Bach Hoang Dojo, the atmosphere was incredibly lively.
The betting was over. Almost everyone had bet on Quynh Nhu to win.
No one had enough faith in the little junior brother to defeat a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Lam Minh and Quynh Nhu were now standing opposite each other on the platform, both holding wooden swords.
Quynh Nhu looked at Lam Minh with a teasing glint in her eyes. "Little junior brother! This senior sister will seal her cultivation to match yours, don't worry."
Hearing this, everyone had the same thought: "Only a ghost would believe you!"
In the previous duels, Quynh Nhu had always broken the seal and beaten Lam Minh to a pulp.
Lam Minh stood straight, his back as straight as a spear pointing to the sky, his eyes calm and unwavering. He said, "There's no need, senior sister. Just use your full strength. Today, I will make you submit."
Upon hearing this, Quynh Nhu's mocking smile faded. Her eyes became serious, and she pointed her sword at Lam Minh. "Alright, you want to rise up. Today, if you can defeat me, I'll call you 'big brother'."
Lam Minh didn't reply. His sword and body became one. Each move of the Primordial Chaos Sword Art began to circulate, and streams of sword intent swirled around the blade.
Below, Eldest Senior Brother's brows furrowed. He felt the aura emanating from the sword, and his eyes were full of surprise. "This feeling..."
He, a Golden Core realm sword fanatic, could naturally sense the extraordinariness of the wooden sword.
How extraordinary, he himself wasn't sure.
Quynh Nhu, opposite him, also felt Lam Minh's gaze. It was as if she were facing a giant beast from ancient times. The primordial aura radiating from Lam Minh made her a little flustered.
But a warrior cannot lose face. "Let me see what you're made of!"
Quynh Nhu stomped her foot, and her body shot towards Lam Minh. Her hand quickly slashed out streams of sword qi.
A brilliant white spiritual power exploded.
Continuous moves enveloped Lam Minh.
"Bright Holy Sword Art!" Quynh Nhu shouted loudly.
She had used one hundred percent of her power in this move.
She didn't know why, but when facing a junior like Lam Minh at this moment, she had unconsciously used her full strength.
Lam Minh calmly faced the dense white net of swords.
"Let's see just how strong the Hong Hoang Dragon God Body is," he muttered.
He took a step forward and swung his sword gently. "Primordial Chaos Sword Art – Transform!"
As soon as Lam Minh said the word 'Transform,' the sword intent on the blade seemed to lose control.
It immediately erupted.
Lam Minh lightly slashed, and a force that was both primal and primordial, carrying the power to create all things, instantly shot out from the sword.
As soon as Quynh Nhu's brilliant white sword net came into contact with the sword intent, it instantly softened like tofu.
The sword net shattered.
The sword intent from the last slash did not dissipate and continued to rush towards Quynh Nhu.
Before she could process what was happening, she could only quickly raise her wooden sword to block in front of her.
Boom!!
It was unstoppable. A spray of blood erupted.
Quynh Nhu's shoulder was struck by the sword intent.
A deep gash that revealed the bone assaulted everyone's vision.
The wooden sword in her hand shattered.
Quynh Nhu fell to the ground, her face pale.
Silence.
The entire dojo was now dead silent.
Fourth Senior Brother, who had been engrossed in a debate with his fellow disciples just a moment ago, was stunned. The pen in his hand had fallen to the ground without him even noticing.
Eldest Senior Brother stared at the wooden sword in Lam Minh's hand and muttered, "It really is sword intent."
"One move... Just one move," Second Senior Brother, a Golden Core realm cultivator, muttered with his mouth agape, unable to believe his eyes.
Quynh Nhu sat on the ground and muttered, "I... I lost. What realm did you break through to? It's terrifying."
She couldn't believe what was happening. From Lam Minh's attack, one could see that it contained no spiritual power, only pure brute force and sword intent.
This proved that Lam Minh was only at the Body Tempering realm.
At this moment, the wound on her shoulder didn't even hurt.
