Chương 14: War God — Chapter 14 - Let's See How Long You Can Keep Up the Act?

Zhou Dahai stared at a figure in Class Four's section. At first glance, the student's Body-Strengthening Fist practice looked methodical and unremarkable. No different from the others around him. But a second look! Zhou Dahai noticed the students surrounding this one seemed drawn by some invisible force. Every move, every form unconsciously began syncing with that student's rhythm. The primal energy between heaven and earth showed no change.

"Is this... a martial aura?" Zhou Dahai's breath quickened. His gaze locked on that student. If someone cultivated a martial art to peak perfection, then had a Seventh Realm Great Grandmaster or above demonstrate it, a powerful martial aura would form. Within that aura, even those with lesser talent would naturally perceive some of the art's subtleties. Top academies periodically invited Great Grandmaster-level experts to lecture for precisely this reason.

It's just that Seventh Realm Great Grandmasters weren't easy to invite. Such opportunities were rare. Even Rong City Martial High might not manage one for several years. But if they could invite one even once, that year's advancement rate could rise considerably.

"Impossible... my eyes must be playing tricks... that student looks like... Wang Xian?"

"Innate life force 0. 1. Even if he truly cultivated Body-Strengthening Fist to peak perfection, he couldn't possibly generate a martial aura..." Zhou Dahai shook his head. Absurd. The more he watched, the more ordinary it looked. Some movements weren't even standard. Only the transitions were exceptionally fluid. Fluid enough that he couldn't find anything wrong. Call it entry-level? It didn't quite seem entry-level. Call it small success?

Yet the primal energy showed no change, and the hallmark of Body-Strengthening Fist small success was subtly stirring heaven and earth's primal energy. As for perfected mastery, he himself was at perfected mastery. Perfected mastery Body-Strengthening Fist imbued every move with tremendous power. One finger, one punch, one kick, one elbow... all produced clear sonic booms from generated primal force. Peak perfection. Zhou Dahai had never reached it, but he'd seen it.

When that basic Body-Strengthening Fist was displayed, even as mere demonstration, it was as if only one person existed between heaven and earth. Only endless profundity. Boundless mystery. But right now... Zhou Dahai felt an illusion he couldn't judge.

"Maybe the kid just modified it himself?" Zhou Dahai rubbed his eyes. Watching on, he unconsciously sank deeper. An absurd thought surfaced.

"It couldn't be return to simplicity, could it?" It actually did look a little like it. But the next moment, he rejected it immediately.

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Zhou Dahai shook his head. A student, even practicing Body-Strengthening Fist from the womb, wouldn't necessarily bring this foundational art, fused with countless Old Martial Arts essences, to such a realm. Before he knew it, the demonstration ended.

"How come my Body-Strengthening Fist felt smoother today?" Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"Huh? You felt that too?"

"Did Teacher Zhou's level improve?"

"No idea. I wasn't watching Teacher Zhou just now... ahem..."

"I know! Our Body-Strengthening Fist proficiency must've broken through!" Students around Wang Xian murmured to each other. Most were from Class Four. Wang Xian paid them no mind. He simply exhaled softly. His whole body brimmed with vitality. Body-Strengthening Fist had many uses. One round in the morning kept you energized all day. One round before sleep gave you deep rest all night. Only, achieving such obvious effects required at least perfected mastery.

Otherwise top universities wouldn't make Body-Strengthening Fist a graduation assessment. No exaggeration. If an ordinary person practiced Body-Strengthening Fist their entire life, even without walking the martial path, they could live to a hundred untouched by illness. At 7: 30, after the demonstration, formal classes began.

"Foreign language class this morning. Life is good." Back in the classroom, Zhou Xukun had already taken out his textbook, eyes practically glowing. The foreign language teacher was Xu Wei, a pretty married woman just past 30 with big wavy hair. Even though she always wore dark professional attire to class, it didn't dampen student enthusiasm for foreign language lessons one bit. As for Zhou Xukun... Wang Xian remembered. That bastard later married his own university teacher. A divorced one at that.

Exclusively into married women. Only liked women over a decade older than himself. Yet the light in Zhou Xukun's eyes vanished the instant a bald head appeared at the classroom door.

"Your foreign language teacher is sick."

