Chapter 322: Mu Xueqing's Countermeasure

Mu Xueqing was a gifted student at Tianwu Academy.

At just eighteen years old, she had already reached the Acupoint Opening Realm and opened over a dozen acupoints.

She enjoyed considerable fame at Tianwu Academy and, by all rights, should have been radiant with glory and full of joy. Yet now she was dejected and wore a look of gloom.

Because her instructor had left the academy and would no longer teach.

No new teacher had been hired, and they were now like scattered soldiers, ignored by everyone.

She stretched, revealing an alluring, maddeningly proud curve.

"Senior!"

Just then, a young man approached.

"Meng Tao, have you found out everything? Do you believe me now?"

Seeing him arrive, Mu Xueqing looked over.

"I've found out... that Master Zhang Xuan is as formidable as you said! But I heard he's currently undergoing the Two-Star Master Teacher trial and will leave the royal city, not returning for a while. Also, I learned... his deeds are even more impressive than what you mentioned this morning..."

The young man Meng Tao wore a look of shame, then his eyes lit up with admiration.

"Tell me about it!" Mu Xueqing's face also flushed.

Last night, she had heard the news that all records of the genius Mo Hongyi had been broken, and she learned of this Master Teacher named Zhang Xuan.

Under twenty years old, he had created countless records, astonishing and driving people mad, and was even directly taking the Two-Star Master Teacher exam... Even hearing it from her elders' own mouths, she couldn't believe it.

After confirming it several times, she decided that from now on, this Master Zhang was her most revered idol... bar none!

Coming to the academy today, she told this to her juniors, eliciting exclamations of surprise. This guy in front of her didn't believe it, so she sent him out to gather information.

"I heard that when Master Zhang first arrived in the royal city the night before last, he went to the Calligrapher-Painter Guild for an assessment, encountered the provocation of Ji Mo from the Ji family, used a savage beast to paint, created a fifth-level work, and became a Three-Star Calligrapher-Painter..."

Meng Tao said.

He hadn't believed it at first, that anyone could be more formidable than Mo Hongyi, after all, the great genius Mo was deeply rooted and very famous.

Only after going out to inquire did he learn that this Master Zhang was far more impressive than Mo Hongyi; even hearing it with his own ears felt like a dream.

"Using a savage beast to paint, creating a fifth-level work?"

Mu Xueqing unconsciously clenched her delicate fists.

She herself was a genius and admired geniuses even more.

Although this Master Zhang had only risen to fame yesterday, his legendary deeds were truly too numerous to count, inspiring admiration.

"Do you think... since we have no teacher, how wonderful it would be if we could hire Master Zhang?"

After hearing what he had found out, which was almost the same as what she had heard yesterday, Mu Xueqing couldn't help saying.

"Hire him? Senior, Master Zhang is a Two-Star Master Teacher. How could the academy afford to hire him..."

Meng Tao was speechless.

A Two-Star Master Teacher—there were only three in the entire Tianwu Kingdom. Every time he taught, all the teachers would attend his lectures, and even the dean would respectfully go. Hiring him as a teacher...

What a bold thought!

"Yes, I know. I just have this hope in my heart, wishing I could attend one of his lessons. Such a genius must be even more brilliant at teaching. Listening to one lesson might allow me to skyrocket in strength!"

Mu Xueqing wore a lovesick expression.

"By the way, isn't the academy recruiting teachers today? Any results?"

"No news yet. But they're just ordinary teachers, not even a few star teachers. Probably not much skill..." Meng Tao shook his head, not holding much hope for the incoming teacher.

"That's true..."

Mu Xueqing nodded as well.

A good teacher would have long since come to Tianwu Academy, not just now being recruited.

"Bad news, bad news..."

Just as the two were murmuring, an anxious voice rang out, and a girl with a flushed face rushed over.

"What's wrong, all flustered?" Mu Xueqing frowned slightly. "Didn't I tell you to guard outside the Elder Hall and quietly observe the teachers who were accepted? Why are you back? Could it be that the academy has already hired a teacher?"

