Chapter 4: The Black Wood Token

The silence in the Academy plaza was thick enough to choke on. The "Prince" of the school, Lu Han, was still on his knees, surrounded by the shredded remains of his marriage contract. Sofia Lin looked like a ghost, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she stared at the "ugly" sister she thought she had murdered.

Mo Jue’s boots crunched on the gravel as he approached the bench. The crowd of students parted like the Red Sea, their eyes darting between the "Cursed God of War" and the girl casually chewing on spicy squid.

"You're making a mess, Ancestor," Mo Jue said, his voice low and vibrating with a strange mix of amusement and reverence.

Lin Ran didn't look up. She tossed a piece of squid into the air and caught it in her mouth. "The world is a mess, Junior. I’m just rearranging the trash."

"Lin Ran!" Sofia finally found her voice, though it was high and hysterical. "You... you cheated! You used some kind of dark magic to trip Lu Han! And how did you even get into this Academy? You have no aura, no status, and the Lin family didn't pay your tuition!"

Lin Ran slowly turned her head. The black veins on her face seemed to pulse with a dark light under the afternoon sun.

"How did I get in?" Lin Ran repeated. She stood up, dusting the crumbs off her baggy hoodie. "I walked through the front door. It’s a habit of mine."

The Flashback: Three Hours Earlier

Before the confrontation in the plaza, Lin Ran had stood at the Academy's main gate. She wasn't carrying a suitcase or a designer handbag like the other students. In her pocket was a heavy, blackened piece of wood she had pulled from the rotting floorboards of her countryside attic.

To the original Lin Ran, it was a "curse" left by her mother. To the Ancestor, it was a Spirit-Bone Plate—a fragment of her own power.

She had walked into the Admissions Office, where a woman with a sharp bun and a sharper attitude was ignoring a long line of hopeful applicants.

"Name?" the woman had snapped when Lin Ran reached the desk.

"Lin Ran."

The woman paused, her eyes raking over Lin Ran’s "ugly" face and cheap flip-flops. "The Lin family's disaster. Sofia Lin called ahead. She said if you showed up, we were to inform you that the 'Trash Entrance' is around the back, near the incinerator."

"Is that so?" Lin Ran reached into her pocket. "And does the incinerator also take Ancestral Tokens?"

She slammed the black wood plate onto the desk.

The moment it touched the wood, the air in the office vanished. The high-tech spirit-meters on the walls didn't just beep—they screamed. The glass partitions shattered into fine dust. The woman behind the desk fell out of her chair, her lungs refusing to take in air as the "trash" girl leaned over the counter.

"This Academy was built on the ruins of the 'Netherworld Pavilion,'" Lin Ran whispered, her golden eyes flashing behind her tattered bangs. "This token says I own the air you're breathing. Now, am I a student, or do I need to remind this school who laid the first stone?"

The Dean, sensing a tectonic shift in the school’s energy, had sprinted into the room. One look at the blackened wood had made him drop to his knees. He didn't know who she was, but he knew the legend: The one who carries the Black Bone is the Master of the Gate.

"Class F!" the Dean had stuttered, his forehead touching the floor. "She will be in Class F! It’s the... uh... the most 'exclusive' class!"

Lin Ran had tucked the token back into her pocket, a cold smirk on her lips. "Class F. 'F' for Failure. I like it. It matches the scenery."

Back to the Present

Lin Ran looked at Sofia, who was still waiting for an answer.

"I entered because this school is built on my 'bedroom,'" Lin Ran said, her voice carrying a chilling edge. "And I came here because I’m looking for something. Something your family stole from my tomb 9,000 years ago."

Lu Han, finally standing up and trembling with rage, shouted, "You're delusional! This Academy is the pinnacle of modern aura science! You're just a country brat with a fake ID!"

"Modern science?" Lin Ran laughed. It was a dry, hollow sound. "Junior, you're using a 'Spirit Gathering Array' in the gym that is upside down. No wonder your fire talent smells like burnt hair."

She turned to Mo Jue. "Since you're here, Junior, do me a favor. I need to know where the 'Restricted Archives' are. The ones underground. The ones that smell like old bones and secrets."

Mo Jue’s eyes narrowed. "Those are forbidden even for the faculty. Why do you want to go there?"

Lin Ran leaned in, her voice a ghost of a whisper. "Because I left a pair of slippers there a few millenniums ago. And I hate walking on this modern concrete. It’s too hard on the soul."

She didn't wait for his answer. She turned and began walking toward the Class F building, her flip-flops slapping rhythmically against the stone.

"Oh, and Sofia?" Lin Ran called out without looking back. "Don't bother going home today. The locks have been changed. And your room? I decided it was too pink. I turned it into a storage closet for my cleaning supplies."

Sofia let out a strangled cry and fainted into the arms of her followers.

Lin Ran didn't stop. She had a "Trash Class" to meet, a school to sweep, and a 9,000-year-old mystery to solve. As she disappeared around the corner, Mo Jue looked down at the ground. Where she had been standing, the stone was slightly scorched, forming the shape of a lotus flower.

"Class F..." Mo Jue murmured, a dark smile playing on his lips. "This year is going to be very loud."

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