Chapter 8 – Women Only Hinder My Growth

“Who is that girl?”

“She’s so adorable!”

“How come I never knew we had such a girl in our Academy?”

On the training ground, students doing morning exercises were whispering among themselves, their expressions filled with excitement and exhilaration.

It wasn’t just these students – even Ye Bai, who was patting Su Ming’s shoulder, looked utterly captivated as he pointed forward with a typical fanboy expression.

Looking in the direction Ye Bai indicated, Su Ming could understand why he and the surrounding students were so affected.

The girl had suddenly appeared on the training ground, and simultaneously entered the hearts of many present.

She was exquisitely beautiful, delicate as a porcelain doll, instantly evoking goodwill from anyone who saw her.

The girl wasn’t tall, with slender limbs and waist-length black hair that flowed gracefully behind her, swaying with her movements. The space around her seemed to transform into a painting, filled with aesthetic beauty.

At that moment, the girl was walking onto the training ground with two companions who appeared to be her roommates, chatting and laughing as if they had come for morning exercise together.

What captivated most people was the girl’s smiling face – incredibly cute and dazzling, with a pair of charming dimples that perfectly matched every boy’s dream of the girl next door.

Seeing such a girl, Su Ming believed most boys at that moment probably had only one thought in their hearts.

“AWSL.”

Ye Bai clutched his chest and actually voiced those words aloud.

The other boys seemed equally struck by that invincible smile, each covering their hearts.

It wasn’t just the boys – even the girls appeared unable to withstand the charm.

“Oh my god, how can there be such an adorable person in this world?”

“Compared to her, my little sister looks like she’s just here to make up the numbers.”

“I really want to hug her, pinch her cheeks, and dress her in cute clothes.”

“Let’s go say hello to her.”

Saying this, many girls couldn’t resist their impulses and ran toward the girl.

“Sh-should we go too?”

“Better not.”

“I don’t dare.”

“We’ve been sweating so much – if we go over now, we’ll probably smell bad, right?”

“We should go back and shower first.”

“Let’s go, let’s go.”

The boys watched with longing eyes but were held back by various concerns, especially those rough guys from the Hunter Department. Usually bold and unrestrained, they were now acting as shy as schoolgirls, making Su Ming feel somewhat disgusted watching them.

“Sh-should we go back and shower too?”

Ye Bai grabbed Su Ming, looking both excited and nervous.

Without doubt, this guy had fallen hard.

“Shower my ass. If you want to shower, go by yourself.”

Su Ming irritably slapped away Ye Bai’s hand.

While he could understand the sentiment, Su Ming had no intention of joining in the foolishness.

Going back to shower? Why not get a haircut, style your hair, and put on makeup while you’re at it?

“Who is that girl? Why have I never seen her in the Academy before?”

Ye Bai didn’t mind the rejection, instead gazing toward the now bustling crowd around the girl with a genuinely “AWSL” expression.

“Who knows? Maybe she’s a new student!”Su Ming couldn’t help but subtly distance himself from Ye Bai, hoping others wouldn’t associate him with this seemingly shady character.

Just then, someone suddenly emerged from the side.

“I happen to have the latest information. Want to know?”

Lei Hao appeared without any warning, wearing a cunning merchant-like smile.

“What latest information? Spit it out!”

Ye Bai was immediately hooked.

“This is information I worked hard to get from a senior sister, you know?”

Lei Hao hinted meaningfully.

“Say no more, Brother Lei! I’ll cover all your meals this week!”

Ye Bai suddenly became magnanimous and financially generous.

“Great! That’s the spirit!”

Lei Hao didn’t waste time and immediately began explaining.

“Her name is An Zijin, 17 years old this year. Just as Su Ming said, she’s a new student who just enrolled. Her birthday is May 4th, majoring as a Sorcerer. That means she’s this year’s new student in the Sorcerer Department, and what’s more, she’s the top-ranked student among all the freshmen.”

As soon as Lei Hao finished speaking, Ye Bai got excited again.

“She’s a junior in our Sorcerer Department? Fantastic!” Ye Bai clenched his fists and exclaimed excitedly, “Our Sorcerer Department finally has someone who can compete with Xu Qianqian for the title of department belle!”

Indeed, Ye Bai had already crowned An Zijin as the Sorcerer Department’s belle.

Of course, the Sorcerer Department wasn’t lacking in fair-skinned, beautiful female Sorcerers. There were plenty of attractive people, even slightly more than in the Hunter Department.

Since Sorcerers are those who have awakened a Spirit Constitution and can naturally generate Spiritual Qi, there are basically no unattractive Sorcerers. Their skin in particular is exceptionally fair, clearly blessed by nature.

Just look at Ye Bai – his entire complexion is fair and clean. The other male Sorcerers are similar – it would be quite difficult to find someone with darker skin among them.

