At seventeen or eighteen, the boys and girls were at an age when their heads were full of dreams of beautiful things.
The female teacher was tall, with finely sculpted features and glossy black hair tied in a high ponytail. She looked dashing and spirited.
The boys' hearts stirred, while the girls gazed at her with envy.
Qin Ze couldn't help sneaking a couple of extra looks himself.
She really was quite a sight.
"I'm your new teacher, Teacher Yao. I hope we'll get along well in the days to come," Teacher Yao introduced herself.
"Show me one at a time, from the front of the line to the back. Let me see how far you've cultivated the Fate Reversal Technique."
He Bi was first.
He closed his eyes and began steadily gathering his qi and blood.
A moment later, a muffled thump sounded from within his body.
A small shock wave could be seen spreading half a meter in every direction.
"Wow~"
The students cried out in surprise.
"As expected of our class's chosen one!"
"He Bi can already break through more than thirty acupoints, right?"
"I bet He Bi will be this year's top scorer in the martial arts exam."
Teacher Yao nodded in approval as well. "Not bad."
The corners of He Bi's mouth curled up as he calmed his qi and blood.
He could already break through thirty-five acupoints. By the day of the martial arts exam, he figured eighty would be a breeze.
Even if he couldn't take first place, landing among the top few would be as easy as turning over his hand.
He Bi had thought the beautiful teacher might spare him a few extra glances, but Teacher Yao quickly turned to the next student instead. He felt a little disappointed.
As he passed Qin Ze, He Bi slowed his steps.
"Get ready. I'll come find you when it's time to spar."
Fatty grinned. "I really don't know who gave you the courage to spar with my bro Ze."
The smooth little combo Qin Ze had pulled off last night had left Fatty dumbstruck.
Forget one He Bi-even ten wouldn't be enough for Qin Ze to fight alone.
Qin Ze ignored He Bi outright and reviewed the Fate Reversal Technique's formula in his head.
Seeing Qin Ze's attitude, He Bi swore to leave him bedridden for months.
The students took turns demonstrating after that, each breaking through between twenty and twenty-five acupoints.
At last, it was the turn of the waste duo guarding the trash can.
Fatty went first.
"Hah-"
Fatty let out a shout.
And then...
There was no "and then."
Teacher Yao frowned. "Not even ten? What have you been doing these past three years?"
Fatty scratched his head awkwardly. "Teacher Yao, it's not that I haven't tried. My qi sea can't gather qi. No matter how hard I work, it's no use."
"Hold out your hand." Teacher Yao stepped forward.
Fatty timidly offered his right hand.
Teacher Yao took him by the wrist, a puzzled look appearing on her face.
"Strange."
She had never seen such a strange qi sea.
It absorbed qi energy extremely quickly, but it leaked just as fast, and its efficiency at converting qi and blood was outrageously low.
"Teacher Yao, is there any way to fix it?" Hope returned to Fatty's eyes.
"Sorry, I'm not an expert in this area. There's nothing I can do either." Teacher Yao sighed.
The light in Fatty's eyes faded.
He had long since grown used to it over the years.
Next, it was Qin Ze's turn.
The students watched him eagerly.
A guy who needed outside help just to meditate had probably broken through even fewer acupoints than Fatty.
Qin Ze had practically worn out the book containing the Fate Reversal Technique over the course of the morning.
He knew the formula by heart, but this was still his first time putting it into practice.
"First step, focus the mind."
"Second step, gather qi and blood and circulate them through the meridians."
Qin Ze carefully followed the steps as he recited the formula under his breath. The students doubled over with laughter.
He Bi's face was full of contempt.
His second brother had actually fallen at the hands of this kind of trash. He really felt it was unfair to him.
"Third step, after circulating them through one complete cycle, break through the acupoints with all your strength!"
Qin Ze's eyes snapped open.
At that moment, he felt the qi and blood in his body boil like a pot of water.
Bang, bang, bang-
His qi and blood rapidly broke through acupoint after acupoint, producing a series of explosive pops like beans bursting.
