Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Sir He coughed and the duo had to stop. He stated, “What Chu Yunfan said was right. The word represents a ferocious bird. I can’t believe you knew that. The truth is, this word has only been researched and translated recently. Even many people specializing in seal script research don’t know that. Seems like you’ve been working hard! That’s amazing!”
What Sir He said made Feng Deying flush. This was half because he was enraged by Gao Hongzhi and half because his guess had been entirely wrong. Although Tang Siyu did not get the full answer as Chu Yunfan had, at least she surmised the word represented an animal.
Meanwhile, he had said that it was onomatopoeic. That was completely off.
At that moment, Chu Yunfan felt two pairs of eyes looking at him. One was Class Monitor Feng Deying’s rather scary glare, while on the side was Vice-monitor Tang Siyu’s quite curious gaze. It seemed she never expected that the guy who was usually the most inconspicuous in class would study so deeply into such a subject.
“Since that’s the case, let me test you again!” Sir He wrote a few rare seal script characters on the electric blackboard. He thought he would put Chu Yunfan to the test, but Chu Yunfan managed to answer them smoothly with a calm expression on his face.
In fact, many of his answers invigorated Sir He. A large number of translations for uncommon seal script characters only touched on their real meanings and were not that accurate. However, when Chu Yunfan discussed them, his descriptions were slightly different from the available interpretations. As Sir He thought about it, he felt Chu Yunfan’s explanations were superior.
“Good, good, good. Your explanation is better. There were some words that I didn’t understand before because the translation didn’t make sense, but everything is so clear after you explained it. These are the correct translations of so many words. This is huge!” The more Sir He pondered on it, the more excited he became. “No, I must report this to the Seal Script Research Institute as soon as I can!”
Admiration filled his eyes when he looked at Chu Yunfan. Initially, he merely wanted to test Chu Yunfan’s knowledge. He wanted to see if he knew some of the rare seal script characters. Never had he suspected that not only would Chu Yunfan know them, but he would also give a whole new perspective on them.
One of the interpretations of the seal script characters that Chu Yunfan gave seemed to be exactly the same as the mainstream explanation. However, after careful consideration and comparison, Sir He felt the previous explanation was wrong and Chu Yunfan’s was correct.
“You’re a genius, Chu Yunfan. I’ve read your profile before. You have an ordinary Martial Dao cultivation base, but that’s alright. I can recommend you for professional research of the seal script in one of the top ten schools. It’ll be a pity if a genius like you doesn’t study the seal script!” Sir He could not stop talking. Talent was required to study the seal script. Some people can approximate the meaning of characters just by looking at their shape, while others could not guess no matter what. That was the difference between one with the talent for it and one without.
Many students looked at Chu Yunfan in shock, especially those who were obviously not getting into the martial arts stream. They stared at Chu Yunfan with envy. The top ten schools! Although he would be studying professional liberal arts, he would be graduating from one of the top ten schools. Anyone who came out of it would be part of society’s elite.
They could even say that nobody in the entire class could get into one of the top ten schools, but Chu Yunfan would receive a recommendation from Sir He.
Nobody would doubt such an endorsement because Sir He had a high status in the school. Even the principal would call him Sir He out of respect. It was the principal who had begged him to come out of retirement.
Everyone speculated that Sir He must come from an influential background.
Tang Siyu’s eyes were glowing when she looked at Chu Yunfan.
“This is an amazing discovery. Students, that’ll be all for today’s class. Do self-study now!” Sir He was very excited. Right after he spoke, he came to a decision and left the classroom.
At that moment, all the students were in an uproar. None of them could believe that Sir He valued this matter so much. One after another, their eyes all turned to Chu Yunfan.
It was his first time becoming the center of attention. From childhood, Chu Yunfan was seen as very ordinary. He was never in the limelight no matter which circle he was in. In any case, he remained calm. The Alchemy Emperor’s memories were influencing him, and there were so many chaotic scenes in his mind. In comparison, this was nothing at all.
What stunned him was that Vice-monitor Tang Siyu, who was never interested in anyone in class, approached him too. She said, “I can’t believe you understand the seal script so well!”
“It’s nothing!” Chu Yunfan said with a smile.
It could be said that the seal script came naturally to him. It was effortless.
After Tang Siyu said her piece, she turned around and returned to her seat. She began looking at the materials on her tablet.
Feng Deying looked at Tang Siyu and then Chu Yunfan. There was ruthlessness flashing through his eyes.
“Wow, I can’t believe that you know so much about seal script!” Gao Hongzhi patted Chu Yunfan’s shoulder hard. He felt as if he had discovered his best buddy all over again.
Sensing the students’ various expressions, including suspicion, shock, vexation, and kindness, Chu Yunfan told himself that it was just the beginning.
There was martial arts class in the afternoon. It was loud in No. 13 High School’s Class 11’s classroom. Unlike the liberal arts classroom, the martial arts venue was a large-scale sparring arena.
Each martial arts classroom was up to 1,000 square meters in area. They were divided into different zones for various functions. There was a meditation zone specifically for meditation, as well as a mini sparring space for students to use.
