Era of Mist

The next day, the atmosphere of the entire school was different. Fewer people were washing clothes, and fewer were out for morning practice or reading. The whole school was caught in a state of restless anticipation.

The weekend had arrived.

What? Wasn’t yesterday the weekend?

No, no, no. At Fengming First Middle School, "the weekend" specifically meant Sunday, and only Sunday afternoon at that. For the entire week, students were only allowed to leave campus on Sunday afternoon and evening. Whether they went home or just wandered around, they at least had half a day of rest. Of course, there were still classes on Sunday morning, but they were typically for unified self-study, not new lessons.

With the self-control of high school students, their minds had already started wandering two days prior. By early Sunday morning, they were already preparing to bolt.

Shi Tiexin’s routine, however, remained unchanged. He still went to read his flashcards first thing in the morning. He no longer needed to read initials and finals; instead, he was enunciating each sound clearly and perfectly.

The first realm of Rhetoric had reached the Profound level early on, almost as if he’d exploited a minor bug. Although he hadn’t been cultivating it with high intensity these past few days, he had used bits and pieces of free time to raise its progress by a total of about twenty points.

After reaching the Profound level, his skill was quite high. When Shi Tiexin merely read aloud, people found his pronunciation standard and pleasant to the ear—if his intonation wasn’t so stiff and robotic.

His pace didn’t change one bit. Shi Tiexin ate breakfast and refined his primordial essence. Over the past week, he had accumulated nearly sixty strands of primordial essence roaming in his lower abdomen. One hundred strands were within reach, which was some comfort at least.

When Shi Tiexin arrived at the classroom, the door wasn’t even open yet. He looked around; not just Class 28, but the entire "trash class" area was deserted. No one was loitering near the classrooms. Bored with waiting and with nothing else to do, Shi Tiexin could only think sullenly, ’The elite classes are better after all. They wouldn’t delay my cultivation.’

He waited for a full fifteen minutes before Zhao Qingmiao finally sauntered up. Seeing that Lord Shi had apparently been waiting for a long time, Xiaodouya was immediately filled with fear and trepidation, apologizing profusely. He hadn’t expected anyone to come this early on a weekend. Generally, the first person wouldn’t show up for at least another half hour.

’Lord Shi really is Lord Shi. So diligent in his studies! It seems his words back then, "I’ll do it myself from now on," weren’t just casual, but a creed he lives by every single moment.’

’A man who never goes back on a single word he’s spoken—that kind of man is a true, hardcore man!’

The little fanboy was lost in admiration again, but Shi Tiexin paid him no mind. Plopping down in his seat, he suddenly realized something—he was out of auxiliary secret manuals for the first realm of Mathematics! Both *Extreme Training* and *Little Genius* were completely used up. Taking stock of what he had left, he only had some Ordinary and Fine-grade auxiliary secret manuals.

’Those things probably won’t give me any improvement at all at my current level.’

’No choice. I’ll have to study something else for now. I’ll find some time to have Zhou Nan buy me some more, then practice for another two days. If I still don’t make any progress within those two days, I’ll have to adjust the time I allocate for each cultivation subject in the future. I’ll demote Math to a secondary position, just practicing it enough each day to keep my skills sharp. Then I’ll focus on raising my other subjects, trying my best to grind them all to the Profound level first.’

’Alright, that’s the plan. Morning reading is about to start anyway. Time to read!’

"B-I-AO, BIAO! BIAO, BIAO, BIAO! Example sentence: Idiot, Idiot!"

"SH-A, SHA! SHA, SHA, SHA! Example sentence: Dumbass, Dumbass!"

Shi Tiexin recited the two lines loudly and earnestly in a broadcast-announcer voice. The entire class quickly fell silent, every student wearing a constipated expression. ’Dude, you look so serious when you read. I never thought you were this kind of person! What the hell are you even reading? Why is the content so weird?!’

But Shi Tiexin didn’t see anything wrong with it. ’When you’re practicing a language, of course you should start with common, everyday phrases. I think this unorthodox auxiliary secret manual is great. Old Tie here can definitely use it—in the future, when I’m in a flame war, I’m not gonna be the one who’s tongue-tied and speechless!’

’I’m going to train my tongue to be sharp and nimble. From now on, whoever starts trouble, I’ll flame them and savor the thrill of a good war of words!’

And so, Shi Tiexin practiced with extreme earnestness and focus.

Just as Class 28’s head teacher, Teacher Chu, walked into the room, he happened to hear Shi Tiexin practicing in a state of euphoric bliss.

"H-AN, HAN! HAN, HAN, HAN! Example sentence: Blockhead, Blockhead!"

Teacher Chu’s eyebrow twitched three times, and his expression immediately turned strange. Seeing this, the students of the trash class were on the verge of bursting into laughter, but Teacher Chu managed to suppress his own emotions. He picked up the blackboard eraser and slammed it on the lectern three times. THWACK, THWACK, THWACK. The sharp sounds silenced all the students.

"E-R, ER! ER, ER, ER! Example sentence: Numbsk—"

THUD. Someone from behind kicked Shi Tiexin’s stool hard. Only then did Shi Tiexin stop talking and look up to find the entire class silent.

Up on the dais, Teacher Chu was vigorously rubbing his face, with so much force it was as if he were trying to scrub off a layer of grime with an exfoliating towel. He rubbed for a good while before finally lowering his hands, his expression now normal.

"In accordance with the school’s unified directive, we will be holding a math exam today."

An exam? The students of Class 28 showed expressions of annoyance and indifference. They had already heard about it—there was going to be an exam this Sunday morning. Fengming First Middle School had many exams, and the frequency differed between classes of different tiers. A small quiz every three days, a big test every five; it had been this way since the first year of high school, and all the students were used to it.

’Ugh, so annoying. We finally get to go have fun this afternoon, and they stick us with an exam in the morning. Freaking annoying! Besides, when have we students from the trash class ever cared about exams? Except for the few oddballs who still study hard in the trash class, the vast majority of us have a "couldn’t care less if we pass or fail" attitude.’

’Besides... the four arithmetic operations? Isn’t that elementary school stuff? This exam is a total joke!’

"There won’t be any special seating arrangements for this exam. Just stay where you are."

Hearing Teacher Chu’s words, all the students understood. No doubt about it, this exam really was a joke. No special exam hall, no assigned seats—didn’t that mean they could cheat as much as they wanted?

It wasn’t just Class 28. Right now, across the entire school, from the first years to the third years, from the trash classes to the elite classes, the same announcement was being made. The slackers were overjoyed, while the top students who usually delighted in exams were unhappy. The top students felt that if cheating couldn’t be prevented, there was no way to show their true abilities. What was the point of the exam then? As a result, they naturally placed less importance on this test.

Throughout the entire school, there weren’t many students who were still happy and taking it seriously.

Among them, Shi Tiexin was the happiest of all.

After eavesdropping on the idle chatter around him, Shi Tiexin finally figured out what was going on. ’An exam? On the four arithmetic operations? Does that mean... they’re handing out test papers?’

’Doesn’t that mean I’m getting a free auxiliary secret manual?’

’This is like getting a pillow just when you’re feeling sleepy!’

The test papers were handed out. Shi Tiexin took his and examined it carefully. ’Let’s see if this secret manual is worth doing.’ He focused his mind and looked:

[Quality: Peerless]