Chu Yuan's Shock

"You!"

Seeing that Zong Cheng had no regard for anyone, Su Jianhong was so furious his face twisted. He immediately reached out to slap him.

But he was getting on in years and was no match for the younger Zong Cheng, who nimbly dodged. Zong Cheng then shoved him down.

Seeing his father about to fall, Su Bai darted behind him and caught him.

"Bastard!"

He couldn't hold back any longer. He kicked Zong Cheng to the ground and snapped, "Give my second aunt her money back!"

"What? You—you little brat, you dare hit me?" Enraged and humiliated, Zong Cheng scrambled up and tried to fight Su Bai!

But he was just an ordinary person. How could he possibly be a match for Su Bai, a "provisional ninja"? Su Bai kicked him to the ground again. Zong Cheng sobered up at once, realizing he couldn't win, and started cursing.

"So this is what they teach you at school? To bully your own relatives?"

"Come on! If you've got the guts, kill me! You think I'm going to hand over money once it's in my hands? No chance!"

Zong Cheng simply lay on the ground and rolled around, acting like a complete scoundrel.

Seeing him behave that way made Su Bai furious. He stepped forward and stomped hard on Zong Cheng's chest!

"Crack!"

"Ah! It hurts like hell!" The sound of a bone cracking came from Zong Cheng's chest, and he let out a terrible scream!

Seeing things were getting out of hand, Su Jianhong worried Su Bai might hit Zong Cheng too hard and kill him. He hurriedly stopped him.

"Xiaobai, stop!"

Su Bai glanced at his father, then at Zong Cheng rolling on the ground. His anger ebbed, and he calmed down.

Whatever else Zong Cheng was, he was still Su Bai's uncle by marriage. It wasn't right for him to attack him.

Only then did Lin Xiu'e come to her senses. She hurried to her son and grabbed his arm, afraid he might strike again. If someone died, their family would be finished!

Lin Xiumei also sobbed, "Xiaobai, just let him go. He's a bastard!"

Everyone in the family knew what Zong Cheng was like. When his gambling addiction took hold, he didn't care if he lived or died. Once money got into his hands, getting it back was harder than reaching the sky!

Seeing his son's expression shift from one mood to another, Su Jianhong feared he might act rashly in his youth and hit Zong Cheng too hard. He hurriedly yelled at Zong Cheng.

"Get out of my house, and don't come back!"

"Hmph, fine, I won't come back. Like I care!"

Zong Cheng painfully dragged himself up from the floor, dusted off his backside, and left without hesitation. He didn't spare a thought for Lin Xiumei, who sat crying on the sofa, as though she weren't even his wife.

Seeing this, Su Bai cursed inwardly. What a piece of shit!

But there wasn't much else he could do. If Zong Cheng hadn't shoved his father just now, provoking him in the heat of the moment, Su Bai would never have laid a hand on him.

Su Bai had been brought up well. Although Su Jianhong and Lin Xiu'e weren't particularly capable, they had taught him from childhood to respect his elders and be a dutiful son.

And Su Bai hadn't let his parents down. No matter what happened, he had always put his family first and shown his elders great respect.

If Zong Cheng hadn't gone too far, Su Bai wouldn't have wanted to fight him.

Just now, though, he'd really wanted to kill Zong Cheng!

It wasn't because of the ten thousand yuan. He simply couldn't stand him!

But Su Bai had held back. He knew he couldn't handle a murder case. If he killed someone, he'd be finished.

After Zong Cheng left, the family sat down together. Su Xiaoxiao huddled fearfully against Su Bai. She couldn't see, but the argument had frightened her.

"Big sister, brother-in-law, I'm so sorry. I'd meant to give the money to Xiaobai, but I never expected..." Lin Xiumei wiped her tears and apologized.

That ten thousand yuan had been all the money she had.

"Sigh, be more careful from now on. Don't let that bastard find out you have money."

"Let's not talk about the money anymore. If we have to, I'll talk things over with his uncle again and see if we can scrape together some more!"

Su Jianhong and Lin Xiu'e sighed too, and offered Lin Xiumei a few words of comfort.

