At this moment, the second training hall was already abuzz with voices, with no fewer than a hundred students gathered inside.
Many students stood in groups of three or five, discussing exertion techniques and precautions with one another, trying to absorb a little more experience at the eleventh hour.
Others occupied corners alone, their expressions intent as they repeatedly practiced the moves of Basic Fist Arts, attempting to carve certain details into their minds and earn higher scores.
Lu Guowei, however, was utterly out of place amid this bustling scene.
He casually tucked both hands into his pockets, whistling an off-key tune as he leisurely watched his classmates scurrying about like ants on a hot pan, a faint, barely perceptible sense of superiority hanging on his lips.
A boy who knew him well saw his manner and could not help coming over to ask, "Guowei, everyone's nervous as hell. Why aren't you worried at all? Don't tell me your fist arts have already reached completion?"
Lu Guowei yawned lazily and put on an air of profound wisdom. "What's the use of rushing? In the path of fist arts, what matters most is the accumulation of daily, grinding effort. It's all about letting things fall into place when the water flows. Sharpening one's spear only when battle is imminent? That's nothing more than comforting yourself. Not advisable, not advisable!"
"Pfft, listen to you brag!"
The boy clearly did not believe him. "You make it sound like you work so hard every day. How come I've never seen you practice?"
Lu Guowei merely smiled mysteriously and did not respond.
He turned and strolled to the other side, quietly pulling out his phone. With a few swift swipes, he cleared several glaring online-loan payment reminders from the screen, then skillfully opened Feixin and tapped on the latest message:
Brother Guowei, don't worry! Everything has been arranged with Instructor Li. He clearly promised to give us a high score!
When Lu Guowei saw that message, the trace of superiority at the corner of his mouth transformed completely into undisguised mockery.
Heh, what was the point of doing nothing but burying your head in hard training?
He had long since "grasped" the truth of life: on the martial path, what one competed in had never been sleepless toil, but the ways of the world and human connections!
Thinking back to his first four years after entering the martial arts school, Lu Guowei had once been full of passion. He rose at the crow of the rooster and trained diligently. With his decent talent, his year ranking had once surged into the five hundreds, making him one of the outstanding students among the common folk.
However, after personally witnessing time and again the chasm-like gap between wealthy young masters and ordinary students, his convictions had gradually crumbled.
Especially Guo Chun—that guy ranked beyond two thousand in the year. Merely because his family background was illustrious, he could casually order top-ranked outstanding students around to run errands for him. Even his family's full-time driver was an Entering Force expert!
At that moment, Lu Guowei had completely "woken up."
So what if his grades were good? So what if he trained hard? Wouldn't he ultimately still have to serve these wealthy young masters like an ox or a horse?
The true shortcut lay in squeezing into their circle!
As long as he firmly clung to Guo Chun's thigh and became Guo Chun's "good brother," would he still need to worry about having no way forward in the future?
With that thought, when he looked again at his classmates who were still sweating profusely and trying to seize every last moment, his gaze could not help carrying a few traces of pity and contempt.
Just then, his eyes caught a familiar figure.
It was none other than Lu Jue, the cousin who had made him lose all face at Fulai Restaurant a few days ago.
Recalling the other man's ruthless, clean movements and those ice-cold, utterly emotionless eyes, Lu Guowei's calf twitched instinctively.
But the surrounding clamor quickly gave him an inexplicable sense of safety.
This was the school! He was Guo Chun's good brother! Even those monsters ranked in the top fifty of the year had to greet people from their little circle politely when they saw them, didn't they?
A surge of inexplicable courage suddenly rose in his heart. He actually took the initiative to call out toward Lu Jue, raising his voice:
"Yo, isn't this Lu Jue? Looking so anxious—don't tell me you've been slacking off on your fist arts these past few days and don't feel confident anymore?"
Hearing this, Lu Jue shot him a somewhat puzzled glance.
After nearly six years at the same school, this was the first time Lu Guowei had taken the initiative to greet him in a public setting like this.
"Mm, not bad," Lu Jue replied carelessly, without stopping his steps.
Seeing the other's dismissive attitude, an inexplicable rage sprang up in Lu Guowei's heart.
From childhood to adulthood, he had always been the descendant most valued by the Lu family, while this cousin who had grown up in the slums had only ever deserved to live beneath his shadow.
Even though he had just been beaten up by the other party a few days ago, he stubbornly believed that the two of them no longer stood on the same level in terms of vision and ambition.
Lu Jue's outlook was pitifully narrow. He probably thought that by desperately practicing martial arts, he might someday luckily earn the favor of one of the Great Families, which would be the best possible path—when all was said and done, he merely wanted to become a slightly higher-grade "ox or horse," selling his life for others.
But he, Lu Guowei, had already seen through the true road to the heavens!
He would squeeze into the true upper-class circle and become Guo Chun's confidant! In the future, he would take control of resources and freely command countless oxen and horses like Lu Jue, who knew only how to bury their heads in hard training!
At that thought, he took a deep breath, ruthlessly grinding to dust the fear that had arisen from his memories. Facing Lu Jue's retreating back, he deliberately raised his voice and declared each word clearly:
"Lu Jue, in this fist arts assessment, I absolutely won't lose to you again! I, Lu Guowei, am the Lu family's true future!"
Fist arts assessment?
Hearing this, Lu Jue paused slightly and turned to give him an indifferent glance.
His gaze swept over Lu Guowei's muscle lines, which were even more lax than they had been a few days ago, and he immediately understood—this guy must have spent several more days fooling around outside school with that young master. He did not even know that Lu Jue's fist arts had already reached completion.
Lu Jue only found it somewhat amusing and could not be bothered to respond. He quickly found Liu Ga among the crowd and headed over.
Lu Guowei felt as though he had struck empty air once again. Being utterly ignored hurt him even more than direct mockery.
He could only snort at the air and mutter stubbornly, "Putting on an act! Let's see whether you can still stay this calm when the results come out!"
"When the time comes, I'll take a photo of both classes' score sheets and send it home. Maybe if Grandfather is happy, he'll reward me with a few thousand bucks."
Just then, Li Zhanting entered the training hall with a dark expression.
The pressure around him seemed several degrees lower than usual, and an inexplicable agitation clouded his brow.
Just moments ago, he had received word that an Assistant Instructor from the neighboring sword arts class had easily raked in more than two hundred thousand just by taking advantage of this Basic Sword Arts assessment!
And what about his side?
After running around and having students drop hints everywhere, he had only collected a pitiful one hundred thousand so far!
Comparisons really could infuriate a person to death!
He cursed inwardly. There were simply too many poor bastards in the fist arts class—far too little oil and water to be squeezed from them!
How had he muddleheadedly followed that outdated Lineage tradition and learned this lousy fist art in the first place?
Even making money from it put him a whole head shorter than others!
Li Zhanting suppressed the fire in his heart and barked irritably:
"Quiet, all of you! It's almost three o'clock!"
"Everyone, line up immediately! Follow the roster order and come forward one by one to demonstrate your fist arts! If you drag your feet or perform poorly, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
Before you continue