CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56 THE INSTRUCTOR GOES MAD

The test completed, Liu Jie began to offer specialized guidance to each student.

Song Bo, injured, sat in a corner, occasionally letting out a cough or two. Qin Jian and the other two quietly gathered around Song Bo with questions.

"Song Bo, what exactly is your condition? How could you be pushed so easily by him..."

"Pushed so easily my ass! He’s a master! An ancient martial arts master! What do you think his palm strike was?"

"You mean... his palm strike was just like the one you threw before..."

"The same strength, he did it on purpose. Now I understand why Jiang Xinyu and the others were so keen on egging me on to fight Wang Lan. This academic god is a monster. Even before becoming a Star Martial Warrior, his strength was in no way inferior to ours. He has mastered incredibly profound ancient martial arts."

"I see. I was wondering how strong a newly awakened Star Martial Warrior could be, especially one with the Medical Attribute. So that’s the reason! Song Bo, what do we do? Ambush him after school?"

"Ambush? Jiang Xinyu and the others won’t just turn a blind eye. To get even, we’re probably going to need the boss and the Twelve Vajra Brothers to step in."

Wang Lan sat quietly aside, head down, still pondering the ’experience value ten, skill point one’ thing from earlier. He had always thought that to gain experience points, he must kill, and not just any kill like chickens, fish, or rats—it had to be something substantial, even something that could threaten his life. Wang Lan gained experience points either from completing tasks or killing Demons, Demon Soldiers, and Demon Generals. But who knew defeating a classmate could also net him experience points and skill points? By that logic, pummeling Song Bo would reward ten experience points and one skill point—do that five times and it’d be equivalent to killing an Exotic Beast. But what if he did it a hundred times in one day? That’s a thousand experience points and a hundred skill points.

At that thought, Wang Lan suddenly looked up at the Song Bo quartet, who no longer seemed so annoying in his eyes.

What were they? Walking experience points, walking skill points! Maybe... beat them up again?

Wang Lan looked up at Song Bo and his group with ill intent, his blatant gaze causing them to shudder instantly.

"Wang Lan!"

"Yes?" Wang Lan quickly stood up.

With his head down looking at the evaluation form, Liu Jie paused with his pen, then looked up at Wang Lan. "Your move earlier was too fast, the duration too short for me to clearly see your strength. How about this, I’ll be your opponent this time to get a sense of your ability."

"This... might not be a good idea, right?" Wang Lan hesitated. All his system skills were silver grade, and although Liu Jie was a Star Shine Stage Star Martial Warrior specializing in combat, Wang Lan didn’t think Liu Jie’s strength could comprehensively reach the silver level. If he really had that kind of strength, what was he doing teaching? He’d have joined the Pioneering Legion to hunt for treasures long ago. Or wouldn’t he prefer to be an army officer?

"Don’t worry, I’ll hold back, and you don’t need to feel pressured. Just attack freely, I just want to see your weaknesses."

"Well... okay then!"

Wang Lan stood up and moved to the center of the area, while the other students immediately looked on with anticipation, especially Xie Sisi, whose heart suddenly began to race, her beautiful eyes shimmering with starlight.

Liu Jie put down his record chart and began unbuttoning his neatly arranged Zhongshan suit, revealing the snow-white shirt underneath.

When Liu Jie performed these actions, Wang Lan’s gaze sharply grew serious.

Meticulously executed movements might appear ordinary when done by an average person, but there was a suffocating pressure and an intense aura of a master when Liu Jie did them.

Wang Lan’s eyes narrowed slightly, focusing on Liu Jie’s head. His hair, dark and shiny, was combed without a strand out of place.

A suit fanatic? No, this is a master!

As soon as Liu Jie flung his jacket aside, Wang Lan could hardly suppress his urge to move; his body immediately surged forward.

"Good, your momentum is solid. Seems like you have had your fair share of real combat drills."

Wang Lan leaped up, swinging down a punch from above.

Liu Jie quickly raised his hand to block in front of him. Wang Lan’s punch landed on his arm, and he pressed down hard with another blow.

Liu Jie’s expression shifted slightly to one of astonishment as a force beyond his expectation transmitted through his arm, and then, another fist grew larger in his field of vision.

BOOM—

The entire class stared with wide eyes as Wang Lan’s punch connected, and their combat instructor was hit square in the face, his head hitting the ground.

THUD—

"Huh?"

"Challenge completed, reward: ten experience points, one skill point!"

Wang Lan’s complexion turned panic-stricken as he quickly lifted Liu Jie. "Mr. Liu, you..."

His palm placed on Liu Jie’s swollen cheek, warm Star Power flowed in, and soon, the pain on Liu Jie’s face and the dizzy sensation in his head disappeared.

As the two stood up, a buzzing of discussion arose from the surrounding students.

Liu Jie’s face was a bit flushed. "I was careless... I didn’t expect Wang Lan to possess such Massive Strength... Is this your talent?"

"Yes, teacher!" Given an out by Liu Jie, Wang Lan smoothly handed him the proverbial step down. "This talent of mine is called Massive Strength Fist—I can punch a huge hole in the concrete walls at home. The teacher didn’t know and suffered a big loss..."

