Talent

In the early morning in Kyoto, there was a slight chill in the air.

On the wide, tree-lined avenue, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Su Yu and Lin Xiaoxiao walked side by side on their way to Kyoto's number one martial arts university.

On Su Yu's back, he carried a long, narrow object wrapped in layers of thick black cloth.

It was the martial emperor-class weapon — the Abyssal Dragon Spear — that Lin Xiaoxiao had delivered to him early that morning.

Even though it was tightly wrapped in black cloth, that faint, icy killing intent still made passersby unconsciously avert their eyes and take a detour around them.

Lin Xiaoxiao was wearing a well-tailored white Kyoto Martial uniform today.

Her high ponytail swayed back and forth with her light steps as she walked.

Pure, beautiful.

Add to that the natural confidence of a top-tier heiress from a distinguished family, and as she walked down the street, her head-turn rate was almost a hundred percent.

But right now.

The eldest daughter of the Lin family's attention was completely elsewhere, far from those admiring glances.

Her eyes kept drifting toward the black-cloth-wrapped object on Su Yu's back.

Her gaze was filled with barely contained curiosity and intrigue.

Finally.

After passing the third intersection, Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't hold it in any longer.

She quickened her pace to get in front of Su Yu, turned around, and started walking backwards.

Her hands clasped behind her back, she bent slightly at the waist.

Those big, clear eyes stared straight at Su Yu.

"Su Yu."

"Hmm?" Su Yu lifted his eyelids and glanced at her.

"Give me a hint, will you?"

Lin Xiaoxiao blinked, her tone carrying a rare hint of coaxing.

"That... manifested spear intent. How exactly did you comprehend it?"

That question, ever since she'd seen Su Yu conjure a solid spear with his bare hands this morning at the apartment, had been like a kitten's paw scratching at her heart nonstop.

It was too unbelievable.

Too contrary to every martial arts principle she knew.

"I went and asked my dad about it last night," Lin Xiaoxiao continued on her own when Su Yu didn't respond.

"My dad said that martial will is something profoundly mysterious."

"Even those peerless geniuses with extraordinary comprehension — if they want to step into that door, they have to hover at the edge of life and death countless times, or under some specific catalyst, sit in meditation for years before they can barely touch the threshold of 'refinement'."

"As for 'manifestation'..."

Lin Xiaoxiao swallowed hard, lowering her voice a few notches.

"I've heard that across the entire Xia nation, you could count on one hand the number of people who have comprehended manifested will before the age of thirty!"

"And you're only eighteen!"

"What's more, you barely grasped a sliver of an epiphany by Weiming Lake yesterday afternoon, and by this morning you've already manifested it?!"

Lin Xiaoxiao stopped walking.

She grabbed Su Yu's arm, her face full of thirst for knowledge.

"Be honest with me — is there some special technique?"

"Is there a mantra?"

"Is it some specific breathing method, paired with a certain high-frequency oscillation of the spirit?"

"Or..."

Lin Xiaoxiao mimicked a meditation gesture, pressing her palms together.

"Is it about suppressing all your qi and blood into the dantian, then letting your consciousness sink into some absolutely ethereal state to feel the world's spiritual energy?"

Watching the girl analyze this so earnestly, even trying to explain the phenomenon through martial theory,

Su Yu stopped walking.

He looked at the girl before him, her eyes filled with expectation.

Deep in his eyes, a hint of utterly helpless twitching flashed through.

Technique?

Mantra?

Breathing method?

Su Yu let out a deep sigh inwardly.

He really wanted to tell Lin Xiaoxiao the truth.

But the truth was more absurd than any lie.

Teach it?

How the hell do you teach something like this?!

Was he supposed to tell her that the so-called technique involved hauling an oversized suitcase to a 24-hour self-service bank in the dead of night?

Was he supposed to tell her that the so-called breathing method was listening to the crisp mechanical whir of an ATM spitting out cash?

