The city streets were dark at night, with only a single figure running swiftly through the beams of light cast down onto the pavement.
It was Lam Minh. He hadn't been home for several days.
A smile played on his lips. Having just gone through an event that felt like a brush with death, the thought of returning home to see his family made him incredibly excited.
As he moved, Lam Minh checked his system panel.
[Ding! The Attribute Picking System is happy to serve the host!]
[Name: Lam Minh]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Mortal (603/1000 Blood Essence)]
[Spiritual Root: Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root (10/100,000 Spiritual Root Points)]
[Techniques: Crippling Wind Fist (Initiate) 20/1000 points, Wind Walking (Initiate) 153/900 points]
[Lucky Spin (Break through to the 9th layer of Body Tempering to spin again)]
"Mmm, only 397 more points until I can step into the Body Tempering realm and embark on the path of cultivation." Lam Minh muttered to himself as he ran, the numbers on the system panel filling him with spirit, banishing all fatigue.
As soon as he stepped onto the immortal path, he would no longer be the weak Lam Minh.
Fifteen minutes later, Lam Minh was standing in front of his house.
The house that had been familiar to him for two lifetimes.
He gently turned the doorknob, and the door swung open.
Lam Minh saw his sister sitting in the living room, studying.
Mr. Dao was sitting and smoking, while Mrs. Mai was mending the old, tattered clothes of the two siblings.
"Dad, Mom, Little Sister!" Lam Minh called out and rushed to hug his little sister.
Mr. Dao gently stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking and looked at Lam Minh, saying, "Son, have you eaten?"
His tone had changed. The resentful, irritable edge was gone.
This surprised and intrigued Lam Minh.
He didn't know what Master Quoc had said to his family, but this attitude was truly something Lam Minh was experiencing for the first time.
"I... I haven't." Lam Minh replied awkwardly.
Mrs. Mai stood up and went straight to the kitchen to get dinner for Lam Minh.
Mr. Dao then gestured for Lam Minh to sit opposite him.
Perhaps he had a few words to say to him.
"So, from now on you'll be working for that mysterious person?" Mr. Dao asked.
Lam Minh thought for a moment and then replied, "Yes, Dad. From now on, I will work and help contribute to our family's income."
"What about your studies? Don't chase after money and forget that you have to get into the Combat University. Only the Combat University will bring you glory in the future, you know?" Mr. Dao reminded Lam Minh.
"Yes, I know. I'm just working to earn a little extra money. You and Mom don't have to worry." Lam Minh didn't know what Mr. Quoc had told his family, but he basically wanted to keep his work and future plans a secret.
Lam Minh didn't want to say too much too soon. He wanted to see how surprised his mother would be when he handed her the money to help the family.
Thirty million VND/month was truly a huge sum.
The total monthly income of both of Lam Minh's parents was only about 17 million VND.
"Alright, alright, eat your dinner and get some rest. You have to work early tomorrow morning," Mrs. Mai interrupted the conversation between the father and son.
Lam Minh was very hungry at this moment; he felt he could eat six bowls of rice in a row.
Mr. Dao was lost in thought.
He recalled the meeting between his family and Mr. Quoc.
At that time, a group of men in suits had knocked on their door. Witnessing such an impressive lineup made his heart pound and his legs tremble.
And when he faced the man named Quoc, there seemed to be an invisible pressure that made it impossible for him to refuse any of the man's requests.
The conversation was very simple.
Mr. Quoc spoke, Mr. Dao answered.
….
After dinner, Lam Minh returned to his room and began training to digest the food to avoid wasting blood essence.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for pushing past the threshold of failure, +12 blood essence points to cultivation.]
Lam Minh was meditating after finishing his training.
Today, he had gradually grown accustomed to his own intensity, and pushing himself to the threshold of failure was no longer as arduous for him.
"So, tomorrow morning will be my first day working for Master, and tomorrow afternoon I'll go to school," Lam Minh muttered.
Suddenly, he looked at the calendar on the wall.
Tomorrow was October 14th, a Tuesday.
So it had been almost a week since he was knocked out on the challenge platform.
Lam Minh smiled.
"Just you wait, tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow morning, I'll farm a few hundred more blood essence points and skills, then let's see how you defend the platform." Lam Minh said to himself with a smug look.
He was really looking forward to tomorrow.
Just then, a notification appeared on Lam Minh's phone.
[Quynh Nhu cute has sent you a friend request]
Lam Minh was startled and clicked to view the profile.
As expected, it was his senior sister.
Speaking of this girl, Lam Minh was also quite flustered.
His feeling about her was that she was someone who didn't know how to restrain her emotions.
Everything she thought or did revealed her thoughts completely.
It was also interesting.
Lam Minh accepted the friend request and continued to meditate to regulate his qi.
5 minutes later.
[You have been added to the group chat "Bach Hoang Special Fake Agents" by Quynh Nhu]
"Ah, there's an internal group chat," Lam Minh exclaimed softly and opened the chat group.
The group had 10 members, including Lam Minh, but Mr. Quoc was not in it.
"A dojo group without the dojo owner?" Lam Minh was curious.
But when Lam Minh saw that the group admin was Quynh Nhu and read the messages in the group, he couldn't help but laugh.
This chat group was created by Quynh Nhu mainly to arrange fun outings after a day of training, and sometimes to badmouth someone.
And the person who was badmouthed the most in the chat group was Mr. Quoc.
Lam Minh chuckled and typed in the group: "Little junior brother greets all senior brothers and sisters."
+1 Like from Eldest Senior Brother.
+1 reaction from Second Senior Brother.
