The School Belle's Invitation

Zhou Hu's words made the previously noisy cafeteria fall noticeably quieter.

Quite a few students turned their eyes toward them, their gazes filled with curiosity and scrutiny.

The battle at the school anniversary celebration had been too stunning, but also too brief. Many people had not seen the details clearly and only remembered that terrifying crimson sword light.

Zhou Hu's words had undoubtedly voiced some of their doubts.

Was Jiang Yuan truly relying on his own ability, or on a divine weapon?

"What are you trying to say?" Jiang Yuan asked calmly, setting down his chopsticks.

"I'm saying, if you've got the guts, don't use that broken sword." Zhou Hu stepped forward, his face full of provocation. "Do you dare fight me fair and square? Let everyone see just how much of your top rank is watered down!"

"Fight you?" Jiang Yuan smiled. "Are you worthy?"

"You!"

Zhou Hu's face instantly turned liver-red.

He was a student ranked in the top fifty of the grade. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?

"You just don't dare! Without that sword, you're nothing but trash!" Zhou Hu roared.

"Brother Yuan, don't bother with him. He's just jealous," Guo Hongtao urged from the side. "Fighting someone like him would dirty your hands."

Jiang Yuan said nothing. He merely stood up, removed the wooden case from his back with one hand, and laid it flat on the dining table.

With a click, the lid opened.

Everyone's breathing caught.

Jiang Yuan did not draw his sword. He merely extended a finger and lightly tapped the hilt.

"Hum—"

A faint sword hum rang out.

A half-foot-long crimson sword light emerged from the break in the broken sword like a nimble fiery serpent.

Before Zhou Hu could react, the sword light had already curved around the table and arrived before him in an instant.

"Ah!"

Zhou Hu let out a terrified shriek and collapsed onto the ground, kicking wildly at the floor as he tried to retreat.

The students in the cafeteria cried out as well.

Yet that crimson sword light stopped steadily half an inch from Zhou Hu's throat.

The scorching heat radiating from it even made the fine hairs on Zhou Hu's neck begin to curl.

He could clearly feel death licking at his neck.

The entire cafeteria fell silent.

Everyone was stunned by this almost miraculous degree of control.

This was no longer simply the advantage of a weapon. It was peak control over power and swordsmanship!

"Do you still think I need to rely on this sword?"

Jiang Yuan's calm voice rang out.

His finger shifted slightly, and the sword light seemed to come alive. It traced a graceful arc through the air and flew back into the broken sword.

From beginning to end, Jiang Yuan had not even left his seat.

Crash!

The dining table behind Zhou Hu, along with a thick copy of High-Martial Physics on top of it, was sliced cleanly in two by invisible sword qi. The cut was as smooth as a mirror.

Only then did everyone realize that the sword light from before had not been an illusion, but a real and deadly attack!

"Y-you..."

Zhou Hu lay limp on the ground, pointing at Jiang Yuan, unable to even form a complete sentence.

"Quiet! What are you all doing?"

A middle-aged teacher hurried over. It was their physics teacher.

"Jiang Yuan, Zhou Hu, are you two planning to fight in the cafeteria? Do you have any regard for school rules at all?"

Just then, a cool female voice rang out.

"Teacher, I saw it. Jiang Yuan was the one who drew his sword first and threatened Zhou Hu with a weapon."

Everyone looked over. The speaker was none other than the class monitor, Zhao Qingya.

She adjusted her glasses and said with a righteous expression, "Even if Zhou Hu's words were somewhat inappropriate, Jiang Yuan should not have threatened someone with a weapon. This is already a serious violation of school rules and will affect his comprehensive evaluation for the college entrance examination."

Guo Hongtao immediately grew anxious. "Zhao Qingya, what nonsense are you talking about? Zhou Hu provoked him first! Brother Yuan was acting in self-defense!"

"Self-defense is not an excuse to point a sword at a classmate's throat." Zhao Qingya refused to back down.

For a moment, the situation became deadlocked.

Just as the physics teacher was nursing a headache over how to handle it, someone no one expected walked into the cafeteria.

Shen Liuli.

The undisputed top student of Jianghai No. 1 High School, and the only genius girl widely believed to have an excellent chance of receiving early admission to New Star Martial University before the martial arts examination.

She wore a clean training uniform, her posture straight as she walked directly to Jiang Yuan's table.

The cafeteria's murmurs vanished the instant she appeared.

Everyone's eyes focused on this favored daughter of heaven.

What would she do? Had she come to condemn Jiang Yuan?

When Zhao Qingya saw Shen Liuli, she instinctively straightened her back. She believed that, as the top student of the grade, Shen Liuli would surely stand with her in upholding school rules.

However, Shen Liuli did not even glance at her.

Her gaze fell on Jiang Yuan, or rather, on the broken sword on the table.

"Your swordsmanship has reached the Subtlety Realm."

Shen Liuli spoke, her voice clear and devoid of emotion.

Jiang Yuan looked up at her but did not deny it.

"I need a sparring partner," Shen Liuli continued directly. "To guide my swordsmanship."

"Three thousand Blue Star Credits per hour."

"Two hours a day."

"Also, I'll provide all the exotic beast meat you need for cultivation."

Boom!

Shen Liuli's words were like a bomb dropped into a calm lake.

Three thousand per hour?!

That was six thousand a day for two hours! One hundred and eighty thousand a month!

And she would cover the exotic beast meat needed for cultivation!

What kind of concept was that? An ordinary graduate from a martial university could work themselves to death for a month and still not earn even a fraction of that amount!

Guo Hongtao's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg inside.

Zhou Hu had even forgotten his fear, his face filled with disbelief.

Zhao Qingya's face went pale and green by turns. Shen Liuli had ignored her from start to finish, yet offered an astronomical price to the very person Zhao Qingya had just accused, one she would not even dare dream of.

That was more humiliating than slapping her across the face.

Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised as well.

He weighed the pros and cons. Money and cultivation resources were both things he desperately needed right now.

"Fine." Jiang Yuan nodded. "But I can only teach sword forms and methods of exerting force. I can't teach sword intent."

"That's enough."

Shen Liuli seemed to have expected him to agree. She directly handed him her personal terminal.

"Let's sign."

Jiang Yuan and Shen Liuli quickly signed an electronic sparring agreement.

The moment the agreement took effect, the academic affairs director appeared at the cafeteria entrance.

His expression was extremely serious as he passed through the crowd and came directly before Jiang Yuan.

"Student Jiang Yuan."

The academic affairs director's voice echoed through the silent cafeteria.

"The principal has instructed you to immediately bring your weapon to the First Conference Room."

"The questioning by the New Star Special Investigation Team has begun ahead of schedule."