Currently, a few carriage were going into the Deo City. This was the Bo clan’s young generation who still went to school daily.

Unlike before, there was one less carriage which was once Ning’s but not because he was gone. The man who had left Ning was hunted down by Bo Gu and tortured to death but did not reveal the identity of who did it but Ning had revealed it to be the Jing Clan’s Jing Ran and his big brother Jing Ru.

At this time, within the carriage were several Bo family members, the carriage had more than enough space but it was incredibly quiet because Bo Ning was inside but he did not mind his cousins and older brother’s glare and simply played with Tora happily until they reached the main city where Tora was tired and landed on his neck and connected his meridians allowing him to access the Qi inside.

The others avoided him like a plague but only because they were uncomfortable around him now. The roar from the founder left them all perplexed but the younger ones had balled up fists to the point their knuckles were white but they held back.

Ever since he came back he was with the founder an entire week and the sounds of combat and Qi fluctuations were winding around it making them wonder if it was the old man.

The silence persisted until the carriage reached the school where the children quickly got off and walked away without looking back.

Coming out last was Ning and some people noticed and got a strange feeling as they saw him come out of the clan’s main carriage instead of the old beat up one that was 3rd rate.

He didn’t even look as he happily walked towards his class and as he appeared the eyes of the classmates looked at him.

The most shocked person was Jing Ran who looked at Ning as if he saw a ghost. Ning grinned and walked over before bending slightly next to Rei, “I hope you washed your neck.” He said simply and turned before going to his seat.

Jing Ran’s face turned red with rage, “You little smelly fart! You think you have the qualifications of taking my, your father’s, head!?” He roared drawing a lot of attention.

Ning smiled and stood back up without taking Tora from his shoulder but the little Tiger Fish was hissing. “Want to see?” Ning said.

The boy’s face turned bright red as suddenly a huge amount of wind began to gather around him. “DIE!” He roared and shot a spinning vortex towards towards Ning.

Ning grinned as his body suddenly let out a strong aura, he took a step to the left and spun his body once. The strong wind seemed to push him further away and once he landed he landed facing Jing Ran and as soon as his feet landed a strong burst of Qi ran through the ground and Ning burst forth shocking everyone and in one bound stopped in front of Jing Ran. “You're not my match!” He said. The next moment he sent a palm strike to Rei’s stomach which bent him in a v shape before the boy collapsed. “Trash! Get out of my sights.” Ning said and kicked the boy sending him flying out the door before he turned and walked back to his seat.

The entire room was silence as they looked at Ning. His aura that had previously spread through the room was that of Peak Low success Qi refining stage. Obviously this was not his cultivation rank but Tora’s whom he received the Qi from. Not only that but it was Wind Attribute Qi meaning he was even faster them common Qi refiners if he used the wind attribute.

They were all wondering what the trash did to cultivate but they didn’t have the courage. Be it mana or Qi, Jing Ran was one of the strongest in class. Most mana has several realms and the first was mana absorption where they must fill the meridians and each meridian was one level. Jing Lei was level 7 meaning he had 5 more meridians to go before completely filling the 12 primary meridians. Most of the others were much weaker and slower.

As for those who trained with Qi, most were all Initial stage or just reaching Low success. The Aura Ning released was several times stronger than them meaning he was almost at Large success. It was obvious they would fear him now because his power was much higher.

“What is going on here!?” A sudden voice shouted.

A beautiful woman walked in and looked around as she saw Rei knocked out outside of her classroom.

Everyone looked at Ning but suddenly they found that he had absolutely no aura that showed he had ever cultivated beyond body training.

“Bo Ning, you are back? What happened here?” The teacher asked.

“I do not know, when I arrived Jing Ran was already on the ground and since I am by not means his friend I do not care what happens to him even if he dies.” Ning said not concealing the hate he has for the boy.

Of course the teacher hadn’t seen anything and Ning didn’t have the aura of any cultivator so why would she even think once that he could do this and she looked around the classroom and narrowed her eyes. She quickly ran out and took out a pill to feed the boy and heal him. This was her class and she needed to make sure nothing bad happens to these little nobles from the clans.

