“Where did you get those bruises?” the martial arts instructor asked Tang Ze.

“Ah - I uh, got into a fight,” Tang Ze said awkwardly. By now, everyone in the sect knew how he had gotten those bruises, so he knew that this had been a rhetorical question.

The martial arts instructor sighed and put a hand to his forehead. “You do realize how it looks like, don’t you? To have lost to a woman? And how that reflects on me!?”

Why was the martial arts instructor so ticked off at Tang Ze?

The reason was that back during their last lesson, which had occurred before the whole incident with Xu Feng, the martial arts instructor had noted Tang Ze’s lack of cultivation, and then asked him to spar with him to demonstrate some techniques to the rest of the class.

While doing so, the martial arts instructor had said the classic line he had said so many times before, “If you want to have a chance of putting up an actual fight - you’ll have to come at me with killing intent. Attack me as if you’re trying to kill me Junior Tang Ze!”

The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze was stronger than a normal person - but how much could that possible be? Two times? Five times? At most maybe ten times.

Not nearly enough to bridge the gap between them, especially given the martial arts instructor’s experience. So what was there to worry about?

The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze’s cultivation base was weak, but by showing him that his physical strength could be a great attribute, he hoped to inspire the other Initiates to train harder, and also to raise Tang Ze’s morale in the same way.

The problem was that during martial arts lessons, the restrictions on having to wear the sect’s uniform were lifted to a certain extent to allow for comfort during movement.

And that was why Tang Ze had been able to modify a part of it to resemble a costume. He was only about two percent of full strength, but the problem was that Tang Ze was so hyped he took ‘come at me like you’re trying to kill me’ seriously. Tang Ze had mistakenly thought that the martial arts instructor would have some way to handle it.

The result was that he ended up nearly crippling the martial arts instructor in one blow.

The kicker?

Tang Ze hadn’t even been fighting at his full two percent of strength. He had still been holding back. After all, there was no way he could actually fight someone with the intention of killing them right now. On top of which he was a novice when it came to actual fighting.

The strike had also been so strong it collapsed a part of the dojo, which is why this lesson was taking place outside in a courtyard while the damage that Tang Ze had done was being repaired.

As you can imagine, these two facts did nothing to endear Tang Ze to the martial arts instructor, which was why he had such a sour expression when compared to Tang Ze’s other teachers while dealing with him. It was one thing to be bad at the subject the teacher was teaching - that could be excused, after all, they were there to learn in the first place. It was much harder for a teacher to overlook their student nearly killing them.

But that wasn’t why he was upset at Tang Ze today. At least, it wasn’t the entire reason.

You see, Tang Ze could clearly defeat the martial arts instructor. There was no way for the latter to deny that after what had happened last lesson.

And so, if Tang Ze lost easily afterwards - that was like the martial arts instructor losing easily!

This was like a slap to his face - because people would measure him using Tang Ze’s feats as a ruler of comparison of sorts.

He was an ‘instructor’ after all - what would it look like if he had lost to someone at Qi Refinement stage who was at a lower minor realm than he was?

Of course, it could be noted that Tang Ze was even lower at the Zeroth Realm, but he was an exception that was relatively well known about. No one would fault a loss to him - but this made it look like nearly anyone could beat the martial arts instructor!

“I wasn’t able to fight at full strength,” Tang Ze protested. He hadn’t been wearing something suited for combat at the time, and had been taken by surprise by Tang Ru. Also, he had just started passively absorbing a costume’s full power, and all of this meant he had not been able to keep up with her.

The martial arts instructor shook his head, “Just keep that in mind in the future, alright?”

“I will,” Tang Ze said. “With that said - is it alright if I can ask you a question?”

This seemed like Tang Ze was trying to change the topic as quickly as possible, but Tang Ze did in fact genuinely have a question.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“What is it?”

“If someone were to say… charge at us with a knife and we were unarmed? What would be the best way to stop them? I mean, assuming we can’t use any skills?” Tang Ze asked.

“With your strength you wouldn’t have to worry about it,” the instructor said. “You should be more worried about swords and lances-”

“I get that but, say, let’s say that I was fighting someone about as strong as I was, with a knife, and they ran at me - what’s the best way to block them?” Tang Ze asked, wording his question differently.

“Why would they run at you with a knife instead of throwing half a mountain at you?” the instructor asked, confused as to why Tang Ze would be pursuing this line of questioning.

“Let’s just suppose so,” Tang Ze said, insisting on that. “Or if it was some other kind of small object that could hurt me. What’s the best kind of maneuver to do to avoid it?”

“Alright, let’s see,” the martial arts instructor said, handing Tang Ze a small cone he had made out of parchment. “Pretend that that’s a dagger, and try to stab me.” He then hastily added. “But please, hold back!”