She had been on many life-and-death missions and had been injured much more severely than this.
This small wound was child's play for a cultivator.
What shocked her was Lam Minh's strength.
"I went easy on you," Lam Minh said, looking at Quynh Nhu and clasping his hands, a teasing smile on his face.
Quynh Nhu didn't reply. She took out a 'Life Force Pill' from her storage bag, put it in her mouth, and slowly refined it.
The wound on her shoulder subsequently dried up and scabbed over.
With at least three to five days of recuperation, she could return to normal.
The Life Force Pill was a common healing elixir in the Cultivation World. It was easy to refine, cheap, and effective. Cultivators would carry at least 5-10 of them when they went out.
After a while, she opened her eyes and looked at Lam Minh. "Hmph, junior brother, this time it was because I underestimated you. There won't be a second time!"
With that, she quickly turned to flee from the platform.
But just then, a hand grabbed her ear, stopping her in her tracks.
A voice like a demon's echoed behind her, sending a chill down her spine.
"Wrong. It's 'big brother'."
Lam Minh looked at Quynh Nhu with a mocking gaze.
The other senior brothers and sisters also laughed when they heard Lam Minh's words.
They had never seen Quynh Nhu suffer a loss in the dojo before.
This Lam Minh guy seemed to have stripped Quynh Nhu of her usual aura.
"You want to rise up? I am your senior sister, I can't call you that!" Quynh Nhu retorted.
She started to be unreasonable.
You want me to call you big brother? In your dreams!
Unless you confess your love to me, then I might temporarily accept and call you that.
Lam Minh's eyes narrowed, and he let go of Quynh Nhu's ear. "Fine, you don't have to call me that, but I'll consider this a debt. I'll collect it when I need to. You're not allowed to default."
After speaking, Lam Minh flicked his wooden sword and stepped off the platform with a smug look.
Quynh Nhu stood on the platform, looking at him. "Let's see what kind of request you dare to make. If it's too outrageous, see if I don't skin you alive!"
As soon as Lam Minh stepped off the platform, he went over to his senior brothers, who were busy settling their bets.
In this bet, Fourth Senior Brother had made a killing.
Although the odds were only 1:1, with 8 people betting on Quynh Nhu, he had also pocketed 8 "free" items.
Fourth Senior Brother's mouth was now grinning from ear to ear.
Seeing Lam Minh approach, he took out the green sword and handed it to him, saying, "Tenth Junior Brother, here's the sword. Hahaha, a hero truly emerges from the young! To defeat a Foundation Establishment realm with a Body Tempering cultivation, this is truly the first time I've seen it."
Lam Minh happily accepted the sword.
He held it in his palm.
It felt extremely comfortable in his hand.
He swung it a few times, and the sound of cutting wind whistled.
If he added the Primordial Chaos Sword Art, well, who could block it?
"Mmm, another illusion. There are still Golden Core and Nascent Soul realms above. My heart is too inflated; I could easily get killed," Lam Minh muttered.
He didn't know if it was because he was strong, or because Quynh Nhu wasn't strong enough, or if other Foundation Establishment prodigies were stronger than Quynh Nhu.
But the important thing was to be steady. Instability could easily lead to disaster.
The other senior brothers and sisters rushed to congratulate Lam Minh on his breakthrough to the Body Tempering realm.
At this moment, Eldest Senior Brother frowned and asked Lam Minh, "Tenth Junior Brother, you haven't chosen a Body Tempering technique. How could you enter this realm? According to precedent, you need a specific technique to circulate your blood essence and temper your body, right?"
Hearing this, Lam Minh was startled and looked at his Eldest Senior Brother. But besides curiosity, he didn't sense any suspicion. Only then did Lam Minh feel relieved and reply, "Eldest Senior Brother, I don't know either. When my blood essence was full, it felt like I just broke through."
Eldest Senior Brother smiled faintly and said to Lam Minh, "It's fine. Although there's no precedent like this before, it's probably because you're quite special. But remember to report it to Master. Now that you've entered the Body Tempering realm, your identity and status are different."
