Volume One: First Signs of Excellence Chapter Twenty-Six: Stirring Trouble

The next day.

Wang Jue awoke early in the morning. After dressing, he stepped out of his room and found the living room eerily quiet; there was no breakfast prepared by his mother on the table. Perhaps it was because of what had happened yesterday. Normally, his parents would have been up long before this hour, but today, there was no sign of them.

Seeing this, Wang Jue didn’t bother to make anything for himself. He simply grabbed a bottle of milk from the refrigerator in the kitchen and headed to school.

As usual, he went to the bus stop and caught the bus. Compared to yesterday, today’s journey was remarkably peaceful; there were no incidents of theft or petty crime on the island. Thinking about it, that was normal enough—he’d ridden the bus to school for years, and what happened yesterday was the first time he’d encountered such a thing.

As for that cool and beautiful woman, she was nowhere to be seen.

...

Peace No. 10 High School.

Wang Jue had just stepped into the classroom when he heard groups of classmates gathered together, talking in low voices.

“I really envy the martial artists in our class. Each of them gets at least a hundred thousand, while we ordinary people can only watch and drool.”

“No choice—what can we do? We just don’t have the talent.”

“Hey, do you think the money will be handed out today?”

“No idea. Someone will ask the teacher soon enough. We won’t get any money anyway, so what’s the point in asking?”

“At least a hundred thousand each! My family would take forever to earn that much.”

“Pfft, you think a hundred thousand is a lot? You guys who weren’t there yesterday wouldn’t know—our class’s Luo Shui is amazing! Sixfold Body Tempering, she’ll receive two hundred and ten thousand. Probably the highest amount in our class!”

“Why are you so surprised? How do you think she got the nickname ‘Mother Tyrannosaurus’? With her strength, she’s probably in the top ten of all Peace No. 10 High School.”

“No, no, you’re wrong—not top ten, but top five. If it weren’t for those three students from other classes with triple body tempering, she’d probably be number one!”

“If we had half her talent, we’d all be martial artists by now—maybe we’d get the money too.”

“...”

Hearing all this, Wang Jue couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.

These people probably hadn’t fully woken up yet. No talent means no talent—no matter how much you fantasize, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re ordinary.

Did they really think they were like him?

A talent others could never improve in a lifetime was no obstacle for him—so long as he had enough starlight points!

At that moment, many martial artist students were gathered together, discussing yesterday’s events and the situation in other classes, while ordinary classmates looked on with envy and jealousy in their eyes.

Especially those who didn’t do well academically and had no talent.

Wang Jue understood well that what happened yesterday had undoubtedly spread throughout the school. Those three students with sevenfold body tempering had a high chance of being admitted directly to the military academy.

Attending the military academy was nothing like simply joining the army; after graduation, about thirty percent would be assigned as officers, and the remaining seventy percent would at least become squad leaders. Being assigned as a regular soldier was almost unheard of. Not all soldiers came from the academy, but most who did would end up as officers.

Wang Jue listened to the discussions in the class without any intention of joining in. Instead, he glanced at Luo Shui’s seat, only to find she hadn’t arrived yet, unusually late for her.

Based on his understanding of Luo Shui, there were only two possibilities: she’d overslept, or she’d stayed up late cramming for her studies. Either way, she’d arrive just in time.

Suddenly, Wang Jue heard a commotion outside—it was obviously students from other classes. The noise coming from the corridor was loud enough that students in other classrooms could hear it too.

“Come quick, there’s a fight! Over there, they’re fighting!”

“Where?”

“Let’s hurry and take a look...”

“I heard it’s students from another school causing trouble.”

“The people up front are so inconsiderate, blocking our view—we can’t see anything!”

“Wow, so those are martial artists? They look so impressive!”

For students, fights were the most captivating events—more interesting than studying.

After all, their identity was that of students, whose main duty was summed up in four words: study hard.

But routine, dull study numbed them over time, so whenever something outside of academics happened, their gossiping hearts would be stirred.

Especially when they heard that someone was fighting over a girl, or for some other reason.

They’d get excited, desperate to get closer, even if they knew there was a risk of getting caught up in the chaos; still, they wanted to join the crowd.

Wang Jue, sitting at his desk, had no interest in all this, but when he heard the word “martial artist,” he couldn’t help but lift his head and follow his classmates’ gaze toward the corridor.

