Just as she was about to step inside the dwelling, Shalman stared coldly at Yue Jinghua with a gaze that bore no difference from that of a poisonous snake she raised.
Yue Jinghua heard a rustling sound and became alert. Inside the room, on the walls and the ground, crawled a large number of scorpions. The scorpions varied in size and species.
Shalman stood amidst the swarm without the slightest discomfort.
"Shalman, is this your doing again?" scorpions the size of fingertips hung all over the edge of Yue Jinghua's bed.
"My little pets enjoy a stroll at night. Are you scared? If you are, then roll out of the Outer Court. A useless trash like you who can do nothing still wants to stay in the Outer Court? Let me tell you, staying in the Outer Court is a hundred times more difficult than in the Inner Court," Shalman sneered sinisterly.
Actually, these scorpions were non-venomous, but bearing a day within a nest of scorpions would strain anyone's nerves, eventually leading to collapse. Already a few had been driven away by Shalman's similar tactics.
It's a pity that destiny decreed Shalman was about to meet her match that day.
Shalman's smile stiffened as a fire appeared in Yue Jinghua's hand.
The fire was pale white with a green core beating like a stunningly beautiful lotus. Although the flames were not fierce, as soon as they appeared, all the scorpions in the room were so terrified that they dared not move.
Snakes and scorpions naturally fear fire.
Let alone the Chaos Green Lotus Fire, a mystical fire between heaven and earth.
With Shalman's eyesight, she naturally couldn't recognize the profundity of the Dark Fire in Yue Jinghua's hands. But she knew well that controlling Dark Fire meant that one must at least be in the Jade Dark Realm.
This Yue Jinghua rumored to be unable to cultivate Dark Power is a Yu Xuan Master? No, she didn't reveal any Dark Power. Shalman pondered, unable to fathom the true background of Yue Jinghua.
While Shalman was stupefied, Yue Jinghua grabbed a scorpion, roasted it over the fire until it was fragrant and crisp, tossed it into her mouth, leisurely chewing with a crisp crunch, she said with an intoxicated look: "Did I ever tell you that my great-great-great-grandfather had Cantonese blood, which led to me also enjoying various exotic foods? Not just scorpions, but snakes too, I could list dozens of ways to eat them – raw, cooked, braised, blanched, fried, medicinal, soaked in alcohol; just let me think how I should handle your army of snakes and scorpions." As she spoke, her eyes were sharp like an eagle soaring high above, looking down at Shalman.
Shalman only felt like she became the snake under the eagle's talons, a slight movement and she'd be killed by its claws.
Watching the petrified Shalman, Yue Jinghua stretched lazily and settled down comfortably to lie down.
Ridiculous – thinking back to the days when she, Yue Xiaoqi, served as a female spy in the Amazon region on missions, had she not seen an abundance of serpents, insects, rodents, and ants? In such an environment, let alone scorpions, even if it was maggots, Yue Xiaoqi could swallow them like protein capsules into her stomach.
"Cantonese? What place is that? Why have I never heard of it? An Autumn Virgin who loves eating all kinds of worms and snakes is not enough, now there is Yue Jinghua. Are all my snakes and scorpions doomed?" Shalman shivered and hastily collected all of her scorpions.
The next day, Qiu Virgin sat leisurely in the courtyard, puffing on a water pipe, and saw Yue Jinghua exiting spiritedly while Shalman looked red-eyed, yawning continuously.
Old Man Qiu was secretly astonished and his gaze towards Yue Jinghua contained a bit more contemplation.
"It seems you are quite accustomed to life in the Outer Court. Last night was a bit hasty and I didn't have the chance to explain properly. Every student who enters the Outer Court has a six months' evaluation period. During this period, the vice dean and I will conduct several assessments to determine your specialties and teach you special skills that would allow you to traverse unhindered across the Canglong Continent," Qiu Virgin said with pride.
In the Inner Court, students only studied the orthodox curriculum of Dark Academies, such as Dark Skills and Elixir Pills. But the Outer Court was different; those who entered the Outer Court were either regarded as trashes or trashes in certain aspects.
Yue Jinghua was astonished to find that the real Outer Court was somewhat different from the rumors outside.
Seeing is believing; taking Shalman as an example – her Dark Energy cultivation was poor. After reaching the second level of Dark Human, she could progress no further, a far cry from average Inner Court students.
After half a year of observation, Old Man Qiu and the vice dean discovered, to their surprise, that Shalman had a natural talent for breeding. They commanded her to cultivate venomous creatures and use them to confront enemies. Their foresight was indeed unique; now Shalman's Insect Extermination Technique could rival an Inner Court student who had achieved Small Success of Jade Dark.
