“Brother Chu Nan, didn't you promise to catch a little python for me?”
A little girl of about seven or eight, her hair tied in twin buns like goat horns and her face as delicate as a doll's, spoke to a bright-eyed sixteen-year-old youth.
“Little Ruoxue! About that...”
Chu Nan squatted down, gave an embarrassed smile, and patted her head.
“But I also told you, I can only help you catch that little python once I've trained to become a high-level Martial Master!”
“But... Brother Chu Nan, when will you finally become a high-level Martial Master?”
Bai Ruoxue's eyes welled with tears, and she said in a whimpering voice:
“Brother Bai Hao is already a mid-level Martial Artist. Why are you still only a low-level Martial Artist?”
Hearing this, Chu Nan felt truly embarrassed. He was sixteen this year, which was close to adulthood on the Tianwu Continent, yet he was still only a low-level Martial Artist. It was indeed a pathetic showing. Meanwhile, the Bai Hao she mentioned was only a twelve-year-old child—four years younger than him—yet was already a mid-level Martial Artist. Compared to him, the difference was like night and day.
As the two were speaking, a loud, mocking laugh rang out:
“Trash Nan, why are you still a low-level Martial Artist? I thought that after not seeing you for three years, you would have made some progress. Ruoxue, call me 'Brother' and I'll catch that little python for you. I'm already a high-level Martial Master now!”
“No need, I only want Brother Chu Nan to catch it.”
Bai Ruoxue tugged at Chu Nan's hand and whispered:
“Brother Chu Nan, let's go home.”
“Little Ruoxue, let's go.”
Chu Nan took Bai Ruoxue's small hand and walked forward, but the speaker stepped in to block his path. When Chu Nan moved to the left, he moved to the left; when Chu Nan moved to the right, he moved to the right.
“What do you want?”
Chu Nan asked coldly.
The person blocking Chu Nan's path was named Bai Zeyu, seventeen years old. His father, Bai Chengfeng, was the chief of Bai Family Village. In such a remote mountain village, having a village chief for a father was akin to being the son of a local king, so Bai Zeyu possessed a fair amount of influence. Furthermore, he was highly talented, having already become a high-level Martial Artist at the age of thirteen. After staying at that level for a year, he was by chance taken away from Bai Family Village by a middle-aged man. Rumor had it that the man was an important figure in the Shenghuo Sect, one of the three major sects of the Daqing Kingdom, and Bai Zeyu had consequently become an inner disciple of the Shenghuo Sect.
Bai Zeyu had indeed lived up to his talent. When he left, he was only a high-level Martial Artist, yet four years later, he had actually crossed the threshold of a Martial Artist to become a Martial Master, and a high-level Martial Master at that.
In the past, Chu Nan had always avoided Bai Zeyu. He hadn't expected that after being away from home for three years, Bai Zeyu would seek him out to cause trouble the moment he returned.
“What do I want?”
Bai Zeyu snorted contemptuously. Glancing at the path beneath his feet, he narrowed his eyes and said arrogantly:
“This path is for the strong. As for certain pieces of trash—like those who are still low-level Martial Artists at sixteen, or maybe even worse than a low-level Martial Artist piece of trash—they aren't worthy of walking on it!”
Bai Zeyu seeing that Chu Nan remained silent, assumed he was afraid. Becoming even more arrogant, he laughed wildly and said:
“If you want to pass, that's fine too. Kneel down, kowtow three times, and call me 'Grandpa' three times, and I'll let you off. What, do you want to fight? You'd better just kneel and kowtow three times.”
Chu Nan fell silent, but beneath his quiet exterior, an endless rage was brewing. Beside him, Bai Ruoxue was somewhat anxious. Although she was still very young, she understood the vast difference between a Novice Martial Artist and an Advanced Martial Master—it was like the difference between heaven and earth. How could Brother Chu Nan fight him? Moreover, Brother Chu Nan's health was poor, and he was always falling ill...
"Little Ruoxue, go back first. Tonight, Brother will go catch fireflies with you!"
Seeing Bai Ruoxue's small hand trembling, Chu Nan tried to speak in a gentle voice, but Bai Ruoxue turned her head and said resolutely:
"No, Brother Chu Nan, I'm going with you!"
