The alloy arena reflected a cold metallic gleam.
The gazes of a hundred thousand people in the stands converged like a tangible force upon the massive square platform, fifty meters in width and length.
The first match.
A commoner who scored perfect marks in two subjects, facing off against a prodigy from an aristocratic clan.
This was not merely a contest for ranking, but a microcosm of class conflict.
Su Yu stood before the steps, preparing to ascend the arena.
Suddenly, the corner of his clothes was gripped tightly by an unseen force.
He halted, turning his head.
Lin Xiaoxiao stood behind him.
Her delicate, lovely face had lost all trace of her usual willful and carefree heiress demeanor.
Only undisguised anxiety remained.
Even her fingers, clutching the hem of Su Yu’s clothes, had turned faintly white from tension.
“Su Yu,” she said.
Her voice was lowered deliberately.
Though the surrounding noise was overwhelming, her words cut through clearly into Su Yu’s ears, carrying a stubbornness that brooked no refusal.
“Be careful.”
“Zhao Ze will absolutely go for the kill.”
Lin Xiaoxiao stared intently into Su Yu’s deep eyes.
“If it feels too much to bear, don’t push yourself.”
“Shout out your surrender immediately!”
“I know you have a strong sense of pride, and I know how much you’ve sacrificed to get here.”
“But you only have one life!”
Lin Xiaoxiao bit her lower lip.
“Although Grandmaster Lei Potian is watching from the high platform as the referee and will step in to save you at the critical moment...”
“But on a real combat arena, everything changes in an instant.”
“The explosive power of Xuan-level martial techniques is terrifying. Sometimes, even a Grandmaster can’t guarantee a hundred percent interception of all fatal attacks in the blink of an eye.”
“In the history of the martial arts college entrance examination’s practical rounds, geniuses have died on this arena before. It’s not unheard of!”
After rushing through all of this, Lin Xiaoxiao took a deep breath.
She released Su Yu’s clothes and looked at him with extreme seriousness.
“I’m still keeping that special recruitment spot from my family for you.”
“As long as you walk off this arena alive.”
“That spot remains yours.”
“I’ll still take you to the Great Xia Capital’s First Martial Arts University with me!”
Every word and every sentence was filled with genuine worry and an unreserved safety net.
For a girl who valued gratitude immensely yet was born into a family where interests reigned supreme, saying this much had already defied all her clan’s principles of conduct.
Su Yu looked at the stubborn young woman before him.
He didn’t smile.
He didn’t utter any arrogant boasts.
He simply pulled his hands out of his pockets very calmly and, in turn, gently patted Lin Xiaoxiao on the shoulder.
“Relax.”
Just two words.
No extra explanation, no impassioned guarantees.
But those two words, paired with Su Yu’s deep, abyss-like eyes that held not a trace of ripple, carried an almost magical power.
They instantly soothed all the agitation and panic in Lin Xiaoxiao’s heart.
Su Yu withdrew his hand.
He turned around.
Stepping onto the hard alloy stairs, one step at a time, he ascended the arena.
Lin Xiaoxiao stood where she was, watching that lean yet upright figure.
She clenched her fists tightly.
“You have to win.” she whispered.
...
On the arena.
Su Yu and Zhao Ze stood on opposite sides.
Twenty meters apart.
Zhao Ze wore a custom white martial arts uniform, with a golden-thread emblem reading “Zhao’s Martial Hall” embroidered on his chest.
He moved his wrists and neck, producing a series of unsettling cracking sounds from his joints.
In his eyes was undisguised cruelty and bloodlust.
As for Su Yu...
He was still wearing that old short-sleeved shirt washed to a faded color and a pair of loose sports pants.
His hands hung naturally by his sides.
He didn't assume any defensive or offensive stances.
He looked just like an ordinary high school student taking a casual stroll in the park after dinner. He was full of flaws.
On the high platform, in the VIP viewing seats.
Lei Potian, the grandmaster and the president of the Jiangcheng Martial Arts Association, was sitting boldly in the main seat.
