It seemed Xu Mochen had noticed the hesitation in Hu Liena and Chu Hanxiang's eyes. He simply asked them, "May I ask what your ultimate goal is in training with weighted runs? Is it to suffer more? Or to satisfy your teachers' demands? Are you training for your teachers? Remember! The purpose of your training is to make yourselves stronger!"
"Better, more scientific training methods can help you improve your strength with half the effort! Though I hate to say it, you people from Spirit Hall shouldn't be doing weighted runs blindly, without paying any attention to technique! That might improve your physical fitness, but you'll get half the results for twice the effort! It could also leave you with lingering injuries!"
Then, noticing a hint of defiance in Hu Liena's eyes, Xu Mochen sneered. "If you think I'm wrong, then answer me this: why do weighted runs improve a person's physical fitness? What's the principle behind it?"
Those words left Hu Liena and Chu Hanxiang utterly baffled. Why did weighted runs improve physical fitness? Wasn't that simply what their predecessors had concluded after testing it themselves? As for the specific reason, how would they know? Who would go out of their way to study something like that? Anyway, hadn't the Soul Master Academies always trained that way?
Seeing the confusion in both girls' eyes, Xu Mochen proceeded to give them a rough explanation. In short, he described how the body changed during exercise, how different methods of weighted running affected the body in different ways, and even used a few easy-to-understand comparisons.
Before long, the two girls gradually accepted what Xu Mochen was saying, and even their looks toward him changed. Chu Hanxiang's face lit up with sudden understanding, and her eyes filled with admiration. She hadn't expected a twelve-year-old like Xu Mochen to know so much! But where had he learned all this? Surely he hadn't figured it all out by himself?
Hu Liena, however, knitted her brows. She didn't believe a twelve-year-old boy like Xu Mochen could have researched all this himself. It was probably all knowledge from the Sun Moon Empire! It seemed the Sun Moon Empire's cultivation methods for Soul Masters might not be as backward as she'd imagined. In fact, in many areas, they might be more clever and sensible than those of Douluo Continent!
The Soul Masters passing nearby had clearly overheard Xu Mochen and the others talking. They hadn't heard as well as Xu Mochen, though. All they caught was something about Spirit Hall's weighted-running method being unreasonable and bad for growth. In short, he was criticizing Spirit Hall's training methods. They exchanged glances, thinking Xu Mochen was far too arrogant to question even his teacher's decisions.
And seeing that Hu Liena and Chu Hanxiang seemed to be convinced only made them more bewildered. Had Xu Mochen used some kind of sorcery to bewitch the two roses of Spirit Hall Academy? Yan, who was already nearly two laps ahead of them, looked even more furious. If Xie Yue hadn't been holding him back, he might have charged over to berate Xu Mochen.
Xu Mochen clearly had no time to bother with the others. He was simply curious about the relationship between Hu Liena and Chu Hanxiang, so he asked Hu Liena about it. She didn't hide anything. In exchange for Xu Mochen teaching them running techniques, she gave him a detailed account of everything about them.
When Xu Mochen learned that Chu Hanxiang's mother was not only the most powerful Healing-type Soul Douluo in Spirit Hall but also Bibi Dong's close friend, he looked like a gossip on the surface, while inwardly he was shocked. This was definitely a character who hadn't appeared in the original story! In the original story, Spirit Hall had hardly shown any powerful support-type Soul Masters at all.
Take the final battle at Jialing Pass in the original story. If the Spirit Hall Empire had really had a top-tier Healing-type Soul Master of such strength, then the Heaven Dou Empire wouldn't have won so easily in the early stages! Sure enough, the original story could only be used as a reference; he couldn't rely on it completely.
Soon, the students finished the course one after another. With help from Hu Liena and Xu Mochen, Chu Hanxiang eventually completed it too. Quite a few students were still left, and though they ran slowly, they gritted their teeth and finished the whole route.
When everyone saw Xu Mochen, who had only worked up a slight sweat after finishing, still looking full of energy, they couldn't help marveling inwardly. A Soul Grandmaster had managed to finish a route that even they, as Soul Ancestors, had struggled through with such ease? Could Xu Mochen really be hiding his strength? Was he actually more than a Soul Grandmaster?
"Look at yourselves! Your physical fitness is so poor! You can't even stick with such basic endurance training!" Kutka walked up to them, his face stern.
He slowly surveyed the crowd, most of whom were panting hard. His tone was utterly unkind. "I only increased the training load a little today, and you've already disappointed me!" As he spoke, he glanced at Xu Mochen and Chu Hanxiang, a faint look of approval in his eyes.
Then he praised the two in front of the students. "Look at Xu Mochen and Chu Hanxiang! One is only a level twenty-four Soul Grandmaster! The other is a level thirty-six support-type Soul Elder! Both of them performed better than the vast majority of you! And you Battle Soul Ancestors who did worse than them—what face do you have left? You're a complete mess!"