What could they say when she was stuck with a husband like that?

The two of them had talked about divorce more than once, but every time, Lin Xiumei had put up with Zong Cheng for her daughter's sake, unwilling to make her child grow up in a broken home...

They felt helpless. They had urged Lin Xiumei to divorce him many times.

But Zong Cheng was clever. He treated his daughter especially well, using the child to keep Lin Xiumei from finding the resolve to divorce him!

The three of them furrowed their brows and fell quiet.

Seeing this, Su Bai smiled and spoke softly. "Dad, Mom, Second Aunt, don't worry. Leave the money to me!"

"Hm?"

The three of them turned to look at him. Su Bai took a scroll from his schoolbag and placed it on the table.

"This is... a Ninjutsu Scroll!" All three of them were shocked, their eyes wide with disbelief.

They weren't ninjas, but they knew what a scroll was worth. It was something ordinary people couldn't afford even if they worked their whole lives!

"Xiaobai, where did this come from?" Su Jianhong grabbed Su Bai by the shoulder and asked sternly.

How had his son, just a student, managed to get his hands on a Ninjutsu Scroll worth a million Federal Coins?

"Could it be..."

The thought made him even more anxious. He hurriedly asked, "Xiaobai, where did you get it? I heard this thing is worth over a million. You're still a student... Did you get mixed up in something shady?"

"Don't worry, Dad." Seeing his father's concern, Su Bai smiled and explained, "Would your son really do something like that? The principal gave it to me after learning I had talent. He hopes I'll get good grades and bring honor to the school."

They were stunned!

The principal had taken an interest in Su Bai's talent?

A Ninjutsu Scroll worth a million Federal Coins had been given to him?

Chapter 18: Chu Yuan's Shock

"Mom, Dad, the principal said that if I can master this ninjutsu, I'll have a good chance of getting into Nine Provinces Academy!"

"And the school has already set aside a scholarship for me in advance. It's a full hundred thousand. That'll be enough to cover my college expenses."

"Not only that, I also know a powerful Genin. He spends all year fighting Magic Beasts in the Wasteland Zone. His strength and experience are incredible, and he said he'd be willing to train me!"

Su Bai said a lot in one breath. He wasn't trying to show off; he wanted to put his parents at ease.

His parents had worked so hard to raise him all these years. Now it was time for them to reap the "rewards"!

When Su Bai finished speaking, his parents, his younger sister, and his second aunt were all stunned...

After quite a while, Lin Xiu'e murmured through tears of joy...

"My son has made something of himself. My son has made something of himself!"

Su Bai's dramatic change made her feel as if happiness had fallen from the sky. She was so happy that it hardly seemed real...

Just a few days earlier, she and Su Jianhong had still been worrying about Su Bai's future, afraid he would spend his whole life like them, stuck at the bottom of society, scrambling to make ends meet every day, living on the outskirts of the Base City and constantly fearing a sudden Magic Beast attack.

But now... Su Bai had become more outstanding than they had ever dared to dream!

Scholarships, ninjutsu, ninjas, Nine Provinces Academy... These were all things so far beyond ordinary people that they had never even dared to imagine them!

If someone else's child achieved even one of those things, the whole family would throw a grand feast and notify all their neighbors to celebrate.

But their son... had managed all of them. The family praised Su Bai for a good half hour!

In the end, Su Bai couldn't take it anymore. He "escaped" as soon as they finished lunch...

"Whew~"

"I've never seen Mom and Dad this happy in either of my lives, haha." Walking down a quiet path, Su Bai wore a goofy smile.

"But I can't get arrogant. This is only the beginning. I still can't afford to buy my family a house in a safe part of the City Center."

"Right, my next goal is to buy a big house for Mom, Dad, and my little sister. After that, I'll find a way to treat Xiaoxiao's eyes... Anyway, I'll make sure my family is happy!"

A little while later, carrying his "grand ambitions," he arrived at an abandoned Slaughterhouse.

It had still been operating a few years ago, but then the owner had apparently gone out of business and left behind several enormous factory buildings.

