As expected of a seed from the Four Great Daoist Schools, he swept through nearly every candidate he sparred with. The students who were usually at the top of their classes were no match for him. Xiao Yang didn’t even have to try very hard; he crushed his opponents with his Cultivation Realm alone.

"How boring!"

Xiao Yang shook his head as he swept his opponent to the ground with a Heavy Whip Leg.

"Our class president is just too strong."

A student from Seventh Middle School said, sucking up.

Ye Chao, who was sitting to the side drinking tea, didn’t object.

Xiao Yang’s strength was plain for all to see at Seventh Middle School. Not only was he first in his year, but even some third-year high school students were unlikely to be his match. After all, he was a seed student for the Four Greats, and there were only two or three of them in the entire Six Continents.

"He is quite strong."

Li Xiaoshuang held his thermos, gazing from a distance.

"His aura is profound and his vital energy abundant. That Sixth-Layer Cultivation is the real deal; he can crush people with his Realm alone. There’s no shame in your defeat!"

Of course, that was just in theory.

In a real fight, many factors came into play, including but not limited to: one’s Cultivation Technique, Weapon, Magical Treasure, Pills, and mindset...

That was why there were so many upsets where High Realm Cultivators were defeated.

"That’s why I was ready to admit defeat just now, but the students weren’t."

Yan Jun had recognized the gap between the students after watching just one fight.

But the students had refused to accept defeat.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the student who had been beaten to a pulp. After taking a Blood Circulation and Pain Relief Pill, the student’s injuries had mostly healed, with just some bruises left on his face.

"Chen Che, are you confident?" Yan Jun asked.

"If I hadn’t unlocked my Divine Sense, I probably wouldn’t be very confident. But now that I have, I should have a pretty good chance of winning," Chen Che answered truthfully.

"That’s good. Go teach them a lesson for First Middle School’s sake, and for my sake too."

Li Xiaoshuang twisted open his thermos, took a shallow sip of tea, and said with narrowed eyes, "I can’t stand the sight of Ye Chao, and I don’t much care for his student either!"

’Looks like getting framed back in the day left Old Li with a serious grudge...’

Chen Che grumbled inwardly.

But this was perfect. He could use this opportunity to test the strength of a seed student from the Four Greats.

Just then, amidst the crowd’s murmuring, another defiant candidate stepped up to challenge Xiao Yang.

It was over in less than ten moves.

With a single palm strike, Xiao Yang sent the student flying.

"Does anyone else want to spar?"

After defeating another candidate, Xiao Yang’s aura grew even more immense.

He scanned his surroundings.

Everywhere he looked, the spectating candidates subconsciously averted their eyes.

Even the most defiant students now had to acknowledge the gap between them.

Defeating a Qi Refining Fifth Layer student in under ten moves was a complete rout.

For a time, none of the candidates present dared to challenge him.

"Is there no one else?"

Ye Chao shook his head and slowly got to his feet.

Though many had been defeated, the one he really wanted to see beaten was Li Xiaoshuang’s student.

Seeing that the excitement was over, the tourists in the crowd began to disperse.

Just as Ye Chao was about to leave, however, he suddenly spotted something. His eyes lit up, and he shouted:

"Old Li!"

WHOOSH!

All eyes followed his gaze.

There stood Li Xiaoshuang and Yan Jun, with a large group of students behind them, not far away.

"Well, well, old classmate! We meet again. You wanted to arrange a sparring match before, but I was just too busy. How about this? Why don’t we let our students have a go?"

Ye Chao was all enthusiasm, as if he hadn’t just been avoiding him like the plague.

Li Xiaoshuang froze for a second.

He had just been wondering how to get Chen Che to issue a challenge without it looking too contrived, while also ensuring Xiao Yang got a sound thrashing.

But who would have thought the other guy would bring it up himself?

And the best part? He’d set the stage for him in front of all these people.

Li Xiaoshuang’s eyes darted about. He cast a "stealthy" glance at the students behind him and said with feigned regret:

"I might not have much time."

"Teacher Li, didn’t we come here for revenge?"

Huang Zhongfei blurted out in surprise, taken aback.

"Didn’t you just say we were going to get revenge for the students of Class Three?"

A look of pure, innocent stupidity shone in the eyes of Lin Yi, Qi Fengzhu, and the others.

They’d heard the two teachers plotting their revenge with their own ears. Why the sudden change of heart?

Yan Jun’s face was full of mirth. He knew, of course, that Li Xiaoshuang was planning to set a trap.

