"Deal?"
Su Qingxue almost thought she had heard him wrong.
She stared at the face before her, which had suddenly blossomed into a brilliant, roguish grin. His undisguised, playful, and aggressive gaze swept over her body, making her heartbeat, which had only just settled somewhat, race out of control again.
A tremendous sense of humiliation surged over her once more like an icy tide.
She felt like a product placed on a shelf, waiting to be sold to the highest bidder, while Lin Xiao was the picky and dangerous buyer.
"You... you agreed?"
Her voice held a faint, barely perceptible tremor. Her fingertips dug deeply into her palms as she used the pain to force herself to maintain her last shred of composure.
"Of course."
Lin Xiao's smile grew even brighter, carrying a hint of sunshine, but the calculating glint deep in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. "The campus belle of the Su family personally came to my door to 'make a deal.' How could I not give her that much face?"
He deliberately emphasized the word "deal," like a needle pricking Su Qingxue's sensitive pride, making another flush spread across her fair neck.
"However..."
Lin Xiao changed tack. The smile on his face receded somewhat, turning serious, but beneath that seriousness lay even deeper scrutiny. "I have to inspect the 'goods' first."
"I... inspect the goods?"
Su Qingxue failed to react for a moment. Her cool eyes were filled with confusion and a trace of shame and anger at being offended.
"Your Martial Dao talent bottleneck."
Lin Xiao naturally spread his left hand. The movement tugged at the injury in his right arm, making the corner of his mouth twitch with pain, but his smile remained. "I have to inspect the goods first and see whether you're worth my effort, right? What if your talent is so terrible that you're beyond saving? Wouldn't I suffer a huge loss?"
"You!"
Su Qingxue's chest heaved violently with anger, and a burst of fury shot straight to her head.
Su Qingxue was one of the most talented members of the younger generation of the Su family's Branch family, yet she had actually been described by a thug with such a frivolous term as "inspecting the goods"?
This was blatant humiliation!
But when she thought of the pressure from the family's internal assessment, which was fast approaching; the faces waiting to see her make a fool of herself; and the despair of repeatedly attempting to break through the bottleneck day after day only to accomplish nothing...
All her anger and unwillingness ultimately turned into a suppressed, humiliated cold snort.
She abruptly closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and when she opened them again, only icy resolve remained.
She no longer looked at Lin Xiao's infuriating smile. Instead, she stiffly took a step forward, as if carrying out an order, and stopped less than a meter in front of him.
"Can we begin?" Her voice was cold as ice.
The smile on Lin Xiao's face vanished completely as well, and his gaze became focused and sharp. He stopped wasting words, endured the agonizing pain in his right arm, and concentrated with all his might!
Hum!
Deep within his mind, that cold, dark-blue screen of light appeared instantly!
Target locked: Su Qingxue Scanning modifiable attributes... Deep analysis initiated...
At the center of the screen, a three-dimensional human outline rapidly took shape, formed from countless extremely fine energy lines flickering with a pale-blue sheen!
The outline's form and proportions were identical to Su Qingxue's before him!
This image of "energy Su Qingxue" was far clearer and more complex than when he had scanned himself or that sandbag before!
Countless pale-blue light paths representing the circulation routes of True Qi flowed endlessly through her body like streams, radiating vigorous vitality and energy fluctuations.
Yet in the core regions of these light paths—the area around the Dantian's sea of qi, as well as several main meridians connecting to the limbs and bones—there was a layer of dim gray haze, as though they had been shrouded in it!
In particular, one extremely obscure and slender special light path extending from the Dantian to the Jade Pillow Acupoint at the back of the heart—the Jade Balance Hidden Meridian mentioned in the foreshadowing—was completely blocked by a viscous, ink-like dark-gray substance!
That dark-gray substance wriggled faintly like a living creature, giving off an intensely unpleasant, sinister, and stagnant aura!
Scan complete. Target status: Martial Disciple peak (bottleneck). Primary issues: 1. Multiple energy congestion points exist in the basic meridians (gray haze regions), obstructing the circulation efficiency of True Qi (estimated impact: 15%). 2. The core hidden meridian, the 'Jade Balance Meridian' (suspected to be innate or bloodline-related), has suffered unknown energy contamination/congenital blockage (dark-gray obstruction), preventing energy from connecting the Heaven and Earth Bridge and activating Spiritual Tide resonance. Realm progression locked. Solutions: 1. Clear the energy congestion points (minor optimization, limited effect). 2. Forcefully clear the obstruction in the 'Jade Balance Hidden Meridian' (relatively high risk, requiring precise operation and enormous expenditure, but capable of completely removing the bottleneck). Source Energy Points required to clear the 'Jade Balance Hidden Meridian': 2.5
2.5 points?
