Writer's Note: Third chapter is out and now the weekend release is over. Thanks for reading and please enjoy future chapters. I read all comments so feel free to make any suggestions you would like to see happen. It just might happen.

Chapter 3: First Day at School

For a week, Guo Yang and his siblings were confined to their rooms to allow their body to adjust to the changes. They all received inter-spacial rings, binding them by blood. However, the weapons they were given were fake magical weapons as they were too young to receive weapon on the same tier and power as the one's used by Tang City's guards. The celebration of the triplet's survival and affinities had made the new year celebration even greater than it was before.

Guo Mei and Guo Lin immediately tried integrating spiritual energy into their martial arts, many clan members looking upon them with satisfaction. However, Guo Yang seemed uninterested and always tended the poisonous herbs for more magical beast meat and milk. If he couldn't finish, he stored them in containers and placed them in his new ring. How could they know that he improved differently than they did?

By interacting with different kinds of herbs, he learned new ways to apply his poison. Since birth, he hid the fact that he could also use poison through his spiritual energy. Being hit by his fist covered with spirit energy actually poisoned you! Such a discovery would shock and terrify many people. Normal humans only replenished and slightly absorbed spiritual energy from magical meat and milk, but his neidan absorbed it all.

Due to habit, he would sometimes bring his brazier or wear heavy clothes. He was unused to the new element attribute that finally awakened and revealed itself. Practitioners with element attributes could turn their own spiritual energy into the elements they had. Guo Yang would stare as his two elder siblings enjoyed their new spiritual powers. Guo Yang was more terrifying, despite his elder siblings. Only the members of the main branch knew that Guo Yang was the second richest member of the Guo Clan due to his contributions in harvesting poisonous herbs for the Alchemist Association, a piece of his profits going to the Guo Clan.

"Hey, youngest brother," Guo Mei said as she saw Guo Yang one day. "You should be training for when we go to school tomorrow. Others might bully us due to their jealousy."

"Then I'll kill them," Guo Yang said, shocking many members of the sub branch clans as they stared at him in shock. A twelve year old speaking such cold words without hesitation was not normal.

"You can't kill. Killing is bad," Guo Mei said.

"We kill bugs, pests, demons, and magical beasts. We even kill humans from other nations and continents. What makes a bully any different from what we kill in the house, besides being human?" Guo Yang replied.

"Because humans are more terrifying than they are," Guo Feng said, his first son beside him. "They seek retribution and kill if the justice does not satisfy them. Yang'er, you must not be prone to violence. Also, you must control yourself if you see avian magical beasts at the school."

"You people complicate things," Guo Yang muttered as he carried small, sealed containers with poisonous herbs inside. Soon, he would have more milk, meat, and demon spirit coins. Demon spirit coins were made using the fossilized bones of demonic magical beasts excavated from beneath the surface.

When Guo Yang learned to read, he discovered how humans learned of the history of the world. The world used to have four races: humans, demons, magical beasts, and demonic magical beasts. Demonic magical beasts were the ancestors of magical beasts and demons, the latter two races created through mutations of the species. Demonic magical beasts used to be the rulers of the world, but were nearly annihilated to extinction. The other three races were jealous of their might and cultivation and ultimately betrayed them.

The bones of demonic magical beasts could be broken and shaped, but never destroyed. One could only imagine how powerful they were. Thus, their bones were used as currency in honor of their tyrannical might. In his past life, Guo Yang had survived all odds and reached the crossroads to ascension because of one thing: hereditary memories of his demonic magical beast ancestors. It was evident by the existence of a neidan, something only those with demonic magical beast lineage of high purity possessed.

Even his incalculably many millennia old ancestor was a snake demonic magical beast. Demonic magical beasts were existences that had all seven element attributes and innate abilities no other race had. Guo Yang was proud to say he had poison no one else did. Using his hereditary memories, he had practitioner techniques beyond anyone else and survived to the crossroads to ascension. He had reached a cultivation stage no snake magical beast lived to reach. It was because of those memories that Guo Yang didn't care about training in front of others.

"Oh, another batch. Excellent. Good work, my grandson," Guo Jing beamed as he saw Guo Yang appear. Beside him was an old man with long black robes with gold collars. On the back of his robe was a jade image of a stone lion turtle. This was the robe worn by those of the Alchemist Association.

"I really wonder how he harvests those herbs without being poisoned. I must say that, while not the strongest or fastest of your grandchildren; he is certainly the most dangerous," the man laughed as he received the containers.

