Chapter 36: Martial Arts Track
Guo Chumíng initially wanted to get up and counterattack, but the kick from Li Ye made his chest ache terribly. He wanted to climb up, but Deng Hao and Jia Dong’s fists and feet were heavy. Several times he tried to stand, but he was still beaten to the ground.
Deng Hao mainly attacked the upper body, smashing heavy splitting palm fists one after another onto his upper body. Jia Dong focused on the lower body; he seemed to know that Guo Chumíng’s skills were all in his legs, so as soon as he saw signs of him getting up, he fiercely kicked his legs.
Li Ye couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Waiting for the other side to pick a fight?
He didn’t have that temperament; striking first was better, beating them until they were afraid so they wouldn’t cause trouble.
It wasn’t just that Guo Chumíng couldn’t forget them; Deng Hao and Jia Dong had held back their energy over the summer vacation, spending a lot of money to break through Dragon Gate, and Guo Chumíng was undoubtedly a factor. They couldn’t forget Guo Chumíng either!
“Ouch! Don’t hit, stop hitting!”
In just that short moment, Guo Chumíng instinctively hugged his head and curled up, wailing from his mouth.
He had thought it out so well: upon seeing the person, he’d take revenge. At worst, it would be a great battle of hundreds of rounds, going back and forth with mutual damage, then he would gain the upper hand and avenge the previous sneak attack.
He had planned it, he had planned it!!
“Stop!”
Finally, someone in the venue reacted. A group of people clustered to Li Ye’s side charged forward rapidly with the shout. One of them even leaped into the air mid-flight, pouncing like a hungry tiger on the two who were carrying out the beating.
Smack!
As soon as that figure jumped up, Li Ye took three steps forward, directly grabbed his ankle, and pulled down, making him fall flat like a dog eating mud.
Immediately after, he kicked sideways at one person, knocking him to the ground. Then he shifted his body, clawed with one hand at the throat of another charging person, slamming him back into collision with another, both falling to the ground.
In three moves and two techniques, all the charging people were down. That shout didn’t make Deng Hao and Jia Dong stop, but Li Ye’s sharp skills made them pause and stare blankly.
“Damn!”
The only guy from that group who hadn’t acted stepped forward quickly. With his fists swinging, he stirred gusts inside his school uniform, and under the surging Qi and Blood, it leaped three times in frequency.
“Don’t get too arrogant. In the Martial Arts World, the strong are respected! Witness my ‘Lightning Thunderbolt Fist’, Fei Zhishang’s.”
Smack!
A fist suddenly appeared before his face. As the fist struck, even his nasal bone could be seen caving in from the punch, making him throw his head back and fly, crashing straight to the ground.
Li Ye moved to the guy’s side, retracted his fist, and shook his head. “Fighting and still doing a wind-up? With that time, you could’ve acted earlier.”
“What are you doing!”
At that moment, a shout rang out from the venue entrance.
A middle-aged man strode over quickly and demanded, “What’s going on?!”
Guo Chumíng got a chance to breathe and pointed at Li Ye and the others, yelling, “Teacher! They ganged up on me!”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked at them. Deng Hao and Jia Dong immediately stood to the sides and lowered their heads.
He glanced at the people fallen beside Li Ye, then turned to look at Li Ye.
Li Ye smiled. “Normal sparring. Guo Chumíng made an appointment with us at the preparatory canteen before summer vacation; now we’re fulfilling the promise. Teacher, if this counts as ganging up, their numbers should be more than ours, right.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man tsked and cursed, “Preparatory canteen… disgraceful! This time even more disgraceful, outnumbered and still lost to the newbies! Guo Chumíng, if you can’t practice, drop out quick to avoid embarrassing yourself! Stay here for now; after the opening ceremony, go to the hospital yourself!”
The middle-aged man looked at Li Ye and the others again. “You’re Li Ye? The form says you’re Three Dragon Gates. Activate your Qi and Blood; let me see.”
The three heard him and all activated their Qi and Blood, showing their leap frequencies.
The middle-aged man nodded approvingly. “Very good. Train hard; you might be a promising martial talent. I’m your Martial Arts Teacher, Gu Yang. Stay put for now; after the opening ceremony, we’ll do unified training for you new students. Cause less trouble. I get that martial artists have surging Qi and Blood that’s hard to control, but there are other channels here. Best not to brawl privately.”
With that, he walked out again.
The teacher’s intervention also stopped Li Ye and the others from fighting.
The few knocked down by Li Ye got up and helped Guo Chumíng and Fei Zhishang to the side, quieting down, occasionally glaring hatefully at Li Ye.
Li Ye found an unoccupied corner to lean against and surveyed the surroundings.
There weren’t many Martial Arts Track students in the venue, just over thirty in total, including those who entered after them.
