The students of Class 3 were looking over as well.
"What's Chen Yong doing?"
"Sounds like he wants to challenge Duan Ming to a saber match."
"Challenge Duan Ming to a saber match? Does he have a hole in his head? Nobody's seen Duan Ming show off his saber skills, but everyone knows they're first-rate! That came straight from the City Protection Bureau. How could it be fake?"
"Chen Yong's grandpa used to be a Divine Power Master. I heard he started learning saber skills from his grandpa when he was ten, so it's been nine years now. Apparently someone said his saber skills definitely weren't as good as Duan Ming's, so he wanted to challenge him."
"He's trained with the saber for nine years? Then it's really hard to say who'll win!"
"If he beats Duan Ming, won't that put our Class 3 a head above Class 1?"
As far as the whole grade was concerned, Duan Ming was openly recognized as the strongest in Class 1.
Zhou Yao came up to Chen Yong and said, "We're about to start training, and the school forbids private fights. Besides, you'd be using sabers. Duan Ming can't go with you."
Chen Yong ignored Zhou Yao and stared down at Duan Ming, who was sitting on the grass.
"I'll wait for you over there. If you don't dare come, forget it."
With that, he headed toward a classroom building and went around to the back.
Duan Ming stood up. "Wait here. I'll be right back."
The others looked at one another as Duan Ming walked away.
"Should we go?"
"Duan Ming told us to wait here."
"Why are you so pigheaded? Just because he told us to wait, we should? What if that guy has no shame and plays dirty?"
"Good point. The surveillance camera over there seems to be broken and hasn't been fixed yet, and there's nobody nearby. If he plays dirty and injures Duan Ming, wouldn't that be like a mute eating bitter herbs, unable to speak of his suffering?"
"Right. Come on, let's all go take a look. If that punk really dares to play dirty, fuck it, we'll all jump him and kill him!"
"The girls don't need to come. I'm afraid things might get too violent and scare you."
Black lines appeared on the foreheads of the girls present.
When the students of Class 1 got up and followed the departing Duan Ming in a rush,
the students of Class 3 nearby saw them too.
"What's going on? Why are they all following him?"
"Come on, let's go take a look too. If Class 1 doesn't follow martial virtue and gangs up on Chen Yong, our Class 3 will really lose face."
The two groups, more than thirty people in all, headed toward the classroom building in two parties.
The students from the nearby classes watched in confusion, having no idea what was going on.
"Holy shit, Class 3 is following us too."
"I knew things weren't that simple!"
"What are you scared of? If a fight really breaks out, leave that big guy to me. I'm paying him back in full today for the beating he gave me last time!"
"That big guy looks a little hard to deal with."
"Relax. I don't believe he doesn't have a weakness. If I can't hurt him, I'll go for his balls!"
Just as the two groups were about to reach the classroom building in a great procession,
Duan Ming came out!
"What's going on? Why is Duan Ming already coming out?"
As Duan Ming walked up to them, Dong Kai asked, "Duan Ming, what happened? Did you start fighting?"
"It's already over."
Duan Ming walked away, leaving everyone in disarray in the wind.
When the students of Class 3 saw Duan Ming come out, they rushed behind the classroom building.
Class 1 immediately went around the back to see what had happened too.
Chen Yong was kneeling on the ground, completely unharmed.
A saber lay in front of him.
And the saber in his hand was broken!
"I lost. He swung his saber just once and cut mine in two."
Nearly forty people gathered in a dense crowd, looking at Chen Yong on his knees.
And at the saber that had been cut in half.
"Is Duan Ming too strong, or was that saber just poor quality?"
"Obviously not. Would this guy use a poor-quality saber himself?"
Quite a few people looked at Chen Yong with sympathy.
He really did deserve their sympathy.
After nine years of grueling practice, a peer had cut through the weapon in his hand with a single stroke!
Losing wasn't frightening!
What was frightening was that his opponent was too frightening!
After the students of Class 1 left, the class monitor of Class 3 came up to Chen Yong.
"You lost after just one stroke?"
Chen Yong gritted his teeth. "Never mind me. His saber skills might even be better than my grandpa's if he came."
He wasn't angry. He was wondering why he was so useless. After nine years of grueling practice, he had actually lost in a single stroke!
Yes, he had trained hard for nine years.
But Duan Ming had trained for eleven years, more than four thousand days and nights!
Whenever he slept, he had nightmares.
Whenever he had nightmares, he practiced his saber skills.
He could only swing blindly at the air.
But Duan Ming fought real battles in his dreams!
The slightest mistake meant death!
Although they were dreams,
to Duan Ming, they were more than just dreams.
"I heard Chen Yong studied saber skills for nine years, Duan Ming. You beat him with just one stroke?"
A boy's eyes and voice were full of envy.
"He relied too much on brute force when he swung his saber and neglected technique."
Not far away, Du Qinggang walked past, cursing under his breath.
"Teach him? Teach him my ass. Even my saber skills aren't as good as that kid's."
When Du Qinggang had noticed something going on, he had hurried over and watched in secret.
The moment he saw Duan Ming swing his saber, and the look in his eyes as he did it, he finally believed that the City Protection Bureau hadn't lied.
That speed was fast as fucking lightning.
The broken saber probably hadn't even realized it had been cut in two before Duan Ming had already sheathed his.
"They told me to teach him, but I want to learn from him myself. That was so fucking cool."
The students around him had black lines on their foreheads as they watched Du Qinggang walk past in flip-flops, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Duan Ming, why don't you teach us saber skills?"
"Yeah, Duan Ming, you're so awesome. Teach us your saber skills."
"That's right. Learning saber skills is way better than fighting empty-handed."
Duan Ming nodded. "Sure. If you want to learn, I can teach you, but not everyone is suited to using a saber."
"Who cares? Let's learn first."
"Then are we the Saber Class from now on?"
"Oh, shut up. How did you even come up with a name that corny?"
Duan Ming had decided to become stronger.
For no other reason than that he could protect the people around him once he was stronger.
He didn't need to look far; there was his third uncle.
In a chaotic world like this, it was unwise to idle away one's days waiting for death and rely on others for protection.
Only by becoming stronger himself could he step in and save his family when they were in trouble.
Rather than wait with them for someone else to come to their rescue.
The midday training was no longer as dull and boring as before.
Fighting techniques were what all the first-year boys wanted to learn most right now.
After all, how could brute force alone be enough?
If an opponent could jump and dodge, with first-rate movement skills, while all you could do was stick out your leg and kick like a fucking idiot, how could that work?
After class, the other students all went to eat.
Duan Ming wasn't hungry, so he lay on the grass alone, looking through his phone.
Suddenly, a friend request from a boy popped up, with the note: "Zhang Hongji."
Huh?