Was he supposed to tell her that the so-called absolutely ethereal state meant piling ten million in cash on the carpet and watching it vanish into thin air right in front of your eyes, your heart aching so badly you couldn't breathe?!

Su Yu scratched his head.

His face, usually so calm, now showed a rare trace of inner conflict.

You couldn't teach money-spending gacha energy.

There was no way to teach someone to become a ruthless cash machine.

And more importantly, the system was his biggest secret. Even in front of Lin Xiaoxiao, who had been helping him all along, he couldn't breathe a single word of it.

"Can you... teach me?"

Lin Xiaoxiao saw Su Yu scratching his head and thought he was hesitating.

She tugged at his arm, her voice softening, carrying a hint of girlish coyness.

"I know I practice fist techniques, not the spear."

"But martial will, it all comes down to the same principle anyway."

"If I could also comprehend some kind of fist intent, then from now on at Kyoto Martial, who would dare mess with us!"

Su Yu looked at her.

He was silent for a solid five seconds.

Then, he averted his gaze to the street in the distance.

His tone was flat, forcibly maintaining an air of unfathomable profundity.

"No technique."

"No mantra either."

Su Yu steeled himself and started making things up on the fly.

"Just... something that happened naturally."

"Yesterday, I stared at the broken spear at the center of the lake for a bit. At night, I had a very long dream."

"In the dream, I was swinging a spear the whole time."

"When I woke up, I just felt it."

"Then I'd comprehended it."

Having said all that, even Su Yu himself thought his story was pure nonsense.

Dreaming your way into manifestation?

If some old spear fanatic like Chu Kuang, who had spent his entire life mastering the spear, heard that, he'd probably vomit three pints of blood in sheer fury.

But.

After hearing this, Lin Xiaoxiao froze.

She didn't suspect Su Yu of lying to her.

Because in her mind, Su Yu was simply an extraordinary prodigy of the highest order.

And the world of prodigies, ordinary people could never understand.

"Just... had a dream... and comprehended it?"

Lin Xiaoxiao let go of Su Yu's arm.

On her pure, beautiful face, a deep, visible disappointment and feeling of inadequacy crept in.

She lowered her head.

She looked at her own slender, fair hands.

These hands had been soaked in priceless high-grade herbal baths since childhood, thrown over ten thousand punches daily, worn down until fine calluses formed at the knuckles.

She'd thought she was diligent enough, and her talent was more than outstanding.

But in the face of Su Yu's 'irrational' epiphany.

All her hard work suddenly seemed so pale and futile.

"Yeah..."

Lin Xiaoxiao let out a soft sigh.

Her voice was a little low.

"Talent is something that just can't be taught."

"What you can see through at a glance, other people might spend their whole lives and never even touch its door."

She kicked a small pebble on the roadside.

The stone tumbled and rolled straight into the grating of a storm drain.

The atmosphere suddenly became dull and heavy.

Su Yu watched Lin Xiaoxiao's downcast figure. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to comfort her.

But the words caught at his throat, and he swallowed them back.

After all, he couldn't exactly pull out a wad of cash and tell her, 'Just pay to win — that's how you get stronger.'

Just as Su Yu was considering switching the topic.

Lin Xiaoxiao, walking up ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Then.

She snapped her head up!

The frustration and heaviness from a moment ago vanished in an instant!

In those beautiful, large eyes, a brilliant light blazed anew!

Her ponytail sent a proud and stubborn arc through the air.

“But—”

Lin Xiaoxiao spun around, hands on her hips.

She lifted her pale, delicate chin slightly, looking at Su Yu like a proud little swan.

“Don’t think you can shake me off that easily!”

“This young lady’s talent isn’t half bad either!”

Su Yu was momentarily taken aback.

Watching this young mistress whose mood shifted with astonishing speed, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

Lin Xiaoxiao was thoroughly pleased by the look on Su Yu’s face.

She gave a light snort, and a victorious smirk curved at the corner of her lips.