33: Chapter 33 Wearing the skin of a prodigy, doing things like cheating.

Jiangcheng No. 1 Martial Arts High School, back alley.

They had avoided the frenzied media and the recruitment representatives from various martial arts halls outside the main gate.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two.

Lin Xiaoxiao stopped in her tracks.

She turned around, her pure and beautiful eyes staring intently at Su Yu.

It was as if she were looking at a complete monster she didn't recognize.

She sized him up carefully from head to toe several times.

"You brat..."

Lin Xiaoxiao swallowed hard, a trace of lingering tremor still in her voice.

"Just when exactly did you break through to Martial Master?!"

Su Yu had his hands in his pockets.

His expression was calm.

"Just three days ago."

"Three days ago?!"

Lin Xiaoxiao's voice instantly jumped an octave.

Her voice nearly cracked.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old?!"

"Three days ago, your Blood Qi value was only 0.8!"

"In three days, it soared from 0.8 to a thousand points?"

"Even if you ate the Inner Cores of high-level exotic beasts like regular meals, your meridians would have burst long ago!"

Su Yu looked at the huffing girl before him.

His gaze was deep.

Of course, he couldn't mention the Pay-to-win System.

This was his greatest trump card and the foundation of his existence.

He couldn't reveal it to anyone.

"Epiphany."

Su Yu uttered the word extremely naturally.

He didn't even blink.

"Epiphany?"

Lin Xiaoxiao was stunned.

"Yeah."

Su Yu nodded solemnly.

"When I went home that night and looked at the crack in the wall, I suddenly felt a flash of light in my mind."

"Then, my Blood Qi somehow cleared up."

"I broke through all the way and reached Martial Master."

Silence.

A deathly silence fell over the alley.

A full half-minute passed.

"Who are you trying to fool!!!"

Lin Xiaoxiao stomped her foot on the ground in anger.

She left a shallow crater in the alloy pavement.

"An Epiphany can increase Blood Qi? Do you think this is some power-fantasy novel?!"

"If you don't want to say it, then forget it! This lady doesn't care to hear it anyway!"

Lin Xiaoxiao turned her head away petulantly.

She gave a cold snort.

But she didn't press him further.

In this world, every martial artist had their own secrets and opportunities.

Since Su Yu was unwilling to speak, she knew when to stop.

As long as he was fine.

As long as he won.

That was enough.

"Hey."

Lin Xiaoxiao kicked a pebble at her feet.

Her gaze was a bit evasive.

A barely perceptible blush rose on her fair cheeks.

"Tomorrow... heading to Kyoto together?"

She tried hard to make her tone sound as casual as if she were discussing today's weather.

She tightly hid that little crush a young girl keeps secret.

"Anyway, we both got special recruitment slots."

"Going together means we can look out for each other on the way."

"Lest a country bumpkin like you gets to Kyoto and can't even tell north from south."

Su Yu looked at her feigned composure.

He nodded.

"Okay."

"Then it's settled!"

Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes instantly lit up.

"Tomorrow morning at eight, I'll pick you up at your place!"

"Don't be late!"

With that said.

Like a cheerful lark, she turned and ran toward the black off-road vehicle parked at the street entrance.

Her ponytail bounced in the setting sun.

Su Yu stood where he was.

He watched the off-road vehicle speed away in a cloud of dust.

He turned and walked toward the old city district.

...

Inside the black off-road vehicle.

Lin Xiaoxiao sat in the back row.

Through the rearview mirror, she watched Su Yu's back completely disappear from sight.

The playfulness and smiles on her face...

...vanished without a trace in that instant.

...

In its place was a chilling coldness belonging to the daughter of a top-tier family.

She leaned back against the leather seat.

She took out her phone.

She dialed a highly secret number.

Beep.

The call was answered instantly.

"Eldest Miss."

From the other end came a low, raspy voice that reeked of blood.

Lin Xiaoxiao watched the street scenery fly by outside the window.

Her voice was as cold as ice.

"Uncle Lin."

"Before dawn."

"I don't want to see anyone in this city who has a grudge against Su Yu again."

There was a half-second silence on the other end.

No unnecessary questions were asked.

"Understood."

"Not even a chicken or dog shall remain."

Beep.

The call ended.

Lin Xiaoxiao tossed her phone casually onto the seat.

She closed her eyes.

She placed extreme importance on gratitude and was fiercely protective.

Although Su Yu had killed Zhao Ze on the stage today, he had also completely offended the Zhao family to the death.

That old fox Zhao Tianxiong would definitely be watching Su Yu in the shadows like a venomous snake.

Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are hard to guard against.

She wouldn't allow any accidents to happen to Su Yu.

She was going to sweep this land clean!

...

The night was deep.

In a dilapidated rental room in Jiangcheng's old city district.

Su Yu sat cross-legged on the somewhat shaky single bed.

The lights weren't on.

Only the faint glow of his phone screen illuminated his thin and profound face.

The screen displayed his current bank account balance.

[242,199.5 Yuan.]

Two hundred and forty-two thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine point five.

Su Yu looked silently at this string of numbers.

It was a lot.

For a bottom-tier orphan who grew up on relief rations, this was a huge sum beyond his wildest dreams.

But, it wasn't that much either.

Su Yu's gaze was extremely calm.

It even carried a trace of world-weariness beyond his years.

He knew the underlying logic of this world all too well.

The path of martial arts was a grand road paved with money and resources.

In a third-tier small city like Jiangcheng, two hundred thousand plus might buy a decent house and a stable life.

But in the true martial arts world...

...this amount couldn't even buy a complete Earth-tier Mid-grade Cultivation Technique.

It couldn't even be exchanged for a single bottle of high-level exotic beast Essence Blood.

However, he had the system.

One yuan buys one year of cultivation.

If he dumped all two hundred thousand into it, the speed at which his Blood Qi soared would be absolutely terrifying.

But this led to a fatal problem—exposure.

Su Yu's eyes were clear.

The pond of Jiangcheng was too small; the water was too shallow.

If miracles of exploding strength appeared one after another in a bottom-tier orphan with no background, it would definitely attract countless greedy gazes, and he might even be captured by certain major powers to be used as a lab rat for research.

The tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.

Without sufficiently strong protection, this heaven-defying rate of improvement would instead be a death warrant.

Only by going to university.

Going to Great Xia Kingdom's top-tier Imperial Capital First Martial Arts University.

There, geniuses were as common as clouds and monsters gathered; there was no shortage of martial arts talents who broke the rules.

Once there...

...his freakish breakthrough speed could be perfectly disguised under the cloak of a 'peerless prodigy'!

Once he displayed world-shaking talent, not only would he not be suspected as an anomaly, but he would also rightfully gain the privileged protection and top-tier resource allocation of Great Xia's highest institution.

His student identity would be his best umbrella.

With the protective talisman of a top martial arts university and the perfectly reasonable cover of being a 'prodigy'...

...he could then unscrupulously take on high-level missions and enter dangerous wilderness areas to earn massive wealth.

Only then could he pay-to-win without any reservations!

Only then could he release the power of his system to his heart's content and without holding anything back!

Wearing the skin of a prodigy, doing the work of a cheater.

Step by step, ascending to the peak of martial arts!

Su Yu put away his phone.

In his mind, Zhao Tianxiong's face full of resentment suddenly flashed.

The Zhao family.

This was a dead knot.