Teacher

"Dad, Mom, I'm heading out."

After going home and eating a hearty meal of rice with black pork, Chen Yiming told his parents about his new job, then rode his bike to Libei Martial Arts Training Center.

Libei Martial Arts Training Center occupied part of a twenty-plus-story office building in the downtown business district.

Its fees were steep, much like those of an after-school tutoring center. Chen Yiming had once considered signing up, but the price list had sent him straight back out the door.

When Chen Yiming stepped out of the elevator on the twelfth floor, he immediately spotted a promotional poster of himself on the wall.

Nearly two meters tall and wide, it showed him in his Praying Mantis Snake Sword Academy training uniform. Beside the picture was a short introduction listing his name, age, cultivation level, academy, and more.

One line, printed especially large and bold, placed him on a ranking: No. 87 on the East Lake City Azure Dragon Ranking.

"What the hell is this?"

Chen Yiming's face darkened. A thousand questions raced through his mind.

He had never imagined that Libei Martial Arts Training Center would start promoting him without asking. It went completely against his plan to keep a low profile.

He had no desire to become famous and have random people show up to challenge him, hoping to make a name for themselves by beating him. The more often he fought, the greater the chance someone would notice something strange and discover his true cultivation progress.

At the entrance to Libei Martial Arts Training Center, someone was waiting.

A beautiful woman in a blazer, short skirt, and black stockings smiled and came forward as soon as she saw Chen Yiming leave the elevator.

She stood over 1.7 meters tall and had a slim figure with curves in all the right places. Her smart office attire made her all the more attractive.

Chen Yiming gave her a discreet once-over. Compared with the saleswomen at Praying Mantis Snake Sword Academy's headquarters, she was at least a level below them, and he promptly lost interest.

After a brief introduction, he learned that her name was Xie Xuejiao. She led him to one of the large rooms on the floor.

Libei Martial Arts Training Center had rented the entire twelfth floor. It had more than ten classrooms, each nearly half the size of a basketball court.

When Chen Yiming entered, he found twenty-five students already waiting.

"Everyone, let's welcome Teacher Chen."

Xie Xuejiao led the applause.

The middle and high school students watched him eagerly and joined in.

They had heard that their new swordsmanship teacher was a talented student of Praying Mantis Snake Sword Academy.

Praying Mantis Snake Sword Academy ranked first in East Lake City for swordsmanship and had fewer than a hundred students across its four branches. A teacher from there was hard to come by.

That was why Chen Yiming's swordsmanship intensive class cost three hundred yuan per lesson, or twelve thousand yuan for forty lessons a month. The price per lesson had been raised by a hundred yuan over the center's other swordsmanship intensive classes.

Among the students, a boy in First High School's uniform hid in the crowd, using the classmates ahead of him to block Chen Yiming's view.

He was the braggart Chen Yiming had met beside the arena at the high school martial arts class exchange competition a month earlier.

Chen Yiming had recognized him the instant he walked in. Three physical transformations had sharpened his five senses so much that anything unusual was even more likely to catch his attention.

He showed no sign of recognition, though. To him, the braggart was merely someone he remembered seeing, no different from any other passerby.

Chen Yiming wasted no time and began the lesson.

He first demonstrated a basic sword thrust with a wooden sword, explaining as he moved:

"Today, I'll start with the thrust, a basic sword move and a common attack in swordsmanship. The key is coordinating your hands and eyes, linking the movements of your upper and lower body, striking decisively, and staying focused..."

Drawing on his own understanding of swordsmanship, he also worked in elements of the thrust from Mantis Snake Swordsmanship. He taught the students everything at once; how much they grasped was up to them.

The wooden sword in Chen Yiming's hand moved like a venomous snake, poised to strike one moment and flashing forward the next.

With every muscle working together, he delivered dozens of thrusts in a matter of breaths, as though dozens of venomous snakes were attacking at once.

Every student's gaze followed his sword. Their mouths fell open, and gasps kept rising from the group.

They could not fully understand what they were seeing, but compared with the swordsmanship teachers they had before, those teachers had seemed to lack something Chen Yiming possessed.

Xie Xuejiao blinked her large eyes, enhanced by colored contacts, then took out the notebook she carried. She quickly turned to the page containing Chen Yiming's information and wrote down her latest assessment.

Officially, she was a receptionist. In secret, she also worked part-time as a martial arts scout, gathering information on promising talents for the faction behind her.

After teaching the basic thrust, Chen Yiming swiftly changed moves and continued:

"Next is another common sword attack: the slash. Unlike the thrust, which focuses its force on a single point, the slash emphasizes cutting.

"A slash demands even greater coordination from your muscles than a thrust. You need to channel as much of your body's strength as possible into the blade. A slash powered by your arm alone is just for show."

Chen Yiming pushed lightly off the floor and surged half a meter forward. Using less than one percent of his strength, he unleashed a Cross Slash.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sword flashed, leaving two dark streaks in its wake.

Within the Cross Slash's reach, the air seemed to split into four sections.

The students in the front row distinctly felt a current of air brush across their skin.

Stunned by the force of the Cross Slash, they froze. It far exceeded anything they had imagined a basic sword move could do.

Xie Xuejiao could not stop smiling. In her eyes, Chen Yiming had turned into a shower of money.

All she had to do was submit her latest findings on him to the faction behind her. Once they were verified, she would receive a handsome bonus.

After demonstrating the Cross Slash, Chen Yiming lowered his sword and stopped.

That was all he intended to teach today. He figured the students had plenty to digest.

Xie Xuejiao quickly put away her notebook and once again led the applause, thanking Chen Yiming for the excellent lesson.

She had worked as a receptionist for three years. With her looks, enhanced by makeup and careful styling, and her knack for reading people, she had always done her job well.

Part-time martial arts teachers like Chen Yiming were generally pleased with her service. She had hardly ever received a complaint.

Applause filled the room, and Xie Xuejiao's enthusiasm brought the atmosphere to life.

It was Chen Yiming's first taste of being the center of attention. He felt a little uncomfortable, though he kept up an air of indifference.

Seeing Chen Yiming's calm, expert demeanor, the students became even more convinced that he knew his stuff. He was leagues ahead of their previous teachers.

The applause, which had nearly died away, swelled again.