School is Hard

Yijin woke the next morning to blazing hot sunlight resting on his face ever so heavily. His hands moved from his face as lazily as possible and he rolled out of bed. Usually a fight such as the one the night before was nothing for the old Huanzhi, but now Yijin was a completely different story. Yijin was the equivalent of a relatively new cultivator, who had been training for at least six years. His old body could easily have trounced Yijin in less than a few moments, but now he had to make do with this walking pus pile. Yijin rose from the ground stiffly and walked over to his refrigerator, where he opened the door lightly and opened his eyes.

"Empty?! How?! I thought this thing keeps restocking forever. It's been long enough for that to be developed." Yijin shouted. A neighbor from below was incredibly annoyed by this and shrieked, "Shut the hell up, nuisance!" Yijin looked down to from where the noise was coming from. "Why I ought to come down there and shut that big trap of yours!" Despite Yijin definitely having to be the first in line as loudest person on the face of the Earth, he still felt that this man was louder.

Yijin dressed in his school clothes and quickly prepared his bag, walking out of the apartment and arriving at the elevator that so surprised him just a few days ago. He pressed the button calmly and unlocked his phone. "Sixteen new messages? What the?" He opened up the app pertaining to the notification on his lock screen and found that fifteen of the messages were from the Fighter Group Chat and the other one was from Xiao.

The fighter group chat was only four people, all of whom considered to be intense martial artists. A new face was rare, especially one that could take down Haoyu and his goons so easily. The only problem, as Yijin found out, was that Haoyu was not the head fighter at school. The others were hesitant to give up their position ranking, or at least they all argued with one another saying that one was better than the other. Yijin found it amusing to be able to be included among this. After Haoyu's defeat, Yijin was challenged by Kwi Tok Tan, the Thai transfer student versed in Muay Thai. This man was probably third in the ranks out of the four.

Haoyu had been fourth apparently. Messages flew in after Yijin had sent the photos of the beaten up crew, "Ha! Serves him right for thinking he was better than all of us. Anyone could do that to him." The list goes on and on. The final message of the chat was from Kwi who requested that Yijin fight him as soon as possible.

Yijin requested that the two fight in two weeks time from when the message was sent to which Kwi responded with a respectful agreement. Yijin had not expected such response from someone in the same group chat as the previous asshole. *Cough* Haoyu. But now he had the ability to challenge any of them as he pleased. This would be fun. Cut to the intense training montage.

Nah, just kidding. Yijin returned to school with Xiao the following day. When Xiao had asked him what he had done the previous evening, Yijin showed him the photographs of Haoyu and his crew. "What the hell? How did you manage that, Yijin. What sort of monster are you?" Yijin smiled, "He's not the best fighter in the school you know."

"I can see that."

Yijin grinned and the two entered class. Xiao suddenly gasped, "Hey! Did you remember to bring your notebook from earlier this year? The teacher asked us yesterday to bring our notes from the start of the year. I'm assuming there's going to be a quiz." Yijin paled in fear. He had never felt this sort of anxiety in his entire life. "So this is how those scholars felt every single time the Headmaster called out 'Sudden Examination'!" Yijin puffed out air in a scramble. He quickly walked with Xiao. "Can I borrow your notes?" Yijin stared at him for a moment in fear as he awaited Xiao's response.

"My friend. Since you and I have known each other so long...no." Xiao said with a hint of condescending satisfaction. "You might have beaten up Haoyu, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't study. Just looking out for you, buddy!" Xiao said with a crisp cheerful air. Yijin looked at him with eyes like daggers. "Some friend you are. I go through so much trouble to help you out and this is the thanks I get." He murmured under his breath.

The two continued their walk to class. It was a cool fall day and the leaves blanketed the rough dirt floors around the courtyard of the school. The temperature was not too hot and not too cold, just enough to make it a comfortable atmosphere. At least, for those who studied.

As Yijin sat down to his chair, he could feel the cold stares of the rest of the classroom and the teacher. Yijin knew the reason, but could not dispute it. Everyone else had their notes on their desks except for him. Even the teacher thought, "Either this kid is incredibly confident or incredibly stupid." Yijin had known that this would be the outcome at some point during his school life no matter what he tried to do. He decided to take it on the chin and tough it out.

The teacher called out an unknown word, "Pop." Something that Yijin had never heard before. "P.O.P. Quiz." Yijin was scared to even think of the meaning of this word. Suddenly a paper was set down on his desk. Upon it, rested tens upon tens of questions. All of these questions contained formulas that were unintelligible to him. Yijin sighed. He began to look through everything. Suddenly a foot nudged him from his left side.

Yijin looked over and saw Xiao with a mischievous grin on his face. He quietly passed Yijin his notes. He had written down every formula to the mathematics on the quiz and thus no longer needed the book. Yijin accepted it graciously and began to read through it. Wait a moment. Every goddamn page was blank.

Yijin looked back at Xiao and saw him quietly dying of laughter at his desk. His face muscles tried desperately to hold back the laughs but it was almost to no avail. The look on Yijin's face had been priceless. Even the God of Discipline above, the one who tormented Huanzhi so much within Yijin, was cracking up. Yijin groaned once quietly and began to rack his brain. Maybe something within this dumbass, Yijin's, head would be able to find the answer. It was at this moment he knew he was invincible. The pencil moved on its own and began to find the answer to each problem.

