Chapter 10

Still half-dazed, Lin Mo followed Yu Changning onto the sparring ring.

The pitiful Alpha freshman finally came to her senses and pointed at herself, asking, “I-instructor, am I worthy?”

Yu Changning rotated her wrist. “What do you think?”

Lin Mo looked like she could cry, but she still took a deep breath, though it was hard to tell whether she was steeling herself or trying to numb herself into submission. “If you want to spar with me, t-then I should still be w-worth… worthy, right?”

Her voice grew softer and softer until even she could no longer hear herself.

Yu Changning still wore that expressionless face of hers. She lifted her chin slightly. “Warm up.”

Below the ring, the Class 1 students who had been training with each other all turned toward the sparring ring in unison, ready to watch the match.

Ling Hongqiang sighed in admiration. “Tsk tsk, Instructor Yu really is different. She’s actually starting to teach us combat techniques personally!”

Chu Yunmiao was standing right beside him. Hearing that, she gave him a sidelong glance. “...You think that’s a good thing?”

Ling Hongqiang answered without hesitation, “Of course! That’s Instructor Yu personally guiding us, you know!”

He looked eager to try, excitedly punching the air. “Class monitor, do you think after Lin Mo finishes training, I could go up and exchange a few moves with Instructor Yu too?”

Chu Yunmiao silently took a step away from him, widening the distance between them. “...You can try.”

Ling Hongqiang took that as encouragement and nodded hard, delighted.

On the sparring ring, both sides finished warming up.

The system gave the prompt to begin. Lin Mo assumed a defensive stance where she stood; seeing that Yu Changning also seemed in no hurry to attack, she tentatively asked, “In-instructor, then I’ll start attacking?”

Yu Changning, calm and unhurried, gave a slight nod.

Lin Mo let out a small breath.

If Yu Changning launched the first attack, she would probably be overwhelmed in no time. But now that Yu Changning had handed over the initiative, it meant she had more room to work with.

She quickly mapped out an attack route in her mind and regained some confidence. She punched toward Yu Changning’s face while using her left hand to guard her own vital points.

This move balanced offense and defense; while a little conservative, it was absolutely safe.

In Lin Mo’s imagination, Yu Changning should have retreated to avoid her attack. The two of them would exchange a few moves like dragonflies skimming the water, then each step back to ease the pressure. That way, she could achieve the feat of lasting two exchanges under Instructor Yu.

But in the next second, reality slapped her hard across the face.

Yu Changning moved slightly. Before Lin Mo could react, her lower leg twisted, and her entire body lost balance, dropping straight down and thudding onto the ground.

She looked up blankly at Yu Changning, her eyes full of confusion.

Yu Changning didn’t even spare her a glance.

“Your lower-body strength is insufficient; add 300 kicks to your practice.” She brushed at the nonexistent dust on her trousers. “Get up. Continue.”

Lin Mo, still dazed, got to her feet.

“Bang——”

The next moment, she was lying on the ground again.

Yu Changning’s voice continued.

“Your reaction speed is poor. Have you completed your basic training every day?”

Lin Mo’s head felt stuffed with cotton. She answered dumbly, “The basic training, I’ve been doing it...”

But Yu Changning had no intention of listening to her finish.

She tilted her chin. “Get up. Continue.”

Lin Mo: “???”

“Bang——”

“Your wrist flexibility is not enough.”

“Bang——”

“Is that your punching accuracy? Is your target the air around me?”

“Bang——”

“You didn’t even see through the feint?”

Below the ring, Ling Hongqiang’s face went from red with excitement to deathly pale little by little.

Every time Lin Mo hit the ground, the sound was so real it made him imagine himself being thrown down instead. Yu Changning’s absolute control and terrifying pressure made it hard for him to breathe even from more than ten meters away.

“This... ah, this... In-instructor’s hand is way too harsh...”

Chu Yunmiao frowned slightly. “She’s always been like this.”

Ling Hongqiang stared blankly for a moment, then turned to her. “Always like this?

“Have you seen Instructor Yu fight other people before, Class monitor?”

Chu Yunmiao was about to nod when she suddenly came to her senses and abruptly stopped herself. “...Not exactly. I heard about it from others.”

Ling Hongqiang nodded in realization. “Oh, I see...”

He let out a few awkward laughs, trying to ease the tension. “That’s good then. O-or else I would’ve thought Lin Mo had offended Instructor Yu.”

Chu Yunmiao said, “She’s not that petty.”

She said it sincerely. In her memory, she really had never seen Yu Changning angry at anyone.

That person always seemed to have little interest in other people. She could face praise from sycophants without batting an eye, and ignore slander and criticism just as easily.

Back when the two of them were close, there had been many people who were jealous and said Yu Changning was just clinging to the royal family’s coattails, the Long Princess’s number one bootlicker. Yu Changning never paid them any mind; as a result, those who spread rumors only became more arrogant, and their gossip grew so blatant they didn’t even bother avoiding the person involved. Later, Chu Yunmiao could no longer stand seeing her friend talked about like that, so she stepped in herself and gave those people a proper lesson.

Afterward, she had asked Yu Changning whether she really wasn’t angry at all. Yu Changning had even said, “Let them publicize it then. Doesn’t the whole Empire already know our relationship is bad? At least I really do want to stay by Yunmiao’s side forever.”

Unfortunately, Chu Yunmiao hadn’t recognized that as a joke back then, and had been happily tricked by it for quite some time.

