Pressing Harder at Every Turn

"Lin Hao, what do you think?" Jiang Lei spoke first. "If the five of us stick together, the school will have to give in. We can't settle for too little money."

"Exactly," Zhao Peng chimed in. "We have no hope in the examination anyway. We might as well take the money and find steady jobs after graduation. Isn't that better than anything else?"

Lin Hao raised his eyes, sweeping his gaze over the three of them, his tone calm. "I'm signing up for the Martial Artist Examination."

Those words made the expressions of Jiang Lei and the other two change.

Jiang Lei looked incredulous. "What did you say? Lin Hao, are you running a fever? Your blood vitality is 0.3. You're a hundred and eight thousand miles from the qualifying line of 1.0. What are you going to take the exam with?"

"Exactly." Zhao Peng grew anxious too. "Don't try to play the hero. If your blood vitality doesn't meet the cutoff, you won't even get through the examination venue's gates!"

Just then, Jiang Chao shifted forward in his seat and swept a cold glance over the three of them. "If Haozi wants to take it, he'll take it. Does he need you lot yapping here? Just mind your own business."

Jiang Chao had always been someone their classmates preferred not to provoke.

At his words, Jiang Lei and the other two shut their mouths and said nothing more.

Lin Hao said nothing more either. He knew perfectly well that the person he had to deal with wasn't Jiang Lei or the other two, but their teacher, Shi Tie.

He had only just thought of Shi Tie when, a moment later, the classroom door was pushed open and Shi Tie walked in.

Holding a stack of printed papers, Shi Tie set them down in front of the five.

His face betrayed no expression as he got straight to the point. "I'm sure you all have some idea why I asked the five of you to stay behind.

"Sign this pledge voluntarily giving up registration for this year's examination, and the school will give each of you thirty thousand in academic assistance. The money will arrive on the spot."

Jiang Lei exchanged a glance with Zhao Peng and Sun Hao, his voice holding back anger accumulated over three years. "Mr. Shi, thirty thousand? Are you tossing scraps to beggars? Our monthly subsidies, our quarterly cultivation resources-when haven't you withheld more than half to give to Bai Cheng? All the money you've cheated us out of adds up to more than a hundred and fifty thousand. We want eighty thousand. One cent less, and we won't sign."

"Don't take a mile when you're given an inch!" Shi Tie's face immediately darkened, and he slammed the desk. "The school is giving you this money as a favor, not an obligation! With your measly blood vitality, you can't even touch the examination's threshold. Going would be pointless. You'd only drag down the school's admission rate!"

"The admission rate is the school's business. What's it got to do with us?" Zhao Peng immediately retorted. "We paid three years of martial arts class tuition. Why shouldn't we be allowed to take the exam? If we're really going to settle accounts, without all the resources you withheld these past three years, our blood vitality would definitely be higher than it is now!"

Jiang Lei and the other two knew that once the Martial Artist Examination and their high school years were over, they and Shi Tie would certainly be strangers.

Since that was the case, there was no need to worry about preserving the teacher-student relationship. They could just talk money.

The three argued noisily back and forth for a long while. Looking at these three students who refused to budge, Shi Tie felt a headache coming on.

If No. 2 High School's martial arts examination admission rate came last in Jiang City again this year, not only would next year's Martial Arts Bureau subsidy be halved, but he would probably lose his position as the martial arts class's homeroom teacher too.

He gritted his teeth and relented. "I can't authorize eighty thousand. I'll have to apply to the school leadership, but it shouldn't be much of a problem. On the condition that you don't pull any more stunts."

Jiang Lei and the other two exchanged glances, each seeing triumph in the others' eyes, and all agreed.

Shi Tie turned, his gaze settling on Lin Hao and Jiang Chao, who had remained silent, and frowned. "What about you two? Have you made up your minds?"

Lin Hao said evenly, "I'm not signing. I'm taking the Martial Artist Examination."

Jiang Chao had looked as though none of this concerned him, but hearing Lin Hao's answer, he followed suit. "Then I'm not signing either."

Shi Tie's anger immediately flared again. "Jiang Chao, why are you joining in? Your family has plenty of connections. It doesn't matter whether you take the exam!