Yijin was sprinting through it and after five minutes of pondering and writing out equations to the problems, he lifted and said, "Complete." The teacher asked him to bring his paper. The boy did as told and then sat back down at his desk, tipping his chair back and winking to Xiao. Xiao upon seeing this looked as confused as possible. "Liu. Come here." The teacher said.

Yijin paled and looked up. Once again the look on his face...priceless. He rose from his seat and walked up to his teacher like a prisoner from death row. He arrived in front of the man's desk. Your score is here. I wanted to grade you on the spot just to see what you were thinking without notes. You have an...interesting way of doing things." Yijin looked at the man in fear and read the score. "96% Huh? How lucky." Yijin was surprised. The only question he had mistaken was when he plugged in the answer for question 12 to question 13 and vice versa.

He left the paper back with the teacher and sat back down, feigning embarrassment. Xiao finished at this point in time and handed in his assignment as well. He sat back down and waited out the clock. Finally the bell rang and Yijin began to converse with Xiao. "So? How'd you do without my help this time?" Yijin changed his expression in a few moments. "I passed. I passed much better than you."

"And how do you know you did better than me? What are you, clairvoyant?" Xiao said.

Yijin laughed at this and the two rose from the chair. They continued their petty argument for a while. It had been a long time since Huanzhi within Yijin had felt this sort of bond with someone. Ever since he had met Suntao. Eventually the school day passed uneventfully. Yijin walked with Xiao outside of the school and into the courtyard.

"Yijin, you want to come with me, Qianying, and Kanzhou to the Cafe? We were thinking of grabbing some coffee and playing some PC games. You up for it?" Yijin was surprised at this and decided to play along, following Xiao to meet up with the two other acquaintances of whom Yijin had vague memory of. When they arrived there, Yijin was surprised to learn that Qianying was in fact a girl. He did not remember that fact before. Much less the fact that she was also rather pretty. Yijin greeted both of them warmly.

She was still not better than Meiying in Huanzhi's opinion in terms of beauty. He smiled at the two of them and they all entered the cafe. It had been the same one that Yijin had been to before. One of those newly Half-Antique/Half-Modern cafes with a Rustic Exterior to grab coffee and read in and in the backrooms, a modern PC Gaming Cafe.

Yijin got in line with Xiao, Qianying, and Kanzhou and the three eventually ordered their drinks, Yijin having met the same barista once again and being given the same special of the day as last time. The group then retired to the Gaming Room where they sat down at some PCs that were in close proximity to one another. It was peaceful, if you call hectic shooting games and other sorts of loud yelling peaceful. Peaceful in the sense that no one bothered them. Until a group of seniors from a nearby high school also entered the game room.

They seemed like trouble from the very beginning. Muscular, not the sort you would see within a typical entertainment business like this one, and also they had brought along a shuttle. It was Yijin's first time seeing someone subjected to such humiliation in his life and he had even seen people being forced to kowtow to a fat, naked man before.

To have to serve such assholes like those guys. It just made Yijin sick to his stomach. I guess that's why he snapped. I guess that's why that boy isn't a shuttle to those bastards anymore.

"Hey, you sons of bitches. You hear me?! Yeah, I'm talking to you, Mr. Bodybuilder over there. Why the hell are you treating that poor guy like that. Give the kid a break for heaven's sake." Yijin yelled during a break with his friends between games. He walked up to the high schoolers solo. Behind him, Xiao, Qianying, and Kanzhou took out their phones and started filming. What a bunch of friends they were. Yijin stepped up to the outsider high schoolers.

"I don't want to make a mess of the establishment, so let's take it outside." The other seniors nodded in agreement, at least they weren't complete blockheads. Yijin's friends followed him from behind with their phones still recording as he stepped into an alley with the five seniors. They lifted their fists and Yijin did the same. "Hey Xiao!"

Xiao looked surprised, "Yeah, Yijin?"

"You still filming?"

"Yeah."

"You're gonna wanna see this on tape."

Yijin stepped forward and used the seventh stage of his Soul of the Unknown Swordsman. He dashed in a rapid manner, he was almost like a shadow. A living shadow. Xiao and the others could not believe what they were seeing as every movement Yijin made, one of the seniors fell to the ground. Fist after fist slammed into the opponent's bodies as they flew through the air landing to the ground. Yijin grinned and started to attack as furiously as he possibly could.

His opponents, though not as good as Haoyu, still gave up a decent fight if you consider who Yijin actually was

"Go Yijin!" Yelled Kanzhou, the fighting enthusiast among the group of friends. "Kick their asses."

Yijin slammed another of them into the brick walls of the alley, then grabbed another and flung him to the opposite end. He finally knocked the other two to the ground with a flying split kick.

He landed and rose upwards, his hair not even scuffed. He smiled and turned to his friends and the shuttle. "Yijin, that was amazing." shouted Qianying.

"Man that is insane!" Kanzhou shouted. "Where did you learn to do that."

Yijin spoke calmly and gave a red thumbs up, "Youtube, Kanzhou! Everybody learns this from Youtube nowadays!"