Misunderstanding

From beginning to end, what Xiang Jingpeng had his eyes on wasn't Xiao Ruohan herself.

After all, city-level champions emerged every year, and even national champions weren't rare. The trophy cabinets of War God Martial Arts School were already overflowing.

What truly caught Xiang Jingpeng's attention was Xiao Ruohan's palm technique.

With his years of experience, he could tell at a glance that her technique was extraordinary—at the very least, an Earth-tier martial art.

It might even be a Heaven-tier technique.

More importantly, it was a style he'd never encountered before.

He immediately looked into Chen Feng's background.

The investigation startled him.

Chen Feng was only twenty-one years old, with a recorded qi-blood value of zero.

Neither of his two disciples had signed formal contracts—clear signs of a naive young man untouched by life's harsh realities.

Though he couldn't fathom how Chen Feng had obtained such techniques, Xiang Jingpeng instantly recognized the opportunity.

Acquiring another high-level martial art wouldn't just elevate his personal strength—it could propel the entire War God Martial Arts School to new heights.

The plan unfolded smoothly.

Now, Xiao Ruohan had joined the school.

According to the school's contract terms, all martial arts techniques learned by its students became the property of the institution.

From this moment on, Xiao Ruohan's palm technique belonged to War God Martial Arts School.

Late at night.

"Ah! It hurts!"

Liu Weiwei, who had been unconscious all day, finally awoke.

Chen Feng, who had been dozing off, jerked awake at the sound.

"You're awake. Don't move—your legs just had surgery."

Liu Weiwei stared blankly at Chen Feng, momentarily confused.

She remembered—this was the person who had paid for her surgery earlier.

She couldn't understand why Xiao Ruohan's master would do this.

But one thing was certain: she would never forgive Xiao Ruohan.

The question haunted her.

She and Xiao Ruohan had no prior conflict—why had the other girl deliberately shattered both her legs?

Chen Feng sat by the hospital bed, with Jin Youxi already asleep against his chest.

The younger girl drooled in her sleep, soaking a large patch of Chen Feng's shirt.

Now that Liu Weiwei was awake, Chen Feng found himself at a loss for words.

Though they knew each other, they weren't close.

An awkward silence settled between them.

After a long pause, Liu Weiwei spoke quietly:

"Thank you for covering my medical bills. But I'll never forgive Xiao Ruohan."

Chen Feng could only nod slightly and murmur an acknowledgment.

The room fell silent again.

Liu Weiwei turned the situation over in her mind, concluding there was only one explanation:

Xiao Ruohan's deliberate injury during the match constituted a serious foul—grounds for disqualification.

Chen Feng's help must be a ploy to secure her forgiveness, to make her sign a waiver that would preserve Xiao Ruohan's competition eligibility.

But she would never comply.

Xiao Ruohan deserved disqualification for her malicious foul.

"Stop pretending to be kind. I'd rather die than forgive any of you."

Chen Feng exhaled heavily before whispering:

"I'm sorry."

Liu Weiwei turned her face away and shut her eyes, refusing to look at him.

She feared her resolve might waver.

What she didn't yet know:

Xiao Ruohan hadn't been disqualified.

And Chen Feng was no longer her teacher.

By morning, dark circles under his eyes, Chen Feng hurried toward Jiangcheng City's Martial Arts Association.

His disciple Jin Youxi remained behind to watch over Liu Weiwei.

At the same time, countless netizens were also waiting.

The Martial Arts Association had issued an announcement the previous day in response to the online controversy.

["Tomorrow at 9 AM, we will publicly address the incident involving a martial arts school opened by someone with zero qi and blood values."]

Yang Honghui, the branch director of Jiangcheng Martial Arts Association, arrived early at the association's office building to oversee the preparations.

If this incident wasn’t handled properly, his career would be over.

Not only would they broadcast the proceedings live on the official channel,

but to demonstrate fairness, they had also invited notaries and numerous journalists.

After inspecting the venue, Yang Honghui hurried back to his office to rehearse his speech.

Meanwhile,

Xiao Ruohan was also on her way to the Jiangcheng Martial Arts Association with her parents.

She hadn’t expected things to escalate so much.

Regret gnawed at her—she shouldn’t have let her mother say so much in the first place.

Now, to maintain her public image, she had to appear in person to testify.

Still, Xiao Ruohan wasn’t particularly worried.

Though this ordeal had taken time away from her training at the War God Martial Arts School,

it had also boosted her online popularity significantly.

Her Douyin followers had surged by over a hundred thousand in just two days.

As for what fate awaited her former master, Chen Feng—she couldn’t care less.

In Xiao Ruohan’s mind, Chen Feng and she already belonged to different worlds.

During her two years of martial arts training, she had learned everything about him.

A useless waste with powerful martial arts techniques but zero qi and blood.

And he was only a year older than her.

Calling someone just a year older "Master" had always felt awkward.

Having once been the disciple of such a failure was the biggest stain on her life.

"After today, I probably won’t have anything to do with that loser anymore."

Sitting in a Maybach, Xiao Ruohan stared blankly out the window.

For some reason, Chen Feng’s annoying face kept flashing in her mind.

On a public bus,

Chen Feng kept his eyes glued to his phone’s navigation, checking the stops to avoid missing his transfer.

Though his bank account still held a hundred thousand yuan,

for someone running a martial arts school, it wasn’t much.

The saying "poor scholars, rich martial artists" wasn’t just empty talk.

Training in martial arts was always three parts practice, seven parts nutrition.

Food alone was a massive expense.

Chen Feng always pinched pennies where he could,

hoping to improve his strength soon so he wouldn’t have to live so frugally.

Beside him, a middle-aged security guard in uniform glanced up from his short video app and studied Chen Feng.

He realized the young man looked exactly like the "zero-qi martial arts fraudster" from the viral clip—

though in person, he was even more handsome.

As a guardian of public safety, the security guard’s sense of justice flared.

Pointing at the video on his phone, he demanded,

"Young man, is this you?"

Chen Feng looked over in surprise and saw himself in the video.

Instinctively, he nodded—but quickly realized he shouldn’t have admitted it.

The moment he did, the guard erupted in indignation.

"Young people these days—instead of doing honest work, you use your looks to scam girls!"

"If you’ve got no qi, just live an ordinary life. How could you stoop to such disgraceful tricks?"

"If you were my kid, I’d break your legs!"

The outburst immediately drew the attention of everyone on the bus.

It didn't take long for people to realize that the young man standing before them was the same one from online—the audacious fraud who'd dared to open a martial arts school to scam young girls despite having zero actual combat skills.