At two o'clock in the afternoon, Class 8, Grade 1, led by their head teacher Dan Qingrong, went to the sports ground and claimed a patch of ground.
There were fifty-two students in Class 8 in total. Facing the flag-raising platform, they formed four rows—two rows of boys and two rows of girls, distinctly separated.
Jiang Ning was right next to the girls' section, and the girl standing in the same column as him happened to be Chen Siyu.
Chen Siyu was chatting with her female classmates while casting occasional glances at Jiang Ning. This afternoon, she had originally wanted to swap classes with her older sister, but thanks to Jiang Ning, her sister refused, fearing she would get caught.
This left her full of resentment toward Jiang Ning, yet she could hardly share such a matter with anyone else, so she had to keep it bottled up inside.
Jiang Ning noticed her gaze, but paid it no mind. She was just a pretty little girl, and in his past life as a Nascent Soul True Monarch, he had seen all sorts of celestial maidens.
With his level of cultivation, countless women had thrown themselves at him—imperial princesses, proud daughters of heaven, sect mistresses, demonic saintesses, and pure Taoist nuns, you name it.
Yet the Ice Soul Ginseng Birth Formula he cultivated was devoid of emotion and desire; his heart was set solely on attaining immortality, and he had never given women the time of day. Women would only slow down his cultivation.
Although he had switched cultivation techniques now, his standards remained right there, and ordinary women left him completely unmoved.
Ignoring Chen Siyu, Jiang Ning resumed circulating his technique. He calmly absorbed the energy, keeping only himself cool, while those around him derived no benefit from it.
On the flag-raising platform, the school leaders of No. 4 High School delivered passionate speeches to encourage the new students. At first, the students listened full of drive, but as one leader after another took the turn to speak, only to repeat the exact same talking points, everyone began to grow restless.
The September sun was still scorching, beating down mercilessly on the sports ground of No. 4 High School. Six or seven hundred students, like wheat scattered across the ground, were drained of their moisture and looked listless one by one.
With the principal's final closing remarks, the two-and-a-half-hour student assembly finally came to an end.
The students all breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally liberated.
Jiang Ning carried his stool and lined up to return to the classroom. After a flurry of noise, the students settled into their seats, and Dan Qingrong announced that today's events were over, telling everyone to wear their military training uniforms tomorrow and gather in the classroom before 7:30 in the morning.
Stepping out of the classroom, Jiang Ning called out to Xue Yuantong on the steps, inviting her to ride on his mountain bike.
With a calm little face, Xue Yuantong waved her hand in refusal.
The way she had come to school was the exact way she was going to walk back.
"Xue Yuantong, oh Xue Yuantong, you must gather your drive and face the three kilometers bravely!"
Facing the summer setting sun, Xue Yuantong spent forty-five minutes walking with aching legs, and relying on sheer willpower, she finally dragged herself home.
Then, she saw Jiang Ning sitting on a small wooden stool by the door, eating a big watermelon and looking thoroughly relaxed.
"You're back," Jiang Ning greeted her.
For some reason, at that moment Xue Yuantong suddenly felt a pang of sorrow, as if the entire world were plotting against her, and a sense of grievance welled up uncontrollably.
She felt so pitiful that she wanted to cry, yet she was the one who had chosen to walk to school, and she was the one who had refused the ride.
Xue Yuantong gritted her teeth. It wasn't her fault—it was this world's fault.
She thought resentfully:
Only weaklings ride bikes to school; the strong always walk!
...
The next day of military training, Jiang Ning rode his bike against the wind.
Last night he had tempered his body beside the transformer box, and in the pre-dawn hours he had refined his Divine Sense. Today during military training, he could once again absorb spiritual qi and solar energy. The three paths to growing stronger were advancing side by side, and his prospects were exceptionally bright. He was in quite a good mood.
As it happened, he saw Xue Yuantong on the road again, wearing her floral-green military training uniform and stepping along on her short little legs.
Out of habit, he called out, "Xue Yuantong, get on the bike!"
