Chapter One: The Boy Practicing Boxing

The Blue Shadow Republic is a small country, but also a strong one. Its economy is prosperous, its culture brilliant, and its technology advanced. In a certain sense, aside from having too little land, a small population, and not being particularly strong militarily, the Blue Shadow Republic can be considered the most powerful among the many countries in the eastern Blue Sea region, with both political and economic status ranking at the very top.

All of this is thanks to the development path set at the founding of the Blue Shadow Republic: a wholehearted investment in and protection of education. The entire Blue Shadow Republic has only eight states, but boasts ninety-six universities. Besides specialized universities—such as those for arts, aeronautics, economics, military technology, internal martial arts, and so on—there are forty-three comprehensive universities. Among them, the Zijin Mansion Academy is even reputed to be the top-ranked comprehensive university in the eastern Blue Sea region. This is the pride of the people of the Blue Shadow Republic, and a shining jewel of the eastern Blue Sea.

Of course, aside from Zijin Mansion University, the other universities in the Blue Shadow Republic are by no means inferior. This is due to the national strategy of the Blue Shadow Republic: as long as it concerns education, the country will invest almost without limit. Therefore, as long as it is a university in the Blue Shadow Republic, there is basically no such thing as a bad one.

And so, the story begins in an ordinary university within the capital region of the Blue Shadow Republic. The university is called Yijian...

Sarah Sutton walked out of her dormitory. She stretched, her joints cracking a few times. The sound made her sigh, and she was simply itching to find a place to exercise and stretch her body.

Sarah Sutton was not from the Blue Shadow Republic. She came from a country in the northern Blue Sea region and was studying abroad in the Blue Shadow Republic. She had just checked into her dormitory yesterday. Before that, she had spent dozens of days drifting by ship across the Blue Sea. The tiny cabin space was so cramped that she couldn't even practice her swordplay, and after just a few dozen days, she felt as if her body was rusting. So, on her second day at the academy, she was eager to find a place to train properly.

The entire Yijian Academy covers a vast area. Yes, the Blue Shadow Republic may not have much land, but that's only relative to the nation as a whole. From a human perspective, any plot of land the country designates is large enough for a person to get lost in, and any university that can be called an academy is basically the size of a small city. Sarah Sutton was absolutely confident she could find a spacious, secluded spot where no one would disturb her. After all, she was going to practice martial arts. Although her family's martial arts weren't so easily copied just by being seen, it still wasn't appropriate to practice in front of others.

With this in mind, Sarah Sutton deliberately headed toward a remote area off the main path. Along the way, she passed some training grounds and sports fields, but there were always students practicing martial arts there, and even some teachers leading their disciples in group training. This left Sarah Sutton rather helpless. Unconsciously, she had walked for over ten minutes before finally finding an orchard. The area outside the orchard was fairly spacious, and it seemed not many people passed by. The trees in the orchard also provided a good environment for practicing footwork and lightness skills. It seemed to be a quiet place to train.

Just as Sarah Sutton was overjoyed and unfastening her sword, a dull thud suddenly sounded from within the orchard. The sound was like a hammer striking hardwood, but not quite. However, as a member of a martial arts family, Sarah Sutton immediately recognized the source of the sound—it was someone practicing boxing, and specifically, practicing hard boxing.

Sarah Sutton was frustrated, extremely frustrated. She really didn't have the patience to spend another ten minutes searching for a new place, so she simply entered the grove, intending to ask the person training when they would be done, or perhaps see if she could pay them to leave. In any case, she was truly running out of patience.

As Sarah Sutton walked a short distance into the grove, she saw the person she was looking for. It was a young man, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a crew cut, a thin build, and about 1.75 meters tall. He looked quite unremarkable, except for his bright, spirited eyes—there was nothing about him that suggested he was a martial artist.

Seeing this, Sarah Sutton was actually rather surprised, because the young man was earnestly punching a large tree. His footwork was simple and direct, his punches were simple and direct, and even the force he used was simple and direct... This was a very basic, rustic style—something you might find in a bookstore for just a couple of coins, the kind that even ordinary civilians with a bit of money wouldn't bother to practice. It could be said to be a completely unrefined hard boxing style. Not to mention cultivating internal energy, practicing this for a long time without proper nutrition could even damage one's tendons and bones. Why was this young man practicing such martial arts?

No wonder Sarah Sutton was so puzzled. After all, this was Yijian Academy. Although it was a comprehensive university, it leaned more toward martial arts. Not to mention anything else, even the few sets of boxing techniques the school provided as a public service were both internal and external, with hard and soft elements. Not only would they not harm the body, but the chances of cultivating internal energy were countless times higher than with this rustic style. What was this young man thinking? Was he a fool or a madman?