Blue Tyrant Academy

He could feel a sharp, throbbing pain radiating from his ribs, and the metallic tang of blood at the corner of his mouth grew increasingly thick.

"Stop... please, stop..." Yu Xiaogang's voice grew faint.

His consciousness began to blur, leaving only the primal instinct for survival to drive him to shield his head with all his might.

The one-eyed bandit grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face hard against the ground: "Still dare to call yourself a Grandmaster?"

His forehead struck a stone, and blood instantly gushed out, matting his eyes shut.

Amidst the blood-red vertigo, Yu Xiaogang seemed to see Xu Yuan's calm face, the respectful gaze of Tang San, and the image of himself holding court with eloquent ease...

But these hallucinations were quickly shattered by heavier kicks.

"Boss, that's enough. Any more and he'll be dead." A bandit noticed Yu Xiaogang was nearing his limit and spoke up to warn him.

The Scar-faced man spat on the ground and kicked Yu Xiaogang's limp body: "A piece of trash, useless to keep alive. Search him and see if there's anything worth taking."

The bandits immediately stepped forward, roughly rummaging through his clothes.

The Gold Soul Coins hidden in his robes, the old bracelet on his wrist, and even his shoes were stripped off for inspection; in the end, they only found a few silver coins and a broken jade pendant engraved with the character 'Yu'.

"What a damn pauper," the Scar-faced man cursed, tossing the pendant onto the dirt. "Let's go!"

The bandits hauled away their stolen loot and strode off, leaving only the sound of Yu Xiaogang's ragged breathing and the mournful wail of the wind through the trees.

It was unknown how much time had passed before Yu Xiaogang finally recovered enough strength from the agony to move.

He struggled to roll over, gazing up at the night sky, which was fractured by the canopy of branches; the moon hid behind the clouds, refusing to grant him even a sliver of light.

Blood still trickled from his forehead, and his ribs ached so severely he dared not take a deep breath.

Yu Xiaogang touched his face, finding it covered in sticky blood and mud; there was no trace left of the so-called Grandmaster of theory.

"Xu Yuan..." Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth, every syllable pulling at his wounds. "If I do not die... I will make you... pay in blood..."

At this moment, Yu Xiaogang blamed all his misfortunes entirely on Xu Yuan.

Ever since he met Xu Yuan, everything had gone wrong; if not for Xu Yuan, he would never have suffered this fate.

Yu Xiaogang struggled to stand, only to find his right leg had no strength at all—it was likely broken.

The carriage had long since been smashed to pieces by the bandits, and the driver had fled to parts unknown.

The howl of an unknown beast echoed from the depths of the dense forest, sending a chill through his entire body.

Yu Xiaogang curled up on the ground, staring at his blood-stained fingers, and suddenly began to laugh. The laughter was hoarse and wretched, echoing through the silent woods like a wounded lone wolf.

He had spent his entire life pursuing truth, pursuing the validation of others.

Yet in the end, he had been beaten into a cripple by a few low-life thugs he despised most, abandoned in this wilderness, his fate hanging by a thread.

"Perhaps... Xu Yuan was right..." Yu Xiaogang's consciousness grew increasingly hazy. "My theories... were wrong from the start..."

The moment this thought surfaced, he ruthlessly suppressed it.

No!

He was not wrong!

It was Xu Yuan who was wrong!

It was those people who lacked the capacity to appreciate his genius!

In the blink of an eye, over ten days passed.

Xu Yuan and his two companions arrived at Tiandou City by carriage and disembarked at the gates of Blue Tyrant Academy.

During their time in Tiandou City, the relationship between Xu Yuan and Zhu Zhuqing had grown increasingly close.

Following the instructions of God King Tang San, he had passed a simplified version of the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to Zhu Zhuqing.

This had surprised Xu Yuan quite a bit; he hadn't expected God King Tang San to be willing to let him share a simplified version of the technique with someone else.

Given God King Tang San's personality, if you didn't join the Tang Sect, he would never pass it on to you.

Zhu Zhuqing, having received the simplified Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, was immensely grateful to Xu Yuan, and coupled with his previous life-saving grace, she began to develop other feelings for him.

However, thinking of her engagement to Dai Mubai, she felt she was unworthy of Xu Yuan.

This period was the enrollment season for Blue Tyrant Academy, and many people were eager to gain admission.

Although Blue Tyrant Academy was not the best school, it was one of the few high-level academies that accepted commoners.

The gates of Blue Tyrant Academy were not particularly grand, yet they exuded an air of steady composure, and the two characters 'Blue Tyrant' were carved into the stone tablet at the entrance with vigorous, powerful strokes.

At this moment, a long line had already formed at the entrance, mostly composed of young boys and girls in simple attire, their faces filled with anxiety and longing. Occasionally, a few dressed in fine clothes appeared, but they stood quietly in the queue, none daring to be ostentatious at such a time.

"Wow, so this is Blue Tyrant Academy?" Xiao Wu stood on tiptoe to look, her ponytail swaying gently with the movement. "It looks so big! Much more impressive than Notting Academy!"

Zhu Zhuqing stood by Xu Yuan's side, her long black hair tied up with a simple wooden hairpin, revealing a smooth forehead; her cold, aloof features were much softer than when they had first met.

Zhu Zhuqing leaned toward Xu Yuan and whispered, "I heard their practical combat classes are very famous."

Xu Yuan nodded, his gaze falling on the sign at the enrollment desk: "Let's go register first."

The three of them moved slowly forward with the line, Xiao Wu curiously observing the surrounding candidates and chattering away to Xu Yuan.

Zhu Zhuqing stood quietly to the side, her gaze scanning the crowd with vigilance, as if she had not yet fully let down her guard from being hunted.

When it was their turn, the teacher in charge of registration looked up at the three of them and pushed three forms toward them: "Name, age, martial soul, Soul Power Level. Fill these out."

Xu Yuan picked up a pen and wrote down his information, while Xiao Wu leaned over, looked at the martial soul column on the form, and tilted her head in thought.

She wrote down Soft Bone Rabbit and filled in thirty-one for her Soul Power Level, lifting her chin triumphantly at Xu Yuan once she finished.

In theory, Xiao Wu's level should have been twenty-nine, but knowing Xu Yuan's terrifying cultivation speed, she had been practicing very diligently at the academy.

Zhu Zhuqing's movements were swift, her handwriting on the form elegant and sharp; she filled in Hell Spirit Cat for her martial soul and twenty-seven for her Soul Power Level.

After finishing, Zhu Zhuqing glanced at the forms of Xu Yuan and Xiao Wu, her heart filled with immense astonishment.

Xiao Wu's level was actually thirty-one, and Xu Yuan's level was... thirty-eight!

At twelve years old and level thirty-eight, it could be said that Xu Yuan's talent was the absolute pinnacle in the Douluo Continent, bar none.

This stirred a sense of inferiority in Zhu Zhuqing's heart, along with a great deal of pressure.

The registration teacher picked up the three forms, his gaze lingering on Xu Yuan's age and Soul Power Level for a full three seconds; his eyes widened slightly behind his spectacles, and his fingers tapped unconsciously against the tabletop.

"Twelve years old... level thirty-eight?" The registration teacher repeated in a low voice, as if confirming he hadn't misread it.

The teacher then looked up at Xu Yuan, his eyes filled with scrutiny and inquiry, "Little friend, you cannot simply write whatever you like on this form."

Seeing this, Xu Yuan replied, "Teacher, if you do not believe it, we can have it tested."