Sixteenth Chapter: This Was My Milestone

Quiet.

Compared to the Sports Field, which had already grown noisy, the training room was utterly silent.

The teachers, Wang Yang and the others, looked back and forth between Xia Tong, who lay on the floor, and the young man standing quietly nearby.

If the two of them hadn't been dressed so differently, they would surely have mistaken one for the other.

Because no matter how they looked at it, Chen Yan, the student, should have been the one lying on the floor.

Shock rolled through everyone's hearts like the waves of a great river. The first to react was Wang Yang, the Head Teacher of Class Three. He hurried to Xia Tong's side first. Seeing the shock and despair on Xia Tong's face, he then went to Chen Yan, opened his mouth, and after a long moment managed to utter a single word.

"You..."

Wang Yang squeezed Chen Yan's shoulder. Gradually, an even more satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Great job!"

"I hope I lived up to your expectations, Teacher," Chen Yan said with a smile.

"Hahahaha..." Wang Yang laughed and laughed, but when he noticed Xia Tong slowly sitting up from the floor, his smile gradually faded.

Xia Tong sat right there on the floor, the soles of his feet still numb. He looked at Chen Yan, his thoughts churning like a flood.

The power unleashed by that punch had left him aghast.

This wasn't the sort of strength one could gain through hard work alone. The person who had just sent him flying with a punch was a genuine genius.

And Xia Tong had never even noticed him.

"Director Xia, did he pass?" Wang Yang asked.

"He... passed." Xia Tong lowered his head and murmured the words.

"Good. Chen Yan, go challenge Zhang Qingsi." Wang Yang gave Chen Yan's shoulder a hearty slap, his eyes shining.

He looked even happier than Chen Yan himself.

"Okay." Under everyone's shocked gazes, Chen Yan headed for the door. Suddenly, he stopped.

"Director Xia."

The young man in white turned his head. Sunlight fell across half his handsome face, and his dark, ebony eyes looked down at Xia Tong, who stared back in bewilderment.

"Teacher Wang said you brought that Bronze Statue here. May I ask..."

Chen Yan smiled, his eyes gleaming.

"Who does the statue depict?"

Xia Tong's mouth fell open. The instant his eyes met Chen Yan's, they flickered and his lips began to tremble. For some reason, an indescribable sense of guilt and inferiority welled up in his heart.

"That is..."

Xia Tong's voice was full of complicated emotion and trembled as he spoke.

"That's a statue of Lu Xunyang, the Chief of the Qin Prefecture Town Martial Division. It's Lord Lu."

Chen Yan nodded, then asked again.

"Then, Teacher Xia, do you know what movement the statue is performing?"

Xia Tong pressed his lips together. The memory of that young man standing in front of the statue that day, drenched in sweat as he clumsily imitated its pose, thundered through his mind.

This young man really wanted to know where that statue came from.

"That punch is one of the external training moves of the Eight Forms of Extreme Refinement, the most famous Horizontal Refinement martial art of the Town Martial Division. I don't know the details myself. You can only learn the Eight Forms of Extreme Refinement after joining the Town Martial Division and passing their selection."

Chen Yan nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

Then he left the training room, leaving behind a group of silent teachers.

"The Eight Forms of Extreme Refinement... external training moves..."

Chen Yan walked across the grass, murmuring those words.

No wonder imitating that movement had benefited him so much. The punching technique had been extraordinary to begin with.

At that moment, the Sports Field was still in an uproar.

Gao Yuan, who had just defeated Wang Yu, now stood where Wang Yu had been. Faced with everyone's astonishment, he just kept grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

As for Wang Yu of Class Two, he sat dejectedly on the lawn. He had once been the center of everyone's attention, but now not a single student comforted him. They were all talking about Gao Yuan.

"He's amazing. Awakening Qi and Blood really makes all the difference."

"Wang Yu never awakened Qi and Blood. Gao Yuan wasn't anything special before, but after awakening it, he far surpassed Wang Yu."

"So if you don't awaken Qi and Blood, you can't beat someone who has..."

