Wan Keshan looked the student before him up and down, somewhat taken aback.
The first lesson of the Martial Dao was his specialty.
Nearly every time he took on new students, he'd procure a savage beast for the lesson.
The aim wasn't to "cow them on day one," but to let the students see what a real savage beast was like.
To make them realize the Martial Dao was never meant for keeping fit.
The Martial Dao was a weapon, a path of killing!
Whether the ordinary students who'd fled in panic or the frozen, terrified Liang Mingyu, none of them surprised him.
Ones like Yu Lei and Hong Qian, who merely stepped back a few paces and could still grit their teeth and face the beast head-on, were already doing very well.
But one like Li Qingshan, who pushed against the tide after the beast revived and took up the blade of his own will — that he was seeing for the first time.
More importantly,
at this moment Li Qingshan's eyes burned as they fixed on the beast, the way he licked his lips—
as if before him were not a savage beast, but a delicious feast.
"A born fighter?"
The thought flashed up from his heart, and a grin split the corner of Wan Keshan's mouth.
"Cut away, don't hold back. As many cuts as you like — kill it, even, that's fine!"
"Thank you, Teacher. Understood."
Li Qingshan started forward, the right hand gripping the hilt trembling faintly — trembling with excitement!
Wolfsbane noticed the human approaching with a blade, the savagery in its eyes deepening.
But its four limbs were still pinned to the steel plate; the only thing it could do was gape its bloody maw.
ROAR!
A vicious roar, a reeking gust to the face.
Li Qingshan's steps didn't pause in the least; he even drew a deep breath, a trace of delight surfacing on his face.
As if he'd caught the scent of food.
In his vision,
the phantom Panel overlapped with Wolfsbane's form, the [Martial Dao Space] line flickering without pause.
And as the distance closed, the flickering grew faster and faster.
Kill it, and the [Martial Dao Space] would surely unlock!
"Mind yourself — careful it doesn't bite back."
Worried the blood had gone to Li Qingshan's head, Wan Keshan offered a reminder.
Though Wolfsbane's limbs were pinned, its head still had some range of motion.
But his worry was unnecessary.
When he was a meter from Wolfsbane, Li Qingshan turned his steps, circled clear of the head, and stopped at its midsection.
The blade rose high and came chopping down hard.
THUNK!
"That tough?"
Li Qingshan flexed his numbed wrist and looked at his "battle result."
At Wolfsbane's flank, a wound less than a centimeter deep.
"Hard to kill, huh." Li Qingshan frowned.
Striking at the neck risked getting bitten — too dangerous.
He'd deliberately chosen the flank to avoid the protection of the ribs.
But he'd clearly guessed wrong; an Astral-Realm savage beast couldn't be judged by ordinary logic.
Wolfsbane might look like a wolf, but its structure was entirely different — fine ribs ran the length of its whole torso.
What's more, his cut hadn't even reached bone; the muscle had stopped it.
The wound had even stopped bleeding now, the muscle clenching shut around it.
ROAR!
Wolfsbane twisted its head and howled, glaring at the human standing there with the blade.
In its savage crimson eyes was a glint of mockery.
"That's it?"
Liang Mingyu, on his feet again at some point, let out a sneering laugh.
His nerve was back!
"Does Classmate Liang want to come up and demonstrate?" Wan Keshan's voice drifted over, careless.
Liang Mingyu shuddered all over and shut up at once.
Wan Keshan shot him a glance, then turned his eyes to the room.
Apart from Liu Jingya, still passed out on the floor, the other students had recovered and gathered into a ring again to watch how Li Qingshan would "swing the blade."
Good — at least they hadn't been scared witless.
Wan Keshan nodded in satisfaction and looked at Li Qingshan again.
After that one cut, Li Qingshan hadn't raised the blade again; he was studying Wolfsbane's body, seemingly thinking.
"Body Forging Layer 1, trying to kill Wolfsbane — easier said than done." Wan Keshan shook his head.
Wolfsbane's limbs might be bound, but the toughness of its body was no illusion.
A Body Forging Layer 1, even spent to exhaustion, could at most give it a light, bleeding wound.
"But why did Li Qingshan calm down after just one cut?"
