Douluo: Starting Out by Snapping at Grandmaster

How the hell were they supposed to fight this? How could they even fight?

Just then, Lu Fei's previously gentle sword momentum suddenly turned fierce. The abrupt change caught Xiao Chenyu completely off guard.

In his panic, Xiao Chenyu exposed an opening that Lu Fei seized. His longsword drove straight in, stopping only when it reached Xiao Chenyu's throat.

"Gulp..."

Looking at the blade so close before him, Xiao Chenyu could not help swallowing.

"I lost..."

He had gone all out, yet he had still lost in the end.

The upperclassmen could only shake their heads helplessly.

Losing was not scary. What was scary was losing to work-study students they had always looked down on—losing to a little brat half their age.

"I lost!"

Only after Xiao Chenyu conceded did Lu Fei withdraw his sword.

He did not forget to twist the knife either. "Actually, I only rank fourth in strength in our dormitory, so I hope you won't bully the work-study students anymore."

Lu Fei's words made Xiao Chenyu and the others' eyes widen.

Was this some kind of joke?

Someone this monstrous could only rank fourth among the work-study students?

Their gazes swept one by one across Lu Yu and the others' faces.

They knew the strength of familiar faces like Wang Sheng's. Otherwise, they would not have dared bully them. That meant only the newcomers remained.

Their boss, that little girl, and Lu Fei...

Eh, no, that was not right. There was still one person missing.

Could someone else have not come?

Lu Yu stepped out of the group. "Boss Xiao, what about the wager? You're all influential figures in Nuoding City. Surely you won't go back on your word?"

"Hmph!" Xiao Chenyu snorted. "Don't worry. I, Xiao Chenyu, am not that shameless. Starting today, we'll take care of all the work-study students' chores."

There was nothing he could not accept about losing. It was not like he had to do the work himself.

At most, losing to this bunch was a little humiliating.

But in all of Nuoding City, no one would dare laugh at him anyway.

"Generous. Then we'll be taking our leave."

Lu Yu gave him a thumbs-up, then left with Lu Fei and the others.

There was no rush over the token. There was still plenty of time.

Today's main purpose had been to hand off the chores so they could focus on cultivation.

After being stifled for so long, they had finally held their heads high today. Along the way, Wang Sheng and the others unconsciously straightened their backs as they walked, looking exceptionally proud.

Lu Fei moved over to Xiao Wu's side. "Xiao Wu, what do you say? Want to have a match later?"

Xiao Chenyu and his group had been far too weak. They had not put any pressure on Lu Fei at all, and without pressure, where would progress come from?

He still needed to fight Xiao Wu and Tang San.

"No problem."

After watching for so long, Xiao Wu had long been itching for a fight. Since Lu Fei had brought it up himself, she naturally would not refuse.

Before long, Lu Yu and the others returned to the dormitory.

Lu Yu said, "If you want to fight, go outside. I'm cultivating, so don't disturb me."

Lingbo Microsteps was far too profound. It could not be improved through practice alone, so his current priority still had to be Soul Power cultivation.

"Got it!"

Lu Fei had no objections. He grabbed Xiao Wu and ran off.

"Holy shit..."

Seeing Lu Fei directly grab her hand, Lu Yu was instantly dumbfounded.

Was he trying to steal Tang San's wife?

No way.

That was a hundred-thousand-year set. If those two got together...

How was Lu Yu supposed to make his move?

What a damn mess.

Still, no one could predict the future, and there was no use thinking so much about it now.

Lu Yu quickly entered a state of cultivation.

Over the next few days, aside from attending class and eating, Lu Yu spent nearly all his time cultivating in the dormitory, only occasionally giving Lu Fei some lessons.

He mainly taught him about Soul Beasts.

There was no need for him to explain Soul Masters, because the academy's introductory knowledge was about Soul Masters.

And it was even more detailed than what he knew.

Lu Fei, meanwhile, was rather busy over those days.

During the day, he had to practice swordsmanship and footwork. Once he felt he had improved, he had to spar with Xiao Wu.

It had to be said that Lu Fei was truly putting in a great deal of effort with those two martial arts now, at least far more than he had back in the village.

But as he grew increasingly familiar with Xiao Wu's moves and patterns, the help she could offer him became smaller and smaller.

If he wanted to improve further, he would probably have to wait for Tang San to return, or for Xiao Wu to break through to Soul Scholar. Even if she did become a Soul Scholar, though, it probably would not help much.

The gap between their strengths had never been as great as imagined. Once they became familiar with each other, that gap was reduced infinitely.

No wonder real combat improved one so quickly.

After only a few days of sparring with Xiao Wu, Lu Fei's long-stagnant swordsmanship reached the minor success realm. He could now strike one sword per second.

Tang San was still waiting in the wings. If he could make good use of him...

