I, Lu Jue, Am Taking It!

It was not until two or three minutes after Su Li left that everyone finally recovered from their shock.

One gaze after another focused on Lu Jue again, but this time, not a trace of their former disdain remained. In its place was an almost reverent look.

They tried to find some clue on that calm, unruffled face that could explain why Su Li had acted so "unusually," but found nothing.

The girls who had mocked Lu Jue earlier now had cheeks burning scarlet, wishing they could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

So his indifference had not been an act of lofty pride, nor was it because he lacked romantic sense. It was because his gaze had long been fixed upon heights they could never hope to reach.

Thinking of this, they exchanged looks, stumbling over even the excuses they made.

"Um, I... I just remembered I have something to do."

"M-My cultivation technique seems like it's about to break through. I need to head back first!"

With that, they lowered their heads and practically fled in defeat, their retreating figures utterly bedraggled.

Zhang Yang stood where he was, his eyes filled with intense humiliation.

Damn it! Just a commoner!

Why?

Even I had to deal with a woman like that carefully. What gave him the right to earn Su Li's favor?

Was it just that little slicked-back hairstyle? That poor stench on him, and that damned "manliness"?

Other than that, what did he have?

Strength?

So what if he had some strength? Even the top boxer at a martial arts school still had to lower his head and be the dog of rich young masters like them!

The more Zhang Yang thought about it, the more twisted his face became, and the reason he had forcibly pieced together shattered once more.

"Lu Jue, right? So that's why you had the guts to step forward! You've latched onto Su Li's thigh!"

"Who the hell do you think you are!? A mere commoner—no matter how strong you are, you're still just a dog!"

"I—"

Before Zhang Yang's words could even hit the ground, Lu Jue's figure abruptly closed in.

He stepped forward, twisted his waist slightly, and drove his right fist like lightning at Zhang Yang's face, carrying a fierce gust of wind!

The force of that punch was so savage that everyone around them held their breath.

But just as the fist was about to touch his skin, it suddenly stopped! It came to a dead halt!

Lu Jue's eyes were cold, yet utterly clear.

He was not an idiot. If he got written up for private fighting, it would inevitably affect the upcoming Quota Competition.

This punch had only been meant as a warning, to shut that mouth that kept spewing filth.

Yet just as he was about to retract his fist, a pungent, rank smell suddenly spread through the air.

Lu Jue frowned and swept his gaze downward—

The crotch of Zhang Yang's pants had turned dark and murky. Wetness was rapidly spreading, dripping onto the floor.

That freely controlled feint, a punch that had never actually landed, had scared him into wetting himself.

"With courage like that, you dare call someone else a dog?"

Zhang Yang froze in place. His face went from red to white, then white to green, finally settling into an expression of unimaginable shame and terror.

The surroundings fell silent for a moment, then several sharply suppressed gasps and snickers leaked out.

"You—"

"Lu, remember this!"

Zhang Yang's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a madman.

"Don't think you're the only one with hard bones! How many of you so-called commoner geniuses didn't gain room to survive by acting as dogs for our circle?"

"To tell you the truth, Young Master Zhao already gathered everyone in our circle for a meeting last night. In the Quota Competition, we'll make sure to smash the last spines of you commoners, one by one!"

"When that time comes, let's see what you hard-boned fools can use to stay hard! What can you use to compete!"

Lu Jue's gaze lightly swept over the stain on the other man's pant leg, then slowly rose to meet those bloodshot eyes.

He had long expected these rich young masters to make a move, but he had not expected them to be so utterly unscrupulous.

One hundred thousand in tuition fees would not have been an astronomical figure for many commoner families six years ago.

As the saying went, Poverty in education, wealth in martial arts. The path of martial arts was simply a bottomless pit.

After nearly six years of bitter cultivation, most commoner families had already exhausted everything they possessed.

Even if they could barely scrape together the money now, it would surely leave them badly weakened and severely affect the resources they could invest during this final sprint.

This Quota Competition had originally been the last narrow gate left by the Jin Kingdom government for commoner students.

If the rich young masters were willing to compete fairly, then so be it.

But Zhang Yang's words made it clear enough: they intended to use underhanded tricks to take every quota for themselves!

They did not merely want to squeeze the already tiny space left for commoners to survive. At this most crucial moment, they wanted to snuff out the last hope of commoner students completely.

At that point, all commoner students would have only two paths left:

Either they would attach themselves to influential families and live at others' mercy, or they would drain their families' fortunes and fall behind at the final hurdle.

And this was likely not even their ultimate objective.

—What they wanted might be to use this opportunity to control the first round of screening for the Martial Arts Examination!

At that thought, Lu Jue's face remained as calm as ever, but he suddenly took half a step forward.

Such a tiny movement made the shouting Zhang Yang fall silent like a rooster with its throat gripped. He even instinctively tried to retreat again, but his legs went weak and he stumbled, making himself look even more ridiculous.

Then Lu Jue slowly spoke. His voice was not loud, but it carried the weight of a thousand jun, crashing clearly into everyone's eardrums:

"You think that with strength in numbers, with those shameful dealings behind your backs, you can cover the sky with one hand?"

"This time's quotas, I, Lu Jue, am taking them!"

"No matter how many experts you have, I'll crush them all!"

"No matter how many lapdogs you keep, I'll trample them all!"

"On the arena, anyone who dares stand before me—"

"If there are ten, I'll grind down all ten!"

"If there are a hundred, I'll grind down all hundred!"

At that, he leaned slightly forward, his gaze pressing down on the trembling Zhang Yang as though it had substance.

"As for you, classmate Zhang Yang."

"I sincerely hope we do not meet in the Quota Competition."

"Otherwise, before the eyes of every teacher and student, openly and fairly—"

"I'll knock out every last one of your teeth, one by one!"

The moment he finished speaking, he straightened abruptly. An invisible Killing Intent spread outward from him, as if even the air around them had frozen solid.

He no longer looked at Zhang Yang, who was shaking like chaff in a sieve. It was as though Zhang Yang were already a thoroughly crushed stumbling block, not worth mentioning.

His calm gaze turned toward a spot in the crowd and landed on Liu Ga, who had yet to emerge from the shadow of his heartbreak.

"Liu Ga, let's go!"

With that, he turned and left.

Only when that spear-straight figure vanished completely through the doorway did the pressure filling the room suddenly lighten.

Many people exhaled at almost the same time, only then realizing they had been holding their breath all along. Suppressed discussion spread like a rising tide.

The Quota Competition had not even begun, yet it was already destined to stir storms and thunder.