Growth

Chen Guan didn't care about anything else; he adjusted his breathing and began to squat.

Every movement was exceptionally slow. The veins on his forehead bulged slightly, and sweat dripped down his chin, but his eyes were firm, and his form didn't warp in the slightest.

One, two, three...

The heavy barbell rose and fell time and time again. This was not just a test of strength, but also of core stability and willpower.

Ten, fifteen, eighteen...

Chen Guan's breathing grew heavier, and his legs began to tremble violently. His face flushed red, but he clenched his jaw, his gaze locked onto a single point ahead.

Nineteen!

Twenty!

Clang!

After completing the final squat, Chen Guan used almost the last of his strength to heavily rack the barbell, producing a loud crash.

He stumbled a step himself, grabbing the rack to steady himself as he gasped for air, his entire body drenched in sweat.

On Li Yan's eternally cold and hard face, a faint ripple of emotion appeared for the first time.

He walked up to Chen Guan, looked him up and down, then glanced at the coffin, saying in a deep voice, "Strength is acceptable. Willpower passes."

Li Yan couldn't help but sweep his gaze over the coffin again; that coffin was far heavier than the barbell.

He had known about Chen Guan's situation for a long time. There was a person lying inside that coffin. This kid could carry the coffin as if walking on flat ground, yet he got this tired from lifting a barbell just over a hundred kilograms?

Could this kid be... playing the pig to eat the tiger?

"Rest for five minutes. Then, pair up for basic combat training." Li Yan didn't point it out, but directly announced the next activity.

Huaqing was inclusive, welcoming all kinds of students and accommodating all sorts of little secrets.

Chen Guan walked to the wall and slowly sat down against his coffin, feeling the muscles all over his body aching and trembling.

[Holy crap, squatting over a hundred kilograms twenty times. None of these people are simple. Our ceiling is just their average.]

[Tch, I could do that when I was eighteen too. Now I'm fifteen.]

[Brother Ao looks so disdainful. The red-haired guy is cute.]

[Instructor Li Yan keeps looking at his coffin.]

[Liu Feiyu's face is completely red, and his legs are shaking.]

The rest time passed quickly, and the group sparring began.

Based on their previous performance, Li Yan roughly divided them into pairs of similar strength.

Chen Guan's opponent was Wang Hanyue, that honest and solid-looking boy. He should have an elemental-type ability.

Wang Hanyue looked at Chen Guan, scratched his head, and smiled good-naturedly. "Classmate Chen, you're really strong. But my defense is alright. Let's... stop before anyone gets hurt?"

"Alright," Chen Guan nodded.

The two stood in the designated area. With a command from Li Yan, the sparring began.

Wang Hanyue gave a low shout, and a faint earthy-yellow luster appeared on his body. The surface of his skin seemed to be covered with a rock-like texture.

His footsteps were steady as he threw a heavy, forceful punch at Chen Guan.

Chen Guan didn't take it head-on. He shifted his feet, using a dodging technique from basic physical arts to sidestep it, while simultaneously delivering a swift knife-hand strike to Wang Hanyue's ribs.

Thud!

The knife-hand struck the rock-like skin with a muffled sound. Wang Hanyue's body swayed slightly, and he grinned, "That hurt a bit."

Chen Guan also felt his palm go numb. This big turtle shell truly lived up to its reputation.

The two exchanged blows, locked in combat. Chen Guan's techniques were skilled, but his attacks struggled to break through Wang Hanyue's rock defense.

Wang Hanyue's defense was formidable, but his attack speed was on the slower side, and his moves were relatively clumsy.

For a while, the two fought to a standstill. It was mainly Chen Guan attacking and Wang Hanyue defending. Occasionally, Wang Hanyue's attacks would be directly blocked by the coffin on Chen Guan's back.

In the end, when the time was up, neither had managed to effectively knock the other down, resulting in a draw. After all, this was just practice; Chen Guan had no need to swing his coffin around, and Wang Hanyue didn't use his ultimate moves.

"Not bad," Li Yan commented. "Chen Guan, your use of techniques is passable, and your attack chaining is acceptable, but you lack effective means to break through defenses. Wang Hanyue, your defense is solid, but your mobility is too poor, and your counterattacks are sluggish. Both of you need to train your weaknesses."

"Yes, sir!" the two replied in unison.

In the subsequent matches, An Changqing easily defeated his opponent, displaying comprehensive combat literacy. Long Ao crushed his opponent, taking them down within three moves, as cold as ever. Liu Feiyu faced an elemental-type girl and won relying on speed and a few little tricks, looking extremely smug.

Chen Guan observed all this and gained a rough understanding of his classmates' strengths. An Changqing was undoubtedly first, closely followed by Long Ao. People like Su Yuehe and Zhao Qingyin could rank in the middle.

Although Liu Feiyu was a bit arrogant, his strength wasn't actually bad and could be considered middle-tier. However, for some unknown reason, his power seemed erratic, sometimes strong and sometimes weak.

Wang Hanyue and Zhou Dun, two who weren't good at fighting, could sit at the same table as him, making them fellow sufferers.

After the combat practice ended, Li Yan arranged reaction training and endurance stretching. For the entire afternoon, the training hall was filled with heavy panting, the sounds of striking, and Li Yan's cold commands.

When the dismissal bell finally rang, everyone looked as if they had been fished out of the water, completely exhausted.

"Class dismissed. Don't be late for the next class," Li Yan dropped his final sentence and turned to leave.

The students dispersed in twos and threes, supporting each other and muttering complaints about the grueling training.

Li Yan's classes were truly strict. Penalty runs and extra training were common occurrences. Moreover, he trained them separately; the greater the ability, the higher the intensity. An Changqing and Long Ao were subjected to the harshest extra training.

Especially Long Ao, though he himself seemed to enjoy it.

Chen Guan also felt as if his entire body was falling apart, but his spirit was exceptionally excited.

The afternoon's training, though arduous, had elevated his control over his alternate identity and his understanding of physical combat techniques to a new level.

Because of his past experiences, Chen Guan wasn't an ordinary person to begin with. Li Yan's class helped awaken his previous memories. He was quite glad for the hardships he had endured in his past life, so the gap between him and the others wouldn't be too obvious.

Carrying the coffin on his back, he slowly walked back to the dormitory.

The afterglow of the setting sun draped a soft golden edge over the Green Bamboo Courtyard. Chen Guan dragged his exhausted body back to Room 304. Cooking in the dorm was obviously unrealistic, and he was too lazy to go to the cafeteria. So, he just boiled a packet of instant noodles to make do for a meal.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, he opened his interface to check today's gains.

His popularity points hadn't increased much. However, to his delight, his agility had increased by 0.1.

0.1, although not much and seemingly a drop in the bucket, was a very good signal.

This meant that even though he couldn't cultivate spiritual energy right now, his physical fitness could be improved through exercise. He wasn't entirely dependent on passively growing stronger by adding points through the system.