The worst part of being a "hero," Lin Hao decided, wasn't the fighting. It was the public relations.
He was standing on the wide, concrete steps of the university's main administrative building, a place he had only ever visited to argue about late fees. Today, he was the main attraction, and he hated it.
His baseball cap was pulled low, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his anonymous hoodie. He was a Level 6 cultivator, practicing a High-Grade Spirit Tier Gongfa, his UP growing exponentially in the darkness of his warehouse. And today, he was being paraded around like a prize pig.
"This is a great day, Mr. Lin," Recruiter Han said, beaming beside him. Han was in his sharpest BSA uniform. "A great day for the Academy, and for City U. Unity. Strength. This is the image we need."
Lin Hao just grunted in response. The campus quad below them was a frenzy.
It was a full-blown media circus. Local news vans were parked on the grass. BSA agents, all Level 3 Experts, had formed a hard perimeter. And the entire student body, it seemed, was pressed against it, their phones held high, a sea of screaming faces.
There were banners.
WELCOME, PRODIGY CHEN LONG! CITY U LOVES OUR HERO, LIN HAO!
The cognitive dissonance of seeing his name next to Chen Long's made Lin Hao's skin crawl. He wasn't a hero. He was a mascot.
He had been forced to be here. Recruiter Han had shown up at his dorm, the one he was still paying for as a "cover", and given him the order, dressed as a polite request. "Mr. Lin, as the most famous Awakened in this province, it is your duty to be the welcoming committee. It shows unity. It's good for morale."
Refusing would have been suspicious. So here he was, wasting precious daylight, his cultivation still LOCKED for another 24 hours.
A low, powerful, VIP siren cut through the air.
"He's here," Han whispered, his smile tightening, his eyes gleaming.
The crowd surged, roaring.
A motorcade, not a car, a motorcade, of three black, armored, BSA-branded SUVs, the kind that held presidents, glided to a stop in the fire lane.
Lin Hao's Level 6 senses, refined by his new Azure Ocean Divine Chant, fanned out. This was the first real cultivator he would be meeting face-to-face.
Two retainers, both Level 3 Experts in matching black tunics, exited the lead vehicle. They scanned the crowd, their hands resting on the hilts of what looked like actual swords.
Then, the rear door of the center SUV opened.
A young man stepped out.
Chen Long.
In person, he was exactly as the broadcast had portrayed him. Tall, impossibly handsome, his pristine white, embroidered tunic seeming to glow in the midday sun. He was a king, stepping into his adoring court. He raised a hand, and the crowd, especially the female students, shrieked.
Lin Hao, in contrast, was analyzing.
His gaze cut through the PR, the poise, and the power.
Realm: Level 4: Grandmaster (Bone Forging). Exactly as advertised. The power was stable, refined. A well-built bonfire.
Gongfa: He could feel the "shape" of the man's energy. It was the "Raging Lion" method. It was a Low-Grade Spirit Tier technique. A pathetic, inefficient antique. Lin Hao's own Gongfa was leagues beyond it.
Talent: This was the key. As Chen Long breathed in the adoring air, Lin Hao felt the ambient Reiki rush toward him. The man's passive, baseline absorption was immense. Far, far stronger than Lin Hao's own.
"A Level 5: Superior Root," Lin Hao diagnosed, his mind cold. "Maybe even a Level 6: True Root."
Chen Long was the real deal. A true prodigy. A Formula 1 car, just pulling out of the garage.
Recruiter Han strode forward, his hand extended. "Mr. Chen! Welcome to City U! It is a true honor. May I present our local hero, the man who single-handedly stopped the 'Reiki Hound' pack, Mr. Lin Hao!"
Lin Hao, playing his part, shuffled forward, pulling his hand from his pocket to shake.
Chen Long's gaze, which had been basking in the adulation of the crowd, finally swiveled. It landed on Lin Hao.
And his smile, the perfect, "Prodigy of the Nation" smile, vanished.
It was replaced by a look of such complete, sudden, and undisguised disdain that the air temperature seemed to drop.
Chen Long was a Level 5 Talent. He had been trained since birth to sense potential. He had been trained to recognize the "feel" of a superior, "Inheritor" bloodline.
He looked at Lin Hao. He saw the "hero." And he sensed...
Nothing.
He sensed the pathetically weak, uncontrolled, brute-force aura of a Level 2: Adept. And beneath that, he sensed Lin Hao's true foundation.
A Level 2: Waste Root.
He was sensing trash.
Chen Long's lip curled. This... thing... this peasant... this brute with literal trash-tier talent was the "hero" they'd forced him to come and meet? This was an insult.
Lin Hao's hand was still in the air, waiting for a shake that would never come.
Chen Long made a small, arrogant, "hmmph" sound, a snort of pure disgust.
He turned his back on Lin Hao. Completely.
He faced Recruiter Han, his voice a cold, aristocratic, and carrying.
"A commendable effort, I suppose," Chen Long said, gesturing vaguely toward Lin Hao without looking at him. "This is what happens when brutes get lucky. They get a little power and think they've touched the sky."
He flicked an invisible piece of dust from his perfect, white sleeve.
"Now, show me your new Academy building. I'm on a schedule."