Shi Tiexin stood there in a daze for a long while, unable to recover from the lingering shock of the information until his desk was slapped with a loud bang.
Smack!
A palm that had endured enough slammed down in front of Shi Tiexin. The teacher appeared beside his desk, gritting his teeth in fury. "Student, this is class! You're in the prime of your youth—what are you daydreaming for? An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time. Open your book and study properly, now!"
Shi Tiexin stared blankly at the teacher before jolting awake at last. He had been muddleheaded from looking at the illustration just now, but that slap had immediately cleared his head.
Shi Tiexin stood up.
He was much taller than the teacher, like a mountain.
Seeing Shi Tiexin's imposing build and stern expression, the entire class broke out in a cold sweat. Old Tie wouldn't hit the teacher, would he? That would be far too outrageous. The teacher was also somewhat panicked. He had made a round of the classroom and noticed that this guy had not even opened his textbook, and the anger he had been suppressing immediately flared up. But now that he was truly facing him, an inexplicable aura made his heart pound.
Look at those bull-like eyes glaring straight at him—they were terrifying!
Just as the teacher could not help wanting to take two steps back and blurt out something in panic, Shi Tiexin spoke.
"You're right."
"Hm?" The teacher could hardly believe his ears. This delinquent who looked like an underworld boss was actually yielding to him?
He did not know that Shi Tiexin was repeatedly pondering what he had just said.
An inch of time is an inch of gold. Those words made far too much sense!
If he could never return, then so be it. He could honestly develop here and practice mind arts and force arts step by step. After all, this world seemingly had no martial arts, so he had no competitors. But he had suddenly realized that was not the case at all! Though he had not obtained a specific timetable, Shi Tiexin simply knew that he could not stay here much longer.
Since he could not remain here, the Minor Provincial Examination that he had previously cast out of his mind had to be pulled back from the back of his head to the front of it for consideration.
The Minor Provincial Examination qualification test was already right around the corner!
Fengming First High School had such excellent conditions, so many secret manuals, and such cheap Auxiliary Cultivation Manuals. Once you passed this village, there would be no such shop. And that inexplicable enlightenment—wasn't that exactly what it meant for every inch of time to be worth an inch of gold? If I had money, if I could recharge time, I'd definitely empty my entire fortune just to yell, "Internet café manager, extend my time!"
"Time is precious. It can't be wasted!" Blazing vigor surged from Shi Tiexin's body. Like last night's cultivation progress bar, even his eyes seemed ready to flash with lightning.
He clenched his fist and declared with an unstoppable, overwhelming presence, "I have to study against every second!"
Then, ignoring the teacher, he plopped down, took out his Four Basic Arithmetic Operations cards, and lowered his head to begin drilling madly again.
The teacher beside him was dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what this guy was doing.
Th-this... did I reform him?
Did this delinquent turn from evil and return to righteousness after just a few words from me?
But I didn't even say anything. This is too miraculous!
And besides, student, this... this teacher is teaching politics. Why are you taking out Mathematics problems? And elementary-school Mathematics problems, at that!
Still, forget it. He would not bother with it. This guy had yielded anyway, and his attitude was acceptable. Besides, as long as he was willing to study, studying anything was better than not studying at all. He was a magnanimous man and would not fuss over it anymore—if he kept fussing and got beaten up, the pain would still be on his own body...
With an inexplicable feeling in his heart, the teacher continued his lesson. Shi Tiexin, meanwhile, was like a car with the throttle fully down, speeding along the road of the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations.
He had already been highly focused before, but now, beneath an unknowable countdown, his concentration climbed to even greater heights.
Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch. His pen tip was practically a scanning probe, continually sketching out the correct answers as his thoughts moved. That inexplicable feeling of enlightenment appeared again. This time, whether because he was more focused or because he had seen that illustration, Shi Tiexin finally understood where the feeling came from.
This was neither unity between man and heaven nor an infusion of the universe's laws. The reason he could experience this enlightenment, this sensation of being carried upward by an expert, was entirely because of the incarnation of himself within this possibility—because of this Scholar Stone.
As he worked through the problems, fragments of memory dissolved into him. Shi Tiexin seemed to suddenly become one with Scholar Stone, as though he could see Scholar Stone in elementary school, writing furiously just as he was now and working with painstaking diligence.
He saw Scholar Stone practicing again and again without pause. Spring passed into autumn, cold gave way to heat, year after year, never once did he stop arduously tempering his foundations. The reason Scholar Stone was Scholar Stone was precisely because, bit by bit, he had built a solid foundation. It was precisely because he had surpassed ordinary people from the very beginning with the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations that he could make a single stunning cry at the middle school entrance examination and become the First Guard Champion.
Shi Tiexin suddenly understood that without this enlightenment, even if he possessed premium or top-grade secret manuals and records, he could not have reached Good in one leap, much less looked ahead to Excellent. All of this was the fruit of bitter cultivation accumulated drop by drop through sweat. Even if there was a shortcut to Mount Zhongnan, the shortcut itself still required the accumulation of time and sweat.
And this enlightenment was precisely because Scholar Stone had laid the path he once traveled before him. Only hard work could forge a foundation. Scholar Stone had already worked hard, already experienced it, already persevered, and that was why Shi Tiexin could now advance by leaps and bounds, covering a thousand miles in a day.
Shi Tiexin suddenly understood that this was probably also the reward for the Destiny Mission. Because he had beaten Teng Chaoguo and fiercely vented Scholar Stone's anger, fulfilling the wish in his heart, Scholar Stone had become closer to him. That was why Scholar Stone had fed his foundation back to him.
Feeling Scholar Stone's persistence, Shi Tiexin was suddenly moved.
You and I truly are the same person.
Our dispositions are the same.
Stubborn as stone, hard as iron.
Don't worry, Scholar Stone. I won't waste your gift, and I won't waste the effort of "ourselves." I'll carry your persistence onward with me and break the shackles of fate together.
I will definitely pass the Minor Provincial Examination, and I will definitely help you fight your way back into the Elite Class!
"Class dismissed!"
The teacher packed up his textbooks and glanced at Shi Tiexin. He found that the guy had truly spent the entire lesson studying in an exceptionally focused state, and a trace of fondness for this student suddenly arose in his heart.
After all, when a prodigal son turned back, gold could not buy him.
What was this guy's name again? He should mention him to his homeroom teacher.
Only after getting off work and returning home did Lao Shou discover that the book had actually reached first place on today's newly contracted book rankings. Congratulations, congratulations! Come to think of it, this should be Lao Shou's first time taking first place among new books. To thank everyone for your help, there would be another update tonight!
Before you continue