CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER 67: THE AMAZEMENT OF CLASSMATES

The next day, Wang Lan got up early to go to school. To his surprise, the bus wasn’t very crowded. It wasn’t long after he squeezed on that he heard his former classmates animatedly discussing the Star Martial Competition.

The popularity of this show had reached a point where it had become a national conversation. The official broadcast wouldn’t start until next Monday, but for competitors like Wang Lan, it would begin in three days. The three-day delay was for post-production editing and camera work.

Upon entering the classroom and just managing to set down his backpack, he suddenly heard a classmate next to him exclaim.

"Holy shit, the official high-definition video is out? Awesome, awesome! The power of the masses is indeed strong."

"What high-definition video?"

"Could it be *that* one?"

"Yes, that one! The high-definition video of the fight against Lan Die. Holy shit! A match of less than ten minutes, and it’s over a gigabyte? Isn’t that a bit too high definition?"

"Can you download it?"

"There’s a download link!"

"What the hell are you dawdling for? Give me the torrent link!"

"Send it to the class group, blast it out."

Watching the excited classmates, Wang Lan turned his head in confusion. "What’s going on with them?"

Xu Xiangwen, who had just clicked download, looked up at Wang Lan with a faint smile. "For someone like you, a caveman who never goes online to stay updated, it makes complete sense that you wouldn’t know."

With that, he came over and sat next to Wang Lan. "Wasn’t yesterday the Star Martial Competition preliminaries? A match blew up the internet through live streaming. Two Star Martial Warriors staged a peak showdown within ten minutes.

"These two had similar levels to us, but if it were a real battle... I watched it, and I wouldn’t last two minutes against either of them. If it were a life-and-death duel, I’d probably be killed the moment the match started."

Wang Lan looked at Xu Xiangwen in shock. This guy has never been so humble in my memory. Plus, isn’t his evaluation of me a bit high? If I really wanted to kill him, I’d need at least five seconds, right?

"Didn’t you say that the Star Martial Competition is all orchestrated with no real educational value?"

"But you can’t ignore it when a phoenix hatches in a chicken coop."

"It seems this season of the Star Martial Competition has truly changed. From the live streaming, the preliminary matchups were indeed real. That’s the right way to go! The Star Martial Competition should be about real combat. Who cares about Star Martial guidance and choreographed moves? If it’s all staged, what’s the point of vying for supremacy?"

"After hearing you guys, I’m suddenly looking forward to this season’s Star Martial Competition."

"Me too. I’ll deign to watch one round of the official matches. Real or fake, I’ll know at a glance."

The bell for class rang, interrupting the classmates’ lively discussion. But even though their chatter was disrupted, everyone seemed distracted during the morning’s cultural lessons.

The afternoon practical lesson was switched to the multimedia classroom.

When the class entered the room, everyone was excited. The screen in the multimedia room was playing the high-definition video downloaded earlier; it turned out that today’s lesson with Teacher Liu was an analysis of that battle.

Children who are Star Martial Warriors are much like most other kids; they have little regard for dry theory. You could talk to them about the cruelty of the battlefield and the laws of survival, and they would forget as soon as you finished. But tell them war stories of Star Martial Warriors or the legendary feats of certain individuals, and they’d remember every word.

The combatants’ Star Martial levels were similar to about half of the students in the class, not far from their own. But the match they staged won everyone’s genuine respect. Even Xu Xiangwen, who was always hard to impress, acknowledged it, let alone the others who were tired of platitudes.

The bell rang for class, and Liu Jie walked into the multimedia classroom with a stack of materials. Seeing the gleaming eyes of anticipation from everyone, he felt as if he were back in their first year, the first time he led them in a practical lesson.

Back then, most students had no foundation. And those who did, what had they learned? So-called martial arts that had impressive names but were just for show.

"Students, today’s practical lesson will be held right here in the classroom. No one has any objections, right?"

"None—" came the uniform reply.

"How many of you have seen this video?"

"We’ve all seen it..."

"I saw it last night, but it was through the live streaming interface, and from a distance, it wasn’t clear."

"I just finished downloading it and watched it twice..."

"Alright, whether you’ve seen it or not isn’t important. Today’s practical lesson is to take you through a detailed analysis of this rare real combat footage.

"Do you know why it’s rare? Because real Star Martial Warrior combat rarely gets captured on camera. It’s either done in a Different Dimensional Space, where cameras can’t be used, or the two Star Martial Warriors are fighting for real and end up behind bars eating government meals. Almost all of the so-called Star Martial Warrior duel videos circulating on the internet are choreographed fakes.

"This video released by the organizers of the Star Martial Competition is truly a genuine piece. You may find the fight thrilling, but we need to look at their on-the-spot reactions and the significance of their improvised maneuvers, so you understand where the real difference lies between students and warriors.

"This class is important. If you understand it, it will help with your mental growth.

"I always tell you that among you, there are some who are called geniuses, and even some whose Cultivation Level is stronger than the teacher’s. For example, Jiang Xinyu reached the Star Cloud Stage before starting her senior year.

"In a head-on duel, I admit I couldn’t beat you. But if we were to be placed in certain terrain in a Different Dimensional Space, and our task was to kill each-other, the odds are I would survive and you would die.

"Why? It’s because of experience—rich experience."

