Yu Xiaogang: You've Been Secretly Grinding, Haven't You?

Th-This... was he still that good-for-nothing young master?

For a moment, the expressions of countless clan members changed.

At last, a flicker of emotion passed through Yu Yuanzhen's eyes.

No one knew.

After finishing the merchant guild's account books, before collapsing from exhaustion after his daily body tempering.

When deep night fell and all was silent.

A lone lamp was always lit in Yu Xiaoheng's study.

He turned through the heavy clan tomes page by page, painstakingly working through every word and searing them into the depths of his mind.

Those scattered memories from his past life of the Douluo Continent novel were merely castles in the air, unsystematic and incomplete.

He had no golden finger.

He had no cheat.

The road ahead was unknown, powerful enemies lurked all around him, and the only person he could rely on was himself.

So he did not dare slack off in the slightest.

Every scrap of knowledge he accumulated and every round of bodily tempering were paving stones he laid for his own road ahead!

The test ended, and the crowd gradually dispersed.

Yu Xiaoheng had just reached Liu Erlong's side and taken her little hand.

When a figure blocked their path.

It was Yu Xiaogang.

The high spirits from before were gone from his face, replaced by an angry expression.

He stared at Yu Xiaoheng and asked, word by word:

"You've been hiding your abilities all along?"

Yu Xiaoheng did not answer.

To Yu Xiaogang, that calmness was an admission, a silent mockery.

The rage in his chest burned even hotter.

As he grew older, he had already come to look down more and more on this elder brother who was obsessed with the stench of money and neglected proper pursuits.

Yet today, the knowledge he had been so proud of had been effortlessly crushed by the other party.

Especially in front of everyone, in front of... Liu Erlong.

"You knew how important this knowledge was long ago, didn't you?"

Yu Xiaogang stepped forward.

"You deliberately acted as if you cared about nothing, spending all day with those merchants, while secretly studying hard behind everyone's backs!"

His gaze flicked toward the quiet Liu Erlong beside them, and he deliberately emphasized his tone.

"Yu Xiaoheng, aren't you a little too calculating?"

He hoped Liu Erlong would see clearly that this seemingly gentle elder brother was actually a hypocrite who hid behind a false face.

Yet Yu Xiaoheng still said nothing.

Before he could respond, a small figure moved.

Liu Erlong released Yu Xiaoheng's hand and stepped directly forward, her petite body blocking Yu Xiaoheng.

She raised her head, her clear eyes filled with protectiveness and indignation, and scolded Yu Xiaogang:

"How can you say that about Brother!"

"He works very hard!"

Before her words had even faded, Liu Erlong stretched out her little hand and gave Yu Xiaogang's chest a solid shove.

She had been tempering her body with Yu Xiaoheng these past days. Though young, her strength far surpassed that of an ordinary child.

Yu Xiaogang had never expected her to strike.

"You!"

A force hit him. His footing slipped, and he staggered back several steps before finally steadying himself.

His attempt to expose Yu Xiaoheng's "true face" before Liu Erlong instantly came to nothing.

What replaced it was a burning humiliation.

The girl he admired had pushed him away to defend someone else.

Yu Xiaogang's face flushed bright red. Looking at Liu Erlong's utterly protective stance before Yu Xiaoheng, every word lodged in his throat.

Having suffered a loss and lost face as well, he did not dare press the matter further. He could only shift his gaze resentfully toward Yu Xiaoheng and force a few words through clenched teeth.

"...Sorry."

The apology was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

After that brief surge of emotion, he took a deep breath and glared angrily at Yu Xiaoheng. The pride and confidence of a genius returned to his face.

"Just wait."

His tone was absolutely certain.

"When Spirit Awakening comes, I'll make you understand that hard work is worthless in the face of talent!"

"I'll make you understand who is the true genius of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!"

With that, he stopped looking at them, turned, and ran off at a quick pace.

Yu Xiaogang's figure vanished around the courtyard corner.

The night wind swept past, stirring several fallen leaves.

Liu Erlong still stood in front of Yu Xiaoheng, her tiny fists clenched like a young beast guarding its food.

Yu Xiaoheng watched the direction his younger brother had disappeared, then gently patted Liu Erlong on the head.

"Let's go back."

Yu Xiaogang ran beneath the covered corridor, his chest heaving violently.

That "sorry," and the scene of Liu Erlong shoving him away, replayed over and over in his mind like branding irons, scorching his cheeks hot.

Humiliation!

This was a humiliation he had never experienced before!

Yet the confidence in his heart had not wavered in the slightest.

What words had he heard most often since childhood?

"Young Master Xiaogang is truly a heaven-sent genius!"

"The Clan Head has an heir!"

He was Yu Yuanzhen's son, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's once-in-a-century genius. This was a fact acknowledged by every clan member.

As for Yu Xiaoheng?

He merely bore the title of eldest son because he happened to be his twin brother.

He was nothing more than a merchant who spent all day wallowing in the stench of money, with his mind fixed on account books.

In his eyes, his elder brother's performance in today's test was merely a little trick, the result of years of secretly memorizing things by rote.

The world of Soul Masters relied on Soul Power, Martial Souls, and talent!

So what if one knew all this theoretical knowledge?

Yu Xiaoheng was obsessed with business, so he would surely have neglected cultivation.

When Spirit Awakening came, he would certainly possess Innate Full Soul Power, while Yu Xiaoheng might only have level five or six Soul Power.

By then, every little trick would become a joke before absolute talent.

Yu Xiaogang's footsteps slowed, and he could barely suppress the smile tugging at his lips.

He could already imagine the scene five days from now.

Upon the awakening stone, his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul would shine brilliantly, while the Crystal Ball for testing Soul Power would instantly be filled to capacity.

And Yu Xiaoheng would only pale into insignificance.

He would recognize reality, recognize the unbridgeable gulf between them.

He would lower that pretentiously profound head and sincerely apologize to him.

And Liu Erlong... she would see clearly who the true strong person was, and who was worthy of her following.

By then, she would stand at his side and look at him with admiration.

Yes, it had to be that way.

Night.

Moonlight poured like water over the courtyard.

Yu Xiaoheng's room was brightly lit.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, with two jade boxes before him.

One jade box stood open. Inside lay a small blade of grass that emitted a faint white glow from its entire body. Its leaf edges seemed plated with the light of dawn. It was the Xi Guang Grass he had spent several years of savings to purchase.

The other jade box contained an unusual plant with twisted roots and stems, its surface covered in patterns resembling dragon scales: Dragon Pattern Grass.

These two items were the final trump cards he had prepared for himself.

He knew that if a Soul Master proficient in alchemy handled and refined these two herbs, their effects could be enhanced by at least thirty percent.

Unfortunately, he did not understand alchemy, nor could he find anyone he trusted.

All he could do was search through the clan's tomes and confirm that these two herbs had mild medicinal properties and could be consumed together without any danger to his life.

As for how much of their effects he could absorb, that would depend entirely on fate and his own fortune.