"At the Punching Strength Test, Zhang Qingsi was weaker than Wang Yu, but I heard that by Friday, Wang Yu couldn't even beat Zhang Qingsi anymore."

The comments went on and on, and everyone's eyes were full of envy and awe.

Gao Yuan had kept his awakening of Qi and Blood a secret. Even without Xia Tong's private training, he could have defeated Wang Yu today with his own Qi and Blood.

Today, Gao Yuan had made a name for himself throughout Qingshan High School.

Even Zhang Qingsi and Yu Zhiwen looked at Gao Yuan with a hint of approval. Now that they had awakened Qi and Blood, they had become geniuses of the same caliber.

Just then, the arrival of a young man in white barely drew any attention.

The Principal was still smiling as she spoke with the man in Sunglasses standing at the center of the stage. Then she noticed Chen Yan and said in surprise, "Chen Yan, you passed the test too?"

The entire school fell quiet. Everyone turned their attention to Chen Yan.

"Yeah."

Chen Yan nodded.

Beside him, Zhang Qingsi frowned as he looked at Chen Yan, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

The students shifted their attention away from Gao Yuan, who was beaming with pride, and turned their eyes to Chen Yan.

In Class Three, Hu Yuan watched the young man in white. A trace of malice appeared in his eyes, but beneath it lay wariness and complicated feelings.

He suddenly realized that without Zhang Qingsi, Chen Yan would have been the best student in Class Three.

Now he had even passed Teacher Xia Tong's test, surpassing Hu Yuan in every way.

Having someone like that as a relative should have been a happy thing, but little by little, the Hu and Chen families had drifted farther apart.

Then, two days ago, Hu Yuan's father, Hu Zeyuan, had been fined five hundred by the Town Martial Hall, and the relationship between the two families had completely soured.

Though Hu Yuan was seething, he couldn't help feeling a little unsettled. He grinned at the person beside him and said, "Hmph. Brother Zhang will send him flying with one punch."

Laughter rang out in Class Three.

Wang Yu, a well-known student, had been defeated by Gao Yuan, proving with hard facts that people who awakened Qi and Blood were far stronger than ordinary people.

Unless Chen Yan had awakened Qi and Blood too, he had no chance against Zhang Qingsi.

But at the front of the crowd, Chen Yan and Zhang Qingsi were already facing each other.

"Chen Yan, know your limits," Principal Zhang Yue said.

"Zhang Qingsi, the same goes for you."

Chen Yan nodded. Zhang Qingsi, across from him, just gave a faint smile.

Know my limits? What a joke.

If he had to hold back against Chen Yan, what was the point of awakening Qi and Blood?

"Zhang Qingsi, know your limits!"

A shout rang out from the other side of the Sports Field. The students all turned to look. Xia Tong was hurrying toward them, limping as he walked.

In an instant, Zhang Qingsi was stunned. Gao Yuan and Yu Zhiwen, who had been standing quietly nearby, frowned as well. Everyone stared at the young man in the white T-shirt.

He stood there calmly, as if he weren't the one being challenged but Zhang Qingsi was.

Suddenly, it was as if thunder had exploded in everyone's mind.

Why was Xia Tong limping?

He was the teacher administering the test, and Chen Yan was the last student to take it.

As soon as everyone realized this crucial detail, a thought sent a chill through them. They stared fixedly at Chen Yan.

On the stage, Principal Zhang Yue and the middle-aged man in Sunglasses standing at its center both looked at Chen Yan.

"Begin!" Principal Zhang Yue called.

Zhang Qingsi, who had been so nonchalant, now glanced between Xia Tong and Chen Yan. His expression grew grave.

He lunged forward, a faint Red Light spreading over his limbs, and no longer dared to underestimate Chen Yan.

One punch!

He drove a punch straight at Chen Yan's face.

Zhang Qingsi's eyes widened. He didn't know why Xia Tong was so tense, or why Chen Yan looked so calm.

He was the top student who had awakened Qi and Blood. He was already a martial artist, high above the rest.

There was no way he could be defeated by someone else.

