Chapter Nineteen: Dazzling

Tinkle tinkle!

As the school bell rang, a woman walked into the classroom with a cheerful stride.

The woman appeared to be around twenty-one or twenty-two years old. She wasn't tall, only about 1.56 meters, but she was delicate and pretty.

She was in the prime of her youth, but perhaps to project more authority as a teacher, she wore an old-fashioned black professional suit and black-rimmed glasses. Even so, it was difficult to hide the youthfulness on her face.

She looked like a recent college graduate doing an internship as a homeroom teacher.

There were many girls in the class who, in terms of appearance, seemed more mature than her.

Of course, the woman was only the life homeroom teacher, mainly responsible for students' daily lives and arrangements, and she held no actual power.

"Alright, students, let's settle down."

On the podium, Xu Wei smiled slightly, her dimples seeming to smile along with her.

Hearing her voice, Lin Feng, who had been drowsy, looked up. The first thing he saw was this smile, and unconsciously, his somewhat agitated mood immediately calmed down.

"It's so good to see you again!"

If in his third year of high school, because of Yage, he had hated school, hated his classmates, and even hated everything around him, then this homeroom teacher was the only fond memory from that dark period.

"Lin Feng, you have to keep working hard. Even though you failed on Awakening Day, I believe you can still get into a good university."

"How are you feeling today? If you have any concerns, you can talk to me."

"Why have you become so quiet? You should talk more with your classmates."

Those caring words seemed to still echo in his ears.

From elementary school through high school and even college, Lin Feng hadn't felt any fondness for any of his teachers.

In the Great Cultivation Era, saying that teachers are candles or gardeners would be laughable.

In a society where strength is paramount, teachers and leaders only pay attention to two types of students.

First are the cultivation prodigies, as their performance is tied to their own assessment.

Second are students with family backgrounds, as they can bring them benefits.

For students like Lin Feng, who lived in the Anbian Residential Area, who worked hard and had excellent grades but weren't prodigies, care was an extremely rare emotion, and sometimes they were even discriminated against.

This wasn't just Lin Feng's experience, but the feeling of all students from the Anbian Residential Area.

Without cultivation talent, many children from the Anbian Residential Area were even reluctant to go to school.

Only Xu Wei was an exception.

Her pure smile was untainted by any worldly greed.

She cared for and looked after every student with such genuine concern.

As far as Lin Feng knew, her family background wasn't good. Her mother had passed away early, her father was disabled and unable to work, and she had a younger brother in high school. She was the only hope for her family. Yet, even so, she would still use her meager salary to subsidize students from disadvantaged families.

That professional suit, which they considered old-fashioned, was perhaps the best and most expensive clothing she had ever worn.

But it was precisely this kind of good teacher, less than half a year after becoming a homeroom teacher, who, two months later, on a dark night, leaped to her death from their teaching building.

The school and police concluded: suicide.

Lin Feng couldn't believe that someone with such a pure smile would commit suicide.

She still had her disabled father and her brother who needed her help. What reason could she have to abandon this world so recklessly?

It wasn't just Lin Feng; everyone who had interacted with Xu Wei didn't believe it. The students collectively petitioned the school leadership, but it was to no avail. The matter was quickly suppressed and didn't even make the news.

To protect Xu Wei, and to gain the strength to confront everything when the time came, Lin Feng felt his plan needed to be accelerated.

"Alright, before we start class, I have some news for everyone."

Xu Wei adjusted her glasses and said, "Awakening Day has concluded, and the assessment will begin next Wednesday. The top one hundred students in the entire school can enter the key classes. Everyone needs to work hard and strive to get into the key classes."

As soon as she said this, the class erupted in discussion, but they seemed prepared and weren't surprised.

With three months left until the college entrance examination, the school would provide special attention and training to students in the key classes, aiming to have more students admitted to the Nine Elite Joint Schools.

For a key middle school, there were assessment standards that directly determined the government funding the school would receive the following year and the appointments of school leaders, so the school attached great importance to it.

"Brother Feng, it looks like we don't have a chance," Gao Hai said, his mood somewhat low.

Although he had refined the second-grade Mighty Demonic Ox, which added ten points to his score, with his Body Cultivation Stage Six strength and his academic performance, his overall score wouldn't even rank in the top thousand in his grade, let alone get into a key class.

"Don't worry, Brother Feng will carry you," Lin Feng said, patting his shoulder to comfort him.

For him, the resources provided by the key class were like a drop in the bucket. As for pre-exam guidance, did he need it?

Those so-called special training sessions meant nothing to him.

It would be more appropriate for him to guide those teachers.

