A night passed. In the morning, Training Ground No. 8 was filled with elite students, as usual. They took their spears from the weapon rack and began their drills.

SWISH! SWISH! Suddenly, an excited shout rang out. "Haha, that post about First Middle School was deleted! Now there’s a new one up!"

"What post?"

Holding his spear, Zhang Shan glanced at Li Si, who was standing in front of the weapon rack clutching his phone. The sound of several spear tips cutting through the air slowly died down, and a dozen pairs of eyes turned toward him.

"The title is ’[Liu Yong Personally Admits He’s Inferior to Eighth Middle School’s Jiang Qiu, Whose Spear and Bow Dual Cultivation is Enough to Enter the Prodigy Project!]’. This post is blowing up, even more than the last one!"

Li Si’s face was flushed, and spittle flew from the corners of his mouth as if he were the main character of the post. "At first, a lot of students in the comments didn’t believe it, but then Liu Yong admitted it himself! They look like they’ve eaten shit, haha!"

"Holy shit, for real?"

"Let me see."

The news sent ripples through the crowd. On Training Ground No. 8, the screens of more than a dozen phones lit up, followed by the tapping of fingers.

One after another, comments filled their screens.

[1st Floor: Holy crap, OP is just spreading rumors, right? Liu Yong is the number one genius of our First Middle School! How could he be inferior to someone?]

[2nd Floor: Goddammit! My Brother Liu had Spear Technique Mastery and beat everyone from the eight high schools in the Outer City. Only Li Juefeng could even compare to him! His potential in Bow Technique is also the best in our Archery Dao class, and our school is the only one in the Outer City that even offers Bow Technique courses! And you’re saying he’s inferior?!]

[3rd Floor: That Jiang Qiu might be pretty amazing, but my Brother Liu definitely just had a narrow loss. What right do you have to say he’s completely inferior!]

[4th Floor: This isn’t just bullshit, it’s slander! I’m gonna get people to doxx you! Using a burner account to smear my Brother Liu!]

[4th Floor: Holy shit... It’s Brother Liu’s fucking burner account.]

[5th Floor: ???]

[6th Floor: For real? Brother Liu admitted he’s completely outmatched? Just who the hell is this Jiang Qiu?!]

[7th Floor: You better believe it. I’m in the Archery Dao class. Brother Liu told us himself after he got back. ’One arrow to pierce ten armors, one spear thrust to break the Hundred Shadows Stab.’ He said comparing himself to Jiang Qiu was like a mayfly gazing at the blue sky—the difference in Talent is as wide as an abyss! Now Brother Liu has gone into seclusion, determined to catch up to Jiang Qiu’s shadow...]

[8th Floor: Holy crap, one arrow to pierce ten armors, one spear thrust to break the Hundred Shadows Stab?! Is Jiang Qiu even human?!]

[9th Floor: Stop arguing about whether it’s real or fake. The eight major high schools in the Outer City all fucking know about this by now! A lot of people were already following our Brother Liu’s challenge against Jiang Qiu at Eighth Middle School. Now that the result is out, all hell has broken loose!]

[10th Floor: Is this a power fantasy novel coming to life? An ordinary high school student appears out of nowhere and defeats the number one genius from the strongest high school in the Outer City! Shocks all eight major high schools!]

[9th Floor: It’s insane. We’re the ones who are shocked... I bet those guys from Eighth Middle School are laughing their asses off.]

[...]

"Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter! First Middle School has completely lost face," Li Si said, raising his eyebrows with a big laugh. "Liu Yong’s application to the Prodigy Project was rejected by the Martial Education Department, and now he got crushed challenging our Brother Jiang. The value of that ’genius’ title of his keeps dropping."

"You can’t really put it that way. It’s mainly because Brother Jiang’s rate of improvement is just too insane. ’One arrow to pierce ten armors, one spear thrust to break the Hundred Shadows Stab’—he can already be considered a master of Spear and Bow Dual Cultivation."

Zhang Shan clenched his fists, a starlike glint in his eyes that reflected the tall figure of a spear-wielding young man. "I don’t think he’s any worse than Sun Yongsheng, who was chosen for the Prodigy Project long ago. How could Liu Yong possibly compare!"

"Exactly! With Talent that surpasses both Li Juefeng and Liu Yong, he’s definitely on the same level as Sun Yongsheng. He should have been in the Prodigy Project a long time ago..."

