"Why does my body hurt so much, where am I, why am I here, " thought Shao lin

"my body feels like it's on fire, I feel tired so tired"

Then she heard a voice "get up you must continue to fight" "but I'm to tired and my body hurts. Damn, who would've thought I'd die like this"

......

There is a city set amongst the mountains it is a hard place to reach. It is easily defended from their enemies and they had a lot of them. this city was once called Quánlì zhī chéng.

Heavenly Cultivation Institute

The Heavenly Cultivation Institute was among the grandest buildings in the whole city. It had a grand Entrance Hall that could contain hundreds of students. the senior classrooms were quite large themselves able to occupy dozens of students. although the younger students had much more compact classrooms they were of decent size to accommodate the need for space amongst the children.

Class 3b Heavenly Cultivation Institute

Shao Lin woke up with a fright. 'was it all just a dream ,'she wonders to herself, 'no it couldn't have possibly been one it must have been the void spiritual demon book it did have some unusual qualities compared to other ancient treasures. well this time around I will stop at nothing to achieve my goals. Wait I'm in class I wonder which year this is, well since this is an Intermediate Cultivation class I must be in my third or fourth year in the Institute. but that also means..., oh no you have got to be kidding me.' At that moment one of the doors to the class room opened and in walked a tall slim beauty. Her name was Ling Xue of the Sacred Seal family. The Sacred Seal family was one of the three most powerful families in the entire city and because of that they tended to churn out quite a few geniuses, Ling Xue being one of them. Having been the second best in her whole class right behind the City Lord's younger brother Chen Li. But in her previous life Ling Xue and the rest of the Sacred Seal family had set hundreds of Demon beasts on a rampage toward the city and the elders.

"alright class settle down" said Ling Xue.

the class slowly settled down and turned towards her.

"alright, now that i have everyone's attention how about we look at your soul waves essays. who would like to go first? how about Ying Nam. did u finish your assignment?"

"n-n-no miss teacher," said Ying Nam, a shy, timid little girl, whom everyone knew couldn't keep up with the class despite coming from the Soul Chain family, the third most powerful of the big three clans. they say that it was from a complication at birth that a demon soul replaced hers. So most tended to try to not get close to her leaving her to her own devices, except for Ling Xue whom loved to embarrass her in front of the whole class. "well i guess thats what i get for asking the class dunce" says Ling Xue,"how about someone who does have there homework done"

they say that the branch of the Soul Chain family that Ying Nam is from is a very close branch to that of the main family. The nickname most know this branch of the family by is the Daemon whisperers because of their uncanny resemblance and immunity to the daemons that had been seen appearing in people's dreams at the coming of age ceremony since the first ceremony.

goooonnngggaaaggoongaa

"alright class you're dismissed. And remember that i expect you to keep in mind that everything we are going over for the next three months will be on the grade test to see what class you will be in next year. so be sure to study because i will be asking you questions at random. class dismissed."

Heavenly Cultivation Institution courtyard

"I wonder what really happened during that battle. I clearly remember dying. hmmm. I'll have to figure this out later because it seems like everything except for my memories were reset. Speaking of which, I wonder where Quin Li and Shin Lao are? Normally they'd come try to scare me." thought Shao Lin.

WAM

"huh? what was that? id better go check it out"

...

"why dont you just give up you little freak. You can't fight us even if you wanted to. Maybe ill give it back if you beg for it." said a tall, muscular looking boy with red hair and sharp blue eyes. This boy was none other than Ling Chen of the Sacred Seal family and also the nephew of Ling Xue.

'It's Ling Chen and his cronies! that dirty bastard what is he up to now?' thought Shao Lin. 'wait a minute, who's that on the ground? Wait! that looks like... Ying Nam? What would she be doing here and why is Ling Chen bullying her? This is too weird. i guess ill just have to deal with those things later first I've got to stop him.'

"Hey! Ling Chen stop that" shouted Shao Lin.

everyone stops and turns around to look at Shao Lin. "Well Well well look who it is. If it isn't Shao Lin of the DECLINING Flaming Seal family." said Ling Chen "Are you here to stick up for this freak? you'd make a perfect match. A freak from the Soul Chain family and a worthless brat from the Flaming Seal family. hehehe"

"Oh shut it Ling Chen. The only reason you can talk like that is because of your little cronies behind you. If it wasn't 3 on 1 I would win in a fight against you easily." said Shao Lin. This made Ling Chen really mad. His skin started to turn deep red.

"you? beat me? ha don't think so highly of yourself! I , Ling Chen, challenge you and this lil freak to a two person duel in the Festival of The Kings!"

"I accept your challenge on behalf of both Ying Nam and I. And " says Shao Lin.

"Fine! I'll beat you no matter what and as my stake when i win you'll be my personal servant for life and stop attempting at cultivation." says Ling Chen with a devious sneer on his face and pride in his voice.

