Chapter 15: Martial God Fang Is Surnamed Fang—So Is Bootlicker Fang?

The look of disappointment vanished in an instant.

Fang Qingchen smiled at Lu Qingqian, then paid no attention to the students’ whispered gossip or to the murderous look in Lin Wanxing’s eyes.

He turned and walked back to the front row.

Waiting was exceedingly boring.

Now that there was no more drama to watch, the students quickly found a new topic of conversation.

“Our school really is stingy. Couldn’t they get a few more Awakening Platforms?”

“Our school has more than ten thousand students who need to awaken, and in the end they only set up ten Awakening Platforms. It’s slow as hell, and we’re left standing under the blazing sun for nothing.”

“If I ever become principal one day, I’m definitely getting a few more. One for every student!”

Quite a few students began grumbling.

But before long, a well-informed student spoke up in rebuttal.

“You frogs at the bottom of a well, what do you know?”

“Do you even know how much it costs to build one Awakening Platform?”

“No!”

“One hundred million!”

“You’ve got to be kidding. A tiny altar like that is worth that much?”

A lot of the students refused to believe it.

At that moment, Fang Qingchen’s homeroom teacher, Old Huang, spoke up.

“That student is not wrong.”

“The cost of an Awakening Platform really is that high.”

“It is the crystallization of the highest technology in all humanity, and that is precisely why it can allow you to awaken your talents without any danger at all.”

“And not only that, the energy substance required to activate it can only be obtained from aberrant beasts above A-rank.”

“Each platform consumes at least several million yuan for every hour of operation.”

At that point, looking at the surrounding students, whose mouths were already hanging open in shock, she seemed extremely satisfied with their reaction.

So she continued, adding even more.

This time, reverence and fervor shone in her eyes.

She raised a hand and pointed at the enormous character “Fang” engraved upon the Awakening Platform.

“But students, you need not worry that such enormous costs will bankrupt the school.”

“These ten Awakening Platforms before you, along with every expense required to operate them, have all been sponsored by Linjiang City’s guardian, Fang Zhenhai! Martial God Fang!”

“Students, count yourselves fortunate. If I remember correctly, three years ago, Linjiang No. 7 High School had only a single Awakening Platform.”

“If it were not for Martial God Fang, you would have to stand in line for at least ten days just to awaken your talents!”

The moment Old Huang spoke of Martial God Fang, her voice became full of excitement.

She was clearly an utterly fanatical admirer.

When the surrounding students heard Fang Zhenhai’s name, even the usually carefree ones could not help but grow solemn with respect.

A Martial God!

In all of Great Xia, and even across the entire world, that was a sacred title!

One who could soar through heaven and earth, split mountains, and part seas.

It represented the pinnacle of combat strength, the ultimate limit of human physical power.

In this world ravaged by aberrant beasts, it was humanity’s final dawn!

Even a Half-Step Martial God was no exception.

Old Huang’s voice was not soft, and students from many nearby classes could hear her.

Class Four.

Beside Li Jiangnan, a bespectacled girl’s eyes turned, and a bold thought suddenly sprang into her mind.

“Hm?”

“Martial God Fang’s surname is Fang, and Fang Qingchen from Class Seven is also surnamed Fang.”

“What a coincidence...”

The moment she said it, the students around her all looked at her as though she were an idiot.

Li Jiangnan, who was just about to go onstage to awaken his own talent, twisted his mouth in disdain.

“Hmph!”

“If that useless bootlicker Fang Qingchen had anything at all to do with Martial God Fang,”

“I’d eat a pound of dirt!”

With that, he took the lead and strode onto the platform to awaken.

A short while later, still wrapped in deep blue light that had not yet fully faded, he walked down from the platform under the envious gazes of the other students, his face full of disbelief.

He stared blankly at his own hands.

Then, as if he had gone mad, he leapt into the air and punched triumphantly at the sky.

“Yes!

“I awakened it!”

“Hahaha!”

“Combat-Type C-Rank Talent: Agility!”

“Now let’s see who in No. 7 High School can be faster than me!”

Li Jiangnan laughed with enormous smugness.

A combat-type C-rank talent was already considered extremely outstanding.

Even if he could not get into Great Xia’s Four Great Martial Arts Academies, entering a Double First-Class martial arts university would still be effortless.

As long as he graduated smoothly from university and became an E-rank or even D-rank martial artist, he would be guaranteed entry into the military, starting at field-officer rank.

And even if he did not join the military, he would still be recruited at a high salary by the major conglomerates.

His annual salary would start at no less than several million yuan.

Filled with self-satisfaction, and buoyed by the blessing of his talent, he felt as if even his steps had grown light and floating.

Striding forward in broad steps, he walked straight into Class Seven’s area.

Wherever he passed, those students who had not yet awakened moved aside for him.

Before this, everyone had merely been classmates.

No one was any nobler than anyone else.

But now, their status had changed.

Li Jiangnan, who had awakened a C-rank talent, was no longer someone they could afford to offend.

“Wanxing, did you see that?”

“I awakened a combat talent! And it’s C-rank!”

“My future is boundless!”

“Don’t worry. If Fang Qingchen dares pester you again in the future, I’ll teach him a lesson for you!”

He stood in front of Lin Wanxing, showing off shamelessly.

His voice was absurdly loud, as if he feared no one would know he had awakened a C-rank talent.

At the same time, he cast a provocative glance at Fang Qingchen.

He wanted to see envy and jealousy in Fang Qingchen’s eyes.

But to his disappointment,

Fang Qingchen was not paying attention to him at all.

Instead, he was holding a phone and amusing himself with it quite happily.

“Hmph!”

“What a clumsy disguise!”

“In reality, you’re probably panicking already!”

Li Jiangnan snorted disdainfully.

Faced with Li Jiangnan, who had already awakened his talent, Lin Wanxing’s tone was not quite as cold as before.

But it was still very flat.

“Congratulations, Classmate Li. However, this is Class Seven’s area.”

“I hope you can return to your place and refrain from disrupting order on the field.”

“As for the matter between Classmate Fang and me, there is no need for you to concern yourself with it.”

Anyone could hear the distance in her voice, the kind that shut people out from a thousand miles away.

Li Jiangnan had not expected that even after awakening a talent, he would still be rebuffed in front of the school belle.

He had made a complete fool of himself.

At once, his face began to burn with embarrassment.

In the span of just a few seconds, he turned as red as a roasted duck.

Covering his face, he hurried away.

As he passed Fang Qingchen, Li Jiangnan kept glaring at him viciously.

He looked as though he wanted to devour Fang Qingchen alive.

“It’s all his fault!

“Wanxing wasn’t like this to me before!

“She’s only like this because he made Wanxing angry!

“That bastard deserves what’s coming to him!”

He blamed everything on Fang Qingchen.

...

Time quickly passed, and before long it was noon.

At last, it was Class Seven’s turn to awaken.

Since this directly affected the annual performance assessment and professional title evaluation of the homeroom teacher, Old Huang, even in her high heels, ignored the sweat pooling in her shoes and rose up on tiptoe with all her might, cheering on each student who went onstage to awaken.

Unfortunately, their luck seemed rather poor.

Class Seven had more than sixty students in total.

But after more than forty of them had gone up one after another, only a little over ten had awakened talents.

And all of them were only E-rank or D-rank talents.

Not a single student had awakened a C-rank talent.

That left Lin Wanxing, Gu Tingting, and the others somewhat nervous as well.

Sweat appeared in their palms.

“Class Seven, Lin Wanxing, Gu Tingting, Che Chi, Xu Rui... come up and awaken.”