Su Ming used to look like a pretty boy too, more delicate than most girls. At home, everyone adored him, until he could no longer stand his puppy-like appearance and put great effort into exercising, working out, and sunbathing to appear less feminine.

Even so, Su Ming never managed to get truly tan, maintaining a relatively fair complexion with handsome features. If not for his slightly shorter legs, he could have debuted as an oppa in Korea.

If even the male students were like this, one could imagine the beauty of the female students in the Sorcerer Department.

Unfortunately, the Hunter Department had Xu Qianqian.

Xu Qianqian’s aura was too brilliant, her beauty almost unreal, as if she had cheated the system. She single-handedly overshadowed all other girls in the Demon Hunter Academy, leaving the many beautiful senior sisters in the Sorcerer Department completely outshone.

Because of this, although the Sorcerer Department had many beauties – even more than the Hunter Department – they couldn’t produce anyone who could rival Xu Qianqian.

Until today, with An Zijin’s appearance, the Sorcerer Department finally saw hope.

Remembering Xu Qianqian’s performance yesterday, Su Ming felt his wrist aching faintly.

So Su Ming nodded emphatically.

“Crush her! Crush that Xu Qianqian thoroughly!”

I’m all in on An Zijin’s stock – going all out!

Unfortunately, Lei Hao wasn’t having it.”An Zijin is indeed cute, but that’s all she is—just cute. She’s still far from surpassing our Hunter Department’s Xu Qianqian!”

Lei Hao declared that his own goddess was the most beautiful, unrivaled!

“Who says so?”

Ye Bai immediately started arguing.

The two comrades who usually faced life and death together were now bickering over their respective goddesses.

The scene was just too vulgar, and Su Ming expressed his disdain for associating with them.

However…

“An Zijin… huh?”

Su Ming stroked his chin, lost in thought.

For some reason, he felt like he had some impression of that name.

But Su Ming didn’t dwell on it too much.

In this world, there were plenty of people with similar names.

Perhaps he had encountered someone with a similar name, or even the same name, in the past.

“Well, anyway, it has nothing to do with me, a mere extra.”

Su Ming gave up on thinking about it.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in cute and beautiful girls; he just had a broader perspective.

As he often said, he was a man preparing to lie low until he became invincible before making his debut.

By then, what kind of woman wouldn’t he have?

Right now, he was still in the development phase—no power, no influence, and no money. If he were to pursue these so-called goddesses, wouldn’t he have to grovel desperately?

And there was still a chance he might not succeed!

Rather than that, it was better to wait until he became powerful before considering such romantic entanglements.

By then, it wouldn’t be him groveling to others, but others groveling to him.

As for now…

“Women will only hinder my growth.”

……

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, An Zijin, surrounded by a crowd, politely greeted her seniors and classmates while her phone rang.

“Sorry, seniors, I need to take this call.”

An Zijin flashed a smile at the group of seniors, her adorable dimpled grin instantly captivating everyone present.

“Go ahead, little Zijin!”

“Don’t mind us, we’re satisfied just watching you!”

“Remember to come to the dormitory with us later, okay?”

“We’ll take good care of you!”

The seniors’ enthusiasm made An Zijin’s smile somewhat strained.

Recalling how her roommates had been just like these seniors lately—constantly hugging her, rubbing against her, and dressing her up in all sorts of cute outfits—An Zijin nearly felt like running away.

Immediately, An Zijin hurriedly excused herself, ran to the side, and answered the call.

It was her mother calling.

“Mom, you’re calling again?”

“No, no, I’m not saying you’re nagging. It’s just that if you keep calling, others will think I’m a child who can’t be independent from my parents.”

“I know you’re worried about me being bullied here, but I’m really fine. My roommates are very good to me, and the seniors are nice too—just a bit… well, enthusiastic.”

“Alright, I understand. If anything really happens, I’ll contact Uncle Su and Auntie Su.”

“Didn’t Uncle and Auntie say that big brother is here too?”

“Mm, I’ll get in touch with big brother. Don’t worry.”

“I’m hanging up now. Bye~”

“Bye~Bye~”

Two minutes later, An Zijin successfully ended the call.

“Mom, really, she worries too much.”

An Zijin stuck out her tongue.She also knew that her mother was worried about her.

After all, it had been a long time since she last returned to Longyao City. With her parents not around and no relatives nearby, coupled with her looks that easily attracted others to approach her, it was inevitable for her parents to feel concerned.

However, An Zijin wasn’t worried.

Because in this city, she wasn’t truly without anyone to rely on.

“I wonder how my brother is doing now. Does he still remember me?”

Thinking of her childhood playmate, An Zijin suddenly felt happy.

“Wait for me to find you, Brother Su Ming.”

(End of Chapter)