But Yu Changning not being easily angered by others...

That should be genuine.

In a situation like that, she had been completely unmoved; how badly could Lin Mo possibly have offended her to make her lose her temper?

Ling Hongqiang scratched his head. “...Really?”

He felt an indescribable mix of emotions, as if his class monitor knew Instructor Yu very well; or rather, as if she believed she knew Instructor Yu very well.

Chu Yunmiao nodded.

She looked at Ling Hongqiang. “It looks like things over there are finished. Didn’t you just say you wanted to ask for a match with the instructor? You can go over now.”

Ling Hongqiang shivered. “N-never mind.”

He slipped away so fast it was like he had grease on his soles. “I just remembered I still have 200 punches left to do. Cl-class monitor, I’m leaving first. Bye!”

With that, he dashed away from the sparring ring at full sprint.

Chu Yunmiao: “...”

After a moment of speechlessness, she composed herself and climbed onto the sparring ring, walking over to Lin Mo, who was lying face-down on the ground.

“...Are you okay? Do you need to go to the medical room?”

Lin Mo, face pressed to the floor, didn’t answer. Yu Changning walked over.

When she faced Chu Yunmiao, her voice was more than a little gentler. “Don’t worry; I held back. I didn’t cause any real injury.”

Chu Yunmiao looked at Lin Mo and had the feeling that if she put a gravestone on her back, she could probably turn this into a grave right away. “Are you sure? Lin Mo looks... not too good.”

Yu Changning frowned and nudged Lin Mo’s arm with her foot. “Her ability to take a hit isn’t good either?”

“Waaahhh——” Lin Mo finally made a sound. She slowly lifted her head and said, “R-reporting to Instructor, reporting to Class monitor, my body is fine, it’s j-just that the psychological blow was too great. Waaaaah, why am I so bad at this...”

It was too, too, too devastating.

Lin Mo knew she wasn’t a match for Yu Changning, but she had never imagined it would be this bad.

Even though Yu Changning had handed the initiative to her, she still hadn’t managed to touch even a single strand of Yu Changning’s hair.

That would have been bad enough. What was worse was that every time, she hadn’t even clearly seen the other woman’s movement before she was already thrown down. Throughout the entire training session, she had just been mechanically repeating the cycle of “stand up, get thrown down, stand up, get thrown down.”

In her previous life, she might have been a roly-poly toy; the lowest-quality kind at that.

Hearing this, Chu Yunmiao finally let out a small breath of relief. “As long as your body’s fine. As for the psychological issue... go see the counselor tonight.”

“Your opponent was never on the same level as you; it’s not surprising to get this kind of result. Think about it more calmly.”

Lin Mo wailed, “How is that supposed to be something you can just calm down and think through?! You try it yourself and you’ll know how big the blow is!!!”

Chu Yunmiao was silent for two seconds. “Then get down. I’ll try.”

She looked up at Yu Changning. “Instructor Yu, would you spar with me?”

Yu Changning’s gaze shifted slightly. “I’m fine with anything.”

Lin Mo sniffled, rolled over, and tumbled off the sparring ring. Once on the ground, she found the best viewing spot and started watching.

Chu Yunmiao had already warmed up. She walked to the center of the arena and looked at Yu Changning. “I should attack first too, like Lin Mo?”

Yu Changning smiled and gave a soft “Mm.” “Go on.”

Chu Yunmiao nodded and attacked.

She was essentially taking advantage of Lin Mo’s experience. Earlier, when Lin Mo had sparred with Yu Changning, cough, or rather when Lin Mo had been one-sidedly beaten, Chu Yunmiao had gotten a slightly clearer look at Yu Changning’s defensive and counterattacking style. She had accepted the invitation to spar precisely because she wanted to test whether her guess was right.

After closing the distance between them, she made a feint with her hands. In reality, she avoided Yu Changning’s hidden counterstrike with her footwork, spun around, moved to Yu Changning’s left side, and attacked her weak point at the left waist.

It was a good idea, but in the next moment Yu Changning turned to defend. Her movements were simply too fast; with one push and pull, she subdued Chu Yunmiao.

After a bout of dizziness, Chu Yunmiao, too, lay on the ground.

But she felt that something was off.

Why hadn’t she made a “bang” sound when she hit the ground like Lin Mo did?

“Your sensitivity is excellent, and that feint was also well done. A normal person would definitely have been fooled by you. But your sideways movement just now was too obvious; if you could lean back a little while moving left, it would be better.” Yu Changning bent down. Her left hand cushioned the back of Chu Yunmiao’s head where it touched the ground, while her right hand was held out in front of her. “Come, again. Try making the feint to the extreme.”

Chu Yunmiao came back to herself and took her right hand, letting Yu Changning pull her up.

“Your reaction is very quick; you saw my intention?”

“The point of force at this joint is wrong; you need more practice with the rear elbow strike.”

“This move is great; it’s very thoughtful.”

“Your strength is a little weaker, so you’ll need to strengthen your training in daily life. However... if strength isn’t your strong suit, then focus more on sensitivity and reaction speed. Using softness to overcome strength may be more suitable for you.”

The two people on the sparring ring were training earnestly, but Lin Mo below felt like she had suffered a second blow.

Th-this was different from what they had agreed on!

Was Yu Changning possessed by something or what???

Grinding her teeth furiously, she watched a while longer, then really couldn’t bear it anymore and obediently went off to increase her training according to the suggestions Yu Changning had given her during her “lesson.”