Top Student Joins an Ordinary Class

"Thanks, Sis!" Long Haochen said sincerely.

Li Xin smiled. "What are you thanking me for? You earned all this through your own ability. All right, you'll be starting your studies tomorrow. I'll reluctantly be your guide for once and tell you everything you need to watch out for while studying at our sub-temple."

Li Xin spoke for nearly two hours before she finally finished. Long Haochen committed every word she said to memory. This was all valuable, practical advice!

"Sis, what kind of person is Chief Instructor Ye Hua of our Hao Yue Sub-Temple?" Long Haochen asked.

At the mention of Ye Hua, Li Xin's expression immediately darkened somewhat.

"You'll find out tomorrow. As a member of the sub-temple, I can't badmouth an instructor behind his back. You'll have to judge for yourself what kind of person he is."

Although Li Xin had not said it outright, Long Haochen could tell that this Chief Instructor Ye Hua probably did not have a very good reputation among the sub-temple members.

"All right, it's getting late. Get some rest. See you tomorrow."

With that, Li Xin lightly kissed Long Haochen on the cheek before leaving the Monastic Quarters.

Although Li Xin had left, the faint rose fragrance lingering on her body remained in the Monastic Quarters, lingering on Long Haochen's handsome face as well. He did not recover his senses for a long while.

Early the next morning, Long Haochen arrived at the Guardian Knight classroom on the first floor of the Knight Hall and casually found a corner to sit in.

Before long, the other Knights gradually entered the classroom, quickly filling the spacious room.

Long Haochen's somewhat youthful appearance drew the attention of many Knights. Judging by his age, he was probably the youngest Knight in the classroom.

The classroom immediately filled with murmurs. An older Knight walked over to Long Haochen and asked, "Little brother, did you come to the wrong classroom? This is the Knight Hall. The Squire classroom isn't here."

Long Haochen rose and gave him a Knight's salute. "Hello, my name is Long Haochen. I'm here to audit classes at the Knight Hall."

The Knight was about to say something when a hoarse, stiff voice rang out. "Class!"

The classroom instantly fell silent, and the Knights returned to their seats.

Long Haochen turned toward the lectern and found a tall, thin middle-aged man already standing there. A round shield was strapped to the man's back, and his face was completely expressionless. His posture was rigid, his bearing cold and aloof, making him seem utterly unapproachable.

"What are you looking at?" the middle-aged man asked in a low voice.

Long Haochen shook his head and sat down. This must be Chief Instructor Ye Hua of the Hao Yue Sub-Temple.

"You're new, aren't you? My name is Ye Hua, Chief Instructor of the Hao Yue Sub-Temple. I don't care how talented you are. Since you've come here, you're an ordinary Knight. If you fail to meet my requirements, I'll kick you out of the Knight Hall and send you back to the Squires to be remade from scratch. Do you understand?"

Long Haochen answered in acknowledgment, then stood and gave Ye Hua a standard Knight's salute.

After sitting down, Long Haochen pondered whether this Instructor Ye Hua was the good instructor Long Xingyu had mentioned.

Long Haochen had never understood why Long Xingyu had sent him to study at the Hao Yue Sub-Temple. He was a genius, the unprecedented Child of Light in the history of the Knight Temple, possessing Innate Full Internal Spiritual Energy. Why should he train alongside people with merely average talent?

Feng Xiu had said that geniuses were meant to stand apart. They could not always mingle with mediocre people. Going with the flow would only turn a genius into someone mediocre.

Therefore, from the time Long Haochen was three years old, Feng Xiu had strictly controlled his friendships and forbidden him from playing with ordinary children.

Long Haochen's friends in the Demon Emperor Palace, aside from the grandson of Huang Shuo of the Black Dragon Guard, were descendants of other Ninth Tier powerhouses. Every one of those children was exceptionally talented among the Demon Race.

For Long Haochen's development, Feng Xiu had even established the Genius Youth Class within the Demon Emperor Palace, recruiting gifted children from every race in Demon Capital Heart City to create a good training environment for Long Haochen.

As a student from a genius class, Long Haochen had suddenly been placed in an ordinary class at the Hao Yue Sub-Temple. He immediately found it rather difficult to adapt.

"Everyone, stand!"

Ye Hua's furious shout interrupted Long Haochen's thoughts. He hurriedly rose from his seat, and the classroom immediately echoed with the crisp, unified sound of everyone standing.

Ye Hua said coldly, "What have I taught you? As a qualified Guardian Knight, what is the most important thing?"

"Calmness," the Knights answered in unison. Clearly, this was not the first time they had answered that question.

"Look at how you acted just now. Did you achieve that?"

Ye Hua's gaze was as sharp as an eagle's and as cold as frost. It was as though the people standing before him were not his students, but his enemies.

"You useless trash, go put on heavy gear and run fifty laps around the training ground. Otherwise, you'll never remember this lesson. Immediately!"

"Yes!"

No one dared to argue with Ye Hua, because everyone who had ever argued with him had been kicked out of the Knight Hall and sent back to the Squires for retraining.

The Knights jogged out in an orderly fashion, while Long Haochen remained standing where he was.

Running was indeed a fairly effective training method for ordinary Knights, but for Long Haochen as he was now, its benefits were negligible.

During the three years he had trained under Long Xingyu, Long Xingyu had never once made Long Haochen run. Yet the training Long Haochen had endured was far harsher than running. Rather than training, it was more like torture.

The training plan Long Xingyu had designed for Long Haochen was clearly meant for geniuses, not ordinary people. An average child would never have been able to endure Long Xingyu's nearly abnormal regimen, but Long Haochen was obviously no average child.

Through Long Xingyu's various high-intensity exercises, Long Haochen's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. That proved that Long Xingyu's choice had been correct; his training had fully unleashed Long Haochen's potential.

Long Haochen always remembered Feng Xiu's words: geniuses could not go with the flow and waste precious time completing training that offered them little improvement.

This had nothing to do with a genius's pride. To put it simply, Long Haochen was an all-around prodigy with an IQ of 180, perfect scores in every subject, and a guaranteed place at Tsinghua and Peking. Yet now he had been assigned to an ordinary class with an average IQ of only 100, made to complete the same low-difficulty papers as ordinary students. Anyone would find that hard to adapt to.

Long Haochen's resistant attitude undoubtedly enraged Ye Hua. Pointing at him, Ye Hua roared, "What are you still standing there for? Aren't you a member of the Knight Hall? Get moving!"

Long Haochen gave a Knight's salute and explained, "Instructor, I don't want to run with them. Running helps me very little, and I don't want to waste time."