Dustin opened his eyes as the first rays of morning began to appear. He had been cultivating all night, but his body hummed with energy rather than exhaustion.
The pace of improvement had been excruciatingly slow for three years. Despite his intense training, his physique lacked real power and remained weak.
However, it was in the past. After the Pearl of Life and Death fused with him, everything was different. Not only was his body becoming better, but it was changing due to factors that were incomprehensible to humans.
He went outside into the Martial Hall's training grounds. Morning drills echoed in the air students practicing forms, their voices sharp. Heads turned as he passed. Surprise, sneers, the usual contempt.
"Didn't Joshua Zhang beat him half to death yesterday?"
"I heard he tried to play hero for Emery Liu. Fool got what was coming."
"A nobody like him, thinking he's good enough for the Liu family's daughter? He should know his place."
Along the way, Dustin heard a lot of ridicule and sarcasm like this. It is impossible to say that he is not angry at all, but after being beaten yesterday, he is very clear that he has no strength, and he has no words to refute. right.
That wouldn't happen again.
Finding a quiet corner, he inhaled deeply. His cultivation had changed overnight. could his martial arts improve too?
He shifted into his stance and began moving through the forms of the Ferocious Ox Fist, a basic first-rank technique. Each motion felt sharper, cleaner. Power surged through his limbs, but it was more than that he could see the flaws in his movements, mapped out clearly in his mind by the Life Vein Diagram.
Another strike.
Boom!
His fist slammed into a wooden dummy. It shattered, splinters flying. Black ironwood—tough enough to withstand third-level Body Refinement strikes—reduced to debris.
But Dustin? He was still only at the second level.
Or so everyone thought.
But he's only practicing first rank martial arts.
Because the Novaridge City Martial Arts Hall will not teach martial arts for free, there are only two ways to get the inheritance of martial arts. One is to buy. The higher the level of martial arts, the more expensive it is.
There is another way, that is, if one's own martial arts cultivation reaches a certain level, one can enter the library of the martial arts hall and choose a higher level of martial arts.
Excitement flickered in his chest. One night, and already the limits had shifted. What would tomorrow bring?
A shout snapped his attention away.
"Clear the way! Joshua is here!"
A group swaggered onto the field, students parting instantly. Heads bowed. No one dared cross the Zhang family's favored son.
Dustin's gaze locked onto the boy at the center. his name Joshua Zhang, the one beat him yesterday.
"Well, well," Joshua drawled. "If it isn't Dustin Rhys. Didn't you learn your lesson yesterday? Or do you want me to repeat again?"
Laughter rippled around them.
Joshua smirked. "Maybe you should beg for forgiveness now. I might be feeling generous."
Dustin stayed silent, his eyes sharp. Joshua was fourth-level Body Refinement. Strong, sure. But was he invincible?
One of Joshua's lackeys, Juan, sneered and stepped forward.
"Didn't you hear? Show some respect when the Young Master is speaking, trash."
Juan raised his hand, aiming a slap at Dustin's face.
But before it could land....
Snap!
Dustin's right hand shot up, catching Juan's wrist mid-air. The mocking grin vanished from Juan's face.
"You—!"
Before he could finish, Dustin twisted sharply. A crack echoed as the joint dislocated. Juan dropped, howling, cradling his ruined arm.
The training ground fell silent.
No one expected Dustin to retaliate—let alone break someone's arm with ease.
He entered the Martial Hall at the age of ten and practiced martial arts for three years, but Joshua's family was rich and he was already at the fourth level of body refining,
entering the realm of tempering muscles and bones, and he practiced the second-grade martial arts and third-grade martial arts bought from the Martial Hall. , spent tens of thousands of silver.
Joshua's expression darkened. "You truly believe that you are something now?"
Dustin met his glare. "Why don't we find out?"
Another lackey went forward, slim and sharp-eyed. named Amari.
"No need for you to get your hands dirty, Young Master," Amari said. "I'll handle this."
Joshua gave a lazy nod. "Don't embarrass yourself."
Amari cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Third-level Body Refinement. And I've mastered a second-rank martial technique. You're out of your league."
Without warning, he lunged.
Violent Wind Palm.
A gust of force howled as Amari's strike shot toward Dustin's head.
The crowd held its breath. A second-rank technique versus a basic first-rank? It should've been over in one move. right?
Instead—
Boom!
Amari's body flew backward, skidding across the ground. He coughed violently, eyes wide with disbelief, clutching his chest.
The onlookers stared, stunned into silence.
Joshua's smirk disappeared.
Dustin stepped forward, flexing his fingers.
"Your turn, Zhang."
Joshua's eyes narrowed. Fury flickered across his face.
"You'll regret that."
With fingers curled in Iron Eagle Claw, a lethal third-rank technique, he lunged. His claws shimmered, cutting through the air like blades.
Dustin didn't flinch.
Their strikes collided.
Boom!
The sharp crack of breaking bones rang out.
"what!"
However, to everyone's surprise, it was not Dustin who screamed in agony, but Joshua!
Joshua stumbled back, his hand hanging at a sick angle—fingers twisted, broken.
Silence swallowed the field.
Joshua, the bully everyone feared, stood cradling his shattered hand—defeated.
Everyone was dumbfounded, unable to understand what was going on.
Only Dustin knew what was going on.
And Dustin Rhys didn't look away.