Kong Hanwen showed up uninvited again just before the promotion tournament began.
At five feet tall, he had to tilt his head back to see Wu Changkong's face.
"I heard your class just took in someone with two rings. Dare to send three people out for a match against us?"
He rubbed his greasy bald head and chuckled.
"Teacher Wu, how about a bet? If you win, I'll give you a ticket to the Spirit Ascension Platform."
"If you lose, I don't want anything else. Just admit in public that your teaching is inferior to mine."
Wu Changkong had no interest in paying him any attention, but Yan Qing kept tugging at the hem of his clothes.
Helpless, Wu Changkong uttered two words.
"All right."
Kong Hanwen clearly hadn't expected Wu Changkong to agree. Excited, he went back to arrange his lineup.
Watching his excited figure retreat, Yan Qing couldn't help marveling.
Prematch wagers were truly a great invention, perfectly filling the gap that prevented you from beating someone up and extorting them at the same time.
Fast-forward to both sides standing in the arena.
Class Five's lineup consisted of Yan Qing, Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue.
Class Four sent out Jia Long, Lin Zunyuan, Mo Si, and Yu Gang.
As soon as the match began, Xie Xie and Gu Yue stepped straight back, then went to stand at the edge of the arena, clearly not intending to fight.
Against the weakest opponents in the promotion tournament, Class Five was already showing them plenty of respect by sending two people to fight.
Seeing this from the stands, Long Hengxu felt inexplicably uneasy.
The four opponents each released their Martial Souls.
Yan Qing glanced over them, not even bothering to identify their Martial Souls, because all four had only one ring, and every single ring was a ten-year one.
Gripping his Thousand-Refined Heavy Silver Hammers in both hands, Tang Wulin charged forward first and collided with Jia Long, who was also on the front line.
Bang!
Jia Long staggered back a full three steps, while Tang Wulin remained rooted to the spot.
Yan Qing slowly shook his head at the sight. With his rank-twenty-one Soul Power and the Passionate Ruthless Sword's two Thousand-Year Soul Rings, his physical abilities were a hundred and eight thousand miles apart from his opponents'.
This was plainly an old man toying with mischievous children!
He had no desire to stomp noobs either. He circulated Soul Power into his hands, quietly activating Mysterious Jade Hand.
This was one of the two supreme techniques he had learned during his three years in the Tang Sect.
Lin Zunyuan raised his staff, but before he could cast anything, Yan Qing's fist came smashing toward him.
Mo Si swung his short blade and stepped forward to block, merely making Yan Qing throw one extra punch.
After a few rounds of punches, Class Four's entire back line was wiped out.
At the same time, Tang Wulin forced Jia Long out of the arena.
As for Yu Gang, he had long since wet his pants in terror and jumped off the stage in a sorry state.
By the time the match was over, none of the four on their side had even lit up their Soul Rings.
In the stands, Long Hengxu's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg, and he failed to announce the result for a long while.
He recalled what Wu Changkong had said before leaving:
"My students aren't setting their sights on this grade."
The winds really were about to change at Eastsea Academy.
With the first promotion match successfully concluded, Yan Qing politely declined Tang Wulin's invitation to eat.
According to the plot, those three would definitely go eat that beef casserole, and then a thug named Guang Long would show up and smash the stall.
Once they dealt with that petty thug, they would deal with a bigger thug all over again at the school gates.
Upholding the principle of not changing the plot if he could avoid it, Yan Qing had no intention of getting involved.
There was another reason: his backlog of assignments at the Blacksmith Association was about to overflow.
Over the past few days, he had been busy researching, undergoing Wu Changkong's hellish training, and competing in the promotion tournament.
Many orders with seven-day deadlines had less than half a day left.
Seeing the red notifications lighting up one after another on his soul communicator, Yan Qing inwardly sensed that things were going terribly wrong.
After saying goodbye to everyone, he dashed into the Blacksmith Association and began a hundred-meter sprint toward the forging room he had reserved.
At a corner, another petite figure suddenly darted out.
Caught off guard, Yan Qing instinctively caught her in his arms.
The girl's fragrance mingled with the scent of metal and washed over him.
Warm, smooth skin met his hands. Yan Qing looked closely and saw a girl glaring at him indignantly beneath short golden-blond hair.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Seeing Yan Qing frozen in place while still holding her, Mu Xi was both embarrassed and furious.
Yan Qing came to his senses and let go as though shocked by electricity.
"Sorry, sorry! I'm rushing to finish my orders and didn't have time to watch where I was going."
Mu Xi hurriedly smoothed her hair into place. The flush on her face had yet to fade as she glared at him indignantly.
"You have the nerve to mention orders? You took on so many commissions at once and had twenty-one whole sets of materials sent to the blacksmiths. Do you know what happens if you miss the deadline?"
"My lady, of course I know! If you don't move aside, I really won't finish in time."
Yan Qing pressed his palms together and pleaded until Mu Xi finally cleared a path, then vanished into the forging room in a flash.
Mu Xi's curiosity was piqued too. She wanted to see just how Yan Qing would finish so many orders.
The forging room door closed, the furnace was lit, and the temperature inside slowly rose.
Not daring to waste any more time, Yan Qing quickly sorted the materials.
Bang!
His forging hammer struck the metal, and he began forging straightaway.
Beside him, Mu Xi lightly pursed her lips. Did he actually need no preparation time?
To avoid missing his deadlines, Yan Qing had no intention of hiding his abilities, even with Mu Xi beside him.
He unleashed the full might of a fourth-rank blacksmith.
The forging hammers danced up and down over the metal in a smooth, natural rhythm.
Clang. A piece of metal dropped into the basket.
The next piece was immediately pressed into the clamp, the transition utterly seamless.
Watching beside him, Mu Xi was secretly astounded. She absolutely couldn't forge at this speed. Could the boy before her really be a third-rank blacksmith? He was only eight!
In less than an hour, thirteen pieces of metal sat neatly stacked on the table, each far exceeding the required quality.
Having completed the metal-forging assignments with seven-day deadlines, Yan Qing began working on those with fourteen-day deadlines.
Absorbed in watching, Mu Xi unconsciously moved two steps forward, wanting to get closer for a clearer look at the details of Yan Qing's forging.
Just then, a sudden burst of sparks leaped from the furnace.
Mu Xi cried out and instinctively dodged forward.
The floor beneath her feet was slightly slippery. Her body tilted, and she was about to fall.
Yan Qing reacted extremely quickly. He tossed aside his forging hammers, turned sideways, and reached out to wrap an arm securely around her waist, pulling her back.
Their eyes met, the tips of their noses almost touching.
The tips of Mu Xi's ears quietly began to burn, the heat spreading all the way down her neck.
Just then, Mu Chen's steady voice came from outside the door.
"Xiao Xi, are you in there? What happened?"
Her dad was here. Even a TV drama wouldn't dare write it like this.
Mu Xi instantly sprang up, the flush on her face still lingering.
She gently caught the hem of Yan Qing's clothes, signaling for him to find somewhere to hide.
She was actually getting shy now.
Yan Qing looked around. The forging room was wide open, with only the window left open.
The next second, Mu Chen pushed the door open and walked in. Mu Xi was the only person in the forging room.
"Holy shit!" came a cry, followed by the sound of a fall.
Mu Chen was slightly puzzled. Why did that voice sound so much like Yan Qing's?
He walked to the window, turned to look down, and asked:
"Yan Qing, are you all right?"
It was pitch-black below, and he couldn't make anything out.
"I'm fine. My clothes just fell downstairs."
"Then why was it so loud?"
"I was inside them."