"Lin Hao, I know your older cousin found you a security position at the industrial park. That's an official establishment position! Instead of living a stable life, you insist on joining the examination circus? With your pitiful blood vitality, are you going there to embarrass yourself?"

Lin Hao remained calm. "I'm taking the Martial Artist Examination."

"You!" Shi Tie was choked speechless. Only after a long while did he suppress his anger. "To tell you the truth, the school has done the calculations. If all five of you give up registering, No. 2 High School's admission rate can break into Jiang City's top three this year and turn things around! You lose nothing by not taking the exam, and you get eighty thousand. Isn't that good?"

Jiang Chao scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "Eighty thousand? I really don't need that little bit of money. Still, it's not like I can't sign. But if I do, Mr. Shi, stop forcing Haozi to sign. Haozi alone not signing won't affect your admission rate that much, right?"

Shi Tie's face darkened. "No! All five must sign! Not one of you can be left out!"

While they were at an impasse, three figures entered the classroom.

Leading them was a middle-aged man in a dark suit, his hair meticulously combed. He was Zou Jianmin, the principal of No. 2 High School.

Behind him were two teachers from the academic affairs office.

Zou Jianmin lowered his hand in a quieting gesture, signaling Shi Tie not to speak, then walked up to Lin Hao and the other four with a gentle smile.

He looked first at Jiang Lei and the other two. "I heard your demands outside just now. Eighty thousand-the school agrees. As soon as you sign the pledge, the money will arrive on the spot."

Their eyes lit up, and the three immediately picked up their pens and signed.

Seeing this, Zou Jianmin indicated that Jiang Lei and the other two could leave.

Then his gaze settled on Lin Hao, and his smile deepened a little. "Lin Hao, I know your circumstances. How about this? I'll make an exception for you. A hundred thousand. Sign this pledge, and the money will be transferred to your account immediately.

"Whether you use that money to buy tonics to train your blood vitality or improve your family's living conditions, either would be better than merely going through the motions at the examination venue, wouldn't it?"

In his view, Lin Hao had no hope in the Martial Artist Examination. His continued refusal to agree simply meant they hadn't reached the right price.

Yet Lin Hao's answer remained the same. "Thank you for your kindness, Principal. I'm taking the Martial Artist Examination."

At those words, the smile on Zou Jianmin's face faded little by little.

Seeing this, Jiang Chao said, "Principal, just let Lin Hao take it. Plenty of students don't have 1.0 blood vitality, but they still take the Martial Artist Examination. Isn't it all for the score the examination gives them?

"Although that score won't get them into a martial artist university, they can use it to apply for jobs at plenty of departments and companies.

"Without that score, they can't get into many good workplaces."

Zou Jianmin glanced at Jiang Chao and said impatiently, "What good workplace would think anything of a Martial Artist Examination blood vitality score of 0.3?"

With that, he ignored Jiang Chao and looked at Lin Hao, his voice no longer gentle. "Lin Hao, we're sitting here discussing this nicely with you out of consideration for your older cousin, Lin Qing.

"But now Lin Qing has been taken away by the Discipline Bureau, and no one can say how things will turn out. Young man, don't fail to recognize what's good for you. Narrowing your own path won't do you any good."

"Principal Zou, aren't you going too far?" Jiang Chao abruptly stood up.

Zou Jianmin turned and swept a glance over Jiang Chao without speaking.

But the oppressive force of a martial artist in that gaze bore down like a stone, forcibly lodging the words Jiang Chao had been about to say in his throat.

Seeing this, Zou Jianmin laughed inwardly. As if he couldn't handle a few students!

He used the same trick again, attempting to pressure Lin Hao with his martial artist's aura.

Yet, contrary to his expectations, Lin Hao's expression remained utterly unruffled.

Instead, he gave Zou Jianmin a cold glance.

At once, Zou Jianmin felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Those were simply not eyes an eighteen-year-old high school student should have. They held a coldness tempered in blood and honed through life and death.

It was the killing intent possessed only by martial artists who had survived demonic beasts' fangs, mountains of corpses, and seas of blood.

Beside him, Shi Tie stiffened all over, his heart trembling uncontrollably as his hands and feet began to grow cold.