"Ah, go to sleep early, kid. Be at the dojo at 6 AM tomorrow, no being late," Quynh Nhu replied to the message.
Lam Minh was quite curious.
Why did everyone just see the message and not reply?
But he didn't think much of it. Lam Minh quickly fell asleep.
A sweet dream made him smile softly.
…
6:00 AM, October 14, 2025.
A figure dressed in black was sitting in a corner of the Bach Hoang Dojo's training hall.
Yawn after yawn came from the dark figure.
It was Lam Minh. He had arrived at the dojo right on time as Quynh Nhu had instructed.
But when he arrived, there was no one there.
Not even Mr. Quoc was to be seen.
The housekeeper had let him in to wait.
"Hmph, telling me to come early, and then making me wait here. I haven't even had breakfast yet." Lam Minh grumbled softly about Quynh Nhu.
Just then, Lam Minh saw a figure appear at the dojo's entrance.
This person was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, looking very comfortable. His steps were very steady as he walked into the dojo.
It was Mr. Quoc.
"Disciple pays respects to Master," Lam Minh quickly stood up and bowed.
"Mmm, I forgot to give you this yesterday. From now on, consider the dojo your home. You can even sleep here if you want." Mr. Quoc handed Lam Minh a chip card and continued, "This is a special membership card for working for me, a card that represents your identity as my disciple and a member of the Special Reconnaissance Unit. With this card, you can enter and leave the dojo freely, and when you're on a mission that requires the cooperation of law enforcement, you can also use it."
Lam Minh took the card with both hands.
The outside was black, with swirling patterns in bronze-gold.
On it was only the image of a golden dragon, sculpted with extreme vividness.
It felt as if it could leap off the card at any moment.
At the dragon's feet was a chip.
Lam Minh guessed that this chip contained all his secret information.
"Yes, thank you, Master," Lam Minh replied.
"From now on, you are free to operate in the dojo. Your immediate goal is to increase your blood essence to 1000 points and enter the Body Tempering realm. After that, I will formally teach you how to cultivate. Is that clear?" Mr. Quoc said with a bored expression, waiting for Lam Minh to nod before turning to leave.
Lam Minh was left alone in the middle of the training hall.
Isn't it supposed to be that in novels, the master always treasures his disciple like a precious gem?
And I'm just left to train on my own.
Lam Minh decided to use the combat simulation machine to increase his blood essence to 1000 points first.
That was the initial plan.
His mind made up, Lam Minh didn't hesitate. He stepped into the body index measuring machine and took the result sheet to the simulation machine.
He drank down the entire packet of nutrient solution in one gulp.
"Alright, blood essence points, come to me!" Lam Minh's shout echoed inside the machine's cabin.
…
A short while later, outside the simulation machine, stood a figure in extremely dynamic yet beautiful attire.
It was Quynh Nhu.
Her mouth was currently agape as she stared at the combat results board.
She had come to the dojo planning to eat something and then cultivate, but the whirring sound from the simulation machine had successfully caught her attention. And she had been standing here for five minutes.
"Ah... Who is inside? This person is a monster," Quynh Nhu blurted out. She was shocked by the results displayed on the machine: 22 consecutive wins and still counting. On average, he won a match every 2-3 minutes.
A terrifying number that no one had ever achieved before.
She couldn't guess who was inside this machine because the feature to observe inside the cabin could only be used by Mr. Quoc.
Curious about the person inside, she waited for everyone to arrive at the dojo.
She guessed that if everyone arrived, the absent person would be the one inside this machine.
As Quynh Nhu waited, people began to appear in the dojo's training ground one by one.
It was a rather amusing scene.
Every time someone appeared, they would be dragged by Quynh Nhu to the simulation machine, and then they would have the same jaw-dropping expression.
Time passed, and all 9 of Lam Minh's senior brothers and sisters had arrived at the dojo and were observing the simulation machine.
"So the one inside is Junior Brother Lam?" Eldest Senior Brother Tran Long asked.
"Not sure, but it's highly likely to be him. But the number of wins is truly exaggerated, 34 consecutive wins already," the ninth junior disciple, Lac Y Y, with a 7th layer Qi Refining cultivation, said.
All of Lam Minh's senior brothers and sisters were confused. It was 80-90% certain that Lam Minh was inside the machine, but the number was hard to accept.
Everyone thought, if this number were to spread in the simulation competition circle, what kind of phenomenon would it cause? The world record was only 7 consecutive wins.
In contrast to the lively atmosphere outside, inside the machine, Lam Minh had just defeated the 35th simulation robot.
[Ding! The host has gained +7 blood essence attribute points from the nutrient solution.]
"Finally, 1000 blood essence points. I should probably get out now. And I should break through to the Body Tempering realm." Lam Minh muttered.
He felt it was unnecessary to continue the simulation combat. The attribute points he received were getting lower and lower. At first, it was 12, and now it was only 7 points per win.
More importantly, if Lam Minh broke through to the first layer of the Body Tempering realm, he would be a Body Tempering cultivator at the age of 16.
He wondered, who else could do that?
Lam Minh opened the system panel before leaving the simulation machine.
[Ding! The Attribute Picking System is happy to serve the host!]
[Name: Lam Minh]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation: Mortal (1000/1000 Blood Essence) +Breakthrough, +Compress Blood Essence]
[Spiritual Root: Hoang-Grade Spiritual Root (10/100,000 Spiritual Root Points)]
[Techniques: Crippling Wind Fist (Initiate) 20/1000 points, Wind Walking (Initiate) 153/900 points]
[Lucky Spin (Break through to the 9th layer of Body Tempering to spin again)]
???
Compress Blood Essence? What does that mean?