For certain reasons, Shalman's talent was not known to the outside world. But in the mouths of a few informed individuals in the Outer Court, Shalman's nickname was "snake girl."
Lie Sisi only left Yue Jinghua in that fern patch, not because she knew of Shalman's talents, but because she heard from Outer Court students that the area was a frequent haunt for venomous snakes. Even Inner Court students of the Jade Dark Realm who accidentally ventured there were often collectively attacked by venomous snakes, let alone Yue Jinghua.
Before Yue Jinghua arrived, indeed a few new students from the Outer Court had been accidentally injured by poisonous snakes or were scared away by the swarms of scorpions and promptly dropped out of the academy.
These incidents were eventually calmed down by Old Man Qiu, who somehow managed to resolve them.
Thus, Yue Jinghua, who originally wanted to get an undergraduate diploma, became an undetermined advanced vocational student. Her days at the Outer Court had just begun. As days passed by, her relationship with Shalman showed no signs of improvement; however, she got along extremely well with Old Man Qiu. The old man and the young girl enjoyed scavenging for various usable ingredients within the grounds of the Outer Court every day.
Though the Outer Court was situated within the Xuanji Royal Academy, it seemed to have nothing to do with the Inner Court. Life in the Outer Court was quite impoverished.
Qiu Jiezi held multiple positions himself: dean, gardener, cook, head of discipline. He would say, just worrying about the court's affairs made him lose all his hair.
After living with Shalman for a few days, except for the unpleasant experience on the first day, Shalman virtually treated Yue Jinghua as if she were air. She would go out every other night, staying out for the entire evening. The two thus lived in an uneventful coexistence for a while.
One night, Shalman went out again.
Yue Jinghua took this opportunity to enter Mo Xi's Sea of Consciousness.
During these days, Yue Jinghua had been pondering what kind of weapon to forge from the Star Fall Iron Ore that would best suit her hand.
Recalling the day she encountered a poisonous snake in the ferns, Yue Jinghua dismissed her initial idea of making steel needles from the iron ore. Once the steel needles were shot out, they were difficult to retrieve.
After several days of accumulation and practice of the Nine Revolutions Creation Technique, Yue Jinghua's control over the Dun Qinglian Fire had become a bit more skilled.
The Dun Qinglian Fire blazed vigorously, enveloping the Star Fall Iron Ore in flames.
For the initial thirty minutes, the iron ore showed no signs of change until Yue Jinghua infused a trace of Creation Power into it.
Under the influence of Creation Power, despite the ordinary fire's burning, the surface of the Star Fall Iron Ore, which had shown no signs of softening, began to crack, and the rock within the ore started to peel away under the influence of the flames.
The iron hidden within the Star Fall Iron started to liquefy.
The green fire danced ceaselessly in Yue Jinghua's eyes, "The first refinement, ninety-nine more to go."
In Yue Xiaoqi's motherland, Huaxia Country, in ancient times, there was an excellent Steel Refining Technique known as Hundred Refinements. It referred to the process of repeatedly folding and forging crude steel, continuously striking it to remove impurities and refine the steel.
On the basis of this, Yue Jinghua made her own improvement. She changed the hundred foldings to a hundred fire refinements. The volume of the iron melt kept shrinking, and eventually, it really became as small as a star.
After the hundredth fire refinement, the tension eased from Yue Jinghua's brows, and she immediately left the Star Sea.
The night was as dark as ink. Yue Jinghua rose to her feet and searched for a boulder that would take two or three people to encircle with their arms.
With a pull of her hands, the refined Star Iron quickly thinned out, stretching to the thickness of a hair and to the length of an arm, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Then she suddenly relaxed her hands.
"Shh," the air close by seemed to be ripped apart by an invisible blade, and a streak of starlight landed on the boulder.
In a breath's time, the boulder was swiftly cut in half at the waist, the cut surface as smooth as could be.
The Star Falling Iron Wire, as if possessing Spiritual Sense, automatically coiled back around Yue Jinghua's ring finger.
Soft as silk, a meaningful smile crept over Yue Jinghua's lips. It was only the first refinement, yet it seemed to possess a sentient understanding, synchronizing with Yue Jinghua's mind.
"Why forge steel a hundred times, if it can be as pliable as this around the finger," this weapon named "Soft Finger" by Yue Jinghua, became the nightmare of countless powerful beings on the Canglong Continent in the years to follow.