Chapter 7

(Today is the sacred Monday, the most important day for boosting the new book rankings. I'm kneeling here to beg for recommendation votes and member clicks. Please, dear readers, log in to Qidian to read my book. This can increase the number of member clicks for my book. Thank you!)

(Thank you to 0℃墨の飙怒 for a reward of 1888 Qidian coins, 位面通缉犯 and 书山浪荡侠 for rewards of 588 Qidian coins, and michael新, 我愛黑夜, MCXMCXMCX, 书友130811223823912, and bbusb for rewards of 100 Qidian coins.)

---

Three boys clutched their hands and screamed in pain, stepping back in disbelief. They had never expected that a mere underachiever from Plum Manor would possess such formidable sword skills. This was far beyond the level of an underachiever; it was at least the level of an excellent student... This was too strange. With such sword skills, how could he be living in Plum Manor? This didn't make sense. All three of them regretted it; if they had known his sword skills were so powerful, they wouldn't have provoked him.

Li Yan himself was also surprised. He hadn't expected to defeat all three boys with his first move. The power of the Pine Wind Sword Technique was indeed a bit beyond his imagination. No, it wasn't about the strength of the Pine Wind Sword Technique at all. It was entirely because his learning ability far surpassed that of the three boys. He only needed to see it once to master the Pine Wind Sword Technique, but these three boys, after two months of enrollment, still hadn't learned the most basic set of boxing techniques. Therefore, the three of them combined were no match for him.

Li Yan inwardly cursed his luck: "Damn, I didn't expect to be so strong. Now my martial arts are exposed. If these three boys spread the word that I have excellent sword skills, Miss Dongfang will come and take me, cut off my little elephant, and make me practice the *Manual of the Sunflower*. Should I try to escape? But it's easy to get into Blackwood Cliff, but hard to get out. Where can I run to? If my little elephant is not safe, what good is having high martial arts skills?"

Should I kill them to silence them? A strange thought flashed through Li Yan's mind, but he quickly abandoned it.

His martial arts weren't that high, and even if he had a real sword, killing them to silence them might be possible, but with a branch, it was definitely not. Another reason was that although Li Yan had seen many plots of killing to silence in martial arts novels in his past life, he was still a good child who followed the five principles and four virtues, and had never done anything illegal. Even in this new world, his values hadn't changed so easily. To kill to silence for the sake of keeping his secret was something he couldn't do.

Li Yan had no choice but to lift his head and glare at the three boys, saying, "Get lost!"

The three boys looked at their injured hands and knew that continuing the fight would be disastrous. They stiffened their necks and said, "You, from Class 3, if you have the guts, leave your name. We will avenge this, or we won't be human..."

Li Yan was secretly delighted: "So I didn't reveal my name to these three. That's great. I won't tell you. If Miss Dongfang finds out that I've mastered the Pine Wind Sword Technique, I'll deny it to the death."

He pouted at the three and said, "You don't have the right to know my name. Get lost! If you don't, this branch won't just injure your hands; I'll pierce your butts too."

The three boys were terrified and didn't dare to say more. They turned and ran, thinking to themselves: "Not giving his name? It's not hard to find out who you are. We just need to ask who from Class 2 lives in Plum Manor."

The three boys ran out of the small forest in anger.

Only after running far did the three boys calm down. One of them said, "We must find out who this bastard is! We have to get revenge."

Another said, "But his sword skills are too powerful. We can't get revenge on our own. We should go to our Class 2 leader and ask him to help us deal with this guy from Class 3."

The third one shook his head, "The leader might not stand up for us... And if we admit to being defeated by a Plum Manor underachiever, our faces will be ruined. We might even be sent to Plum Manor to be bullied... We shouldn't say he injured us. We just need to tell the leader that he's in league with Qiao Feng. The leader will definitely punish him."

"Good idea!" The other two nodded, and the three quickly left.

By this time, Li Yan had already discarded the broken branch and was seriously examining the ponytailed girl, Qiao Feng. Her face was swollen and red, clearly from the slap. Her tall body was slightly hunched, indicating that her abdomen was still in pain, and even her beautiful ponytail was a bit messy...

"Are you badly hurt?" Li Yan asked softly. "I heard those three say there's a school doctor. I'll go find the doctor to get some medicine for you."

"No... need..." Qiao Feng's voice was trembling and broken, clearly still in pain. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were weak, making one's heart ache, but her words were still annoying: "I already told you not to meddle. Leave me alone. Even if you find the doctor, she won't help me. No one is good to me, and no one wants to accept me. Leave me alone."