"Alright, stop discussing and let's start class," Xu Wei said, clapping her hands and tapping the display screen, which served as a blackboard.

It was now the Great Cultivation Era, and all the courses at Jiangxin Middle School revolved around one point: becoming a Martial Artist and how to hunt Demonic Beasts.

The college entrance exam results are divided into three parts, totaling 750 points.

The first part: Cultural score, 200 points.

The cultural score here is not the traditional score for subjects like language, math, or physics.

Those foundational subjects were already covered in middle school. This score pertains to knowledge of the Martial Artist world, such as common spirit herbs, types of Demonic Beasts, and their weaknesses.

The second part: Physique score, 350 points.

The physique score, which is the level of Qi and Blood, accounts for almost half of the total points.

The third part: Practical combat score, 200 points.

Martial Artists are useless if they only possess strength without combat ability. Practical combat mainly tests the mastery of combat techniques.

According to the admission standards from previous years, a total score of 580 out of 750 points is sufficient to be admitted to the Nine Elite Joint Schools.

Achieving 660 points allows admission to the three major Hero Academies.

In a test conducted half a month ago, Lin Feng's cultural score was 189, physique score was 212, and practical combat score was 150, for a total of 551 points. This was not enough to qualify for the Nine Elite Joint Schools.

Lin Feng's cultural score had already reached its limit; a cultural score of 189 ranked him in the top ten of his class.

His practical combat score of 150 was also considered high. The main issue was that his physique score severely dragged him down.

For students like Lin Feng, who lacked resources, improving their physique score was the most difficult.

Even with three months remaining, the improvement in his score would be limited, likely remaining about the same.

Gao Hai's score was even worse, just over five hundred.

Therefore, for most students, they already had a clear idea of which university they could get into in the future.

In addition to these three categories, having special skills, such as mastering a martial art, archery, or swordsmanship…

Or some special techniques.

As far as Lin Feng knew, some students in the class had obtained junior apothecary apprentice certificates and junior artifact refining apprentice certificates… These also provided bonus points for specific university majors, with the amount varying depending on the university.

Becoming a Demon Spirit Master also offered bonus points.

A first-grade refined Demonic Spirit could add 5 points, a second-grade refined one could add 10 points, and so on. Refining an Earth Ranking Demonic Spirit offered the highest bonus, up to 50 points.

The curriculum for the third year of high school was arranged with liberal arts knowledge in the morning and physical training in the afternoon.

Xu Wei's course was the Recognition of Plant Spirit Items.

This course primarily introduced various plants that Martial Artists could use in the wild, as well as various rare treasures.

Even though he was very sleepy, Lin Feng still tried hard to stay awake during this class, but his mind was not on the lesson.

Second period: Demonic Beast Recognition.

This course mainly introduced the types of Demonic Beasts and their weaknesses, along with videos and demonstrations of techniques for hunting Demonic Beasts.

The students were clearly interested in this course and understood its importance. After all, as Martial Artists, hunting Demonic Beasts was a fundamental skill. Not studying diligently now could mean death in the future.

The bloody scenes occasionally caused some female students to scream, waking up the sleepy Lin Feng. He glanced up before continuing to sleep.

When it came to hunting Demonic Beasts, he was already a master. Hundreds, even thousands, of Demonic Beasts had died by his hand. There were probably few people in this city more skilled than him.

Lin Feng hadn't listened to any of the morning classes, having slept through them. His condition was clearly noticed by his classmates. In their eyes, Lin Feng had been unable to bear the blow of failure and had given up on himself.

In their opinion, Lin Feng's future held no hope.

Ring ring ring!

Only when the school bell rang did Lin Feng slowly open his eyes.

He wasn't woken by the bell, but by hunger.

He hadn't eaten enough that morning. The aftereffects of the Evil Sealing Seal had begun to manifest, causing blood loss and depletion of Qi and Blood, leaving his body in a state of extreme hunger.

"Let's go eat."

Lin Feng patted Gao Hai's shoulder and said.

As the two of them walked out of the classroom, a graceful figure blocked their path.

"Lin Feng, I need to talk to you."

Yage stood in front of Lin Feng, appearing very serious. Lin Feng noticed that the young lady seemed different today, at least different from yesterday.

Although her attire hadn't changed, still wearing the blue and white school uniform, her demeanor had transformed.

The original Yage was beautiful, but her talent for cultivation was only average. Furthermore, living in the Anbian Residential Area, she always lacked confidence when compared to true elites. However, after refining the eighth-grade Bewitching Butterfly and signing with the Juxing Club, this lack of confidence had completely vanished.

Overnight, the young lady had undergone a transformation, becoming confident and determined, shining even brighter.