Chapter 23: Lie Detection

From that day onwards, Su Chen attended his classes during the day and studied the Origin Talisman Energy Formation with Shi Kaihuang during the night. His days were once again filled with furious studying and experimentation. Thankfully, Su Chen had one less task at hand after he completed the Clear Wind Net, allowing him to deal with the extra workload.

His busy schedule tormented those who wanted to find an opportunity to teach him a lesson.

Su Chen never went anywhere apart from the Institute. Every day, he was either at a lecture hall, the Origin Energy Tower, or his dorm. If he had any free time, he would wander around the library, looking for certain information. His days were simple yet full.

However, to those who wanted to deal with him, the more low-profile Su Chen was, the less opportunities they could find.

Today was no exception. Immediately after class, Su Chen was planning on returning to his dorm.

A student hurriedly ran over. “Su Chen!”

Su Chen recognized the student. His name was Tang Ling and he was a student from the Magnificent Jade Region. They could be considered acquaintances, and he was also a student without a bloodline.

There were not many students in the Institute without a bloodline. They comprised probably only around ten percent of all students, and this only because the Hidden Dragon Institute accepted students by dividing up the regions. This reflected the Hidden Dragon Institute’s reputation for being a school for those from Bloodline Nobility Clans.

Because of this, students without bloodlines usually gravitated towards each other inside the Institute.

An organization known as the Flying Snow Guild had tried to recruit Su Chen not long after he had entered the Hidden Dragon Institute. Those of Flying Snow were all without bloodlines. They were an organization formed by and made up of students within the Hidden Dragon Institute without bloodlines.

As someone who had reached the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam, Su Chen had naturally been valued by the Flying Snow Guild. Tang Ling had been responsible for recruiting him at the time. However, Su Chen’s ambitions laid elsewhere and he had no interest in participating in a highly political organization, so he had turned them down. The Flying Snow Guild had been unwilling to let him go, and so they had tried to recruit him many more times. Thus, he and Tang Ling had become somewhat familiar with each other.

Upon seeing him come, Su Chen laughed, “Brother Tang, why have you come to find me again today? It’s not for guild matters again, is it?”

Tang Ling laughed, “It’s impossible to move you, so I’ve already given up. Don’t worry, I’m not here today to ask you to join our guild. However, I really don’t understand why you are so unwilling to enter the Flying Snow Guild even though it’s so good.”

“Everyone has their own ambitions,” Su Chen faintly replied. “So why are you looking for me?”

“Nothing much. Today is my birthday, and I want to find a few friends that I can talk to and have a get-together with. How does tonight at the Virtue Celebration Tower sound?”

“So that’s why.” Su Chen thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’ve been pretty busy lately. I don’t think I’ll be able to come.”

Tang Ling’s expression changed. “Brother Su, that’s not very friendly, is it? I invited you with good intentions, but you turned me down? What are you trying to say?”

“I’m sorry. I really have no way of making it. Please forgive me, Brother Tang,” Su Chen replied unhurriedly.

“What could you possibly be busy with? Isn’t it just a little bit of cultivation? One less day shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Su Chen corrected him. “One less day is one less day, ten less days is ten less days. If I can make an exception for Brother Tang, I can make an exception tomorrow for Brother Li, Zhang, or Wang. I can have countless friends, but I only have a limited number of days I can spend in the Institute. As someone without a bloodline, I am already behind those from Bloodline Nobility Clans. If I don’t put in the effort, what is the point of attending this Institute? Just so I can have an empty status when I leave and gain some temporary glory? Sorry, that’s not what I’m after.”

Tang Ling was so angry that he laughed. “You, you, you! I asked you to accompany me with kind intentions, but you lectured me instead, as if I came here with harmful intentions. Forget about it. It was my fault that I asked you to come hang out and waste your time when you only have a heart for studying and cultivation. In the future, I won’t inconvenience you anymore.”

As he spoke, he waved his sleeves and then left..

Su Chen shook his head as he watched Tang Ling depart. He waved his hand, soundlessly dispersing an Origin Skill.

Tang Ling didn’t know, but Su Chen had applied an Origin Skill on him while he was speaking.

Lie detection.

The lie detection skill sensed the target’s thoughts and fluctuations from their state of mind to determine whether he or she was speaking the truth. Of course, it was not 100% accurate. Genuinely powerful individuals could control their own mental state and heartbeat, allowing their heart to remain steady no matter what kind of lie they told. However, this kind of artificial control would also leave behind clues that the lie detection skill could somewhat sense, though the user would have to possess a high sensitivity towards Origin Energy.

Because of this, the lie detection skill was only really useful for bullying weaker students. If the user was much more powerful than the target, the success rate was much higher. If the opposite was true, failure was basically guaranteed.

Tang Ling’s strength was an entire level lower than Su Chen’s and he didn’t know that Su Chen possessed a lie detection skill. He was completely defenseless. Thus, Su Chen was easily able to reach a conclusion.

He was lying!

He didn’t interrogate Tang Ling about what his motivation was. Su Chen had already pretty much figured out what it was, so he had directly turned him down.

