Wei Zhe

Starry Sky Frontline, No. 368 Battlefield Fortress.

The piercing alarms died away, and the enormous alloy gate slowly opened with the groan of fatigued metal.

Chen Long and Luo Mengjie dragged their exhausted bodies into their quarters. Their standard-issue dark-blue battle armor was covered in vicious scorch marks and cracks, and there was even a claw mark at the left shoulder guard that went deep enough to expose bone. Clearly, they had just escaped a bloody, brutal battle.

Luo Mengjie did not even have time to remove her helmet before she immediately switched on the Personal Computer on her wrist.

An encrypted message automatically marked as a priority by the system popped up.

The sender was Chen Ping, far away on Blue Star.

When she saw phrases in the message such as "can't stay at school," "comes home early every day," and "has something upset him again," all color instantly drained from her face, which was smeared with the soot of battle.

"Old Chen..."

Her voice tightened, and she could not keep the sobs out of it.

Chen Long pulled his swaying wife into his arms and looked at the words on the light screen. The eyes of this iron-willed man, who had never so much as frowned beneath the claws of the insect race, instantly reddened.

He was just about to apply to headquarters for emergency personal leave, even if it meant using the military merits they had accumulated over the years.

Just then...

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Red light flashed through the quarters, and the shrill alarm once again tore through the brief peace.

A cold synthesized voice rang throughout the fortress.

"S-rank emergency mission! All members of Thunder Squad, assemble at Port Seven within three minutes! Repeat! S-rank emergency mission!"

The couple stiffened at the same time and abruptly looked at each other. In each other's eyes, they saw endless pain, unwillingness, and resolve.

There was no time to hesitate.

On the front lines, military orders were as immovable as mountains.

They could only force that heart-devouring worry and guilt deep down, then whirl around and rush to the cold equipment racks to don their spare battle armor, which still held the chill of metal.

Early the next morning, East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School.

Wang Zhen led Chen Fan along the tree-lined path to the sixth-grade teaching building. The excitement and pride on his face were practically spilling over. He looked less like he was going to hand over a student than show off a peerless treasure he had just unearthed.

"The homeroom teacher of Grade Six, Class One is Liu Haifeng. That guy is a thoroughgoing pragmatist. He only recognizes strength, not people."

Wang Zhen lowered his voice.

Chen Fan simply nodded calmly.

He had been an adult in his previous life, after all. He was hardly going to be frightened by another adult.

Inside the training hall of Grade Six, Class One, the atmosphere was stern.

Nearly forty boys and girls, averaging eleven or twelve years old, were engaged in high-intensity sparring.

The sounds of fists and feet cutting through the air rang out incessantly. The fluctuations of qi and blood emanating from them were far beyond anything the fourth-grade students could match.

In the center of the hall stood a lean, fit middle-aged man, his hands behind his back and his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

He was Liu Haifeng.

"Stop!"

At that low shout, all training came to an abrupt halt.

Liu Haifeng's appraising gaze immediately fell on the small, thin figure beside Wang Zhen.

His face immediately lit up.

"This is Chen Fan!"

Liu Haifeng strode forward and grabbed Chen Fan's hand, looking him up and down as if he were examining some kind of treasure.

As for Wang Zhen beside him, before he could even speak, Liu Haifeng waved a hand dismissively.

"All right, Old Wang, you can go back!"

Wang Zhen's face darkened on the spot. He was about to erupt. Damn it, I've already applied to the principal to partner with you, and you're fucking telling me to leave??

But just as Wang Zhen was fuming, a scream filled with shock and disbelief suddenly erupted from the group of students.

"Why is it you?!"

Swish!

Nearly forty sharp gazes throughout the training hall instantly swung toward him.

A tall boy in the group was pointing at Chen Fan with his uninjured left hand. His face was as white as paper, and he looked as though he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

It was Sun Hao, whose wrist Chen Fan had crippled with a single move in the cafeteria the day before!

His right arm was still firmly secured in a state-of-the-art silver-white medical brace, making him stand out among the students in their training clothes.

After a brief, deathly silence, the entire training hall erupted in an uproar.

Whispers rose like a tide.

"Holy shit! Sun Hao's hand... wasn't it broken by some fourth-grade kid yesterday?"

"That's him? You've got to be kidding! Is that little brat even chest-high on me?"

"An eight-year-old kid beat Sun Hao, whose qi and blood are nearly 11 calories, into that state? That's bullshit!"

A trace of surprise appeared on Liu Haifeng's face as well.

He only knew that this student of his had been beaten up yesterday; he had not looked into the matter closely. So... Chen Fan was the one who had done it?

An eight-year-old child had crippled a top sixth-grade student whose qi and blood were close to 11 calories?

For a moment, Liu Haifeng's face grew fervent again.

Now that's a fucking genius!

Liu Haifeng even felt a little regret. Why hadn't Chen Fan entered the Martial Dao sooner? If he had... perhaps, under Liu Haifeng's tutelage, Chen Fan's qi and blood might have reached 20 calories by now!

Liu Haifeng looked at Chen Fan as though he were not looking at a student, but admiring a piece of peerless divine jade, freshly unearthed and uncarved.

The more he looked, the more pleased he became. Then he turned and caught sight of Wang Zhen's sour face beside him, and immediately waved impatiently.