"I’m not bragging about myself," the teacher continued. "I’ve experienced desolation, I’ve traveled abroad, and I’ve seen too much of the dark side of this world. Half the enemies of Star Martial Warriors are Exotic Beasts and the Demon Clan, and the other half are our own human Star Martial Warriors.

"Don’t ask me why—why members of the same race would become enemies. When you all grow up, you won’t even bother to ask this question.

"Now, back to the point. Let’s start analyzing this video from the very beginning."

Saying this, Liu Jie dragged the video progress bar to the very beginning.

"The match begins. Remember, at that time the referee’s whistle had already sounded. From a rules perspective, the fight could have commenced at that point. I’ve seen many online comments expressing resistance to Lan Die’s surprise attack at the start of the match.

"But classmates, on the real battlefield, there are no rules, no courtesies, only life and death. His returning Lan Die’s courtesy shows a lack of experience right from the start. Because of that gesture, he lost the entire initiative.

"I have emphasized the importance of initiative before—it’s not about striking first, but striking when the opponent is completely unprepared. That’s what initiative really is. If his reaction had been just a little slower, the match would have ended right there and then.

"Analyzed rationally, he made a major error in this battle. This set the stage for his passive position for the next five minutes.

"I don’t know this Lan Die, but she is definitely a warrior who has experienced life-and-death situations and extreme difficulties. Her hidden weapons seem like a simple, indiscriminate barrage, but look: every angle and attack point she launches from is calculated."

As he spoke, Liu Jie paused the video and drew Lan Die’s attack patterns and objectives on the blackboard.

Through detailed analysis, the students of Class One began to understand the complexity behind Lan Die’s hidden weapons. She had not only anticipated the opponent’s next evasive move but had calculated even five or ten steps ahead.

In the rapidly changing fray, to be capable of calculating so much in an instant was eye-opening. When Liu Jie laid bare these underlying strategies before all the students, they all felt a chill go down their spines.

Impossible to dodge! Certain death!

This was the judgment that surfaced in most of the students’ minds.

Not on the same level of planning at all. If any of us had been in the match, we probably would have been turned into a beehive at the start, right?

"Shocked, aren’t you? But the real shock is his way of dealing with it. This set of Star Martial Skills looks beautiful, doesn’t it? Sword light afterimages, forming an absolute defense, blocking the barrage of hidden weapons for a full five minutes without a single gap?

"Now, I’ll slow down the playback speed by thirty times, and you all take another look!"

The scene slowed down, and the illusion of impregnability was lifted. A barrage of hidden weapons found their gaps, with a small percentage successfully breaching the Star Cloud Sword Dance’s defense and targeting Wang Lan’s vital points.

But these attacks were all evaded by Wang Lan with agile and skillful movements—in one second, he changed position three or more times, each change requiring him to dodge over five hidden weapons.

"Holy crap!"

"Holy crap!"

Cries of "Holy crap!" rang out; even the descendants of several Star Martial noble families from Mingyue Wucheng exclaimed in unison.

"His Star Martial Skill doesn’t include the movement technique he’s using. Movement technique is a Basic Skill that you naturally grasp and master through our regular combat training.

"In such a short, dangerous time, to be honest, even I couldn’t do it, and none of you here could either.

"This movement technique, by the Star Martial world’s evaluation, should be at a specialized level. If we only consider this set of evasive actions, we could classify him as an assault-type Star Martial Warrior with specialized evasion.

"However, look at the sword in his hand. The Star Martial Skill only allows his sword to resonate with Star Power to create physical sword afterimages, but the sword skill he uses to slash at hidden weapons is one of his Basic Skills, honed through relentless practice.

"Jiang Xinyu, you are also specialized in sword skill. What do you think of his sword skill?"

Jiang Xinyu stood up solemnly, her eyes inadvertently sweeping over Wang Lan. "Without using Star Martial Skills, just in terms of sword skill, I am no match for him."

"Classmates, Lan Die is a warrior at the pinnacle of the Star Shine Stage. His (Wang Lan’s) official strength is listed as mid-Star Shine Stage, not much different from many students here.

"But your Basic Skills’ proficiency is worlds apart from theirs.

"Have you become complacent? Those of you in your third year of high school who have reached the Star Shine Stage can indeed be called prodigies. But compared to them, where do you fall short?

"Your movement technique is a bit off, your sword skill is a bit off, your ability to respond in battle is a bit off. But when you add it all up, the difference is that if they were to get a bit serious, you wouldn’t even know how you died.

"Every time you proudly judge your achievements based on your Star Martial level, please take a moment to watch this video and then look at yourselves in the mirror."

For the first time, not one or two students talked back after being lectured like this by Liu Jie.

How could they talk back? The difference between the two people in the video wasn’t large in terms of Star Power level, but the differences in other areas were clear. Previously, everyone could only express their shock with a "Holy crap." Don’t forget, everyone here is a Star Martial Warrior. At the same Star Shine Stage, why can they achieve such feats while those present can only say "Holy crap!"?

Still, after being lectured like this by Liu Jie, some students became enlightened, but Wang Lan was just embarrassed. Every time Liu Jie describes me as a prodigy, I feel as if a pair of eyes are sharpening knives behind my back.

Taking advantage of Liu Jie drinking water and catching his breath, Wang Lan quietly raised his hand.

"Teacher, may I go to the restroom?"