Chapter 286: Chapter 250: The Death of Zhao Yuanyi

The final exams would last for a whole week, which was pure torture for Su Ze.

Fortunately, Mrs. Yun returned on the second day of finals, bringing with her the fourth-rank S-class extraction he had been eagerly awaiting.

Mrs. Yun had been so busy she barely had time to breathe, frequently attending various events and making public appearances. This was to let the people of Dongli know that Dongli had a new Guardian God, giving them a greater sense of security.

After her events, Li Fayi and Zhou Wenshan had invited her to hunt a fourth-rank S-class beast for Su Ze.

With the three of them, all Saint-level powerhouses, teaming up, hunting a fourth-rank S-class beast wasn’t difficult. The real challenge was finding one, as they were extremely rare.

Mrs. Yun felt a little defeated. She had promised to help Su Ze hunt for extractions once she reached the Saint level, but now she realized she wasn’t strong enough to hunt what he needed on her own.

And once Su Ze reached the Saint level himself, she’d be even less able to help him.

"This is from a fourth-rank S-class beast, a Firemane Lion, which specializes in long-range fire attacks. None of its skills are a great match for you," Mrs. Yun said.

"It doesn’t matter. I was planning to take this extraction with a Skill Suppression Potion anyway."

Without wasting any time, Su Ze took out a Skill Suppression Potion, drank it, and then downed the Firemane Lion extraction in one go.

The Skill Suppression Potion was fine aside from a slightly bitter taste. The Firemane Lion extraction, on the other hand... It was tasteless, like water, but it was hot!

Incredibly hot. It felt like he had swallowed lava, as if it would burn right through his body.

Su Ze could only endure it. He didn’t dare shift into his liquid form, afraid it would interfere with the absorption of the extraction.

With his current physique, successfully absorbing a fourth-rank S-class extraction was a sure thing. There was no chance of failure.

After about ten minutes, the searing heat gradually subsided.

Another ten-plus minutes passed, and the Firemane Lion extraction was fully absorbed. Su Ze never entered the skill selection phase, which meant the Skill Suppression Potion had worked!

He had successfully absorbed his third extraction for the Butterfly Stage and had freed up a skill slot.

Mrs. Yun had been standing guard for Su Ze the whole time. Seeing his successful absorption, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"By the way, Mrs. Yun, I have a glorious and arduous task for you," Su Ze said with a cough.

"What is it?" Mrs. Yun asked, a little puzzled.

"To popularize the Swan Dance!"

...

After absorbing the Firemane Lion extraction, Su Ze immediately raced against time, taking medicine and dancing to digest it.

Considering the fifth-rank River Fish Monster extraction he’d be absorbing next would be even harder to digest, Su Ze prioritized using the Acceleration Fruit to aid his digestion, saving more effective medicines like the "Ten Thousand Miles Ginseng" and "Yellow Millet Fragrance" for later.

And so, aside from leaving the house for his exams each day, Su Ze spent all his other time digesting the extraction.

Mr. Ya came over every day to dance with him, but unfortunately, the Swan Dance squad was missing Mrs. Yun.

Mrs. Yun suspected Su Ze still had a backup of the video of her dancing, so she spared no effort in promoting the Swan Dance.

After Liou Wenxin submitted the Swan Dance training method to the Li Min Association, Mrs. Yun immediately began promoting it across all of Dongli’s departments, making everyone who previously practiced the "Dragon-Slaying Posture" switch to the "Swan Dance."

Most of the younger female evolvers readily accepted this new training method, but the male evolvers and some of the older female evolvers, like Mrs. Yun, were extremely resistant.

To that end, Mrs. Yun went so far as to demand that all departments conduct a Swan Dance assessment. Anyone who hadn’t mastered the Swan Dance within a week would have their bonuses docked!

Now, all of Dongli’s public officials had no choice but to practice the Swan Dance. And after practicing it a few times, they couldn’t help but notice the difference between it and the Dragon-Slaying Posture.

This was especially true for the many Dongli evolvers who had just absorbed extractions using the Skill Suppression Potion and were in desperate need of a way to digest them. So after getting the hang of the Swan Dance, they discovered...

It was amazing!

Just like that, the Swan Dance became a massive hit among Dongli’s official evolvers.

The Dragon-Slaying Posture was completely phased out!

Everyone from Dongli’s famous Butterfly Stage experts, like Zhang Tai, down to the genius students of Dongli University, like Li Yongguan and Zhang Kun, began practicing the Swan Dance.

Mrs. Yun, Su Ze, and Mr. Ya no longer had to worry about being social outcasts.

While Su Ze was taking his finals, Mr. Ya was also taking his graduation exams.

As a student in the combat department, Mr. Ya’s graduation exams had fewer written tests and focused mainly on a practical combat assessment.

With his current strength, passing the combat assessment was a breeze. Mr. Ya got his wish and finally received his diploma from a higher education institution. Although it wasn’t of much use to him now, it fulfilled a long-held dream.

In the blink of an eye, the exams were over, and the results were out.

Su Ze knew his own situation best; there was no way he hadn’t failed his classes.

So, he didn’t have high hopes when he went to check his grades. But to his surprise, after he entered his information on the university’s official website and clicked "search," his results came up blank.

’What’s going on?’

A moment later, Su Ze suddenly received a call from his advisor, Jiang Hong.

