Even the Third Layer of Body Tempering is beyond you. Lin Chen, you are the most useless trash in the hundred‑year history of Canglan Martial Academy!"
The cold martial arena ground was hard as iron.
Lin Chen was kicked hard to the ground, his chest throbbing with pain. A mouthful of blood rushed up his throat, but he forced it back.
All around him stood fellow academy disciples, their eyes filled with contempt, mockery, and ridicule.
"Three years, and you're still stuck at the Third Layer of Body Tempering. You can't even pass the lowest Outer Disciple assessment."
"I heard he got in through connections? What a waste of the academy's resources!"
"Even a handyman is stronger than you. Someone like you doesn't deserve to be in Canglan Martial Academy!"
The speaker was Zhao Hu, a top Outer Disciple at the Seventh Layer of Body Tempering. Tall and muscular, he looked down at Lin Chen with undisguised disdain.
He stepped on Lin Chen's wrist, pressing down harder and harder.
"Does it hurt? Trash should know their place. Stay on the ground and don't lift your head."
Lin Chen gritted his teeth, his whole body trembling.
It wasn't that he didn't want to resist. He was simply too weak.
Orphaned at a young age, he barely entered the academy with meager aid. Yet his talent was abysmal. After three years of cultivation, he remained trapped at the Third Layer of Body Tempering.
In this world where martial strength ruled everything, the weak were wrong even to breathe.
"Look at your cowardly face," Zhao Hu sneered. "You can't even block one of my fingers, yet you dare to secretly admire Su Muxue?"
Su Muxue.
At the name, Lin Chen's heart tightened violently.
She was the genius of Canglan Martial Academy—peerlessly beautiful, astonishingly talented. At only sixteen, she had already reached the Ninth Layer of Body Tempering. She was the goddess in the hearts of countless disciples.
And he was just a useless trash who wasn't even a true Outer Disciple.
He did secretly like her. She was the only light in his bleak martial path.
But right now, Su Muxue stood not far away, dressed in white like snow, her aura cold and pure. She watched him indifferently, without a shred of pity—only faint disgust.
"Lin Chen," her voice was cold as ice. "The academy is not a shelter. Trash like you do not belong here. From now on, don't let me see you again."
One sentence pierced his heart like ten thousand swords.
Bullied by peers, trampled by the strong, utterly rejected by the goddess he admired.
All the humiliation, resentment, and despair erupted violently at this moment.
He hated his weakness, his mediocrity, and this cursed fate!
"Am I… really destined to be trash forever?"
His consciousness blurred, and darkness was about to swallow him whole.
At that moment—
[Ding! Extreme humiliation and unyielding will detected. Soul compatibility: 100%!]
[Divine Martial Sign‑In System is binding…]
[Binding complete!]
A cold, mechanical yet supremely majestic voice suddenly exploded in Lin Chen's mind!
Lin Chen's body jolted. The lifelessness in his eyes was instantly replaced by shock.
A system?
A martial system?
[Newbie gift pack has been distributed. Open immediately?]
The cold martial arena echoed with mocking laughter.
But Lin Chen slowly lifted his head.
In his bloodshot eyes, there was no longer humility or cowardice—only a raging flame that burned everything.
He stared at the still‑laughing Zhao Hu, and a cold smile slowly curved at the corner of his mouth.
"Zhao Hu," his voice was hoarse, yet carried a chilling aura. "That kick just now… I remember it."
Zhao Hu froze, then burst into laughter. "Useless trash, you dare to threaten me?"
"I don't dare."
Lin Chen slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
"But starting today… the rules of Canglan Martial Academy will be set by me."