South District, in front of a dilapidated courtyard.
Ning Qiu stood at a loss, looking at the noisy courtyard gate before her.
At that moment, four or five women, their faces alight with ingratiating enthusiasm, had surrounded her.
"Oh, Sister Qiu, you're truly blessed! Ye Li has really made something of himself!"
"Yeah! My boy said even the Azure Dragon Gang's martial artists praised his talent."
"In a few years, you'll be able to enjoy the good life!"
The four or five women chattered away, leaving Ning Qiu so flustered she hardly knew what to think.
From their scattered comments, Ning Qiu finally pieced together what had happened.
Her Li'er was astonishingly talented and had taken first place.
After some of the gang members who had tested alongside him went home and told their families, the neighbors had come over to offer their congratulations.
"Sister Ning, look, I happened to buy a fine carp while I was out. Take it and stew it to nourish yourself." A woman smiled as she held out the carp.
"Sister Wang, how can I accept this?"
Now that Ning Qiu understood what was going on, she offered the usual polite protest. Then, with a smile, she accepted the carp. "Well, thank you."
"Oh, it's nothing." The woman gave an awkward laugh and waved her hand. "The kids were young and didn't know any better. My boy had a little spat with your Xiao Ye, so I've come to apologize."
As she spoke, the woman recalled what her son had said when he got home.
Ye Li had the makings of a core disciple!
And a core disciple was a big shot who brought in dozens of taels of silver every month. Her son might end up working under him someday.
Thinking of that, the woman privately regretted having indulged her son's behavior in the past.
In the distance, Ye Li was returning from training when he spotted the lively scene at his gate. His steps slowed slightly.
"So it's finally begun?"
He'd seen this coming.
News traveled fastest among the neighbors in town.
And his talent was like a firefly in the dark, impossible to hide.
Unless he gave up the honor of taking first place in the trial, this was bound to happen.
The loser's path might be safe, but it was nowhere near as wide open as the genius's path.
"This is a good thing, too!" Ye Li murmured.
Lately, security in South District had been deteriorating, and Ye Li wasn't home much.
If he showed his worth at the right moment, the neighbors would be willing to lend a hand when trouble came.
Besides...
A shadow crossed Ye Li's eyes as he thought of the countless painful memories from before his memories had awakened, back when he was young.
Other people had dysfunctional families. He didn't even have an original family to speak of.
If his uncle and aunt hadn't raised him, he would probably have been torn apart and sold off in pieces to West District next door.
Having been born without the two parents everyone else had also made the neighbors look down on him.
With their example set before them, conflicts naturally arose, and the kids were constantly fighting.
Fortunately, he hadn't been born into the home of some useless kid with the Eyes of a Lion.
When the children's squabbles involved the adults, his uncle and aunt hadn't forced him to bow his head and apologize. They'd preserved his childhood dignity.
Even so, the experiences of his childhood had slowly eaten away at Ye Li's way of thinking.
Adler once said: "The happy use their childhood to heal their whole lives; the unhappy spend their whole lives healing their childhood!"
Ye Li could clearly feel his childhood self asking him:
Did he want to become a nobody, or make a name for himself across the world?
He'd already answered that question when he chose to disguise his trait and join the Azure Dragon Gang.
So, if only to heal his younger self, Ye Li didn't want to follow some loser's path.
Ye Li shook his head, a little wistfully. He didn't know why he'd suddenly gotten so sentimental.
Could it be that merely mentioning the Dragon Clan had let Jiangnan's literary melancholy seep through a whole world and turn him into a loser?
"Oh, the future big shot's back..."
"Xiao Li, you still remember me, right? I used to hold you when you were little."
"You're back from training, huh? My boy said you worked harder than anyone in the gang. Sure enough, he was right."
While Ye Li was lost in thought, the neighborhood women noticed him and hurried over, all smiles.
Looking at the neighbors' warm, eager faces, Ye Li smiled gently too. They were all making an effort to meet halfway!
As he chatted with them, he adopted the same attitude he'd had back when he first started streaming, trying to get the big spenders to gift him a ship captain.
His voice and expression were both flawless.
The only difference was that he wasn't wearing an anime avatar or using a voice changer.
Of course, that was only the Ye Li from his earliest days in the avatar!
Later, once Ye Li had built a name for himself, he showed his face without hesitation and began the three steps to internet sainthood!
Forget your roots!
Disassociate!!
Purify!!!
There wasn't much to say about life at home.
It was simply a blend of cozy daily routines and diligent training.
Even though becoming a core disciple was all but certain, Ye Li didn't dare relax for a moment.
After all, he'd seen too many people pop the champagne at halftime on the internet. It was nowhere near time to let his guard down.
The New Three Kingdoms said:
An arrogant army is doomed to lose.
Doomed ↓← army.
Army ↑→ doomed.
Victory doomed army sorrow.
So, apart from eating, sleeping, and other trivial matters, Ye Li still devoted all his time to martial arts training.
His single day of rest passed in the blink of an eye, and amid his uncle and aunt's family's reluctance to see him go, Ye Li returned to the Azure Dragon Gang.
Meanwhile, in the Azure Dragon Gang dormitory, Li Xi tossed and turned all night!
His family considered him lacking in potential. Even though he'd been born into the main line, they already treated him as an outsider.
The person most likely to become the new head of the Li Family was Li You, a member of the collateral branch with a rare blue trait.
Without a word, his clan had pushed him, the legitimate son, to the margins.
"If my family finds out I used a Body-Tempering Pill and still didn't take first place in the trial, they'll surely dig into every detail."
"Li You has a grudge against my mother. He'll definitely kick me when I'm down."
"Rather than go home and be mocked by that pack of fair-weather people, I'd be better off staying in the gang by myself."
"Next month! At next month's trial, I'll beat Ye Li no matter what!"
Li Xi steeled himself, but the thought of Ye Li still filled him with frustration!
He was convinced his talent was no worse than Ye Li's. He'd failed at the end of the month only because he'd practiced martial techniques while undergoing Body Tempering.
The technique he practiced was the Mara Hand, a martial art that paired with his trait.
This martial art taught fighters how to strike their enemies' vital points with their fingers, palms, fists, and elbows.
Normally, it was extremely difficult to find openings in an opponent's movements during a fight.
But his [Sharp Eyes Quick Hands · Green] trait happened to be a perfect match for this technique.
"If I hadn't practiced martial arts, that country bumpkin Ye Li wouldn't have gotten so lucky."
Lacking talent, scorned by his clan, driven from his home, failing at the end-of-month trial...
The smooth sailing of the first half of his life had left all the frustrations of recent days swelling inside his chest like an inflating balloon...
"How does that country bumpkin train, anyway? Could he be hiding something?"
"His [Exceptional Agility] trait can only improve his comprehension. Surely he can't really be a born martial arts prodigy!"
As Li Xi lay in bed, deep in thought, the door creaked open.
He looked toward the sound. Ye Li had returned from his day of rest and was walking in with his bundle on his back.
He still wore the Azure Dragon uniform, black with red patterns, but his inner clothes were brand-new!
Their gazes collided for an instant.
Ye Li casually looked away as if Li Xi were invisible, set his belongings by the head of his bed, and prepared to leave.
It was still early. He could train for a few hours, then come back and go straight to sleep.
"Now that my stamina's improved over the past few days, I'm finding it harder and harder to feel tired from training every day."
Ye Li thought to himself, "Maybe I should add some weight when I exercise, instead of relying purely on bodyweight workouts?"
Just as he fell into thought, Li Xi's commanding voice rang out behind him:
"Ye Li! I'm telling you to come over and talk!"