It was around 11 p.m and the weather was a bit cloudy with signs of rain on the horizon.

"Come quick, there might be a way to get you into the academy!"

The corner of Hao Xuan's lips arched up. Xu Qing smiled as well, "Good news?"

"Great news! Hahaha," Hao Xuan bent down and kissed her on the lips before running away swiftly.

Xu Qing was left sitting under the tree with bright red cheeks. She quickly looked left and right to make sure no one was watching and breathed out a sigh of relief when she couldn't find anyone else.

"Dumbo," she murmured while brushing her lips with the back of her hand, still feeling the warmth left behind.

***

Hao Xuan ran straight into his room and called Wu Jin.

Because of the competition, he actually missed the entrance exams that were held for the Academy of Sollertia about 2 months ago. There was no way he could just up and leave in the middle of the competition so he chose not to go at all.

Ever since then he left an order for Wu Jin to find another way to get him into the academy. It wouldn't even have to be for very long since Baracus only needed a little bit of time to access the academy's internal records and download all the data and then access the regional data and plug himself into that as well.

That way Hao Xuan would have his own off-the-grid network that no one would be able to monitor. Not to mention there were still a lot of materials needed for Baracus's personal projects that were put on hold.

So going to the Academy of Sollertia which was one of the top three places in the entire continent would open up a lot of opportunities for him.

It rang for a few seconds before Wu Jin picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey. What's the news? How can you get me inside the academy?" Hao Xuan didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the topic.

Upon hearing the query Wu Jin faltered. His voice sounded a bit hesitant as he answered the question with another question.

"You said you only needed to get inside the academy right? It doesn't matter what position you're in or what you have to do to get in there right?"

Hao Xuan got a bad feeling upon hearing those words.

"Right....why?" he asked suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter then. Just get here within the next few days. I've sent you the portal coordinates and set everything up, you just need to get to it. Message me a few hours before you come and I'll meet you there."

"Wait what the fu-"

*Click*

Wu Jin cut off the call. Hao Xuan redialled his number but it was busy.

"Baracus, call that little sh*t right now. Get him on the line!" he shouted at the watch.

*Beep*

*Beep*

*Beep*

"He has disabled all incoming calls on his Spirit Band. You can only leave a message right now."

Hao Xuan almost puked out blood hearing that. He typed a message with the same question asking for details and all he got in response was "Just get here, you'll see for yourself."

Hao Xuan stared at the screen with furrowed brows.

"Why do I feel like this kid is gonna drag me through the mud...?"

Still, there was nothing he could do from here. Even ordering him using the constitution wouldn't work on him from this far away.

Hao Xuan let out a deep sigh and focused on the matter at hand.

"Alright, what are the coordinates for the portal then?"

*Beep*

"About 230,000 kilometers to the southeast from this exact position."

Hao Xuan's eyes almost popped out of his sockets.

"What?! What the f*ck is way out there?"

He quickly opened the local map and traced the location. The coordinates were in the middle of nowhere. The area was surrounded by rocky mountains and there was only one way in. It would take him several days to make the journey and it would not be easy.

"Baracus, do you have any idea why the portal is out there? There aren't even any cities nearby," Hao Xuan asked him since he couldn't understand it himself.

"The portal he is talking about is a one-way entrance. It's not like the massive teleportation formations you would see in most Kingdoms. There are two main differences between them. One, the formations are permanent and can be used without limit as long as they are properly maintained and have an appropriate source of energy."

"And two, teleportation formations cannot be moved. When they are created, their coordinates are locked in. If they are moved in the slightest, it could send the person going through to almost anywhere, and most probably not somewhere they can come back from."

"The portals are the exact opposite. They are not very precise and depend on the density of the spiritual energies and strength of the surrounding space. Space, as you might know, is not straight. It's like a thin sheet that turns and twists randomly..."

Baracus started explaining and went into so much detail that Hao Xuan felt too embarrassed to stop him. He silently listened and nodded along. Most of it was going above his head.

"Anyways, the point is that Wu Jin probably hired a cultivator that is experienced with Space energy. He opened a portal with the coordinates of Fortuna city in mind but the portal actually opened hundreds of thousands of miles away. That's how space works. It's cheap, relatively safe but very imprecise."

*Sigh*

"I shouldn't have asked," Hao Xuan shook his head.

"You need to know these things. They could come in handy in the future. And I won't always be there to explain everything like this," Baracus replied, silencing Hao Xuan.

"...you're right. I'm sorry."

Hao Xuan then went out and talked to Xu Qing. He told her he had to leave for a while and that he had no idea when he would be coming back.

The gentle smile that was always on her face faltered for just an instant. He could see she was trying her best to keep smiling but her shattered eyes gave it all away.

He leaned in and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sorry. I know its not fair, but I'll try to come back as soon as possible."

"Mhm," she lowered her head and hid her face in his chest. It would probably be a while since she could feel his warmth again so she stayed like that for a little while.

Hao Xuan then gathered all his severs including Fortis and the others that he usually left behind. Only Green and Red were left behind to guard Xu Qing while everyone else was going with. He even asked Jin Wang to go with him who was more than happy to oblige.

The next morning he bought out two 'walking lizards' from the Beast Hall and left with Jin Wang without making a commotion.

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