Chapter 5: The City Lord's Son's Struggle (Part 4)

At this moment, Su Chen, the dark horse of the Tianfeng Kingdom, lay on his bed.
Pain...his whole body ached!
Su Chen felt as if his body was about to fall apart.
Every inch of his skin felt like it was being slashed by a knife.
A thousand cuts!
Wang Bailu, Li Ming, and the familiar faces from the Lingyun Martial Academy all watched Su Chen anxiously.
Wang Bailu leaned against the window, tightly holding Su Chen's hand, small tears streaming from her eyes.
The bed was soaking wet.
Women really are made of water.
Su Chen reluctantly comforted everyone, saying, "It's alright now, I'm awake."
Looking at Su Chen's pale face, everyone was utterly incredulous.
Su Chen had no choice but to change the subject: "Who won the battle between me and Nangong Meng of the Tianlan Sect?"
At this point, everyone began to chatter.
"Of course, Junior Brother Jiang, you won!"
A beautiful senior student looked at Su Chen with shining eyes.
Su Chen felt a hand that was smooth and soft, cool yet warm.
It turned out that Wang Bailu had placed her face against Su Chen's hand.
She was asserting her ownership.
This made Su Chen both laugh and cry, and even the pain from his injuries lessened considerably.
"Now, the legend of Junior Brother Jiang is circulating throughout the capital. That Nangong Meng was a favorite for the top three, but she lost to Junior Brother Jiang and missed out on the top ten!"
A senior brother interjected, his tone full of admiration for Su Chen.
"Junior Brother Jiang's martial arts spirit is admirable. This is what martial arts should be like—courageous, fearless of death, it's exhilarating!"
Another senior brother praised, already won over by Su Chen.
In reality, Su Chen was inwardly screaming with pain.
"What a load of rubbish about martial arts spirit! As long as the martial arts spirit doesn't die, that's enough."
The reason he fought so desperately
was entirely because Nangong Meng was Li Qingyue's proud disciple.
In his past life, the image of Li Qingyue annuling her engagement was still vividly etched in his mind.
He couldn't beat Li Qingyue, but surely he could beat her disciple?
This was a battle to prove himself.
Su Chen told himself he couldn't lose!
Until the very end, only one thought echoed in Su Chen's mind: to defeat Nangong Meng.
So, in the end, Su Chen won.
In a pure contest, Su Chen was no match for Nangong Meng.
But in terms of combat experience, Nangong Meng was no match for Su Chen either.
"Jiang Chen, you're absolutely amazing!"
"Nangong Meng is one of the top ten beauties of the younger generation, the Dream Fairy, and you actually made her cry and admit defeat!"
Li Ming was filled with admiration, exclaiming how awesome he was.
Seeing his best friend achieve fame and fortune, Li Ming was filled with excitement.
"If I become rich and powerful, let us not forget each other."
"Good buddies, we share honor and disgrace."
Su Chen, however, was lost in deep thought.
A question mark popped into his mind:
Did such a thing really happen?
For a prodigy to be beaten to tears like that was simply too far-fetched.
How come he, the person involved, didn't know that Nangong Meng had been beaten to tears?
Su Chen slowly said, "When did this happen? Nangong Meng is also a martial arts prodigy; she shouldn't have been beaten to tears, right?"
Li Ming confidently said, "Now everyone's talking about it, storytellers are writing about it at length, saying that you made Fairy Meng cry, and now many powerful young talents are preparing to unite and cause you trouble."
"If your injuries haven't healed, I suggest you keep your distance."
Su Chen had a million strange thoughts running through his mind. If he knew which bastard was spreading rumors, he'd definitely hang him up and give him a good whipping.
It wasn't that Su Chen didn't want to make Nangong Meng cry.
It was that he hadn't made Nangong Meng cry, but instead created a huge problem for nothing.
What a mess!
At this moment, a middle-aged man walked in. Seeing the awakened Su Chen, he strode forward, patted Su Chen's shoulder, and laughed loudly, "Jiang Chen, well done!"
"Our Lingyun Martial Academy finally produced a top ten in this martial arts competition!"
The middle-aged man looked delighted. When he looked down, Su Chen was already lying on the bed, unable to move.
Only a low voice said, "Elder Mu...you can be a little gentler..."
Su Chen brushed it off again.
Everyone in the room looked at Elder Mu with a gloomy expression.
Elder Mu smiled awkwardly and reluctantly took out a grade three pill and gave it to Su Chen.
There was no other way; no one had made it into the top ten in five consecutive martial arts competitions, and now, finally, Su Chen had emerged.
If he were to be wasted like this, the old guys in the academy would definitely skin him alive.
Elder Mu thought to himself, "If only I hadn't come today!"
A third-grade pill, worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins.
......
Su Chen finally woke up, tasting the flavor of a third-grade pill for the first time.
It was exactly like a divine pill.
The rewards from the Heavenly Wind Capital were quite generous.
Three days of cultivation in the Spirit Pool, a cyan spirit rune, and a low-grade Xuan-rank weapon—Su Chen chose a long spear.
An inch longer, an inch stronger.
Three days later, Su Chen's cultivation advanced further, surpassing the seventh level of the Spirit Gathering Realm and reaching the eighth level.
Leaving the Spirit Pool, Su Chen saw a familiar figure again.
Her slender figure was perfectly concealed by a purple robe, her face as cold and aloof as snow, a few strands of hair falling across her forehead, ethereal and dreamlike.
She was a beauty countless people longed for.
If only she didn't have that murderous glint in her eyes.
Su Chen sensed something was wrong. The newcomer was none other than Nangong Meng, whom he had defeated.
"Jiang Chen, I challenge you!"
Nangong Meng was indignant. The whole town was abuzz with news of her being beaten to tears by the madman from Lingyun Martial Academy, forced to admit defeat and leave the arena.
She accepted the defeat; after all, she wouldn't stoop to the level of a madman.
But Nangong Meng didn't cry!
Nangong Meng wanted to prove it. She wanted to defeat Su Chen and avenge her humiliation!
Su Chen avoided her.
His cultivation had now broken through to the eighth level of the Spirit Gathering Realm.
Defeating Nangong Meng wouldn't be difficult.
But he didn't want to make a move.
Seeing herself ignored by Su Chen, Nangong Meng was furious: "Jiang Chen, are you even a man?!"
Su Chen turned to look at the enraged Nangong Meng, his face full of confusion: "What does whether I'm a man or not have to do with whether I accept your challenge?"
He didn't understand these little girls' logic.
Nangong Meng was enraged; she decided to force herself on him.
She directly drew her sword and slashed at Su Chen.
"Looks so calm and collected, but she's actually a raging tigress,"
Su Chen muttered softly, every word reaching Nangong Meng's ears.
He raised his spear, the tip gleaming coldly.
The cold light pressed against Nangong Meng's head, piercing her delicate forehead with the force of a flick of the wrist.
Crimson blood dripped down.
She possessed a unique charm, a beauty nonetheless.
Su Chen sheathed his spear and waved his hand, "Little girl, you'd better wait until you reach the Spirit Pattern Realm before challenging me!"
Then he left with a flourish.
Nangong Meng stood there stunned for a long time, her forehead stained with blood, her eyes brimming with tears, which dripped softly.
"Bastard! Jiang Chen, you bastard!"
That day, the capital was once again in turmoil.
Rumors circulated that Fairy Meng had been seduced and abandoned by Jiang Chen, and heartbroken, she had cried for an entire day.
This fueled the clamor among the younger generation of the Tianfeng Kingdom, who clamored to make those who had wronged Fairy Meng pay the price.