"Yes!" The girl panted heavily and nodded repeatedly.

"So fast?" Mu Xueqing was startled.

She had heard that many teachers came for the recruitment today, over a hundred. How long had it been, and they were already done?

"I saw with my own eyes the dean hand over all the tokens for our class to a young teacher..."

After catching her breath, the girl said.

"A young teacher?"

"Mm, this teacher looked about twenty years old. I didn't catch his exact name because I was far away. I only saw, only saw..." The girl seemed to recall something, still unable to believe it.

"You're going to drive me crazy. What did you see?" Mu Xueqing glared, looking anxious.

"I saw... that teacher beat a new student until he spat blood..." the girl said.

"Beat a new student until he spat blood?"

Mu Xueqing and Meng Tao exchanged glances.

A teacher beating a student?

Tianwu Academy had never heard of such violence.

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes... This is what I secretly recorded just now. Look!"

Saying this, the girl flipped her wrist, took out a recording crystal, and infused it with true energy. Instantly, two figures appeared, a young man striking a student.

Bang!

The student spat blood from his mouth and finally knelt before him.

Because the distance was far, their words were unclear, but it was clearly visible that the beaten student was in a miserable state.

"Are you saying... the dean gave the tokens representing our identities to this guy?"

The image ended, and Mu Xueqing's face turned ashen.

What was going on?

How could they hire such a violent person as their teacher?

"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, and..." the girl said anxiously, "He took the tokens and came this way. He might arrive any moment!"

"Any moment?"

Mu Xueqing clenched her fists. "Doesn't the Teacher Guild forbid corporal punishment of students? Why would the academy hire such a teacher?"

"This..." The girl shook her head. "I don't know either!"

"Senior, do you think the school knows our class is... hard to manage and deliberately found a tough teacher to teach us a lesson and give us a show of force?" the boy scratched his head.

"A show of force? Hmph, we'll see if he has what it takes!"

Mu Xueqing's face darkened. "Meng Tao, tell everyone to stop cultivating and gather over here!"

"Okay!"

Meng Tao nodded, turned, and left. Before long, about a dozen students had gathered around.

"Senior!"

"Mm! I assume Meng Tao has already told you everything. The academy has hired a vicious brute who arbitrarily punishes students to be our teacher. What do you all think?"

Mu Xueqing raised her hand and looked around.

"If he becomes our teacher, how can we have any good days? Absolutely not!"

"What can we do if it's not allowed? This is an academy assignment; our student tokens are already in his hands. Unless we go to the Political Education Office to change classes, there's no other way!"

"Since the academy sent him, they definitely won't let us switch classes. If it comes to it, we need to find a way to drive him away and get a better teacher!"

"Even if we can't get a genius like Teacher Zhang, we need a star teacher. Being guided by a violent thug who only beats students—our lives will be ruined!"

...

The crowd was indignant.

Meng Tao had just recounted the matter and shown them the images recorded on the jade crystal. Seeing the teacher beat a student until he spat blood, they were all filled with anger.

So ruthless to students—how could such a person be worthy of being a teacher?

Make them his students?

No way!

"Alright, just arguing won't help. Since the academy has given him the token, it means we are already his students. We must think of a way to drive him away!"

Mu Xueqing waved her jade-like hand.

"How about we deliberately refuse to cooperate and trip him up?"

"Trip him up? How?"

"That is... we don't listen to anything he says, and when he instructs us in cultivation, we don't do it! If a teacher can't command his students, after a while he'll surely be unable to bear it and leave on his own."

"That might work for others, but didn't you just say this guy is extremely violent? If we really don't obey and he attacks us, who can withstand that?"

"This..."

The crowd fell silent.

Refusing to cooperate, tripping him up, disobeying—all fine, but the key was that this new teacher was a violent man. If he directly used force and crushed them, they had no way to resist.

After all, their strongest leader, Mu Xueqing, was only at the Aperture Opening Realm, still far inferior to a teacher at the Mystic Connection Realm.

