It Didn't Seem That Hard

Class Fourteen of Lingshan No.1 High School was considered a lower-middle-tier class.

Classes at Lingshan No.1 High School were assigned according to students' grades.

High school was not part of compulsory education, so schools no longer faced so many restrictions.

The school leadership did not care in the slightest whether dividing students into advanced and slow classes would affect their emotions.

Among this year's first-year students, the first five classes were Advanced Classes.

Classes Six through Fourteen were Slow Classes.

Of course, the Slow Classes had a slightly nicer-sounding name: Parallel Classes.

The term "Slow Class" really did not sound very pleasant.

The class Li Yuan was currently primarily responsible for was Class Fourteen.

Although he often substituted for other classes, Class Fourteen remained his main concern.

There were still a few children in the class with decent comprehension.

But there were only those few. The other students' talent and comprehension were a clear step below those of the Advanced Classes.

Inside Class Fourteen's classroom, a group of students had gathered together.

"Today's lesson is on the Sinking Mountain Fist. Who knows how exhausted we'll be by the end..."

"I really don't get why they're still teaching it. Plenty of people in the Advanced Classes can't learn it, so why make things difficult for us?"

Aside from practical combat applications, fist-based martial skills could also temper the body and strengthen one's physique.

The Sinking Mountain Fist had considerable advantages in that regard.

Many students might not be able to learn it, but the school still wanted to teach such a good thing to its students.

Those who mastered it would benefit for life.

However, before Class Fourteen's students had even begun, they were already thinking of backing out.

The Advanced Classes were ahead in the curriculum. Having heard how difficult the Sinking Mountain Fist was from Advanced Class students, they all seemed to feel it was only natural to give up.

After being divided into Advanced and Slow Classes, the Slow Class students unconsciously began to believe they were inferior.

If Advanced Class students found something difficult, they assumed they could not understand it.

If even many Advanced Class students could not learn it, then in their view, they would have trouble even getting started.

"Parallel Classes shouldn't be using the same textbooks as Advanced Classes. Strengthening our foundations is what we should be focusing on."

"Our time and energy really shouldn't be invested in the Sinking Mountain Fist."

The student who said that was named Hong Kaizhou.

He was ranked first in Class Fourteen.

Once Hong Kaizhou said that, the other students felt even more at ease.

Even the top student in class had that attitude. It seemed the coming Sinking Mountain Fist lesson really would be a waste of time.

The bell rang, and Li Yuan entered the Martial Arts Training Room right on time.

At the sight of Li Yuan, several students began whispering with the classmates beside them.

By Monday morning, word that Li Yuan was competing for a Youth Martial Tournament qualification had already spread everywhere.

Middle school students loved this kind of excitement.

They even hoped Li Yuan would explain the full story behind it.

But Li Yuan did not want to waste his students' study time. He quickly got into the lesson and began teaching.

Today's lesson really was on the Sinking Mountain Fist.

The Advanced Classes had already covered it. The Parallel Classes were three days behind, so it was time for them to learn it as well.

When Li Yuan began explaining the Sinking Mountain Fist, the students, who had already lacked enthusiasm for studying, seemed even less interested.

With the top-ranked Hong Kaizhou taking the lead, they began studying other cultivation methods during class.

Hong Kaizhou was not looking down on the Sinking Mountain Fist.

As the top student in the class, he worked harder than most people.

Before class, Hong Kaizhou would preview the material in advance and note down every difficulty he encountered.

That way, during the formal lesson, he could target those areas for breakthroughs.

Hong Kaizhou had encountered a major problem while previewing the Sinking Mountain Fist.

He could barely understand the text, let alone gain any deeper insight into it.

After speaking with top students from the Advanced Classes, he felt even more that cultivating the Sinking Mountain Fist was not worth the effort.

Most likely, he would spend the time and still only understand it halfway.

Having thought it through, Hong Kaizhou no longer wanted to listen. His time and energy would be better spent on cultivation that brought reliable gains.

With the class's top student taking the lead, the others had even more excuses to convince themselves.

But they did not have Hong Kaizhou's self-discipline.

Hong Kaizhou was not listening to the lesson, but he was still cultivating and studying.

Many students in the class, on the other hand, simply started playing around once they stopped studying.

Their minds wandered as they fantasized about all sorts of things.

Li Yuan continued teaching from the front, occasionally offering a reminder or two while doing his best not to disrupt the rhythm of his lecture.

There were still hardworking students in the class.

Even after hearing about the Sinking Mountain Fist's difficulty from others, they still studied it attentively.

At first, these students listening to the lesson did not hold much hope.

They had a mindset of, "Understand whatever you can."

But as they continued listening with that mindset, the more they listened, the more something felt off.

It was not that Li Yuan had explained anything incorrectly or that there was a problem with his teaching.

Rather, they felt that they...

Understood it!

"I've already given everyone a general explanation. This introductory cultivation should no longer stop you.

Next, I'll give you three points to remember.

It's not sinking strength; it's sinking breath.

It's not setting a horse stance; it's establishing roots.

It's not striking fiercely; it's striking in rhythm.

Remember these three distinctions. Follow them consciously, and you'll see remarkable results."

Forty minutes passed, and Li Yuan had finished everything he needed to teach.

There were still five minutes before class ended, so Li Yuan told everyone to reflect on it carefully.

After the break, they could bring up anything they did not understand and ask about it in the next lesson.

At the same time, Li Yuan began collecting the Light Points that had dropped around the classroom.

Almost every student who had listened to the lesson had gained some insight.

He could tell from the Light Points dropping around them.

[Experience +2]

[Experience +1]

...

Normally, when he taught Class Fourteen, he would be fortunate to collect two or three Light Points.

Today, Li Yuan picked up sixteen Light Points in one go.

Those sixteen Light Points gave him twenty-two experience points.

After obtaining the Enlightenment to Perfection talent, he could thoroughly master all kinds of cultivation methods and martial skills.

He could gain a thorough understanding of the underlying core principles behind them.

Once he understood them completely, he could explain them to his students.

Both the content he taught and his methods of teaching would be different.

Where the difficulties lay, why students could not understand them, and why learning felt so exhausting.

Li Yuan understood all of these matters perfectly.

Every sentence he spoke was resolving his students' confusion.

The greatest reason the Sinking Mountain Fist was difficult to learn was that very few instructors had mastered it thoroughly.

The teachers all knew some of it, but most of that knowledge had been learned by feel.

They could handle inspections from the Education Bureau, but when guiding students, they were always somewhat vague.

The Advanced Class teachers had learned it a little more precisely.

But even they merely believed they understood it completely.

They had not truly grasped the core essence of the Sinking Mountain Fist.

Take the first point Li Yuan had just mentioned: it was not sinking strength, but sinking breath.

There was probably not a single teacher at Lingshan No.1 High School who had noticed that.

Five minutes passed, and class ended.

Li Yuan returned to his office to rest, while everyone relaxed a little after class.

Those students who had listened seriously still had not fully recovered from their surprise.

"Why do I feel like this Sinking Mountain Fist... doesn't seem that hard?"

The student who voiced that thought was a girl named Shen Zhongyu.

She was diligent in cultivation and study, but unfortunately lacked a little talent.

The others around her smiled when they heard that.

"Then congratulations on surpassing the top students in the Advanced Classes.

During the final exams, you'll even snatch Hong Kaizhou's first-place ranking, won't you~"