Underhanded

"Blood-Qi Realm! I did it!"

Inside a luxurious villa, Yang Yi suddenly opened his eyes, his face alight with excitement.

His loose training clothes puffed up for an instant, then settled back down.

"Chu Yuan! Come fight me!"

Chu Yuan gave him a baffled look.

"...Ahem, never mind." Yang Yi suddenly remembered that he had reached the Blood-Qi Realm, but the monster that was Chu Yuan had already entered the Internal Breath Realm several days ago...

This was Yang Yi's personal training room, and it had an Energy Gathering Array that was just as effective as the one at school.

Every day after returning from school, Yang Yi would train at home for a few more hours.

Just as he'd expected, after Chu Yuan helped him refine his second Vajra Pill, he naturally broke through to the Blood-Qi Realm and became a full-fledged Warrior!

Getting into a martial arts university was now all but certain, but he couldn't afford to relax yet.

After all, universities varied in quality. If he could get into a better one... then naturally, he should go to the better one!

Yang Yi silently reminded himself of this, then saw Chu Yuan sit down cross-legged to train.

A wave of admiration welled up in him once more.

Over the past two days, Chu Yuan had always trained for a while after helping him refine his Vajra Pill.

Yang Yi didn't mind Chu Yuan taking advantage of his Energy Gathering Array... the small amount of energy it used up meant nothing to him.

But Chu Yuan had a better talent and better luck than he did, and he still worked harder... Yang Yi had nothing to say about that.

Just as Yang Yi was about to join him, he suddenly remembered something and spoke up.

"By the way, Chu Yuan, there's something..."

Chu Yuan opened his eyes. "What is it?"

"I've looked into Zhou Zhe's situation. There's someone behind him." Yang Yi paused to choose his words. "It's someone from the Li Family in the provincial capital, that transfer student from Class One.

"I heard he egged Zhou Zhe on to come after you..."

A faint smile appeared on Chu Yuan's face. He'd known about this for a while; the principal had already told him.

But he hadn't expected Yang Yi to go to the trouble of looking into it.

Whether it was because of Chu Yuan's value to him or for some other reason, Yang Yi had done it, and that was enough.

"Don't smile. This is serious." Yang Yi sounded a little frustrated. "I don't know why he's targeting you, but the Li Family in the provincial capital is no ordinary family.

"You'd better be careful until the college entrance exams are over.

"If it comes to it... just stay home from school. My Energy Gathering Array is just as good as the one there."

Chu Yuan shook his head and didn't explain. He simply said, "It's fine."

Yang Yi was a little annoyed that Chu Yuan wasn't taking his warning seriously.

But then he remembered that Chu Yuan had some unknown "teacher" backing him, someone whose cultivation level was anyone's guess... He mulled it over and decided not to press the matter.

They were thinking along completely different lines.

Yang Yi thought Chu Yuan had connections and confidence.

But in reality, Chu Yuan's biggest backer right now... might be the principal?

Besides, on the very day Zhou Zhe came looking for trouble, Chu Yuan had already provoked Li Chen.

Li Chen hadn't made a move over the past two days, but Chu Yuan didn't think he was the sort to let things go... He was bound to act sooner or later.

That was what happened with spoiled brats. Until you made them suffer for real, no amount of verbal or stern warnings would do any good.

Chu Yuan wasn't afraid, either.

There was one thing to keep in mind: Li Chen was Li Chen, and the Li Family in the provincial capital was the Li Family in the provincial capital.

Li Chen was just a rookie who had only recently started down the path of martial arts. He had no right to speak for the Li Family!

"Brother..." As soon as Chu Yuan got home, Chu Ying hurried over and tugged at his sleeve, worry written across her face.

Chu Yuan frowned. She was usually fearless; she only looked like this when something was wrong.

"What's the matter?"

Chu Ying lowered her voice. "I think something's happened to our restaurant..."

Chu Yuan relaxed, then went straight to ask Han Cui.

"Mom, what's going on with the restaurant?" he asked.

Han Cui never kept things from Chu Yuan. She sighed and said, "I don't know what's going on. They've been coming by to inspect the place again and again these past few days... They keep saying something doesn't meet the standards, and now they want us to suspend operations and make rectifications."

She wasn't new to running a business; she knew how these things worked.

How could there be so many problems with the restaurant?

Why had everything been fine before, only for it to suddenly start failing inspections now?

Great Qin treated the families of Warriors who died in battle fairly well. Given what was happening, someone was probably trying to make life difficult for her.

But Han Cui couldn't think of anyone she'd offended.

She ran an ordinary restaurant. She'd never even had the chance to offend anyone important...

Chu Yuan was quick to catch on. Li Chen came to mind at once, and an absurd feeling welled up inside him.

If Li Chen had really done this... it was beneath him.

If the other young people in his family found out, wouldn't they laugh themselves sick?

"It's fine, Mom. If we have to, just close the restaurant."

"How can we do that?" Han Cui immediately objected. "You still have school, and there's Yingying..."

The family had some savings, but Han Cui understood that savings wouldn't last forever.

Having a source of income was important. No matter how much it brought in, it gave them peace of mind...

Chu Yuan didn't say anything. He just tapped a few times on his terminal, and Han Cui's terminal immediately chimed with a payment notification.

She raised her wrist to look, then immediately scolded him. "You silly boy, why did you send me money?"

But as soon as she unlocked the terminal and saw the amount, she fell silent.

As if she'd seen a ghost, she looked from the terminal to Chu Yuan...

Only after a long moment did she come to her senses. She pulled Chu Yuan over and asked in a hushed voice, "Six million!? Where did you get that much money!?"

She'd been about to ask if her eldest son had done something illegal.

But no illegal activity could bring in six million in such a short time!

Her eldest son had always been mature for his age, but he didn't look like some kind of genius or monster...

"Mom, this is between Warriors... Don't ask," Chu Yuan said evasively.

Han Cui looked as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she stayed quiet. She was willing to trust Chu Yuan and believed he wouldn't do anything foolish.

When she didn't ask further, Chu Yuan felt relieved.

Explaining would be far too complicated, and he didn't want to lie.

Yang Yi could think whatever he wanted, but Chu Yuan didn't want to say something he didn't mean to his family...

He'd have to earn the money for the weapon he'd planned to buy all over again.

Fortunately, his dealings with Yang Yi weren't a one-time thing.

But he couldn't let this matter go... A trace of anger appeared in Chu Yuan's calm eyes!