivation. You could understand it as the foundation of all force warriors.

Beginner-level refined force techniques were split into inferior-grade, middle-grade, superior-grade, supreme-grade, and perfect-grade. The superior-grade beginner-level refined force techniques were good, but they were expensive. This was a refined force technique. It wasn’t a normal force skill.

Mo You frowned slightly and glared at Mo Xiaobai. “What do you know? The higher the grade of the refined force technique, the easier it is to open your force points. Your cultivation speed will be faster too. The foundation is very important.”

Mu Yuzhu nodded. “Your father is right. We have saved some money over the years, so we are still able to afford a superior-grade refined force technique. With this superior-grade refined force technique, you can have an easier path in the future. At least you will be more powerful than us.”

Mo Xiaobai looked at Mo You’s and Mu Yuzhu’s firm expression. He didn’t reject them.

He nodded. At the same time, he started to get excited.

How powerful was a superior-grade refined force technique?

With this, he might be able to break through three force points before he graduated from university.

He might even have some hope of breaking through his fourth and fifth force points in the future.

At that time, he could establish a stronger expedition team than the one his parents founded.

Then, he could find a good-looking, gentle, and good-tempered young lady with a nice figure to get married and live happily ever after.

Mo Xiaobai was a little happy as he thought about this. The white lines of light that had appeared suddenly were forgotten.

***

After breakfast, Mo Xiaobai left his house and went to school.

His parents were famous Force Warriors in town, so the estate he lived at was not bad. Tall and huge trees grew beside a stone-paved path. The May breeze blew past, and the leaves started swaying. Unknown birds kept chirping. The environment was good.

Also, security officers were patrolling the estate to prevent evil spirits or criminals from entering the estate.

The Cerulean Empire wasn’t safe in this era.

There were all kinds of clans that worshiped certain evil gods. There were also hollow divine clans that worshiped hollow devils. These lunatics felt that devils would take over Cerulean Star soon, and hollow was the final destination of the universe.

Mo Xiaobai didn’t understand what the lunatics were thinking.

At this moment, Mo Xiaobai suddenly remembered the newspaper he saw this morning. His face turned pale.

…Could the culprit be some lunatic?

He couldn’t help but shrink his neck. The cool wind suddenly felt a little cold and eerie.

He reached the entrance of his estate. In the security room, a muscular man with a pair of white rabbit ears and an angular face smiled at Mo Xiaobai. His snow-white teeth were shining under the sun.

“Xiaobai, are you going to school?”

Mo Xiaobai nodded. He smiled as he replied, “Yes, Uncle Ning.”

“The university entrance exam is happening soon, right? Based on your results, you should be able to get into the top 100 universities. I really admire your parents.”

As Uncle Ning spoke, he helped Xiaobai to open the door.

Mo Xiaobai smiled shyly. “It’s not confirmed yet. I hope that I will get good results.”

Uncle Ning sighed. “If my child has your results, I will laugh in my dreams!”

“Hahaha…” Mo Xiaobai laughed awkwardly a few times. He didn’t know how to continue the conversation, so he slid out of the door and waved at Uncle Ning. “Uncle Ning, I’m leaving.”

“Sigh, go ahead. Be careful! It hasn’t been peaceful lately!”

“Okay!”

***

The Moonlight secondary school where Mo Xiaobai was studying wasn’t far away from his home. He always chose to walk.

The huge path made of bluestones was around 20 meters wide. There were people driving force cars on it, and there were people riding huge and fierce-looking personal mounts. The sounds of engines and the roars of animals echoed on the street.

On the footwalk at the side of the road, pedestrians were walking back and forth. There were rabbit-men like Uncle Ning with rabbit ears; there were night spirits who had silver hair, blood-red eyes, and pale skin; there were barbarians who were mostly two meters tall and muscular with stone armor on their arms and thighs; there were elves with pointy ears and slender figures; there were merfolks with fin ears and gills on the back of their ears; and there were humans like Mo Xiaobai.

Humans, rabbit-men, night spirits, barbarians, elves, and merfolk. These six races had built the current Cerulean Empire together.

Legend had it that long ago, all the six races were thriving until the invasion of the devils from hollow. They destroyed everything here. After many years of development, the six races started collaborating.

Although the ancient relics and writings were hard to interpret, and not many people had an in-depth understanding of the past when the devils invaded and the glorious times of the six races, this didn’t stop the empire from remaining vigilant against devils.

No one hoped that they would be woken up from their sweet dreams by hordes of devils one day.

***

Mo Xiaobai went past a few streets, and came to Moonlight Secondary School.

When Mo Xiaobai entered the school compound, many students who just arrived looked at him unconsciously, especially the young ladies. They would always glance at him secretly before lowering their heads and whispering to their friends. Then, they would laugh and act cutely annoyed with a shy look on their faces.

Mo Xiaobai was used to it.

He didn’t want to compliment himself, but Mo You and Mu Yuzhu were indeed good-looking. Hence, as their child, he was really very handsome. His results were also the top in school, so he was popular among the ladies.

Of course, he was still single now and a virgin.

Before the university entrance exam, he needed to work hard in his study so that he could enter a good force institution.

The classrooms for the graduating batch of students were separated from the other classes. They were all in a single building. This was to ensure that the graduating batch of students was able to prepare for their exams peacefully, and not get disturbed by their juniors.

When Mo Xiaobai entered his classroom, there were already many students inside. Some were quite pale as they discussed the murder last night.

Mo Xiaobai went to his seat and opened the drawer. There were two white letters and one pink letter.

Mo Xiaobai took out the letters skillfully, and kept them properly in the compartment below his table.

Mo Xiaobai’s deskmate, Zheng Dong, curled the corners of his lips when he saw this. He opened his mouth, and said, “Three love letters again? How many letters have you received this month?”

Mo Xiaobai shook his head. “I’ve never counted them.”

Zheng Dong looked at him with envy, jealousy, and hatred. “Damn it… It’s good to be handsome and have high cultivation. So many beauties gave you love letters!”

“The most infuriating thing is, you didn’t read any of them! You are wasting these gifts!”

Zheng Dong seemed distressed.

Mo Xiaobai smiled, and replied, “Dating will affect our studies. The university entrance exam is the most important thing now.”

Zheng Dong waved his hand. “Fine, fine, fine. You speak like my old dad. Youth is meant for you to fly! If I had had your qualities, I would have already taken care of 100…”

He shrunk his neck and stopped talking before he finished his sentence.

Mo Xiaobai looked at Zheng Dong, and then turned to look at the entrance of their classroom.

At the door, a skinny middle-aged merfolk was standing there and looking in their direction. His cheeks were sunk in, and his hairline was a little high. His light blue hair was combed neatly. No details were overlooked.

This was Mo Xiaobai’s headteacher, Li Qishui.

As expected.

Mo Xiaobai laughed secretly.

Li Qishui used his light yellow eyes to glare at Zheng Dong before turning to look at Mo Xiaobai. A smile appeared on his stern face. “Xiaobai, come out for a moment.”

Mo Xiaobai stood up and walked out of the classroom.

“Mr. Li, what’s the matter?”

Li Qishui smiled as he opened his mouth, and said, “The elite trial is starting soon. Let me bring you to Director Hong. He’s in charge of the team this time.”

Mo Xiaobai nodded and followed behind Li Qishui. They left the classroom.