Wan Keshan hesitated, no longer sure of his earlier judgment of a "born fighter."
True born fighters were all fervent, battle-loving sorts who relished a fight.
Once in combat, they never stopped until the very last moment.
Just as he was pondering, Li Qingshan moved.
From Wolfsbane's flank he kept walking back, circling around to stand directly behind it.
Then he held the blade reversed, edge upward.
Aiming between Wolfsbane's hind legs, he sized it up, up and down.
"Fuck! Born fighter my ass — he just plain wants this beast dead!"
Wan Keshan slapped a hand to his forehead; he'd already guessed what Li Qingshan was about to do.
The watching students' eyes lit up too, and they grew excited.
"The class number one, all right — figured out an 'alternative route' that fast."
"Heh heh heh, all of a sudden I'm not scared anymore — I almost pity the beast."
"Can't take it, can't take it — my groin's gone cold, I can't watch."
"My Bro Shan's the clever one — saw straight through to the nature of all living things."
Zhao Hongzhou grinned smugly and analyzed in earnest:
"Anything alive has a weak spot — and besides, this one's male!"
ROAR!
Sensing the gazes converging on it, Wolfsbane bared its maw and howled again.
The howl was much louder now, and beyond its ferocity it carried the kingly air of a roar that shook the mountain forests.
Its blood-red eyes swept the room with disdain, raking in all directions.
This pack of feeble humans wasn't even fit to wound it.
Even the little one behind it who'd cut it didn't dare a second blow.
However,
this pack of humans who'd fled in panic earlier weren't scared off again.
Every one of them stayed put, their gazes strangely alike, carrying an emotion it couldn't comprehend.
The next second,
SQUELCH!
The blade sank into flesh — not deep, but a horrific, searing pain swept through it.
ROOAR—gak!
Its ferocious head shot up, its howl peaking in an instant — then cutting off just as abruptly.
The raised head dropped, then snapped up again at once, whipping around madly, looking left and right.
But there was no time for it to find the culprit; the horrific pain shot up again from below.
ROOAR—gak!
Wolfsbane threw its head back and roared again, howling with all its might.
Directly behind it,
Li Qingshan's eyes burned, utterly unaffected.
Both hands gripping the hilt, edge up, he hacked upward with force.
One cut, two cuts, three cuts...
Wolfsbane's howls grew weaker and weaker, yet each of Li Qingshan's cuts landed harder than the last.
Crush the balls, split the gut, breach the belly!
SQUELCH!
A wound over thirty centimeters long tore through skin and flesh, a mass of organs sliding out from it.
Wolfsbane's body convulsed violently, then slumped limp to the floor, at its last breath.
Hoo—
Li Qingshan let out a long breath and stood propped on the blade.
His white Martial Dao uniform was spattered with blood, sweat running from his forehead to mingle with the droplets of blood on his face.
"It's finally over!"
Every student watching let out a breath, every one of them with knees clamped tight and faces pale.
Even Wan Keshan's eye twitched; he hadn't expected this lesson to turn from "swinging a blade" into "dissection."
Just as he stretched out a hand, meaning to call Li Qingshan back,
SQUELCH!
Li Qingshan raised the blade again and, following the wound, drove it into the beast's belly.
The full one-meter-twenty of the blade sank in entirely, only the hilt left outside.
"What grudge? What feud?"
Everyone stared dumbstruck, murmuring.
"Wolfsbane's not dead yet."
Seeing Wan Keshan's outstretched hand, Li Qingshan offered an explanation.
Was this even a question of dead or not?
Looking at the beast with only one breath left, everyone fell silent.
A trace of bewilderment crept onto Wan Keshan's face too.
If he hadn't known this Wolfsbane's origins, and known the details of Li Qingshan's Public Rearing background,
he'd almost have thought this Wolfsbane was the man who'd murdered Li Qingshan's father.
In the silent gym,
Li Qingshan gripped the hilt in both hands and churned it with all his strength, shredding every organ the blade could reach.
At last, the final spark of life faded from Wolfsbane's ruined body.
Li Qingshan pulled the blade free, a smile rising to his face.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes fixed on the phantom Panel.
[Martial Dao Space] — unlocked!