Chapter 12: A Lesson Learned

Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I had set foot in my new classroom. I didn't recognize any of my new classmates, most of whom kept to their own cliques and laughed boisterously while they chattered amongst themselves.

None of them spared a glance in my direction. Only one student raised his hand when I wandered about, lost. I had no idea which desks were taken and which were free.

"You're the new student who transferred in from the elite class, right? Um, Song Jin Wu?"

"Song Jun Wen," I corrected. Did the guy mix me up with the Korean protagonist from a super popular system story?

"Oh, right. I'm Tong Xue, and I guess I'm your classmate from now on." He looked friendly enough, with handsome features and stylish and wavy dark brown hair. He gestured to the empty desk next to him. "You'll be sitting right next to me. So we're desk mates for the next year at least. Let's get along."

"Yeah, thanks." I was relieved that I had a desk assigned to me. I had been worried that I had been forgotten after not showing up for class after almost a week. It had been like four days, and if I didn't come today, I would have to wait until after the weekend before I came to school again. I looked around the classroom, trying to take note of who was around.

"I'm Hao Ren," another guy with dark hair said. Seated in front of me, he turned around to wave. He grinned. "You're a legend in school."

"Huh? I am?"

"Well, you were the guy who got called trash even though you sacrificed your life to save a classmate. Even though Li Wang spoke up for you, and then later the Ice Queen joined him, the rest of your ex-classmates made fun of you and called you trash. They were spreading rumors about how you were useless and a burden in school."

I gaped at Hao Ren, but Tong Xue quickly stepped in and shook his head.

"Most people didn't believe them. We all know what you did."

"Yeah!" Hao Ren agreed. "It's an honor to have you here in our class!"

"Um, thanks."

Even though the two of them seemed eager to meet me, the rest of my new classmates were indifferent. None of them were looking in my direction at all, too busily catching up on whatever gossip and news they wanted to exchange.

"Uh, don't pay them much attention," Tong Xue said. "Most of the students in the regular classes aren't that interested in cultivating, so they couldn't be bothered with news regarding you or the elite class. It's like you guys are from a different world."

"Some even resent you for taking the majority of the resources and looking down on the rest of us for being 'weak.'" Hao Ren sighed.

"I never did that," I protested, aghast. Hao Ren quickly nodded.

"Not you. You've helped us before, if you remember." He pointed at himself and grinned. "There was one time I was moving desks out of the classroom and you asked if I needed help. Even though I said I didn't, you went in and helped me move several of the desks to the hall."

"Right! And you picked up my wallet in the cafeteria when I dropped it! Your ex-classmates were ridiculing me and trying to extort money, and you stepped in and told them to stop!" Tong Xue was nodding frantically. He beamed. "From then on, you became my idol!"

"Oh, I remember that." To be honest, I couldn't remember who I helped, so I drew a blank on Tong Xue's face, but I definitely remembered Kuang Zhe and his cronies bullying somebody in the cafeteria and trying to snatch his wallet. I didn't approve and I felt sorry for the victim, so I had intervened. Kuang Zhe and his lackeys nearly attacked me, but fortunately a teacher was present, so the conflict didn't escalate. It ended with them stomping off. "I'm glad you're all right."

"If you hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have been all right."

"Uh, right."

"It's too bad the others can't tell the difference between the elite students, so they mostly view you the same as the others." Hao Ren sighed. "I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. It's not your fault at all."

"See? You're so different from the other elite students. Most of them are so arrogant and only know how to look down on others. 'Strength is the most important thing, the weak only deserve to be trampled upon.'" Tong Xue scowled. "They keep spouting that bullshit and use it as an excuse to bully the rest of us."

"That's horrible. I didn't know…"

"Well, it's not as if you had much opportunity to interact with us, and when you do, it's always to help us. And you're one of the friendlier ones. Unlike the other elite students, you wave and greet us properly. You're always smiling. It's easier to approach you." Hao Ren leaned back and sighed again. "It's a pity what happened to you. But even if your cultivation has been crippled, that's no reason for the school to expel you or for the elite class to kick you out! You're a hero!"

Oh, right. Nobody knew that I had recovered my cultivation. Yet.

"Thanks. I'm working on it. I've found a solution to the problem and I'm confident I'll be able to recover my full strength, maybe even improve beyond it soon."

"Man, I wish the others share your attitude." Tong Xue weaved his fingers behind his head. He jerked his nose toward the chattering classmates. "Most of the regular students are only here to get a cultivator's diploma, graduate as ordinary cultivators and earn a stable income. They aren't interested in actually improving themselves."

"They've mostly given up because they think they've hit their skill ceiling and won't get any better. We've been told constantly that we have no talent, after all." Hao Ren was dejected.

"That's not true," I protested, outraged at the sort of treatment the regular classes were receiving. Nobody had the right to criticize others like that. And they shouldn't be given up on.

