Chapter 75: Smashing the Bullet
The area was quite spacious. Huo Jun prodded Yang Shen in the back, guiding him toward the far end.
Once they were some distance away, the group of ten began to buzz with discussion.
A girl with waist-length hair frowned. "So that’s the guy who tore up the rankings? He looks so ordinary... To make that much progress, he didn’t sell his family’s house, did he?"
"Selling his house... Haha, how pathetic!"
"It’s just a guess, but it’s pitiful just thinking about it. You really shouldn’t force it if you don’t have the talent. You’ll just drag your whole family down."
Hearty laughter erupted from the crowd.
Tian Zihan awkwardly shifted his weight on his two thick, pillar-like thighs. He chose to go along with the crowd, joining in the laughter.
He laughed even louder than everyone else, though his voice sounded a bit dry. "Hahaha, exactly! So lame!"
The long-haired girl continued, "But that teacher, Huo, seems to think highly of him. Wang Yang, I believe Huo also teaches your Class 7. Is there anything special about that guy?"
Another boy’s face darkened. ’That man never gave me a second glance in class,’ he thought. ’He just made everyone run, treating a top student like me the same as the rest of the trash in our class.’
’How would I know what’s so special about him?’
But he said aloud, "Nothing. He’s just an old fossil who doesn’t know the first thing about teaching."
The long-haired girl watched them, confused. "I just don’t get why he’s holding a toy gun..."
Tian Zihan said, "Who knows? Maybe it’s some kind of role-playing thing?"
The words had barely left his mouth.
BANG!! A deafening shot rang out.
It was a sound completely foreign to high school students—utterly foreign.
But that piercing quality and distinctive timbre...
The jaws of the ten students dropped, their expressions priceless.
"He... he fired?!"
A short distance away in the basement, Huo Jun held the gun with one hand, a savage grin on his face. "Well? How’d that feel?!"
To keep his school uniform from getting ruined, Yang Shen was already shirtless, wearing only a pair of large athletic shorts that revealed his chiseled, well-defined muscles.
At the moment, however, he was grimacing and rubbing his arm, saying through gritted teeth, "That hurts. A lot more than I expected..."
The rubber bullets of Cyan Blue were, of course, designed to be used against Martial Artists. They carried a significant propellant charge, engineered specifically to have ’Strong Stopping Force’ against Martial Artists of the ’Three Great Initial Realms.’
For that first shot, Yang Shen, a complete novice, had tried to dodge based on the direction of the muzzle. It was no fucking use...
Huo Jun said, "Extreme Evasion is part of the first subject, but the little balls they use for the test are nothing compared to actual bullets. If you can get used to this, you’re guaranteed a perfect score on that section in the next exam."
With that, he pointed to the unassembled long spear on Yang Shen’s back. "Don’t forget, you have a weapon too. You need to use it."
Yang Shen took the two sections of the long spear off his back, assembled them, and held the weapon in his hands. "You mean... I can attack you?"
Huo Jun shook his head. "No. Use the spear to block the bullets."
Yang Shen was stunned. "...Isn’t that a bit of a huge leap? Shouldn’t I learn some Spear Technique first?"
"It’s fine. A big leap just means you’ll have to take a few more hits... Always remember..."
A flicker of the madness Yang Shen had come to recognize appeared in Huo Jun’s eyes.
"The primary role of a weapon is defense. No matter what kind of weapon it is, if it’s only for attacking and not for defending, it’s completely useless."
Yang Shen said gravely, "I thought... the best defense was a good offense?"
"That’s what dead men and rookies say. Once you’re on a real battlefield, you’ll find that there are plenty of chances to attack... but you only get one chance to defend. You mess up, and it’s over!"
He finished speaking and immediately fired two more shots. BANG! BANG!
’Fuck!’ Yang Shen screamed internally. ’Couldn’t you at least give me a 3-2-1 countdown?!’
This time, Yang Shen tried to block with his spear, but the shaft was only as thick as an egg. He would have been better off just trying to dodge. He took two shots straight to the abdomen.
If it weren’t for his Buddha Sound Body Refining Technique and Qi Cultivation, which made his internal organs far tougher than others of the same cultivation level, those two kidney shots would have dropped him instantly.
However, giving his opponent a chance to breathe wasn’t Huo Jun’s style. He fired again without warning.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
In the distance, the ten students were craning their necks. "This is... abuse, isn’t it?"
"Even we couldn’t dodge bullets at this range. How is that Yang guy supposed to do it?"
"He must have pissed the teacher off. Got dragged over here for a five-minute execution by firing squad."