In fact, even if Tang Ling hadn’t lied, Su Chen would’ve turned him down.

The path of a scholar overlord was lonely in the first place. Being social was not necessary for him.

After Tang Ling left, Su Chen returned to his dorm.

Not long after he disappeared, Tang Ling reappeared.

This time, he was accompanied by two people.

Bai Yihong and a male with sword-like eyebrows.

He was called Bai Ou.

Thunder Spirit Bai Ou.

“Cousin, this brat didn’t fall for our trap. What should we do?” Bai Yihong asked with hatred.

Although Bai Yihong was a member of the Chang Clan from the Divine Wind Mountain Range, his father was a disciple of the Thunder Spirit Bai Clan. For some reason, Bai Yihong had stayed with his mother after being born, resulting in him growing up in the Chang Clan.. He never had much contact with the Bai Clan. It wasn’t until he entered the Institute that he came into contact with Bai Ou.

However, the Divine Wind Mountain Range Chang Clan was much larger than the Bai Clan, and his grandfather had a bellyfull of anger towards the Bai Clan. Bai Yihong had been forbidden from having relationships with the Bai Clan. Because of this, they had never really built up any kind of relationship.

Unexpectedly, the matter involving Su Chen had brought them together.

Bai Yihong had tossed his grandfather’s exhortations aside for the sake of revenge.

Thunder Spirit Bai Ou had also reached the top ten of the Three Mountains Region exam. Although he was only ranked ninth, he had relied on his own strength to achieve that ranking. In terms of genuine strength, he was definitely much more powerful than Su Chen who used all kinds of small tricks.

Thus, Bai Yihong had waited a long time to teach Su Chen a lesson.

But in this period of time, Su Chen had only left the Institute once, the same day that he had been confined. After that, Su Chen had remained inside the Institute and never left.

In the blink of an eye, three more months had gone by. Su Chen had not left the Institute even once, causing those who were waiting for him to do so to grow impatient. They had expended quite a bit of effort to find Tang Ling because they wanted to use him to trick Su Chen into leaving the Institute.

Unexpectedly, Su Chen simply wouldn’t give Tang Ling any face. Although the bait had been set, the fish wouldn’t bite.

Bai Yihong could only grit his teeth.

Bai Ou, on the other hand, was much calmer. “He might not have fallen for our trap because he really is too busy, or he might have seen through Tang Ling’s lie. During the Three Mountains Region exam, this person used all kinds of tactics to defeat his opponents. Even Jin Ling’er was defeated by him. Although his strength is lacking, his intelligence is not to be underestimated. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really did discover some flaw in our plan.”

“Then what should I do? If my guild master finds out, I’m toast,” Tang Ling was shocked.

As a member of the Flying Snow Guild, he had committed a grave sin by helping a Bloodline Nobility Clan harm another student without a bloodline.

He had been blinded by greed. The Bai Clan offered too many benefits, causing him to forget what his principles or bottom lines were.

Upon hearing that he might be exposed, he felt extreme alarm. He finally began to regret teaming up with Bai Ou.

Bai Ou glanced at Tang Ling disdainfully. “So what if he knows? Is the Flying Snow Guild enough to force us to fear Su Chen? The only reason that the Hidden Dragon Institute allows the Flying Snow Guild to exist in the first place is to demonstrate to the outside world the magnanimity of Bloodline Nobility Clans. If they try to overstep their bounds, we can still give them something to think about.”

Tang Ling hurriedly added, “The Flying Snow Guild naturally won’t be able to do anything to Bloodline Nobility Clans, but if they want to punish me, I will still be in quite the pickle.”

“So don’t let them find out then! Think of a way to draw Su Chen out so we can take care of him, and all of your worries will not come to fruition,” Bai Ou said darkly.

“The problem is that he doesn’t want to come out at all. This bastard was able to get contribution points and Origin Stones from who knows where, and he never seems to be anxious about cultivation resources. Even after being in the Institute for half a year, he hasn’t completed a single mission to obtain contribution points even though he seems to live quite comfortably,” Tang Ling said in vexation.

“Because he’s a second-tier seedling, he obtained 100 contribution points and Tier 9 preferential treatment right off the bat. Because he never goes to any places that force him to spend lots of contribution points, he naturally isn’t lacking them,” Bai Yihong said.

“But if he wants to keep his status as a second-tier seedling, he must attend the end-of-year competition. Otherwise, even if he is able to escape this time, he will have trouble advancing in the future because of a lack of contribution points.” Tang Ling’s eyes lit up.

“So you mean that we can only wait until the end of the school year?” Bai Yihong was somewhat unwilling to accept that scenario.

“If he turtles up the entire time and never leaves, that’s probably our only option,” Bai Ou said in a low voice. “That’s also fine. We can focus our energy on dealing with one of them at a time. What about the other kid called Cloud Leopard?”

“He’s the complete opposite. He might as well be a barbarian. I’ve never seen him stay obediently within the Institute. He’s always out hunting Vicious Beasts day and night. Finding him will be difficult.”

“Dammit! A turtle and a barbarian. How come the targets are so damn hard to deal with?” Even Bai Ou was beginning to feel exasperated.