"What's wrong?"
Lynn Chen saw Eric Yu's expression change rapidly and instinctively asked.
As soon as she finished speaking, Lynn seemed to realize something. She whipped her head around, following Eric Yu's gaze, and spotted Evan Lin standing not far away.
"Evan!"
Lynn's eyes went blank for a moment, then her face lit up with surprise and joy.
"The exams are coming up. Good luck."
Evan glanced at Lynn, greeting her in passing.
"You too. Good luck." Lynn nodded.
"You... you actually dared to come back?" Eric Yu stared wide-eyed at Evan, fear written all over his face.
"Was I gone so long you started itching for trouble again?" Evan shot him a look.
That one line made Eric Yu swallow whatever he was about to say. His face went pale and he stumbled backward.
Eric's behavior drew looks of contempt from the students passing by.
Quite a few people snickered as they watched him.
Seeing Lynn's bright, radiant expression, Eric felt a surge of anger. He mustered his courage, glared at Evan, and said in a trembling voice, "Don't get cocky. I bet you only came back because you heard the Guan family left Capitalview, right?"
"Guys like you only know how to bully people weaker than you. You just pick on honest folks like me!"
By the end, Eric actually sounded a bit aggrieved.
His whole life had gone smoothly—until high school, where he kept running into disaster after disaster thanks to Evan Lin.
Honest folks.
Hearing Eric's words, Evan couldn't even be bothered to look at him again.
Even Lynn couldn't help it. Her look toward Eric was full of disgust.
Evan walked out of the school gate ahead, while Lynn Chen followed a few steps behind, keeping her distance and saying nothing more.
Eric Yu trailed even farther behind Lynn, terrified of getting punched by Evan. When Evan stepped out the gate, Eric just froze inside, waiting a long time before daring to leave himself.
In the days that followed, even Victor Su came to Evan personally, hoping Evan would lay low and avoid Butcher Tu, but Evan refused him outright.
Meanwhile, over in Haizhou, Evan got a call from Summer Mu and learned what Butcher Tu was really after.
This time, Butcher Tu had left the Guan family in Pu Hai mainly to challenge Mo Yang and wash away the shame of his old defeat. His recent search for Evan in Pu Hai was just a side quest—when he couldn’t find Evan, he headed straight for River City.
But Mo Yang was holed up in seclusion at the Zuo family, refusing all challengers. He just said his first fight after leaving seclusion would be to kill the one who crippled his disciple. So Butcher Tu had no choice but to wait in River City.
With all eyes on Haizhou, the atmosphere there was already tense, like storm clouds pressing down on the city.
But since the so-called Master Lin from Seacrest hadn’t shown up, people in Haizhou—who’d once been awed by Evan—started thinking Master Lin was scared and had run away.
Honestly, it made sense. Mo Yang was a legendary master, rumored to have broken through the Vajra threshold. Compared to him, Master Lin from Seacrest—who’d once swept through Haizhou—suddenly seemed outclassed.
By now, autumn had faded into early winter.
Capitalview was getting colder by the day, and the Hundred-School Joint Exam was drawing near.
After a long silence, Master Mo Yang finally announced from the Zuo family the date of his duel with Master Lin from Seacrest.
February 14th, the beginning of spring.
But the chosen battleground wasn’t River City—it was Brightsea City, at Thousand-Saints Mountain!
News of this sent the martial circles of Haizhou and Jinnan into a frenzy!
"I met Master Mo Yang once. He looked young, but there was something really strange about him. Just one glance felt like getting punched. If you can avoid fighting him, you should—he doesn’t even know where you are right now."
In a high-rise office of Summer Group in River City, Summer Mu stood by the window, phone in hand, watching the bustling crowds below with tired eyes.
On her desk, piles of paperwork sat untouched, waiting to be dealt with.
In just a few months, the Zuo family’s rise had been even faster than anyone expected.
Back when Master Lin from Seacrest was around, Summer Group had a much easier time doing business.
Now, with the Zuo family backed by the even more famous Master Mo Yang, many of Summer Group’s businesses were snatched away, causing endless trouble.
Even those businessmen who’d always had issues with Master Lin from Seacrest teamed up against Summer Group. The business war was exhausting.
"Time and place are set. There’s no reason not to fight. Don’t worry about it."
Evan yawned, leaning against the school hallway. Life in Capitalview had been unusually calm lately—no big trouble, and Miracle Hand Sect’s new alchemists were making slow but steady progress.
Melissa Mu even made a special trip to Capitalview to invite Evan to watch the big duel in Brightsea City on February 14th, after having dinner with him.
She was visibly excited when she brought it up.
She only knew Evan as Lin Jiuxuan, never realizing he was actually Master Lin from Seacrest!
Whether it was seeing Evan standing atop the dragon’s head in Zhaoyu Town, or watching him snap a sword in the Mu family’s hall, those memories were burned into Melissa’s mind and just wouldn’t fade.
Of course, Evan turned her down, leaving Melissa disappointed for quite a while.
Meanwhile, Selina Shi from the Wu family had vanished without a trace. Evan thought about visiting her, but decided to wait—after he dealt with Mo Yang and then Butcher Tu, any problems could be settled in one go.
Day by day, the Hundred-City Joint Exam reached its final sprint.
Byron Yang cheered on Class 12 every day, constantly keeping an eye on Evan, terrified he’d drop the ball at the last minute.
The teachers of every class were on edge, since final results affected their bonuses and annual pay. The most stressed was Class 11’s homeroom teacher—after all, Class 12 had sworn to finally escape dead-last and become the glorious second-to-last.
A week before the exam, Principal Damon Deng gave an impassioned speech at the flag-raising ceremony, retelling the school’s history and firing up every student.
The tense study atmosphere made Evan feel like he was back in junior high, on the eve of his graduation exams.
It all felt like a dream.