Chapter 5
“Little Jiu, that potion made from dragon saliva is tied to your blood-condensation level. Without it, I’m afraid you...”
Hearing this, Su Xingguo turned to look at Su Jiu. It was the first time he had seen such a resolute expression on his daughter’s face, but he continued speaking. For the sake of her pride, he left the rest unsaid.
Su Jiu interrupted him the next moment. She briefly met her old man’s gaze, sighed inwardly, and thought for a moment before coming up with a fairly reasonable excuse:
“The college entrance exam has three parts: competition, individual combat, and team combat. Old man, don’t you know how strong I am? How much would raising my blood-condensation level by just a little really help? I’d be better off strengthening my body so I can take a few more hits when fighting others.”
After living with Su Xingguo for more than a year, Su Jiu knew his personality quite well. As long as it didn’t make him lose face, he respected his children’s choices. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let her run wild for so long.
“Dad, Big Sister is right. Why not listen to her just this once? It’d be good for Liu’er, too.”
Just then, Su Xiaoyu suddenly spoke up from the corner, gazing at Lin Liu’er beside him with a lecherous look.
Su Jiu followed his voice and nearly rolled her eyes. What did he mean, “Big Sister is right”? Lin Liu’er had already placed her idiot little brother’s hand on her pale thigh.
As if noticing Su Jiu’s gaze, Lin Liu’er moved her own hand away, giving the impression that Su Xiaoyu himself had wanted to touch her. Then she looked back with a strangely confident smile.
“Sigh...”
Seeing the resolve on Su Jiu’s face, Su Xingguo seemed to think of something, and the sternness in his eyes softened. Still, he said to Lin Mo, “That still isn’t enough for a trade. You’ll have to add more.”
As soon as he spoke, Lin Mo and his daughter Lin Liu’er looked delighted. They had only come to try their luck; they never expected it to actually work.
Before they could enjoy their good fortune for long, Su Xingguo spoke again. “But I have one condition. Have Little Liu support Little Jiu during the team event at the college entrance exam.”
“Well... You’ll have to ask Liu’er.” Lin Mo glanced at his daughter awkwardly. They were aiming for the Five Great Universities, and if they brought along Su Jiu, that useless burden, they might not even get into Dongyu University, the weakest of the five.
“Liu’er, you and Little Jiu have been friends for years, haven’t you? Your uncle’s asking you—please help her this time.”
Hearing this, Su Xingguo turned his gaze to Lin Liu’er, helplessness in his eyes.
“I...”
Meeting Su Xingguo’s gaze, Lin Liu’er looked troubled, too. If she had to bring this useless deadweight along, she’d rather give up the dragon saliva...
If the other girl were still the prodigy she’d been a year ago, Lin Liu’er would have been more than happy to team up with her. But now... Couldn’t she take a good look at herself in the mirror?
“Old man, don’t make things difficult for her. The college entrance exam should be based on real ability. Don’t try to get me any shortcuts.” Su Jiu hurriedly spoke up. She didn’t want the Dragon-Whisker Ginseng she was about to get to slip away. The trade might be fair to the other side, but she’d definitely come out way ahead.
“Sigh, we’ll do as you say...” Su Xingguo shook his head and glanced at Su Jiu. He didn’t know what she was thinking, so all he could do was sigh. He’d put the savings from all those years in civil service into his daughter.
“Big Brother Su, don’t worry. During the team event at the college entrance exam, I’ll pay extra to put together an excellent team for Little Jiu and make sure they support her well.” Lin Mo immediately offered some face-saving words, while Lin Liu’er behind him looked at Su Jiu with relief.
Fortunately, that useless girl hadn’t asked to be on her team. Otherwise, her father might really have made her team up with Su Jiu for the sake of the other girl’s status as the mayor’s daughter.
Luckily, that was avoided.
...
The group talked for nearly another half hour. In the end, Lin Mo traded 1.5 million yuan and Dragon-Whisker Ginseng for the dragon saliva. As they watched Lin Mo and his daughter leave, the now-empty living room fell quiet again.
Su Jiu plopped down on the sofa and glanced at her younger brother, who was absorbed in typing on his phone. She sighed softly: There was no saving him.
Then she looked at her father, who was sitting dazed on the other side of the sofa. Had he gotten even older?
Why was he aging so quickly when he was a high-level Battle General?
Was it because of her and her useless little brother...? Old man, don’t worry. As long as I stay away from the male lead and his sister for good, I’ll make sure you live like royalty.
“You two will awaken in a few days. Time waits for no one. I can’t believe eighteen years have passed in the blink of an eye... If A-Jiu could see this, she’d be so happy.” Su Xingguo tossed the Dragon-Whisker Ginseng to Su Jiu, then lit a cigarette and quietly watched the smoke rings, lost in thought.
Su Jiu knew that “A-Jiu” wasn’t referring to her, but to their mother, Gu Jiuyu. She had vanished without a trace after giving birth to the two of them, and there wasn’t a single trace of information about her in the original host’s memories...