"It's true, though," Tong Xue said with a shrug. "We don't have any talent."

"Talent doesn't matter. What's most important is having the right mentality and hard work! As long as you don't give up…"

"Easy for you to say," Tong Xue muttered. "We've been putting in maximum effort for all our lives and achieved nothing of note. It's not as if we didn't work hard or gave up. It's frustrating, doing our best and investing so much of our time and energy, only to not get the results we want…you only say it like it's so easy because you already have your achievements."

Then his eyes widened and he bowed his head frantically. "Sorry! I didn't mean that! I forgot…!"

Oh, he thought he was being insensitive when I had lost my cultivation or something.

"It's fine. Just don't give up. I was told that I had no talent when I was younger, but I got to where I did through sheer hard work and perseverance."

"What? Is that true?" Hao Ren's eyes widened. I nodded.

"Yeah. So ignore those detractors and focus on becoming stronger. They only say all that because they're worried that you'll actually work hard and surpass them." I clenched my fists and glanced out of the window, in the direction of my old classroom. "I'm going to make my ex-classmates pay for all the insults they threw not just at me, but also you guys."

In the first place, now that I was in this position, I realized how discriminatory it was to divide students into "elite" and "regular" classes. Something had to change, but I didn't know what. But I planned on starting by enrolling as a regular student and defeating as many elite students as I could.

Hopefully, that would spark a change that would be beneficial not just for those at the top, but for everyone…

Speaking of the tournament, I knew that I had a long way to go. I had only just regained my cultivation and had three months to bring it back up to Yellow Rank. That was fine, I just needed to keep up with my usual training regimen. Unfortunately, that wasn't sufficient. Cultivation realms might make a huge difference in a battle, but they weren't the sole deciding factor.

There were a lot other things I had to take into consideration. One of them being skills and techniques. After all, humans developed all these combat techniques in order to overpower spirit beasts and demonic monsters that were quite often physically stronger and larger than them. Relying on sheer quantity of qi to brute force one's way in battle never ended well, especially against a tactically astute opponent.

That was why I approached dad after I returned home from school. To be more precise, I approached him after he returned home from work, but you know what I mean.

"Dad, can you teach me a close combat technique? Something like…I don't know, a sword or spear technique?"

"Hmm? Sure, but what brought this about? Shouldn't you be practicing your Azure Rain Celestial Arrows?"

"Yeah, I am and I will continue to practice them. But they aren't enough."

I still recalled the encounter with the Ember Wolves yesterday. It was a close shave, now that I thought about it. Even though I managed to eliminate scores of them from range, the moment they got close, I found myself in terrible danger. I had just barely managed to fend their attacks off with my bow.

If the foe was a higher ranked spirit beast, I wouldn't have escaped so simply.

Previously, I had been taking my ex-classmates for granted. With Li Wang and the rest bearing the brunt of the enemy's attack on the frontlines, I could remain in the rearguard and attack the enemy spirit beasts and demonic monsters from afar. However, now that I had been kicked out of the class, I could no longer rely on anyone to serve as the vanguard for me. Particularly right now, when I was fighting on my own, I had to find a way to defend myself. I didn't want another situation where the enemy was right in my face and I was helpless to do anything to protect myself.

So I needed to learn a technique for close combat as well.

Dad listened when I briefly explained my reasons, and then he nodded.

"Very well." He turned toward the wall where a rack of weapons lay. Unlike me, dad specialized in close combat, so there was no bow in the rack. There were swords, a spear and a staff. I knew that dad was adept in each of them, having had decades of experience fighting in the frontlines before he retired. Even now, he served as an instructor in the military.

After pondering for a while, he picked up a sword and handed it to me. I accepted it by the hilt, bemused, and watched as he took another sword.

"Let's go to the courtyard to practice."

"Yes." I hurried after him, but was unable to keep the question from my mouth. "You're going to teach me a sword technique?"

"Yeah." Dad glanced over his shoulder to grin at me. "It's a cultivation story protagonist thing. All main characters must favor the sword or follow the sword Dao. The sword is the coolest weapon, after all."

"…seriously?"

"No, I was just joking."

"So why the sword?"

"It should complement your bow better. You're not going to carry a bow and a spear, are you?" Dad scoffed. "Normally, a dagger would be better, but I think a sword works just as well. Besides, you have an affinity with the water element, and I just happened to know a water-based sword technique that is perfect for you."

When we stepped out into the courtyard, he raised his sword high and closed his eyes, gathering his qi. I watched a whirlpool form around his blade. Thousands of water droplets hung suspended in the air, almost as if time itself had frozen.

Then slowly, water currents began trailing around dad as he elegantly traced strokes in the air with his sword.

"Watch carefully, Jun Wen," he said as he demonstrated. "This is the Flowing River Clear Sword technique."