On Monday morning, Yu Fei went to school.

It had been a week since he’d last been to school, and stepping back onto campus, he felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

Ever since he had easily defeated Ye Feng in the martial arts tournament to become the number one sophomore in Tianning County, his fame had skyrocketed. Even some of his classmates were a bit more polite when they spoke to him.

Most people in the world are ordinary, easily swayed by fame.

This was perfectly normal. "Neither servile nor overbearing" was a simple phrase, but very few ordinary people could embody it their entire lives.

A Martial Artist cultivates their willpower. As long as they persisted, they were bound to achieve something.

He had arrived early, so there were only a few people on the training grounds.

The sky was a deep, uniform blue, and the streetlights were still on. The morning star hung high in the celestial expanse, its faint light shining down on those striving for their dreams.

Yu Fei had jogged all the way there, so his body was already warmed up. He set an alarm and began practicing his pile skill.

His Perfection-level pile skill had freed him from the need for Vitality Elixirs. The tempering effect of the world’s primordial energy was far stronger. With each transition between stances, invisible wisps of this energy were drawn into his body and seeped into his bones. His body strengthened at a visible rate, and his progress at the long-stagnant bone refinement stage advanced by leaps and bounds.

Yu Fei was completely engrossed in his practice, lost to the world. Ever since his pile skill had reached the Perfection level, every training session was an exquisite pleasure.

The sky brightened, and the morning sun leaped above the horizon. A stream of incredibly pure, yet faint, Supreme Yang Flame Qi was absorbed by his Ox Subduing Pile Skill. It slowly merged with the circulation of his body’s Qi Blood, and after one full cycle, it was completely refined. Tempered by this process, his Qi Blood grew a sliver purer.

Yu Fei suddenly felt a pleasant warmth spreading through him, as if some burden had been lifted. The sensation was too faint to dwell on, however, so he didn’t pay it much mind.

Watching Yu Fei train in the distance, Jiang Yifan was overcome by a profound sense of helplessness! 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’When I got here, Yu Fei was practicing his pile skill. When I ran out of stamina and took a break, Yu Fei was still practicing his pile skill. I’ve already gone through my fist forms three times since then, and that guy is *still* going?’

’Is there any fucking justice in this world? Does martial logic even apply anymore?’

’Someone more talented than you is also working harder than you, and has more stamina to boot. This bullshit world... Grinders like him deserve a terrible death!’

Jiang Yifan grumbled internally. Yu Fei was his fated nemesis, popping up everywhere he looked.

"How long has he been at it?"

Zhang Qingyu handed Jiang Yifan a bottle of energy drink. The light of the rising sun fell on her face, and the beads of sweat on her skin seemed to shatter the morning glow, illuminating the deepest corners of his heart.

Jiang Yifan stared, momentarily dazed, and much of the despair in his heart melted away.

He unscrewed the cap and took several large gulps, feeling some of his stamina return.

"At least an hour and a half." He knew Zhang Qingyu was asking about Yu Fei. It was, frankly, unreasonable. They had been watching the whole time, and Yu Fei hadn’t taken a single Vitality Elixir. He had just been training straight through for over an hour.

They knew Yu Fei was at the bone refinement stage. Logically, the further one progressed on the martial path, the more resources one needed, and the greater the reliance on elixirs.

You could force yourself to train without elixirs by relying on sheer physical constitution, but that would burn through a Martial Artist’s very foundation. Yu Fei would never do something so foolish, yet there was no other explanation for his bizarre training method.

"Don’t tell me he consumed some kind of natural treasure?" Jiang Yifan speculated.

Zhang Qingyu thought for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "Putting aside the difficulty of even finding a natural treasure, it would be incredibly wasteful to just eat it raw. You could trade it at the Martial Arts Administration Bureau for a huge amount of cultivation resources. The absorption rate for an unprocessed natural treasure is extremely low. It’s just not worth it. That’s common knowledge in the martial world."

"True... The guy is talented *and* works this hard. How is anyone else supposed to live?" Jiang Yifan sounded despairing.

Zhang Qingyu patted his shoulder. "Don’t be so down. Teacher Yan Sea always says that a Martial Artist’s greatest enemy is themselves. As long as we’re a little better today than we were yesterday, and work a little harder tomorrow than we did today, then we’re always on the right path!

"Don’t forget, we promised to meet again in university!"

