"He didn't do anything wrong, Lie Wei! I'll tell my father if you keep beating him!" Shun Ming threatened.
Lie Wei immediately stopped beating him when he heard Shun Ming's threat. However, he was still unsatisfied.
"You filthy poor brat! You should be grateful that the Princess forgave you! Otherwise, I'd make sure you couldn't walk. How dare a beggar like you touch the Princess!" Lie Wei threatened.
"Forgive me, Princess!" Wu Long said, regretting what he had done by accident.
"What's your name?" the girl asked. "I'm Shun Ming!"
"Wu Long! I'm not a beggar like this noble brat said!" Wu Long declared.
"His name is Lie Wei! He's just jealous of you!" Shun Ming replied. "Don't worry about them... Do you want to become a great Martial Warrior by joining the Sun and Moon Sect?"
"Of course!" Wu Long said confidently. "Oh, right. Why do they call you Princess? Are you the King's daughter?"
Heeheehee...
Shun Ming giggled, making her face look even sweeter. "I'm only the daughter of the head of this Sun and Moon Sect! Lie Wei's father is a good friend of my father, so we often play together!" she explained.
Before he knew it, Wu Long had already spent two years in the Sun and Moon Sect, yet he had made no significant progress.
The body of this twelve-year-old boy had still undergone no meaningful change. In fact, his body had grown even thinner, like a living skeleton. Wu Long continued staying in the sect because his mother had paid his fees until he graduated from the Sun and Moon Sect.
"You filthy poor brat! You don't deserve to be in the Sun and Moon Sect!" shouted Lie Wei, who was the most talented student in the Sun and Moon Sect. However, after Wu Long joined, Lie Wei's brilliance was overshadowed by Wu Long's genius. Wu Long could quickly memorize every movement, surpassing Lie Wei.
That was what made Lie Wei angry and drove him to force this poor boy out of the Sun and Moon Sect so his reputation could recover. The only way was to make Wu Long unable to stand staying in the sect for long by constantly insulting and beating him.
Even though Lie Wei kept bullying him, Wu Long still remained in the sect, which only made the noble boy resent him even more.
Lie Wei was the son of the extremely powerful noble Lord Wang in Moon Village, where Wu Long lived with his parents. His parents even worked cultivating the rice paddies owned by Noble Lie for pitifully low wages.
Wu Long might have been a genius at remembering every technique taught at the Sun and Moon Sect, but because his body possessed no inner power, the instructors at the sect began pushing him aside. He was made into a servant by the senior disciples of the Sun and Moon Sect, who could not expel him because his martial arts tuition had already been paid to the sect.
"Hahaha! You filthy beggar! I knew you were a useless beggar! I bet your parents stole someone else's money to pay for your enrollment in the Sun and Moon Sect!" Lie Wei sneered, now feeling superior to everyone. His main rival had begun to be cast aside by the sect elders because he could not produce the inner power required for the next martial arts technique.
Wu Long ignored Lie Wei's insults. In his opinion, the noble boy was simply jealous of him, even though he was a nobody. The sect elders had not even allowed Wu Long to practice martial arts, believing he would only embarrass the Sun and Moon Sect.
Wu Long was still allowed to train, but the sect's instructors no longer guided him. He was simply left alone, as though he did not even exist in the sect.
Shun Ming, who occasionally trained at the Sun and Moon Sect, felt sorry for Wu Long as he was isolated from everyone and forbidden from joining the group of students demonstrating their martial arts.
"Don't lose heart, Wu Long! I'm sure you can rise again! You're a genius. You can master every martial arts movement in the blink of an eye. It's just a shame that your body can't produce the inner power that's so important to a Martial Warrior!" Shun Ming said.
"It's all right, Miss Shun! I can take care of myself! Just being able to stay in the Sun and Moon Sect is already an honor for me!" Wu Long replied.
"Just call me Ming'er! Can I call you Long'ge?" Shun Ming asked.
Wu Long smiled happily and nodded. He liked this girl very much, but the vast difference in their social standing made him somewhat afraid to approach her.
A pair of jealous eyes was always watching the closeness developing between Wu Long and Shun Ming. "That damn beggar... He's getting bolder and bolder about approaching Shun Ming! I have to make him leave the Sun and Moon Sect so I'll have a chance to get close to Shun Ming," Lie Wei thought.
Since joining the Sun and Moon Sect, Shun Ming had never once spoken to Lie Wei or even invited him to talk. But with Wu Long, the girl was extremely close, and their intimacy made them look like a happy couple. This only intensified Lie Wei's jealousy.
"I have to succeed in getting close to Shun Ming! That beggar has no right to be near Princess Shun Ming!" he grumbled inwardly.