Chapter 13: Another Round of Grinding

As Chen Xin got up for what seemed like the umpteenth time, he groaned at the sight of the cheeky kid who was his new "big brother." After that unforgettable day, his life took an irrevocable turn. Many students wanted to know what was so special about him to be Fa Ma's "little brother." However, no one actually bothered him. Instead, he got beat up by this kid until he passed out. Despite this torturous routine, his strength soared over the last two months to the level of a two-star Battle Master. Fa Ma improved his technique to harness the Sun's energy with his sword and gave him a piece of bloody gold to put in his cyclone. He never knew he had such talent in the blood attribute and for that, he was grateful to the kid.

The planned two-week grind for Fa Ma turned into a two-month ordeal, as Valkara, that devil, actually challenged his alchemy skills. She made him refine 100 different pills, but she was equally generous. She gave him pharmacology books native to the Central, North, and West Continents. In addition, she provided prescriptions for blood-attribute users and even gave him a skill called "Celestial Beast Spirit Art." This technique cultivated three seeds of moonlight, sunlight, and starlight, allowing one to obtain three beast partners by nurturing the seeds with soul power and Battle Qi. While one could simply absorb the three respective energies when they appeared, one could also strengthen the seeds by absorbing objects rich with one of the three Qi's.

However, it relied on an affinity to the stars, moon, and sun. Fa Ma simply ignored this as the "Trisolaris Tri-Seal" required the same thing, but he had already opened an acupoint for each seal.

At the academy, the cooperation with his four subordinates was going well as all four advanced to nine-star Battle Grandmasters. He would fight against the four of them at once. He also jumped to nine-star Battle Grandmaster using the Three Pattern Green Spirit Pill and one Purple Heart Breaking Barrier Pill, a pill that could allow a Battle Grandmaster to jump one star but could only be taken twice.

However, it was time for him to take a mission. The elders at the academy offered him two missions: one to escort a caravan to Demon Flame City, and the other to investigate the disappearance of women in Canaan City.

He immediately took the second one as being a chivalrous hero in the night like Batman was an opportunity that could not be missed. The only clue at the moment was that the women came from the slums which were on the outer part of the city.

After studying the case details, he wondered why there was so little information as the slums were still technically part of Canaan City. When he asked Su Mu, Su Mu simply replied that the people of the Black Horn Region made that part themselves and that it wasn't part of the city. However, he knew that it was simply part of the college's dark side. It was impossible for any force in the Black Horn Region to be completely clean, so Canaan College must have made a compromise with the various forces, leading to the existence of the slums.

His first task was to gather intelligence and understand the local environment better. He visited local markets, interacted with shopkeepers, and observed the general behavior of the people. He learned that the slums were a hotbed of various illegal activities, including human trafficking. This realization only strengthened his resolve to find the missing women.

He soon contacted Valkara as she was the only person he knew who could help him. However, when he contacted her, Valkara simply laughed him off, considering it a waste of their time. After all, human trafficking, especially of girls, was a common practice in all human-inhabited continents.

Left with no other option, he decided to go undercover himself. He used a Disguise Pill that the academy provided and went to work. The report came from an orphanage in the slum that reported two girls missing. As he walked towards the slum, he saw the dark side of humanity once again as drug addicts lay on the side of the road and so-called "guides" tried to grab onto him. He had grabbed a map from the city patrol to lead him to the orphanage. As he got closer to the orphanage, the scene didn't get any better. The orphanage's wooden sign was faintly broken, and he couldn't hear any laughter at all.

He knocked on the door and saw a child his age look at him with soulless eyes. The child simply stared at him and let him in. Inside, children either looked scared or completely unbothered. The director in charge of the orphanage was an old woman who was a Battle Spirit. "Mr. Officer, you have got to help me find those girls," she cried. Fa Ma's heart ached for all the children, but he would be damned if he believed anything out of this woman's mouth. "Tell me where their last location was," he demanded coldly. "They usually hang out at the Thorn Society, which is a few blocks from here. It's next to the brothel," she quickly responded, sensing Fa Ma's cold killing intent. Fa Ma hurriedly left the depressing orphanage, finding it too different from the memories of his previous life. As he trudged on to the Thorn Society, he felt like he was starting a wild goose chase.