Li Yan was annoyed: "Hey, you're beaten up like this, and you don't want me to help? Do you want them to beat you to death? I've seen you practice boxing. Your boxing skills should be much better than theirs. Why didn't you fight back?"

"Just leave me alone..." The ponytailed girl squatted on the ground, holding her abdomen. "I'll be fine if I squat for a while..."

I can't take it! Li Yan said helplessly, "Fine, if you don't want me to help, I won't. I'm just an unpopular guy who is disliked wherever I go. Goodbye..."

He waved his hand, bidding farewell to Qiao Feng. Even though he felt like he was being bitten by a dog, a new generation of well-mannered people should still say goodbye properly. He walked away.

Li Yan walked a long distance and looked back. Qiao Feng was still squatting on the ground, holding her abdomen, her face full of pain, clearly not feeling better.

"Serves her right!" Li Yan turned away angrily.

As Li Yan walked away, the ponytailed girl's eyes suddenly welled up with clear tears. She hadn't shed a single tear when she was beaten, but now, watching Li Yan walk away, she suddenly started crying, whispering, "Thank you... Thank you for talking to me and helping me. I'm so happy. But... when you find out I'm a Khitan, you'll hate me too. It's better not to meet at all... Sob... But why do I feel so sad?" She hunched her body, tears streaming down her face.

Li Yan returned to the dormitory, sat for a while, but the room had nothing but a bed and looked like it might collapse at any moment. He decided to go to class.

Following the memory of Guo Jing leading him, Li Yan easily found his way back to the classroom of Class 3, Grade 1. He quietly pushed the door open, and the courtyard was bustling with activity. Over forty students from Class 3 were practicing their chosen martial arts. Some were practicing lightness skills, jumping around on plum blossom stakes; some were practicing boxing, their movements powerful and fierce, but Li Yan felt their boxing skills were not as good as Qiao Feng's; some were practicing throwing darts, one after another hitting a target; and as for the little girl with the missing teeth, Guo Jing... she was practicing the "Branch Striking the White Ape" move from the Yue Nu Sword Technique. Her brows were tightly furrowed, her eyes wide and serious. She was actually quite pretty, but the呆气 (dullness) on her face ruined her beauty.

Li Yan sat down to watch her practice. After a while, he understood that the "Branch Striking the White Ape" move involved leaping into the air, making two sword flowers, and then striking downward. However, the little girl's leap was not agile enough; in other words, she didn't jump high enough to complete the two sword flowers in the air. Occasionally, when she jumped high enough, she was too focused on her footwork and forgot to strike with the sword.

Li Yan thought, "This is too stupid! Someone this stupid is beyond help. If I were to do it, I'd learn it in no time."

The little girl practiced for a long time but couldn't get it right and even fell down. She thought that if she couldn't master this move today, she would be punished with no food for ten days, which scared her into crying. Her distress only made it harder to practice.

Seeing his only friend in such distress, and the little girl's crying making him feel heartache, Li Yan wanted to help her. But how could he help someone so stupid? He racked his brain, and suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. "Ah, I remember! In *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, there was a similar problem. The male version of the stupid Guo Jing couldn't master a move, but after learning some Quanzhen Sect's internal skills from Ma Yu on a mountain cliff, he suddenly understood and wasn't so stupid anymore. Maybe this method could help her."

Li Yan quickly said to Guo Jing, "Guo Jing, I think you should take an additional internal skills course... Learning the authentic Quanzhen Sect's internal skills might make it easier for you to practice martial arts."

"Ah?" Guo Jing turned to look at him, embarrassed. "But... I can't even handle two courses. Adding another one would only make it worse. I should focus on practicing boxing and sword techniques first."

"No, listen to me. If you practice internal skills, it will be much easier for you to practice sword techniques," Li Yan persuaded.

"It won't work. I'm a fool, and I know it," Guo Jing shook her head, her expression very determined.

Uh, this girl really is a fool. Direct persuasion won't work. I need to use Ma Yu's method and trick her into learning without her knowing. To do that, I need to get the secret manual first.

Li Yan had an idea and started looking for the teacher. He saw her sitting in a corner of the courtyard, watching the students practice, looking quite bored. Li Yan walked up to her and said loudly, "Teacher, I want to learn Quanzhen Sect's internal skills. Does our school have a manual for this?"

The page flip ad starts

The page flip ad ends