Chapter 74: An Exorbitantly Priced Beauty
On Tuesday morning, Yang Shen once again completed his daily Rising Sun Body Forging.
His Qi and Blood Value was increasing at a rate of about ten points per day, having now reached 272. He was drawing ever closer to the early stage of Marrow Refining.
According to Huang Gang, while absorbing resources was just a matter of money, the amount of Qi and Blood Value that Yang Shen could solidify was what made him truly monstrous.
While everyone thought the last monthly exam was Yang Shen’s stunning debut, his rate of progress hadn’t slowed down. In fact, it had accelerated.
The morning’s academic classes passed without incident. The school gossip had gradually shifted focus to the "Top Student Study Group," granting Yang Shen and Xu Bamboo a temporary respite.
The afternoon physical education class, however, was once again led by Madman Huo Jun.
This time, he again singled out Yang Shen.
"Yang Shen, fall out! The rest of you, follow the class representative. Warm up with thirty laps in twenty-nine minutes!"
Thirty laps again... and the time limit was getting shorter and shorter. The weaker students’ legs went weak as they recalled running themselves to the point of incontinence just a few days prior.
What was more concerning, however, was that he only called for Yang Shen, not Xu Bamboo...
’If last time was because Xu Bamboo was absent, does this mean... she’s really lost her privileged status as a top student?’
Many eyes turned to the front of the girls’ formation. Xu Bamboo stood ramrod straight, her face completely expressionless.
Yang Shen took the initiative. "Sir! I think Xu Bamboo is excellent. She should train with us!"
Huo Jun cracked a wide, toothy grin, his expression one of amusement, but he refused to grant Yang Shen this favor.
"Not happening. Today, I only need you!"
Yang Shen turned to look, and Xu Bamboo gave him a subtle shake of her head.
Meanwhile, Huang Gang, who was in the formation, kept pointing at himself excitedly... as if to say:
Me! Me! Me!
Yang Shen just rolled his eyes.
The rest of the class went off to run, while Huo Jun led Yang Shen to the "equipment room" off to the side.
"Yang Shen, were you surprised by your monthly exam results?"
For once, Yang Shen actually smiled at the Madman. "I was surprised, too. I didn’t expect to improve that much."
Huo Jun shook his head. "I meant I was surprised you only ranked 23rd in your grade. That’s a bit low."
Yang Shen: ...
"I’ve been thinking. To bring out your full potential, progressing step-by-step is just too slow. So from now on, during physical education class, I’m going to give you specialized training."
’Just as I thought,’ Yang Shen mused. ’It’s not that Huo Jun hadn’t been acting crazy the past few days; he was just busy preparing to go crazy.’
Yang Shen was curious, but he knew resistance was futile where Huo Jun was concerned.
The only way to handle this was to endure the pressure and channel it into fuel for his own growth.
Huo Jun swung a single arm, and the heavy iron door to the equipment room, weighing several hundred pounds, slammed open.
’Gang Qi really is convenient,’ he thought. ’That skill for one-handed flexing is pretty enviable.’
Huo Jun revealed the secret. "Weapons are what best bring out ’Killing Intent’! Let’s pick a suitable teaching aid for you first!"
Yang Shen understood. ’Weapons, huh...’
It was true. In a life-or-death fight, weapons were far more dangerous and powerful than bare hands.
For the sake of public order, Yanhua stipulated that Martial Artists under the age of adulthood could only practice Body Forging and not train with weapons. If they were to emulate the Knights of old, with everyone carrying a blade, the lethality of early-stage Martial Artists would increase severalfold.
In times of chaos, this would be called "arming the populace."
In times of peace, it was "securing all arms for the state."
Inside the equipment room, besides the usual stacked counterweights, dumbbells, and the Gantry Crane, there was now a weapon rack in the center of the room—something Yang Shen had never seen here before.
These weapons seemed completely out of place among the surrounding teaching equipment. For one, the school simply didn’t teach how to use them; that was all part of the university curriculum.
The style was also off. All the teaching equipment at Nanliang High School had a certain aesthetic—one that screamed "exorbitantly expensive."
Everything looked cheap, yet the school always claimed it had spent millions.
The annual maintenance fees were in the hundreds of thousands, but all that really involved was having students do the hard labor of wiping everything down...
But these weapons Huo Jun had somehow acquired were both hefty and exquisitely crafted. One glance was enough to tell they were the real deal—and highly professional-grade.
Huo Jun walked over to the weapon rack. "I had an old army buddy get these for me. They’re all standard-issue, entry-level military weapons."
Yang Shen raised an eyebrow, pointing to a rifle. "This... isn’t a real one, is it?"
Huo Jun nodded. With a flick of his hand, the rifle flew over to him. "Of course. It’s a Type 95 rifle, 5.8 caliber."
’Gunnery is a technique? Ballistics is a path?’
Yang Shen asked, "Are you even allowed to fire that at school?"
"It’s fine as long as I’m not just firing it wildly. I’ll only be using it on you, to train your reflexes and ability to block firearms."
