Chapter 8: The Brawling Duo

Zhang Wen’s hand slipped under Amelia’s clothes, and her petite body stiffened instantly. However, the slippery, smooth sensation sent Zhang Wen’s Spring Water Technique into an uncontrollable surge.

“No, M-Master, we can’t do this…”

Amelia suddenly seemed to regain some awareness, trying to push Zhang Wen away. Unfortunately, her feeble resistance was nothing compared to Zhang Wen’s strength, amplified by the Spring Water Technique. Besides, Amelia wasn’t particularly virtuous by nature, nor was she truly against Zhang Wen—she had simply not expected things to move so quickly.

Her half-hearted resistance only inflamed Zhang Wen further. After all, this was his first time in this foreign world—how could he possibly hold back? He scooped Amelia up and pinned her onto the bed, forcefully suppressing her attempts to resist.

Her skirt was flipped up, revealing a seductive thong. The Spring Water Technique acted like the most potent aphrodisiac, and Zhang Wen threw himself at her without restraint. Amelia writhed beneath him, feigning reluctance while her tender hips twisted enticingly, ultimately inviting only a storm of passion.

Totally wild, Zhang Wen poured all his long-suppressed pressure and desire into the young girl beneath him. Once desire was unleashed, it couldn’t be stopped. The Spring Water Technique accelerated faster and faster, and gradually, Zhang Wen regained a degree of clarity. He realized that his long-stagnant Spring Water Technique had finally broken through to its second stage.

Now that the technique had succeeded and the deed was already done, Zhang Wen relaxed and began to savor the beauty beneath him. Youthful, tender, and beautiful—perhaps this cursed place had its bright side after all. But all of this was built upon the foundation of strength.

Amelia had already gone limp, surrendering completely to Zhang Wen’s possession. Zhang, now tasting the essence of manhood, felt like bursting into a triumphant song of conquest.

After circulating the Spring Water Technique for two full cycles, Zhang Wen finally reached his climax. Amelia seemed to want to resist, but it was already too late—she could only accept her fate.

Once the passion had ended, only heavy breathing remained in the room. The bedsheet was soaked, and a strange scent lingered in the air. Yet every pore of Zhang Wen’s body felt incredibly refreshed. Indeed, solitary yang could not endure—how could a man live without a woman?

As for what to do about Amelia afterward, Zhang Wen wasn’t particularly worried. The girl was clearly no virgin and wouldn’t cling to him too much. She might admire her teacher, but such an incident wouldn’t be easy to spread around.

After all, Zhang Wen was an old hand at this—he surely knew how to handle such matters discreetly.

“M-Master… just now… it was an accident… Please don’t tell anyone… or the other students…” Amelia struggled to speak.

She had only come here hoping to grow closer to Zhang Wen so she could show off to her classmates later. She hadn’t expected to end up giving herself away completely—everything had changed now.

“Amelia, the teacher was also partly at fault… It’s all the moon’s fault. You’d better go back to your dorm now. Oh, and clean yourself up here first,” Zhang Wen said casually.

At times like this, one must never appear nervous. As expected, Amelia nodded at his calm tone. “Thank you, Master.”

She hurriedly started adjusting her clothes, wishing desperately to escape. But leaving in such a state and being seen by other students would surely cause trouble.

Leaning against the bed, Zhang Wen watched Amelia smooth out the wrinkles in her outfit. Though she wasn’t as beautiful as the governor’s daughter—who always looked down on others—she was still undeniably attractive, young, and had a great figure. Just now had been…

Perhaps her skirt had gotten dirty, so Amelia had to wipe herself clean, her delicate little bottom stirring Zhang Wen’s desires again. However, seeing Amelia’s anxious expression to leave, he knew that another round would only cause trouble. Better to let things simmer—there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Zhang Wen handed her a towel. “Wipe off the sweat.”

Amelia quickly tidied herself up, wiping a few times, and nervously said, “Master, I’ll go first… that…”

“Don’t worry.”

Meeting Zhang Wen’s “sincere” gaze, Amelia finally felt slightly reassured and left the room.

As soon as Amelia was gone, Zhang Wen immediately returned to his usual meditation spot and sat cross-legged. In fact, compared to gaining Amelia’s body, the breakthrough in the Spring Water Technique excited him far more.

