"Just where on earth did this Su Chen pop out from? It's been almost a year, and we've never heard of such a badass in our class."
"No idea. Maybe he registered ages ago, never showed up at the academy, and only just arrived recently."
"He's seriously insane, hitting number one on the Dragon Ascension Ranking while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Nothing like that has ever happened in the history of the Eastwast Academy. Our pathetic lowest-tier beginner class has finally made a name for the academy this time."
All three girls were stunned. After all, within the Eastwast Academy, the lowest-tier beginner class was the most invisible existence, a standing joke in the eyes of every student.
"Hey, the three of you, hold on. I've got something to ask you."
"What is it?"
Seeing another student from the beginner classes, the three of them instinctively felt inferior. There was no help for it—no matter where you went, strength was the only thing that spoke.
"What's this Su Chen's background?"
Shi Xiaoman shook her head and said helplessly, "We'd love to know who this Su Chen is, too. We've never laid eyes on him, nor even heard his name."
The student was extremely surprised.
Even the students in the lowest-tier beginner class didn't know the guy? This Su Chen really was a complete mystery.
Su Chen had made it to the number one spot on the Dragon Ascension Ranking, sending a massive shockwave through the entire Eastwast Academy.
Everyone was scrambling to find out just who Su Chen was.
A Foundation Establishment Realm student from the lowest-tier beginner class had actually managed to rank first in the Dragon Ascension Tournament.
As all the students who participated in the tournament returned to the academy, various pieces of information regarding Su Chen spread like wildfire.
Su Chen possessed a sword Blood Wheel, was already in the Void Core Realm, and went around snatching points like an absolute madman—completely unstoppable no matter who stood in his way.
Void Core Realm?
A Void Core Realm student was placed in the beginner class, and specifically the lowest-tier beginner class?
For an entire day, rumors about Su Chen flew across the Eastwast Academy. Even before stepping foot inside the academy proper, Su Chen the Madman had already made a legendary name for himself.
The northwestern corner of the academy.
This was the most remote location in the entire complex, featuring neat rows of independent flat-roofed houses that served as the dormitories for the lowest-tier beginner class.
Call them dormitories, but they were actually just simple single-story houses. Compared to the dorms of the other classes, they weren't even in the same league.
Upon returning to the academy, Su Chen first went through the admission procedures and collected his point reward for taking first place on the Dragon Ascension Ranking: a full thirty thousand points. Added to the three thousand three hundred thirty-three points he had looted during the tournament, he now held a total of thirty-three thousand three hundred thirty-three points.
"You must be Su Chen?"
Before Su Chen could even search for his assigned quarters among the row of dormitories, he heard someone calling out to him.
Looking at the five people walking toward him, Su Chen nodded and said, "I am Su Chen."
"Ha! It really is you. My name is Qiao Hong, and these four are Liu Yu, Wan Niyun, Huang Qi, and Fang Jue. We're all from Beginner Class 22. The other four haven't arrived yet."
"Who says we haven't arrived?"
Just as a voice as crisp as a songbird faded away, Xing Yingxue and three others walked over.
"Junior Brother Su, let me introduce you. This is Xing Yingxue, Fang Qing, Shi Xiaoman, and Ye Xuanguan. With you, our Beginner Class 22 now has ten people in total—easily the smallest class in the entire Eastwast Academy."
The lowest-tier beginner class.
Also dubbed the trash class by the academy, because any student assigned here was, without exception, trash among trash. Their talent was abysmal, their Blood Wheels utter garbage. If they failed to pass the assessments, the academy would forcefully expel them.
"You must be Big Brother Su?"
Fang Qing walked right up to Su Chen, extended her right hand, and said with a bright smile. She had delicate features, and the dimples that appeared when she smiled were exceptionally cute.
Su Chen extended his hand in return, shook Fang Qing's hand, and smiled. "Hello, Senior Sister Fang."
"Don't call me senior sister! Even though you just entered the academy, you're ranked number one on the Dragon Ascension Ranking and you're the talk of the whole academy right now. If anyone heard you call me senior sister, I'd die of embarrassment."
Su Chen insisted anyway. "I don't care what others say. In Beginner Class 22, you are all my seniors."
Everyone quickly realized that Su Chen rarely spoke much, yet he was a genuinely nice person—not arrogant or self-important in the slightest, completely unlike what they had imagined.
In an instant, everyone swarmed around him, talking all at once. Before long, they were all getting along swimmingly. Su Chen was quite satisfied with this so-called lowest-tier beginner class.
"Hello, Vice Dean."
Inside the admissions hall, two instructors were organizing student files when an elderly man walked in. He had a plump body supporting a watermelon-like belly, a bird's nest of hair that looked as though it hadn't been washed in ages, and he was currently gnawing on a roasted chicken leg.