Xue Yuantong put on a stern little face and said coldly, "I like walking. You go on ahead."
"Oh, I'll go on first then." Jiang Ning rode past her. The little girl sure was stubborn.
Xue Yuantong gritted her teeth and persisted. Walking could build up her body; once she grew stronger, she wouldn't get tired.
When Jiang Ning arrived at the classroom, he found a seat by the window. Ma Shicheng was already there, holding his phone and playing *Plants vs. Zombies*, surrounded by two boys who were watching with rapt attention.
Smartphones had already become widespread by this era, but there were still quite a few students in the class who used feature phones or didn't have phones at all. Some parents worried it would affect their children's studies and refused to buy them any, leaving these students with no choice but to watch others play or borrow phones to play on.
The phone Jiang Ning had bought back then for three hundred yuan was frequently lent out to others.
In this era, there was only 2G and 3G networks, and data was not cheap—a data package cost five yuan for 30 megabytes.
Every time he lent his phone to someone, he had to warn them in advance not to burn through too much of his data.
When most of the students had arrived, Dan Qingrong stepped into the classroom right at 7:30. Following closely behind him was a tall, robust man in a military uniform.
Looking out over the crowd of students dressed in military training uniforms, Dan Qingrong briefly introduced the instructor. He didn't mention his name, saying only that the instructor's surname was Li, and after giving instructions on a few other matters, he had Instructor Li lead the Class 8 students to the sports ground.
Upon reaching the sports ground, the girls were left behind, while the boys were led away and merged with Class 7 to form a single square formation.
At first, there was plenty of murmuring within the formation, but Instructor Li barked a couple of reprimands, and the students fell silent.
A soldier's deterrent presence was quite effective, especially since Instructor Li in front of them was exceptionally brawny, with muscles clearly visible on his forearms, making many students envious.
Next, they were arranged in order of height, followed by standing at attention. Jiang Ning had experienced high school military training once and college military training once in his previous life; once the instructor demonstrated the posture for standing at attention, Jiang Ning mastered it effortlessly.
Some students, however, had incorrect postures, and although Instructor Li corrected them twice, certain students still failed to stand up to standard.
Instructor Li walked right along the formation, and whenever he saw an incorrect posture, he would give a swat. Instructor Li was strong, and the swats made the students grimace in pain.
After this was repeated a few times, their standing postures finally became standard.
Standing for fifteen minutes at a time, Instructor Li stared vigilantly. Intimidated by his gaze, students who felt itchy spots on their bodies didn't dare reach out to scratch them, knowing the instructor might sneak in a strike that would hurt for quite a while.
In their hearts, the students cursed Instructor Li one after another, annoyed at why he had to be so strict. Meanwhile, the neighboring girls' platoon burst into giggles from time to time, making the hearts of the young men itch with envy as they cursed the fact that they weren't girls.
"Not bad! Now, we start practicing marching in step!" Instructor Li demonstrated twice. "Left foot first!"
"Forward... march!"
The formation clattered forward. Instructor Li frowned as he watched them: "At attention!"
"Forward... march!" The formation stumbled forward, walking and walking. Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the girls' formation, many students instinctively stopped walking, and the formation instantly fell into disarray.
"Halt!" roared Instructor Li.
"Until I say halt, none of you are allowed to stop! You will march until you drop! Did you understand me?"
Seeing Instructor Li fly into a rage, the atmosphere in the formation instantly fell dead silent.
"Did you understand me?" Instructor Li demanded again.
Jiang Ning called out from the front, "Understood!"
The other students belatedly chimed in, shouting, "Understood!"
Instructor Li noticed Jiang Ning. This student was good—his posture was upright, his base was steady, and his marching was up to standard. He was prime material for the military.
He glared at the crowd: "Didn't you eat? Louder!"
In unison, the crowd shouted, "Understood!"
Privately, someone glanced at Jiang Ning and muttered with annoyance, "What's he showing off for? Just you are good at standing out, huh?"