"Gravity suit?"Fang Xing was secretly shocked.
In the interstellar era, adapting to different levels of gravity was a compulsory skill for martial artists!A gravity suit was an auxiliary training device that could easily adjust the wearer's personal gravity.
And this gravity affected the entire body, penetrating all the way down to the cells, perfectly uniform — far better than any normal weight training!
Of course, the price was just as… "beautiful."
And a B-rank martial art — the Demon Blade. It's actually a prerequisite for the A-rank martial art 'Ghost God Blade.' This Gu Yun… at most fourteen years old, already at the peak of the first realm, about to break into the second realm, and she's even begun practicing a B-rank martial art…
Compared to that, why do I suddenly feel like a complete loser?
He sighed inwardly but didn't dare relax his guard. Twirling his staff into a flourish, he blocked in front of himself.
The next instant—
Whoosh!
A shadow flashed past, quick as a hunting cat. The wooden practice blade in her hand carried a strange, almost demonic aura as it came down in a sweeping arc.
Crack!
Fang Xing felt a jolt of force in his hands, nearly knocking the staff out of his grip — but he held on.
Blocked it!
It's not that I'm that much stronger than Liu Wei, it's because she's wearing the gravity suit. Her speed's much slower than before, and her strength too…
The realization clicked in his mind.
"Kill! Kill, kill!"
All cuteness vanished from Gu Yun's little face, replaced entirely by killing intent. She charged in again, unleashing another strike from the Demon Blade, eyes slightly bloodshot as though she and Fang Xing had a blood feud.
The Demon Blade… sure enough, the killing intent is overwhelming.
Fang Xing felt like a tiny skiff tossed in a raging storm, on the verge of shattering at any moment.
The B-rank martial art Demon Blade was, from the start, a blade art brimming with demonic influence. Hidden within it were subtle hypnotic effects and mental triggers meant to draw out the martial artist's full potential.
The emotional backlash from that… was terrifying.
Without becoming a demon, you could not live!
It was said that the A-rank 'Ghost God Blade' was even more terrifying.
After all, it was a martial art created in the era when humanity fought alien species in blood-soaked battle — one that could allow a low-ranked martial artist to face an evil god's servants head-on!
Suddenly, Fang Xing saw Gu Yun's wooden blade swing down — one strike followed by another — and the two arcs of the blade seemed to overlap, carrying a doubled force!
— Double-Layered Slash!
Not good, I can't block this one.
His staff flew from his hands, and Gu Yun's blade came slashing in—
"Stop!"
In that instant, a deep, powerful voice rang out.
The wooden blade stopped just before Fang Xing's face, caught in a clean, white jade-like hand.
"I… didn't pull back in time. I failed again…"
Gu Yun seemed to wake from some sort of trance, gasping for breath. She looked up at the middle-aged man who had appeared before her. "Dad…"
The man was tall and broad-shouldered, at least 1.9 meters. Hearing her, he simply shook his head.
"Don't be discouraged, Yun'er. You've already done much better than last time… The 'Demon Blade' was originally a true demonic-path martial art in ancient times, steeped in demonic nature. Anyone who practiced it would inevitably create rivers of blood. But now, its mysteries have been deciphered — you must 'grasp the blade, then forget the blade,' defeat the enemy without killing, in order to tame the demonic nature… Only at that realm can you attempt the beginner level of the 'Ghost God Blade.' Otherwise, at best you'll fall into madness; at worst, your qi and blood will reverse and you'll die instantly."
Finishing, he looked at Fang Xing and Liu Wei.
"You two worked hard today. Your pay is doubled."
"Thank you, boss!"
Liu Wei instantly felt like the pain in his body wasn't so bad anymore and broke into a grin.
Half an hour later…
Leaving the resplendent Jiang Estate, Liu Wei was uncharacteristically quiet before finally cursing:
"Damn it… If I'd known this was the kind of sparring job, I wouldn't have come. Double pay barely covers the medical bills… That guy looked like a professional, but turns out he's just stingy."
Fang Xing was still mulling over the man's last words and shook his head.
"Actually, he gave us another reward — the key to practicing the Demon Blade… Families with natural-born citizens really have it good. That kind of personal instruction, you can hardly get in school — unless Teacher Xia Long takes a liking to you."
"Ha, I get it now. That little brat was using us as tools. She's learning the Demon Blade, can't control herself, so she needs live targets to 'feed' the blade. But once you go down that path, it's like stepping into an abyss… 'Grasp the blade, then forget the blade' means you have to use your will to tame the demonic nature, defeat us without killing, hold back your strikes — only then can you say you've truly mastered it. Her old man was hiding nearby on purpose to keep watch, ready to step in at the last second."
Liu Wei wasn't dumb.
In fact, any cyborg student good enough to get into high school was basically an elite. Seeing through it, he couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"If the Demon Blade is this hard… what about the A-rank Ghost God Blade?"
"Either way, we were just tools… But at least we got paid."
Fang Xing, at least, had his "golden finger" cheat ability, so he wasn't too discouraged. He laughed.
"And we got double!"