No. 14 Middle School was just an ordinary high school; the number of Martial Arts Track students was within Li Ye’s expectations.
“Brother Ye, how did you get so awesome? Several people, and one at Three Dragon Gates like you.”
Deng Hao gestured excitedly. “You just went smack smack a few times, and they all went down!”
Li Ye smiled but didn’t speak.
“Brother Ye, something’s off…”
Jia Dong was observing the surroundings at this time. After his gaze met the hateful Guo Chumíng’s, he nudged Li Ye’s waist. “No one’s paying attention to us?”
“Yeah… Could it be we’re too violent? Shouldn’t be; they started it.” Deng Hao said belatedly.
Li Ye understood in his heart.
In this world, as long as you start the fight, naturally others will join, regardless of whether they’re useful.
With Guo Chumíng’s personality, he must have offended people in the Martial Arts Track. Otherwise, not just that few would have come; they were clearly a small group.
But his small group seemed quite domineering. Even after Li Ye swiftly dealt with them, no one came forward proactively.
“I’ll go ask…”
Deng Hao couldn’t stay idle and went straight to someone practicing Lightness Skill on wooden stakes up front. Just as he was about to speak, that person leaped across the stakes continuously, dodging like avoiding a plague god.
Deng Hao frowned and went to the next one, but it was the same; the guy practicing fists left quickly before he could get close.
“What fierce demon is this…”
Jia Dong clicked his tongue. “So terrifying, such deep intimidation?”
“About right.”
Just as he said that, someone nearby walked over. “Those people don’t dare offend Xiang Feipeng.”
It was a female classmate with neat short hair. Her school uniform couldn’t hide those long legs, giving the feeling that everything below the neck was legs.
Whether beautiful or not wasn’t important; among martial arts practitioners, no one lacked vigor in build, especially women. Once breaking through Dragon Gate, with Qi and Blood turning substantial, all had delicate skin.
Besides, she was quite pretty, with big eyes and small lips, full of vitality.
The female classmate smiled at Li Ye. “Li Ye, I’m Yao Lèdān, same year as you, Three Dragon Gates.”
Another Three Dragon Gates.
“Hello.” Li Ye nodded. “You know me?”
Yao Lèdān laughed. “Guo Chumíng lost big face at the preparatory canteen before; it’s spread all over the Martial Arts Track. Hard not to know you.”
“So what’s the situation?” Li Ye asked.
“There.”
Yao Lèdān nodded her mouth toward Guo Chumíng’s group. “Like you, they have a boss named Xiang Feipeng, very intimidating, no one dares offend him. Normally bullied, they can only endure. You guys vented for everyone today.”
Li Ye said in surprise, “School bullies exist among Martial Arts Track students?”
What’s the point of all that martial prowess?
Even before breaking through Dragon Gate, Deng Hao dared act against Guo Chumíng just for being cursed at; whether he could win was one thing, daring to fight another.
Young people practicing martial arts are full of hot blood; how can they tolerate provocation? Otherwise, spending so much money and enduring so much hardship—just to get stepped on?
Even without breaking through Dragon Gate it’s like this; after breaking through, they should be even more willing to swing fists.
“Our concept of school boss is different from ordinary people.”
Yao Lèdān shook her head with a wry smile. “Not that no one’s fought him; they fought fiercely. Last year twenty-five people ganged up, and he took them all down, beating them into submission.”
“That awesome?” Jia Dong said in shock.
“Awesome, and neurotic. Everyone here has been sent to the hospital by him; the shortest stay was a month. You beat his people; be careful.”
She looked at Li Ye as she spoke. “Your martial arts seem strong too; one punch downed Fei Zhishang. But be extra careful; Xiang Feipeng likes abusing types like you. He’s Four Dragon Gates, one Qi and Blood level above you.”
“You came to tell me; aren’t you afraid?” Li Ye asked.
Yao Lèdān looked indifferent. “Hmph, I just can’t beat him, and my family isn’t worse than his. You guys seem alright, so I came to warn you.”
“Teachers don’t care?” Jia Dong asked strangely.
“Didn’t think of teachers when beating people?”
Yao Lèdān chuckled. “Just a verbal warning at most; worst case, go to the hospital. That’s how martial artists are. Don’t think Fei Zhishang was cringy; he was right. In the Martial Arts World, the strong are respected; same in the Martial Arts Track. If you can fight and have high cultivation, you can be main force, bringing glory to the school.”
“Main force?”
“Yeah, main force competitors for league Martial Arts Competitions. Each school has only three spots; Xiang Feipeng is second. Our Martial Arts Track students’ resources, including what you preparatory students eat in the canteen, were all fought for punch by punch and kick by kick.”
Li Ye got interested and was about to ask when Jia Dong instantly got it, flattering:
“Senior sister, tell us about it. New here and know nothing. Heard Martial Arts Track students get good treatment and resources, way better than us poor preparatory students. Heard martial arts training is even free.”