A large amount of money came from these clans so how could she not try to prioritize their safety? Even if these are all the second or third rate clan’s young masters she still needed to take care of them.

The premier young masters went to the 1st rating academy to get the best resources and training which was incomparable to a 2nd rate school. Even so if she could find a hidden seed than her own prestige can rise and she would have a chance to be called by a better academy for discovering some goods people.

After Jing Ran was force fed the pill it melted in his mouth and went down his throat before it began to take effect and heal the inner wounds the palm strike gave him and to wake up him.

*Cough*

Coughing madly he began to breath raggedly and opened his eyes to see the teacher over him.

“Jing Ran, who was the one that hit you?” She asked.

“T-teacher Dai Bing… n…” He began to say but felt too much shame in saying it and stayed quiet but hatred was boiling his insides.

“Say it, who was it?!” She said.

Although she seemed somewhat worried, in fact she was not. Instead she was hoping the get on the good side of the Jing family. They were part of the higher ranks of noble clans and had two young masters in the 1st rate academy while the rest were in this school.

“N…”He was fighting with himself but thought that if Ning was this powerful after falling into the canyon it mean that he resolved the problem with his cultivation meaning he will become even stronger in the future. He could not tolerate this kind of outcome where the biggest trash would become powerful so swallowing his pride he finally decided. “It was Ning, Bo Ning.” He said.

“Ning? How did he beat you?” She asked.

“He can cultivate…. He palm striked me out of nowhere.” He lied. He could already see what kind of person the teacher was even as a child.

“Are you sure? He has no aura what so ever.” She said.

“Huh?” he said confused. “Can’t you hide it?” He asked.

This kind of thing among experts were obvious. Usually bullied people who make repeated break through would also learn to restrict their aura so of course this kind of thought would appear.

“Even if he could, I am a peak houtian expert, I would be able to see through him.” she said with a frown. Even if she wanted to help, how could she help with this kind of situation. Whenever she enters the classroom she would definitely check the progress of every student. Even if Ning couldn’t do anything she would still check and besides his body growing more robust he had no aura of mana, Qi or internal energy.

“That can’t be! I clearly felt a Peak Low Success Qi aura on him! I felt brothers aura before so I am certain!” He said.

Dai Bing frowned and helped him stand before entering the classroom.

Upon entering the boy looked at Bo Ning who was smiling innocently but confidently. “You… how are you hiding your aura!?” Jing Ran roared.

“What aura young master Rei? Everyone knows I can’t cultivate.” He said lightly. Still he looked around and slightly narrowed his eyes and gleefully saw as the people trembled slightly.

This did not escape Dai Bing’s eyes and they narrowed, “Bo Ning, come up and send a fist towards me. Put all your strength behind it.” She said.

Bing smiled and simply took Tora off his shoulder and sat him down before walking over before he got into a fighting position in front of the teacher. She held up her hand, “Right on my palm.” She said.

With a nod, Ning gathered his energy and performing a punch that put his body into it a large wind built up under his fist and hit the palm of the teachers.

BANG!

The floor rattled and the tables shook. The hearts of all the students were in their throat as they saw this.

“You didn’t use Qi.” She asked.

“I can’t use it besides gathering an insignificant amount. Esteemed teacher Dai should know that. I can only train body training my whole life. It’s just that…” He grinned and looked at the cowering Jing Ran, “... two weeks ago, Jing Ran and his brother Jing Ru kindly threw me into the Nine Fall Canyon where I almost died countless times but I found several herbs whose energy I used to further refine my body and let monsters hit me to cause the energy to be refined into my body and there was still residual energy which my grandfather helped me deal with.” He said making something up.

