The soles of his feet stepped onto the clean wooden floor—a familiar sensation.

The spotless, tranquil dojo was like a dream deep within his heart.

After getting through the most uncomfortable first two days, Ethan Brooks gradually began to enjoy this kind of life. If he could live like this forever, it wouldn’t be so bad; he even found himself thinking that.

Realizing his own naivety, Ethan Brooks smiled, turned around, and went back to his room to pack his things—his schedule was tight.

The sword embryo seed had helped him survive the wilderness, but that was nothing worth mentioning. In terms of yuan force cultivation, he lagged far behind others, and the pressure he faced was much greater than anyone else’s.

The rules of the Induction Ground were strict: if you didn’t open your natal yuan palace within a year, or reach Minor Perfection within five years, you would be expelled from the Induction Ground. If a student was from the Five Elements Sky, their parents would be held accountable for poor education. If the student was from Old Earth, they would lose the right to enter the Five Elements Sky and be sent back to Old Earth.

Upon reaching the Minor Perfection stage, you also had to leave the Induction Ground, because that meant you were qualified to become a registered yuan cultivator.

Five years was the maximum time the Induction Ground could grant. In reality, Ethan Brooks only had four years, because there was another rule: all students must leave the Induction Ground once they turned twenty.

Time was running out for him. If he still wanted to control his own fate, he had to work even harder.

If you’re too humble, then stand on tiptoe and reach higher.

The sun beyond the horizon dyed the sky with its light, a cold blue refracted through the air. He finished packing, chewing on a blade of grass, slinging an old cloth bag over his shoulder, and, draped in clouds and blue sky, walked out the dojo’s main gate.

The morning streets lacked the daytime bustle and nighttime lights; it was very quiet, not yet awake. The first ray of sunlight crossed mountains and rivers, pierced the rooftops, and cast the first patch of light onto the street.

Ethan Brooks liked sunlight.

In the wilderness, the moments before dawn were the most dangerous. Ambushes often happened then; it was the time when death and blood were thickest.

But when sunlight passed through the dewdrops on the grass, the wild beasts and barbarians would retreat like the tide, and the killing fields of the wild would return to peace and tranquility.

The dormitory wasn’t too far from the Blade Edge Dojo, but it wasn’t close either.

As he got closer to the dorms, the students grew more numerous. The bustling crowd was very unfamiliar to Ethan Brooks. Their young faces were full of vitality and hope. Ethan Brooks felt a bit envious—there was no trace of the weariness soaked in blood on their faces, no instinctive wariness of the world that came from killing.

They were pure and flawless, their youth beautiful.

Ethan Brooks felt out of place. He chewed the grass harder, letting the bitterness and grassy taste spread in his mouth.

To them, the Induction Ground was a school; to him, it was a new battlefield.

He told himself: surviving is more important than beauty.

He strode forward and entered the dormitory.

Chapter 9: Elementary Learning

Emily Parker looked at her body in the mirror. The body she had always been proud of—perfect and flawless—now had five faint fingerprints on her left chest, so conspicuous and unsightly. Several days had passed, but the marks still hadn’t faded, showing just how much force had been used at the time.

A trace of murderous intent flashed in her eyes. She didn’t want to recall what happened that day, but every time she saw the marks while bathing, the anger in her chest became hard to suppress.

Today was the first day of school; fortunately, the marks on her neck had already faded.

She put on her clothes, her face regaining its usual confidence.

Walking out of her room, she saw that breakfast was already set in the hall. Her grandfather saw her and gave a kindly smile. “Come eat.”

“Grandpa.” She called out sweetly and sat down beside him. Her mother had died when she was young, and her father was always busy with work; it was her grandfather who had raised her. Every morning, she would have breakfast with the old man.

The servant brought over steaming hot soup. Because she needed to cultivate, all three meals were specially prepared to replenish yuan force and nourish her body.

She sipped the soup in small mouthfuls. The soup was made from precious ingredients, not only greatly benefiting her cultivation, but also tasting delicious. But today, she was a bit distracted.

The old man had raised her since she was little and knew her better than anyone. He asked gently, “What’s wrong? Still thinking about that mishap the other day?”

His granddaughter’s talent was unmatched in the family. She had always been sensible, never the least bit spoiled, and was even more diligent and hardworking than most. The talent and strength she had shown since childhood even surpassed her father’s. She was seen as the leader of the next generation, the pride of the entire family, and all the elders doted on her.

The old man was deeply proud of his granddaughter and thought she was flawless. The only thing that worried him was her pride, so much like her father’s, and the fact that she had never suffered a setback.

But with his rich life experience, he knew that there were always hidden dragons and crouching tigers in this world, and that no matter how outstanding his granddaughter was, there would always be someone stronger.

This setback was just such a case.

When he saw the fingerprints on his granddaughter’s neck that day, he was startled, and then frightened. If the other party had used just a bit more force, his granddaughter would have died on the spot. At first, he was just scared, but soon he noticed that his granddaughter’s mood was off.