Chen Yan didn't even deserve the chance to enter his field of vision!

It was as if the punch had struck an unyielding wall and could go no farther. Chen Yan caught Zhang Qingsi's fist with one hand. His arm bent slightly, then straightened again.

"So this is the strength that comes with awakening Qi and Blood?"

Chen Yan murmured, seemingly oblivious to the shock in Zhang Qingsi's eyes as he assessed him.

"It's quite strong."

At the last Punching Strength Test, Zhang Qingsi had outscored Chen Yan by nearly a hundred kilograms. Now, it seemed Zhang Qingsi had improved again.

And by a lot.

Whoosh!

As their sleeves fluttered, Chen Yan suddenly yanked with one hand. Zhang Qingsi's body lurched toward him.

"You!" Zhang Qingsi's expression turned panicked. Faced with the huge gap in strength, he swung his left fist at Chen Yan.

But Chen Yan suddenly shoved away the fist he had caught, lowered his body slightly, and punched Zhang Qingsi.

Thud! Thud!

They each landed a punch on the other's chest. Chen Yan staggered backward several steps.

Zhang Qingsi, by contrast, was sent flying outright.

He skidded across the lawn for a long while, dirt spraying into the air, before his body finally hit the ground far away.

"Chen Yan!"

Zhang Qingsi spat out a mouthful of dirt-flecked saliva. After a moment of stunned silence, his face instantly turned vicious.

He was about to sit up when he saw a figure swooping down from above like a fierce eagle.

He really was swooping down.

With his immense strength behind him, Chen Yan moved with powerful agility. In an instant, he sprang into the air and traced a white lightning-like arc.

"Ah!!!"

Zhang Qingsi let out a sudden scream. The anger vanished from his face, leaving it deathly pale. As if he could already feel Chen Yan's foot crashing into his face, he desperately scrambled to dodge.

Like a sudden clap of thunder, Chen Yan's foot slammed down where Zhang Qingsi's head had been. The lawn caved in, and the fearsome blow blasted dirt in every direction.

Watching from the side, Zhang Qingsi went white with terror. His eyes darted about as he stared at Chen Yan in fear.

If I hadn't dodged, would that kick have...

How did he train?

He clearly hasn't awakened Qi and Blood!

If he's this powerful, why did he stay unnoticed all this time, only to nearly kill me now?

How did he forge such a strong, sinewy body?

"It's just one Town Martial Bonus, isn't it!?" he shouted. But even then, he didn't dare look at Chen Yan. His voice was urgent and furious as he cried, "I... surrender!"

The entire field fell silent.

Beside them, the grin on Gao Yuan's face slowly faded, replaced first by calm, then by a fixed stare.

Yu Zhiwen stood with her hands behind her back, her brows furrowed as she looked at the young man in white. Her red lips parted, but not a word came out.

In Class Three, Hu Yuan stood frozen on the lawn, his mouth gradually falling open until it could have fit an egg.

When Zhang Qingsi uttered those four words, Xia Tong was stunned too. Perhaps his feet were still aching, because his body swayed, his face filled with bitterness and tangled emotions.

Behind him, Class Three Head Teacher Wang Yang opened his mouth. He made no sound, but his eyes brimmed with laughter.

After the entire Sports Field sank into a terrifying silence, a tidal wave of cheers erupted.

On the stage, the middle-aged man in Sunglasses remained calm. His eyes fixed on Chen Yan through his glasses as he spoke, word by word.

"Born with divine strength, a prodigy in Horizontal Refinement?"

Brilliant sunlight passed through layered clouds and spilled in dappled patches. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves.

Chen Yan lowered his right leg, which had been about to kick, and felt the wind pass through his chest. It was wonderfully refreshing.

As he glanced around at the stunned, cheering, and bewildered faces, the corner of his eye caught Zhang Qingsi's sorry figure. He lay beneath Chen Yan's long shadow.

Chen Yan's gaze was calm.

Wasn't it just one Town Martial Bonus?

This was plainly a milestone on his road to rising to the top.