Azurewave First High School, a campus steeped in the aura of martial dao.
Su Yu sat alone in a corner of the classroom, the boisterous chatter of the break period seeming to pass through a thick, invisible wall. His head was bowed, his hands clenched tightly around the worn edges of his Basic Inner Qi Guidance manual. Only one thought consumed him: Endure. If he could just endure until the martial exam, if he could just escape the slums, all this humiliation would vanish like smoke in the wind.
"Your face... what happened?"
A voice as clear and bright as an oriole's song rang in his ears. Su Yu's breath caught in his throat. He didn't need to look up to know who it was.
Xu Lele, the school beauty of First High School. She wore the pale blue school uniform skirt, her high ponytail swaying slightly, radiating an aura of youthful vitality.
"I tripped and fell," Su Yu said, his voice low and deliberately distant.
Xu Lele frowned, her delicate features hardening slightly. "Tripped? Who falls and gets finger marks on their face? Did Wang Tai and his gang corner you again?"
Su Yu didn't answer, turning his back instead.
"That bastard! Does he think he can get away with anything just because his family's connected to the City Defense Army?" Xu Lele's chest heaved with anger. "I'm going to confront him! I refuse to believe this school is above the law!"
"Don't go!" Su Yu jerked his head up, his eyes wide with panic, and grabbed her wrist. "Lele, please don't... He'll get my dad fired. My dad's worked there for twenty years—it's his whole life."
Seeing Su Yu's face, swollen and bruised, with dried blood crusted around the cuts, Xu Lele felt a pang of pain in her chest. She bit her lip, her eyes rimmed with red. "So what if he loses his job? Are you just going to let him keep bullying you? If it comes to that, I'll beg my dad..."
"From now on... stay away from me." Su Yu slowly released her wrist, his voice cold and devoid of warmth. "Someone like me doesn't deserve to stand beside you."
"Su Yu! You stubborn idiot!" Xu Lele stomped her foot in frustration, tears welling in her eyes. She turned and ran back to her seat.
The entire scene was captured by a yellow-haired boy in the front row. He let out a sinister chuckle, his fingers flying across his phone screen as he sent a message: "Brother Tai, Su Yu's hitting on Lele again! They even held hands!"
Before the second theory class had even finished, Su Yu was called out of the classroom.
Martial Arts Hall No. 2 was located in a secluded corner, with only a few blind spots in the surveillance coverage. As Su Yu stepped inside, the heavy alloy door slammed shut behind him.
Five burly students had already surrounded him in a tight circle. In the distance, the supervising teacher sat in a chair, sipping tea. He glanced up, and when he saw Wang Tai leading the group, he expressionlessly put on his headphones and turned away.
"You motherless bastard, you never learn, do you?"
Wang Tai, dressed in a designer martial arts uniform, cracked his knuckles with a series of sharp pops. He had also reached the Great Perfection of the Flesh Refinement Realm, but having been immersed in expensive medicinal elixirs since childhood, his qi and blood were far denser than those of ordinary students.
Slap!
The sound rang out as Wang Tai's hand struck Su Yu's face without warning.
Su Yu's head snapped to the side, his mouth instantly filling with a metallic tang. He clenched his jaw, refusing to move.
"Damn it, that dead-fish stare of yours is infuriating!" Wang Tai snarled, grabbing Su Yu by the hair. "When we get back, I'll have my uncle fire your useless father! I'll even get him branded with 'dereliction of duty' in his official record, so he'll rot in prison for the rest of his life!"
Fired... prison...
The words pierced Su Yu's taut nerves like venomous needles.
That was his father—the man who had humbled himself for twenty years beneath the city walls, all to provide for him!
"Don't... touch my dad," Su Yu growled, a low, guttural snarl escaping his throat.
"What if I do? You're just trash who can't even afford the registration fee. You think you can fight me?" Wang Tai sneered, raising his fist again, aiming straight for Su Yu's face.
In that instant, Su Yu felt an unprecedented surge of violent heat erupt from his once-dormant dantian. The heat surged like a flood that had been building for over a decade, finally breaching its dam!
Boom!
The surrounding air seemed to freeze.
Deep within Su Yu's pupils, a golden glint flashed. His body, previously weakened by malnutrition, now pulsed with surging muscles, and a faint crimson steam rose from his skin.
Clang!
A calloused hand firmly gripped Wang Tai's heavy fist.
"Huh?" Wang Tai froze, realizing his fist was trapped as if embedded in ten-thousand-year-old mystic ice. No matter how hard he strained, he couldn't budge it even an inch.
"Qi and blood?" Wang Tai watched in horror as Su Yu's aura surged with terrifying speed, shattering the barrier of the Flesh Refinement Realm. The oppressive pressure made it hard to breathe.
"Qi Blood Realm?! Impossible!"
"I told you, don't touch my dad."
Su Yu's voice turned raspy, carrying the primal rhythm of an ancient beast. He took half a step forward, his spine arching like a fully drawn bow, his waist and hips aligned. With perfect form, he unleashed the most basic technique of the Wild Bull Fist. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
Roar—
A muffled roar, like the combined bellow of a dragon and an elephant, echoed faintly through the air.
Bang!
Wang Tai flew through the air like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the reinforced wall in the distance. He didn't even have time to scream before his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, his life hanging in the balance.
"Brother Tai!"
"H-how is this possible?"
The remaining lackeys were terrified out of their wits. Seeing the tangible vortex of energy swirling around Su Yu, they lost all courage to fight and scrambled out the door on their hands and knees.
The supervising teacher, watching from afar, dropped his teacup in shock, shattering it into pieces. He frantically tore off his headset, pointed at Su Yu, and shrieked:
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to rebel?! You've injured Young Master Wang—you couldn't pay for that with ten lives!"
Su Yu stood in the center of the martial arts hall, staring blankly at his hands. For a moment, he felt an inexhaustible power surging through his body. But as his rationality returned, a deep sense of dread washed over him.
He had broken through.
But he had crippled the deputy commander's nephew.
"Dad... I've messed up," Su Yu muttered to himself.
Meanwhile, far away in District D, Su Wu's footsteps faltered slightly.
Ding! Detected offspring Su Yu achieving a breakthrough in battle, advancing to the early Qi Blood Realm!
Father-Son Glory System assessment: Offspring's realm advancement grants synchronized advancement to the host!
Current offspring realm: Qi Blood Realm (2nd tier)
Host realm: Early Martial King Realm (6th tier)!
Boom!
The golden qi and blood within Su Wu's body erupted instantly.
Several hairline cracks silently split the concrete ground beneath his feet, extending several meters outward.