Lin Xiao's heart gave a hard squeeze!
His current Source Energy Points: 1.1!
Was this damn robbery?
Repairing his own fractured bones only required 3.0 points!
Clearing one lousy meridian required 2.5?
An intense pang of distress surged through him.
These Source Energy Points had been bought with his life!
Every point spent was one less point!
Was it worth it?
Lin Xiao's gaze instantly swept over the words on the light screen—"satisfy any one of your conditions"—then shifted to Su Qingxue's cool and peerlessly beautiful face, which was filled with humiliation and stubbornness.
A shield! Resources! Information! And that "condition"!
Damn it! One had to risk losing the child to catch the wolf!
He was doing it!
"Bear with it. It might be a little stimulating."
Lin Xiao's voice turned low, carrying unprecedented gravity.
Su Qingxue had yet to understand what he meant when she saw Lin Xiao close his eyes and furrow his brows tightly, as though enduring tremendous pain. Fine beads of sweat even appeared at his temples.
The next moment!
An indescribable, cold, and vast will, like an invisible tide, instantly enveloped Su Qingxue!
She felt as though her soul had been seen through completely at that moment!
The tiniest energy flows within her body—even the blockage and chill hidden deep within her bloodline, which she herself had never clearly sensed—were precisely captured and locked onto by a force originating from a higher dimension!
"Ugh..." Su Qingxue grunted. Her body involuntarily tensed, and her cool eyes filled with horror!
What was this feeling?
It was even more terrifying than the probing of a Grandmaster-level elder in her family!
It penetrated even deeper into her very bones!
Just as she was horrified beyond measure, Lin Xiao suddenly opened his eyes!
Reflected in his distinct black-and-white eyes were two extremely deep, dark-blue points of light, like cosmic vortexes!
He endured the weakness caused by his Source Energy Points being instantly drained and the agony in his right arm. His will, like the most precise laser scalpel, fiercely and accurately "stabbed" toward the Jade Balance Hidden Meridian on the light screen, which was completely blocked by the viscous dark-gray substance!
"Open!"
Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 2.5! Target: Su Qingxue — obstruction in the Jade Balance Hidden Meridian... Forced removal procedure initiated! Parameters modifying... 1%...
Boom!
It was as if an invisible blade formed from pure laws had violently pierced into the most hidden and vital depths of Su Qingxue's body!
"Ah—!"
A scream that she could not suppress, mixed with extreme pain and a strange sense of release, suddenly burst from Su Qingxue's throat!
She felt as though a red-hot brand had been violently thrust into the back of her heart!
The sinister, obstructive substance hidden within the meridian like a festering thorn emitted a silent wail the instant it touched the blade of laws. Like snow beneath the blazing sun, it began to melt and collapse frantically!
The intense pain made her entire body convulse. Her vision went black, and her body uncontrollably crumpled forward!
However, just as she was about to fall—
Hum!
An indescribable, supremely pure torrent of energy, carrying a bone-chilling coldness like glacial water held back for billions of years, suddenly smashed through the final trace of obstruction.
From the deepest part of her Dantian's sea of qi, it followed the completely opened Jade Balance Hidden Meridian and erupted with a boom, surging straight toward the crown of her head, the Baihui acupoint!
Boom!
Thunder exploded out of nowhere inside the changing room!
Centered on Su Qingxue, a visible, substantial wave of icy-blue energy exploded with a roar!
Wherever the wave passed, the thick dust on the floor was instantly blown away, revealing the mottled concrete beneath!
The spotless white martial arts uniform on her body fluttered wildly without any wind!
Her jet-black hair floated upward as if it had come alive!
A powerful, cold, and pure aura erupted from her body without reserve, like an awakened goddess of ice, rising higher and higher!
Before this mighty torrent, the barrier of the Martial Disciple peak realm was like paper. It collapsed instantly!
Boom!
An aura several times stronger than Zhao Hu's, condensed and icy, shot into the sky!
It enveloped the entire changing room on the second floor of the abandoned stadium in bone-chilling cold!
A martial artist! A One-Star Martial Artist!
Moreover, her aura was condensed and vigorous, absolutely not that of a newly advanced martial artist! It even faintly showed signs of charging toward the two-star realm!
The radiance gradually faded.
