First Battle

A man stepped out of the tent. He was even more powerfully built than Jiang Ping, and the Canaan Academy uniform stretched tightly over his body. With a malicious smile on his face, he was the one who had rudely interrupted Jiang Ping earlier.

"Ge Shi, Junior Xiao Yan is still a child. There's no need to—"

"All I know is that he's a new student. And since he's a new student, he has to follow the rules!"

Ge Shi mercilessly cut Jiang Ping off for the second time. He did not even spare Jiang Ping a glance, instead staring straight at Xiao Yan with open provocation. Jiang Ping looked displeased but said nothing further. After all, Jiang Ping was merely a two-star Dou Practitioner, while Ge Shi was already five-star!

Although Ge Shi was the student leader of this group, he was not well liked. He had relied on being a little stronger to secure the title of leader. Along the way, he had constantly fawned over the supervising instructor, only to turn around and lord it over his fellow students for his own amusement.

At this moment, two people beside them tried to persuade Ge Shi.

"Ge Shi, Junior Xiao Yan isn't an ordinary student. You've played this game long enough. It's time to let them go in for their aptitude assessment."

Rather than dispelling Ge Shi's hostility, those words seemed to provoke him. Only then did Ge Shi finally turn around and glance at Jiang Ping and the other two.

"Who's the leader here, you or me? Do I need you to tell me how to do my job?"

After saying that, he swept a contemptuous gaze over everyone present. When his eyes landed on Xiao Yan, they held an extra trace of venom.

"'Not an ordinary student'? What good material could come out of this dump? Something dug out of a trash heap is still trash!"

The moment those words came out, everyone present—especially the new students—looked awful. Several of them flushed red, clearly furious but afraid to speak. Even Xiao Yan and Xun'er, who had remained composed all along, gradually lost their smiles and darkened.

"I'd like to ask this senior something. Which filthy gutter did you crawl out of?"

Everyone was stunned. They had not expected the one directly confronting Ge Shi to be the always courteous Xiao Yan.

A crafty glint flashed through Ge Shi's eyes, and his tone became even more disdainful.

"For the sake of your young age and your status as a new student, apologize to me now and stand under the sun for two hours. Then I'll pretend none of this happened. On the Dou Qi Continent, the strong are respected. Little brat, remember this first lesson from your senior."

Naturally, those words did not faze Xiao Yan. He merely said calmly,

"Mm... the strong are respected. Is that so?"

Before his words had even faded, Xiao Yan released Xun'er's hand and charged straight at Ge Shi. The sudden move gave everyone around them a fright—except for two people.

Seeing Xiao Yan rush at him, Ge Shi was overjoyed. His deliberate provocations had all been meant to make Xiao Yan lose his temper and attack him. He had orchestrated everything just so he could teach Xiao Yan a vicious lesson.

It was not because the two had any deep grudge. Rather, Xiao Yan's age and talent had ignited Ge Shi's jealousy. Ge Shi himself was not particularly gifted and was only average at Canaan Academy. He was used to bullying those weaker than himself to satisfy his ridiculous vanity. The moment he saw Xiao Yan, he understood that Xiao Yan and he were as far apart as clouds and mud. At the thought of Xiao Yan's future glory, he could not suppress the envy and hatred churning in his heart.

Ge Shi had even made a plan in his mind. He would have only one chance to strike, so he would put everything into that blow without using a Dou Technique. If Xiao Yan got hurt, he would claim it had been an instinctive counterattack. Xiao Yan had attacked first, after all. No matter how it was judged, Ge Shi would be in the right!

Little bastard! Stay in bed for a year! Better yet, be crippled for good!

Ge Shi shouted inwardly. Under his eager gaze, the two fists finally collided.

Bang!

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!!!

The instant they made contact, alarm bells blared in Ge Shi's heart. He had thought Xiao Yan was merely a kid at the Dou Qi stage, but the force behind that fist far exceeded his expectations!

"You! You're..."

