Ye Zhiqiu, Come Spar with Me (Please Keep Reading and Vote with Monthly Tickets)

"Teacher, what's the difference between Ancient Martial Arts and Soul Skills?"

Nana glanced at the child who had asked and answered, "Soul Skills are abilities granted to Soul Masters by their own Martial Souls, while Ancient Martial Arts are techniques. Techniques themselves have no attributes. Anyone can learn them, and anyone can use them. A good Ancient Martial Arts technique can give you the upper hand even when your Soul Power is weaker than your opponent's."

She paused, then added, "For our first lesson today, we won't learn anything complicated. I'll start by teaching you something fundamental: your stance."

"Our stance?" Several boys exchanged puzzled looks. What was there to teach about standing?

Nana offered no explanation. She simply turned toward the open space in the center of the Gymnasium, set her feet shoulder-width apart, bent her knees slightly, lowered her center of gravity, and kept her torso upright, with her hands hanging naturally at her sides.

"Watch closely."

She made a small movement, taking just half a step forward while pushing her right hand outward from her waist.

It was a very simple movement, with nothing visibly special about it.

But the instant she finished, the air about two meters in front of her gave a muffled hum, as though an invisible force had been pushed outward. A small patch of dust rose from the floor and spread out in a fan.

All thirty-one children stared, dumbstruck.

"This is Ancient Martial Arts." Nana withdrew her hand and turned back to them. "A simple movement, combined with the correct way of generating force, can produce results beyond your imagination. You don't need to understand everything yet. First, get your basic stance right."

For most of the lesson that followed, the thirty-one children practiced their stances in the Gymnasium.

Ye Zhiqiu stood in the back row, his knees slightly bent, his center of gravity lowered, and his torso upright.

He had practiced this posture countless times while lifting weights at the gym in his previous life. Keeping his core tight, his weight stable, and his breathing even came effortlessly.

As he held his stance, he stole a glance at Dong Qianqiu in the front row out of the corner of his eye.

She stood steadily too, her dark-blue ponytail hanging motionless behind her shoulders, her breathing calm.

After about twenty minutes of practice, Nana gave everyone a five-minute break.

Dong Qianqiu walked over to Ye Zhiqiu, sat on the step beside him, and unscrewed her water bottle to take a sip.

"Why did you step in front of me just now?" she asked.

"Because you looked like you were about to be scared witless," Ye Zhiqiu answered offhandedly.

"I wasn't scared witless," Dong Qianqiu immediately protested.

"Then why did you jump?"

Dong Qianqiu choked on her words. She opened her mouth to argue, but realized she really had jumped, so all she could do was turn her face away and mutter, "I'm just... not used to people touching me."

"Then how did it feel when the teacher touched you?"

Dong Qianqiu thought for a moment. "It felt... a little strange, but not in a bad way. When she put her hand on me, I felt like... hmm, I can't really explain it."

Ye Zhiqiu didn't press her. He knew Nana had probably been checking something with that touch, but there was no need to tell Dong Qianqiu too much.

After all, she might as well stay comfortably amnesiac. It was better than what would happen after she remembered.

"Anyway, she didn't do anything to you." Ye Zhiqiu stretched and rose from the step. "Our break's almost over. Time to go back and practice our stances."

"You're certainly eager," Dong Qianqiu muttered, getting up as well.

The latter half of the lesson was still stance training. Nana walked back and forth among the rows, occasionally stopping to correct a child's posture: bend your knees a little more, relax your shoulders, don't let your weight shift to one side. Her tone remained level throughout, with little variation.

When she reached Ye Zhiqiu, she paused, looked him up and down, then continued on without a word.

Ye Zhiqiu noticed that her gaze lingered on him for roughly half a second longer as she passed.

But his expression remained unchanged. He held that perfectly standard stance, breathing steadily without moving a muscle.

When the bell rang, all thirty-one children let out a collective sigh of relief. A few dropped straight onto their bottoms on the floor.

"All right, that's it for today. You can go." Standing in front of the rows, Nana swept her gaze over everyone.

Then she turned and walked straight out of the Gymnasium.

Her silver-white French braid swayed gently behind her. With unhurried steps, she soon disappeared into the sunlight at the end of the corridor.

Dong Qianqiu stood at the Gymnasium entrance, staring after that receding figure in a daze for a while.

Ye Zhiqiu came up beside her, followed her gaze, and said, "What's wrong? Got a crush on the teacher?"

Dong Qianqiu snapped out of it and rolled her eyes at him. "You're the one with a crush."

"I do. Who doesn't like looking at someone pretty?"

Dong Qianqiu huffed, picked up her water bottle, and headed outside. After two steps, she stopped and tilted her head to ask, "What kind of person... do you think she is?"

"A teacher. What else would she be?" Ye Zhiqiu said, walking beside her with his hands in his pockets.

"That's not what I meant." Dong Qianqiu wrinkled her nose. "When she touched my head, I kept feeling there was more to her than met the eye."

"Maybe her cultivation is really high, and that's what gave you that impression," Ye Zhiqiu said with a shrug.

"Maybe. Let's head back to the classroom and get ready for the next lesson," Dong Qianqiu told him, deciding to stop dwelling on it.

"Sure. Let's go back."

"And..." Dong Qianqiu paused and pressed her lips together before continuing, "Thank you for standing in front of me earlier."

She had to admit that when Ye Zhiqiu appeared in front of her, her heart had sped up despite herself. How was this idiot so attractive?

No, no, we're only seven! What am I even thinking?

Stop it, stop it!

"No need to thank me. We're friends. It's what I should do." Ye Zhiqiu shook his head with a smile.

Time passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, two weeks had gone by since school began.

They had also been taking Ancient Martial Arts classes for two weeks. With two classes each week, scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday mornings, everyone had grown accustomed to Nana's presence.

Their initial amazement and curiosity gradually gave way to familiarity. After all, no matter how beautiful a face was, seeing it often enough made you immune. Besides, her lessons were genuinely exhausting!

Every lesson consisted of stances, footwork, and generating force, repeated until their legs ached.

A few boys privately complained that the teacher was too strict, but complaints were one thing; not a single one dared slack off during class.

Ye Zhiqiu actually found it quite interesting. The Ancient Martial Arts techniques Nana taught followed what would have been a style of internal martial arts in his previous life, and the core methods of generating force overlapped considerably with what he already knew.

He learned faster than the others, but he didn't deliberately show off. He simply maintained a level of "the strongest in class, but not absurdly so."

Dong Qianqiu had also improved considerably over these lessons. Her physical fitness was already better than that of her peers, with strong coordination and explosive power. Combined with her diligent training, her stances and footwork were already shaping up nicely.

During every Ancient Martial Arts lesson, Nana would always linger a little longer when passing Dong Qianqiu. Sometimes she corrected her posture; sometimes she merely glanced at her and moved on.

Dong Qianqiu found it a little odd, but didn't think much of it.

That day brought another Ancient Martial Arts lesson.

In the Gymnasium, the thirty-one students stood in three rows as usual. After twenty minutes of basic stance training and several sets of footwork drills, Nana clapped her hands.

"Today, we'll practice combat. Pair up and spar freely."

"The purpose of Ancient Martial Arts sparring is to let you experience how to apply force-generating techniques in actual combat. You don't need to use your Martial Souls or Soul Skills, only your bodies. Winning or losing isn't important. Getting the movements right matters more."

As soon as she finished speaking, a rustle of movement rose among the students as they began looking for partners.

Without a second thought, Dong Qianqiu turned toward Ye Zhiqiu. She was just opening her mouth when another voice beat her to it:

"Ye Zhiqiu, come spar with me."