Chapter 29: The Four Instructors

Dongfang Sansan pondered deeply for a long time before nodding as if a thought had finally clicked into place. He stood up, paced slowly, and said, "First, all Dark Division personnel who are aware of this matter, along with any other knowing parties, are to be transferred to serve at the underground branch bases. All their family living needs will be provided for. No entry or exit will be permitted. The time limit is ten years, subject to review later."

"Second, the original Chief and Deputy Chief of the White Cloud Continent Garrison Hall, as well as personnel in other key positions, are to be entirely transferred away. I will personally scout and select individuals to take charge down there. Then... Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao are to be transferred to the White Cloud Continent Garrison Hall to serve as Deputy Chiefs."

"After three years, one of these two will be transferred away."

"The Emerald Wave Town Garrison Hall shall select someone to take office, and the Fang family is to be looked after and supported."

"Within the White Cloud Martial Academy, only you alone may know of this matter, and not a single piece of news must leak out! As for Fang Chi, you may act according to your true heart; there is no need to suppress him, nor to reduce or disproportionately tilt resources toward him. However, you must ensure the safety of this Fang Chi."

"Furthermore, this intelligence line will be taken over by someone I arrange, and from now on, this matter will report directly and exclusively to headquarters!"

"As for Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao, they may handle other matters as they please or even ignore them, but regarding the matter of Fang Chi, they are to maintain a direct line of communication with headquarters. Tell them that they must prefer death over leaking the slightest whisper of this affair."

"The codename 'Shadow' can no longer be used from this day forth; it must be completely severed from the past, and all archives destroyed. I will personally rebuild it at headquarters and rename it 'Moon Shadow'."

"I will also arrange for someone to coordinate with you at the White Cloud Martial Academy."

Immediately afterward, they began discussing the details.

They ironed out every single point one by one.

Seeing Huang Yifan dazed and unable to keep up, Dongfang Sansan, fearing a delay in this critical matter, simply created a temporary jade slip on the spot and pressed the entire dossier directly into Huang Yifan's mind with a single palm strike.

When Huang Yifan finally stumbled out of headquarters in a daze, he discovered that the time passed was neither more nor less—precisely one hour!

Not a single minute too much, not a single minute too little!

"Truly... astonishingly precise."

Huang Yifan was filled with awe, his heart still surging with lingering excitement.

The overwhelming sensation of "having met a truly great figure today" was impossible to suppress.

After calming himself down for a moment, he finally left the headquarters. Having walked a considerable distance, he turned back to take a look.

He saw a lone figure standing in utter solitude on the stargazing platform of the headquarters, gazing out at the sky.

The silhouette carried an unspeakable desolation.

When Huang Yifan turned back once more, that person, separated by more than ten miles, seemed to sense it and suddenly turned his head to look in his direction.

Huang Yifan felt a thunderous roar in his mind, and in an instant, he lost consciousness of everything.

When he finally snapped out of it, he had unconsciously walked more than a thousand miles.

"Who on earth is that person? How can he be so terrifyingly powerful!"

...

Fang Chi had already been assigned to his class.

Unsurprisingly, it was Class One of the First Year at White Cloud Martial Academy.

He was in the same class as Mo Ganyun.

The rest of the top ten had been dispersed among the various classes.

In fact, this was the longstanding tradition of the White Cloud Martial Academy. There was fierce competition between classes, and it would never do to hoard all the best saplings in a single class.

Crushing other classes in that manner would certainly not be conducive to collective progress.

The despair of knowing one could never rise to the top, hanging over the hearts of every child, would also be detrimental to their future growth.

Originally, Mo Ganyun was supposed to be assigned to another class as well, but using some unknown method, he managed to stay in Class One.

The classroom for the cohort was a massive hall capable of holding hundreds of people.

There were only one hundred students.

It looked very spacious.

The head instructor was Li Changkong; the second instructor was Bao Feiyu.

The other instructors were Bing Shangxue and Duan Zhongliu.

These four were the four legendary gold-medal instructors of the White Cloud Martial Academy, having just graduated their previous senior class and returning to teach the first-year students.