Not to mention anything else, Lu Fei would have no trouble reaching the major success realm in both swordsmanship and footwork within a year. Lu Yu was immensely envious.

If he had had such a good whetstone back then, why would he have needed three years? At most, one and a half years—two years tops—would have been enough for him to reach perfection.

Humans and beasts were different in the end.

Especially someone like Tang San, who already knew martial arts. Fighting him was the best way to validate one's own learning. Lu Yu just did not know how long Lu Fei would need.

That day, Tang San returned.

The first thing Tang San did upon returning to the academy was find Lu Yu. "Fight me again."

Glancing at him, Lu Yu smiled. "Looks like the First Soul Ring gave you a lot of confidence. Aren't you afraid of getting beaten up?"

Tang San said coldly, "Just tell me if you dare."

"Trying to provoke me?" Lu Yu laughed. "That won't work on me. If you tell me to fight, I fight? Wouldn't that make me lose face?"

"You..." Tang San said angrily, "Then what will it take for you to fight me?"

Lu Yu said, "How about this? Be Lu Fei's sparring partner for a month. When the month is over, I'll fight you."

"Fine."

With that, Tang San turned and left.

Lu Yu was instantly dumbfounded.

What... was that about?

He had thought that, given Tang San's personality, getting him to be Lu Fei's sparring partner would be difficult. Yet the guy had agreed immediately.

Lu Yu had no idea what to make of it.

After pondering for a long time, Lu Yu seemed to realize something.

Could this guy be trying to steal their techniques?

Tang San had a prior record, so Lu Yu was not suspecting him without reason.

But it did not matter.

Whether it was the Basic Sword Technique or footwork, neither was some profound martial art. As long as one understood the principles, they were easy to learn.

But so what if he learned them?

Chapter 19: Half a Year Later

Once Lu Fei used him to hone the Basic Sword Technique and footwork to the realm of perfection, Lu Yu would begin teaching him Lingbo Microsteps and Flash Shadow Triple Kill.

Those two profound martial arts were not something one could learn just by watching.

The reason he had not taught Lu Fei yet was because those two martial arts were too profound. If Lu Fei's foundation was not solid enough, he would have a hard time learning them.

Rather than waste time on them, it would be better to build up his fundamentals early. Then, cultivating those two martial arts would be much easier.

When Tang San succeeded in stealing the techniques, only to suddenly discover that Lu Fei had already leveled up—and with techniques he could not steal—his expression would definitely be amusing.

If he was going to be a whetstone, then he needed the awareness of a whetstone. Did he think about everything except how to break the blade every day?

Since Lu Yu dared let him be a sparring partner, he naturally had the confidence to keep him in check.

Time passed day by day.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

Over the past half year, Tang San had challenged Lu Yu almost once every month. Yet every time, he ended up getting beaten badly, and his injuries grew worse each time.

The main reason was that Lu Yu was testing whether Tang Hao had already left.

According to the original story, Tang Hao should have left for a period of time after giving him the Grandmaster's Token. Otherwise, Grandmaster would not have gone through that life-and-death crisis.

The facts proved that he was right.

Once, Tang San had been beaten so badly that he lay in bed for an entire week, yet Tang Hao never showed himself.

And then there was the fact that this guy really was stealing techniques.

It had to be said that Tang San's talent for martial arts was truly high.

Since every challenge required him to be Lu Fei's sparring partner for a month, over the past half year, he had genuinely stolen the essentials of the Basic Sword Technique through their sparring.

But he had never dared display it before Lu Yu and Lu Fei. He practiced only in secret, and Lu Yu had discovered it by chance.

Do not underestimate half a year.

No one had taught him at all. He had stolen it purely through combat. No wonder this guy could learn the Tang Sect's various ultimate arts that others could not.

That talent was truly something else.

But Lu Yu did not expose him.

After all, Tang San was still an extremely useful whetstone. Through continuously sparring with him, Lu Fei had now reached the major success realm in both swordsmanship and footwork.

It was not only Lu Fei. Even Lu Yu had improved considerably through him.

Five months ago, in order to improve his proficiency with Lingbo Microsteps, Lu Yu had thought of a method: restricted sparring.

What was restricted sparring?

In short, Tang San attacked while Lu Yu evaded.

Tang San could go all out and attack Lu Yu with everything he had, while Lu Yu could only rely on footwork to dodge and could not counterattack at all.

Surprisingly, it actually worked.

After five months of effort, Lu Yu had finally raised his Lingbo Microsteps proficiency to the minor success realm.

But after that, Tang San was no longer useful.

Because with Lingbo Microsteps at the minor success realm, even if Tang San went all out and used Purple Demon Eye, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Soul Skills, and everything else he had—

he still could not cause Lu Yu any trouble.