A Comfortable Life—Others Suffer, I Enjoy

Over the next few days, Jiang Li did not go improve his martial cultivation.

Instead, while everyone else painstakingly practiced cultivation methods and martial arts every day, Jiang Li drank milk tea outside, surfed the internet, and occasionally admired some pretty girls around campus.

As for Zhou Weihua, the school had already reached a decision.

On the surface, they issued an announcement giving Jiang Li an extremely severe warning and criticism. In reality, it did not affect him in the slightest. There was not even a disciplinary mark on his academic record. Instead, Yun Fei merely had Jiang Li explain himself, while Zhou Weihua was assigned paid leave until the martial arts exam ended as compensation.

Most students could not see anything behind this outcome, but a small number understood perfectly well and could not help clicking their tongues in amazement.

With the martial arts exam fast approaching, most third-year martial arts candidates had their minds focused on rigorous cultivation, and the matter gradually died down.

"Jiang Li!"

Yun Fei walked out of the Martial Testing Tower and saw Jiang Li lying in the sunlight on campus. Her anger immediately flared.

At the very least, she was Jiang Li's teacher. Although she admitted that his talent was far from ordinary, he could not waste himself like this.

She walked over and snatched away the map covering Jiang Li's head.

It was a map of Great Xia, marked with important cities, the habitats of various exotic beasts, and several dangerous forbidden zones.

Jiang Li rubbed his bleary eyes. "It's morning already?"

That sentence made Yun Fei's teeth itch with anger.

"Just kidding, Senior Sister!"

The moment Jiang Li saw it was Yun Fei, he immediately came to his senses.

"Have you even gotten started on the Breathing Technique and cultivation method you chose? There are only two months left until the martial arts exam. Keep wasting time like this, and forget winning Beihe City—you'll struggle to even make the top three," Yun Fei said coldly.

"Mm... I've more or less finished cultivating them," Jiang Li replied.

Naturally, he could not say that he had cultivated them all to completion. The Yellow Book was his greatest secret and could not be exposed.

"Senior Sister, I'm only relaxing once in a while. The Martial Path needs a balance between tension and relaxation." Jiang Li put on a serious expression. "Actually, I've been thinking about building up some practical combat experience."

"No matter how profound your cultivation methods, martial arts, and Breathing Technique are, they're still just empty talk on paper. Look—outside Beihe City, there are several areas where Ninth-Rank and Eighth-grade exotic beasts live. If I could leave the city and train for a while, my strength would definitely improve greatly."

Jiang Li held up the map, where all those places had been marked.

Over the past few days, although he had watched others cultivate themselves half to death and secretly felt delighted, he had not been wasting his time.

From the internet, books, and maps, he had learned about the environment surrounding Beihe City.

However, given Great Xia's current situation, even martial artists needed a pass to leave the city.

"You want to hunt exotic beasts?" Yun Fei raised a brow. Other students were terrified just hearing the words "exotic beasts," yet Jiang Li actually wanted to leave the city?

"Of course!" Jiang Li declared righteously. "As martial artists, we should slay exotic beasts, protect our homes, and defend our country."

"What does it matter if one becomes an Eighth-grade Martial Artist? In my eyes, it's nothing worth mentioning. No matter how strong one's martial cultivation is, what use is it if they only bully the weak and throw their weight around?"

A sharp gleam flickered in Yun Fei's beautiful eyes.

She liked hearing that.

The slight displeasure she had felt toward Jiang Li earlier was swept away by those two sentences.

"If you want to kill exotic beasts, it's simple. The martial arts halls in Beihe City all have hunting missions, with professionals leading the teams."

"I can write you a letter of introduction so you can accept missions and head outside the city to hunt exotic beasts."

Jiang Li was overjoyed when he heard that.

"Then thank you, Senior Sister."

Yun Fei revealed a meaningful smile. "No need to thank me. But there's one thing—if Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall asks you to join them, you must refuse."

"However, you can become an honorary member of Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall. Do you understand?"

Jiang Li froze, then quickly understood. "The kind of honorary member who doesn't have to do any work but still gets benefits for free?"

Yun Fei's radiant smile widened, and she found herself liking Jiang Li more and more.

"Yes, that kind."

At Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall, Jiang Li got out of a taxi.

"Sister Bai!"

He greeted a familiar face inside the martial arts hall. Before long, the curvaceous saleswoman hurried over.

"Jiang Li!" Bai Lu looked pleasantly surprised.

She had been deeply impressed by Jiang Li. He had thrown down a million right from the start—how could she possibly forget him?

"This is a letter of introduction from my Senior Sister. She asked me to deliver it to the master of Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall!"

Jiang Li immediately took out the letter.

"The hall master?" Bai Lu froze. The master of Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall was a genuine Sixth-grade Martial Artist. He was not someone just anyone could meet.

However, when Bai Lu saw the seal on the letter, her expression changed.

She recognized the four words Nanfang University on the seal.

