Wu Zhangkong's arm held Lu Chuan firmly around the waist,
while Lu Chuan
buried his head in Wu Zhangkong's arms.
"..."
The two of them remained frozen like that for two or three seconds.
Wu Zhangkong's ears turned red almost visibly,
the flush spreading from the tips of her ears all the way down her fair neck.
Her usually placid eyes
once again showed a hint of fluster because of Lu Chuan.
Once she was sure Lu Chuan was steady on his feet,
she quickly withdrew the hand resting on his waist
and took a swift step backward,
pulling Lu Chuan's head away from her chest.
Turning her head aside,
she said softly,
"Since you've reached your limit, take a five-minute break!"
But Lu Chuan didn't want to rest.
No matter how difficult a goal was,
giving up halfway had never been in his nature.
"Teacher Wu, I've only got one-fifth left to run. Wouldn't taking a break now waste all my effort? I can keep going..."
With that,
he got up and continued running.
Wu Zhangkong was distracted for only a moment,
but Lu Chuan had already run a hundred meters away.
Seeing how hard he was pushing himself,
Wu Zhangkong almost seemed to see Lu Chuan standing at the gates of Shrek Academy!
"If I take him to meet my teacher, they should forgive me, right?"
Wu Zhangkong's lips curved upward slightly.
She was in an especially good mood today.
For the remaining twenty miles,
Wu Zhangkong no longer drove alongside Lu Chuan, prodding him with a Willow Switch.
Self-motivated students never needed a ruler.
On the track,
footsteps circled round and round.
The hundred-mile mark
drew closer and closer.
At last,
the final time he passed Wu Zhangkong,
Lu Chuan finished his hundred-mile run.
By then,
he was so exhausted that his mind was foggy,
but he still hadn't forgotten to ask about the time.
"Teacher, did I go over?"
Lu Chuan asked between gasps.
Wu Zhangkong was taken aback. She hadn't expected Lu Chuan to still remember that detail.
She lowered her head and checked the timer.
[1:31:40]
He was one minute and forty seconds over.
Rounded up,
that made two minutes.
By rights,
Lu Chuan would have to run another two kilometers.
But looking at Lu Chuan collapsed on the grass,
his chest heaving violently,
and remembering the determined look in his eyes when he refused to rest,
Wu Zhangkong finally decided
to make an exception for him.
"Exactly an hour and a half. You don't need to run any more. You can rest now."
"Your break is ten minutes.
After that, you'll begin four hours of basic Soul Power control training."
"Huh? Teacher Wu, with how well I control my Soul Power, do I still need training?"
When Lu Chuan heard he had another class, his little face immediately turned bitter.
Of course,
more importantly,
he had excellent control over his own Soul Power.
After three years of smithing,
his control over both Soul Power and his body had reached an extremely high level!
His Soul Power control was at least eighty percent.
As for his physical control, that went without saying.
For example,
though he was only nine years old,
he could already swing the Golden Cudgel and beat the White Bone Spirit!
Wu Zhangkong naturally knew that Lu Chuan had excellent control over his Soul Power.
Otherwise, he couldn't have held out against her for so long with the Soul Power of a three-ring Soul Elder.
But basic training was indispensable at every stage.
At this point, Lu Chuan might not feel that training his Soul Power control was improving him.
But once he did improve,
it would be a qualitative leap.
"Do as I say." Wu Zhangkong shot Lu Chuan a cold glance.
Lu Chuan immediately stopped arguing.
He lay on the ground, gazed up at the sky, and replied listlessly:
"...Okay."
Then he muttered miserably,
"Classes are so tiring..."
His voice was quiet,
but Wu Zhangkong still heard him.
She glanced at Lu Chuan,
then added,
"Turning in your homework will be even more tiring."
At that,
Lu Chuan almost wanted to drop out.
Memories buried for tens of thousands of years suddenly attacked him in a frenzy:
the terrifying rules on the little blackboard,
Chinese, math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology,
and if he ever failed to finish his work,
the next day would bring a report from the class committee and a scolding from the teacher...
After four dull hours of basic Soul Power control training,
Lu Chuan had lunch with Tang Wuyue.
The Grade A Meal at Eastsea Academy tasted pretty good.
The siblings swept through dozens of plates each like a whirlwind.
He'd just earned tens of millions. He couldn't very well let his little sister eat the Grade C Meal.
Two in the afternoon,
at the Martial Arts Arena.