It was a five-year cycle.

The first class.

All four instructors arrived together to conduct self-introductions and roll call.

Fang Chi noticed that the eyes of all four instructors were as sharp as lightning and as cold as ice and snow.

They swept back and forth relentlessly across the faces and bodies of every student.

However, their mental states all seemed somewhat less than pleasant, and as they looked at the class, their gazes carried a hint of strict scrutiny.

"They must have just graduated the students they taught for five years, and their emotions haven't settled yet."

Fang Chi understood the four instructors very well; far from feeling uncomfortable, he instead felt a sense of reliability.

For no other reason than the bonds of affection and loyalty.

As for the names of the four instructors, Fang Chi could only think of one word: absolute!

A whisper from Mo Ganyun reached his ears: "The names of these four instructors are truly epic. I wonder how they ever came up with them."

Fang Chi gave a hollow laugh, a profound and meaningful expression appearing on his face.

Based on his own experience, such names were far too suited for the pugilistic world of martial arts.

They had definitely been renamed later on in life.

Their original names might well have been something like "Big Bull, Second Egg, Dog Leftover, or Dog Egg."

Yet such a question could never be asked aloud; doing so would simply be seeking an early grave!

If he managed to leave a deep impression on the instructors, he would likely be forced to wear agonizingly tight little shoes for the entire five years.

"Greetings, teachers!"

All the students stood up simultaneously and bowed.

"I cannot accept that title!"

Li Changkong waved his hand coldly. "I hope you will address us as instructors. You are not yet qualified to use the title of teacher!"

The entire class stared in astonishment: "..."

"At present, we have merely been hired by the martial academy to turn you into warriors. You have paid tuition fees, and we are receiving a salary from the academy, so for now, this is purely a transaction."

Li Changkong put his hands behind his back and said calmly, "Only when we recognize your efforts and you recognize our teaching will we truly establish the relationship of teachers and students."

"Even then, it will not yet reach the level of master and disciple. We are merely instructors and students, not masters and apprentices. I hope you all understand this point."

Li Changkong stated firmly, "Next, line up in queues and take turns entering the four rooms to begin your testing and baseline assessment!"

"No one is permitted to reveal their innate talent and aptitude to any other classmate! Of course, if you do not value your own life, you are free to blabber about it everywhere."

"Regardless of how much glory, what championships, or what first-place titles you held before coming here, starting today, everything begins from zero! Do you understand?!"

Fang Chi rolled his eyes inwardly.

With the way you're phrasing this, you might as well just read out my identification number.

The four instructors all began moving at once.

One hundred students formed four vertical lines, taking turns to enter the four temporary small rooms belonging to the four instructors for aptitude testing and cultivation assessments.

Mo Ganyun, built like an iron tower and standing at an imposing height of two meters and three centimeters, stood at the very front of the line. Fang Chi, standing at one meter eighty-five, was second—well, Fang Chi had grown a bit taller again.

At one meter eighty-five, among young men, he could basically be considered standing out from the crowd like a crane among chickens.

Yet, compelled to admit it, Fang Chi was still shorter than Mo Ganyun by a full head and then some!

As for the rest of his classmates...

To put it bluntly, the moment Mo Ganyun stood there, he truly made everyone else look like cranes among chickens.

If a blade were to sweep horizontally across the height of Mo Ganyun's neck, aside from Mo Ganyun himself losing his head, not a single hair on anyone else would be harmed!

Including Fang Chi.

That was quite something...

Moreover, Mo Ganyun's physique had reached the absolute peak of ruggedness, built basically by taking Fang Chi's standard physique and scaling it up by twofold in perfect proportions.

Two meters and three centimeters tall, weighing four hundred jin.

There was not the slightest trace of clumsiness, only an aura of robustness, sturdiness, symmetry, and formidable might.

Wherever Mo Ganyun went, he insisted on standing right next to Fang Chi.

Fang Chi felt utterly uncomfortable.

"Get further away from me!"

"Why?"

"I'm afraid you'll trip and crush me to death!"