Before Ge Shi could finish, Xiao Yan lunged at him again. That previous exchange had merely been a warm-up. Xiao Yan had no intention of letting such a fine "punching bag" go.

Back in his clan, Xiao Yan had sparred with elders and older brothers before, but the gap in strength had been too great, so it could only be considered instruction. Among those his age, there had been no one at his level. Strictly speaking, this was Xiao Yan's first battle in his life!

Xiao Yan and Ge Shi grappled together in a chaotic brawl. Yet Ge Shi was clearly at a disadvantage. Whenever their fists and kicks collided, Xiao Yan showed no reaction, while Ge Shi grimaced in pain. It was obvious that trading blows with Xiao Yan was extremely unpleasant for him, and he could only try his best to avoid it.

At first, Xiao Yan's movements were somewhat unfamiliar and disordered. But after several exchanges, his attacks gradually gained structure. He also seized on Ge Shi's weakness—his reluctance to clash head-on—and pressed forward aggressively, forcing Ge Shi into one opening after another.

After taking another rising elbow from Xiao Yan, Ge Shi finally could not hold on any longer. Although he had blocked it with both arms, he toppled backward onto the ground. Both his arms hurt so badly they no longer felt like his own.

"I adm—"

Xiao Yan ignored whatever Ge Shi wanted to say and pressed forward again. This time, Xiao Yan raised his fist high. A faint glow of Dou Qi flickered over it as the clearly Dou Technique-infused punch smashed viciously toward Ge Shi's chest.

Yellow Rank High-Level Dou Technique, Iron Mountain Fist!

Damn it, this bastard!

Ge Shi cursed inwardly, but he had no time to think. He could only force himself to circulate a Dou Technique to block Xiao Yan's fist.

Yellow Rank High-Level Dou Technique, Steelstone Fist!

Crack!

As their fists collided, a piercing sound rang out, followed by Ge Shi's agonized scream. His arms now hung limply from his shoulders. Anyone could tell that the bones were most likely broken.

Yet Xiao Yan remained unmoved. He raised his right hand again, and tiny points of fiery red light began gathering over it...

Seeing that Xiao Yan still had no intention of stopping, Ge Shi was both furious and terrified. He anxiously tried to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he spat out blood first. Then the world spun around him, and he fainted.

Water droplets suddenly appeared over the open ground, transforming in the blink of an eye into a sky-blue wall of water that separated Xiao Yan and Ge Shi. At the same time, a gentle voice as soft as water came from within the tent.

"Little one, could you give this instructor some face and let the matter end here?"

Xiao Yan had not truly intended to bring that palm strike down. Even if the Xiao clan was the local powerhouse, killing someone here would still have undesirable consequences. So he went along with it and bowed toward the tent.

"Instructor, you flatter me. Senior and I were merely having a friendly spar. How could it possibly require your intervention?"

The people nearby had yet to recover from the shock of Xiao Yan defeating Ge Shi when they heard his exchange with Instructor Ruo Lin. They fell even more silent.

If the instructor had not intervened, it was uncertain whether Ge Shi would have survived. How could he call that a "friendly spar"?

Even Instructor Ruo Lin inside the tent paused, seeming to realize what kind of troublemaker she was about to admit. She then instructed the other students,

"Carry Ge Shi inside."

The two people beside Jiang Ping hurriedly carried Ge Shi into the tent, leaving everyone else staring at Xiao Yan as though he were a monster.

Only Xun'er, whose expression had not changed since Xiao Yan made his move, hurried toward him. She still wore the smile she showed only to Xiao Yan.

"Brother Xiao Yan, you weren't hurt, were you?"

"I was only cleaning up some trash. It didn't take much effort."

"Hehe, Brother Xiao Yan really holds grudges. @(*^ｪ^)@"

"You little rascal..."

The two chatted and laughed as though no one else existed. Xun'er said nothing about Xiao Yan's sharp, even somewhat cruel methods just now. Her eyes and heart remained filled only with Brother Xiao Yan. Nor did Xiao Yan feel that he had gone too far. After all, had Ge Shi not said it himself? The strong were respected.