"Please wait a moment!" Bai Lu gave Jiang Li an incredulous look, then turned and headed deeper into the martial arts hall.

On the third floor of the martial arts hall, Bai Lu carefully knocked on an office door.

"Come in!"

Inside the office, Yuan Tianhe, the master of Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall, and his daughter Yuan Kexin turned to look over.

"Hall Master, Miss!"

Bai Lu hurried forward. "A letter of introduction from Nanfang University."

"Hm?"

At the mention of Nanfang University, Yuan Tianhe and Yuan Kexin both showed surprise.

"Nanfang University, one of the military's five great universities? Dad, your connections are that extensive?"

Yuan Kexin wore the uniform of Third High School. Her lovely, youthful face was filled with curiosity.

Yuan Tianhe said nothing. He opened the letter, and when he read it, his expression changed.

Besides introducing Jiang Li for the hunting team, it also included Jiang Li's true report card.

"Eighteen years old and at Eighth Grade Peak? Since when did Beihe City produce such a monster?" Yuan Tianhe sucked in a cold breath.

Although he was a Sixth-grade Martial Artist, when he had been eighteen, he had only been at Ninth Grade Peak. He was an entire major realm below Jiang Li.

If the letter of introduction was genuine, Jiang Li's future prospects were absolutely limitless.

If he could recruit Jiang Li, even if only in name, it would be enough to make Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall's reputation resound throughout Beihe City this year.

"Bring him up... No, I'll meet him myself!" Yuan Tianhe immediately set off.

Meanwhile, Jiang Li was waiting leisurely inside Heavenly River Martial Arts Hall.

He watched several Ninth-Rank Martial Artists wielding weapons in the hall, their swings fierce as tigers, drenched in sweat.

There were also a few Eighth-grade Martial Artists, but in the eyes of someone whose martial arts and cultivation methods had both reached Eighth Grade Completion, not a single one of them was worth fighting.

As he sat there with one leg crossed over the other, boredly watching everyone cultivate themselves half to death, a familiar figure suddenly entered his field of vision.

"Jiang Qi?"

Jiang Li's memories surfaced as he looked at that cool little face.

It was none other than his younger sister.

After their mother died in an accident, he had lived at home with his father, Jiang Yurong, and his younger sister, Jiang Qi, until high school.

Later, because of Lu Wanning, the original Jiang Li had not only demanded large sums of money, but debt collectors from online loans and Lin Yuanliang's men had also come harass them, turning the family upside down and leaving neither chickens nor dogs in peace.

Because of that, Jiang Li had gotten into a huge fight with his father and sister and moved directly into the school dormitory.

At this point in the memories, Jiang Li rubbed his forehead with a headache. How stupid did someone have to be to ignore even his own father and sister for the sake of a strange woman?

At that moment, Jiang Qi also spotted Jiang Li. Surprise and excitement flickered across her cool face, but as if she remembered something, her expression turned to disgust.

"Jiang Qi, isn't that your brother?"

Just then, a boy around Jiang Qi's age, dressed in training clothes, walked over.

With a grin, he waggled his eyebrows and said, "Why don't you look happy at all to see your own brother?"

"I heard your brother owes a lot of money outside. Those people who came looking for you at school last time—they were there because of your brother too, right?"

As the boy spoke, the others their age beside him all burst into laughter.

Jiang Qi's small hands gradually clenched into fists, her face slowly reddening as she gritted her teeth.

"Little errand girl, what, you're getting angry over a couple jokes?" The boy laughed even louder, then turned toward the training ground and shouted, "Perfect timing, Teacher Li! Let Jiang Qi spar with me in this afternoon's class."

An Eighth-grade Martial Artist in the training ground turned to look over and nodded indifferently.

"Jiang Qi, why haven't you changed into your training clothes yet?"

Jiang Qi gritted her teeth, the corners of her eyes reddening slightly. But after glancing at Jiang Li, she said nothing and silently walked aside to change into her martial arts uniform and serve as a sparring partner.

Jiang Li's brows furrowed deeply at the sight.

He walked straight over and grabbed Jiang Qi by the wrist.

"Why aren't you studying properly? Since when did you start coming here to work as a sparring partner?"

Jiang Li said calmly, "Don't think that just because you're in your second year of high school, you can neglect your studies. In a little over a year, it'll be your turn to take the martial arts exam."

"It's none of your business!" Jiang Qi yanked hard, wrenching her hand free from Jiang Li's grip.

Jiang Li looked at Jiang Qi. His family was not rich, but neither were they short on money. They were not so poor that Jiang Qi needed to work part-time.

Then there was only one possibility: she was doing it for him.

That idiot of an original owner...

Jiang Li stopped paying attention to Jiang Qi. Instead, he turned around and smiled at the boy.

"You want a sparring partner, right? Come on, I'll spar with you!"

He strode toward him, a trace of viciousness surfacing in his eyes.

You little brat, who do you think you're bullying?