This place was even closer to the edge of the Base City than Happiness Residential Complex. It was unfit for people to live in. The Yang City Base City wall stood about twenty kilometers farther ahead, and beyond it lay the Wasteland Zone, a paradise for Magic Beasts...

"This should do." Su Bai looked at the open space in front of him and nodded in satisfaction.

Closing his eyes, he began recalling the contents of the scroll.

Actually, he didn't need to recall it. After he'd torn the scroll at home... it had turned into a beam of light and shot into his mind. Information about training in ninjutsu had immediately filled his head!

Double Suicide Decapitation Technique: Earth Release ninjutsu, D-rank.

Ninjutsu description: The user burrows underground using Earth Release. Cracks appear in the ground where the user sets off and emerges, allowing for surprise attacks and evasion.

After "reading" the basic information, Su Bai continued to "read" the training method. Before long, he understood it.

Double Suicide Decapitation Technique required only three hand seals, which was considered average for a D-rank ninjutsu—not too many.

After all, it was a ninjutsu designed for surprise attacks. If it required too many hand seals, it couldn't be used to launch a sudden attack.

"Right now, I can make one hand seal per second, so preparing to release the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique takes three seconds."

"But that's just my hand seal speed for the Three Body Technique. I doubt I can do this ninjutsu that quickly."

At school, they had been taught that a ninja's hand seal speed depended on more than just how much they practiced. For ninjutsu, hand seals weren't merely a few simple gestures.

When a ninja used ninjutsu, the purpose of hand seals was to concentrate chakra in one place, then combine the seals in sequence to gather chakra and release it as a ninjutsu.

So hand seal speed wasn't just about how quickly someone moved their hands. More importantly, it depended on how quickly the chakra inside their body could be concentrated. Whether a ninja could rapidly circulate their chakra and release a ninjutsu was also an important measure of their skill!

When Su Bai began making hand seals, the chakra in his body moved sluggishly along the path for the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique.

One seal... two seals... three seals...

He had made only three hand seals, but it had taken him almost a full minute!

"No wonder the teacher said it'd be good if I learned this ninjutsu in two months. Moving chakra around is this difficult?"

At school, students were taught only the Three Body Technique, which ranked below D-rank ninjutsu and was considered an entry-level technique.

There were actually many techniques like these, but most weren't as practical as the Three Body Technique. That was why the school had chosen the Three Body Technique as its curriculum, letting students get used to the feeling of chakra flowing through their bodies before they became ninjas.

And chakra in this world was unusually volatile. People had to be extremely careful even when refining it, let alone when releasing a ninjutsu. That was why ninjas were incredibly cautious when moving chakra through their bodies!

This also meant that ninjas in this world weren't as "talented" as those in the original work. It often took them several months to get a basic grasp of even a low-rank ninjutsu.

Su Bai had seen plenty of posts online where people said they couldn't learn B- or A-rank ninjutsu even after a year. He hadn't believed them before, thinking no one could possibly be that stupid.

But now he believed them. This was only a D-rank ninjutsu, and he still had no idea where to start.

"But I have the system, so I don't need to worry too much about training in ninjutsu." Su Bai glanced at the System Panel.

At that moment, the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique hadn't appeared on the panel yet, but he figured it would show up as he practiced.

After all, the Three Body Technique had appeared, so there was no reason this ninjutsu wouldn't.

Calming himself, Su Bai practiced over and over without getting bored.

Time passed little by little...

About three hours later, after Su Bai had practiced hundreds or even thousands of times, a prompt suddenly appeared before his eyes...

[You trained in Earth Release · Double Suicide Decapitation Technique...]

[Earth Release · Double Suicide Decapitation Technique: LV0 (1/100)]

"It appeared!"

Outside Yang City Base City, in the Wasteland Zone.

Two men rested against the wall inside an abandoned building over thirty stories tall.

One was burly and around thirty years old. The other was a little younger, in his mid-twenties, with a conspicuous claw mark on his neck!

"It's been five days. That kid Su Bai hasn't called me even once..."