Yun Hao came from a very humble background, one would even say poor. He rose above it as he found something he was good at… no, the best at-- boxing. He trained hard for it and was discovered by the school.

And in turn, he won the local regionals for them.

If he was going to be successful, he was going to do it on his own, he thought. He was born human, and he wished to excel as one.

This kind of mindset made him an outcast at the high school, where everyone wished to be a Cultivator and had the means to be one since they all had the money and connections to have their meridians opened at the Confederation.

How could someone like Yun Hao, a piss poor guy who refused to become a Cultivator, hogged all the attention from the people? It wasn't fair, the other students thought.

And so, when Yun Hao got into a fighting accident outside of the high school and caused him to lose his scholarship, the students rejoiced.

Yun Hao even lost his left eye due to the accident, completely shattering any chance of him stepping into the ring and regaining his lost glory.

Now… if only he accepted the offer of one of the Cultivator families to become a cultivator, then maybe he would have still been on top.

That was his biggest regret.

Even if he wanted to become a Cultivator, he wouldn't be able to. One needed a large amount of money to have one's meridian's unlocked-- money which he didn't have.

Once again, with all the thoughts resurfacing in his mind, Yun Hao continued to grit his teeth in silence. It was a good thing that he was trained to be calm at all times. If not, he might have already sent the skinny boy to a hospital.

He also looked at the first person who ordered him to get a milk tea in the first place, Long Yazhu, his best friend… or at least he used to be.

Now, he was the main instigator of every unfortunate thing that has been happening in Yun Hao's life. What was sad about it, is that Long Yazhu did not even try to hide it. Even now, he was smirking at Yun Hao, clearly looking down on him.

But once again, what can he do? Long Yazhu's father was the one who paid for his tuition when the school took off his scholarship.

And so, with all the coins back in his pockets again, Yun Hao headed outside the classroom.

***

"Shit!"

Yun Hao was now inside the lavatory of the cafeteria, hitting himself on the legs as he cursed in frustration. "Come one, Yun Hao! Keep it together. You need this… you have nothing else!"

Yun Hao continued to hit different parts of his body as he tried to contain the rage that was building up inside him.

"No, no, no, no. I can't slip now," he muttered to himself, "Just a few months more and I am out of this shithole. Why… why did this have to happen to me!?"

Yun Hao tried to convince himself to stay sane in every way possible. This bullying has been going on ever since the accident, and he could do nothing but swallow everything. This was already a routine for him.

Every time he gets bullied, this was his way of letting out his anger. He wallowed in the confines of the lavatory alone, hurting himself to calm his nerves. Unhealthy, yes. But this was the only method he found.

"!!!"

However, when he once again remembered the laughing faces of his classmates and the arrogant smirk that Long Yazhu had on his face, his anger burst forth from him. Released through his arms as he slammed his fist towards one of the steel pipes attached to the wall.

"Fuck!"

The steel tube bent caved from Yun Hao's fist. But the feeling was mutual, as Yun Hao also caved from the pain as the skin on his knuckles opened up. He couldn't help but jump up and down, trying to ease the pain.

This action, however, caused a coin to fall from his overflowing pocket. The sound of the coin echoing throughout the lavatory completely woke Yun Hao up-- he still had a class to attend and milk teas to buy.

And so, he took in a deep breath as he crouched, picking up the coin that fell on the floor before rushing out of the lavatory.

"..."

"..."

After a few seconds of him leaving, one of the doors of the cubicles opened up, revealing a bald man with a long pencil mustache.

"..."

The bald man slowly came out of the cubicle. But after taking a few steps, he also crouched down, grabbing something from the floor.

It was a coin. The man stared at the coin intensely, feeling its every edge, smelling it… and even tasting it. After being seemingly thoroughly satisfied with the coin, the man then looked at the door of the lavatory before a wide smile and a whisper formed on his mouth,

"...Finally."

***

"Mr. Yun, how dare you be late for my class!? You are wasting the efforts of Mr. Yazhu's father!"

The teacher scolded Yun Hao in front of the whole class for a good minute as soon as he came back to the class before allowing him to go back to his seat. The chuckles and the snickers whispered into Yun Hao's ears as his classmates once again basked at his hardships.

Today was a good day, they all thought. To see the high and mighty Yun Hao being treated badly so many times in a single day.

But before Yun Hao could sit down, he handed the milk tea that he bought one by one. He was about to finish, but as he got to Long Yazhu's desk, Yazhu 'accidentally' pushed the milk tea and spilled it all over the floor.

The teacher, who watched all of this happen, once again screamed at Yun Hao.

"What are you doing, Mr. Yun!? Do you want me to report you to the guidance office!?"

As soon as Yun Hao heard that, he could not help but glare at the teacher. This was truly unfair, he thought. The teacher was quiet the whole time he was handing out the drinks to his precious wealthy classmates… and now he had the gall to only reprimand him and him alone?

"What is with that glare!? Do you want to be kicked out from this--"

"Teacher Fu. It's alright, it was my mistake."

However, before the teacher could finish his ramblings, Long Yazhu stood up and waved his hand, gesturing that everything was alright, "It was my fault in the first place," he said.

"Is that so?" The teacher cleared his throat, "See, Mr. Yun? A real man knows to admit to their mistakes!"

The teacher smiled as he nodded in satisfaction towards Long Yazhu, clearly showing favoritism. Once again, Yun Hao could only grit his teeth as he bowed his head and walked back to his seat.

It was a good thing that no one tripped him this time, or he would really lose his shit.

Yun Hao could only blankly stare at the view outside the class as he could not concentrate in the class due to him controlling his anger.

Finally, the bell rang; signaling the end of the day.

"I heard you were going to have your meridians unlocked soon, Yazhu?"

"What? Where did you hear that?"

Long Yazhu was surrounded by the other students, all gawking at him.

"You're turning 18 soon, right!? You can register as a cultivator already!"

"So jealous, my birthday isn't until the end of the year."

The conversations of the other students continued to linger in the air. Yun Hao, however, wanted nothing to do with it. But before he could even stand up from his desk, Long Yazhu suddenly approached him and threw a set of keys towards him.

"...Yazhu?"

"Since you're going home, go and fetch one of my BMWs and come pick me up at the hotel later tonight."

"...Sure."

"And don't scratch it! God knows how many cars you'd have to wash in order to pay for it!"

Once again, the waves of laughter echoed and pierced Yun Hao's ears even as he stepped out to the hallway. Washing cars was one of his part-time jobs, being Long Yazhu's occasional driver was another.

Since he owed a great deal to Yazhu's father for taking care of him even when he was not currently in the country, he still repaid it by working at his estate.

***

Later that night, Yun Hao was waiting inside the car just outside the Pegasus Hotel, one of the hotels owned by Long Yazhu's family.

Yun Hao and Long Yazhu used to be best of friends, almost inseparable. That was why he was lucky enough to be hired by Yazhu's dad to work at one of his establishments after the accident. Long Yazhu, however, suddenly changed for the worse as soon as Yun Hao was no longer the star of the high school.

It was as if their years of friendship meant nothing as he treated Yun Hao like nothing but a slave.

"Fuuu…" Yun Hao let out a deep breath as he opened the air conditioning of the car, summer was approaching and heat made it obvious.

With the cold wrapping around his body, Yun Hao could not help but yawn as drowsiness quickly took over him. If only he had a smartphone, then he wouldn't be so bored and sleepy, he thought as he reclined his seat.

But before he could even relax, his eyes widened in shock as he saw a girl coming out of the hotel.

"...Angela?"

Zhang Angela-- Yun Hao's girlfriend… and also the reason why he lost an eye.