Campus Belle's Invitation

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

Many students turned to look over, their gazes filled with curiosity and scrutiny.

The battle at the school anniversary celebration had been too dazzling, yet far too brief. Many people had failed to see the details clearly; they only remembered that horrifying crimson sword light.

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

Did Jiang Yuan truly possess real skill, or was he relying on a divine weapon?

"What are you trying to say?" Jiang Yuan set down his chopsticks and looked at him calmly.

"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 padding there is behind your top rank in the grade!"

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

"You!"

Zhou Hu's face instantly turned the color of pig liver.

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

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

"Brother Yuan, don't mind 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 rose to his feet, 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.

Bzzz—

A faint sword cry rang out.

A half-foot-long crimson sword light shot from the broken edge of the shattered sword, like a nimble fire serpent.

Before Zhou Hu could react, the sword light had already curled around the dining table and reached him in an instant.

"Ah!"

Zhou Hu let out a frightened shriek and collapsed onto the floor, his legs frantically kicking against the ground as he tried to retreat.

The students in the cafeteria cried out as well.

Yet the crimson sword light stopped steadily half an inch before Zhou Hu's throat.

The scorching aura radiating from the sword light even made the hairs on Zhou Hu's neck begin to curl.

He could clearly feel Death licking at his throat.

The entire cafeteria was silent as a grave.

Everyone had been stunned by this godlike degree of control.

This was no longer merely the advantage of a weapon. This was control over power and swordsmanship that had reached the pinnacle!

"Now, do you think I need to rely on this sword?"

Jiang Yuan's voice rang out mildly.

His finger moved slightly, and the sword light, as though it had come alive, traced a graceful arc through the air before flying 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 half by invisible Sword Qi. The cut was smooth as a mirror.

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

"You... you..."

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

"Quiet! What are you all doing?!"

A middle-aged teacher strode over quickly. It was their physics teacher.

"Jiang Yuan, Zhou Hu, you two want 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 righteously, "Even if Zhou Hu's words were somewhat inappropriate, Jiang Yuan should not have threatened a fellow student with a weapon. This is already a serious violation of school rules and will affect his comprehensive quality assessment for the college entrance examination."

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

"Self-defense is no reason to point a sword at a classmate's neck." Zhao Qingya refused to give an inch.

For a moment, the situation became deadlocked.

Just as the physics teacher was nursing a headache over how to handle the matter, someone nobody had expected walked into the cafeteria.

Shen Liuli.

The undisputed top student of Jianghai No. 1 High School, she was also the only genius girl widely acknowledged to have a great chance of receiving special admission from New Star Martial University even before the martial arts examination.

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

The murmurs throughout the cafeteria vanished the instant she appeared.

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

What would she do? Was she here to rebuke Jiang Yuan?

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

However, Shen Liuli did not even spare her a glance.

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

"Your swordsmanship has already reached the Subtlety Realm."

Shen Liuli spoke, her voice crisp 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 every day."

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

Boom!

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

Three thousand per hour?!

Two hours a day meant six thousand! That was one hundred and eighty thousand a month!

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

What kind of concept was that? An ordinary graduate of a martial university could work themselves to the bone for a month and still fail to earn even a fraction of that amount!

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

Zhou Hu had even forgotten his fear, his face full of disbelief.

Zhao Qingya's expression shifted between green and white. Shen Liuli had ignored her from beginning to end, yet had offered an astronomical price to the very person Zhao Qingya had just accused—a price Zhao Qingya would not even dare dream of.

This was even 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'll only teach sword forms and methods of exerting force. As for sword intent, I can't teach that."

"That's enough."

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

"Sign the contract."

Jiang Yuan and she quickly signed an electronic sparring agreement.

Just as the agreement took effect, the figure of the academic affairs director appeared at the cafeteria entrance.

His expression was extremely solemn. He passed through the crowd and came directly to Jiang Yuan.

"Student Jiang Yuan."

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

"The principal has notified us. Please immediately bring your weapon and proceed to the First Conference Room."

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