In the rest area of White Dragon High School.

At that moment, Yu Xinghan was staring at the rankings displayed on the Sky Pillar, especially the name in first place.

He thought to himself, “Zhang Yu, huh?”

“No wonder Senior Sister Li took notice of him back then. Even though I ultimately edged him out during the selection, he clearly had his merits.”

He glanced at Song Hailong beside him and thought, “Time to switch training partners.”

On the other side, Song Hailong seemed to sense Yu Xinghan’s gaze. He looked at the departing figure, then turned his eyes to the name on the Sky Pillar.

Staring at the first-place “Zhang Yu,” he muttered inwardly, “Maybe it’s time I changed sparring partners too.”

A hint of regret crept into his heart. He shouldn’t have quit training with Zhang Yu. If he hadn’t, maybe he could’ve witnessed how Zhang Yu transformed step by step into the powerhouse he was now.

…

In the rest area of Songyang High School, to everyone’s surprise, Yu Xinghan walked over.

Though Zhang Yu had defeated him, Yu Xinghan’s dominant performance in the first three rounds of the competition was still etched in their minds.

Seeing him up close now, the students of Songyang High felt overpowered by the aura of a Gold Core Disciple and White Dragon High’s top student, instinctively stepping back.

A girl next to He Dayou whispered, “Isn’t it tradition at White Dragon High to kneel? Should we kneel to greet him?”

“What nonsense!” a boy interjected. “This is Purple Cloud High. Don’t you know the protocol for greeting a top-ranked student here?”

He Dayou, irritated by their groveling attitude, snapped, “This is Songyang High’s rest area. That means this is Songyang’s territory. At most, we bow to this White Dragon guy.”

Bai Zhenzhen scoffed inwardly. Useless cowards. As the fifth-place finisher in the competition, it had to be her to step up and talk to Yu Xinghan.

She stepped in front of him and asked, “What do you want?”

Yu Xinghan glanced at her and said blandly, “Let’s add each other as friends.”

Bai Zhenzhen blinked in surprise. He came here to add her as a friend? Couldn’t tell this Gold Core Disciple was such a social butterfly.

As it happened, Bai Zhenzhen liked making friends too. She replied immediately, “Friend slot, 500 a pop.”

“Never mind then,” Yu Xinghan put away his new phone. “I didn’t really want to add you that badly anyway.”

“Fine, 100! How about 100?” she said quickly.

Seeing him pull out his phone again to add her, Bai Zhenzhen was shocked.

“He really is a Gold Core Disciple? Is he actually rich?”

It was the first time she’d seen someone wealthy haggle over a few hundred bucks.

“I mainly came over to meet Zhang Yu,” Yu Xinghan said, looking at Zhang Yu, who was still lying on the sofa.

Yu Xinghan wasn’t someone who thought he was born invincible or had never seen anyone stronger.

Even when facing weaker opponents, he could still find qualities in them worth learning from and reflecting upon.

Take Song Hailong, his former sparring partner—his resilience and upright spirit were admirable, a constant reminder not to let the title of top student inflate his ego and make him forget one of martial arts’ greatest strengths: the sneak attack.

Of course, aside from learning, there was another reason he kept training with Song Hailong.

But that reason was Yu Xinghan’s secret. Only he knew.

When it came to learning, though, Zhang Yu had even more to offer.

“Those uncanny body techniques…”

“I really want to learn them.”

“I want to spar the knowledge out of him.”

Yu Xinghan looked at Zhang Yu as if he were a feast of insights—something to consume, absorb, and transform into strength.

“Train with me. I’ll pay you 6,000 per hour. Deal?” he asked.

Zhang Yu’s eyes flickered. He had prize money and endorsement fees coming in soon, but in Kunxu, no one ever said no to more money.

“How are we training?” he asked.

Yu Xinghan stroked his chin. “Just… actual combat. You do whatever it takes to try and beat me.”

“15,000 an hour,” Zhang Yu replied.

“7,000 max.”

“7,000’s not happening. At least 12,000. I can’t be cheaper than Song Hailong, can I?”

Zhang Yu remembered Song Hailong got 10,000 an hour to spar with Yu Xinghan.

Yu Xinghan sighed. “Fine. 11,000. That’s the highest I’ll go. If you’re not in, I’m out.”

Seeing him turn to leave, Zhang Yu quickly said, “Alright, alright, 11,000 it is.”

By the time Yu Xinghan walked away, the two had added each other as friends and scheduled their next sparring session at White Dragon High.