Lam Minh was slightly surprised by his senior brother's words but managed to reply, "Yes, Senior Brother."
Then, he looked at the sword he had obtained again.
On the body of the sword were three rather ancient and beautiful characters.
But since it was in the language of the cultivators, Lam Minh was clueless.
He looked at his Eldest Senior Brother and asked, "Eldest Senior Brother, can you explain what these three characters are?"
Eldest Senior Brother pondered for a moment after hearing Lam Minh's question and then replied, "Those three characters are 'Nhu Yen Sword'."
After speaking, Eldest Senior Brother turned and left, leaving Lam Minh stunned, staring at the sword.
"Nhu Yen! Oh Nhu Yen! In my past life, you haunted me, deceived me. In this life, you've become a sword by my side. It must be fate. I hope you bring me good luck. If not, I'll sell you," Lam Minh muttered, sheathing the sword and putting it into the storage bag his master had given him earlier.
Looking at the time, it was almost time for school. Today was the end of November, and the final exams were approaching.
Lam Minh hurried off to report his breakthrough to Master Quoc.
He knocked on the door of Mr. Quoc's office. It was silent inside.
A moment later, the door slowly opened.
A pair of eyes peeked at him through the crack in the door, then quickly retracted and disappeared.
The door swung open.
Lam Minh saw Minh Thu standing there shyly, her mouth whispering, "Mr. Quoc is out. I've already reported to him. You can wait for a while."
With that, she didn't give Lam Minh a chance to reply and hurried to her computer, burying her head and typing away furiously.
"So... strange," Lam Minh muttered, sitting down on a chair.
He reached for a cup of tea and sipped it.
A moment later.
A figure suddenly appeared in the room, making Lam Minh jump.
As for Minh Thu, it seemed she was already used to this erratic appearance, so her expression didn't change at all.
When he composed himself and looked again, Lam Minh realized the figure was Master Quoc. He quickly clasped his hands and greeted, "Greetings, Master."
"Mmm, what did you want to see me about?" Mr. Quoc said as he sat down at his desk.
Only now did Lam Minh get a clear look at him: his body was covered in sweat, and his arms were trembling slightly.
This image unconsciously made Lam Minh think of what young men often do when they are alone in a room with a roll of paper towels.
If Mr. Quoc knew what Lam Minh was thinking, he would surely give him a slap.
In reality, he had just returned from the spatial gate at the northernmost point of Vietnam.
An unidentified dark entity had appeared at the gate, at the Nascent Soul realm.
After a battle of several hundred rounds, the entity had fled back to the Cultivation World.
The higher-ups predicted that it was a Demon Shadow from the Cultivation World, which had sniffed out the life of humanity and come to investigate.
But he himself wasn't sure.
"Master, I have entered the Body Tempering realm," Lam Minh replied.
He looked at Mr. Quoc's expression, wanting to see his reaction.
Despite Lam Minh's anticipation, his face remained as calm as water.
Neither happy nor sad. He stood up, went to a cabinet, pulled out a backpack, threw it to Lam Minh, and said, "Take it, put it in your storage bag. This backpack contains the uniform of the Bach Hoang Reconnaissance Unit. Only you can know. There is a mask that, once worn, will turn your entire face black, and only your biometrics can open it. Your identity is top secret. Your uniform has a codename."
He paused for a moment and then continued, "Z. When you wear this uniform, you are Z. Even in death, you are Z. But when you go to school, go home, you are still Lam Minh. Z and Lam Minh do not know each other, and no member of the Bach Hoang Dojo knows Z. Is that clear?"
Lam Minh held the uniform in his hands.
Beads of sweat trickled down his palms, drenching them.
He felt that from now on, he would be exposed to life-and-death missions.
But he was not afraid.
Lam Minh raised his head and looked at his master with a determined gaze. "Yes, Master."
Mr. Quoc nodded in satisfaction. "Ah, one more thing. Your monthly salary is increased to sixty million VND."