"If only you knew," Guo Yang thought as he received his wages.

"I suspect he will be going to school tomorrow?" the man asked.

"Yes. All three of them will be," Guo Jing nodded.

"I see. I wish you luck, young master, in walking the path of cultivation," the man bowed as he placed the containers in his ring and left.

"Now, I know you don't like being near other humans but you must go to school. Learning basic spirit practitioner arts will prepare you for element attribute arts. As for attribute-less practitioner arts, you should learn those first. You are at the age where your body can withstand learning how to use spiritual energy. You must prepare well. After all, you are the only one who has yet to display any combat prowess," the patriarch warned.

"How am I supposed to progress my cultivation in that peaceful environment?" Guo Yang asked.

"It is not as peaceful as you make it to be. You have three element attributes, the envy of most practitioners. No doubt, you will make many friends and enemies. Some will attempt to be closer to you to rely on you. Others will seek to eliminate you to prevent our clan from growing stronger. Most children of the more powerful clans are haughty and will seek to challenge you to humiliate you. School is considered a den of vipers," Guo Jing answered. "Not vipers of the body, but the mind. I already know you are a cunning child. You will not be disappointed there."

"Can I choose my classes?" he asked.

"All classes are taught by a single teacher. You will only have the same class as your sister. Your group is the most talented of the three different school grades: freshman, junior, and senior year classes. Not all the students took the awakening ritual in the same area you did. They were all spread out, but the children with the most powerful influences and connections were in your group of fifty something children. There are five classes per year. You are randomly assigned a classroom, but try to look out for your sister. You are in Class 1-E with the other students who survived what happened after the ritual," Guo Jing said.

"What? I thought there were more. Could they have been killed off?" Guo Yang asked, his grandfather nodding soon after.

"They may have awakened the spiritual energy, but it does not guarantee your body can handle it. You were confined to your room for a week to survive that dangerous period," the patriarch answered. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow, you go to your first day at Tang Arts School for Practitioners."

"Yes, grandpa," he bowed and left. He sat on his bed and went over his memories. All his hereditary memories had practitioner arts used by snakes. He had to imagine himself using them with his human body. As a snake, he learned how vital movement techniques were. It was how he escaped, and later chased, other magical beasts and humans. He never did encounter a demon, but was confident he could have killed them before.

For combat practitioner arts, his current cultivation allowed him to use only one technique of his earth and water attributes. It was called the Stone Breaker Art. Instead of his tail being covered with rocks, his fist or spear would be, the small rocks combining into a small boulder that explodes when expelled from the body. For water, he had his Moon Slicer Art. It was a technique that required a flickering movement to send a wave of water that slices in the shape of the moon. That would require a flicking motion of his wrist or spear.

So long as he thought of his limbs like his snake body, he had an easier time interpreting his hereditary memories into human practitioner arts. Silently practicing in forming them in his room, he smiled with delight as he discovered he could manipulate his spiritual energy as he wished. He knew he could pull off the practitioner arts and fell asleep, satisfied. He never used light attribute arts and would take his time learning those. The next day, his sister rushed her two brothers to their first day at school.

"Yay! We're finally at school. You guys better not do anything embarrassing. I'm talking about you, Guo Yang," Guo Mei said as the three siblings arrived in front of a white wall with a gold gate before them.

Guo Lin sighed as he followed his enthusiastic sister inside. Guo Yang and his siblings wore black pants with white jackets that had an emblem of a gold lotus on both shoulders and back. A crest was on where the heart would be, when the jacket was worn and zipped, with his classroom number and a bronze dragon underneath. Only students with element attributes had dragons beneath their class number.

Freshmen had bronze dragon emblems, juniors had silver, and seniors had gold. As he had three element attributes, his bronze dragon crest had three heads. This was a way to differentiate students from one another and inspire friendly rivalries with other students. Some let it get to their heads and those students always became failures before they graduated. Why? It was because they didn't train as hard as others and were ultimately left behind. Guo Lin waved goodbye to his siblings as he headed to Classroom 1-C.

"Hi," Guo Mei greeted as she walked into her classroom, some students staring at her crest before staring at her. Since she had a dragon, she had element attributes and it even had two heads. They were also shocked to see a boy behind her, with black hair and sand colored eyes, with a three-headed bronze dragon crest.

"Two of the Guo Clan's triplets are here," a boy whispered while another nodded in agreement.