"Assemble at the martial training ground. Next 3 periods are martial arts class, continuous session assessment." Homeroom teacher Cui Sanyan dropped two sentences and left. The classroom erupted in wails. The reason was simple: martial arts assessments. One was stance training. The other was technique evaluation. For most students, both tests were pure torment. Add Cui Sanyan's extreme strictness...

"How many times has Teacher Xu been sick now?" Zhou Xukun sighed.

"Even though the martial exam's academic portion only counts for 30%, they don't have to go this far..." He stood and walked out with Wang Xian. The group trickled to the martial training ground. The school's training ground was at least several soccer fields in size, divided into zones to prevent multiple classes from competing for space. Right now, it wasn't just Class Four. Two or three other classes were also doing continuous session assessments.

During senior year, such assessments happened several times a month. Weapons of all kinds filled the grounds. Sabers, swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooked blades, tridents, gauntlets, knuckle dusters, throwing knives... Including all manner of testing instruments.

"Hey, Class Nine is here too..." Zhou Xukun patted Wang Xian's shoulder.

"Ice Queen Ye is here as well. Then this assessment isn't entirely unbearable..." Class Nine had more girls, and of higher quality. The martial high's famous 'maiden class.' Not to mention Ye Miyue's reputation. Especially now, dressed in a form-fitting training uniform with her ponytail tied up. Her slender, perfect figure radiated youthful charm that even the training uniform couldn't hide. Particularly that exquisitely beautiful face. No matter how calm and cold, it still drew many students' gazes.

In Class Four, only Chen Yuting could barely match her. When Wang Xian looked over, he caught the girl instantly averting her eyes. She'd clearly spotted him too.

"What are you looking at?" Cui Sanyan barked.

"3 minutes. All of you, get to the locker room and change into training uniforms!" The male students rushed toward the locker room like they'd been injected with adrenaline. Wang Xian hadn't yet entered when—"Wang Xian!" A familiar voice stopped him. Turning around, Wang Xian saw Chen Yuting. She held her training uniform, chin slightly raised, her pretty face full of pride:"Based on your past results, you'll last 2 or 3 minutes at most..."

"After you finish standing, go buy me water. Don't forget to bring a few extra bottles, and I'll forgive you." Uh...

"You've got hands and feet. Go yourself." Wang Xian turned toward the locker room.

"Besides, I don't have time to buy you water."

"Wait!" Chen Yuting hurriedly blocked him, her phoenix eyes shooting him a glare.

"Stingy! How long did you even deliver breakfast before giving up?"

"Think about it. If a girl were that easy to catch, would you still treasure her?" Wang Xian stopped and looked at her calmly. At this point in time, what she said wasn't wrong.

"Besides, your grades are so bad..." Chen Yuting pointed a fingertip, looking utterly exasperated.

"Even if I agreed, could you get into my future university? Sooner or later we'd go separate ways and break up!"

"They say the most important thing in martial arts is persistence. You can't even persist in chasing a girl. No wonder your martial arts haven't improved in two years..."

"Now I'm just asking you to persist a little longer, and you give up? You even deliberately switched targets, playing hard to get."

"Is that fun?"

"You think I don't see through your little schemes?" Clap, clap, clap... Wang Xian applauded. As expected of the martial world succubus who, in his past life, leveraged her charm to marry into multiple great families and eventually founded the Chen Group. This PUA ability was already showing its edge. To be fair, what she said did hold some truth. Wang Xian was about to speak when—"Here!" Chen Yuting pulled out a 100-yuan bill.

"If you don't want to spend your own money, I'll give you money. Even if it's just for show, at least keep it up a while longer."

"Otherwise, your entire high school life won't have a single thing you actually stuck with to the end." Seeing this, Wang Xian paused. Something was off. What did she mean? Giving me money to chase her? No. The Chen Yuting of his past life was a green tea bitch, not a bodhisattva. What, had she suddenly seen the light?

"I don't mean anything by it." Chen Yuting gave a cold snort.

"I just want you to try persisting at one thing." Wang Xian was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head.

"Sorry. I really don't have time to buy you water. Find someone else." He walked into the locker room.

"You—!" Chen Yuting stamped her foot. Her cheeks reddened at a visible rate, words stuck in her throat from sheer anger.

"You really love putting on an act, don't you?"

"Let's see how long you can keep it up!" ➤ Next: Wang Xian, Full Marks!