"Did you waste all nine years of compulsory education? Don't you know metal conducts electricity?"
Yu Qingqing turned his head, thinking Xu Zhiming was going to attack his head.
Crack.
The spearhead struck his right shoulder with a crisp sound.
Yu Qingqing was sent flying three or four meters, his body rolling wildly across the ground several times.
A white tag flew off him and landed not far in front of Yu Qingqing.
Yu Qingqing lay on the ground, struggling to get up, and reached out to grab the voucher.
But his fingers were pinned down by the icy spear.
Xu Zhiming bent over and picked up the claim voucher.
Yu Qingqing stared at Xu Zhiming. Those were his resources.
His gaze burned with fury, flames surging in his chest.
Yet the instant his palm touched the ice-cold spear, he suddenly came to his senses. The flames within him seemed to be doused by cold water, and a chill ran through his entire body.
How could this person possibly be so strong?
The students watching were stunned, then erupted into cheers.
"I finally understand why everyone likes putting themselves in the protagonist's shoes when reading novels! If Xu Zhiming were in a novel, he'd be the undisputed protagonist."
"When none of us thought highly of him, Xu Zhiming shattered every doubt with one thrust of his spear!"
"So cool! From now on, I'm going to work hard and improve myself just like Xu Zhiming!"
Several people saw Yu Qingqing, who was not much stronger than them, defeated so easily.
They exchanged glances and knew they were no match for him.
Especially those ranked fourth and fifth. They knew they could defeat Yu Qingqing.
But they could not do it as easily as Xu Zhiming had.
They immediately turned and slipped into the crowd to collect this month's rewards.
They were afraid Xu Zhiming would come after them, wanting to squeeze his rank further upward.
The B-grade class students who had followed Yu Qingqing were utterly shocked.
How could he be this strong?
Just moments ago, they had claimed Yu Qingqing could easily defeat this guy.
Their faces burned as though someone had slapped them hard several times.
Yu Qingqing struggled to his feet, his right hand clutching his left shoulder blade.
The pain drilled into his bones.
He panicked. He was afraid too.
His body was wracked with piercing pain, and half his body had gone completely numb, unable to exert any strength at all.
He stared at Xu Zhiming and spoke through gritted teeth.
"You definitely have more than ten points of blood vitality."
Xu Zhiming put the voucher into his pocket.
He raised his spear.
Yu Qingqing stared fixedly at Xu Zhiming, at the spear in Xu Zhiming's hand.
The muscles in his face stiffened, and his body trembled faintly with fear.
He had not been a match for Xu Zhiming even at full strength. Now that he was injured, he was even less of a match.
Then he remembered he was acting on behalf of the person on the top floor, and confidence instantly returned to him.
"Xu Zhiming, I advise you to return it to me. I'm Qiu—"
Xu Zhiming raised his spear.
Wind Thunder Fist, Fifth Layer: Lightning Flash. A thread of white lightning flickered across the spear.
A straight thrust.
Crack.
Yu Qingqing flew backward and fell to the ground, never getting back up again.
"Teacher Wang, he didn't surrender. It was reasonable for me to make him incapable of fighting, right?"
Wang Hu nodded.
He looked at the spear in Xu Zhiming's hand. If the spearhead had not been specially treated, Yu Qingqing would have had two bloody holes in his body by now.
He felt rather impressed. The combat talent Xu Zhiming had displayed was exceptionally good.
First defend, let the opponent lower his guard, then end the fight with lightning speed before they could cover their ears.
What a fine kid. Why didn't he have those discerning eyes that could recognize a pearl?
If Sun Dasheng could lend him Fiery Golden Eyes, he could have discovered Xu Zhiming sooner.
"Reasonable, reasonable... A few students, come take Yu Qingqing to the infirmary."
No one stepped forward. Everyone merely looked around.
"Teacher, Teacher, I feel like my Wind Thunder Fist is about to break through to the Fourth Layer."
"Teacher, I exhausted my body practicing martial skills today. I don't have any strength left."
"Yeah, me too. I'm out of strength. I need to go back and nourish myself properly."
All the students quietly watched Yu Qingqing lying on the ground, their faces full of satisfaction.
Those led by Yu Qingqing followed behind the first-ranked student and often spread talk around the school about how hard work was useless.
They crushed everyone else's enthusiasm for improving themselves.
Many people had accumulated a great deal of resentment toward Yu Qingqing.
Back when Yu Qingqing ranked in the top ten, they had not dared say anything.
Now that Yu Qingqing was lying on the ground, they could choose not to help him.
Zeng Hao swept his gaze over him and recalled the humiliation he had suffered at Yu Qingqing's hands.
A sneer appeared at the corner of his lips.
He put his phone back into his pocket.
Why should he be a good person? They had treated him like this, so why should he make a call for him?
"Classmates, let's go. It's time to practice Wind Thunder Fist."
"I wouldn't dare help Yu Qingqing up. I'm afraid he'll be like certain old people and claim I was the one who knocked him down."