Just then, Yu Xinghan’s phone buzzed. It was a call from Li Xuelian.

Thinking about the weight setting she’d requested for the final round, Yu Xinghan smiled slightly as he answered, “Senior Sister Li, you saw the results, didn’t you?”

Li Xuelian didn’t bring up the final round. She figured that was just an outlier. No one could’ve predicted Zhang Yu’s performance. Her original judgment wasn’t wrong.

Still, as for Zhang Yu himself… he did catch her off guard.

But she wasn’t in the mood to discuss that. She cut straight to the point. “The contract’s been adjusted. The next round of ads and endorsements will feature both you and Zhang Yu…”

After relaying the updates, she was about to hang up when Yu Xinghan suddenly said, “Senior Sister Li, I want to train with Zhang Yu. He’s got a lot of strengths I can learn from.”

Then he added, somewhat nervously, “We agreed on 15,000 per hour. Can you approve it?”

As a Gold Core Disciple, Yu Xinghan was both rich and poor.

Rich, because Xinghuo Zhenren and Li Xuelian had poured endless resources into him—enough to make every rich student in Songyang City jealous.

Poor, because every expenditure needed Li Xuelian’s approval, and he only had 5,000 in fully discretionary spending each month.

That strange mix of wealth and constraint was why he didn’t go through with buying Bai Zhenzhen’s friend slot—500 was too much if Li Xuelian wouldn’t approve.

It was also one of the reasons he had used Song Hailong for sparring before.

A loophole to fudge the tutoring budget.

“15,000?” Li Xuelian recalled Zhang Yu’s performance. “Fine. Just remember to log all payments and record your sparring sessions.”

Yu Xinghan understood—she wanted to make sure he wasn’t inflating costs or faking hours. He had his ways of handling that.

After the call ended, Li Xuelian was a little curious about how those two would spar.

After all, Yu Xinghan had trained with Xinghuo Zhenren for a long time. In her eyes, his real-combat ability was far beyond Zhang Yu’s.

“…But Zhang Yu really does have traits worth learning. 15,000 is a good deal.”

“Maybe… I should’ve signed him back then.”

When she told Xinghuo Zhenren about the tournament results and her thoughts, he replied with a hint of regret, “That Zhang Yu seems impressive. I underestimated him. If we’d had the resources, we definitely should’ve signed him too.”

“But since we could only afford to support one disciple, we had to choose the best and most promising.”

“It’s alright, Xuelian. What’s done is done. Don’t dwell on it. It’s a waste of energy.”

…

Back in the Songyang High rest area.

Just after finalizing the sparring deal with Yu Xinghan, Zhang Yu received another request—from Song Hailong.

Before he could finish negotiating with him, another message arrived. This time from Le Mulan.

Le Mulan: “Can I ask you to help me train ground combat?”

Suddenly, Zhang Yu felt overwhelmed with demand.

“So many classes… I can’t even schedule them all. Too much money to make,” he sighed.

Bai Zhenzhen, watching him reply to messages, said, “Yuzi, if you’re overloaded, I can sub in for you.”

“I’m not the same person I was two months ago during the Martial Arts Tournament.”

Zhang Yu’s eyes lit up. He thought of Bai Zhenzhen’s fifth-place finish.

Her progress was already shockingly fast. If she had a better background, she’d be on a surefire path to the Ten Great Academies as long as she maintained this pace through junior and senior year.

But as someone from a poor background, the bar was even higher.

“Ah-Zhen’s progress is only slightly behind mine. She’s even advancing faster than Song Hailong or Le Mulan.”

“She’d be perfect for training them.”

“And besides…”

Zhang Yu knew Ah-Zhen needed the money too.

“With some cash, she can grow faster—and have a real shot at entering the Ten with me.”

The thought of getting into the Ten Great Academies with Ah-Zhen made a shadow pass over his heart.

He still remembered his sister’s wish: that the two of them take first and second place in the competition.

But Yu Xinghan, Song Hailong, Le Mulan… each one more intense, more freakish than the last. He had no idea how Ah-Zhen’s current rank would affect her chances.

“I’ll ask Sis tonight.”

…

That night, shortly after the tournament ended.

Zhang Yu, Bai Zhenzhen, and Zhang Pianpian met under a bridge.

Standing beside the river, they chatted casually for a bit.

Then Zhang Pianpian suddenly asked, “Zhang Yu, if I gave you the chance to come with me to the second floor in two months… would you take it?”