Everyone began to sweat as they heard this. It wasn’t an impossible thing but they knew he had real Qi to fight but they were trembling because just his body strength was enough to shake the ground below their feet. Body training usually ends when one reaches a certain stage but that doesn’t mean it’s the real end and instead it’s just the condition for the basic requirements. They can continue on without end making their body stronger and if one were to use magic or profound fruits they would indeed be able to continue refining their body beyond just the basic requirement. That said you still need the capability to cultivate to refine the muscles most of the time people would use countless days of meditation if they are doing a body refining technique but for those who don’t have such thing they can only do it the brutal method and have their body beaten and the energy would end up being used to heal the wounds.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

What he said was indeed quite true but Dai Bing was an expert, how could she not know that this amount of strength would only match a peak initial Qi refiner. Even if he took numerous herbs and fruits it would take years to refine his body and there is a limit not only that but just because he has strength doesn’t mean he has enough strength. Jing Ran is a wind magi of the 7th level. It is on par with someone who just entered low success.

Not only that but Jing Ran was one of the young masters of the Jing family, even if he wasn’t in a premier academy, he still trained at home with his siblings so he had an advantage towards this section and so his cast time and innate knowledge of the Magic runes used by magi, was greater than lower ranked family. Even if Dai Bing thought that Bo Ning’s strength was indeed incredible for a cripple, a child is a child, how would he know many combat techniques when most of it needs some kind of energy to fuel it so as to not injure their body. She in no hypothesis believed that Bo Ning could beat Jing Ran as senselessly as she witnessed on the boys body.

She was now stuck between a rock and a hard place and was getting a headache because this situation was incredibly difficult. If such little strength could beat up her classes top student then how would other students feel.

Jing Ran also saw this and he knew it wasn’t going to be resolved and as expected, “It seems you really couldn’t have done it. You may return to your seat, Jing Ran go get checked to make sure no hidden wounds are found, I can only inform both your families because it is the word of one against the other.” She said.

Even if she said that in Jing Ran’s ears her words sounded like, ‘it’s your word against the hard reality.’ which made his heart bleed in grievance so he simply walked out. “Bo Ning! If I don’t see your gut like a fish I can’t call myself Jing Ran!” he hissed in a low voice as he headed to get checked out and to see his brother.

Bo Ning on the other hand happily attended class without a single worry and stayed connected secretly with Tora which revealed a hint of the aura but when the teacher looked she felt it come not from Ning but from Tora so she didn’t mind it at all since Flying Tiger Fish were low ranking but they were creatures that go rise up to the Initial Xiantian stage at best but that was usually only the alpha of a pack who had a specific gene and strong inherent memory and bloodline. If not it would remain at the peak of Houtian only.

Part way through class Jing Ran returned and stared daggers at Bo Ning but the boy was completely relaxed. He already guessed more or less that the little bully would snitch to his brother and he doubted his family members would protect him but who asked them to. He just kept cultivating the little Flying fish on his shoulder while he wrote down notes which weren’t really useful except for the exercise of writing it to help memorize. If it was him normally he wouldn’t even copy it down but since he was splitting his attention he had to do a bit more to make sure he remembers it.

When class was done he casually put away his books in the large bag and flung it over his shoulder and happily walked out. There was a strange feeling in all the students eyes while Jing Ran had a vicious expression on his face as he left the room behind the others.

All the classes were the same and soon the day was over so going to the carriage he simply waited for his family members to come out and get in and they all laughed and talked but as they get in the carriage they go silent as they see him and the ride back wasn’t anything special.

Just as expected, in the same manner which he had been taken and beaten up the same four appeared stopping the carriage.

“You fucking fart! Get out here! You don’t give up on life so let me kill you now!” Jing Ru roared.

If Jing Ran not being able to hurt Bo Ning was the reason for the first time, with the little brother getting trashed with one attack was a complete lost of face for their clan. The current expression Jing Ru had was of rage and was spitting fire in his rage. His aura was exploding and Bo Ning noticed that his aura was higher than Tora but it was only but a small rank since he was only Large success of Qi Refining.

Seeing this he simply looked out of the carriage.

“What are you doing, go handle your problem and don’t involve us Trash.” One of his cousins said.

This was the second son of the first uncle. His father was the second son. The children of the first uncle were a bit more pompous towards him since he was the families weakest link and it made them look bad.

“Hmph fine.” Bo Ning said standing up while putting Tora on his shoulder and opening the door.

He was already connecting to the little Dao beast while he walked down.