’You’re really fucking insane!’
Even to those in the Innate Realm, firearms posed a certain degree of threat. There were even specialized "Martial Arts" within the police and military that involved the use of firearms.
In the Training Camp, Yang Shen had witnessed a police officer shoot a curving bullet.
The greatest advantage of firearms was standardization. It would be difficult to train ten thousand master archers or dart throwers, but you could easily train ten thousand "Spear Martial Artists," "Grenade Masters," and "Machine Gun Heroes."
However, for anyone above the Innate Realm who had reached the True Gang Realm, firearms were about as useful as a fire poker. Of course, that didn’t rule out the existence of high-end firearms that Yang Shen had never encountered.
’Seriously! What kind of school uses assault rifles as teaching aids?!’
’So it’s either dodge or die and start over, is that it?’
Huo Jun held up the rifle. "This is a tool to train *you*. You don’t need to train *with* it. Now, see if there are any melee weapons you like. You can try them all if you want."
Yang Shen’s gaze swept over the weapons... In the sword category alone, there were three types: longswords, shortswords, and greatswords...
’What young person doesn’t like swords? Whether they’re powerful or not is one thing, but the important part is that they look cool!’
Unfortunately, Yang Shen knew that the Ancestral Lineage Spiritual Record had shown his Hidden Talents were "Fist Technique" and "Spear Technique"...
His gaze swept past warhammers, greatsabers, and staves before finally resting on a long spear.
To be precise, it was a long spear that had been separated into two parts. For military considerations, carrying a complete, two-meter-long spear on one’s back was clearly disadvantageous for maneuvering in combat.
It would even be difficult to draw conveniently from one’s back.
The two halves were joined by a screw thread. The spearhead was diamond-shaped, with a sharp point and thin edges. As a standard-issue weapon, it lacked any ornate decoration, but the craftsmanship was superb.
Seeing Yang Shen’s gaze settle, Huo Jun said, "A dual-purpose long spear. It can be thrown or used for close combat."
As he spoke, he summoned another item from the rack—a crescent-shaped side blade.
"This is one of its attachments. It can be adapted for slashing and disarming. We usually call it a ’Battle Halberd.’ How about it? Want to choose this one?"
In Huo Jun’s mind, a novice touching a weapon for the first time was completely in the dark. His plan today was just to have Yang Shen try each one, then decide on a specialization in a few days.
But when Yang Shen picked up the long spear, he felt an immediate, natural sense of reassurance in his palm—perhaps a case of the effect preceding the cause.
Yang Shen nodded firmly. "This is the one."
The "Ancestral Lineage Spiritual Record" wouldn’t lie. Yang Shen’s talent for Fist Technique was obvious; his Spear Skill should be just as good.
Huo Jun nodded. With a flick of his arm—it was unclear if he used gravity or Gang Qi—the rifle in his hand was already loaded.
"You have a spear, I have a gun. Perfectly fair. Let’s go. It’s a huge pain to fire a gun on the main field; I’ve already requisitioned an indoor venue from the school."
’Fair my ass!!’
’Maybe the Madman had some self-awareness after all... though the idea of a madman possessing self-awareness seemed highly unlikely.’
Perhaps the image of machine-gun fire tearing up the main field was too much even for his twisted mind, because the man had actually managed to find a "safe" place.
(And by "safe," he meant for the surrounding greenery, not for Yang Shen.)
"Rubber bullets. More expensive and harder to get than the real thing. You should appreciate all the trouble I’ve gone to for your sake."
"Sir, while you say that, could you maybe not point the barrel at my back?"
"Excellent. A true Warrior should have a keen sense for when a gun is aimed at them. You should be able to feel it even if you can’t see it! You’re already getting the hang of it."
And so, the two of them arrived at the basement of the main academic building. As far as Yang Shen could remember, this place was only ever opened during the monthly exams.
As Yang Shen was prodded into the room at gunpoint, he was shocked to see the so-called "Top Student Study Group."
’No wonder there were so many rumors, but I never ran into them. So they were holed up in the basement all along.’
Seeing Yang Shen enter in such a bizarre fashion, the members of the study group were also a bit stunned. They thought they were the only ones with the privilege of practicing Body Forging in air conditioning. Was there someone else with special treatment?
Among the ten-person group, the giant Tian Zihan was possibly the weakest, but his presence was second only to the elephant in the room.
And since there was no elephant, he was the most conspicuous one.
"Yang... did you take a wrong turn? Only the top ten students in the grade are allowed in here. I understand you’re eager to improve, but school rules are..."
Yang Shen pointed at Huo Jun behind him. "His rules are bigger than the school’s. Why don’t you ask him?"
Only then did Tian Zihan notice the person behind Yang Shen, holding a rifle in one hand...
’Is there a film crew shooting a movie at school?’
Huo Jun couldn’t even be bothered to look at these top students. In his eyes, all living beings were equal.
They were simply divided into two categories: "those with confirmed kills" and "those without."
Those without were just strays.
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