"That’s a teacher? He’s a madman!"
It wasn’t just the group of ten. Even their own P.E. teacher lost all interest in conducting his class and subconsciously drifted closer to watch.
If someone actually died, he could be the first on the scene to attempt a rescue.
But no amount of outside attention could affect Huo Jun. As for Yang Shen, he had no time to spare, his focus entirely on the barrel of that gun.
BANG! Another shot.
It hit Yang Shen in the shoulder.
Another jolt of searing pain shot through him, and with it, a flicker of irritation.
This irritation wasn’t directed at Huo Jun; he’d long since accepted that the man was a world-class Madman, but also one who could serve as a whetstone to sharpen his own skills.
What irritated him was his own helplessness against a simple rifle.
As a Martial Arts High School student, he had always looked down on firearms, a view shared by many of his peers.
But now, he was being so thoroughly beaten by one that he couldn’t even muster any anger. It meant that if even an ordinary person had a gun, he would have been gravely injured by the first shot. By now, he would have been riddled with holes.
The muzzle velocity of a rubber bullet from a rifle was nearly 500 meters per second, and he was only 30 meters away from Huo Jun.
That gave him only 0.06 seconds to react and execute a counter-move.
Furthermore, Huo Jun wasn’t some machine firing from a fixed position. The man could aim, and his marksmanship was uncanny. He could even predict Yang Shen’s own attempts at prediction!
On Cyan Blue, where Martial Virtue was abundant and Martial Arts thrived, the regular army—at least its lower echelons—still maintained firearms in their arsenal. There was clearly a good reason for it.
According to Huo Jun, rebel forces in the various Exotic Realms, due to their physical constitutions and lack of Martial Arts heritage, had made firearms their primary weapon over a thousand years of resistance. They had even innovated, merging guns with their own unique technologies.
Unless one reached the True Gang Realm, firearms would always be a threat, especially on battlefields where quantity makes up for quality—and that was without even mentioning artillery and bombs.
Through wave after wave of intense pain, Yang Shen shed his disdain for firearms. He began to treat this as a true life-or-death battle.
It didn’t matter whether it was a gun or something else. This was Extreme Evasion.
It could be a bullet, a throwing dart, or even the Gang Qi projected by a master!
And he was going to win this round!
Yang Shen’s eyes gradually calmed, but his mind was racing, absorbing every one of Huo Jun’s subtle movements.
His breathing fell into a rhythm. To boost his body’s vitality, he slowly turned up the volume of the Buddha Sound Body Refining Technique in his mind.
This was a new trick he had learned while practicing the Flame Fist. Too much volume would cause his entire body to convulse, but a proper adjustment could enhance his speed and power... and mobilize the "Source" within him.
BANG!
This time, Yang Shen dodged faster than before, but was still hit in the side.
A grazing shot from a rubber bullet was more dangerous than a direct impact, and it left a shallow, 20-centimeter-long welt.
Yang Shen didn’t even glance at it, his eyes locked on Huo Jun. A faint, warm Spiritual Light began to glow within them.
Under the bright incandescent lights, it was barely noticeable...
BANG.
Another single shot. Yang Shen brought the spear up horizontally in front of his chest. He’d judged the position correctly but was off by a hair’s breadth. The egg-thick shaft failed to block the bullet, and he was hit again.
Huo Jun grinned. "How about it? Need a break?"
’No instruction, just start shooting. Even I couldn’t have figured this out on my own back when I was in the military.’
However, after a moment’s thought, Yang Shen disassembled the spear back into two sections, holding one in each hand. "Keep going."
He was onto something.
Huo Jun paid it no mind and fired again.
BANG!
Yang Shen moved. He swung both sections of the spear forward simultaneously, crossing them in an X-shape.
His eyes shimmered with Spiritual Light. He could see the bullet’s entire trajectory!
CLANG! With a crisp ring of metal, he struck the bullet dead-on. He felt the impact reverberate up his arm, but the force wasn’t overwhelming.
Success!!!
The special material of the rubber round kept it from completely disintegrating. With a forward flick of his wrist, Yang Shen sent the deflected bullet flying back in the opposite direction—straight at Huo Jun’s face.
It was hard to say if it was intentional or accidental.
Huo Jun, however, merely revealed a pleased and satisfied smile... and calmly tilted his head to the side.
The ricocheted bullet skimmed past his face...
...and squarely struck Tian Zihan, who was watching the excitement from the back, right in his philtrum.
The big man dropped to the ground on impact.
’Damn it! Why does it always hit the weakest spot on the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin!’
’If I had any feeling left there, that would have really made me scream!’
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