“Oh, so you aren’t a coward who will send his family out instead! Heh! Useless family just like the trash!” Jing Ran.

“Little asshole, do not compare us to this trash! If you can kill him, fine, if you can’t than scram.” his cousin roared ready to pounce on the boy.

“You all shut up. I don’t need your help anyway. Never did never will.” Ning said coldly as he stopped next to the horses. “Jing Ru, I hope you and those three idiots behind you kept your necks clean.” Ning said.

They all turned red. “You little trash!” Jing Ru roared as his Qi exploded but suddenly Ning also suddenly exploded with Qi that was at the Peak of Low success.

The two ran at each other but under the aura that came from Ning, Jing Run hesitated one moment which was the moment that Ning needed to reach him as the two ran at each other and shot a strong punch.

Jing Ru panicked and crossed his arms over his chest and took the punch but it felt like a horse ran him over as he was pushed back four meters and his arms felt numb. “What!? Where is he getting this Qi and strength!?” He roared in his mind but he had no time because as soon as he stabilized and looked at Ning, a small but ruthless fist was already in his face striking right at the bridge of his nose.

CRACK!

His nose bent irregularly and his body was shot back. Even so Ning didn’t give up and jumped up and landed on his knee which was pounding right into Jing Ru’s gut.

The one sided slaughter that Bo Ning was dishing out was contributed directly from the fact that his body training went beyond the basics. When he started to train, his starting strength was already higher than others and as a result his strength at the Peak of Low success was higher than Jing Ru’s initial Large success. The difference was so large that Bo Ning literally rolled over him and left him in eating dirt completely injured after ruthlessly beating him.

When he finished he quickly burst towards the two stooges that followed Jing Ru and unlike Ru these two were at the same stage as him and so they weren’t his match. With one punch to the face for the one on the right and jumping back once to dodge he did a high knee strike to the face to knock several teeth out of the other’s mouth.

Finally only Jing Ran was left but he was trembling on the ground and when Bo Ning looked at him, he got so scared that he lost the strength to run away and suddenly Ning jumped at him.

“HEE!” Jing Ran shouted and saw the fist coming at him but suddenly it stopped mere millimeters from his face. A very strong wind current burst form Ning’s finger and once the wind stood Jing Ran trembled a bit before he fell back completely fainted from fear foaming at the mouth.

“Weaklings.” Ning said with disgust. Suddenly he stopped and sniffed before he quickly stepped away. “No way!” He shouted, “D-did this guy just pee and soil himself in fear!?” Bo Ning shouted.

All his family were watching with their jaw dropped at Ning’s display of power but upon hearing their words they felt a shiver run down their spines. To make one fear death and go to such extent mean that Bo Ning was skipping realms even if it’s a small realm.

After taking several steps away he grabbed the legs of all the fallen sandbags and tossed them off the road to fend for themselves and walked back into the carriage, “Get moving!” He shouted to the coachman who didn’t dare resist. With a whip the horses began to quickly pull the carriage which was left in an heavy silence.

When the carriage finally stopped in front of the clan gates, they got out silently and even confused the guards who looked at the solemn look of the children except for Bo Ning who was smiling an incredibly refreshed smile and even giggling a bit.

He returned to his room and changed before he began to meditate on his fate. An all out slaughter normally doesn’t help one to understand their strength but because it was the first time he fought for real he understood a few things. First off the fact that he suddenly releases his aura would way's cause shot. In other words a Rider constitution will always cause one to be underestimated. If they lay low and bide their time to build strength and catch their opponent off guard it will usually end in their victory when they hesitate that one moment that takes to change the wave of the fight.

About an hour after when he was smiling while meditating and going over class to remember everything completely he heard a soft knock on the door. “Y-young master… the clan master wishes to see you.” A small voice said.

He wasn’t any bit surprised that the way the maids acted towards him changed and it seems the maid that took care of him changed as well and new ones were hired since this one was a young girl. Most likely Bo Ning’s grandfather changed all the caretakers of his and his mother’s house. Only the steward and head maid weren’t changed because of their skill as well as those that don’t normally come in contact with Ning.