"A student sparring match won’t take long at all! Don’t be a spoilsport!"

Ye Chao, thinking he’d seen through the excuse, said quickly.

’The guy is scared!’

’I suffered so much at his hands back in our student days. Today, I can finally get my revenge.’

Ye Chao even resorted to taunting him:

"You’re not afraid your students will get hurt, are you? Relax, I’ll tell my student to go easy on them!"

His words dripped with mockery.

They were all hot-blooded youths of seventeen or eighteen; how could they tolerate such insolence? Huang Zhongfei heard this and immediately started clamoring, demanding to go up and fight.

"Alright."

Li Xiaoshuang put on an expression of someone being forced against their will and could only nod.

"If that’s the case, I’ll send a student out for a friendly match. I just hope you’ll know when to stop and not ruin the friendly atmosphere! After all, my strongest student is only at the Late-stage Fifth Layer."

When Huang Zhongfei heard Old Li speak, he actually stepped forward voluntarily, saying, "We are Cultivators! What is there to fear in battle? As class president, this is a burden I must shoulder!"

"What are you doing, butting in?"

Li Xiaoshuang released a burst of his True Essence, immobilizing Huang Zhongfei who was about to step forward for a beating, and turned to Chen Che.

"Chen Che, you’re up! If you’re outmatched, just concede. There’s no shame in losing to a seed student from the Four Greats!"

"Understood."

Chen Che’s mouth twitched. ’This is blatant reverse psychology, setting Xiao Yang up for a fall!’

’It wouldn’t be a disgrace for me to lose to a seed student from the Four Greats.’

’But if *he* loses to *me*... now *that* would be a major loss of face!’

Another challenger?

The tourists who had been about to leave all stopped in their tracks.

When they saw Chen Che walk out, they couldn’t help but shake their heads.

Late-stage Fifth Layer?

Several Late-stage Fifth Layer students had already lost to him. With that level of cultivation, he stood almost no chance.

No wonder Li Xiaoshuang didn’t want his students to spar.

Xiao Yang also shook his head inwardly.

To his eyes, Chen Che was no different from the others. In fact, his aura seemed even weaker than the last opponent’s.

"I await your instruction!"

Chen Che said as he stepped forward, cupping his fists in a salute.

Xiao Yang cleared his throat, but just as he was about to respond, Ye Chao’s drawling voice cut in:

"Since Teacher Li is so worried about his student getting hurt, let’s give him a three-move handicap!"

Xiao Yang glanced over and saw Ye Chao’s meaningful look.

He nodded, then held up three fingers to Chen Che. "My Realm is higher than yours. To be fair, I’ll give you the first three moves!"

"Give me three moves?"

A mocking smile played on Chen Che’s lips.

’This teacher and student pair really don’t see me as a threat at all!’

Around them,

many of the students, tourists, and teachers in the crowd, however, didn’t find this strange. In fact, they thought it was normal. After all, Xiao Yang’s strength was obvious.

The students from First Middle School, however, felt insulted. Huang Zhongfei, in particular, turned to Li Xiaoshuang and said, "Teacher Li, if Chen Che loses, I’m going up to fight him next. We can lose the match, but we can’t lose our spirit!"

"What, are three moves too few? In that case, I’ll give you te—"

Xiao Yang continued, seeing no response from Chen Che.

"AGH—!"

A bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out.

Chen Che had attacked without any warning.

His right hand shot out like a bolt of lightning and grabbed the three fingers Xiao Yang held up. With a sudden twist, Xiao Yang’s remaining words turned into a howl of pain.

His entire body instinctively recoiled backward.

Anyone would react that way if their fingers were bent back.

Before Xiao Yang could even react, a heavy fist smashed into the bridge of his nose—one of the human body’s most vulnerable spots.

The same held true even for Cultivators.

Xiao Yang saw stars as blood and tears gushed from his face like a waterfall. Chen Che gave him no time to recover, swinging a kick directly into his groin. The kick was so powerful it lifted him clean off the ground!

Before the disbelieving eyes of the crowd, Xiao Yang’s scream turned into a whimper. He curled up like a cooked shrimp, clutching his groin as he lay on the ground, twitching uncontrollably!

The area fell deathly silent. You could have heard a pin drop.

Ye Chao’s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head in disbelief.

Only Yan Jun looked smug. "I knew this would be the outcome."

Only then did Chen Che withdraw his hand, his expression impassive. He offered a cupped-fist salute to the twitching Xiao Yang:

"You went easy on me."