Life in the third year of high school passed like a fleeting shadow, busy and fulfilling. The students gave their all for the next year's National Higher Education Entrance Examination, and Cultivation became their entire lives. Half a year vanished in the blink of an eye, and winter break was approaching; once it was over, only the final six months would remain before the exam.
During this half-year, Shen Han poured almost all his time and energy into his Cultivation. Facing external pressure, he did not dare to relax in the slightest. He understood that he needed to both counter potential threats and stand out in the National Higher Education Entrance Examination to advance toward a higher Martial Dao Realm. Every day, he traveled between school and home; his life was dull and repetitive, no different from his senior year in his previous life.
Although the Assassin Hall remained a potential threat, they did not dare to act rashly. The school was a protected zone for high-level Martial Artists, and the Assassin Hall could not carry out assassinations on campus. The suburban route where Shen Han lived was constantly crowded, leaving the Assassin Hall no opportunity to approach him. Consequently, Shen Han gained precious time for his Cultivation.
In those six months, besides his regular Mental Energy Cultivation, Shen Han mainly focused on refining the skills of his various Special Abilities, making significant progress in both single-target and area-of-effect attacks.
His three major skills of the Lightning Element became more proficient, though unfortunately, he was unable to reach Perfection.
For the Fire Element, he learned a new area-of-effect damage skill, Heavenly Flame Rain. Like the Lightning Element's Lightning Sky Curtain, it was a group damage skill; once unleashed, it could deal considerable damage to all enemies within a certain range.
The Space Element currently only had the Instant Movement skill, which was still at the Entry Level. This was partly due to the scarcity of Cultivation resources for the Space Element and partly because he hadn't been able to find a suitable mentor. His teleportation distance was only a few dozen meters.
Overall, the results of his ascetic-like Cultivation over the past half-year were mainly concentrated on the coordination and combination of his various Special Abilities. Although his skill levels hadn't increased much, Shen Han believed that his combat experience and practical abilities were completely incomparable to what they had been six months ago.
In half a year, Shen Han's Cultivation had broken through from the 7th Rank Martial Master to the current 10th Rank Martial Master, just one step away from the Martial Spirit Realm. He would be able to break through in another three or four days. He planned to Awaken a new Special Ability after reaching the Martial Spirit level, then head to the Shadowed Forest for some training.
Three days later, Shen Han successfully reached the Martial Spirit Realm. He asked Principal Wang Siyuan for an Awakening Stone to perform a private Awakening.
Name: Shen Han
Mental Energy: 1001/1400 (1st Rank Martial Spirit)
Special Ability Rank: Chaos Element - SSS-grade, Lightning Element - A-grade, Dark Element - A-grade, Fire Element - S-grade, Space Element - B-grade, Ice Element - E-grade
Skills: Chaos Element - Sniff (Level 3/10), Copy (Level 3/10), Devour (Level 3/10), Replace (Level 3/10)
Lightning Element - Thunder Rending Sky (Major Achievement), Lightning Sky Curtain (Major Achievement), Lightning Teleport (Major Achievement)
Dark Element - Ghost Invisibility (Major Achievement), Netherworld Pierce (Major Achievement), Nightshade Dark Breath (Minor Achievement)
Fire Element - Flame Bomb (Major Achievement), Heavenly Flame Rain (Major Achievement)
Space Element - (Entry Level)
"Oh my god, why is the Ice Element back again?" Shen Han looked at the Ice Element star that had reappeared in his Sea of Consciousness, feeling somewhat speechless.
He didn't care about the Special Ability Ranks at all now. With the Copy and Replace skills, the Rank didn't matter anymore. What he was concerned about was that if the Tang Family noticed the return of the Ice Element, it would be quite troublesome.
He pondered for a moment, his heart growing more determined. "It seems it's time to thoroughly resolve the threat of the Tang Family. This Sword of Damocles hanging over my head has always been a knot in my heart. It must be removed sooner or later; otherwise, it will affect my Dao Heart and Cultivation."
Besides the newly added Ice Element, all the skills of the Chaos Element had moved up a notch. The Sniff skill could now detect a range of 1,000 meters, which was much more practical than before.
The usage frequency of the Copy and Replace skills increased from twice a month to three times, while the Devour skill mainly improved the efficiency of refining resources to boost Mental Energy.
When returning the Awakening Stone, Shen Han showed Principal Wang Siyuan his A-grade Dark Element Special Ability but intentionally hid the newly added E-grade Ice Element. After all, this Ice Element was only "deposited" with him temporarily and would be "gifted" away when a suitable opportunity arose, so it wasn't worth showing. He had also never mentioned his grievances with the Tang Family or the Assassin Hall to others, not wishing to involve them.
"Double A-grade talent! It looks like our Yang City will be able to achieve a good ranking this year," Principal Wang Siyuan also appeared particularly happy.
After packing everything, Shen Han walked toward the Shadowed Forest. As he reached a remote area where there were almost no people, he activated his Sniff skill. He was eager to see exactly what kind of intuitive improvement the Level 3 Sniff skill offered.
Whispers from a kilometer away, the facial expressions of pedestrians, and even the twitching of an ant's antennae on the ground were clearly mapped in his Sea of Consciousness. It was ten times more powerful than the previous 100-meter range.
"Hmm? As expected, there's a little tail following me. It should be someone from the Tang Family." This was well within Shen Han's expectations. It seemed the Tang Family had finally pointed the finger of suspicion at him again.
Soon, the person responsible for tailing him informed Tang Yunfei of Shen Han's whereabouts. Tang Yunfei didn't waste a single moment, bringing along several Tang Family disciples with decent Cultivation to "communicate" with Shen Han in the Shadowed Forest.
After half a year of circling around, the Tang Family finally directed their suspicion toward Shen Han. Although there was no concrete evidence proving he was the connection point to the Ice Element Martial Artist, after eliminating all other options, the Tang Family believed that even if it seemed impossible, Shen Han was the truth they were looking for.
The Tang Family no longer had the patience to search for a chain of evidence, nor did they want to resort to the law. All they wanted was revenge—to personally kill the murderer of Tang Yunxiang. Even if the origin of Shen Han's Ice Element Special Ability was complex, as long as they captured him, all the answers would naturally be within their grasp.
"Everyone, enter the Shadowed Forest in batches. Once inside, start searching for Shen Han. Everyone gets a communicator. Once you find a trace of Shen Han, send a signal first. Do not act rashly. Wait until everyone has arrived before making a move to ensure nothing goes wrong. Do not take this lightly; this person is not that easy to deal with." Tang Yunfei distributed specially made Tang Family communicators to everyone participating in the operation.
At that moment, Shen Han naturally noticed the movements of the Tang Family members. A trace of coldness appeared in his eyes as he silently decided that this time, he must thoroughly eliminate the threat of the Tang Family. He watched the Tang Family members enter the forest in batches, cold light flickering in his eyes, showing no fear.
On the way, Shen Han kept his Sniff skill active and Copied an E-grade Water Element Special Ability and an F-grade Earth Element Special Ability. He was going to prepare a grand gift for the Tang Family.
The Tang Family didn't want anyone to know about this, and Shen Han naturally felt the same way. Thus, both parties headed deeper into the dark, remote parts of the forest. This unknown and gloomy forest would become the ultimate battlefield for their confrontation.