Just moments ago, at the height of his passion, Zhang Wen had clearly felt the changes in his body. The acute sensitivity he had only ever experienced when his battle energy surged violently had now become a constant presence in his body. Moreover…

After circulating his battle energy through another full cycle, Zhang Wen suddenly stood up. In the next instant, his body became a blur of afterimages. And Zhang Wen himself had already appeared on the other side of the small room! Then, he threw out several straight punches with full force. Hearing the piercing whistles of air being torn apart by his punches, Zhang Wen couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.

Frankly speaking, the breakthrough from the first to the second level of the Spring Water Technique hadn’t increased the total amount of battle energy in Zhang Wen’s body. Within the Empire’s martial arts system, which classified strength purely by total battle energy, Zhang Wen’s rank should still be at the mid-level of Grade 5. However, Zhang Wen himself could feel that this breakthrough had significantly enhanced his senses, physical agility, and control over battle energy—each at least a level higher!

Using the Empire’s martial arts terminology, this meant that Zhang Wen’s attack accuracy, movement speed, and battle energy efficiency in combat far surpassed those of most people in the Empire!

Before the Spring Water Technique breakthrough, Zhang Wen had stood still and taken three strikes from both Zack and Cloud, seemingly matching the strength of a Grade 7 expert. But Zhang Wen himself knew clearly that his victory in that match had mainly relied on the technical advantages of the Spring Water Technique. At that time, his actual strength wasn’t enough to face a true Grade 7 expert. However, now, even without relying on the technical advantages of the Spring Water Technique, Zhang Wen was confident he could stand on equal footing with an ordinary Grade 7 expert!

Possessing the battle energy level of Grade 5 but wielding the strength of a Grade 7 peak—this situation perfectly suited Zhang Wen’s personality. The Grade 5 battle energy level allowed Zhang Wen to maintain a low profile, while his Grade 7 peak strength significantly increased his chances of survival in future battles.

Filled with the excitement of the Spring Water Technique’s breakthrough, Zhang Wen enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep. However, he didn’t know that at that very moment, a conversation concerning him was taking place in a training room at Almireth Academy.

At such a late hour, the only ones still in the training room practicing were Cloud and Zack—the most diligent students in Almireth Academy’s martial arts department. In fact, Cloud and Zack had always been close friends. Their morning duel had merely been a result of a temporary moment of heated tempers. After Zhang Wen had poured cold water on them both, they quickly realized their mistake and reconciled.

“Zack, did you get a good look at the martial arts Master Zhang used this morning?” Cloud was the first to speak. He was just finishing his sword practice and wiping sweat from his forehead while asking Zack, who was still working on his thrusting techniques.

“No. I’ve never seen such martial arts before. How could I possibly understand it at a glance?” Zack stopped his movements and shook his head helplessly at Cloud.

“Same here,” Cloud nodded hard, then sighed deeply, “Sigh! When will we ever become that strong?”

“Exactly,” Zack replied, his face falling, “You’re at least a bit better off than me. I don’t even know what my father was thinking. Making me stay here until I reach Grade 7 in martial arts was bad enough—after all, I’m the son of the Shinra military commander. But why did he have to send me to a place like Almireth Academy? Sigh! Who knows when I’ll ever reach Grade 7 in this cursed place.”

“…Hey!” Suddenly, Zack’s eyes lit up, and he excitedly called out to Cloud, “Wait! Cloud, since Master Zhang is so strong, why don’t we learn from him? Don’t you think the martial arts he uses could benefit us a lot too? It’s definitely better than continuing to train with Instructor Fox!”

“Huh? That does sound like a plan,” Zack’s suggestion immediately caught Cloud’s interest. However, Cloud, being the prince of the Shasha Alliance, was more careful and thoughtful than the straightforward Zack.

“It’s a decent idea, but there are two problems.” Cloud quickly raised two fingers. “First, Master Zhang is currently only a discipline committee teacher. According to the academy’s rules, he isn’t qualified to teach us. Second, even if he could obtain the qualification to teach martial arts students, would he be willing to share his secret techniques with others?”