Training Ground No. 8 was abuzz with chatter, the noise like a string of firecrackers, as if they had just won a great victory.

All alone, Hu Ye’ye huddled in a corner, clutching her phone. Her warm palm wrapped around the ice-cold shaft of her spear, her peach-blossom eyes simmering with a mix of envy and regret. ’He’s so magnanimous and his Martial Arts Talent is so high... He’s destined to go far in the future. Anyone by his side would benefit immensely without needing to offer anything extra...’

Subconsciously, she looked up toward another empty area but didn’t see the familiar short-haired girl. She paused. ’Hasn’t Liu Zili come to practice her spear today?’

’That girl from the Shantytown... She rode Jiang Qiu’s coattails to defeat Qian Cheng and enter Training Ground No. 8. She’s as fierce as an ice dragon. When we used to spar, I got injured by her more than a few times. The more I refused to yield, the more injuries I got.’

’Only later did I realize her Talent was just too good, her progress too obvious.’

’It’s really something to be jealous of, but as the one at the bottom of Training Ground No. 8, I didn’t even know who to start being jealous of.’

’Instead, I just regretted my own shortsightedness again and again. I envied her for being able to talk to Jiang Qiu, and lamented that I wasn’t the one who was also quiet and silent, yet never ignored...’

’Just like now.’

"Hey, speaking of which, where’s Liu Zili? I remember she used to be one of the first ones here at Training Ground No. 8 with Brother Jiang. How come she’s not here yet?"

Zhang Shan’s words jolted everyone. A student guessed, "Oh, Liu Zili might have gone to the Archery Range. I saw her heading in there this morning."

"Huh?! Holy shit, her spear is gone from the weapon rack! She’s going to the Archery Range to practice her spear with Brother Jiang!"

Zhang Shan stared at the empty spot on the weapon rack and clicked his tongue in amazement. "Brother Jiang can’t be practicing his bow all day. He’ll definitely practice his spear a bit, too. The closer Liu Zili gets to him, the more Spear Sense she’ll pick up..."

"That makes sense! Let’s ask the teacher if we can go to the Archery Range too!"

Li Si clenched his fist and shouted as if he had just seen a red sun rising in the cold sky, only to be barked at by Zhang Shan. "For fuck’s sake! Liu Zili is going alone to learn Spear Sense! What are we going to do as a whole group, become his disciples? You think Brother Jiang doesn’t need to rest? Do you really think you can learn something just by watching for a bit?

"Alright, stop shouting! Our top guy has already finished a full set of the Ancient Martial Spear Technique while we’re still here bullshitting!" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Damn, why are you yelling at me!"

"If you’ve got a problem, let’s fight!"

Her gaze pulled back from the group. An image of the short-haired girl and the young man holding the Double Arc Blade Spear appeared in Hu Ye’ye’s mind, and she sighed inwardly.

’Unattractive, rock-bottom Talent, terrible with people, all alone... I’m really just an ordinary, somewhat pathetic high school student...’

’I went from being a regular student to an elite one, tried to get on good terms with Xie Kuang and the others only to be relentlessly mocked. By the time I realized Jiang Qiu was a genius, I had already been ostracized from Training Ground No. 8.’

’I didn’t dare to ask for much. In the Secret Realm, I just focused on barbecuing the meat, hoping I could seize an opportunity to get close to Jiang Qiu, just like Liu Zili.’

’But in the end, I was just the designated barbecue tool. No one gave me a second glance except when it was time to cook.’

’Sometimes I curse myself for being greedy. I’d already become an elite student, benefited from Jiang Qiu’s glory, was lucky enough to survive the Secret Realm, received a share of the Wusu Fragrance, and got a cut of several hundred thousand from the hunt.’

’What more was I hoping for? What was there to be bitter about?’

After a moment of silence, her spear tip rose along with the upturned corners of her eyes. A new spirit flowed into her gaze, as sharp as her spear!

’Jiang Qiu brings so much glory and is destined for a boundless future. Why can Liu Zili be so close to him, but I can’t?’

’Is it because her Talent is better than mine? Because she works harder? Because she’s prettier?’

’No, it’s because I’m not important enough!’

’Once I master my Spear Technique and become strong enough, one day I’ll also be able to stand beside a genius like Jiang Qiu and no longer be cast aside!’