Tang Ze nodded and then tried to approach with the ‘dagger’, to have the martial arts instructor twist his arm and then show how Tang Ze could then be forced to the ground.

There were some other variations of this, such as sweeping out his legs from under him.

All throughout, the martial arts instructor mentioned that the most important thing was to keep the tip of the knife away from his vital organs, especially if he wasn’t wearing armor.

Tang Ze did his best to try to understand them, but many of these techniques relied on one’s strength and speed.

Even if Tang Ze had known this back on Earth, would he have been able to make any difference back then?

Perhaps not - but he continued to practice this regardless.

Speaking of the martial arts lesson, Elder He Xuan was currently examining the damage done by Tang Ze from the previous martial arts lesson.

He had been told of the same before, but had only had time to personally come and inspect it today.

“This Tang Ze is far too much,” a prefect complained to He Xuan. “In the short time that he has been here he has violated two major rules - one, he has caused such damage to the training hall. And two, he snuck into the women's division past hours!”

The dojo had taken quite an investment to get it up to shape, with the martial arts instructor having to repeatedly ask for the funds for it - and to see it destroyed in a single blow; no wonder the martial arts instructor was in a bad mood.

“Was this damage really caused by a single blow?” Elder He Xuan wondered.

He could potentially do something like this, but he was at the Golden Core realm. For someone at the Zeroth Realm to accomplish this kind of feat…

He Xuan knew that Tang Ze was strong for his cultivation level, but he had clearly underestimated how strong.

The reason for this was simple - there had not been an opportunity for Tang Ze to use his full strength as of yet.

As a matter of fact, even this damage was not caused by his full strength.

“Indeed, Elder He Xuan!” the prefect said. “A second offense so soon after the first - we cannot let this slide easily!”

The prefects were the upholders of the sect rules, so no doubt they found Tang Ze’s presence quite frustrating.

Tang Ze, for all of his faults - was not actually a habitual rule breaker.

He hadn’t been like that back on Earth, and he wasn’t like this right now either. While he might’ve gotten into trouble for sleeping in class or being late, he never caused any kind of severe trouble like a delinquent.

The trespassing incident was entirely because Xu Feng had tricked him, and the dojo incident was because he had overestimated what the martial arts instructor could do and used too much of his strength.

However, as they say, ‘you only get to make one first impression.’ The fact that these two incidents had happened so quickly in succession to Tang Ze joining the sect marked him as a severe problem child in the eyes of the prefects and many of the other staff.

He was now viewed as someone who would cause nothing but trouble - even if this was not true.

Not to mention it had been the prefects who had spent several days setting up traps for the entrance test, and Tang Ze bypassing all of them by flying, they felt, was like spitting in the face of all of their hard work.

“If he is so strong at the Zeroth Realm,” Elder He Xuan said. “Imagine what he could do if he ascended even higher? Perhaps one day he really will be able to…” He Xuan trailed off, deep in thought.

Advancing along the realms of cultivation did make one strong - but that was not the only way to get stronger. The multipliers to one’s strength were multiplying a person’s base strength. A person could actually get much stronger, at least when it came to the Qi Condensation realm, by doing exercises and weight training rather than cultivating. Of course, as one got further along the multipliers became almost ridiculous to the point they were more important than anything else, but the amplification was more useful the stronger you were naturally.

So, if Tang Ze was this strong at the Zeroth Realm, what would happen when he was two-and-a-half times stronger at the final realm of Qi Condensation? Or for that matter five times stronger by reaching Qi Refinement? Or even sixty times stronger than this at Golden Core - He Xuan shuddered at what the outcome would be!

“Alright then,” He Xuan said, finally coming to a decision. Tang Ze had already been punished for trespassing, but had not been handed a punishment for this as of yet. “As punishment for this, cut down his monthly compensation for this month by ten percent.”

Members of the sect did not get an income for what they did. Almost all they owned, especially at the lower levels, was owned by the sect. If they found a large treasure, they were usually expected to hand it over to the sect itself which would then distribute said treasure - though this usually only applied for treasures on the higher side.

Instead of a salary, resources were distributed to them every month - such as in the form of sect merit points which could be exchanged for various goods and services later. These points were kept track of strictly by the prefects - though they had no value outside of the sect, they also could not be stolen either. And it was a way to disincentivize people from changing sects- as these merit points would not carry over.

He Xuan was saying that these rewards, which were already rather pitiful for a probationary Initiate, would be reduced to ninety percent of what they would normally be.

“Sect Elder!” the prefect cried out. “What manner of punishment is this? It is hardly anything!”

The prefect had secretly been hoping to have Tang Ze thrown out of the sect entirely, that was how much a problem they anticipated that Tang Ze would eventually become!

It was much harder to throw someone out once their probationary period was over, which is why they felt the need to put tacit pressure upon Elder He Xuan, who was overall in charge of this outer division of the Rising Phoenix Sect and could make that kind of decision.