"Old Wang, why are you still here? I told you, you can go back. Those little fellows in fourth grade are still waiting for you."

Wang Zhen's face darkened on the spot.

Go back?

The report I submitted to the principal has already been approved. Starting today, I'm the assistant homeroom teacher of Grade Six, Class One, specifically in charge of Chen Fan!

But he did not say so. He merely snorted, gave Liu Haifeng a look, and walked over to a corner of the training hall on his own. He folded his arms, looking ready to supervise the entire time.

Liu Haifeng's mouth twitched, but he could not be bothered with him.

He cleared his throat and faced the nearly forty students in the class. His voice rang out like a great bell. "This is Chen Fan. Starting today, he's a new student in our Grade Six, Class One!"

"In my class, age and background don't matter. Only strength does!"

As he spoke, his sharp gaze drifted over Sun Hao, whose arm was in a silver-white medical brace. The warning was self-evident.

Sun Hao shuddered all over and lowered his head instinctively, not daring to meet Liu Haifeng's gaze.

"Now, class begins!"

Liu Haifeng wasted no time and went straight to the lesson.

It was still the Five Elements Stance and Five Elements Fist.

But as the head instructor of the sixth grade, what he demonstrated was on an entirely different level from the version Wang Zhen taught beginners.

"Stances are the root, fist techniques are the skill, and qi and blood are the source! You're past the stage of laying foundations. What you need to learn is how to unite the three!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Haifeng abruptly lowered his waist into a horse stance, assuming a standard opening posture of the Five Elements Stance.

The next second, qi and blood surged through his body, and a faint crimson glow appeared on the surface of his skin. Even the air around him grew scorching hot.

He moved.

As his fists opened and closed, his force remained concentrated without dispersing. Every punch carried a spiraling hidden force that struck the air with a muffled boom.

This was no simple release of strength, but exquisitely precise control over qi and blood!

Chen Fan stood at the very front of the group, watching with absolute concentration.

With his Martial Dao Talent of 2,550 points, every trace of qi and blood circulation and every subtle shift in force in Liu Haifeng's demonstration appeared to him like instructional footage slowed down hundreds or thousands of times.

The barriers that fourth-grade students struggled to understand became clear to him at the slightest hint. He grasped them instantly, then swiftly compared and integrated them with what he had already learned.

So... qi and blood can be used like this.

Efficiency can be raised by at least another thirty percent.

"Practice on your own!"

Liu Haifeng gave the order.

The training hall immediately filled with the sounds of fists and feet cutting through the air.

Chen Fan did not rush to imitate him. Instead, he walked to a corner, closed his eyes, and immediately began practicing his stance.

He gradually incorporated the more efficient method of circulating qi and blood that he had just comprehended from Liu Haifeng into his Five Elements Stance, which had already reached minor mastery, optimizing and refining it over and over.

The qi and blood in his body flowed like a river whose channel had been widened, running ever more smoothly and powerfully.

But just as Chen Fan was completely immersed in the pleasure of this rapid progress, a tall figure silently loomed over him.

The noisy sounds of sparring in the training hall seemed to have been muted by an invisible hand.

Everyone's gaze converged on them as if by agreement.

The newcomer was tall and straight, with a stern face and eyes that looked down appraisingly.

It was Wei Zhe, the student universally acknowledged as the best in Grade Six, Class One.

His qi and blood value had already reached 15 calories half a month ago.

"You're Chen Fan?"

Wei Zhe looked down at him, his voice cold and utterly devoid of emotion.

Without even waiting for Chen Fan to answer, he gestured with his chin toward Sun Hao, who was standing nearby, pale-faced and watching them apprehensively.

"Sun Hao is one of my people."

"By beating him, you showed me no respect."

Before his words had finished, a powerful fluctuation of qi and blood far exceeding Sun Hao's erupted from Wei Zhe's body!

That imposing force, like an invisible boulder, bore down fiercely on Chen Fan, who was still practicing his stance with his eyes closed!

"Wei Zhe, how dare you!"

A thunderous bellow suddenly exploded through the training hall!

Liu Haifeng appeared between the two in an instant, like a ghost. An aura several times more overwhelming than Wei Zhe's descended with a roar and swept his meager pressure away like a gale scattering fallen leaves.

He pulled Chen Fan behind him and fixed his knife-sharp eyes on Wei Zhe, burning with rage.

"Laying a hand on one of my people in my class—do you want your cultivation crippled and yourself expelled from school?!"

Liu Haifeng was truly furious.

What was Chen Fan?

He was the future hope of East Sea Martial Arts Elementary School!

He was their trump card for holding their heads high in the interschool exchange competition!

Let alone crippling one of Sun Hao's hands—even if Chen Fan had beaten him into a cripple, Liu Haifeng would have thought Sun Hao deserved it!

Geniuses were entitled to certain exceptions.

Wei Zhe was a genius, but in Liu Haifeng's eyes, he was nothing compared to Chen Fan.

Facing the enraged Liu Haifeng, Wei Zhe's face instantly turned several shades paler.

However arrogant he was, he did not dare confront one of the school's instructors head-on.

Those words, "expelled from school," struck his heart like a heavy hammer.

He was still a boy, after all, and naturally feared his teacher.

Yet precisely because he was a boy, his youthful pride made him throw out a threat.

"You just wait. I'll make you pay at the weekly test!"