Nodding slightly, Qin Zhu walked up to the two instructors and said, "I hear a madman popped out of Beginner Class 22—actually grabbed over three thousand points in the Dragon Ascension Tournament and took first place on the Dragon Ascension Ranking. Let me see his file."
"Please take a look, Vice Dean."
Taking the data card, Qin Zhu read the detailed information regarding Su Chen.
Su Chen, from the Su family of Panyou City, sword Blood Wheel, Foundation Establishment Realm before entering the academy, advanced to the Void Core Realm after joining the Dragon Ascension Tournament, and seized first place on the Dragon Ascension Ranking with overwhelming, tyrannical force.
Frowning deeply, Qin Zhu said with clear dissatisfaction, "What happened before is one thing, but now that he's broken through to the Void Core Realm and secured first place on the Dragon Ascension Ranking, why is he still in a beginner class, let alone the lowest-tier one?"
"Vice Dean, we already tried arranging a transfer, but Su Chen wasn't willing to enter the intermediate classes; he insisted on staying in the beginner class."
What?
Qin Zhu was rather surprised.
The faces of the two instructors were plastered with helplessness and bafflement—it completely defied common sense.
Under normal circumstances, anyone entering the academy to cultivate did so to climb higher. As the saying goes, men go to higher places just as water flows downward.
Anyone capable of entering the intermediate classes would jump at the chance; who would want to keep cultivating in the beginner class? After all, the cultivation resources available to the two tiers were worlds apart.
Yet Su Chen was an exception.
"Why does he want to stay in the beginner class?"
"Vice Dean, he didn't say. Should we consider forcing..."
Before the instructor could finish, Qin Zhu waved his hand dismissively and said with a smile, "Leave it be. Since he wants to stay in the beginner class, let him. But remember this: his treatment must match that of the advanced class students."
Advanced class?
The two instructors grew even more astonished, though they dared not ask any further questions. After all, the Vice Dean's standing in the academy far surpassed theirs.
Qin Zhu was even hailed by the Eastwast Academy as the First Vice Dean, boasting a Peak Condensing Spirit Realm cultivation.
Back at the dormitories.
The dilapidated courtyard was swept spotless by Shi Xiaoman and the others in a mere half-hour. Every weed was cleared away, and under the blazing sun, it actually looked rather decent.
Su Chen loved this kind of environment: serene, secluded, and free from the disturbances of others.
His taking first place on the Dragon Ascension Ranking this time was unintentional. Who could have guessed that a mere three thousand plus points would be enough to claim the crown?
He had originally planned to participate in the Hundred Battles Tournament—not to fight for the Hundred Battles Ranking, but rather to test his skills against Solid Core Realm students. Unfortunately, whether it was the Dragon Ascension Tournament or the Hundred Battles Tournament, each event only lasted ten days.
"Junior Brother Su, the courtyard is all cleaned up. Let me tell you a bit more about the academy."
"Alright."
Everyone gathered around a stone table. The rich, fragrant aroma of the tea prompted Su Chen to pick up his cup and drain it in a single gulp.
Wan Niyun smiled and said, "Our Eastwast Academy is a top-tier power throughout the entire Eastwast. There are many places within the academy well-suited for our cultivation, and you can visit the Martial Pavilion, Weapon Pavilion, and other places to trade points for whatever you need."
"Junior Brother Su, if you're looking for a place to cultivate, let me tell you: the first place you must visit is the Myriad Beast Tower. Legend has it that the Myriad Beast Tower was forged over countless years by past deans, vice deans, and instructors who suppressed countless demonic beast essences and souls as auxiliary support, anchored by a top-tier spiritual vein. It's a sacred ground for cultivation that offers immense benefits to students. The only drawback is that the points required to enter each time are simply too steep."
"How many points are needed?"
Shi Xiaoman smiled helplessly and said, "One hundred points for a single day of cultivation. Furthermore, upon entering the Myriad Beast Tower, you have to fight for your own spot inside."
One hundred points certainly wasn't much for students in other beginner classes or even intermediate classes, but for the students of the lowest-tier beginner class, it was a fortune.
"There are many ways to earn points in the academy: hunting demonic beasts to harvest their beast cores and trade them at the academy, or engaging in wagering duels. However, the academy explicitly forbids intermediate class students from forcibly extorting points from beginner class students. Anyone caught doing so is immediately expelled."
Listening to this, Su Chen could tell that Shi Xiaoman and the others desperately wanted to cultivate inside the Myriad Beast Tower, but due to their empty purses, they could only dream about it without any hope of entering.
"I have some points on hand. If you're willing, we can head to the Myriad Beast Tower right now to cultivate. But before that, I want to take a look at everyone's Blood Wheels."