Having said that, Bai Ruoxue turned to Bai Zeyu and said in her childish voice:
"If I call you 'brother', will you let us pass?"
Bai Zeyu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter and said:
"Chu Nan, I misjudged you. You don't even dare to fight me, so you sent this little girl to beg for mercy. It seems you're not just a piece of trash, but a complete coward... A coward!"
Hearing Bai Zeyu's extremely insulting words, Chu Nan clenched his fists until his knuckles popped. Because all his meridians had been severed since childhood, Chu Nan's constitution was extremely weak, making him fundamentally unfit for martial arts. No matter how hard he trained, or how much blood, sweat, and tears he poured into it, his strength could barely progress. Thus, he had always been called a piece of trash by others...
However, until now, no one had ever called him a coward...
In the Tianwu Continent, where martial arts reigned supreme, those who were too cowardly to face a challenge were deeply despised. Being called a coward was the greatest insult to Chu Nan. The rage in Chu Nan's heart flared up, yet his face remained completely expressionless as he said slowly:
"Little Ruoxue, stand aside and watch how Brother teaches this bastard a lesson!"
Bai Ruoxue obediently stepped aside, her mind racing with thoughts of whether she should run back to the village to call for help, but she was too worried about leaving Brother Chu Nan here alone...
"Teach me a lesson? What a joke! You're just a trashy Novice Martial Artist, and you want to teach an Advanced Martial Master like me a lesson?"
Bai Zeyu threw his head back and laughed wildly, as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke on the Tianwu Continent. Just as he bent over with laughter, Chu Nan's fist, transforming his rage into power and carrying a pale yellow flame, smashed toward Bai Zeyu's bent body.
The fist burned like a fireball, whistling through the wind. Bai Zeyu was still laughing wildly, but by the time he noticed Chu Nan's movement, Chu Nan's fist was already a mere finger's breadth away from him.
In a panic, Bai Zeyu dodged to the side, but unexpectedly, he still couldn't avoid it. Chu Nan's rage-filled punch smashed squarely into Bai Zeyu's chest, forcing him to take a step back.
"I was hit? An Advanced Martial Master like me was actually hit by a piece of trash?"
Although Chu Nan's attack failed to cause any real damage to Bai Zeyu, he was, after all, a disciple of the Sacred Fire Sect and an Advanced Martial Master. To think he had been struck by a Novice Martial Artist—a piece of trash in his own words—and even forced to take a step back! If word of this got out, how could he, Bai Zeyu, ever show his face in Bai Family Village again? How could he have the face to roam the Tianwu Continent?
"Brother Chu Nan is so amazing..."
Seeing Chu Nan land a punch on Bai Zeyu, Bai Ruoxue thought he had gained the upper hand and clapped and cheered enthusiastically from the side.
Chu Nan felt a bitter taste in his mouth. That last punch had exhausted almost all of his strength, the most powerful blow he could currently muster. Yet, in the end, it had only forced Bai Zeyu back a single step, failing to inflict any real damage. The gap between a low-level Martial Artist and a high-level Martial Master was truly immense.
Furious, Bai Zeyu let out an angry roar:
"Trash! How dare you strike me! I will hit you a hundred times, a thousand times! I'll use the simplest fist technique to show you the difference between a high-level Martial Master and a low-level Martial Artist! I'll make you realize the difference between a genius and a piece of trash!"
"Blazing Fist!"
Bai Zeyu's right fist also erupted into a ball of fire, but this fireball was three times larger than Chu Nan's previous one. Furthermore, the color of the flames was completely different; while Chu Nan's flames were a pale yellow, Bai Zeyu's fireball glowed a brilliant gold, with even a few streaks of red.
The flames Chu Nan had unleashed were merely ordinary fire.
But Bai Zeyu's flames were the Fire of True Yang!
At this moment, Chu Nan seemed to have completely depleted his energy from that single punch. His fist could not even conjure a tiny pale-yellow fireball; it was nothing but a bare fist of flesh and bone.
Despite having only his bare fist, there was not a shred of fear in Chu Nan's eyes. A surge of stubbornness and madness welled up inside him as he smashed his fist directly toward the golden fireball...