Chapter 36: The Seventh Congress
Chapter 36: Chapter 36: The Seventh Congress
After receiving his temporary enrollment letter from the academic affairs office, Fang Chen hopped on his bicycle and headed straight for The Seventh Congress.
The teachers at the academic affairs office of The Seventh Congress had clearly coordinated with The Three Greats beforehand, as they treated him quite politely. After completing the simple procedures, he followed the directions to the teaching building.
Along the way, he spotted a few familiar faces who were also from The Three Greats. They nodded in greeting, though they weren’t particularly close. To his slight surprise, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd—Yang Fan, the Class Five student who had written a love letter to Xia Chu.
Yang Fan seemed equally surprised to see him, averting his gaze with a complicated expression.
Fang Chen noticed that most of the transferred students from The Three Greats had been assigned to Classes Seven, Eight, and Nine. As he walked, he observed the campus environment of The Seventh Congress and learned about its class placement system from snippets of overheard conversations.
It turned out that, in preparation for the major exams, The Seventh Congress adopted a concentrated training strategy similar to a "gifted class" system. Classes One and Two of The Seventh Congress gathered the school’s top students in both academic studies and Martial Dao, enjoying the best teaching faculty and cultivation resources. The other classes were regular ones, receiving relatively limited resources and attention.
"Resource favoritism is everywhere," Fang Chen mused. He understood clearly and felt no resentment. Instead, it only reinforced his understanding of this world’s rules—strength and potential were the hard currency needed to fight for resources.
Fang Chen walked up to the third floor of Mingzhi Tower and found the classroom for Senior Class One.
Standing at the door, he could sense a faint aura radiating from inside, completely different from the loose atmosphere of the lower classes. He pushed the door open. The classroom was already half-full, and everyone’s eyes fixed on him, the new transfer student.
Fang Chen’s expression remained calm as he walked in, meeting their gazes of curiosity, scrutiny, and even faint defiance.
Standing by the podium was a capable-looking female teacher wearing thin-rimmed glasses, around thirty-five or thirty-six years old. With a professional smile on her face, she stepped forward to greet him.
"You must be Fang Chen, right? Hello, I’m Yan Meijuan, the homeroom teacher for Senior Class One." She extended her hand, shaking Fang Chen’s lightly.
"Hello, Teacher Yan," Fang Chen replied politely.
"Come on, introduce yourself to everyone." Yan Meijuan stepped aside to make room. Taking advantage of their proximity, she quickly whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Speak boldly, don’t hold back. It’s fine."
Hearing this, Fang Chen naturally understood her intention. She clearly knew of his reputation at The Three Greats for managing his class by fighting violence with violence. Did she want to use him as a blade to suppress the troublemakers in this gifted class?
He kept his composure, pretending not to fully grasp the teacher’s underlying meaning. Fang Chen stepped up to the podium and kept it brief.
"Hello everyone, my name is Fang Chen, formerly a student of Senior Class Two at Jinchuan Three Greats. I look forward to learning from you all over the next month."
With a slight nod, he walked straight to the empty seat Teacher Yan had indicated earlier—in the very last row of the classroom. His deskmate was a gentle-looking boy wearing black-rimmed glasses.
Seeing Fang Chen sit down, the boy actively leaned over and lowered his voice to greet him. "Hey, you’re Fang Chen, right? I’m Hu Jiasen. I’ve long heard of your reputation as the ’Number One Martial Artist of The Three Greats.’ Hehe, please give me some pointers in the future."
Fang Chen glanced at him and replied nonchalantly, "They’re just empty titles."
He didn’t make much small talk. He had made up his mind to meddle as little as possible during his final month at The Seventh Congress. As long as trouble didn’t come knocking, he couldn’t be bothered to stir up any issues.
Seeing Fang Chen take his seat, a barely noticeable flash of disappointment crossed Yan Meijuan’s eyes on the podium. However, she quickly returned to normal and clapped her hands.
"Alright, students, let’s continue with the class. Today is another Martial Dao theory class. We’ll be talking about Qi and Blood Value." She wrote the words on the blackboard. "Qi and Blood Value is a crucial vital indicator that only appears after you step into the True Martial Realm and your bodily functions undergo a Qualitative Change. If you succeed in your Spirit Awakening and load a Spirit Core, you will be able to clearly see your specific numerical value.
"Of course, even without a Spirit Core, you can still feel it when channeling your energy."
She looked around the room and continued to explain in detail.
"It is divided into two parts: ’Qi’ and ’Blood.’
"Qi naturally ties into your True Qi. The more abundant your Qi, the greater the power of your True Qi and the deeper your cultivation.
"Blood is even more useful. For us Martial Artists, one of its primary functions is to resist anomalies and heal our own bodies.
"For example, if you suffer from hidden internal injuries, are poisoned, or even contract certain diseases, you can heal and purge them by expending your Qi and Blood Value.
"An ordinary True Martial Realm Martial Artist usually has a Qi and Blood Value between sixty and ninety points. This amount is perfectly fine for dealing with minor ailments and pains."
She gestured to indicate a length. "However, if an external wound is relatively large—say, a cut this deep—you would need to consume at least three hundred points of Qi and Blood Value to quickly heal it back to normal."
A student in the audience couldn’t help but ask, "Teacher Yan, what if it’s a severed limb, or even... ruptured internal organs? Can those be healed too?"
Yan Meijuan pushed up her glasses, pondering for a moment. "Theoretically, yes. However, that already far exceeds my realm of understanding. I estimate the required Qi and Blood Value to be at least several thousand, perhaps even tens of thousands of points."
Low gasps and murmurs of discussion instantly broke out across the classroom.
Sitting at his desk, Fang Chen listened and gave a slight nod. These were details he hadn’t heard back at The Three Greats. He previously only knew that a higher Qi and Blood Value meant more robust True Qi and stronger attacks. He never expected that it could be used directly for physical regeneration.
He subconsciously touched his left arm, where a scar remained from a previous claw strike by a Ghost Shadow. Although he had treated it with medicine inside the Time Stop Domain, the penetrating wound had been too deep, leaving behind a faint mark.
He estimated inwardly, "For a piercing wound like this, completely healing it without leaving a scar would probably take at least five or six hundred points of Qi and Blood Value... I’m afraid only experts in the High Martial Realm possess such a robust foundation of Qi and Blood."
By the end of the day, the course content was not much different from that at The Three Greats, though the learning atmosphere seemed much tenser.
When the dismissal bell rang, Fang Chen packed his things and went to the bike shed to retrieve his bicycle.
Just as he reached the entrance of the shed, he paused slightly. In the somewhat dim shelter, about a dozen people had gathered, either leaning against the walls or sitting on bikes. Among them were a few faces he had seen in Class One today, but most were strangers. Judging by their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, however, they were all clearly Martial Artist students.
Their gazes uniformly landed on Fang Chen, carrying undisguised scrutiny and provocation.
A tall and burly boy with a buzz cut hopped down from a bike seat. Hands in his pockets, he walked up to Fang Chen and tilted his head to size him up.
"Hey, you’re Fang Chen, right? Let’s have a chat."