Everything boiled down to one thing—lack of strength.
That was the root of it all.
Gu Zhen sighed softly, deep in thought about his next steps.
As far as star power went, he just needed to follow the regular cultivation path.
Star skills, however, were another story.
Without resources, there wasn't much he could do for now—he'd have to wait until he could sell another skill.
As for his secondary attributes, without the corresponding attribute materials, advancement was out of the question. Even the physical-type realm, which was the most accessible in the early phase, wasn't exactly easy to improve.
It could be strengthened through intense training, sure—but that required time and dedication.
Gu Zhen didn't have that luxury. If he had that kind of time, he'd rather invest it into cultivating star force. After all, while secondary attributes had their uses, they could never replace the core strength of his main attribute—star force.
Among his four attributes—one main and three secondary—star force was undoubtedly the most critical and have major impact on strength. The other three played support roles at best.
Given that his secondary attributes couldn't improve for now, he had no choice but to focus all his energy on enhancing star force and mastering star skills.
There was also another key component that affected a star martial artist strength—star artifacts.
Gu Zhen had never even seen one before, much less had a chance to obtain it. But he wasn't discouraged. Opportunities would come—he'd just have to take it one step at a time.
Having figured out his immediate priorities, he stepped out of his dorm… only to see those three persistent pests again.
He was immediately annoyed. These three were like gum stuck to his shoe—and the Gu family, too! Didn't they have anything better to do than harass him?
With a family as big as theirs, you'd think they'd focus on increasing their overall strength, maybe even work toward unifying sunmoon City. But no, They were too busy picking on someone as low-profile as him.
No ambition and shame
Gu Zhen didn't feel like wasting words. He walked up to the three, ignored them completely, and calmly stepped around them like they weren't even there.
Hold it right there!
Gu Feng was livid. According to the plan, Gu Zhen should've already been dragged back to the Gu family yesterday and punished. Why was he still freely walking around?
What the hell had that useless Gu Liqing been doing?
Gu Zhen even flinch at the shout. Just hearing these clowns made his blood boil—especially knowing they were probably here to ask about Gu Liqing.
He had zero intention of talking.
Seeing Gu Zhen act so arrogantly, two of Gu Feng goons couldn't take it anymore. One of them stepped forward and blocked his path.
"Didn't you hear? Brother Feng told you to stop!"
"Yeah, you little—"
SMACK!
Before the second guy could finish, Gu Zhen slapped him hard across the face. The guy just stood there stunned, hand on his cheek, unable to react.
"Move"
Gu Zhen voice was cold as ice.
A flicker of killing intent swept over the two men, making them instinctively step back, too afraid to make another move.
GU Feng rushed over and grabbed Gu Zhen shoulder.
After being blindsided by Gu Liqing once, Gu Zhen had grown especially sensitive to physical contact.
He hated people trying to touch him—who knew what tricks might be hidden?
On instinct, he countered immediately.
He grabbed Gu Feng arm, twisted it behind his back, and slammed him down until the guy was bent over in pain.
"You—!"
Gu Feng was caught completely off guard and found himself unable to fight back.
Gu Zhen didn't let up. He suddenly kicked the back of Gu Feng knee, forcing him to kneel with one leg on the ground.
Despite having cultivated a year longer than Gu Zhen,, his body realm was the same as Gu Zhen—Realm 1, Intermediate. Under Gu Zhen control, countering was tough.
And that stage hadn't come cheap, Gu Zhen had spent over 500,000 star coins to get there.
Furious and humiliated, Gu Feng struggled to retaliate.
But just as he tried to stand, Gu Zhen released him without warning—only to deliver a vicious kick straight to his stomach, sending him flying several meters.
The two underlings rushed to help him up, their faces pale.
Still burning with anger, Gu Zhen shoved them away and got to his feet.
"If you've got guts, let's settle this in the arena! One-on-one, fair and square. Do you dare?!"
Gu Zhen didn't even look back. He had no intention of playing by their rules.
He'd taken advantage of their carelessness to subdue them. In a formal match, face-to-face, his chances were slim.
So, instead of responding, he walked away without hesitation.
Gu Feng watched him go, fists clenched, but didn't give chase. Despite all his tough talk, deep down he knew—he wasn't confident he could win.
Gu Zhen was faster than he expected.
More dangerous, too.
And if Gu Zhen had really escaped Gu Liqing grasp, then this guy wasn't just lucky.
He was deadly.
After weighing the situation…he chickened out.
After leaving, Gu Zhen casually grabbed breakfast and attended his morning classes. He also took a glance at the rankings from yesterday weekly trial.
As expected, Zhou Xin ranked first.
He didn't recognize the second place.
Li Meng came in third.
The rest? He couldn't be bothered to check.
And, unsurprisingly, he was dead last.
Since leaving the academy was too risky now, the weekly competition became his main way to earn resources.
If he wanted to rise, he had to aim for first place.
Three days later.
The Gu family finally discovered Gu Liqing headless corpse, dumped into a sewer.
Gu Lang was furious.
Gu Liqing might've been a half-useless idiot, but he was still family—still his man.
Now someone had killed him like it was nothing? How could he let this go?
Have you found out who did it?
He slammed the table like a raging beast, a far cry from his usual composed demeanor.
Uh…we're still investigating....Gu Wenyuan stammered, looking deeply uneasy. He hadn't expected things to spiral like this.
"What about that Gu Yi brat? This has to be related to him!"
Enraged, Gu Lang quickly connected the dots back to Gu Zhen.
"He's still at the academy..."
Gu Wenyuan hesitated, then added, "Gu Feng already questioned him earlier, but got nothing."
Gu Lang paused.
Slowly, he began to cool down.
Gu Zhen had only just awakened. There was no way he could've killed someone like GU Liqing, a Realm 2 spirit-type star martial warrior.
"Fine, Keep this matter quiet for now. Tell Gu Feng to keep an eye on that brat."
"Even if he has trash-tier talent, this whole situation stinks. There's no way he's not involved."
"Someone else probably did the killing…but Gu Yi? He definitely knows something."
"Understood."
Gu Wenyuan nodded. Yeah, the idea that a fresh awakener could kill a Realm Two was absurd.
He agreed—someone else must've made the move.