Cruelty.

Lod lowered his head and ignored the kids looking at him. Even though it was not as bad as he expected, it was still quite hard to endure and concentrate on the class.

"Jacob, do you want to explain what is cultivation technique is?" the teacher asked a kid who was wearing luxury clothes.

"Yes, sir." Jacob stood up and looked around. "The cultivation techniques are used for cultivating our body, soul, and essence. Every cultivation technique is different, but all have one thing similar, that is to make us strong! Every realm needs a new technique to continue advancing. Cultivation technique is the one that determines the strength of the person… without a technique, cultivating Qi is impossible." He said in a loud voice. 

Everyone in the class heard his explanation and clapped. The teacher nodded with a smile and said "That is a good way to see it."

Lod's eyes brightened as he heard what Jacob said, he clearly understood it! He took out the book and started writing what he heard. 

Jacob smiled and sat back in his seat. He was happy that he studied before coming to school. 

"As everyone heard, cultivation technique is the foundation, and you building everything above it. Let's take an example. 

Imagine your body as the fertile soil of the Earth, and the cultivation technique as the seed. As you plant this seed within your body, you nurture it with Qi, akin to providing water and nutrients to a growing plant. This seed gradually sprouts, evolving into a towering tree. Much like the diverse plant species, there exists a multitude of cultivation techniques. You can cultivate any technique and the nature of this 'tree' within you, ultimately shaping and defining your strength within that particular realm of cultivation.

The foundation is everything, without a good foundation and technique, you better don't even think about advancing into another realm…" 

Everyone opened their eyes wide, they knew one or two things about it, but hearing like this made their eyes open to a new understanding. 

Lod's breathing was unstable as he heard it. 'Body as a soil… technique as a seed… one needs better cultivation technique to be stronger than others who were in the same realm… wow' As he was thinking about it, another topic came up in the class. 

A kid raised his hand to ask a question. 

"What is it?" 

"Sir, I want to ask one thing. will mastery play a part in this?" he asked. 

"Haha, of course! The example I gave is very general and metaphorical. It only shows how it works. But there are thousands of external things that are involved. Talent, Bloodline, Hard work, Luck… many more. If you didn't master the technique, you wouldn't even move forward." The teacher said with a laugh.

Outside Lod was busy writing what he heard and didn't notice that three kids were standing beside him. 

"Hey." One of them called Lod. 

"Hm?" Lod stopped writing and looked at them. "What is it?" 

"Do you not know what will happen if the Discipline Council sees you?" they asked with strange expressions on their faces. 

"No… I don't know. What will happen?" Lod shook his head. He never heard anything about it from that old man Fang about it. 

"Sigh, just go right now. This is your opportunity. If they spot you they will beat y…" before he finished a figure appeared behind them. 

He was wearing black clothes, every inch of his body concealed, even his face. A pair of deep, calm eyes, like a bottomless pool, gazed upon Lod.

Sensing the black clothes person those three kids moved away from there in fear. It hadn't been more than 10 minutes since Lod came here, and he had already been spotted by the Discipline Council. 

"What is a servant doing here?" the black clothesman asked in a low voice.

"I…" Lod got a bad feeling about this. 

"Accept your punishment for breaking the rule. A servant shouldn't listen to the classes of the college. You have your own school inside and that is it!" he said. 

"I… I don't know that…" he stood up and tried to say that he didn't know that rule, but just as he stood up a force appeared on his body. 

'Wh…' he couldn't even think straight as suddenly more than 100 kg weight dropped on him from the sky. His shoulders became heavy, knees became weak. Blood came from his mouth and he clenched his fist as hard as he could.

"Kneel" 

With just one word, the weight on him increased and his knees caps broken like they were made from wood.

"AHHH" never experienced pain filled his brain and he fell to his knees. The pressure was increasing even more, blood started to come from his nose, ears, and eyes… he even clenched his fist so hard his fingernails dug deep into the flesh of his palms. With so much pain his mind snapped. He looked at the black clothes man with his bloody eyes. 

"Oh?" he was surprised by Lod's eyes, he couldn't sense any fear in the eyes of Lod's. "I would like to see how much you can endure," he said with a smile that no one could see. 

Lod who was in pain was like a wild beast, his eyes were not even blinked once, and even though he couldn't speak, his eyes were giving a message. Maybe if he begged and kowtowed, admitted that he was in the wrong, accepted the humiliation and even insulted himself, then he would be completely out of danger, even now.

But Lod would never do such a thing! Call him stupid and crazy, but he would never do it! Death? What is death? So what if I haven't even lived to see 16! You can humiliate me, you can make me kneel. But you can never make me yield! You can never break my spirit! I Fear NOTHING.

It was not even a minute passed, but everyone around noticed it. The class stopped and every student came out and looked at the bloody Lod, his dress dyed red by blood. 

The teacher looked at everything in silence, but he raised an eyebrow when he saw the eyes of Lod's.

"Haha." The black clothes suddenly laughed, "This is my first time seeing a mortal like you, most of your bones about to shatter, and you still dared to look at me like that?" he raised his right hand and pointed his index finger at Lod's stomach, and a force like a giant invisible hand ripped open Lod's clothing, revealing his stomach.

Lod glared back at him. This entire time, he had only tried to speak once, never opening his mouth to say a second sentence. He did not scream or roar again, but remained silent. More veins of blood appeared in his eyes and he clenched his fists even tighter. Because of the power he exerted, his fingernails snapped, lodged in his flesh. Blood dripped like rain.

Everything grew silent as people watched, their faces filled with derision. Their ridicule seemed to cut him away from the world, pushing him away until he was placed outside of everything. 

Just as the black clothes man was about to point toward Lod's head, a gentle energy appeared around Lod.

"You can stop now."