"Um... Student Su Ze, due to your outstanding performance this semester and your considerable contributions to the field of evolutionary research, the university has decided to exempt you from final exams. Therefore, your final exam scores have been nullified, and you will pass all subjects with a grade of ’Excellent.’"

Su Ze understood what was really going on. He had done terribly on his exams, and now that he was the face of Dongli University, if his grades were awful and he failed every class, it wouldn’t just be his own reputation on the line—it would make the university look bad too.

So they simply gave him an "Excellent" in every subject.

Of course, this was only possible because he had recently piggybacked on the research accomplishments of his senior, Ye Jin, and Liou Wenxin. Otherwise, the university would have had a hard time finding an excuse for him.

"By the way, Student Su Ze, you don’t need to take the final exams for the next few semesters either," Jiang Hong added.

’Who are they looking down on!’

’Do they think I’m going to fail for the next few years too?’

’They’re spot on!’

"Okay, Mr. Jiang. Please thank the university leaders for me," Su Ze agreed on the spot, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Meanwhile, at Dongli University, a certain student who had sat in front of Su Ze during the finals stared at her screen full of failing grades and started to doubt her eyes.

’Isn’t Su Ze supposed to be a top student?’

’How could this be?’

And two days later, when she didn’t see Su Ze’s name on the list for makeup exams, she began to question her life.

...

After the final exams ended, Dongli University was out for summer vacation.

The entire campus quieted down significantly.

Su Ze fell into a peaceful and regular routine, spending his days dancing with Mr. Ya to digest the extraction.

Liou Wenxin temporarily set aside her other projects and began researching an "enhanced version of the Swan Dance."

The Swan Dance had now become widely popular among the upper echelons of the Dongli Kingdom. Its remarkable effects led Dongli’s leadership to place great importance on it and promote it vigorously.

With the Skill Suppression Potion and the Swan Dance, Dongli’s overall strength was set to rise by a huge margin within a year!

Now, Dongli’s comprehensive strength was definitely no longer the weakest of the six nations!

Liou Wenxin had originally developed the Swan Dance for her own training back when she was in the Ancient An Country. She had improved and progressed significantly since then, and in her words, the Swan Dance still had a lot of untapped potential. The training method could be even stronger! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Su Ze was also looking forward to this. If there was an enhanced version of the Swan Dance, perhaps he could reach the Saint level even faster.

Fueled by a variety of expensive medicines, Su Ze’s progress in digesting the extraction was fast and steady.

But amidst this peaceful life, in early July, Su Ze suddenly received a phone call.

It was from an unknown number from the Mu Country.

When Su Ze answered, a tense and terrified voice came from the other end: "Young Master, the Minister... he’s dead!"

Su Ze recognized the voice of Mr. Wang, Zhao Yuanyi’s secretary. He froze. ’Zhao Yuanyi is dead?’

The last time Zhao Yuanyi had contacted Su Ze was a few months ago. At the time, he had wanted to give Su Ze a sum of money to resolve the conflict between them, and even wanted to acknowledge Su Ze as his son, but Su Ze had refused.

After that, there had been no word from Zhao Yuanyi, as if he had given up on the matter.

In truth, with Su Ze’s current strength and status, he no longer looked upon the Zhao Family as he once did.

No matter how strong the Zhao Family was, it was just one big family in the Mu Country. Their combat power ceiling was the Butterfly Stage, which couldn’t compare to the great clans of the Lin Hua Country that had legacies spanning hundreds of years.

The Zhao Family’s greatest backing was the Mu Country’s powerhouse, Qu Jianbai, who supported Zhao Yuanyi.

This Grand Adjudicator of the Mu Country was quite powerful and highly prestigious. He was also the only person in the Mu Country who could contend with the Mu King.

Now, hearing the sudden news of Zhao Yuanyi’s death, Su Ze was a little surprised. "What happened?" he asked.

He didn’t care whether the Zhao Family or Zhao Yuanyi lived or died, but there weren’t many people in the Mu Country who could touch Zhao Yuanyi. It was highly likely related to the Mu King.

"The Minister... he was killed by the Mu King!" Mr. Wang’s voice was hoarse and strained. "No one saw it, but it must have been the Mu King’s doing!"

"Calm down and tell me slowly," Su Ze said in a low voice. "Why would the Mu King kill Zhao Yuanyi? And why are you so sure he’s the one who did it?"

Heavy, ragged breaths came from the other end of the line. Mr. Wang’s panting gradually slowed, and his tone became much calmer as he said:

"The Minister seemed to have uncovered something recently. He didn’t tell me the specifics, but it was definitely related to the Mu King!

"A while ago, the Minister contacted Professor Feng Boyi. After that, I saw him looking preoccupied for several days in a row. He was running around all day, meeting with many people.

"I heard from the butler that he came home very late last night, only to be found dead in his bed today! The people from the public security bureau came, found no external injuries on the Minister, and hastily closed the case, saying he died of a sudden illness."

"What about Qu Jianbai? What’s his stance on this?" Su Ze asked.

"I haven’t been able to get through to Adjudicator Qu’s line. I went to see him but was stopped. But he definitely knows the inside story—at least more than I do!"

"Why are you calling me? What do you want me to do?"

Mr. Wang was silent for a moment before replying, "Because a few days ago, the Minister instructed me that if he were to die one day, I was to call and tell you that he was killed by the Mu King. He also told me to warn you: do not set foot in the Mu Country easily!"