The hallway outside the classroom was now packed with students from other classes who had come out to see the commotion. Their necks craned as they peered down; the fight must have been happening downstairs.

“Should we go and take a look?”

“I heard students from another school are here.”

“Let’s go! Let’s see what level those guys from other schools are—they dare come here to make trouble!”

A few martial artist classmates walked out with great interest.

Wang Jue thought for a moment, then slipped out the back door of the classroom, squeezing into the crowd.

“Damn, am I seeing things? It looks like the outsiders are beating our school’s people!”

“You’re not seeing things. I know the one fighting with the outsiders—he’s Huang Jian from Class Eighteen, fivefold body tempering. Looks like Huang Jian is clearly no match for that guy.”

“I think we should call a teacher; if they keep fighting, someone might get hurt.”

“As if you need to say that? The commotion is so loud, the teachers must know already—no need for us to notify anyone.”

“If the teachers know, why aren’t they coming to stop it?”

“You’re asking me? Who should I ask?”

The discussions around him didn’t slow Wang Jue; he pushed further into the crowd, finally making it close enough to see downstairs.

From the third-floor corridor, the view of the ground floor was clear—there were quite a few involved in the fight.

No, not just a fight—more like a brawl.

...

Wang Jue noticed that his school’s students seemed to be at a disadvantage due to their weaker abilities.

He could tell: among those fighting, besides the blue uniforms of No. 10 High School, there were four in red—students from No. 20 High School—and five in orange, from No. 11 High School.

Within Peace Town, No. 11 High School was quite infamous—more so than No. 10, in a way. Unlike No. 10, the students at No. 11 were mostly troublemakers or delinquents who didn’t like studying.

Their notoriety peaked a few years ago, when, as Wang Jue recalled, not a single martial artist student from No. 11’s final year managed to get into a top hundred high school; they had to go to regular high schools and act as bullies there.

Thanks to the “good deeds” of these students, No. 11’s reputation spread throughout Peace Town. The town mayor was so furious he replaced the principal, and things had only begun to improve in the past couple of years. Nowadays, you rarely heard of No. 11 students fighting or causing trouble.

Yet, watching the scene before him, Wang Jue’s expression turned strange, and he couldn’t help but wonder:

Is this what they call improvement?

Wouldn’t “a leopard can’t change its spots” be more accurate?

Anyone could see that, though it was a fight, it was clearly two schools teaming up to bully the students of No. 10.

Some martial artist students from No. 10 couldn’t stand it and joined the fray, hoping to turn the tide for their school.

Those who joined were all at fourfold body tempering—none could match those at fivefold, let alone those at fourfold. Their “help” only made things worse.

Their only advantage was numbers.

It wasn’t that Wang Jue was looking down on his school’s martial artists—the gap in strength was simply too wide.

The two other schools had fewer than ten people combined, but every one of them was at sixfold body tempering. For a moment, their numbers confused them, but soon enough, they regained control.

“Heh... So these are No. 10’s martial artists?”

A student with orange-dyed hair, clad in No. 11’s distinctive orange uniform, laughed arrogantly after knocking down several No. 10 students. “What a joke. You trash dare say you’re better than us?”

In front of him, the fallen No. 10 students glared fiercely from the ground, surrounded by several spots where the ground had been visibly dented.

To deform solid steel like that required at least sixfold body tempering.

In other words, this arrogant youth truly had the right to look down on most present.

His confidence came from his own strength!

Sixfold body tempering!

Such prowess would be notable even at No. 10.

Nearby, a crowd of No. 10 students watched. Even after seeing their schoolmates beaten, none showed solidarity—they merely observed coldly, occasionally mocking, the very picture of “white-eyed wolves.”

Now, seeing the orange-haired youth finish off his opponents, those who came with him seemed emboldened, quickly subduing their own adversaries.

They now faced off with other No. 10 students who had arrived, constantly murmuring provocations.

“What’s the matter? Can’t win one-on-one, can’t win in a group, now you want to rely on numbers for a revolving battle?”

“I’m not looking down on you—forget a revolving battle, you could all come at us at once.”

“Yeah, I just finished warming up. No matter how many of you come, the nine of us will take you all on—consider it a favor.”

“...”