"So that’s how it is..." The murmuring students suddenly understood.

"So it’s like that. I knew Mr. Liu couldn’t be that weak, to be KO’d by a single punch..."

Liu Jie smiled faintly, satisfied with Wang Lan’s response.

"Mr. Liu, please be careful. I’m very strong, so please do not take me lightly."

"Don’t worry, I won’t let my guard down this time."

As his words fell, Wang Lan instantly charged at Liu Jie again. Liu Jie had indeed learned his lesson and no longer dared to take Wang Lan’s attacks head-on, nimbly dodging Wang Lan’s fists with his agile movement technique.

But as soon as his stance stabilized, Liu Jie’s face drastically changed. He had just executed an actual combat movement technique, which should have allowed him to widen the gap with Wang Lan before countering.

But... he had never expected...

Before he could steady himself, Wang Lan’s figure was already shadowing him closely.

Such a fast movement technique!

Liu Jie hurriedly shifted his stance again, his feet moving quickly, even utilizing feints to confuse his opponent. By combining Ghost Step and Space Step dodging techniques, he changed positions twice in one second.

Yet Wang Lan’s movement technique could still easily keep up!

Is it just your punches that are strong? Why didn’t you tell me your speed was also this fast?

Just as shock began to rise, a dark shadow suddenly appeared before him. Wang Lan’s leg swept across with a devious angle, appearing strangely out of nowhere.

Liu Jie could only manage to cross his arms in time as the leg kicked him fiercely.

WHOOSH—

Liu Jie’s figure was sent flying once more.

WHAM! He landed flat on his back!

The world suddenly seemed so quiet...

"Challenge complete, reward ten experience points, one skill point!"

Indeed, challenges could be repeatedly farmed.

"Teacher... are you alright?"

Liu Jie slowly sat up and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Teacher, are you alright?"

"You little rat, who is Huang Feilong to you?"

"Mr. Liu, you know Master Huang? He’s my coach."

"How many years have you learned from him?"

"About five years..." Wang Lan grew even more puzzled.

"How often did you have classes?"

"Around four or five classes a week..."

"The student surpasses the master!" Liu Jie stood up, turned to the stunned students and said, "Classmates, did you clearly see how Wang Lan just attacked?"

"We saw it clearly..."

"But did you understand it?"

At this question, no one knew how to respond.

"Wang Lan was taught by Huang Feilong. Back when we were pioneering together, I was on the same team as him. We were both melee combat fanatics, especially fond of close-quarters fighting. I used to spar with him whenever we could, so I recognized the style of Wang Lan’s strikes at first glance.

"In your eyes, Wang Lan is the neighboring school district’s scholarly prodigy, a novice Star Martial Warrior who has just awakened, and just now, he has shown his Medical Attribute Star Martial talent. But he has been learning from Huang Feilong for five years, four or five lessons a week. And what about you? You have been learning from me for only two years. For those students from families with deep martial backgrounds, it may be fine, but have most of you really been diligent over these two years? Have you truly applied yourselves?

"Even before Wang Lan became a Star Martial Warrior, he had already trained his fighting skills to a professional level, while you are already Star Martial Warriors. What excuse do you have not to work hard? Do not believe in so-called geniuses in this world, nor in peerless talents. Before you say someone stronger than you is a genius with better talent, use your head. Even the smartest infant is still an infant; don’t casually use ’genius’ to deny effort.

"Seeing Wang Lan today, I suddenly realize that I have been too lenient with you all, letting you have it too easy. Now, everyone get ready, except for Song Bo! Everyone will frog jump around the Cultivation Hall ten times, followed by five hundred high kicks, five hundred side kicks, five hundred snapping kicks, five hundred whip kicks, then a thousand push-ups, and finally run twenty laps around the field."

"Ah—"

Mr. Liu had gone mad; such a full schedule left no chance for the students to catch their breath. It was one thing for the boys, but such training was brutal for the girls.

The September weather was so blisteringly hot.

Even for Star Martial Warriors with their extraordinary constitution, such a continuous three-hour session was extremely draining.

Yet, half of the class still completed these devilish training tasks, which to ordinary students would seem unimaginable, with calm and composure.

As the school day neared its end, all the students of Class One weakly collapsed inside the Cultivation Hall, while Mr. Liu walked back and forth in front of them with a roster in hand.

"Do you see? Do you all see?" Mr. Liu pointed at the half of the class that maintained their composure. "Do you see the difference? They were once considered by some of you to be wealthy heirs who can only increase their Cultivation Level by purchasing Soul Beads and would be nothing without their powerful parents. What about now? Are you ashamed? This level of training intensity is the most basic and low-level training in the world of Star Martial Warriors. And what about you? You’re so exhausted you can’t even stand.

"Strength does not come from having great parents or great resources, but from oneself! Physical fitness is the best way to measure how hard a person has worked day-to-day. Do you think their physical fitness was also boosted by Star Power? Not reflecting on yourselves is nothing but self-deception. I hereby declare that your senior year will be very miserable, extremely miserable, so much so that you will not want to look back after graduating high school. Take my word for it! If you can’t handle it, I suggest you transfer out. Do you understand?"

"We... understand..."

"Class dismissed!"