Chu Hanxiang panicked when she heard this. She was about to tell the teacher that Xu Mochen had taught her a new way to run, but before she could say a word, Yan suddenly leaped forward and excitedly reported, "Teacher! Xu Mochen just slandered you while running! He said that you and Spirit Hall were teaching everyone the wrong way to do weighted runs! He also said that our training was twice the effort for half the results, and used that to question you and Spirit Hall Academy! Please punish this ignorant brat and vindicate Spirit Hall Academy!"
Yan's words set off another wave of exclamations among most of the students who hadn't heard Xu Mochen earlier. Strange things happened every year, but this year there seemed to be more than usual. Yesterday, Xu Mochen had dared to spend time with Hu Liena and challenge Qin Ze. Today, with only level twenty-four cultivation, he'd somehow defeated Qin Ze, who was level forty-two. And now he even dared to question the teaching methods of their teacher and Spirit Hall!
Honestly, was he brave, or just stupid? Kutka was already famous as a devilish instructor! And now Xu Mochen dared to badmouth him behind his back! He was practically asking for trouble!
But Kutka didn't fly into a rage as many students expected after hearing Yan's report. Instead, he quietly looked at Xu Mochen, who stood nearby with an unruffled expression, then barked, "Xu Mochen, step forward! Tell me! Is what Yan said true? If it is, why do you think my weighted-running system and the one used at Spirit Hall Academy are flawed?"
Hearing the instructor's questions, Hu Liena and Chu Hanxiang couldn't help feeling nervous. Xu Mochen had said those things in part to explain to them why running worked, so they didn't want him to offend this devilish instructor because of them.
They kept signaling to Xu Mochen, hoping he would step forward, admit his mistake, and turn a big problem into a small one—or make it disappear altogether.
But Xu Mochen didn't react as the two girls expected. He stepped forward without being servile or arrogant, then called out, "Reporting to the teacher! I believe the weighted-running method we currently use for endurance training is unreasonable! We don't have a proper running technique to help students train with weights more effectively."
"Simply piling on training without teaching the right method, in the hope of speeding up students' progress, won't help them grow faster! It may even be counterproductive, stunting their growth and leaving them with lasting injuries or other unnecessary problems!"
Xu Mochen seemed not to notice the sympathetic or mocking looks from the students nearby. He continued, "Excessive weighted-running training without proper technique can damage a person's joints and muscles. Overexertion can also harm the heart and lungs! In severe cases, a Soul Master's internal organs may be damaged by excessive activity, leaving them unable to control their Soul Power. It could even cause their Soul Power to turn against them!"
"So I believe Spirit Hall Academy should develop more reasonable, scientific running methods and techniques instead of having students run blindly without proper form. We should also set a sensible training load instead of constantly increasing it. That's how we can get the best training results at the lowest cost!"
At that point, Chu Hanxiang could no longer hold back. She stepped forward too. "Reporting to the teacher! I can confirm that Xu Mochen is right! When I reached the fifteenth lap, I was already completely exhausted and could barely go on. If I hadn't followed the method Xu Mochen taught me, I don't think I could have finished the training on my own in time!"
"Xu Mochen said Spirit Hall's method was flawed because he was explaining why the method worked to me. So if you're going to punish anyone, punish me. I used a different method to finish the course and received praise I didn't deserve."
If Xu Mochen's own admission might have earned him mockery, Chu Hanxiang stepping forward to support him completely changed the minds of most people there. Her personal charm and character were enough to make the vast majority of students trust her without question!
The instructor had frowned slightly when he heard Xu Mochen's explanation, but after seeing Chu Hanxiang step forward to vouch for him, he had no choice but to start believing Xu Mochen.
Then even Hu Liena stepped forward. "Reporting to the teacher! I can confirm everything Xu Mochen and Chu Hanxiang have said! I used this method to run too. If the instructor doesn't believe us, I can teach everyone the method and explain the principles, so they can try it for themselves."
All right, now almost every student believed Xu Mochen—except Qin Ze, who was unconscious on the ground, and Yan, whose eyes burned with jealousy! Yan was still screaming inwardly: This can't be happening! Why? Why can a brat like him understand a running method that even Spirit Hall doesn't know about?
But Yan's inner screams meant nothing. By now, even Kutka, who was famous as a devilish instructor, mostly believed what the three of them had said. Still, to be safe, he asked Hu Liena to demonstrate the method.
Hu Liena naturally held nothing back. She explained every technique to the whole class, one by one. After the students tried them out, they gradually confirmed that Xu Mochen's methods and techniques really worked!
Kutka now understood that Xu Mochen really did have a few tricks up his sleeve. But reporting this to the other members of Spirit Hall Academy's administration was clearly more important. So, after hurriedly announcing that the morning class was over, he jogged toward the academy's administrative building.
Hu Liena had already decided that once the afternoon class ended, she would report this matter to her teacher! If possible, she was even eager to learn about the other training methods and techniques Xu Mochen knew.
They just didn't know that this had fallen right into Xu Mochen's trap. He'd been worrying that he had no excuse to approach the Elder Hall, where the Angel Divinity resided, or Bibi Dong, so he could pluck some divine power. Now he could use this opportunity to strike a deal with Bibi Dong and gain permission to cultivate inside either the Pope Palace or the Elder Hall.
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