Boom-
When the last, eightieth acupoint was broken through, a wave of qi swept out several meters in every direction.
Fatty, who was closest to Qin Ze, was knocked head over heels and landed on his backside.
The other students were knocked every which way too, ending up covered in dust.
Only Teacher Yao remained standing where she was, without moving an inch. The whirl of qi merely lifted her ponytail.
"Sugoi!"
"Is... is that really Qin Ze?"
"He must have broken through forty or fifty acupoints, right?"
"Bullshit, it had to be sixty or seventy."
The students scrambled to their feet, their gazes full of astonishment.
He Bi, who had taken a face-first bite of dirt, wore a gloomy expression.
He couldn't understand it.
How had a mere piece of trash broken through more acupoints than he had?
"You've already cultivated the Fate Reversal Technique to the first layer. Very good." Surprise flashed through Teacher Yao's beautiful eyes.
She hadn't expected a little genius to come out of a backwater like Jiang City.
When the students heard Teacher Yao say that Qin Ze had already reached the first layer of the Fate Reversal Technique, their jaws nearly hit the floor.
Even across the whole school, they hadn't heard of anyone cultivating the Fate Reversal Technique to first-layer perfection.
"Now choose your own opponents and spar in pairs," Teacher Yao said.
He Bi saw Qin Ze look over at him with a grin and immediately had a bad feeling.
"I choose him." Qin Ze raised a hand and pointed at him.
He Bi gnashed his teeth, cursing Qin Ze inwardly for having no martial ethics.
You're a martial artist at the first layer of the Fate Reversal Technique, and you're going to beat up a baby like me who's only broken through thirty-five acupoints.
He Bi said, "Qin Ze, I advise you to mind your mouse tail juice."
"This is a friendly match between classmates. Stop once a point has been made," Teacher Yao said. "Apart from Qin Ze, He Bi has made the most progress with the Fate Reversal Technique in the class. You two are suitable opponents."
He Bi knew he couldn't get out of it.
"All right, then we'll stop once a point has been made. I don't want to hurt you either."
He Bi broke through all thirty-five of his acupoints and launched a left jab at Qin Ze's face.
Qin Ze tilted his head out of the way and brought his right hand down on He Bi's scalp with a duang.
He Bi felt as though he'd been struck by an eighty-pound sledgehammer. Stars filled his vision, and he fell stiffly to the ground.
"That made quite a sound. Good head."
Qin Ze withdrew his hand.
"But your head isn't nearly as hard as your second brother's. Not even close."
He'd killed the shrimp and then crushed its heart!
He Bi's vision went black, and he fainted.
Teacher Yao remained unhurried. "Two of you, take him to the infirmary."
Two nearby students lifted He Bi and hurried off toward the infirmary.
The students couldn't help taking two steps back, feeling a little scared.
"The martial arts exam is in another three months. Don't slack off during this time, and you'll have a chance of getting into a good university," Teacher Yao told Qin Ze.
"Got it. Thank you, Teacher Yao," Qin Ze said with a nod.
For most of the remaining body-forging class, no one came to Qin Ze to spar.
Qin Ze found an empty corner and meditated on his own.
The school bell rang.
Qin Ze opened his eyes and let out a long sigh.
Meditation increased his qi and blood far too slowly.
After school, Qin Ze didn't head home immediately. Instead, he planned to find a martial arts gym to test his qi and blood value.
In this world where martial arts flourished, martial arts gyms were about as common as pharmacies in his previous life.
Any first-level martial artist was qualified to open a martial arts gym, so their quality varied greatly.
Only the small handful of top-tier gyms taught their students additional cultivation techniques.
The vast majority of the rest merely helped ordinary people get fit or offered extracurricular martial arts instruction to school students.
"Four Seas Martial Arts Gym, I choose you!"
Qin Ze swore he definitely hadn't chosen this place because of the long-legged young lady welcoming guests at the entrance.