When Mo Fan came down, the noise hit him first.

  Mu Zhuoyun’s people were still shouting, still acting like the whole school belonged to them. Mo Fan’s rational side told him the obvious truth. Before he grew strong enough, it was smarter to swallow this and walk away.

  But the heat in his chest did not agree.

  This body was young, stubborn, and full of old resentment, and the memories that had just surfaced made it worse. If he walked away now, he would be walking away from himself.

  More importantly, Mu Zhuoyun could not truly move against him here.

  Principal Zhu was present. Teacher Tang Yue was present. Deng Kai was present. Even if Mu Zhuoyun wanted to crush him, he had to do it with his hands tied.

  So Mo Fan walked forward anyway.

  He stopped in front of Mu Zhuoyun and his gaze drifted past him, nding on Mu Ningxue.

  She looked the same as in memory. Cold, distant, clean like snow on a peak. But this time, when she looked back, there was a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

  A magic school that relied on selling a house to enter. She had assumed Mo Fan would rot in mediocrity.

  She did not expect him to rise.

  Mu Zhuoyun coughed.

  Mu Ningxue immediately looked away, as if she wanted to cut off any trouble before it formed.

  Mo Fan forced his eyes back to the old man.

  “Why did you call me.”

  Mu Zhuoyun spoke as if giving charity.

  “Our Mu Cn recently acquired some Fire cultivation resources. The manor is mostly ice. Your Fire talent is acceptable, and your performance surprised me. I will give you these resources. From now on, besides regur csses, you will cultivate with Mu Jiangming and the others. Consider it entering the Mu Cn.”

  Xue Musheng almost tripped over himself rushing to speak.

  “Mo Fan, hurry and thank Master Mu. This is a rare favor.”

  Mo Fan did not even look at Xue Musheng.

  He stared at Mu Zhuoyun and answered like a bde.

  “No.”

  The air turned stiff.

  Mu Zhuoyun’s brows moved. “No.”

  Mo Fan’s voice stayed calm, but each word nded heavier.

  “If you want to recruit me, you do not recruit me into the branch manor in Bo City.”

  He took one step closer.

  “I want the main cn.”

  The entire group froze.

  Even Deng Kai’s eyes sharpened slightly.

  Mu Zhuoyun stared as if he had misheard.

  “The main cn,” Mu Zhuoyun repeated slowly, then ughed, but the ugh carried ice. “You think you are qualified.”

  Mo Fan did not smile.

  “Qualified,” he repeated. “You are offering me leftovers and calling it favor. I am not here for leftovers.”

  Mu Zhuoyun’s face darkened.

  “You have talent, but not that kind of talent,” he snapped. “Do not overestimate yourself. The main cn does not take in anyone with a little fire and a little arrogance. You are not worth that seat.”

  Mo Fan’s gaze did not move.

  He stalled for half a second.

  Not from fear.

  From calcution.

  Humans were not powerful enough.

  That was the truth nobody wanted to admit because it sounded like surrender, even though it was the opposite. In the original path of this world, too many useful innate talents were wasted before they could ever matter. People were born holding bdes and then forced to live like farmers, smiling politely while the world quietly bled them dry.

  He had seen how it went.

  Camity level gifts buried in the dirt.

  Names like Wu Ku reduced to footnotes, not because they were weak, but because the world did not know how to use them and did not care to learn until it was too te.

  And when cities drowned and the shoreline became a grave, everyone acted shocked.

  If he accepted the branch manor, he would be accepting smallness.

  If he accepted smallness, he would be accepting the same future. The same wasted power. The same helpless screaming when the sea rose.

  Mo Fan looked at Mu Zhuoyun and felt the answer settle like iron.

  He did not want Mu Zhuoyun’s scraps.

  He wanted the machinery behind cns. The systems that decided who got to rise and who got left behind. The hidden methods, the bloodline mysteries, the ways innate talents were identified, preserved, and weaponized.

  Because if he could understand it, then he could replicate it.

  If he could replicate it, then the people around him would not remain ordinary.

  They would become powerhouses in their own right.

  And that was the only way to prepare for what was coming.

  The Giant Skeleton King.

  The ocean camity.

  The things that swallowed cities without caring how righteous or talented anyone thought they were.

  Mo Fan realized something in that moment.

  If he wanted the future to change, he could not ask politely.

  He would have to tear open doors.

  He would have to take what the world hoarded.

  And he would have to do it early enough that it mattered.

  Only then did he let a small piece of that truth slip into the air, controlled and measured, just enough to cut.

  “You are wrong,” he said aloud. “It is not arrogance. It is necessity.”

  Mu Zhuoyun’s eyes narrowed. “Necessity.”

  Mo Fan’s expression did not change.

  “YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKER I AM THE STRONGEST PERSON YOU WILL EVER MEET"

  Mu Zhuoyun’s expression shifted, fuming and irritated at the same time, as if he couldn’t decide whether the boy was insane or retarded

  Mo Fan did not give him time to breathe.

  “I do not want your small resources. I want the Mu Cn’s secrets. I want to enter the main cn, find the mystery, and learn how your bloodlines work.”

  Mu Zhuoyun’s voice dropped.

  “You are dreaming.”

  Mo Fan’s eyes stayed steady.

  “No,” he said. “I am the truth.”

  Mu Zhuoyun sneered. “Truth for what. ”

  Mo Fan’s answer was immediate.

  "The one thats going to conquer your daughter Hahahahahh"

  Mu Zhuoyun’s aura surged.

  Frost crept along the ground in a thin sheet, spreading outward like anger made physical. Students nearby stepped back in panic.

  Principal Zhu’s face tightened.

  Deng Kai stepped forward instantly, his voice sharp.

  “Zhuoyun. Control your emotions. This is a school. These students have no defenses.”

  Teacher Tang Yue also moved, her presence dropping like a weight between them.

  Mu Zhuoyun held it in, but his eyes looked like they wanted to freeze Mo Fan’s bones.

  “You think you can steal what belongs to cns and dare to disrespect ME,” Mu Zhuoyun said.

  Mo Fan paused again, just for a heartbeat, and the thought came clean.

  He cannot kill me here. Not with Tang Yue and Deng Kai watching. But he can mark me. He can poison the path ahead. If I keep pressing, I force him to show his true face in front of every authority here.

  So Mo Fan exhaled softly and attacked again with words, not spells.

  “If you refuse to let me into the main cn,” Mo Fan said, “then do not pretend you are offering me mercy.”

  Mu Zhuoyun’s mouth twisted.

  “You want to enter the Mu Cn, but you insult me to my face.”

  Mo Fan nodded once.

  “Yes.”

  Mu Zhuoyun’s tone shifted, colder, more controlled, the tone of a man who could not kill here but could still cut.

  “Fine. Since you have a backbone, I will see how long it sts.”

  He said it, exactly as expected.

  Yu Ang.

  Coming of age ceremony.

  A duel disguised as tradition.

  Mo Fan accepted immediately, because even if he hated Mu Zhuoyun, the prize was real.

  The Earth Holy Spring.

  A resource that could change everything.

  “I accept,” Mo Fan said.

  The storm did not end because anger disappeared.

  It ended because rules stepped in and forced both sides to temporarily holster their knives.