"How about this: if he dares to lay a hand on us, we'll record the images and find a way to send them to the Teacher Guild. Arbitrarily punishing students—I don't believe the guild won't intervene!"

"That's a good idea, but this teacher dared to beat a student in front of the dean and so many teachers. He must have strong connections or already have the academy's support. If it backfires and he holds a grudge, I'm afraid we'll have even worse days ahead!"

"Yeah, if he finds out we're deliberately messing with him, won't he discipline us every day?"

...

They proposed several plans in succession, but all were rejected.

This teacher, who hadn't even arrived yet, had dared to beat a student in front of many teachers. He must have been authorized by the dean; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so reckless.

Recording images was good, but if the recording didn't reach the guild and fell into his hands, they would surely have no good days.

They had to think long-term and solve the problem once and for all, not fight like an egg against a rock and invite trouble.

"Then what do we do? Senior, do you have a plan?"

After thinking until their heads ached without finding a solution, everyone looked at Mu Xueqing in unison.

She was the big sister of the class; everyone listened to her, and she was the most resourceful.

"I do have a plan!" Mu Xueqing's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had thought of something. She looked at everyone: "We are students. If we try to mess with the teacher and get caught by the guild, we'll definitely be punished and even cursed!"

Everyone nodded.

In this world, teachers were revered. Students must obey their teachers' orders. If they were found to have deliberately framed a teacher, they would be reviled, and their families would certainly not let it slide.

"Then what do we do?" Meng Tao couldn't help asking.

"Since we can't scheme against the teacher, then... we can always ask him questions, right?"

Her eyes flickered, and Mu Xueqing revealed a sly look: "Our class has many students who like calligraphy and painting, tea ceremony, formations, artifact refining, alchemy... We can go ask him questions! If we ask enough and he can't answer any, I'd like to see how he can keep his face and stay here!"

"Great idea!"

"Yeah, this way we neither offend him nor let him stay here without shame—killing two birds with one stone!"

"That's really great..."

Hearing Mu Xueqing's plan, everyone's eyes lit up.

This was indeed the best plan.

It neither offended him nor made him lose face.

"But... he's our cultivation teacher. If he directly says he's not proficient in these professions, we won't be able to press him further, right?"

A female student couldn't help saying.

Each profession has its specialization. Tianwu Academy was huge, with teachers for various subjects. Asking all questions to one teacher—even a fool would see through it.

Besides, even if a martial arts teacher couldn't answer, it wasn't shameful!

After all, it was impossible for everyone to master every profession.

"I've already thought of that. Actually, we can put pressure on him!" Mu Xueqing seemed to have a countermeasure, a smile flashing in her beautiful eyes.

"Put pressure on him?"

"Exactly! When this teacher arrives, I'll say that I've met the famous teacher Zhang Xuan once, and that he intends to take me as his student!" Mu Xueqing smiled sweetly.

"With Teacher Zhang as our backing, he'll be cautious and dare not go too far, nor admit he knows nothing... But isn't it inappropriate to borrow his authority like this? What if Teacher Zhang finds out?"

A student hesitated.

"How could he find out? Teacher Zhang is a super genius, a two-star famous teacher. We might never see him in our lives! Who made him so popular these past two days, talked about everywhere? We're just borrowing his name; it shouldn't be noticed!"

Mu Xueqing tossed her hair.

Teacher Zhang and their world were too far apart; there was no chance of intersection. Since he had become so famous these days, they might as well borrow his name to intimidate this violent teacher.

"Alright, let's do it that way..."

After thinking it over, everyone felt there was no major problem, so they nodded in unison.

"Mm, when this teacher arrives later, don't show any hostility. Be respectful and polite, and don't let him catch any of our faults!"

Mu Xueqing instructed.

"Yes!" Everyone nodded.

...

"So this is the class I'm to teach?"

As they were discussing, outside the classroom, Zhang Xuan looked left and right at the nameplate and confirmed it.