"Hahaha, that makes sense. I remember some judge saying, if you didn't knock them down, why would you help them up?"
"If you ask me, people like this deserve it. He couldn't even block one spear thrust from Xu Zhiming, yet he dared snatch Xu Zhiming's potion."
"Haha, now I'm kind of looking forward to Xu Zhiming knocking that number one guy off his perch, though the chances are very small..."
Yu Qingqing had not fainted. His bones felt as if they had all fallen apart, and he could not muster even a trace of strength.
No one called for him, and no one cared.
All he heard from the surroundings were mockery and sneers.
When had Yu Qingqing ever suffered such humiliation? He was furious and enraged.
With his anger attacking his heart, he fainted.
Xu Zhiming glanced at Yu Qingqing.
Both had doubled blood vitality, but the Fifth Layer of Wind Thunder Fist had given him a trace of Lightning Force.
That thread of Lightning Force was enough to give him the upper hand in battle.
When his spear touched an opponent's body or Martial Vessel, the current was enough to paralyze them for an instant.
That brief instant was enough to determine victory or defeat.
Xu Zhiming was looking forward to the Sixth Layer of Wind Thunder Fist.
Defeating Yu Qingqing had also let him vent some pent-up anger.
He knew there was still someone on the top floor.
It was precisely that person who had corrupted the atmosphere of the entire school.
Qiu Zongying.
Rumor had it that he was already a Level 12 Martial Artist, with over fifty points of blood vitality, and was charging toward Level Thirteen Martial Artist.
Xu Zhiming knew he was not that man's match for now.
Not now—but after some time, he would be able to defeat him in seconds.
Xu Zhiming did not enjoy evenly matched battles with others.
He only wanted to defeat them in seconds, then continue practicing martial skills and improving his strength.
That was why, after defeating Yu Qingqing, he turned around and returned to his spot to train.
Wang Hu shook his head and called the school infirmary.
Then he sent a message to the teacher of the school's strongest Special Training Class.
He learned that the other party was hunting Demon Beasts in the wilderness.
Looking at Xu Zhiming, Wang Hu could not help but marvel.
The blood vitality Xu Zhiming had displayed in that fight was definitely above twelve points.
With C-grade aptitude, even cultivating a Martial Dao Visualization Chart should not have raised his blood vitality this quickly.
That left only two possibilities.
The first possibility was that Xu Zhiming had suddenly awakened to his potential, and his comprehension had improved.
The second was that he possessed aptitude even better than A-grade aptitude—bloodline?!
Wang Hu shook his head. The odds of the second possibility were too low to consider.
Whether it was the second possibility or not would become clear in two months, when the official tests reassessed aptitudes during the College Entrance Exam.
"I wonder whether Xu Zhiming can train Wind Thunder Fist to the Sixth Layer."
"The Sixth Layer of Wind Thunder Fist has an aptitude-tempering effect on those below Level 10."
"They say the tempering effect is even better when paired with its matching Martial Dao Visualization Chart, but that chart is far too expensive."
Wang Hu felt some anticipation. Perhaps it was possible.
In a corner on the first floor of the Martial Arts Hall.
Xu Zhiming remembered that the Sixth Layer of Wind Thunder Fist could improve aptitude.
He planned to spend more time training the Sixth Layer.
If his aptitude improved, he would absorb more from potions as well.
The beneficial energy contained in potions was the same.
The higher one's aptitude, the more blood vitality one would gain from taking the same potion.
Official data showed this.
With the same bottle of E-grade Azure Potion, C-grade aptitude could raise blood vitality by roughly 0.2 points, while B-grade aptitude could raise it by 0.3 points.
Good aptitude had its troubles too. Stronger blood vitality at the same realm meant consuming more resources.
Before practicing his fist technique, he needed to collect the rewards for entering the top ten.
He also needed to collect all the rewards he had previously earned for breaking through Levels 5 and 6.
Yunshui First High School's potion room.
A man in his thirties had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. As he counted the white number tags in his hand, he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"This month, another ten students have broken through Level 5, and two have broken through Level 6. They want to come ask me for bonuses."
"Once I report it, I can get another bit of spending money."
The man took a deep drag of his cigarette, a smug smile appearing on his lips.
It added up to six or seven thousand yuan every month.
He did not dare pocket the rewards for B-grade aptitude students.
But he could still pocket the rewards belonging to those C-grade little trash.
Lin Tianyong could not quite understand it.
Why didn't Great Xia offer more rewards?
Breaking through Level 5 only earned five hundred per person, Level 6 earned one thousand, and Level 7 earned one thousand five hundred. It would be even better if they doubled it again.
Wouldn't that mean more ending up in his own hands?
Lin Yongtian rubbed his face. Tonight, he could go have some fun again.
He had to win back all the money he had lost before.
Just then.
Lin Yongtian saw a male student walking over.
That unlucky bastard the school had used to curry favor with the number one student?
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