Ice crystals drifted down slowly before dissipating.
Su Qingxue still stood where she was, but her bearing had undergone a complete transformation!
The coolness she had possessed before was now joined by an imposing, inviolable majesty and strength!
A faint icy-blue halo still seemed to linger around her. Her skin was even more lustrous than jade, and whenever her eyes opened and closed, crystalline fragments of light seemed to flicker within them, sharp enough to pierce!
She slowly lowered her head and stared at her hands in disbelief.
On her fair palms, a wisp of pure, pale-blue True Qi carrying a bone-chilling coldness coiled and leaped at her will like a docile spirit snake!
She had really broken through!
The bottleneck that had troubled her for an entire year had actually been broken through just like that?
An enormous, indescribable ecstasy instantly swept away all her humiliation and pain!
She abruptly raised her head. Her gaze, like two ice spikes, shot toward Lin Xiao, who was leaning against a metal cabinet, his face somewhat pale from the expenditure of Source Energy Points and the agony.
That look was complicated beyond words!
There was the extreme shock of breaking through!
There was confusion and awe toward the terrifying power from before!
There was deep fear of her body having been completely "seen through" and "altered"!
And, even more, an uncontrollable, intense dependence, like that of a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood!
He had done it!
Using a method she completely could not understand, one that overturned all the common sense of martial arts!
Just who was this bloodstained, thoroughly roguish man with eyes as dangerous as a wild wolf?
What exactly was he?
Lin Xiao was looking at Su Qingxue as well.
Watching the icy-blue halo that had yet to completely disperse from her body and sensing the surging, turbulent aura within her—powerful enough to far surpass that of an ordinary One-Star Martial Artist—a tired yet satisfied roguish smile tugged at his pale face.
"Not bad, right?"
His voice was somewhat hoarse, weakened by exhaustion, but the teasing in his tone had not diminished in the slightest. "Campus belle Su—no, I suppose I should call you Martial Artist Su now? How does it feel?"
Su Qingxue did not speak.
She merely stared fixedly at Lin Xiao, her chest heaving violently and her cool eyes churning with emotions like an ocean amid a storm.
Shock, fear, confusion, ecstasy, dependence... all kinds of emotions intertwined and collided, leaving her speechless for a time.
Just then—
The smile on Lin Xiao's face suddenly stiffened!
An extremely faint, almost imperceptible sense of being watched, carrying icy malice like a snake flicking its tongue, swept across his perception in an instant!
It had not come from Su Qingxue before him!
It had come from outside the window!
He abruptly turned his head, his sharp, hawk-like gaze stabbing toward the broken window of the changing room!
Outside was the heavy night surrounding the stadium and the city lights in the distance.
There was nothing.
An illusion? Or...
Lin Xiao's heart sank!
Had the massive energy eruption caused by modifying Su Qingxue's talent just now attracted attention?
In the shadows at the top floor of an abandoned, unfinished building opposite the abandoned stadium,
a lean figure dressed in tight black leather, shaped like a cheetah, slowly lowered a high-magnification military telescope.
The lenses still retained the afterimage of the brief yet dazzling icy-blue light that had flashed from the second-floor window of the stadium.
Half of the shadow's face was covered by a cold metal mask, revealing only a pair of narrow, sinister eyes that glittered with greed and shock.
"Ice-element True Qi, so pure and so powerful. Such a breakthrough fluctuation actually appeared in a student?"
He licked his somewhat chapped lips. His voice was hoarse and low, like a venomous snake scraping across the ground. "A girl from the Su family's Branch family? No, she was clearly stuck at the Martial Disciple peak before. Something is strange!"
His gaze was like a tangible poisonous needle, piercing through the night and locking onto the broken window on the second floor of the abandoned stadium.
"And that boy, Lin Xiao? A piece of bottom-tier trash who actually managed to cripple someone like Zhao Hu. Even stranger!"
The greed in the shadow's eyes intensified. "Looks like I'll have to investigate carefully. This 'unexpected harvest' might be worth a fortune—or perhaps it should be offered to the lord above?"
A cold and cruel curve pulled at his lips. His body melted into the shadows like flowing water and vanished silently from the top of the unfinished building.
Inside the changing room.
That cold sensation of being watched vanished in a flash, so quickly that Lin Xiao thought it might have been his own illusion.
But the wariness in his heart instantly rose to its peak!
He forcibly suppressed his unease and turned his gaze back to Su Qingxue, who was still in a state of immense shock.
"Looks like the effect is pretty good."