"alright my stake will be the same, well except for you being my servant, of course, i have no need for a useless servant"said Shao Lin.

"why you little..." said Ling Chen as he grabbed her by her shirt.

Suddenly they start to hear whispers. "hey isn't that Ling Chen?" "Why is he flirting with a couple of girls?" "Yeah I heard he was supposed to be competing in the Festival in a few months, shouldn't he be preparing for it?" "Ling Chen! What are you doing?!?!" They all turned to see a mature looking woman with a very regal and imposing aura surrounding her. This woman was none other than the head teacher of the year 4 and 5 alchemy classes, Lady Red. She was once the Head Alchemist of the city and was rumored to have once been proposed to by the City Lord but refused and then saved his life on multiple occasions before she finally retired to to simply teaching alchemy at The Institute, and even though she was just a mere teacher now she still held quite the prestige and power of when she was in her youth.

"Lady Red!" said Ling Chen. "I... I was just... I.." "There will be no need Ling Chen. I've seen and heard more than enough to know what's going on here. So miss Shao Lin you wish to join the Festival along with Ying Nam, did I hear that correctly?"

"Yes ma'am." said Shao Lin.

"And you do know that in order to enter the Festival's fighting matches you must compete in at least two other competitions?"

"Yes ma'am, I do."

"And do you know what other competitions you two will compete in?"

"Yes ma'am, I do. We plan to compete in all of them."

"what's wrong with this kid?" "yeah, she thinks to highly of herself!"

"Quiet! So you wish to participate in every challenge?" said Lady Red.

"Yes ma'am, that is what I said."

"Well Well, at least there are some students here whom are pretty brave. Alright! Tomorrow morning I will have someone come get the two of you and bring you both to my office because there are some... formal tests that you must take to enter some of these competitions, understood?"

"Yes ma'am, understood."

"Alright then I will see the two of you tomorrow. And you Ling Chen, come with me I don't think your aunt will appreciate hearing about this."

"Everyone, back to class or wherever you were going to. Of course if you decide you want to stay I guess there are some bathrooms that need cleaning and The Cooks could use some help." said Lady Red with a smirk.

"Oh shit." "Not the Cooks!" "This isn't worth it. We'd better go!" are just some of the thoughts that went through everyone's minds. Soon everyone was gone except for Shao Lin, Ling Chen, Ying Nam, and Lady Red. Even those who were with Ling Chen had run off. "cowards," mumbles Ling Chen.

"Now Ling Chen, you and I are going to go have a long talk. Come." said Lady Red as she turned around and started to walk away. Ling Chen followed her and turned towards Shao Lin and Ying Nam with a murderous look.

...

"Why did you save me?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" says Shao Lin looking at Ying Nam with confusion.

"I mean why didn't you just mind your own business. Now look at what you have gotten me into. I'm grateful for you saving me but that's as far as it goes. I am too weak to fight against them and you included me in a challenge where I'll just end up getting beat to death in front of the entire school. My family will be ashamed of me even more." says Ying Nam.

"Well I saved you because....," Shao Lin says as she starts to remember her previous life," ...we're friends... and don't worry about the fight I know we can win against them. So don't worry about it. Come on we should go find Quin Li and Shin Lao."

Suddenly they heard the sound of someone running towards them.

"Hey! Shao Lin is that you?" someone shouted as two people came running around the corner. It was Quin Li and Shin Lao.

Although Quin Li and Shin Lao argued quite a lot and were from completely different families that have completely different amounts of influence, they were similar in almost every way. For instance they both were geniuses of the Institute. Although Quin Li tended to slack off more because of this which made him more often than not the target of Shin Lao's examples of idiocy. And they both had the blessings of the gods when it came to looks.

"Shao Lin! Are you ok? What happened? And what are you doing here with Ying Nam?" said Shin Lao.

"Hey Shin Lao. Hey Quin Li. Could you two possibly help us out here?"

Both Shin Lao and Quin Li nodded. "What do you need us to do?" asked Shin Lao.

"I need you, Shin Lao, to help me carry Ying Nam to the alchemy corridor we need to heal her. Class B18 should be empty right about now. And Quin Li could you go back to my room in the Owl House and there should be a book under my bed. It has a simple black covering and on the front should be a simple gold circle with a silver triangle and bronze square inside of each other. Got it?" said Shao Lin. Quin Li nodded and turned and ran to go get the book. "C'mon Shin Lao let's get out of here. And please be careful I think that they might have broke a couple of Ying Nam's ribs."

"Ok. C'mon Ying Nam, up ya go." said Shin Lao as he went to pick up Ying Nam.

...

A few minutes later in the alchemy corridor.

"uugh that hurts." said Ying Nam as she was carried by Shin Lao.