Su Chen cultivated at Soaring Clouds Martial Academy with relentless determination. Nearly two and a half years had passed since he awakened his memories in this life. He had advanced from the ninth layer of Spirit Awakening all the way to the sixth layer of Spirit Gathering. He was now nineteen.

  Such rapid progress stunned the entire academy. After deliberation, the council of elders decided to groom Su Chen as a Spirit Sea-level seed candidate.

  Everyone regarded him as a prodigy. Only Su Chen knew the truth: his swift cultivation stemmed from two advantages. First, he had already walked this exact path once in his previous life. Second, this time, he possessed far superior talent, comprehension, and resources.

  That was why he progressed so quickly. Still, he remained a false seed candidate at best.

  Yet Su Chen had no intention of correcting anyone. Free benefits were benefits—he treated the academy's investment as exactly that.

  The Xu family remained quiet. No news had surfaced about the Su family he had founded in his previous life either.

  Su Chen no longer paid those matters any attention. His focus now rested on the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's decennial youth grand competition. The academy placed great hopes on him, expecting a strong placement.

  Accompanied by several elders and a group of the academy's most promising talents, Su Chen set out for the royal capital. His troublemaking friend Li Ming joined the journey as well.

  "Jiang Chen, are you confident about this competition? I suddenly feel so much pressure. Even Soaring Clouds Martial Academy alone has this many geniuses."

  Li Ming gazed up at the starry sky, a trace of bewilderment in his eyes.

  Over the past two years, Li Ming had also broken through to the Spirit Gathering Realm and now stood at the first layer. Meanwhile, his good brother Su Chen had reached the sixth layer—and was a year younger.

  Li Ming had once thought Su Chen was already exceptional… Yet every young disciple from the academy sent to the grand competition was at least his equal. The weakest among them was still at the fifth layer of Spirit Gathering.

  "Geniuses in this world are as numerous as the stars," Su Chen said, lifting his eyes to the vast sky. "In any era, there is only one moon. All the other stars are destined to be overshadowed by its brilliance."

  Li Ming stared at his suddenly unfamiliar friend, his chest tightening with emotion.

  "So you want to become the moon?"

  Su Chen shook his head.

  "I'm just the smallest, most insignificant star. But if I could hear the Dao in the morning, I would be content to die in the evening. If I can one day witness that moon—if I can behold the true chosen ones of the martial path—even if my own light is eclipsed, I would accept it willingly."

  Li Ming froze.

  Was this really the same guy he spent every day messing around with?

  The sudden shift to such lofty words left him thoroughly unsettled.

  Su Chen continued earnestly.

  "I'm only telling you this: don't fear failure. There are always people in this world better than us."

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Li Ming nodded, the knot in his heart loosening. If even his good brother wasn't afraid of failing, what did he have to fear?

  Su Chen left one thought unspoken.

  "Sooner or later… I, Su Chen, will become that brightest, singular moon."

  If one life wasn't enough, then two. Three. Eventually, in some life, he would rise to become the figure everyone looked up to.

  After Su Chen and Li Ming returned to their rooms to rest, neither noticed the middle-aged man who stepped out from the shadows.

  "'If I could hear the Dao in the morning, I would be content to die in the evening…' Many old monsters lack the open-mindedness of this junior."

  He murmured to himself, a faint smile touching his lips.

  ...

  After days of travel, the group finally arrived at the Heavenly Wind royal capital. The elders of Soaring Clouds Martial Academy had already arranged accommodations for everyone.

  Without pausing to rest, Su Chen hurried off to meet his fiancée. When he returned with Wang Bailu and introduced her to the others from the academy, Li Ming's face darkened to the color of charcoal. They had agreed to stay single together, yet here Su Chen was with a fiancée.

  Su Chen gave two awkward laughs. He was sure Li Ming would understand.

  Soaring Clouds Martial Academy welcomed Wang Bailu warmly, but the Spirit Sword Sect regarded Su Chen with clear hostility.

  Wang Bailu was a renowned beauty within the sect. Though she lacked the widespread fame of the sect's senior sister—one of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom's ten greatest beauties—she possessed a unique charm that had won her countless admirers.

  Su Chen's arrival was like poking a hornet's nest. A swarm of disciples immediately surrounded him.

  "So you're Junior Sister Wang's fiancé? I challenge you! If you lose, you stay far away from her!"

  An older senior brother from the Spirit Sword Sect stepped forward, eyes blazing with righteous fury as he issued his challenge.

  Su Chen declined.

  What kind of delusional, chuunibyou idiot was this?

  "Are you even a man? Don't you dare face me in a fair, upright duel between men? If I lose, I'll vanish from Junior Sister Wang's sight forever. If you lose, you break off the engagement!"

  The senior brother pressed relentlessly, his tone aggressive and overbearing, as though dominating Su Chen here would somehow elevate his own standing in Wang Bailu's eyes.

  "I simply think it's unfair to Miss Wang to be treated as a bargaining chip by someone like you," Su Chen replied calmly. "If you want to spar, I'll accept. But I will not wager my fiancée. She is not merchandise. She is my future wife."

  With those words, Su Chen instantly earned the respect of the entire Spirit Sword Sect.

  Wang Bailu's beautiful eyes turned toward the poised young man, sparkling with admiration.

  The humiliated senior brother, face flushed with shame and rage, lunged at Su Chen in a fit of anger—only to be subdued in a single move. The sight shocked everyone present.

  In the end, a middle-aged man appeared and led the dazed, life-questioning senior brother away.

  From start to finish, Su Chen never learned—or cared to learn—his name. They were never on the same level.

  An elder of the Spirit Sword Sect personally apologized to Su Chen and assured him that no one from the sect would trouble him again.

  The attitude of the entire sect flipped completely. Where they once believed Su Chen unworthy of Wang Bailu, they now feared she might not be worthy of him.

  They were convinced he would emerge as a dark horse in the grand competition, destined to achieve outstanding results. Once his name spread, countless noble daughters would throw themselves at him.

  Wang Bailu noticed the shift as well. Her fiancé was outstanding—perhaps too outstanding. If he became famous, would he one day send her a letter of repudiation?

  So, in the days leading up to the martial grand competition, she stayed by Su Chen's side at every moment. Only when the event officially began, with geniuses from every major sect gathering in force, did she finally grant him some freedom.

  Su Chen felt like his dark-horse momentum was about to collapse. He had become a worn-out horse instead.

  Still, though exhausted, he endured. In his previous life, he had fought on the edge of death for decades; his combat experience far surpassed that of these green youngsters fresh from the cradle. Along the way, he truly emerged as the dark horse of the grand competition, drawing the attention of countless powers.

  "Zhang Yuan, your Soaring Clouds Martial Academy has picked up quite the talent!"

  Several sect elders gathered together, openly expressing their envy toward Soaring Clouds's representative.

  At nineteen, Su Chen stood at the sixth layer of Spirit Gathering. More astonishingly, he had defeated one of the top-ten favorites in an upset victory.

  Nangong Meng of the Heavenly Wave Sect—twenty-one years old, peak ninth layer of Spirit Gathering, and the disciple most prized by Elder Li Qingyue.

  Su Chen, merely at the sixth layer, had fought with fearless ferocity and unrelenting spirit, pressuring Nangong Meng until the latter chose to concede.

  His name spread across the kingdom overnight. They gave him a new title: The Madman of Martial Dao.