Chapter 2
The Crimson Flame Wolf was infamous among students who hadn’t seen much of the world. Known as a “rookie killer,” it had claimed the lives of many freshmen on their first training expeditions.
“Grr—”
Its powerful muscles rippled as it glared at Su Jiu with a murderous look. Some kind of energy seemed to be gathering in its mouth, while the air around them slowly grew warmer and thicker.
“The book says this thing’s weak spot is its lower back. No wonder hitting its head didn’t work all those times. Wolves really are like dogs: hard-headed, soft-waisted.”
Su Jiu looked perfectly calm. Her gaze settled on the Crimson Flame Wolf’s lower abdomen as she held her iron sword horizontally and took a defensive stance.
In the next instant, a tiny red light seemed to flare inside the Crimson Flame Wolf’s mouth.
A moment later, it parted its jaws, and molten lava shot toward Su Jiu like an arrow. Wisps of mist rose from the surrounding air, as if it were being burned away.
Su Jiu twisted aside in an extremely strange motion, as if she’d predicted the attack. But even from that close, she could feel her hair curling from the heat.
“I was waiting for you to breathe fire!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Jiu used her momentum to slide beneath the wolf. With a hiss, she glided straight under its belly. The veins on the back of her hand stood out as she thrust the sword forcefully into its stomach.
Unlike ordinary students with bloodline concentrations of only sixty percent, the strength she gained from a ninety-percent concentration was more than three times theirs.
“Awooo!”
Blood sprayed in the next instant. The wounded Crimson Flame Wolf recoiled in pain, staggering as it stumbled backward. Su Jiu’s eyes lit up. If she could keep it occupied a little longer, she could kill it.
The creatures in this illusion were just like those in reality: once injured, their movements became sluggish.
Using the bloodied iron sword to steady herself, Su Jiu flipped upright in one swift motion and quickly put some distance between them. Even though the wolf was wounded, she had no protective Qi as a low-tier warrior, so she still couldn’t risk fighting it at close range.
Su Jiu took a deep breath and quietly chanted a sword technique. She began to swing the iron sword gently, and a layer of frost suddenly coated its blade.
A murderous glint flashed in the Crimson Flame Wolf’s eyes. Ignoring the wound gaping in its chest and the Sword Qi before it, it charged at Su Jiu like a small car hurtling forward—though much more slowly than before.
“Frost Slash!”
Seeing the Crimson Flame Wolf charge at her again, Su Jiu’s eyes flashed with a fierce light. She opened and closed them, then gave a light swing toward the point where the wolf was charging.
“Whimper—”
A moment later, a frost-laced Sword Qi drifted into the Crimson Flame Wolf’s body. With a whimper, frost spread over its body, and it crashed heavily to the ground.
“If it hadn’t been injured, Frost Slash wouldn’t have hit it at all.”
Su Jiu tossed aside her iron sword and looked at the dead Crimson Flame Wolf, murmuring to herself. Her range of attacks was still far too limited.
If her classmates in the outside world knew what she was thinking, they’d surely call her shameless and greedy, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. She hadn’t even become a low-tier warrior yet, but she’d already mastered a battle technique. What more could she want?
Before long, the Crimson Flame Wolf’s body dissolved into wisps of white light that streamed into Su Jiu’s body within the illusion. Then the whole scene shifted, transporting her to an empty, black space.
A blood-red countdown appeared there: “2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.” Su Jiu seemed used to all this by now. She carefully sensed the changes in her body, but before a hint of joy could reach her face...
The scenery around her began shifting again. She felt herself being pulled back, then found herself once more in her body, leaning against the tree. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the setting sun. Her lips first puckered, then curled into a grin.
She’d missed two more classes. When she got home, her old man would definitely give her an earful. But her bloodline concentration really had reached one hundred percent!
She didn’t feel anything special yet, just changes to basic attributes like her strength. The gifts of her bloodline concentration would only appear when she awakened, so she wasn’t too disappointed.
But it seemed that virtual space could open again? Hadn’t the novels from her previous life said one hundred percent was the limit? What was going on?