Aside from Xing Yingxue, the other eight each released their respective Blood Wheels. In Su Chen's eyes, the grades of their Blood Wheels were indeed abysmally low, and all of them were trash Blood Wheels.
No wonder these eight ended up in the lowest-tier beginner class.
"Junior Sister Xing, where is your Blood Wheel?"
Shi Xiaoman chuckled and said, "Let me share some great news with you all: Sister Xing has already awakened a mutated Blood Wheel—the Heaven-Covering Sparrow! This is a top-tier Blood Wheel in the Eastwast. I bet there are barely a handful of people in the entire academy who could suppress Sister Xing's Blood Wheel."
Upon hearing the words "mutated Blood Wheel Heaven-Covering Sparrow," everyone except Su Chen underwent a drastic change in expression. Everyone knew full well what a mutated Blood Wheel signified, let alone one that was among the absolute pinnacle of top-tier Blood Wheels in the Eastwast.
One by one, they began congratulating Xing Yingxue.
After all, there were only ten people in the entire lowest-tier beginner class. Witnessing a fellow classmate awaken a mutated Blood Wheel was naturally the happiest thing imaginable.
"It's all thanks to Junior Brother Su. Otherwise, I never would have been able to awaken a mutated Blood Wheel."
Hearing this, everyone immediately guessed that, without a doubt, Junior Brother Su must have helped Sister Xing awaken her mutated Blood Wheel during the Dragon Ascension Tournament.
"The academy doesn't know yet that Sister Xing awakened a mutated Blood Wheel. Once they find out, they'll definitely force Sister Xing to leave our class."
"I'm not leaving."
Su Chen spoke up instead. "Senior Brother Huang, your Blood Wheel is also a bit peculiar. Let me help you test it out."
Hearing this, Huang Qi's heart gave a sudden jolt. He knew full well what Su Chen meant.
His awakened Blood Wheel was a stone—the most unremarkable kind of stone Blood Wheel, which could only be described as trash among trash.
"Junior Brother Su, do you mean to say that my Blood Wheel might also be a mutated Blood Wheel?"
Seeing Su Chen nod, Huang Qi was overjoyed to the extreme. No matter how bad a trash Blood Wheel was, as long as it mutated, there was a very high chance it would become a top-tier Blood Wheel.
"What should I do?"
"Follow me."
Watching the two of them enter the room, everyone except Xing Yingxue was filled with burning envy. That was a mutated Blood Wheel—a top-tier Blood Wheel! Awakening one meant that person would walk much further down the path of martial arts in the future.
Who would have thought that a lowest-tier beginner class with only ten people would produce two mutated Blood Wheels and the number one ranker on the Dragon Ascension Ranking?
"Junior Brother Su is truly miraculous. Someone like this will definitely be valued by the academy's upper echelon. I suppose Junior Brother Su will be leaving our class very soon."
"Probably not. Logically speaking, since Junior Brother Su is already ranked number one on the Dragon Ascension Ranking, the academy certainly wouldn't let him stay in the beginner class. But the fact that he chose to stay means he doesn't want to leave."
"That's very likely."
Half an hour later, the door slowly opened, and the two walked out.
Fang Jue asked impatiently, "How did it go?"
Su Chen smiled and said, "Just as I thought. Senior Brother Huang has awakened the mutated Petrochemical Blood Wheel."
Petrochemical?
It was still a stone Blood Wheel?
Huang Qi seemed to understand what everyone was thinking. He chuckled, directly summoned his Blood Wheel above his head, and revealed the faint yellow phantom of a stone suspended within it.
"Petrochemical!"
Before everyone's shocked eyes, a wine cup on the stone table in front of Huang Qi instantly turned to stone, transforming into a stone wine cup.
Drawing in a sharp breath of air, everyone realized this Blood Wheel was nothing short of tyrannical.
Huang Qi dropped to one knee and prepared to bow toward Su Chen, but Su Chen quickly reached out and pulled him up.
Huang Qi stubbornly remained on one knee, saying, "Ever since I left my family and managed to enter the academy by a twist of fate, I knew that in a few months I'd probably be chased out for having too much talent. It's all thanks to meeting you."
The others let out deep sighs. Everything Huang Qi said was the truth; the students of the lowest-tier beginner class would face evaluations in two or three months, and those who failed to pass would be forcefully driven out of the academy.
The law of the jungle—that was the cruel reality.
No one cared about your hard work or your struggles; only talent and strength were everything.
"And now, I, Huang Qi, have actually awakened the Petrochemical Blood Wheel, possessing one of the top-tier mutated Blood Wheels in the Eastwast. Everything is a gift from you; you are essentially my second father."
