Grade One, Class Eight

Grade One, Class Eight

Yuzhou No. 4 High School had been established for fifty-nine years. Among all the high schools in Yuzhou City, it ranked in the top three. Though it could not compare to the best, No.2 Middle School, it had its own strengths.

Several large wooden boards stood in front of the Academic Affairs Office, covered with class assignment lists for the new Grade One students.

A huge crowd of students had gathered there, chattering noisily.

Jiang Ning had come to look two days ago. There were twelve classes in the first year in total. Classes One, Two, and Three were Experimental Classes, the so-called key classes. The maximum score on the high school entrance exam was 925. Regular classes required 640 points, while key classes required at least 700.

He was in Grade One, Class Eight, just as he had been in his previous life.

Since he already knew his class, Jiang Ning did not bother joining the crowd. He headed straight for Class Eight.

Unless something unexpected happened, his classmates should not be any different either.

Grade One, Class Eight was on the first floor, in a conspicuous location. For certain reasons, Class 1, the key class, was right next door. Jiang Ning knew that in a month, Class Eight would move to the second floor of the adjacent teaching building.

When Jiang Ning entered, more than half the class had already arrived. Everywhere he looked were faces both familiar and strange. He could match fewer than five of them to their names.

He had forgotten most of what they had done in high school, how their grades had been, and how their futures had turned out. He only remembered a few of the more notable ones.

The classroom was a hubbub. Students who knew one another chatted in groups about all sorts of things. Some bolder students sat directly on their desks, while others quietly played on their phones.

Shen Qing'e had arrived already. She sat in the third row, chatting with two girls.

Jiang Ning's arrival drew attention for only a moment before things returned to normal.

He looked ordinary and had come from a rural town, so naturally there was nothing about him that stood out.

When Shen Qing'e noticed him, she had originally wanted to greet him, but after thinking it over, she decided against it. Knowing someone like Jiang Ning would bring her no benefit. He was far inferior to his cousin Jiang Junlong. When she had told the girls she had just met that Jiang Junlong had entered No.2 Middle School's Experimental Class, it had caused quite a stir.

The admission score for No.2 Middle School's regular classes was comparable to that of No. 4 High School's Experimental Classes, much less No.2 Middle School's Experimental Classes. He was surely bound for a 985 University in the future.

Finding a corner seat by the window, Jiang Ning began playing on his phone while opening up his five senses. The classroom's chaotic noise seemed to be plucked by an invisible hand, instantly becoming distinct layers like countless strings. As long as he wished, he could pick out any strand of sound and listen to it.

Jiang Ning blocked out most of it, leaving only two pleasant female voices before immersing himself in his own world.

Body cultivation progressed gradually, so Jiang Ning did not need to worry about it. His Spiritual Sense was tempered with a Secret Art. What he still had not settled on was the most important thing: a cultivation method. However, he already had an idea.

Spiritual energy was scarce in the modern world, so any cultivation method he chose could not demand too much of it. Jiang Ning had two methods under consideration. One was called "Evergreen Longevity." It did not require much spiritual energy and emphasized that the Dao arose from the heart. Its progress was slow and depended on the accumulation of years. Even with Jiang Ning's Heavenly Spiritual Root, choosing this method would mean relying on time to grind his way through the realms. Its advantage was stability.

The other method, "Star Transformation Art," encompassed all things. Its most praiseworthy quality was that it could not only absorb spiritual energy, but was also exceptionally efficient at converting all kinds of energy, such as the power of the stars.

After weighing the pros and cons, Jiang Ning decided to cultivate the "Star Transformation Art."

He had deduced this cultivation method many times in his previous life and had always felt that it contained the rules of the Great Dao. Unfortunately, he had ultimately failed to derive those rules.

Thinking about it now, if he could grasp the rules of the Great Dao during the Nascent Soul Stage, even just a trace of them, he could use those rules to avoid the Spirit Transformation Lightning Tribulation.

But the rules of the Great Dao were difficult to find. Jiang Ning had once ordered people to search through the historical records of the Fallen Cloud Sect since its founding ten thousand years ago, yet he had never heard of any cultivator below the Spirit Transformation realm controlling the laws of the Great Dao. It was probably nothing more than a legend.

For me, spiritual energy is scarce in this world, so Pills are indispensable. Although there are very few spiritual herbs nowadays, and most are merely common medicinal herbs, the Star Transformation Art should make reaching the Golden Core Stage no difficult task.

After all, before the Nascent Soul Stage, those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots faced no bottlenecks and did not need to painstakingly seek out all sorts of breakthrough pills.

He had been ordinary for half his previous life, accomplishing nothing and possessing no particular talents. Yet after entering the cultivation world, he learned that he was actually blessed with a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Fate truly had a way of making fools of people.

Right next to Yuzhou City was the renowned Medicine Capital, Qiaozhou, home to the largest wholesale market for traditional Chinese medicine in central China. Once he got the gold from Xue Yuantong's family, he would go make a proper round of purchases.

As Jiang Ning pondered, a familiar set of footsteps reached his ears. With his hearing, identifying someone from their footsteps posed no difficulty at all.

