The next morning, at the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy.
Jiang Lan said goodbye to Shen Qingqiu and entered the academy gates.
It was not a day off. Along both sides of the path, quite a few students around Jiang Lan's age gathered in twos and threes.
Jiang Lan looked up at the signs and headed toward the teaching building.
The teaching building was enormous, with five full floors. Its gray exterior seemed to be made of some special material, gleaming in the sunlight.
After reaching the building, Jiang Lan took the elevator to the fifth floor.
The entire fifth floor contained only one enormous classroom, with a sign hanging on its door:
"Rocket Class"
Jiang Lan pushed the door open and walked in.
The classroom was huge, like a small gymnasium, with plenty of exercise equipment arranged in one corner.
At the front stood a few desks and a lectern.
The floor was silver-gray throughout, apparently made of the same material as the exterior walls. It looked very sturdy.
Five people were sitting in the classroom.
At the sound of the door opening, all five turned to look at Jiang Lan.
Jiang Lan glanced over them.
Three boys and two girls. All three boys were human.
One was a muscular brute, one wore glasses, and one had a blank expression, as if someone owed him a million.
As for the girls, one had a tall, slender figure and loose silver hair. Although she looked young, she had something of a cool, mature air.
The other girl was petite and cute, with short hair and a pink dress.
"New here?"
The muscular boy stood up, approached Jiang Lan, and grinned.
Jiang Lan nodded and said:
"Jiang Lan. I just enrolled today."
"Great." The muscular boy held out his hand. "Chu Yun, late-stage body tempering. Once you're in the Rocket Class, you're one of us."
Jiang Lan reached out and shook his hand.
The instant their palms met, Jiang Lan felt an enormous force bear down on his hand.
An ordinary person would probably have had their hand crushed by that grip.
But Jiang Lan was clearly no ordinary person.
He grinned and squeezed back.
A flicker of surprise crossed Chu Yun's eyes before he smiled and said:
"You've got some strength, brother."
Only after Chu Yun let go did Jiang Lan withdraw his hand. His expression remained neutral as he said, "Not bad, I guess."
He could tell Chu Yun was not deliberately provoking him. The guy simply had muscles for brains and wanted to size up the newcomer.
"Come on, brother." Chu Yun enthusiastically draped an arm around Jiang Lan's shoulders and led him over to the seats, pointing out the others as he introduced them. "The mature beauty is Bai Yu, and the little cutie is Liu Shiyu."
Before he could finish, the scholarly boy with glasses closed his book and adjusted his frames.
"Lu Qingshan, middle-stage Body Tempering Realm."
Then the stern-faced young man spoke as well. "Mo Han, peak body tempering."
Jiang Lan nodded to each of them.
Mo Han looked Jiang Lan up and down for a while, then suddenly asked:
"The teacher said you have a special talent?"
Jiang Lan nodded. "You could say that."
There was nothing wrong with that answer.
His special talent was not real.
So "you could say that" was all he could offer.
Just then, the classroom door was pushed open.
A middle-aged man walked into the classroom.
The man was powerfully built, with a square face and eyes as sharp as a hawk's. He looked anything but weak.
The students immediately stood up.
"Good morning, Mr. Xiao."
Jiang Lan followed their lead and greeted him too.
The man nodded to everyone, then let his gaze linger on Jiang Lan for a moment.
"Hello, Jiang Lan. My name is Xiao Feng. I'll be your teacher."
"Hello, sir." Jiang Lan obediently nodded.
He had to admit that teachers really did have a certain power over people.
Even with a system now, he still felt a little uncomfortable when Xiao Feng stood in front of him.
Sure enough, childhood trauma could follow a person for life.
"Since this is your first day, I need to give you a basic assessment to see where you stand."
Jiang Lan had no objections.
"No problem."
After that, Xiao Feng turned to the other students and said:
"You can join in too. It's a good opportunity to retest you."
"Yes, sir," everyone replied.
Xiao Feng nodded and pointed to a machine at the side of the classroom.
"We'll test strength first. Chu Yun, you're up."
Jiang Lan turned to look. The machine resembled an arcade Punch Force Tester, with a target and an LCD screen above it.
In fact, testing punching force was exactly what it did.
Chu Yun grinned, loosened his wrists, and walked up to the Punch Force Tester.
He took a deep breath, and vital energy surged throughout his body.
His already bulging muscles immediately swelled even larger.
Gathering all his strength, he slammed a fist into the Punch Force Tester.
Thud!
With a dull impact, the numbers on the machine's LCD screen flickered before finally settling.
[1732 kg]
Xiao Feng nodded.
"Not bad. Fifty kilograms more than last time. You're improving."
"Bai Yu, you're up."
The mature-looking girl strode over to the tester on her long legs. Without even looking, she casually threw a punch, then tossed her hair and turned around.
The numbers flashed on the tester's screen.
[1328 kg]
Next, the other three stepped forward in turn.
[1127 kg] [1530 kg] [1962 kg]
Watching Mo Han, who had punched last, Jiang Lan raised his eyebrows slightly.
That deadpan guy was even stronger than Chu Yun?
"Mo Han, peak body tempering. Not bad," Xiao Feng said. "A little more progress and you'll reach meridian opening. Keep working hard."
With that, he turned his gaze to Jiang Lan.
"Jiang Lan, your turn."
Jiang Lan walked up to the Force Tester.
Although he had never used one before, watching the others for so long had taught him how.
All the other students turned their attention to Jiang Lan.
They were clearly curious about just how strong this newcomer was.
Jiang Lan took a deep breath and drove a punch into the machine with all his strength.
Boom!!
The Force Tester shook violently. The numbers flashed on its screen before finally settling.
[2188 kg]
Instantly, the room fell silent.
"Holy shit!"
Chu Yun stared at Jiang Lan, his eyes wide.
Nearly twenty-two hundred kilograms.
That was already the strength of a meridian opening martial artist.
Generally, a punching force of two thousand kilograms marked the threshold of meridian opening.
And Jiang Lan had not only reached it, but even surpassed it.
A trace of surprise flashed through Xiao Feng's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.
"Good. Let's continue. Speed is next."
He pointed to a track running around the classroom.
"Chu Yun goes first again."
Chu Yun nodded and swiftly ran a lap around the track.
At the finish line, a number appeared on a machine.
[28.6 m/s]
"Mm, not bad. The rest of you, keep going."
[30.2 m/s] [32.1 m/s] [29.5 m/s]
This time, Bai Yu went last.
Her long legs moved swiftly, carrying her around the track in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
Bai Yu: [38.6 m/s]
Xiao Feng nodded and looked at Jiang Lan. "All right, Jiang Lan. Your turn."
Jiang Lan stood at the starting line and got ready.
Xiao Feng gave the command: "Go!"
Jiang Lan pushed off, shooting forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
All the others saw was an afterimage flashing past.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Lan had already reached the finish line.
Xiao Feng looked at the timer, a flash of shock crossing his eyes.