He didn't look at the two people in the ring but lowered his head to look through an electronic file in his hand.
It was Su Yu's life profile automatically retrieved by the system just now.
"Three days ago, his blood qi value was 0.8."
"Three days later, his blood qi value is 10.4."
Lei Potian looked at these two extremely eye-catching sets of data.
His thick eyebrows furrowed slightly.
As a grandmaster with a blood qi value exceeding one hundred thousand, he had seen too many geniuses and prodigies in the Great Xia Country.
He also knew that there were countless incredible opportunities in this world.
A high-level spiritual herb, an inner core of a strange beast, or even a gene mutation.
All of them could transform a person overnight.
Su Yu's blood qi had skyrocketed more than ten times in these three days. He must have encountered some great opportunity.
This was a good thing.
The Great Xia Country needed lucky geniuses.
However.
Lei Potian put down the electronic tablet in his hand and cast his gaze at Su Yu in the ring.
There was a hint of pity in his eyes.
"What a pity."
"After all, he's just an upstart with a bit of luck."
Lei Potian made a very professional judgment in his heart.
Martial arts was never a simple addition of numbers.
The blood qi value was just the source of power.
And how to perfectly unleash this power required the bearing capacity of the meridians and the tempering of martial arts skills!
A body that originally had a blood qi value of only 0.8.
The meridians must be extremely fragile and narrow.
Forcing 10.4 units of huge blood qi into it in just three days.
It was like forcing a surging river into an old plastic water pipe.
With a slight carelessness, the meridians would break into pieces, and one would go mad from practicing!
"His blood qi must be extremely shallow."
Lei Potian's eyes were extremely sharp.
"Moreover, in three days, he simply didn't have the extra energy to polish his martial arts skills."
"He has brute force of 10.4 but doesn't dare to run it at full strength, otherwise, his meridians will collapse first."
"In this state, he might be able to overpower ordinary martial arts students by strength."
"But when facing that young man from the Zhao family, who has broadened his meridians with a century-old medicinal bath since childhood and is proficient in mysterious-grade martial arts skills..."
Lei Potian shook his head.
"No chance of winning."
"He will surely lose within ten moves."
As a grandmaster, he had seen through the essence of this seemingly evenly-matched competition.
This was the cruelest barrier between the heritage of a noble family and an upstart commoner.
However.
Lei Potian leaned forward slightly, and the one hundred thousand units of blood qi in his body was in a standby state ready to burst out at any time.
"After all, he's a good seedling and got a full score in liberal arts."
"When the young man from the Zhao family tries to kill him later, I have to step in quickly."
"Don't let this young man really die in the ring."
...
Meanwhile.
On the other side of the stands.
In the VIP box where the powerful and wealthy people of Jiangcheng gathered.
Zhao Tianxiong, the current curator of the Zhao Family Martial Arts School and Zhao Ze's father, was sitting upright on the leather sofa.
He was holding a cup of expensive first-order strange beast blood tea in his hand.
The steam was curling up.
Zhao Tianxiong watched his son on the ring, who was full of high spirits, and a satisfied arc curled up at the corner of his mouth.
"Old Liu,"
Zhao Tianxiong blew the foam on the surface of the tea and began to speak slowly.
"What do you think? How many moves will it take for Ze'er to take down that commoner named Su Yu?"
Standing beside the sofa was the butler with a moustache.
Hearing the boss's question,
the butler quickly bent slightly and his face was filled with an obsequious smile.
"Sir, you're really over - estimating that young master.
That Su Yu is just a lucky dog. God knows what wild fruits he ate. His qi and blood are as weak and puffy as a shabby balloon.
Young master has been soaking in the expensive medicinal baths you bought since childhood, and his meridians are extremely tough.
Moreover, young master is proficient in our Zhao family's trump card, the 'Rock - Shattering Palm'!"
The butler slapped his chest confidently.
"In my opinion, it'll take at most three moves."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