“Hmm…” Cloud’s words left Zack speechless for a moment. But the eldest son of the Shinra military commander wasn’t easily defeated. Soon, Zack clenched his teeth and decisively said, “Your first point is easy to solve. We can personally approach the principal with a few classmates and request his transfer to the martial arts department. With his performance this morning, the principal surely won’t refuse. As for the second issue, we don’t need to worry too much! He might agree to teach us, or he might not. Either way, we have to try!”

“Hmm. If we don’t take action, we’ll never have a chance… Alright then, let’s do it. We’ll go see the principal tomorrow.” Cloud muttered softly to himself for a moment, then nodded firmly with determination.

For the rest of the evening, Zack and Cloud brainstormed and meticulously planned how to “lure” Zhang Wen into teaching at the martial arts department. The very next morning, the two split up to gather support.

Meanwhile, as Zack and Cloud were busy rallying people to strengthen their “petition,” Zhang Wen had already stepped into the Discipline Committee’s office with his usual light gait.

At Almireth Academy, the Discipline Committee had always been a significant authority, and naturally, its advisor teachers couldn’t be without an office. When Zhang Wen joined the Discipline Committee, it already had a very spacious and bright office.

Of course, this office belonged only to the advisor teachers of the Discipline Committee. As for the students who had joined the committee, they had their own activity room. Because of this, Zhang Wen had never met Carlet, who also belonged to the Discipline Committee, during his three months at Almireth Academy.

However, today was different. When Zhang Wen entered the office, he was very surprised to see Carlet’s figure. Beside Carlet were two other student assistants, one of whom was none other than Amelia—the young beauty who had shared a passionate night with Zhang Wen just yesterday. Today, the young beauty wore the Discipline Committee’s uniform, which gave her a completely different charm compared to yesterday’s sexy spaghetti-strap dress and short shorts.

Seeing Carlet and Amelia appear together, Zhang Wen’s first thought was whether Amelia had told others about what had happened between them last night.

Although Almireth Academy didn’t have regulations prohibiting relationships between teachers and students, it still went against the Empire’s traditions. If Carlet had found out about last night’s events, the governor’s daughter—who had just started to view Zhang Wen more favorably—might fly into a rage and come charging in to confront him.

However, after observing for a while, Zhang Wen realized that the situation wasn’t quite as he had imagined. After he entered the office, although Carlet had looked at him a few times, Old Ode—the head of the Discipline Committee, who actually had the authority to deal with Zhang Wen—had only casually glanced at him.

Amelia had also taken a sly peek when others weren’t looking, but she no longer showed the panic she had when leaving Zhang Wen’s dormitory last night.

Seeing Amelia so relaxed, it clearly didn’t seem like the secret had been exposed. Zhang Wen thus relaxed his guard. After giving Amelia a meaningful smile, he walked to Master Falion, someone he was quite familiar with, and curiously asked, “What’s going on? Why is the student president of the Discipline Committee here?”

“Hehe! What? Don’t you know, Zhang?” Master Falion chuckled at Zhang Wen, pointing at Carlet’s back, “Our Almireth Academy has an agreement with Turus Academy. Every year, we send a group of students for ‘exchange visits.’ This year, it’s Turus Academy’s turn to send an ‘exchange delegation’ here, arriving early next month. The student president came to talk to Director Ode about arranging personnel to maintain order during the upcoming exchange event.”

“Oh! I see,” Zhang Wen nodded in understanding.

The “exchange delegation” Master Falion had just mentioned was something Zhang Wen had heard about during casual conversations with colleagues before: among the Empire’s prestigious academies, exchanging “exchange delegations” was an extremely common practice.

However, the meaning of such exchanges wasn’t like the friendly academic exchanges on Earth—it was about competing in strength between the two academies. In fact, the Empire’s annual ranking of academy strength largely depended on each academy’s performance during these inter-academy “exchange visits.”

There were three forms of these “exchange visits.” The first was like the arrangement between Almireth Academy and Turus Academy, where the two academies agreed to visit each other at regular intervals.

The second form was when a super-academy confident in its strength would send a team composed entirely of elite teachers and students to tour the entire Empire, challenging other prestigious academies one by one like progressing through levels in a game. According to the Empire’s tradition, such “exchange delegations” could continue to challenge upward after winning a match until they suffered a defeat.