Punishment and Ranking!

"Bring Rod inside, you two. The new students, come in as well."

Her voice was gentle as water, flowing into everyone's hearts. It seemed that even the summer heat vanished along with the sound of her voice.

Instructor Ruolin had two students carry the unconscious Rod inside.

After examining Rod's injuries, Ruolin frowned slightly and shot Xiao Ze a look.

"You little rascal, you really don't hold back when you fight!"

That coquettish glance made the boys around them blush. Xiao Ze, however, remained calm and merely shrugged.

"I already showed restraint. Compared to someone trying to kill Lei Luo, I'd say I was merciful."

The surrounding students were all dumbfounded, but Xiao Ze was not lying.

Rod had attacked Lei Luo's vital areas earlier. He had clearly intended to kill him!

"Ah... Rod was also blinded by anger and lost his sense of proportion."

Ruolin sighed and placed her palm on Rod's chest.

She used Water Attribute Dou Qi to soothe the chaotic aura within his body and tend to his injuries.

Both Water Attribute Dou Qi and Wood Attribute Dou Qi possessed healing effects.

Whenever circumstances permitted, mercenary groups would recruit people with the corresponding attributes.

After all, they were far cheaper than Healing Pills!

Xiao Ze glanced at the boys nearby. They all wore expressions of envy and jealousy, as though receiving Ruolin's treatment was some tremendous stroke of luck.

Ruolin's earlier glance at him had been utterly captivating. An ordinary man would probably have found it impossible to resist.

Yet Xiao Ze could treat it as nothing unusual.

When he had received the hundredfold reward for the Calamity Poison Body earlier—

He had experienced countless destructions in an instant, and amid that destruction, countless rebirths!

The pleasure of rebirth that acted upon the soul had given him an extremely high resistance to such things.

Unless he himself allowed his thoughts to wander, ordinary temptations and pleasures could no longer stir his heart.

The system's reward feedback brought more than just improvements in strength. Such hidden benefits were immensely valuable as well!

Not long afterward, Ruolin slowly withdrew her hand and rose to her feet expressionlessly.

Rod's eyes suddenly flew open. When he saw Ruolin's face, a trace of affection and longing appeared in his gaze.

Ruolin ignored Rod and looked toward Xiao Ze with a smile. "Little fellow, how do you think I should deal with you?"

"Shouldn't you be rewarding me generously instead?"

Xiao Ze deliberately spoke in a surprised tone.

Everyone's eyes widened at once.

"Hehe, you really are an interesting little fellow. Tell me, why should I reward you generously?"

Ruolin chuckled before pressing the question.

"I helped Jia Nan Academy stop a case of fellow disciples killing each other!"

Xiao Ze paid no attention to everyone's astonished looks.

"This senior from Jia Nan Academy was ruthless and refused to let up once he gained the upper hand. He called it a spar, yet he kept using killing moves."

"If Jia Nan Academy students can casually kill newly recruited students, then before long, I'm afraid no one would be willing to come to Jia Nan Academy."

"Hmph!" Rod retorted darkly. "That guy broke the rules. I was only teaching him a small lesson!"

"Oh-ho~" Xiao Ze gave a strange laugh. "A small lesson? Did you need to use killing moves for that?"

"Besides, I stopped you and gave you a chance!"

Rod's face turned pale. Xiao Ze's words reminded him of that kick from earlier.

His chest was still burning with pain!

"Besides, the rules you speak of are nothing but rotten rules!"

Ruolin showed a hint of interest at that moment. Other than the strength Xiao Ze had displayed, which she could not see through, nothing about that fight had caught her attention.

But the issue Xiao Ze had raised now intrigued her somewhat.

"Hmph, this is an unwritten rule of Jia Nan Academy. Many instructors even tacitly approve of it. What right do you have to reject it outright?"

Rod forced himself to speak. Afterward, he secretly glanced at Ruolin.

Only when he saw that her expression remained calm did he breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, he had invoked the authority of other instructors.

Instructor Ruolin had never approved of this sort of rule!

"Hehe, that still makes it a rotten rule!"

Ignoring Rod's furious glare, Xiao Ze continued.

"The rule you speak of is merely meant to grind down the pride of talented people from small places and make them behave."

"But they have already joined Jia Nan Academy. Once they arrive at Jia Nan Academy, they will realize that everyone around them is about as good as they are, or even far more outstanding!"

"If they can still think themselves superior under those circumstances, then I don't think that's pride. That's genuine stupidity!"

"But truly stupid people are a minority in this world!"

"The overwhelming majority have self-awareness. Yet you punish the overwhelming majority who know their own limits just to prevent a small number of fools from making mistakes!"

"Isn't that a rotten rule?"

Xiao Ze's final question plunged the entire tent into silence.

Those Jia Nan Academy students had also gone through such treatment in the past. They had been unable to resist, so they had chosen to accept it.

Now that they thought about it, it really did seem like a rotten rule!

As for the new students who had already suffered under that rule, they hated it even more.

They agreed with Xiao Ze's words completely!

Ruolin, who had been calm all along, suddenly smiled.

"What a sharp-tongued little fellow. You've convinced me!"

Rod's eyes widened instantly as he turned to look at Ruolin.

"I was originally neutral toward this rule, but you have successfully convinced me."

"From today onward, at least among my students, nothing like this will happen again!"

Ruolin swept her gaze over the Jia Nan Academy students around her, the warning in her eyes unmistakable.

Those students immediately straightened up and no longer dared to joke around.

They all declared that they would never bully new students like this again.

"As for you, Rod... however long you made these new students stand outside, you will stand outside for just as long."

"One new student stood for half an hour. Ten new students means you stand for five hours. Calculate for yourself how many hours you need to stand!"

Rod opened his mouth and looked at Instructor Ruolin, wanting to plead for mercy.

However, a rare flash of anger appeared in the eyes of the usually gentle Instructor Ruolin. He lowered his head and admitted his mistake.

"Rod willingly accepts the punishment!"

He then glanced at Xiao Ze, walked out of the tent, and began serving his punishment.

The new students looked at one another, each with a hint of delight in their eyes.

Ruolin then looked at the new students and said, "Although I have forbidden this matter, don't you go causing trouble for me either!"

"The fact that this could become an unwritten rule of Jia Nan Academy is enough to show just how difficult you new students are to manage!"

Ruolin walked behind the table and sat down. Taking out a parchment scroll, ink, and a pen, she said with a smile,

"Students, you are all Jia Nan Academy students now. The academy needs to assess your potential, so we need to know your exact strength."

"For those under twenty, Eight-Star Dou Zhi Qi was the minimum for F-Rank. For every stage higher in strength, your rating rose by one rank!"

"The highest rank is S-Rank, which is Five Star Dou Disciple!"

"Do you all understand? Now report your strength one by one in order!"

After what had happened earlier, the new students had become much more obedient.

They lined up one by one and reported their strength to Ruolin.

Xiao Ze felt somewhat troubled.

He wanted the benefits, but he also wanted to keep a low profile!

Dear readers, please keep reading! Recommendation advancement now depends entirely on continued readership. Please take a moment to scroll to the very last page of the book. I'm begging you!

Thanks to "Fu Zhuizhe" and "Yiran, Jiumeng" for their monthly ticket support!

Thanks to "Chenyan Ranmuxue_BC" for the donation. This is also the first donation from the original release platform. Many, many thanks!