Su Jiu shook her head, deciding not to dwell on it. She stood up, patted her backside, and straightened her clothes. After all, she was a girl now.
It was Friday, which meant she could go outside the school gates and eat the “junk food” she’d never dared buy back when she was a teacher.
Thinking about all those snacks, Su Jiu grinned and hummed as she ambled toward the school gate. Her casual JK outfit stood out against the groups of students carrying backpacks around her.
...
Outside the school, several men dressed in black surrounded a girl in a Zhiyuan Middle School uniform at a street-food stall.
“Qianyu, selling snacks here? Why didn’t you ask your big brothers to come buy some? Honestly...”
A rather gruff voice rang out. Looking toward it, they saw a burly young man with a buzz cut and a fierce-looking face. He seemed to be the leader of the men in black.
As he spoke, he reached out toward Bai Qianyu’s shoulder, his hand wandering where it shouldn’t. A look of disgust flashed in her eyes. She slapped his hand away with her gloved one, then said coldly:
“Lin Lie, don’t push your luck! We’re right outside the school. Aren’t you afraid they’ll expel you?”
“Push my luck? Tsk. What’s the difference between the way you’re acting and a streetwalker’s?”
Lin Lie sneered and signaled to his lackeys to chase away the gawkers around them. Then he gave a lecherous chuckle and reached for Bai Qianyu’s seemingly delicate arm again. “You don’t actually think the school would expel me, Young Master Lin, when my bloodline concentration is already seventy-six percent, do you?”
“Heh...”
Just as the onlookers thought Bai Qianyu would resign herself to her fate, like the other girls Young Master Lin had bullied, she remained expressionless. She clamped her slender hand around Lin Lie’s wrist and forcefully pressed his entire arm down onto the red-hot iron griddle.
“Ah!! Is your bloodline concentration over eighty percent?”
Feeling the strength in her arm, Lin Lie’s expression stiffened, then his face flushed red. He hurriedly pulled his hand back. He’d never expected her to be so strong.
His own bloodline concentration had reached seventy-six percent only after his family spent a fortune on all kinds of rare treasures. Bai Qianyu was dirt-poor; she probably didn’t have even a thousand yuan to her name. How could she possibly have reached eighty percent?
Even if she was a genius, that still shouldn’t be possible.
“Get out of here!”
Bai Qianyu snapped. She no longer felt like helping her mother run the stall. She just wanted to pack up and get home as quickly as possible. She really couldn’t afford to provoke the Lin family.
Back when she was young and foolish, she’d tricked some money out of the mayor’s son and only gotten a beating for it. She’d recovered after half a month. But the Lin family was a notorious bully clan in Huayang City. They’d committed more than their share of murder and arson, and had even infiltrated the authorities. They were absolutely beyond anything she could handle.
“Get out? Someone smash her stall!”
A vicious glint flashed in Lin Lie’s eyes. He shouted at his lackeys behind him, his anger immediately drowning out his earlier doubts. He figured she was probably just naturally gifted.
The lackeys obeyed without a second thought. Smiling maliciously, they slowly approached Bai Qianyu. Even if her bloodline concentration was over eighty percent, she still hadn’t reached warrior rank. She’d be no match for several opponents at once.
Seeing this, Bai Qianyu looked at the so-called classmates around her. The students, sheltered in their ivory tower, didn’t dare step forward to help under her gaze.
She had no choice but to take a deep breath, preparing herself for another trip to the hospital. She silently cursed herself for being so impulsive...
“Aunt Chen, give me five skewers of grilled sparrow.”
As the two sides faced off, a petite girl pushed her way through the crowd, holding a bowl of stinky tofu. Sauce covered her mouth.
It was Su Jiu, who’d decided to treat herself. She looked up and met the pretty face she feared most. The stinky tofu in her mouth suddenly tasted like wax as she chewed.
“Who let that girl in?” Lin Lie frowned as he glanced at Su Jiu, then asked the two lackeys assigned to keep people back, clearly displeased.
“She just slipped right in. We couldn’t stop her.”
The two lackeys lowered their heads, looking awkward. How had they, with bloodline concentrations of around sixty percent, let a junior girl who looked like she was in a lower grade slip past them...?