He looked up just as Xue Yuantong stepped through the classroom door. Her little face was flushed red, and a fine layer of sweat covered her forehead. She looked thoroughly exhausted.

Walking three kilometers in this heat? The little girl is pretty tough, Jiang Ning thought.

Xue Yuantong was almost the last student to arrive. Not long afterward, a round-faced man in his thirties entered the classroom holding a roster. As he took his place at the podium, the room gradually quieted down.

He wrote three large characters on the blackboard: Shan Qingrong.

The students immediately understood. This was their future Class Teacher.

Shan Qingrong swept his gaze around the room and said in a booming voice, "My name is Shan Qingrong. From now on, I will be the Class Teacher of Grade One, Class Eight. For some time to come, I will be responsible for all class affairs."

As his voice fell, the classroom became completely quiet. In high school, a Class Teacher still carried considerable authority.

Clap, clap. Jiang Ning applauded from his corner. The other students realized what was happening a beat later and followed suit, their applause joining into a wave that filled the classroom.

Shan Qingrong noticed Jiang Ning and nodded to himself. A sensible student.

He pressed one hand downward, and the applause immediately stopped.

"First, we'll take attendance. Raise your hand when you hear your name."

"Huang Zhongfei."

"Bai Yuxia."

"Dong Qingfeng."

"Xue Yuantong."

"Shen Qing'e."

"Ma Shicheng."

As one familiar name after another rang out, those distant memories gradually began to fit together.

Huang Zhongfei's name sounded rather old-fashioned, but he himself was tall and handsome, the most handsome boy in the entire first year. He would become the Class Monitor in the future and was well liked by his classmates, especially the girls.

Dong Qingfeng came from a wealthy family, earned good grades, and looked decent too. But he looked down on students with poor grades, as well as those from counties and rural towns.

Yes, people like Jiang Ning were exactly the sort he looked down on. Back then, Jiang Ning had even clashed with him, and things had ended unpleasantly.

Given another chance at life, Jiang Ning had long forgotten the details of those conflicts. They had probably been trivial matters anyway.

Then there was Bai Yuxia. She was the recognized most popular girl in Class Eight. In this class alone, seven or eight boys secretly had crushes on her.

Bai Yuxia was prettier than Shen Qing'e, and her grades consistently ranked in the top three of the class. Her family was well-off too. Her mother was a Deputy Chief Physician at the city people's hospital, and her father was an Associate Professor at Yuzhou University of Finance and Economics. In a third- or fourth-tier city like Yuzhou, they were undoubtedly an upper-middle-class family.

After Shan Qingrong finished calling names, he used a ruler to draw several vertical lines on the blackboard, marking them in sequence from 150 to 180.

"Come up, measure your height, and collect your military training uniforms."

Huang Zhongfei took the lead, easily surpassing the 180-centimeter line. He was probably around 182 centimeters. More importantly, he was only in his first year of high school, fifteen or sixteen years old, and still had room to grow. His tall, handsome appearance made quite a few girls whisper among themselves.

The rest were much more ordinary. Most of the boys fell within five centimeters of 170, after all, boys could continue growing until they were eighteen.

Jiang Ning went up to be measured. 165. He sighed inwardly. Among the boys in class, that put him somewhat below average. In the future, he would grow to 175.

Height was not all that important, especially after entering society, where money was king. But if someone could grow a few centimeters taller without paying any price, most people would probably be willing. It was beneficial, after all.

Later, after Jiang Ning began cultivating, he could have altered his physique, but he never did.

Actually, Jiang Ning had inherited decent genes from his parents. However, during the growth period of his high school years in his previous life, he often refused to eat because he could not stand Aunt's behavior, which delayed his development.

Among the girls, Xue Yuantong proudly claimed the title of shortest in the class. Some boys privately called her an elementary schooler, making Xue Yuantong so furious that her lungs nearly exploded. She wanted nothing more than to tear them apart with her bare hands.

Jiang Ning watched silently. He knew that Xue Yuantong would grow past 160 centimeters in the future and would no longer be called a little shorty. But the year she began growing taller would also be the last year of her life.

"Jiang Ning, have you noticed there are kind of a lot of pretty girls in our class?" The acne on Ma Shicheng's face seemed to light up with excitement.

Before Jiang Ning could reply, a boy with a center-part hairstyle beside them said,

"Yeah. My friends and I were all stunned."

Jiang Ning's mouth twitched. What an era-specific joke...

"The one with long hair is so pretty. Her eyes are beautiful, her skin is good too. Not a single pimple."

"Yeah, I think she's pretty too." Another student joined the conversation.

"You're too young. You don't understand." Ma Shicheng put on an air of profound wisdom.

"Oh, so you understand?" the other student asked unwillingly.

"To tell whether someone's truly pretty or not, we'll have to wait until they put on their military training uniforms." Ma Shicheng's tone was resolute.

From girls in military training uniforms, the group moved on to soldiers, then to retired veterans they knew, before veering into national grudges and hatred, jumping to comparisons of military equipment, and finally imagining themselves directing the course of the nation with high spirits.

And strangely enough, listening to them really did give Jiang Ning a taste of youth.