Chapter 3: Punished Standing
After listening to what Nie Li said, the eyes of the commoners in the class lit up. They were all aware of Lord Ye Mo's story. He was an example to follow when one wanted to become a powerful existence. Except, the words that Shen Xiu spoke earlier were simply too harsh. This caused them to be depressed.
"You... In all of Glory City's one hundred years, Lord Ye Mo has been the only one able to climb to the peak by relying on his own ability," said Shen Xiu, showing a moment of lag. Only then did she retaliate with her far-fetched reply.
"But didn't Teacher Shen Xiu say that it's impossible? Why are you being so self-contradicting?" Nie Li sneered, "Lord Ye Mo is a clear cut example. No matter if it's a noble or a commoner, their future potential is infinite. Nothing is difficult, as long as one is willing to climb."
Shen Xiu almost exploded. This guy was too spiteful. He kept catching the loopholes in her words and constantly attacked. He had no respect for an elder! She gazed coldly at Nie Li. He dared to openly contradict her in front of so many people. She wouldn't let Nie Li have it easy in the coming future!
Not far away from Nie Li, Du Ze looked at Nie Li. His eyes were full of gratitude. Although Nie Li was a noble, he still ran the risk of offending Teacher Shen Xiu by helping commoners speak up. This made him feel very touched. A teenager's heart was very primitive, hence, he already saw Nie Li as his friend.
Shem Xiu sneered, "Smart mouth, you think that putting things this way could change the harsh reality? You only looked at Lord Ye Mo's glorious moment, but didn't look at how many people have failed. Not to mention being a Demon Spiritualist, even becoming a Fighter in itself is a difficult thing to achieve. Nie Li, right? You can be considered to have the bloodline of an Aristocratic family. Since you don't know when to come and go, I'll see what kind of talent you have."
Shen Xiu lowered her head and took a look at the parchment paper in her hands. After taking a glimpse at the contents, she mockingly laughed, "Nie Li: red soul realm, current soul force 5, strength 21. With your talent, you can only reach Bronze rank Fighter in your entire life. Wanting to become a Demon Spiritualist is simply impossible. You're even inferior to some of the commoners. No wonder you dare to speak in this way. You're just trying to hide your own low self-esteem!"
A soul realm's grade is differentiated by the colours: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, azure and indigo. Of the seven different grades, red was considered the worst. It was the weakest to the lowest level. An average person would have an orange or yellow soul realm. Having a green or cyan soul realm could already be considered a genius. As for azure and indigo soul realms, they only existed in legends.
After hearing what Shen Xiu said, the group of commoner students began to feel sorry for Nie Li. As someone of nobility, Nie Li's talent could be considered the worst. They feared that it would be difficult for him to have any achievements in his life.
Ye Ziyun looked at Nie Li and sighed gently. Although her impression of Nie Li wan't good, knowing that his talent was so terrible, she couldn't help feeling sorry for him.
Shen Yue, who was sitting next to Ye Ziyun, curled his lips in disdain. If he had known sooner of Nie Li's horrible talent, he wouldn't have considered Nie Li a threat. Nie Li was simply not qualified. With his horrible talent, he could only live at the lowest levels of Glory City, and he, Shen Yue, was a member of one of the three Major families. As a Sacred Family direct bloodline descendant, how could Nie Li compete with him?
If it wasn't for Ye Ziyun, he wouldn't even have come to this trash class and been in the company of trash like Nie Li.
Shen Xiu aggressively continued, "With such talent, even within your own family, you won't be able to get any attention. Yet, you act so rampant and are rude to your elders!"
Shen Xiu's words made Nie Li recall his past. Before Glory City was destroyed, Nie Li was indeed very weak. Just as Shen Xiu said, he had remained a 3-star Bronze rank Fighter and was unable to advance any further. No attention was given to him no matter if it was within the institute or back with his family. He was treated as if he was dust.
If it wasn't for Nie Li saving Ye Ziyun without any regard for his life, it wouldn't even have been possible to get his goddess' favour. Ye Ziyun was already a 1-star Gold rank Demon Spiritualist at that point in time. The distance between the two was like a chasm. In the end, Nie Li wasn't even qualified to fight beside Ye Ziyun. He could only watch as Ye Ziyun died by the claws of a beast in front of him and as her body slowly submerged into the desert sand.
This had always been a needle in Nie Li's heart.
With pure luck, he had walked out of the Endless Desert alive. Nie Li had various mysterious encounters and realised that even the so called 'soul force talent' could also be upgraded.
If this was his past life, Nie Li certainly wouldn't have had the courage to refute when being criticised by a teacher. But he was different now. He was confident that one day, he would let these people who looked down on him know that we will reach a realm that they could never imagine. Since he was back, he had to be indomitable, even if it meant slaughtering any gods or buddha blocking his path.
Everyone was surprised that, even though Nie Li was being ridiculed by Teacher Shen Xiu, there wasn't any shame shown on his face. On the contrary, his gaze was firmly locked onto Shen Xiu's and he said, "Teacher Shen Xiu, you feel that a person's soul realm decides that person's future, right? With that despicable character of yours, you'll only defend the gifted and mock the mediocre. And yet, you still speak of a bunch of principles. You're just merely trying to cover your own despicable character."