“Same year, don’t call me old.”
Yao Lèdān waved her hand. “We Martial Arts Track students aren’t like other students; as you saw, no seats, no grades. Breaking through Dragon Gate makes you Martial Arts Track; main purpose is boosting Qi and Blood after all.”
“But once in Martial Arts Track, school distributes resources; guaranteed one Nutrient Solution per person per week.”
“What’s Nutrient Solution?”
Hearing this suddenly, Li Ye inexplicably felt a chill.
“The kind sold on the market for Dragon Gate Realm martial artists; easy to absorb, good digestion. Don’t try rectal; same effect, just gross.”
Yao Lèdān seemed to recall something, her small face falling.
“This part is free from school, but for more, rely on martial arts to compete. You know about Experience, right?”
This they knew.
The preparatory students’ canteen was fought for by Martial Arts Track students’ Experience.
“All city high schools hold Martial Arts Competitions periodically. Winners get to pick good Experience Points; losers take leftovers. Good Experience Points get school rewards; stuff gained there you keep or trade to school—recommend trading to school, fairest price.”
“Better ingredients, better weapons, better martial arts, more money… Money’s least worthwhile. Anyway, tons of benefits; just Nutrient Solution alone gets extras.”
“What a pity.”
Yao Lèdān looked at Li Ye regretfully:
“You’re a final-year student. One year earlier, you might’ve made main force; treatment way better than us ordinary Martial Arts Track students.”
“Huh? Why can’t he? Brother Ye reached Three Dragon Gates in one summer vacation.” Deng Hao said unconvinced.
Yao Lèdān smiled slightly. “Not to pour cold water, but preparatory to Martial Arts Track, and senior year entry—normal progress reaching Four Dragon Gates this year is heaven’s blessing.”
“One summer to Three Dragon Gates—you know the suffering and money spent. But later, Qi Blood Leaps get harder. Our strongest here… um, she doesn’t count, too special. Anyway, second strongest is Xiang Feipeng, just Four Dragon Gates.”
Li Ye understood too; after reaching Three Dragon Gates, further breakthroughs cost 600 points by data, each leap higher.
For normal people, with his average talent, practicing from elementary to sophomore year only gained 80 points.
Plenty enter university at One Dragon Gate, no leaps in four years; Homeroom Teacher Yan Menglu was a living example.
But he had Authority and Magic Treasure, so it seemed simple.
But only seemed so; this time Li Ye felt he’d suffered plenty.
Kill demons, train martial arts, eat nonstop, continue training, even killed a person…
Midway, someone coveting his Magic Treasure, a so-called noble family normal people couldn’t touch.
He just wanted to train martial arts properly, kill a few more gods, climb the Martial Arts Nine Realms’ peaks.
But two months, so many things; it annoyed him greatly.
“Principal’s here!”
Not sure who said it, but everyone looked toward the door.
At the entrance, Gu Yang accompanied a group walking in.
Leading was also a middle-aged man everyone knew: No. 14 Middle School Principal. Principal doesn’t split liberal arts or martial track; just one.
Around the Principal, a few others.
Besides the trailing vice principal and director, to his left and right: left a burly youth nearly two meters tall, tower-like build, exposed arms with steel-cable muscles, walking with iron strength.
Hardening Technique expert!
Right was a youth familiar to Li Ye, not in school uniform but black-based martial arts suit embroidered with a white bird spreading wings, slouching, looking around with roguish air.
And a familiar aura to Li Ye.
Similar to that spendthrift Ren Xu.
Accompanying beside the Principal was a woman.
“Damn! Hottie!” Jia Dong blurted out.
Also a girl, with a youthful ponytail swaying as she walked, but her expression lacked vitality, like his ‘world-wandering’ master, face cold.
Fine sharp eyebrows without softness, big spirited eyes but indifferent gaze, straight high nose with aggressive chill, red lips pursed, naturally unsmiling.
Whole person exuded ‘strangers keep out’ aura.
But figure contrasted extremely with face; face suggested tall slender build, but school uniform couldn’t hide curves: straight calves, rounded thighs, wide hips over narrow palm-thin waist, upper body showing pert traces with movement.
Indeed a great beauty.
“The number one?” Li Ye asked nearby Yao Lèdān.
She looked like number one.
Yao Lèdān didn’t mention the contrast and nodded. “Yes, special number one, Fu Chuxue, Eight Dragon Gates.”
Deng Hao’s eyes widened. “How many?!”
Li Ye thought. “Surname Fu… that name’s famous in Ningjiang.”
Yao Lèdān said, “As you think: daughter of province-famous martial artist Fu Yan.”
Jia Dong clicked his tongue. “Real or fake? Never heard; such a big shot in our ordinary high school?”
She shrugged. “So special.”
