Chapter 7: Unadulterated Trash

Su Lang joined a queue, settling in for a wait.

The line was overbearingly long, made all the worse by formal martial artists cutting ahead with their privileged status, leading their younger relatives. The pace was agonizingly slow.

After a whole three hours, Su Lang's turn finally came.

"Hello," he said, offering a polite smile as he handed his identification card to the heavily made-up woman behind the window.

"What level of allowance are you here to collect?" she asked, her voice flat and uninterested.

"Early-stage Body Tempering" Su Lang replied, touching a crystal by the window. A white light dot appeared; this crystal could accurately judge a martial artist's strength, displaying a white light dot for Body Tempering stage, the number of dots determining the level.

"Hmm? It really is Early-stage Body Tempering," the woman said, a trace of disdain in her voice.

"Cough, could you please hurry?" Su Lang snapped, catching that momentary look of contempt, his face clouding over.

"Su Lang? Twenty years old and only at Early-stage Body Tempering. Are you of ordinary talent, or perhaps complete trash?" The woman's voice was loud and unfiltered; everyone around could hear her.

"He's so old and only at Early-stage Body Tempering. Must be trash, no doubt!"

"Such waste of talent, even coming for the allowance, what a waste of resources."

"Exactly, he should give up ever breaking into Martial Artist. Later-stage Body Tempering is the best he can hope for."

"Right, right! Even with a few more years of allowances, he might not even break through to Middle-stage Body Tempering."

"..."

The crowd began to mock openly.

"Heh!" Su Lang's face twisted into a cold smile. "You're no youngsters yourselves, still stuck in Tempering?"

"How can you compare us?" A young man with a braid raised his voice in anger. "I'm a Quasi-Stage Martial Artist, you can't compare to this waste!"

"Wow, so young and already a Quasi-Stage Martial Artist, even stronger than Peak Tempering, a genius indeed!"

"Absolutely, this is Martial Artist's reserve force, truly amazing."

"Handsome, what's your name? Need a runner?"

"..."

The surrounding crowd gasped in admiration, eyes filled with envy as they looked at the man with the braid.

"See that!" The braided man sneered at Su Lang, "This is what you should strive for in your lifetime!"

Su Lang glanced at him, and the man's attributes were revealed.

[Name]: Yang Shi

[Race]: Human

[Talent Level]: Medium

[Realm Level]: Quasi-Stage Martial Artist

[Attack Level]: Quasi-Stage Martial Artist

[Defense Level]: Quasi-Stage Martial Artist

[Agility Level]: Quasi-Stage Martial Artist

[Endurance Level]: Quasi-Stage Martial Artist

[Mastered Techniques]: Boundless Heart Sutra

"Medium? Trash," Su Lang snorted, rolling his eyes.

Compared to his unrivaled training speed, medium talent was lagging behind by hundreds of times. It was nothing but unadulterated trash!

"Oh, talking back now," Yang Shi slapped Su Lang's shoulder and laughed, "Yes, you're the genius, a natural-born failure."

"Heh."

Su Lang's laugh was icy. "Since you call me trash, how about we bet?"

"A bet? I like!" Yang Shi clapped his hands. "What's the wager? I'm in!"

Su Lang's voice was indifferent: "We bet on how long it will take me to break from Early-stage to Middle-stage Body Tempering. Fifty gold coins."

"Deal!" Yang Shi smirked. "I bet you'll take ten years to break from Early-stage to Middle-stage Body Tempering. If you do, find me, Yang Shi, in the northern city's Pu Yuan villa. I'll give you fifty gold coins! If you don't, I won't be hard on you. Just run naked around the Martial Alliance Building three times, yelling 'I am a genius.' Let everyone get to know you. How about that?"

"Great idea!"

"Running naked yelling 'I'm a genius'? Thrilling idea, love it!"

"Right, right, just imagining it makes me want to laugh!"

"..."

The surrounding onlookers joined in, jeering and egging on.

None of them believed Su Lang could break into Middle-stage Body Tempering within ten years.

They all started practicing from a young age. Su Lang, now in his twenties and after more than a decade of training, was still at Early-stage Body Tempering. How could he possibly break through an even more challenging stage in a shorter time?