The phone's expensive presentation and elegant design caught the attention of the room instantly.Bianca was initially surprised, she hadn't expected Ethan to be carrying anything decent at all. But then she looked closer and realized it wasn't the popular flagship, wasn't a Huawei, wasn't any brand she could actually place. She didn't even recognize the logo.She laughed. "Ha... ha... ha... no wonder you didn't want to show it off. Turns out it's just some knockoff brand.""Looks decent, I'll give it that," Kevin said, picking it up and turning it over. "Fake goods have gotten a lot better lately. Shame it's worthless underneath."He passed it around the table, showing it off with a smirk."Any of you recognize this brand?"Most people in the room were ordinary working people, few of them had ever encountered a luxury phone in this tier, let alone recognized the brand name. Heads shook around the table.Kevin, growing more pleased with himself by the second, finally handed it to Ashl

In sheer physical presence, Bruno matched Marcus in both height and mass, and with the pack of hard-looking men filing in behind him, an oppressive weight settled over the entire room the instant they crossed the threshold.Most of the people at this reunion were ordinary working-class folks, genuinely intimidated by men like these. The whole table went silent almost instantly, everyone shrinking back toward the walls."Bruno, you made it. It's these two brats, teach them a real lesson."Kevin rushed to greet him, pointing eagerly at Ethan and Marcus.Before he could finish the sentence, Bruno's hand broad as a cattail fan, swung across and connected squarely with Kevin's face."Slap!"The impact was loud and hard enough to spin Kevin in a full circle three times, leaving five bright red finger marks that immediately began to swell."I, Bruno, why'd you hit me?"Kevin stood there stunned. He'd been the one to call these people in, why turn on him first?Derek and Bianca had also been

Derek stood there completely stunned, having just bragged his way through the whole reunion, only to discover the very man he'd been dismissing was also Gu Qingcheng's boyfriend."This is impossible," he muttered. "Absolutely impossible."Part of him knew exactly what Zhang Linlin had said was true. The other part simply couldn't reconcile the coincidence, that Ethan could be this fortunate, and he could be this unlucky, in the exact same breath."What's impossible about it?" Zhang Linlin said. "You think I'd make something like this up?"Just then, two bodyguards in black suits pushed the door open and stepped inside, positioning themselves along the walls.Behind them came Gu Qingcheng, dressed in white. White seemed to be her natural default and it suited her perfectly, adding to the cold, elevated quality that already defined her.Among the classmates in the room, both Zhang Linlin and Bianca had reasonable claims to beauty. The moment Gu Qingcheng walked in, both of them simply f

Once inside, Marcus found the room surprisingly spacious but nearly empty, just a large bed, two bamboo chairs, and a tea table, nothing else.Seated in one of the chairs was an elderly woman with hair white as crane feathers and skin like weathered parchment, her body hunched forward, her face a map of countless wrinkles. She sat with her eyes closed, apparently resting.As he took in the surroundings, Willow stepped forward respectfully."Divine Healer, we have an appointment to discuss an illness."The old woman opened her eyes slowly and spoke in a rasping voice."What's the trouble?"Marcus shifted, embarrassed. "About a year ago, my... down there... it just stopped working.""Sit. Give me your wrist."Without further discussion, she took his pulse.After a long moment, she withdrew her hand. Marcus asked urgently, "Divine Healer, can this be cured?""Of course. Nothing serious about it."She rose unsteadily and shuffled into an adjoining room, returning with a bowl of thick, bla

Marcus had no idea what Ethan was actually doing, but he committed fully, letting his will circulate internally exactly as guided.The moment the Profound Yin Pill dissolved in his mouth, his body began transforming visibly, his left side flushing a deep, vibrant red as if blood might break through the skin, his right side darkening to a shade of pure black.As his will circulated, both Yin and Yang Qi flooded rapidly into his physical form, reinforcing every muscle, every meridian, every cell simultaneously.The Heaven-Earth Body Refinement Method operated differently from ordinary cultivation techniques, it was a physical refinement art rather than an internal one. Rather than storing absorbed Qi in the Dantian, Marcus's body integrated it directly into physical structure.Heaven and Earth represented Yin and Yang in their purest form, Heaven embodying Yang, Earth embodying Yin. This technique inherently demanded cultivation of both energies simultaneously, which for an ordinary per