Teacher Xie had not been teaching for very long, but she possessed genuine knowledge and ability. Otherwise, she could never have come to teach senior year.
Senior year had been the entire school's top priority since the first day of the term. Every teacher assigned to senior year was a veteran who had personally led at least five graduating classes. Any teacher without several Outstanding Teacher certificates would have been too embarrassed to speak.
The fact that Teacher Xie could teach Chinese Language said everything.
Of course, Teacher Xie still retained some of her university-era ideals. She taught only those who wanted to learn, hoping to use her limited time to help more students who wished to enter good universities improve further. As for those who had given up on themselves, she simply let them drift with the current. Thus, Teacher Xie had only one requirement in class: They could do whatever they wanted, as long as they did not affect anyone else.
But Fan Xiwen had violated that rule this time. Because he read so quickly, he turned the pages at an abnormally high frequency, and the sounds naturally became even louder when they overlapped.
She had originally only intended to reprimand him once or twice, but this fellow, Fan Xiwen, showed not the slightest intention of admitting his mistake. Teacher Xie consequently felt somewhat irritated.
“You’re saying you’ve finished reading the whole thing?”
“What use is it to finish reading a book?”
Teacher Xie asked loudly.
Fan Xiwen’s expression remained calm, but his voice softened somewhat. “Teacher, if I can recite a book backward and forward, then even in the worst case, I can still get some of the easy marks. As for the rest...”
He pointed to his head, and the meaning was self-evident.
Yet Teacher Xie was shocked, and everyone else in the classroom was shocked as well.
Because what Fan Xiwen had said was that he could recite it backward and forward.
Before Teacher Xie could speak, Fan Xiwen smiled as if he had already seen through her thoughts. “I can’t recite it? Otherwise, how would I be any different from those people in the library who flip through books to attract beautiful girls’ attention?”
“Fine. Even if you’re lying, I can accept a lie told so frankly.”
“Still, go stand at the back. With such a beautiful teacher like me here, you actually show no interest at all. I sentence you to stand for half the class.”
Teacher Xie recovered her usual smile and continued teaching.
Fan Xiwen calmly carried his book to the back, then fixed both eyes in the direction of the blackboard.
He appeared to be listening attentively to the teacher, but in reality, Fan Xiwen was using his divine sense to continuously scan the books on the desks of the several students around him.
In merely a short while, everything had already been imprinted in his mind. Not only that, he had also gained some additional material. The students sitting at the last few desks had so many trashy novels mixed into their textbooks that they would have been embarrassed to greet anyone upon leaving the house.
Fan Xiwen was studying the liberal arts, so rote memorization actually gave him a significant advantage. Of course, some parts might require thought and understanding, but for Fan Xiwen, who had once been the Chu Emperor, was that really a problem?
He spent the first half reading and the second half thinking.
Fan Xiwen had not established such a vast foundation in just three thousand years by being a martial artist who knew nothing but fighting. In fact, he preferred to plan before taking action.
Of course, the things he planned and considered had nothing to do with these mundane affairs before him.
As for grades and such, they were merely meant to make his parents slightly happy before setting them on the Path of Cultivation. Nothing more.
In his previous life, the only time he had acted directly without planning was when he launched the war between Great Chu and Great Han. The brutality and outcome naturally went without saying. If he had not retained this unique Fortuitous Opportunity and returned to Unnamed Star, then the God Emperor and Chu Emperor would have been nothing more than wisps of smoke.
In reality, however, it was not that Fan Xiwen had been incapable of planning that time.
Rather, he had not looked far enough ahead. The war between the Divine Dynasties of Great Chu and Great Han, which had involved countless cultivators and living beings, had actually been pushed forward by the Lord of Great Han from beginning to end. Fan Xiwen had merely become a piece on the other party’s chessboard at some point.
When Fan Xiwen had first revealed his brilliance on Xinghe Continent, the other man had already been the unrivaled God Emperor beneath the stars, standing high above and looking down upon all living beings. Being manipulated into moving forward was not something shameful.
Nevertheless, if he were given another chance, Fan Xiwen would naturally escape such a situation.
Therefore, ever since his Rebirth, Fan Xiwen had been constantly considering this problem.
“I don’t know when you first began paying attention to me, but I think it couldn’t have been back when you were still on Unnamed Star, could it?”
A faint smile crossed Fan Xiwen’s lips.
..
The class bell soon rang. Teacher Xie had just barely finished explaining the key points of the lesson on time. She then tucked her book under her arm and left the classroom, followed by several good students who went out to ask her questions.
Fan Xiwen returned to his seat, and Li Siyan gave him a thumbs-up. “Impressive. You even dare joke around with Teacher Xie.”
“You’re too attached to appearances.”
Fan Xiwen shook his head. He understood Teacher Xie’s style very clearly. She probably liked fostering a learning atmosphere in which teacher and students could also be friends. It was a very good teaching style; otherwise, she would not have said those somewhat playful words to Fan Xiwen afterward.
“Why do I feel like you’ve become a completely different person after going home?”
Li Siyan looked at Fan Xiwen with some puzzlement. Fan Xiwen truly was somewhat different today, and both his actions and remarks had become difficult for Li Siyan to understand.
“Our village was Haunted by Ghosts. A few people went crazy during the two days I was back, and several others died. I think I was probably affected by the shock.”