“Alright, I’m coming.” He said without any emotion in his voice. He slowly regulated his breathing and stood up before walking out and following the little maid to the main clan hall.

The three uncles and aunts were there as well as his cousins.

“You little brat what do you think you are doing fighting with the Jing clan!?” Roared his own father.

Ning glared at him as did his mother, “Where were you when I was flung into the Nine Fall Canyon by Jing Ran and Jing Ru with their stooges? Don’t come talking about not beating them up, I fell I needed to dish out more but if I did I would have killed their sorry asses. They should be thankful that I didn’t break the teeth of their trash besides the two low class trash that follow them.” Bo Ning coldly said.

“Impudent!” Roared his father.

“SILENCE!” Bo Gu roared even louder.

Everyone became ashen except Bo Ning and Bo Rei. “Gen, even when your son is in the right you abonish him! You think he is trash?” the old man shook his head.

“But father! He offended the Jing clan! How will we explain this!?” Bo Gen said.

“What explain! They need to explain why they are bullying my grandson! You think I will let this drop now that I know who the scum that almost killed him is!?” Bo Gu said furious. “Still they are a higher ranked Clan than us but that does not mean we are easily pushed around. I can only say we have two options, let Ning continue school as it is and hope that nothing else happens or have him leave school and train him well for the sect selection in 2 years.” He said.

“I’m not dropping school.” Ning said.

“School is useless for you Ning. You already narrated to this old man what you know. Our clan has all the things needed to learn in school and more even if it's just a small bit.” Bo Gu said.

“I’m not quitting school. I have been running away all my life, now that I can cultivate why would I allow others to step on me? If they attack I attack back harder, if they come at me in a group them I will beat them up just like today.” he stopped and glared at his cousins and brothers, “Even if they are the trash I am supposed to call family I won’t hold back.” He spat towards them.

“You little piece of shit! I don’t know how you suddenly burst forth Peak Low success Qi refiner aura but that is a fluke and even if it isn’t you think you can beat me!?” the first uncle's son said.

“Hmph, a Peak Qi refiner at 15, and you call me trash.” Ning spat out.

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” He almost exploded but suddenly a large pressure smashed everyone.

“Silence!” A cold aged voice coming from Bo Gu said. “Ning, what are you planning?” He asked.

“In a month and a half is the semester tests, this includes the test for combat skills and also school ranking. Grandfather knows that the ranking on each grade level will receive special services so I will cultivate during this time to reach Large success and punch my way into #1 and get those resources.” Ning said.

“Idiot.” One of his cousins said.

“Ning, that is wishful thinking but do you know who the person in first place even is?” Bo Rei, Ning’s mother, asked.

“Hmm I think it was Li Ling from the Li clan. They say he has Peak Large success strength.” He said nonchalantly.

“And trash like you still think you can beat him?! HA!” his cousin said.

“Hmph, in a month, sure. It took only a few herbs and a lot of fighting to make my foundation much stronger than most people. Even a Large success I can probably fight and given a some time maybe even someone half step to peak .” He said.

His words confused the clan but the old man coughs, “Fine Little Ning, we will allow you to continue school, but if under one condition.” Bo Gu said.

“What?”

“You MUST come in first place. Even second place will not do, it must be number one, understood?” Bo Gu asked.

“Yes grandfather.” he said nodding.

“Good, that ends that.” the old man said and laughed.

“Just like that father? No punishment for beating up his classmates?” his third uncle asked.

“Why would I punish him? Those trash were trying to kill him, I would have finished them off at the root of the problem and made sure problems would not arise in the future.” Bo Gu said. “Now everyone get going, little Rei, since little Ning is so confident, help him train a bit. No one is a better sparring partner since you hold back enough.” He said.

“Of course father in law.” She said.

“Little lady, after so many years, call me father already.” Bo Gu said.

Bo Rei simply giggled and got up before pulling her son’s sleeve, “Come on, let's get some rest and then train early in the morning.” She said flashing a very warm smile.

Ning felt very warm near his mother but he glared at his useless father, which caused Tora to hiss his way, as he was leaving not giving him a second glance before vanishing from the room to go to his and his mother's separate compound.