No Disadvantages!

Ye Xiao stood up.

Everyone thought he was about to make a move.

But he merely... walked toward the podium.

Ye Xiao had a powerful presence.

Even though his strength was inferior to everyone else's at that moment.

There was a powerful confidence welling up from deep within him.

One that was second to none!

That was the spirit of youth!

And the fearless Heart of Extreme Martial!

As he passed Lin Yun, Lin Yun instinctively took a step back.

Then he realized he had retreated, and his expression turned ugly.

Ye Xiao walked up to the podium and looked at Chai Hongxi.

Chai Hongxi looked back at him.

Ye Xiao asked:

"Teacher, you just said that no Martialist had reached the Seventh Realm in three thousand years. Why?"

Chai Hongxi fell silent for a moment, then said:

"Because the techniques were lost. The Extreme Martial Sect, once the most powerful Martialist sect at the height of its glory, was wiped out, and all its books were burned."

"None of its bloodline was passed down, so the Martialist profession naturally fell into decline and became the lowest-level E-Grade profession."

Ye Xiao asked:

"Why was it wiped out?"

Chai Hongxi fell silent for even longer.

The question seemed to touch on secrets that were forbidden to discuss.

Finally,

Chai Hongxi answered with four words.

"It doesn't matter."

Ye Xiao looked at him and suddenly smiled, understanding everything.

He nodded.

"I understand."

Ye Xiao turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait."

A voice rang out.

It was quiet, but everyone heard it.

Ye Xiao stopped.

He turned around.

In the front row of the Genius Class, someone stood up.

It was a girl.

Sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell on her, as if gilding her with a golden edge.

To everyone's surprise,

no one had expected it.

At a time like this, Su Muyun would actually take the initiative to stand up and speak.

And what was more,

she was speaking up for Ye Xiao, that worthless E-Grade professional?

She looked at Ye Xiao, her gaze calm.

Then she turned to Lin Yun and said,

"You just said that Martialists had no future. Then let me ask you: tens of thousands of years ago, when Nameless Ancestor of the Extreme Martial Sect punched back the army of monsters, what were your ancestors doing?"

The classroom fell silent.

Lin Yun's smile froze on his face.

Chai Hongxi's pupils shook violently on the podium, too.

He was utterly shocked.

A secret of this level had just been revealed so casually by the girl before him!

What shocked Chai Hongxi even more

was that he hadn't received any advance notice about this girl's enrollment.

From what the girl had just said,

Chai Hongxi could guess that her background was certainly extraordinary.

But why had she enrolled so discreetly, with everything kept so secret?

Su Muyun continued:

"According to the records, about a hundred thousand years ago, monsters invaded and humanity's defenses collapsed. It was Nameless Ancestor of the Extreme Martial Sect who, with one punch, broke through the rift and sealed the monsters away for ninety thousand years!"

She paused.

"At the time, what were the ancestors of the Thunder Arts Clan doing?"

Lin Yun's expression turned ugly.

Su Muyun didn't stop.

"The ancestors of the Thunder Arts Clan were surrendering to the monsters! They knelt on the ground and begged the monsters to spare their lives!"

"They wanted to betray humanity in exchange for the right to establish a puppet regime for the human race under the monster clan!"

The whole room erupted.

Lin Yun's face flushed scarlet. "You're making that up!"

"Y-you can show us proof of what you said, can't you?"

"I'm from the Thunder Arts Clan. Why have I never heard of this?"

Su Muyun looked at him, her gaze frighteningly calm.

"Of course you haven't heard of it. It's the most shameful part of the Thunder Arts Clan's history. How could they dare let it come to light?"

"If you doubt it, you can ask the teacher."

Everyone turned to look at Chai Hongxi.

After remaining silent for a long time, he faced his students' eager, questioning gazes.

He didn't say a word. He merely nodded slightly.

Lin Yun opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Su Muyun turned to the girl who had said, "Martialists have no spells or magic treasures."

"You said Martialists have no spells or magic treasures and can only fight with their bare hands. Then do you know what spell or magic treasure Nameless Ancestor used to break through the rift with that punch?"

The girl was stunned.

She was speechless, unable to say a word.

Su Muyun said:

"Nothing. Just one punch."

She looked around the room.

"Do you know what realm the power of that punch would be equivalent to today?"

No one answered.

She said:

"Equivalent to... the Fourteenth Realm!"

The room fell utterly silent.

"So," she said, looking at Lin Yun, "you just said Martialists have no future, and that the strongest Martialist in history only reached the Seventh Realm?"

Lin Yun's face turned deathly pale.

The words "Fourteenth Realm" kept circling in his mind.

Su Muyun's voice was soft, but her conviction was unmistakable.

"That's because no one has completed the Martialist path in three thousand years. It's not because the Martialist path is impassable!"

When those final words

came from Su Muyun's lips,

every student in the classroom fell completely silent.

Everyone wore complicated expressions, wondering what the others were thinking.

But at that moment,

Ye Xiao's eyes and attention were entirely drawn to the girl.

Just then,

Su Muyun left her seat and walked toward Ye Xiao.

Everyone's eyes followed her.

She stopped in front of Ye Xiao.

They stood less than a meter apart.

Sunlight slanted in through the window, falling on the floor between them.

She looked at him, and he looked at her.

She said, "I'm Su Muyun."

Ye Xiao nodded. "Ye Xiao."

She said, "I know."

Then she held out her hand.

In it was a book.

It was very old, its cover worn through. A few faded characters could just barely be made out:

Law-Breaking Fist

Ye Xiao froze.

He looked at the book Su Muyun was offering him, his pupils contracting slightly.

He recognized it.

Because for Ye Xiao to break through to the next major realm,

he first needed to complete a "Law-Breaking Fist"!

This copy of Law-Breaking Fist the girl before him had offered

was, for Ye Xiao at that moment,

undoubtedly a lifesaver!

Su Muyun said:

"This was passed down through my family. It contains some... insights into Martialist cultivation."

She held the book out a little farther.

"I think you should read it."

Ye Xiao didn't take it.

He looked at her and asked, "Why are you giving it to me?"

Su Muyun thought for a moment, then said, "Because when you stood up to answer the question just now, you said four words."

"What words?"

"No disadvantages."

She smiled slightly—it was her first smile of the day. It was faint, but lovely.

"Nobody has dared to say those four words in three thousand years."

"You're the first."

Ye Xiao was silent for a moment.

Then he took the book.

As their fingertips touched, he felt that her hand was cool, like jade.

She felt his warmth, too.

Their eyes met.

Meanwhile, Lin Yun, who had witnessed the whole thing from the side,

looked so furious his face had gone dark. He was nearly grinding his teeth to pieces!

Especially when he saw it with his own eyes:

Su Muyun giving Ye Xiao the book, and their fingertips touching at that moment.

An unnamed fire roared to life inside him.