"Tsk!"

Mo Ganyun rolled his eyes.

It must be said that rolling eyes looked natural on anyone, and when girls did it, it could even look charming.

But when Mo Ganyun rolled his eyes, his pupils rolled all the way up until the whites were fully exposed, giving people the eerie visual distance of "black pupils having walked a very long way."

Fang Chi felt a chill run down his spine.

...

Mo Ganyun was tested first.

It immediately drew a cry of pleasant surprise from Li Changkong: "Legendary Heaven-grade? Innate unobstructed meridians?"

"Not bad, not bad."

He pushed his palms forward to test Mo Ganyun's cultivation, and grew even more satisfied: "Peak third-layer martial master, on the verge of a breakthrough at any moment. The foundation is exceptionally solid, the meridians are flawless without the slightest damage, there are no traces of having consumed medicinal pills whatsoever, the physical coordination is peerless, and an aptitude seen once in a century. The crucial point is that his comprehension is actually quite good. A genuine all-rounder..."

A rare smile appeared on Li Changkong's icy face.

"Surname Mo? Mo Ganyun? Are you a scion of the Mo clan? Why have you come to the White Cloud Martial Academy? Why didn't you cultivate within your family?"

Li Changkong asked in a genial tone.

"There's no pressure. None of my peers in the family can match me, so I couldn't feel any pressure. I wanted to come to the academy to test myself. If the White Cloud Martial Academy doesn't have what I'm looking for, then I'll go try other martial academies..."

Mo Ganyun answered honestly and without reservation.

Li Changkong frowned slightly and nodded.

He wasn't angry.

Mo Ganyun was telling the truth; given the influence of the Mo clan, they could indeed accomplish such a feat effortlessly.

He then asked casually, "You and Fang Chi have a pretty good relationship?"

"Fang Chi?"

Mo Ganyun looked somewhat puzzled as to why Li Changkong was suddenly bringing up Fang Chi out of nowhere.

Although perplexed, he still answered honestly: "Fang Chi will be my recent target. In my view, this classmate is quite remarkable."

Li Changkong nodded. "I had old ties with your Mo family back in the day, so let me gift you a piece of advice. Hmm... regarding this Fang Chi, you need to keep a clear head about him."

Mo Ganyun furrowed his brows, feeling unconvinced inwardly, but replied verbally, "Yes."

"Right, why didn't you enter the hidden sects?"

"The sects are too closed off, and moreover, many sects simply close their gates and refuse to come out whenever a major war breaks out. Therefore, according to the ancestral teachings of our forebears, entering the sects is strictly forbidden."

Mo Ganyun declared, "The men of the Mo family would rather die fighting for the world than enter a sect that hides from calamity!"

"Good!"

Li Changkong clapped his hands in praise. "True to form, the Mo family is indeed..."

As for what they were truly not unworthy of, he did not finish his sentence.

When Mo Ganyun walked out, he ran right into Fang Chi, who was standing first in line, and silently signaled him with a subtle glance.

The meaning was clear: *Be careful, the guy inside seems to have a bit of a grudge against you.*

Fang Chi understood the situation in his heart and walked in with his head held high.

"Fang Chi?"

"Yes."

"Come over here."

"Yes."

Fang Chi clearly sensed Li Changkong's cold indifference.

Logically speaking, as the champion of the entrance trials, he should have received preferential treatment. Why was this fellow acting this way?

Although he hadn't uttered any sarcastic remarks like 'Righteous-to-the-heavens Young Master Fang', Fang Chi could feel it.

The atmosphere was the same.

However, a moment later.

Li Changkong lost his composure entirely.

"Surpassing all grades, exceeding the upper limit of the Dragonfish Pagoda?"

Li Changkong's mouth widened wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.

*(Note at the end of the text:)*
*(Three chapters are scheduled for today. If the recommendation votes reach ten thousand, an extra chapter will be released at 8 PM tonight.)*
*(Ye Meng's codename has been changed to 'Moon Shadow'. Please claim your signed book in the chat group, classmate This-Qin-Ruo-Shi.)*