With that, he could finally order a basic nano-protection suit.
"Hmph, that's pay we earned with blood…" Liu Wei rubbed his shoulder and muttered on, "I thought everyone in the Jiang Estate was filthy rich, but turns out they're just middle-class…"
"Middle-class is a fake label. Do they own industries? More like middle-income… From the fact that he's putting his daughter on the martial artist career path, you can tell they're not really rich."
The truly rich went straight for mechs.
"Yeah, exactly, middle-income acting like big shots…" Liu Wei laughed again, suddenly feeling like his injuries hurt less.
Happiness Garden Residential Area
"That was fast?"
Fang Xing stared at the delivery box at his doorstep. "I just placed the order on the way home…"
He carried the package inside, scanned his ID, and the box automatically opened, revealing a silver-white metallic sphere inside.
Fang Xing pricked his finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto the sphere.
This wasn't some old-school "bind with blood" ritual — it was just for the nano-suit to register his DNA.
Ding!
Following the manual, Fang Xing pressed the sphere against the skin of his arm.
The sphere instantly "melted" like liquid, spreading to cover his whole body.
"Mm, nice and light… breathable too…"
He moved around and found no resistance, the weight barely noticeable.
"Mask mode!"
At his command, a silver mask covered his face, even the eye sockets shielded by a transparent film.
"Full coverage, no blind spots… Change color! Rose gold!"
The nano-suit shifted through various colors before settling into snow white.
"No need to be this cautious at school…"
After a thought, he morphed it into the appearance of a white short-sleeved shirt, lounged in a chair, and picked up his holo-goggles.
"Game on! Game on!"
A few hours later…
"Sigh… as expected…"
Fang Xing lay on the bed, lazy and satisfied.
"I got sucked in again… Even if I've transmigrated, without my cheat ability, I'd still be the same useless slacker…"
Admitting one's ordinariness and incompetence was also a test one had to face in growing up.
Fang Xing knew all too well — as a former nine-to-five office worker who wasn't great at history, if he'd transmigrated to ancient times, he'd most likely die from language barriers, disease, famine, or war.
Another world? Even worse — most of a transmigrator's "knowledge" would be useless, especially in an advanced, high-tech world.
All he could rely on was his cheat.
Without it, he'd just have to follow the steps fate laid out.
"Lying flat… is also a kind of wisdom."
Checking the time, he forced himself to sleep. He still had school tomorrow.
The Next Day – Yucai High School
The voluptuous Teacher Lan Fei spoke in a warm, rich voice:
"…Evil God retainers are divided into lower servants, upper servants, lower retainers, and upper retainers… And between upper retainers and the Dominators, there's another rank — the 'Evil God's Offspring'!"
"Evil God's Offspring are far stronger than upper retainers in both corruption and power. Rumor has it the most powerful among them have strength and authority approaching that of a lower Dominator… But the conditions for their birth are extremely strict, so few in number that they're not even considered a proper race…"
Fang Xing glanced at the empty seat beside him.
Liu Wei, still injured, had taken a period off and was in the school medical room getting treated.
The school's med-pods can even reattach severed limbs… And students get discounts. No way Liu Wei would waste money getting treated outside…
While thinking, Fang Xing continued taking notes.
Suddenly, he felt someone's gaze and looked up.
Her? Bai Lianyi?
A delicate, porcelain-skinned girl with refined features was looking at him thoughtfully. She had the air of a quiet beauty, but her snow-white training clothes and black belt added a touch of sharp competence.
Looks like I didn't misjudge her back at the Jiang Estate… Is she feeling guilty?
Before he could think more, the bell rang.
It was time for the class Fang Xing was looking forward to most — Martial Arts.
"Ah Xing, I'm back!"
Liu Wei jogged over, acne-covered face practically glowing red.
Any student could skip academics, but no one wanted to miss Martial Arts class.
With a teacher like Xia Long, private lessons outside cost at least 10,000 starcoins an hour!
"Your injury's healed?" Fang Xing gave him a sideways glance.
"Of course… Fit as a fiddle!" Liu Wei flexed his muscles.
Interstellar medical tech was no joke — and with no broken bones, he'd recovered quickly.
"Teacher Xia's here!"
Before Fang Xing could reply, Xia Long entered the room.
His gaze was sharp as a tiger's, sweeping the room as his voice boomed like a drum:
"First, stance training. Then, punching!"
"Yes!"
All the students answered in unison, taking up the Great Dragon Stance with a uniform, impressive grace.
Fang Xing focused completely, sinking into the stance until he forgot himself.
Then, like a whip snapping across his spine, a jolt ran through him — his body reacting like a startled cat.
"Your stance is too rigid. Pay attention to the third qi-and-blood node in your spine…"
Xia Long's voice came from beside him.
Fang Xing instinctively followed the guidance, feeling his skin tighten as his power sank to a deeper level.
A shiver ran through him, and he glanced at his status panel:
[Great Dragon Stance: 69/100 (Beginner)]
Finally, another pointer from Teacher Xia… The difference between having guidance and not — it's night and day.
(End of Chapter)