"Now, now. Settle down," a woman said as she entered the room, the children sitting on empty seats. "My name is Lei Xuan and I will be your teacher this year. It seems that six of our twenty students have element attributes. Quite the number of talented students, but that is just it. Talent. Without hard work, that talent gifted by the Heavens would be wasted. Those who don't better work hard or you will be left behind. My job is to teach you basic practitioner arts. Those require a strong mind to cultivate spiritual energy and a strong body to harness its power."

"Thus, you will all be forced to spar with my magical beast everyday during school hours. You will learn how to fight, how to improve your techniques, how vital body refining is, and how difficult it is to be a practitioner. I do not believe in sitting on desks and lecturing all day. We train for seven hours a day with a one hour break during noon time. That is your lunch time and only rest period. Are we clear?" she asked.

"Yes, Ms. Lei," the students said while Guo Yang rolled his eyes and stared at the clouds above.

"Good. Until noon, you will familiarize yourselves with your classmates. Also, decide who you want to represent Class 1-E as class president. After an hour past noon, report to the combat grounds and prepare for your training," the teacher said and left the classroom after noting the six students who had bronze dragon crests.

"Alright. We should decide who is class president. Naturally, it should be me," a girl said, flashing her three headed bronze dragon crest.

"That doesn't mean anything if you don't know any element arts," Guo Mei said as she stood up. "No one likes a bully. A president is someone who is supposed to be a role model, not necessarily a noble."

"Do you know who I am?" the girl asked, two others with single-headed bronze dragon crests rising to stand behind her.

"No, but I know one thing: I'm stronger than you," Guo Mei said as lightning crackled around her fists as she took out her sword.

"You know fighting is not allowed in the classroom," the girl said as she and her two friends took out their own swords.

"Please don't fight. I don't want to be punished because of you," a boy with glasses said as he was the last of the talented students, besides Guo Yang. He also had a single-headed bronze dragon crest below his class number.

"What about you?" the girl asked as she stared at Guo Yang. "Who do you support as class president?"

"No one. I don't deal with weaklings," Guo Yang said and suddenly turned his head upwards and walked to the window.

"Hmph. You have more element attributes than me and you're walking away," one of the boys behind the girl smirked, everyone rolling their eyes as Guo Yang was walking away from the girl and not him.

"I just don't want to get involved," Guo Yang said as he pointed up. "It seems the third year students have already started all the fun."

"Involved with--" the boy began but cried out as a student came crashing from above, slamming the boy into the ground. Guo Mei and the others looked up and saw a hole reaching all the way to the third floor's ceiling.

"Now I am class president of Classroom 3-E," a voice boomed as they all saw an older boy sprawled out on top of the other boy. Even the desk and chair Guo Yang had was destroyed.

"Like I said, I didn't want to get involved," Guo Yang sighed as he checked for their pulses, no one hearing him as they tried to see who spoke while he grabbed their hands and put his hand over their noses. "They're alive, but their bones are broken, fractured if they're lucky."

"Someone get the nurse," Guo Mei cried, bring their attention back on the ground as she stared at the other girl. "You can be class president. I actually want friends. No one likes to follow someone who hasn't proved herself."

"You!" the girl started but the other boy held her back as he and another student helped carry the two boys after a nurse appeared.

None of them had noticed, but Guo Yang had released a small mist into the nostril of the boy who had yelled ad him while checking the boy's pulse. The mist came from a vial of poisonous herbs he had in his inter-spacial ring. Vials were small and easy to hide in one's hand. Everyone was busy gazing at the hole in the ceiling when he had done the deed. The boy would not die, but we would be in a short coma for a few days.

"Grandpa was right. School isn't so bad," Guo Yang muttered and left to the cafeteria as he ignored the other students who made introductions. He only cared about two things: cultivation and his way of life. He only respected the strong, when he was not at the peak of mortal cultivation. None of his classmates were strong enough for him to recognize as a friend or ally. He played with two inter-spacial rings between his fingers, the two belonging to both boys.

After emptying them into his own ring, he crushed them with his spiritual energy to leave no trace behind. As a magical beast with hereditary memories, tampering with inter-spacial rings was easy as demonic magical beasts were the ones who taught the other three races how to make them, the art long lost after they all died.

Cunning, not brute strength, was the way survival for a snake. Even if he was human, he didn't like to reveal his true strength and preferred subtlety to take out his enemies. He put one boy in bed for a few weeks while stealing both boys' possessions and none would be the wiser. The two boys can only blame themselves for disrupting his cloud watching after the teacher's little speech was over.