Eric’s left foot stepped forward, now incomparably resolute. Passing through the archway, he was about to head toward Brian Sutton’s quarters when a faint rustling sounded behind him. Turning, he saw Brian Sutton and William Harper emerging from the shadow of the trees in the corner, walking onto the dim corridor.

The hesitation he’d shown outside the door had not escaped their notice. Though being under their control was uncomfortable, Eric knew they could offer him a shortcut to escape his status as a commoner.

Conflicting emotions churned within, leaving Eric standing silently before Brian Sutton, unsure how to voice his purpose; his reserved, almost timid expression was exactly what Brian Sutton had hoped to see.

Brian Sutton formed a secret mudra with his hands, a blue-green glow spreading from his fingers, rapidly expanding, the halo gradually fading until it was invisible to the naked eye. Even if he couldn’t sense it, Eric knew the entire west wing was now shrouded by a barrier set by Brian Sutton.

“I’ve been waiting here with Xiao Wu for quite some time. In the end, you didn’t disappoint me and came to the west wing yourself. Do you have doubts in your heart?”

“I…” Eric opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly forgot what his true confusion was.

“You excel in martial arts and are well-versed in the classics, yet you live with the servants in the lower quarters, performing menial tasks every day. Are you unwilling to accept this?”

“That’s right.” Eric blurted out. Wasn’t that exactly the case?

“You are naturally intelligent, have a photographic memory for books, and grasp martial techniques with ease, but because you are an abandoned child picked up by the academy, without a surname, you are classified as a commoner, with no hope of rising above. Are you unwilling to accept this?”

“I…” Half-true, half-false, Eric no longer knew how to express his discontent.

“You grew up in the academy. Elders, teachers, and attendants all see you as a commoner and keep their distance. Only Su Mingge, through hardship, treats you as a son. Jealousy grows in people’s hearts like poisonous weeds, and even the servants who are also commoners have distanced themselves from you because of this. Has this confusion arisen in your heart?”

A sudden clarity dawned in Eric’s mind, and he said, “Eric received Mr. Su Ming’s admonition and has restrained himself in recent years, humbling himself before others, yet I am still excluded by everyone. Why is that?”

“You think that by pretending to be an ordinary person who knows no martial arts, you can fit in with them?” Brian Sutton reached out and pointed at Eric’s chest. “Your proud heart, unwilling to be a commoner, makes those numb, accustomed to struggling at the bottom, uncomfortable. Commoners cannot stand to see the aura of nobility in others.”

Brian Sutton saw the confusion in Eric’s eyes and said, “You take great pride in your martial skills. In this courtyard, I have set a barrier. Why not spar with Xiao Wu?” He said to William Harper, “You are five years older than Eric; you may only use ten percent of your strength.”

William Harper nodded and said, “Ten percent is enough. Eric has only practiced three martial techniques: the Qi Shield, the Spinning Qi Armor, and the Spear Force. I will only use these three techniques as well.”

Eric stared at William Harper. With his hair bound in blue silk, the eyes beneath his long brows were like stars in a clear sky, suddenly flashing with a cold light. The lines of his face were a bit stiff, a reflection of his resolute character.

Eric knew that William Harper’s martial skills far surpassed his own, but not to the point where he could be looked down upon. The contemptuous attitude of Brian Sutton and William Harper angered him. He glanced at Brian Sutton, saw that he had stepped aside, and William Harper spread his feet slightly, signaling for him to attack first.

To show fairness, William Harper opened a Qi Shield with his left palm. Under the moonlight, the invisible shield condensed from inner power reflected a faint silvery glow.

When he used his full strength, his own Qi Shield was about three times thicker than this. It seemed William Harper truly was only using ten percent of his strength to form the shield. Eric clenched his fist into a spear, channeling his inner power so that the tip of his punch became the spearhead, his bent arm the shaft, and thrust toward William Harper.

William Harper was quite startled. The simplest move in the Miluo martial arts, the Spear Force, was made incomparably sharp by him. From the edge of his fist, the spearhead burst forth with a blue, icy gleam, and within the swift thrust was hidden a spinning slash. If he hadn’t already reached a certain level in martial arts, he would have been embarrassed today. His right hand was behind his back, left hand holding up the Qi Shield to block the icy spearhead. As his intent moved, a layer of scales formed on the outer surface of the shield at the moment of impact, covering its exterior.

The two forces collided, bursting into a purple radiance.

William Harper’s inner power manifested outside his body, and he could even change its form, which greatly impressed Eric. He felt that just as the Splitting Spear Force was about to shatter the Qi Shield, an endless, gentle force was released from the scales on the shield’s surface, dispersing the spear’s glow, leaving only a thin layer of the shield remaining.

Eric let out a long breath, once again gathering strength into a spear, which under the moonlight took on a blue-green hue.

Using low-level Qingluo Qi, Eric condensed a nearly tangible blue-green spearhead, which greatly surprised William Harper: such pure inner power. He said, “A Qi Shield formed with only ten percent of my strength cannot dissolve your blue-green spear. I won’t just defend against this move; watch how I turn my shield into a spear.”

Eric pressed his lips together, took a breath, and leapt a zhang high. As he rose, he spun in midair, and at the peak, he twisted to face forward, his right arm—condensing the blue-green spearhead—using the strange momentum of the spin to slash downward, as if to pierce the very air. The force sent branches and leaves flying, and blue flowers fluttered like silk on the water’s surface.