At the corner of the meditation zone, Chu Yunfan sat with his legs crossed, trying to seize every minute he had. He had just broken through to Tier-6 the night before. He wanted to make the most of every moment in order to break through to Tier-7 or even further.
Suddenly, a series of noises snapped him out of his meditative state. He lifted his head to look. At that moment, the students from the class had made a circle and taken their seats.
Within the circle, two young men who looked 16 or 17 were readying to spar.
One had a large build and was over 1.9 meters tall. Meanwhile, the other one looked like he was over 1.7 meters tall.
Chu Yunfan knew both of them. The tall student was called Mu Zhenfei, while the other one was Di Ming.
The duo did not like each other. They had similar cultivation bases and were stronger than Chu Yunfan used to be. They were at the peak of Tier-6, a step away from reaching Tier-7 and getting into the martial arts stream.
Therefore, both of them valued their time. It was the last month they had to break through. After that, they would be able to get into the martial arts stream, and their future would be bright.
Chu Yunfan sat next to Gao Hongzhi. Seeing that Chu Yunfan was there, Gao Hongzhi could not help but ask, “Yunfan, who do you think will win between the two of them?”
Gao Hongzhi looked at Chu Yunfan excitedly as he asked the question.
“Who do you think would win?” Instead of answering, Chu Yunfan turned the question back on him.
“I think Mu Zhenfei will. His tall and muscular build gives him a natural advantage. It wouldn’t even matter if Di Ming had a higher cultivation base. Since their cultivation bases are similar, Di Ming has little chance of winning!” Gao Hongzhi did not notice Chu Yunfan’s changes from his breakthrough. Instead, he kept on talking.
“I don’t think so!” Chu Yunfan shook his head and said, “Although Mu Zhenfei is tall, his lower body will be his weakness. If he had a sturdy lower body, he’d be formidable. Unfortunately, I can see that his lower body is weak. Meanwhile, Di Ming has exceptional kicking strength. He’ll defeat him with only three blows as long as he targets his lower body!”
Chu Yunfan’s eyes were locked on the duo as he talked. It was as if he had analyzed both of them in the fighting zone like a scanner. The duo’s advantages and flaws were all exposed in his eyes.
This was impossible before. Never mind that Mu Zhenfei and Di Ming had higher cultivation bases than he did, Mu Zhenfei was much more powerful than he was, no matter how unsteady his lower body.
As it was, all of this appeared in his head automatically. He said it without even thinking about it, and his tone sounded like he was very sure of himself. In his head, the duo had already completed a sparring simulation. The result was exactly as he predicted.
The people around heard him, and they could not help but roll their eyes. Looking at Chu Yunfan being all pretentious, they secretly criticized him for thinking that he was some expert. Mu Zhenfei had an unsteady lower body? How come they could not see that themselves?
Even Gao Hongzhi, one of the three experts in Class 11, thought that Mu Zhenfei had a higher chance of winning. However, Chu Yunfan gave a completely different answer.
‘Is he trying to win the crowd through exaggeration?’
However, since Gao Hongzhi was there, they did not say anything mean.
At that point, the duo in the fighting zone began to spar.
It was intense as soon as they started the match. Although they were merely at Tier-6 Physical Stage, both of them were at the peak of Joint Popping. In the furious battle, they could even hear the cracking mixed in with the clash of arms and legs.
Just as Gao Hongzhi and the rest expected, Mu Zhenfei’s punches were fearsome due to his large build. It was difficult for Di Ming to fight him head-on, and he soon saw his disadvantage.
Very soon, Chu Yunfan sensed a couple of eyes staring faintly at him around. He could sense their disdain and mockery without even looking at them.
They were definitely thinking, ‘See, you got it wrong. Your jaw must be dropping now, you dumb*ss!’
If this happened in the past, Chu Yunfan would certainly have been enraged. However, he merely pouted now. He felt it did not matter. What could those people’s words do to him? As it turned out, when everyone was sure Di Ming was going to lose, he suddenly changed his strategy. He kicked Mu Zhenfei’s lower body directly.
At that moment, Di Ming’s kicking ability was on full display. Although Mu Zhenfei did his best to dodge, his body began to shake.
“He really has a weak lower body!” Gao Hongzhi said immediately as his eyes lit up.
Naturally, by that point, he could see that Mu Zhenfei truly had a weak lower body. He looked at Chu Yunfan again, but he saw that he seemed nonchalant. He could not help but start to wonder how he could tell. Was he just guessing or did he genuinely know?
When Di Ming kicked for the second time, Mu Zhenfei’s issue with his unsteady lower body was plain to see. He was losing control of his shaky frame.
Meanwhile, Di Ming was obviously not going to let go of the opportunity, and he kicked for the third time. The tall and lumbering Mu Zhenfei instantly fell to the ground. He had lost.
At the moment when they all should have been excited, the crowd went completely silent.. All of them looked at Chu Yunfan, as nobody expected that he had guessed correctly.