"Here and now, I, Huang Qi, swear an oath: from this moment on, Su Chen is my master. I shall follow him through this lifetime with absolute loyalty and never harbor a second heart. Should I violate this oath, may I suffer heavenly retribution and die a wretched death!"
As the words fell, without even giving Su Chen a chance to stop him, Huang Qi forcefully squeezed out a drop of vital blood and swore the oath before him. A strange cluster of light formed and vanished—it was the most tyrannical Blood Oath. Once a Blood Oath was formed, breaking it was utterly impossible.
Everyone was deeply shocked to see Huang Qi actually take a Blood Oath, but upon a moment's reflection, they understood. After all, Su Chen had practically given Huang Qi a second lease on life.
A trash Blood Wheel and a top-tier mutated Blood Wheel were two entirely different concepts. One could say that with his re-awakened mutated Blood Wheel, Huang Qi's future path would be completely transformed.
No matter where he went, no one would ever call Huang Qi trash again. No matter which faction Huang Qi wished to join, he would receive prioritized cultivation. The person who once possessed a trash Blood Wheel was gone.
Looking at Huang Qi kneeling on the ground having just sworn the Blood Oath, Su Chen sighed deeply in his heart. It was too late to stop him now.
Helping Huang Qi to his feet, Su Chen said helplessly, "Why did you have to do this? You don't know my situation yet. Following me means you'll be in mortal danger in the future."
His words carried a deeper meaning that anyone present could grasp, including Huang Qi.
"Don't worry, Master."
"Hold on. Remember: no matter what, never call me master. Since you're willing to follow me, just call me young master from now on."
"Yes."
Having now sworn the Blood Oath and resolved to follow Su Chen, Huang Qi was driven more by emotional gratitude than cold logic—after all, it was Su Chen who had given him a second life and allowed him to reawaken a mutated Blood Wheel. Yet Huang Qi could never have anticipated that this single decision today would lead him to become a supreme entity capable of shaking the entire continent in the days to come.
Among the nine others, aside from Xing Yingxue and Huang Qi who had awakened mutated Blood Wheels, the rest still possessed trash Blood Wheels.
Su Chen could see the deep envy in the eyes of the other seven. After all, no one wanted to be saddled with a trash Blood Wheel.
Possessing a trash Blood Wheel meant being looked down upon everywhere you went, forever stuck at the absolute bottom of the ladder.
"I only want to tell all of you one thing: in this world, there are no so-called trash Blood Wheels, only lazy people. As long as you refuse to give up, I, Su Chen, will find a way to help you."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, Junior Brother Su."
Though they spoke words of gratitude, deep down they didn't really believe it. A trash Blood Wheel was a trash Blood Wheel; unless one reawakened a mutated Blood Wheel, their life was essentially over.
"Come on, let's head to the Myriad Beast Tower to cultivate. Dinner is on me."
The Myriad Beast Tower was located in the northeastern part of the academy.
The entire tower stood hundreds of meters tall, pitch-black from base to pinnacle, covered in dense, intricate patterns alongside various carvings of demonic beasts.
To enter the Myriad Beast Tower for cultivation, one needed to spend 100 points for a single day.
Inside the tower, students had to stake out their own spots, because the closer one got to the center, the greater the benefits for personal cultivation.
Su Chen led the nine of them straight to the Myriad Beast Tower and immediately paid 3,000 points, securing three days of cultivation time for each person.
"Aren't these the trash from the lowest-tier beginner class? Quite the big spenders, aren't we? Three days for everyone—that's a whole 3,000 points. Trash like you are just wasting points even if you go inside."
Some students still hadn't heard the news that someone from the lowest-tier beginner class had reached number one on the Dragon Ascension Ranking.
If they had known, would they still have dared to come over and provoke them?
A bald youth walked over with a sneering smile.
Many people around watched the scene unfold, but not a single person dared to utter an extra word of nonsense.
If it were usual times, people would have already started jeering.
What about now?
The bald youth frowned slightly, sensing that the atmosphere was somehow off. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong, but in his mind, they were just a bunch of trash from the lowest-tier beginner class anyway.
"What? Fang Jue, you unconvinced?"
"You brother and sister really are cut from the same cloth—both of you are absolute trash."
Fang Jue and Fang Qing were biological siblings.
"Huang Qi, what should be done when a dog comes over and barks indiscriminately?"
"Beat it."
"Will the academy cause trouble for that?"
"The academy won't care, because the dog started barking randomly first."
Hearing Huang Qi's words, the bald youth flew into a complete rage. He never imagined that Huang Qi would dare provoke him like this, showing zero regard for him whatsoever. How could he not be furious?
Before the bald youth could even make a move, Su Chen's figure instantly vanished from where he stood.
For Su Chen, who was in the Level 2 Void Core Realm, dealing with a student from the ordinary beginner classes was far too easy.
In an instant!