URBAN VILLAIN SYSTEM

Black Fire Academy...

The grand central plaza of the Black Fire Academy was a spectacle of absolute martial majesty.

Towering stone pillars, carved with the intricate symbols of ancient fire gods, rose high into the sky, while the floor beneath the applicants’ boots was made of polished white marble that reflected the nervous, sweating faces of hundreds of youngsters.

The initial gate screening was merely a filter to keep out the absolute commoners who possessed no magic whatsoever. Now, the official first stage of the screening process had begun.

A long row of high-grade granite testing altars had been set up across the front of the plaza. Standing behind these altars were the top senior disciples of the academy, dressed in magnificent crimson robes that signified their elite status.

Their job was incredibly straightforward but brutally strict: they had to manually check the internal energy pathways of every single applicant, ensuring that their cultivation had reached at least the baseline 7th Class Disciple magus stage. Anyone who fell even a single fraction short of this rank would be instantly disqualified, their test tokens confiscated, and their hopes of joining the academy crushed on the spot.

Tony Clark walked into the line with his usual slow, lazy steps, his hands casually tucked into the pockets of his dark hunting cloak. His dark eyes remained completely calm, looking around the grand arena as if he were a tourist rather than a desperate applicant on his seventh and final attempt.

Directly ahead of him, dozens of younger applicants were being thoroughly inspected by the senior disciples. Every time a youth placed their palm on the testing crystals, a burst of red or blue spiritual light would flash, indicating their exact rank. The air was thick with the sounds of crying teenagers who were found unfit and the proud cheers of wealthy nobles who passed with flying colors.

High up on the grand viewing gallery overlooking the plaza, Lady Julie Faith stood alongside her elite inner disciple peers. Her beautiful face was a mask of cold, supreme condescension as she stared down at Tony’s unbothered figure.

Seeing him cross the screening barrier earlier had already deeply irritated her proud spirit, and she had absolutely no intention of letting this "mortal trash" survive the day to continue staining her family’s royal reputation. She knew that if Tony somehow managed to pass this stage and enter the open combat test, the public drama would only escalate.

Turning to her personal maid standing in the shadows, Julie quickly drafted a short, secret letter using a small spiritual crystal.

’Senior Brother Zhang, the boy currently standing in the fourth inspection line is Tony Clark, a talentless cripple who has brought deep shame to my family. Use your authority as the head inspector to declare his internal energy unfit and disqualify him immediately. The Faith Family will remember this favor.’

The maid nodded silently, vanishing into the crowd to deliver the message directly to the chief senior disciple handling Tony’s line.

When Tony finally stepped up to the fourth testing altar, Senior Brother Zhang was already holding the hidden spiritual letter inside his long crimson sleeve.

Zhang was an arrogant, sharp-faced youth who had spent years currying favor with the powerful noble clans of the city, and the chance to please the premier Faith Family was an opportunity he would never pass up. He looked down at Tony’s plain hunting clothes, a wave of profound disgust and mocking amusement instantly washing over his features.

"So, the famous seventh-time failure has finally arrived at my altar," Zhang sneered loudly, his voice filled with a sharp, malicious arrogance that deliberately carried across the entire plaza, causing hundreds of nearby applicants to stop and look over.

"You have wasted the academy’s precious transport tokens for six years straight, Tony Clark. Do you truly believe that walking through a baseline gate barrier means your broken, poisoned meridians have miraculously healed? Place your hand on the crystal so I can expose your pathetic reality to everyone."

Tony didn’t say a single word. A slow, highly amused grin curled the corners of his lips as his Truth Eye easily perceived the hidden spiritual letter tucked away inside Zhang’s sleeve, as well as the corrupt, chaotic flow of the senior disciple’s own internal energy.

Tony casually stepped forward and lightly placed his palm onto the heavy granite testing crystal resting on the altar.

The moment his hand touched the surface, Tony manually suppressed the true, thunderous depths of his 7th Class Disciple magus energy, letting only a tiny, faint strand of basic spiritual force trickle into the array to see how the inspector would play his rigged game.

As expected, the crystal hummed faintly with a soft, steady green light, indicating a perfectly stable, baseline 7th Class rank.

However, Senior Brother Zhang didn’t even look at the glowing indicator. He violently slapped his hand onto the ledger crystal, completely overriding the automated system as he let out a harsh, booming laugh that echoed across the entire central plaza.

"Disqualified!" Zhang announced ruthlessly, his voice full of pure, unadulterated venom as he reached out to snatch Tony’s bronze test token away.

"Your internal energy flow is incredibly chaotic, weak, and completely blocked by terminal impurities! You haven’t even reached the bare minimum of the 5th Class, let alone the 7th Class required for the combat test!

You are completely unfit to stand on the sacred grounds of the Black Fire Academy! Get the hell out of this plaza right now before I have the enforcement disciples break your legs and toss your pathetic body down the mountain cliff!"

The entire courtyard instantly erupted into a massive wave of mocking laughter and cruel whispers from the surrounding young nobles.

"I knew it!" one wealthy teenager shouted from the back. "He is nothing but a permanent cripple! He probably used some cheap, underhanded trick or hidden potion to sneak past the gate barrier earlier, but he can’t fool a top senior disciple!"

High up on the viewing gallery, Julie Faith let out a cold, satisfied scoff, completely turning her back on the scene as she assumed her problem had been permanently resolved.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!