The novel hadn’t said much about her, either. After all, in the original story, Su Jiu was just a green-tea villainess, and the author wouldn’t waste time explaining her family background.
After a long while, he finally broke the slightly awkward silence, asking as if he were speaking to the air:
“What bloodline do you think you’ll awaken?”
“Dad’s Ice Chi bloodline, obviously.”
Seeing [Thanks, Big Brother Xiaoyu] appear on the other end of the screen, Su Xiaoyu suddenly grinned and looked up to answer.
Su Jiu didn’t understand why her father had asked that. She said nothing, waiting for Su Xingguo to continue.
“That’s true... I’m afraid you won’t inherit A-Jiu’s bloodline.”
Su Xingguo shook his head and walked upstairs to his room, looking somewhat despondent.
“Won’t inherit it? Is Mother’s bloodline too weak?”
Su Jiu murmured to herself. Before she could think much more about it, Su Xiaoyu suddenly sprang up beside her, shouting excitedly, “Big Sister, Liu’er said her class is organizing a get-together. They’re going camping in the nearby mountains in a few days, and she invited me, too.”
“You blockhead, she only invited you out of respect for the old man. She didn’t mean it. Besides, Warrior-level demon beasts roam the mountains. You’d better not go.”
Su Jiu answered casually and was about to head back to her room to cultivate when someone grabbed her arm. She reluctantly turned, pried her little brother’s grubby paw off, and asked with an unfriendly look, “What?”
“Thanks, Big Sister...” Su Xiaoyu thought Su Jiu had given up the dragon saliva to Lin Liu’er for his sake and felt a little touched. Before Su Jiu could reply, he blinked and asked, “I heard there are lots of handsome guys in her class. You really don’t want to go? As for Warrior-level demon beasts, once I awaken next week, I’ll be a Warrior myself. I’m not afraid of them.”
“Go play by yourself. You know I don’t like men.”
Su Jiu returned to her room. After locking the door, she opened a drawer, took out Frost Slash, and flipped through it before searching on her phone for instructions on how to use it.
“Only three segments? Can I really eat this much at once?”
Though surprised, Su Jiu followed the instructions she found online, divided the Dragon-Whisker Ginseng into three segments, and immediately put the bottom one in her mouth. She abandoned her plan to practice the other basic techniques.
“Could the energy be enough to cultivate Frost Slash to the fourth stage? Can I get the Quick-Draw Slash before reaching the Blood Condensation stage? That’s the male lead’s signature technique...”
Clutching the dagger she had pulled from beside the bed, she suddenly drove it into the table with all her strength. Wood chips burst everywhere as veins stood out on Su Jiu’s tightly furrowed brow like the roots of a tree.
After swallowing the Dragon-Whisker Ginseng, she felt as if her body were a volcano on the verge of eruption, ready to explode at any moment. An endless torrent of energy surged through her, while at the same time, a golden force followed her blood and continually repaired her injured meridians...
“Damn, I feel like my body’s going to get wrecked.”
Unlike what was happening inside her, the entire room began to frost over. The air seemed to crystallize into tiny ice particles, and a faint frost even began to gather between her brows.
Just then, as the chill swept toward the window, her phone was knocked to the floor. The webpage scrolled down, revealing a few small words: “Warrior-Level Usage Instructions.”
Martial techniques were divided into unranked, Warrior-level, Battle General-level, Battle King-level, and so on. Ordinary martial techniques generally had four stages: proficiency, minor mastery, major mastery, and perfection.
Once a martial artist reached perfection, they could draw inferences from what they had learned and master some “byproducts” of the technique, which could be good or bad.
However, low-end techniques like Frost Slash and Flame Slash were slow and weak, and usually produced a lot of useless by-products. Few people bothered training them to perfection, since it took a long time for little benefit.
But the male lead, Bai Ming, was poor and couldn’t afford high-level martial techniques. Before the college entrance exam, he learned the Flame Slash taught at school and kept practicing it until his second year of university, when he comprehended a martial technique called “Sword-Drawing Technique.”
Combined with his Black Dragon bloodline, it allowed him to instantly kill a demon of the same rank while he was only an early-stage Battle General. After all, even at the same rank, demons were stronger than humans...
Su Jiu had originally wanted to learn Flame Slash, but her body seemed to intensely reject fire-element techniques. She had no choice but to settle for Frost Slash, which was similar to Flame Slash, and take her chances.
...
The two days off passed in a flash. Su Jiu stayed in that same position for a full day and a half, and water began seeping across the floor of her room without anyone noticing.
Su Xingguo was busy with matters concerning the ruins, while Su Xiaoyu stayed cooped up in his room playing games or went out at night to act like some kind of tough guy.
When it had grown completely dark, Su Jiu’s eyelids twitched. She suddenly opened her eyes, the ice on her body shattering. A “Whoosh!” rang out as a beam of icy blue light shot skyward, trailing cold air.
“An instant Frost Slash... So this is the Quick-Draw Slash?!”