Fan Xiwen gave a soft laugh, then stood and walked out of the classroom.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m not feeling well. I’m going to ask the teacher for leave.”
His divine body was now shattered, and his divine sense was incomplete. Its range did not even cover all of Longcheng No. 2 High School. Fan Xiwen could not waste time at this school; he had to seek out a place rich in spiritual energy. Therefore, he had to take the initiative.
In reality, however, Fan Xiwen was not going to find the homeroom teacher, but Teacher Xie.
That was because Fan Xiwen had detected energy fluctuations on Teacher Xie similar to those of the man called Liu Junxian. After searching Liu Junxian’s memories, Fan Xiwen learned that spiritual energy in this world was scarce, and cultivators had essentially become extinct, leaving behind only a group of martial artists. “Essentially extinct” meant that they had not disappeared completely. Liu Junxian, for example, could technically be considered a cultivator; it was simply that a qi-gazing master’s cultivation was too rudimentary.
Martial artists were divided into External and Internal Martial Artists. External martial arts involved forging the body to become invincible, and most practitioners spread throughout the secular world. Many martial arts schools were guarded by External Martial Artists. As for Internal Martial Artists, they cultivated a breath of energy known as Internal Force, using it to create greater destructive power. They shared many similarities with cultivators, needing to open their meridians and circulate Internal Force throughout their bodies. Internal Martial Artists also had distinct levels: Initiation, Bright Force, Internal Force, Grandmaster, and Divine Realm.
Internal Martial Artists rarely appeared openly in the secular world, but their existence was passed down among the powerful and influential people of individual cities and regions. For example, the two bodyguards beside Liu Junxian had been deliberately left there by Mo Younian, the richest man in Shao City, in an attempt to curry favor with Liu Junxian. The status of Internal Martial Artists in the secular world was clearly much higher than that of External Martial Artists.
The first time Fan Xiwen heard the term Divine Realm, he almost burst out laughing. Such a title could only exist because martial arts had declined.
As for Teacher Xie, according to Liu Junxian’s memories of the levels of martial artists, she should be at the so-called Bright Force level. Moreover, she seemed to have encountered some kind of bottleneck.
Fan Xiwen felt that this might be the reason Teacher Xie had come to Dragon City. She was probably seeking some Fortuitous Opportunity for Breaking Through the Realm.
In his previous life, Fan Xiwen had only thought that Teacher Xie came from Yanjing City and that her ability to quickly establish herself at Longcheng No. 2 High School naturally indicated something extraordinary about her. He had never considered this possibility. Fan Xiwen of his previous life had never come into contact with such matters, and Teacher Xie had never revealed anything in front of outsiders. Thus, even after leaving Unnamed Star and beginning cultivation, he had only vaguely sensed that something was amiss.
..
Teacher Xie had no more classes afterward, so she returned to the Teachers' Dormitory assigned to her by the school. The two rooms were connected one behind the other, with the front serving as a study and the back as a bedroom. The furnishings were very simple. Apart from books, there was nothing else in the front room. In the bedroom, aside from a small bed, there were only some clothes and a calligraphy scroll of no renown hanging on the wall.
A mind as still as water
That was the content of the calligraphy scroll.
After returning to her room, Teacher Xie stared blankly at the calligraphy scroll bearing the words “A mind as still as water,” as if trying to find something within it.
After pondering for a long time, Teacher Xie could not help shaking her head. Somewhat troubled, she sighed. “Old man, old man, tell me, what exactly must I do to count as having attained enlightenment?”
Teacher Xie came from a martial artist aristocratic family. Her family’s Swordsmanship was highly renowned among martial artists. As the Genius of this generation of the Xie Family, Teacher Xie had practiced martial arts at five, entered Initiation at eight, and reached Bright Force at fourteen. Yet ten years had passed, and she was still at Bright Force Peak. She was clearly only one step away from Breaking Through the Realm into Internal Force and entering the ranks of experts. Still, she always felt that something was missing by the slightest margin, which made Teacher Xie somewhat anxious.
“Genius, Genius—shouldn’t all obstacles be overcome naturally, with one’s cultivation advancing a thousand miles in a single day?”
Teacher Xie felt that she was unworthy of the title Genius, and the more she thought about it, the more dispirited she became.
Just as she was about to fall into a demonic fixation, someone knocked on the door. “Teacher, are you home?”
The moment that voice sounded, Teacher Xie instantly regained consciousness, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Teacher, it’s Fan Xiwen. I’d like to discuss something with you.”
Teacher Xie stood and went to the outer room to open the door. She saw Fan Xiwen standing there with a faint, smiling expression. Before he could speak, Fan Xiwen grinned and said, “Fortunately, I came in time. Otherwise, the world would have lost another uncarved jade.”
“What are you talking about?”
Although Teacher Xie was slightly surprised, she found it somewhat amusing to hear Fan Xiwen speak in such an old-fashioned manner. Her expression turned stern as she put on the bearing of a teacher. “What do you want with your teacher?”
“It’s a good thing. I’m here to help you achieve Breaking Through the Realm.”
Teacher Xie could no longer maintain her composure, and her face filled with astonishment.
Could he also be a martial artist hidden within the secular world?
But I’ve been teaching this boy for quite some time, and I’ve never seen the slightest foundation of a martial artist in him.
Moreover, this boy seemed to possess no talent for martial arts at all.
“Hehe, aren’t you going to invite me in to sit?”