Lin Xiao put on that carefree, roguish smile again and broke the silence. "Then, Martial Artist Su, according to our agreement..."
He deliberately drawled out the last few words, his eyes sweeping over Su Qingxue's face, which looked even more radiant and alluring after her breakthrough, as well as her heaving chest with undisguised aggression.
Su Qingxue felt uncomfortable all over under his gaze. The joy of her breakthrough was instantly replaced by immense nervousness and shame.
She instinctively retreated half a step, her hands unconsciously shielding her chest. Her cool eyes were filled with wariness and a trace of barely perceptible panic.
He was going to name his condition!
That "any condition"!
What would he ask for? Could it really be...
A tremendous sense of humiliation surged up again, turning her face pale and her fingertips cold.
Looking at her appearance, as if she were facing a great enemy and resembled a startled fawn, the roguish grin at the corners of Lin Xiao's lips grew even more pronounced.
In an unhurried tone filled with teasing confidence, as though he controlled everything, he stated his "condition":
"My first condition is..."
He deliberately paused, savoring the sight of Su Qingxue's body tensing instantly and the shame and indignation almost spilling from her eyes.
"It's very simple."
Lin Xiao's smile was brilliantly radiant. "From today onward, at school, you're my friend, Lin Xiao's friend!"
"Friend?" Su Qingxue was completely stunned.
She had imagined countless possibilities and had even prepared herself for the worst, yet she had never expected Lin Xiao's demand to be such a seemingly simple request.
"That's right, friends."
Lin Xiao nodded, his smile unchanged, though his eyes grew deeper, carrying a hint of imperceptible calculation. "Friends in name. When we meet, we greet each other, occasionally eat together and chat, and let everyone know that you, Su Qingxue, have my back."
He leaned forward slightly, moving closer to Su Qingxue's slightly parted lips, which had opened in astonishment. His voice dropped lower, carrying a magnetic quality that bewitched the heart, yet was filled with unquestionable force:
"Especially when some blind idiots, people like Zhao Hu, want to cause me trouble. Martial Artist Su, you'll have to stand up and say a few words for your 'friend.'"
Su Qingxue understood instantly!
A shield!
He needed a shield with an esteemed identity and powerful strength!
He intended to use her status and her newly achieved martial artist strength to intimidate those potential troublemakers!
Anger at being used and indignation at being looked down upon surged through her in an instant!
She, Su Qingxue, had actually been reduced to a thug's shield?
Yet as she looked at Lin Xiao's face, so close that she could see his amused smile, and felt the unquestionable dominance in his words, she thought back to the earth-shattering breakthrough just now...
In the end, all her anger and resentment transformed into a deep sense of powerlessness, along with a trace of secret relief that she herself failed to notice.
At least it wasn't the worst possible condition.
"Th-that's all?" Her voice was dry with disbelief.
"That's all."
Lin Xiao straightened up, his smile returning to its lazy appearance. "Of course, this is only the first condition. Remember, it's 'any' condition. If I think of something else later, I'll come to you to fulfill it."
He deliberately emphasized the word "any," his ambiguous gaze sweeping over Su Qingxue once more, brimming with implication.
Two crimson clouds instantly rose on Su Qingxue's cheeks again. She was both embarrassed and furious, yet she did not dare to lash out.
She bit her lip and looked at the man before her, who smiled like a fox yet was as dangerous as a wolf. In the end, she could only force one word from her throat:
"Fine!"
The deal was done.
An extremely subtle atmosphere, mixed with exploitation, wariness, shock, dependence, and a faint trace of ambiguity, spread through the ruined changing room.
Looking at the complex, unreadable expression in Su Qingxue's eyes, Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction. He felt that the excruciating pain in his right arm had eased somewhat, perhaps because of his heightened excitement.
He glanced at the light screen in his mind:
Current Source Energy Points: 1.1 - 2.5 = -1.4 (overdrawn) Warning: Source Energy Points are severely overdrawn! Please replenish them as soon as possible! Otherwise, core functions will be affected! (The overdrawn portion is temporarily being substituted with potential or mental power, but must be replenished as soon as possible.)
Negative?
The smile on Lin Xiao's face instantly froze, and an immense sense of crisis crashed over him like icy water!
Source Energy Points! He had to find a way to obtain Source Energy Points immediately—right now!
Otherwise...
His gaze involuntarily shifted toward the small, exquisite storage pouch hanging from Su Qingxue's waist, made of some kind of smooth, warm white jade.
Could there be Energy Stones inside?
Before you continue