After a while, Xiao Yan finally sensed that something was off and stopped talking with Xun'er. He noticed that no one besides the two of them had spoken, while everyone else was secretly glancing at him. He turned to Jiang Ping and asked,

"Senior, what's wrong?"

Jiang Ping was inexplicably nervous as well. Though he knew Xiao Yan's ruthless attack had not been aimed at him, the image of Ge Shi's broken arms and blood-spattered mouth made him shudder. Even though Xiao Yan was merely a little boy much shorter than him, Jiang Ping felt apprehensive. When Xiao Yan addressed him, he became even more flustered and hurriedly replied,

"N-No, it's nothing. I thought you were only at the Dou Qi stage, Xiao Yan. I never expected you to already be a Dou Practitioner. I've never seen talent like yours even at Canaan Academy!"

Xiao Yan merely smiled faintly, without any emotional stir from Jiang Ping's praise.

"Just luck. But earlier, I heard Senior mention something about A-rank students. Could you explain it to me?"

Seeing Xiao Yan return to the polite manner he had displayed when they first met, Jiang Ping secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued along that topic.

"Oh, it's nothing major. Soon, the new students will undergo an aptitude test. It concerns your class placements and resource allocation after entering the academy."

"Xiao Yan, you should know that while Canaan Academy emphasizes teaching without discrimination, it also follows the principle of teaching according to aptitude. Students of different aptitudes are educated separately so that teaching can be more effective. There is competition in Canaan Academy as well, and resources are tilted toward students with greater aptitude. After all, resources can only be put to their greatest use in the hands of the strong."

"This aptitude test is used to make an initial distinction between new students. Our minimum requirement is the eighth stage of Dou Qi, which is F-rank. The ninth stage is E-rank, and so on, up to the highest rank: a five-star Dou Practitioner at S-rank."

"Besides strength, age is another major factor. Eighteen is the baseline—the younger you are, the more your aptitude evaluation rises. When I first saw you, Xiao Yan, I thought you were at the eighth stage of Dou Qi. That should have been F-rank, but with your age factored in, you would have been roughly A-rank. But now, it seems..."

Jiang Ping poured out a whole string of explanations, but his voice suddenly grew softer and softer. It was as though he had frightened himself.

That's right. Xiao Yan would already be A-rank at the eighth stage of Dou Qi. But Xiao Yan is already a Dou Practitioner...

Terrifying!

Xiao Yan thanked Jiang Ping for his explanation and quietly considered it himself. Then he leaned close and whispered to Xun'er.

"Xun'er, Canaan Academy's ranking system is rather strange. The highest rank only goes up to a five-star Dou Practitioner. The Dou Qi Continent is so vast—how could there be no eighteen-year-old five-star Dou Practitioners?"

Xun'er gave a soft laugh. Knowing what Xiao Yan was thinking, she answered gently,

"Brother Xiao Yan is right. Across the entire Dou Qi Continent, eighteen-year-old Dou Practitioners are indeed common. But Canaan Academy's rankings have their own reasoning. From what Xun'er knows, Canaan Academy's rankings differ from place to place. In the Jia Ma Empire, for instance, a five-star Dou Practitioner is S-rank. But elsewhere, a five-star Dou Practitioner might only meet the admission threshold."

After saying that, Xun'er hurriedly added,

"What this reflects is not the difference between people, but the difference between environments. Canaan Academy's rankings are highly authoritative across the continent. So if Brother Xiao Yan is evaluated as having aptitude beyond S-rank, it means that even across the entire Dou Qi Continent, Brother Xiao Yan possesses peerless talent!"

Listening to Xun'er's words, a faint smile appeared on Xiao Yan's lips. He rubbed her little head again and spoke with lofty confidence.

"What, are you afraid I'll be intimidated? Don't worry, Xun'er. I feel nothing but endless curiosity toward this world. In fact, if there were no other strong people in this world, that would be truly dull. Growing stronger is my conviction. No matter what my talent may be, I will definitely become strong!"