A surge of heroic passion filled Jiang Yifan’s heart. "You’re right! We’ll work hard together and ignore that monster!"

Facing the morning sun, the two of them resumed their arduous training.

When his alarm went off, Yu Fei concluded his practice. After a quick shower, he headed to the cafeteria and devoured three steamers of buns, four eggs, and two bowls of congee. His father, Mr. Yu, had given him another two hundred yuan that morning, which helped replenish his personal funds a little. But at the rate he was eating, it was just a drop in the bucket. He already had a plan, though. Money wouldn’t be an issue, at least not for the foreseeable future.

When Yu Fei walked into the classroom, the morning reading session suddenly faltered. It was as if everyone had lost their focus at the exact same moment.

Unconcerned, Yu Fei sat down and took out his textbook, planning to catch up on what he’d missed.

The reading in Sophomore Class 6 suddenly lost its vigor, the feeling of high-spirited effort gone.

Li Mengyao stared blankly at Yu Fei, completely captivated.

"Hey, snap out of it. Any more of that and I’ll report you for harassment."

"Huh... uh, are you Yu Fei?"

Yu Fei shot her an exasperated look.

"If I’m not Yu Fei, then who am I? Are you running a fever?"

Li Mengyao just stared at him, mesmerized.

"But... how did you get even better-looking? How did you do it? Look at your face! Your arms! Your skin is unfairly good! Are you even still you? I think you’re even more handsome than that Ye Feng guy now."

"So you’re saying I wasn’t as handsome as Ye Feng before?"

"Uh... no, that’s not it. Ye Feng is kind of effeminate, he’s different from you. It’s just that you..."

"Okay, stop being weird. Just read your book. You’ll find everything you need in there."

It wasn’t just Li Mengyao. The vast majority of students in Sophomore Class 6 were stunned when they saw Yu Fei that day.

Before, Yu Fei had been handsome, but still in an ordinary way. Now, enhanced by his martial body, his features and bearing were like that of a noble scion from a bygone era, exuding a natural, commanding aura.

During his academic classes, Yu Fei reviewed the material he’d fallen behind on at his own pace. After his ’talent fusion,’ his comprehension had improved dramatically. While the boost was primarily geared toward the martial path, it had also given him a significant enhancement to his logical thinking and memory.

Now, the knowledge in his textbooks seemed to pose no challenge. Yu Fei figured that with just a little effort, he could probably take first place in the entire grade on the next exam.

The teachers were also very lenient with Yu Fei. They all knew that Sophomore Class 6 had produced a true dragon. He was highly likely to get into one of the "Big Seven" universities next year, which meant their bonuses would be quite substantial.

Geniuses needed to be encouraged. The path they walked was, by its nature, different from that of ordinary people.

After class, several teachers made a point of stopping by Yu Fei’s desk to tell him that if he had any questions, he should feel free to find them at any time.

Yu Fei thanked each of them.

When martial arts class began, the other students in the "sprint class" lined up in their usual training formations. Yu Fei, however, slowly walked toward Yan Sea.

He secretly channeled his Ruyi Shen Jin, and as he walked across the training ground, his feet left not even the faintest print. He stirred the Qi Blood throughout his body, and his aura surged magnificently!

Jiang Yifan secretly curled his lip in a sneer. He turned to Zhang Qingyu and silently mouthed two words: "Show off!"

The other students in the sprint class were too inexperienced to understand what was happening. They only felt their hearts palpitate and their breath shorten as Yu Fei drew near. The closer he got, the more frozen they became, as if they were being stalked by a natural predator.

Yan Sea’s eyes went wide as he stared at Yu Fei. His lips parted as if to speak, but he didn’t know where to begin. This was utterly inconceivable. ’Did Yu Fei take a week off, or a year? Am I hallucinating?’

He was a man of the world; he’d even seen quite a few future Grandmasters in their youth.

’Originally, Yu Fei only had exceptional Spiritual Power and an extraordinary flair for combat. His actual martial talent was mediocre at best—barely passable.’

’But in just one week, what was he seeing now? A Perfection-level Ox Subduing Pile Skill? Body Refining from the void? The ultimate technique of the Six Harmonies Killing Fist? Ruyi Shen Jin?’

’Had he gone insane, or had the world?’

Watching Yu Fei slowly approach, Yan Sea swallowed hard and whispered a single word.

"Prodigy..."