Internal Breath Realm?

Qi Da ignored him. He had rushed over as soon as he received Chu Yuan's message, and still didn't know the full story;

then he turned to Chu Yuan and scolded him. "You were too reckless! Do you know how dangerous that was!?"

Chu Yuan didn't think much of it. "If he wanted me dead, he could've just come after me. Why go to all that trouble to kill Li Chen...?"

That only made Qi Da angrier. "Nonsense! Do you think you're so clever!?"

"..."

Chu Yuan fell silent, and Qi Da felt somewhat helpless;

he knew Chu Yuan had a point, but what he'd done was still incredibly risky.

The team leader from the Public Security Bureau seemed to be trying to make up for his subordinate's earlier mistake. He spoke up. "Principal Qi, your student really is very strong!"

"Strong or not, he's still a student!" Qi Da snorted. "Tell me, what exactly happened?"

"Basically, the impostor showed up and killed Zhou Zhe's father;

then this team leader suspected I'd staged the whole thing, so he deliberately brought in a Warrior from the Internal Breath Realm to help me put on this act..."

Qi Da nodded. "You couldn't investigate the connections of a student like Chu Yuan?

In that case, doesn't that make me the prime suspect?"

"..."

Chu Yuan thought about it. Of the advanced Warriors he was close to, Qi Da really was the only one.

He was indeed the most suspicious, but the Public Security Bureau team leader didn't dare touch that subject. He could only give an awkward chuckle.

Qi Da walked to the broken window and looked down;

the night was dark, but that was nothing to a Warrior of the Fifth Realm.

Soon, his gaze settled on one spot, and his expression turned slightly grave;

there, the asphalt was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, as if something had struck it with tremendous force.

There were a few drops of blood scattered nearby...

"Is that where the impostor finally escaped?"

"Yes."

"Who struck him?" Qi Da asked the team leader in confusion. He was the only Warrior of the Internal Breath Realm present, so it should have been him;

but something didn't add up. If the team leader had managed to wound the man, he should've chased him down already...

Besides... his Internal Breath Realm status was a little dubious;

that was just how things were with the Public Security Bureau. Their strength wasn't particularly impressive;

they mainly dealt with ordinary people. Cases involving Warriors, especially advanced Warriors, were handled by another organization.

That was the Martial Suppression Bureau, the largest force in every city apart from the military.

But Chu Yuan and Li Chen... weren't officially Warriors yet, and with Qi Da vouching for them...

there'd been no need to call them in at first. The Martial Suppression Bureau was always short-staffed, and had other, more important tasks.

But after tonight, it was clear that another Warrior was pulling strings behind the scenes. Perhaps it was time for them to take over...

The thought flashed through Qi Da's mind, and then he heard Chu Yuan answer;

"It was me."

"You?" Qi Da looked at him in confusion;

"This student, Chu Yuan, was the one who struck him. When the culprit ran, he threw his sword like a hidden weapon!" the team leader added, then picked up the broken sword from the table and handed it to Qi Da;

"This is the sword!"

Qi Da's expression turned grave. There wasn't much to say about the sword itself; it was just an ordinary craft item;

but he suddenly realized he'd overlooked something!

He looked sharply at Chu Yuan. "What realm are you at now!?"

"Never mind. We'll talk about it on the way back!"

Watching Qi Da leave with Chu Yuan as if no one else were there, the female officer beside the team leader couldn't accept it.

"Captain! You're just letting them go?"

"What else am I supposed to do?"

"Never mind the principal of First High School, but Chu Yuan... He's not only a suspect. I think he's still hiding a lot from us!"

"What do you mean, 'never mind the principal of First High School'?" The team leader glared at her, taking another look at his foolish subordinate;

at first, he'd thought she was brave and principled;

but now, he'd begun to see her differently.

In the end, he said nothing about that. He simply said, "We probably won't be handling this case any further. Let's wrap up."

"So, what realm are you at, exactly?"

Qi Da hadn't driven over because he wanted to get there as quickly as possible;

sometimes, driving was a symbol of status and a matter of courtesy;

but for a Warrior of the Fifth Realm, moving under his own power was faster.

Chu Yuan glanced at the bright streetlights and answered without much hesitation. "Probably... the Internal Breath Realm?"

"Hiss~"

Even Qi Da, with all his experience, couldn't help but suck in a breath in the most cliché way;

"Internal Breath Realm!? Are you sure!?"

Chu Yuan had only been cultivating for a week, and Qi Da had given him nothing but some basic Martial Arts Pills... How had he reached the Internal Breath Realm!?

It was true that every year, a few gifted students taking the college entrance exams managed to reach the Internal Breath Realm;

but that was after a whole month of being showered with family resources and everything the Blue Cloud Project could provide!

Chu Yuan... had nothing!

Now even Qi Da couldn't help wondering if Chu Yuan had secretly allied himself with some "person";

otherwise, even if his talent was peerless, where had he gotten the resources?

Chu Yuan said nothing. He merely raised a finger, and a tiny glimmer appeared at its tip;

Qi Da had no more doubts. Releasing energy beyond the body was the definitive sign of the Internal Breath Realm!

Chu Yuan's inner breath seemed somewhat different from other people's, but that was normal;

everyone's inner breath was different;

Inner breath was like a Warrior's ID card. Even when cultivating the exact same technique, no two people's inner breath would be alike.

As long as it didn't carry any traces of the Alien Race, that was all that mattered.

"Are you still cultivating... the Essence Tempering Technique?"

"Of course."

"Show me."

Chu Yuan activated the technique, and a faint, profound aura radiated from him.

An immense joy welled up inside Qi Da;

it was the Essence Tempering Technique! And Chu Yuan really had reached the Internal Breath Realm!

Chenyang No. 1 High School... had truly produced an extraordinary talent!

He forced himself not to imagine just how far Chu Yuan might go in the future;

instead, he solemnly warned him, "Don't tell anyone about this. Remember, you can only 'advance' to the Internal Breath Realm right before the college entrance exams!"

"What about those officers...?"

"I'll take care of them!"

Chu Yuan looked at Qi Da in surprise, a strange look in his eyes;

"...What are you thinking? I'm just having them sign a confidentiality agreement, not silencing them..." Qi Da said, exasperated. "Does anyone else know you've advanced to the Internal Breath Realm?"

"Yes. Yang Yi. But he'll keep it secret for me."

"Yang Yi..." Qi Da thought for a moment, then immediately remembered him. "He's in your class too, right? The son of that Yang Tianlei?"

"Uh... yes." Chu Yuan didn't actually know the name of Yang Yi's father, but there wasn't another Yang Yi in his class.

"I see..."