Lu Chuan had thought his opponent today would be Wu Zhangkong again,
but when he arrived at the Martial Arts Arena,
he saw a burly, middle-aged man instead.
He knew the man:
Eastsea Academy's dean of studies, a fifty-seven-level Soul King.
Long Hengxu.
He stood in the center of the arena with his arms crossed over his chest, his face full of anticipation.
As soon as he saw Lu Chuan come in,
a smile spread across his face.
"Teacher Long, you're not going to fight me today, are you?"
Lu Chuan asked tentatively.
Long Hengxu grinned.
"Don't be surprised. Teacher Wu was singing your praises in the office, saying you're a real fighter. It's the first time I've ever heard her praise a student, so I came to spar with you today."
Lu Chuan couldn't help but freeze.
He wasn't surprised that Long Hengxu was his opponent.
He was stunned
that the aloof Teacher Wu had been singing his praises in the office!
When Wu Zhangkong noticed Lu Chuan looking at her, she said coldly,
"It was only a little praise. Do I really seem that harsh to you? Stop wasting time. Let's begin the practical match!"
"You still need to build up your combat experience. Dean Long's Martial Soul is the Black Iron Heavy Sword, and he follows a forceful style. He's perfect for giving you a few pointers."
"Remember, give it everything you've got. Don't hold back. Let me see what you can do!"
"Yes, sir!"
Lu Chuan excitedly saluted Wu Zhangkong.
Wu Zhangkong didn't understand him,
but seeing Lu Chuan stride eagerly onto the arena,
she could guess that he meant he'd received the message!
The corners of her mouth rose ever so slightly.
"Begin."
Once both sides were ready, Wu Zhangkong called out.
At her command,
Long Hengxu, who had been itching to get started, made the first move.
He stamped his right foot hard against the ground,
and his whole body shot toward Lu Chuan like a cannonball.
His right hand opened as if to grasp something,
and in an instant,
a pitch-black Black Iron Heavy Sword appeared in his palm from thin air.
The heavy sword had no edge.
Its broad spine was like half a slab of black rock,
with crisscrossing forge marks covering its surface.
It swallowed all the light around it,
and the moment it appeared, it pressed down on the air with a deep, muffled hum!
It was clearly an incredibly heavy sword,
but because it was a Martial Soul,
Long Hengxu raised it without the slightest hindrance,
Even with the momentum of his charge,
his speed wasn't slow,
making him hard to dodge!
"Take this sword strike!"
Long Hengxu shouted,
swinging his sword down at Lu Chuan's head!
The way he was going at it,
you'd think this was a life-or-death battle between sworn enemies, not a teacher and his student!
"Jumping slash? Teacher Long, you're underestimating me!"
Lu Chuan's lips curled slightly.
Faced with Long Hengxu's powerful strike,
he didn't retreat.
Instead, he stepped forward.
Golden Scales surfaced along both his arms.
Just as the heavy sword was about to fall,
Lu Chuan's body suddenly twisted to the side at an extremely awkward angle,
slipping past the heavy sword.
At the same time,
his right hand darted out like lightning,
fingers curled into a claw,
and clamped straight onto Long Hengxu's wrist.
Long Hengxu's expression changed at once.
He'd expected Lu Chuan to strike back,
but he'd never imagined Lu Chuan would react so quickly—
or counter so decisively!
He hurriedly pulled his sword back to defend himself,
but Lu Chuan was too fast...
A sharp smack rang out,
and Lu Chuan had a firm grip on his wrist.
Then a deft twist of force sent a jolt through it,
and Long Hengxu's hand went numb.
The Black Iron Heavy Sword nearly slipped from his grasp!
"Not bad, kid! With strength like that, plenty of girls are going to like you when you're older!"
Long Hengxu grunted,
then abruptly unleashed his Soul Power,
trying to shake Lu Chuan's hand loose.
But Lu Chuan didn't budge.
His body was like a small mountain rooted in the earth.
No matter how Long Hengxu drove his Soul Power, he couldn't move Lu Chuan an inch.
"Teacher Long, don't you know? I'm Eastsea Academy's heartthrob now!"
Lu Chuan grinned,
then suddenly tightened his grip and twisted, pulling Long Hengxu along with the motion—
Before Long Hengxu could react,
he'd been pulled off balance.
He stumbled and landed face-first in the dirt.
Seeing how wretched he looked,
Wu Zhangkong felt a rush of satisfaction, body and soul.
Old Long, you couldn't even beat my student. How are you going to keep acting like a fussy old nanny and using those ridiculous rules to hold me down now?
Before you continue