Hearing Nie Li's words, Shen Xiu's body quivered with anger. She had never met this kind of student. He actually dared to contradict her so strongly. Nie Li's words directly hit the hidden thoughts within her heart, causing her to be enraged. She cursed uncontrollably, "Silence! Who do you think you are to discredit your teacher?!"
Nie Li curled his lips in disdain.
"I feel ashamed to have a teacher like you. I can guarantee that in this class, there will be a lot of commoners exceeding your expectations. Instead of coaching them patiently, you use harsh words to attack their self-confidence. You're not worthy to be a teacher! Although my talent is weak, so what? One day I will become a Legend rank Demon Spiritualist, like Lord Ye Mo, and marry the most beautiful woman in all of Glory City!"
As he spoke, Nie Li's gaze fell on Ye Ziyun, who was sitting far away. His eyes shined with an absolute resolve.
When she saw Nie Li looking towards her, without knowing why, Ye Ziyun suddenly felt her heart speed up. Her cheeks were burning red. She had never thought that Nie Li would actually be so bold and would say something like this in class. After meeting Nie Li's gaze, she knew his meaning was clear. Except that, in her heart, she didn't have any feelings for Nie Li yet. However, after hearing Nie Li's speech, she had an indescribable feeling within her.
Seeing Ye Ziyun's expression, Shen Yue's face turned a dull colour. Although he and Nie Li weren't of the same standard, he still felt a little threatened by him.
"Hahaha! This is the funniest joke I've ever heard! A red soul realm actually said that he wants to become a Legend rank Demon Spiritualist like Lord Ye Mo. Even when Lord Ye Mo was younger, he was tested and showed to have amazing talent. He had a cyan soul realm! You think success relies on luck alone? Ridiculous!" Shen Xiu mocked mercilessly, "Rather than being a smart mouth here, why don't you start learning seriously?"
Nie Li's next words were powerful and resonating.
"I know your heart is full of contempt, but one day I will shut your mouth with hard facts. Aptitude cannot determine a person's achievements! We use the weak to defeat the strong, to overcome the heavens! We cultivators are already challenging the impossible by going against the way of the heavens!"
Nie Li's words couldn't stop causing the students in the class to feel their blood surging in their veins. Cultivating was already going against the way of the heavens. If one did not oppose the heavens, how could they talk about cultivation?
Nie Li enunciated powerfully, "Without a continuously fighting heart, without the courage to turn the impossible possible, even possessing extraordinary talent would be useless. Since I, Nie Li, was born into this world, I shall challenge the impossible! Teacher Shen Xiu how about making a bet with me?"
Although Nie Li had experienced many setbacks in his previous life, he had never given up. Since the heavens had given him the chance to be reborn, in this life, he would climb to the top with unimaginable speed.
"What bet?" Shen Xiu sneered.
"We'll bet that on the coming test two months from now, I will be able to reach the Bronze rank. If I fail to do so, I will resign from the institute. If I reach the Bronze rank, then you will resign, how about it?" Nie Li said unyieldingly, looking at Shen Xiu.
Listening to what Nie Li said, everyone was taken aback. They were all surprised that Nie Li had actually proposed this kind of bet with Teacher Shen Xiu. Although they were hoping that Nie Li would win, there felt that there was no way he could win.
"Hahaha. You're funny enough to actually say that you'll reach Bronze rank within two months. You think you can raise your soul force from 5 to 100 in two months?" Shen Xiu's face was full of spite. Had Nie Li gone crazy?
"I only asked one question. Do you dare or not?" Nie Li ignored what Shen Xiu just said.
"That being the case, why would I not dare? I don't believe an egotistical brat like you can achieve anything. Who do you think you're boasting to?" Shen Xiu angrily snorted, " Such rudeness towards your teacher. For the next two months, you will stand at the back of the classroom and listen to the class from there!"
Shen Xiu was famous for being unreasonable. Nie Li looked contemptuously at Shen Xiu. So what if he was standing at the back of the class? For Nie Li, this little punishment was superficial.
"Since Teacher Shen Xiu agreed to the bet, don't regret it later." Nie Li said as he strolled to the back of the class.
"I'll regret it? What a joke. Don't come crying to me later!" Shen Xiu laughed.
Seeing Nie Li standing at the back, a few noble kids started to mockingly whisper.
"The future Legend rank Demon Spiritualist got punished standing!"
"Tsk tsk, so he's afraid of withdrawal from the institute!"
"Weren't you being egotistic a while ago?"
"Two months to raise his soul force from 5 to 100. Who does he think he is? Even when Lord Ye Mo was younger he couldn't reach such frightening speed."
Shen Xiu sneered. So what if Nie Li was being egotistic. Didn't she still have the final word in the classroom? She naturally didn't bother with what Nie Li said. Two months to raise his soul force from 5 to 100. Shen Xiu thought of it as a joke. This would absolutely not happen! She just looked forward to Nie Li's withdrawal from the institute.
Because Nie Li was punished to stand at the back of the class by Shen Xiu, Du Ze was silent for a moment. He gritted his teeth, then rose up and went to stand beside Nie Li. Nie Li was punished for helping the commoners speak up so naturally, he wanted to stand together with Nie Li.
Seeing that Du Ze stood beside Nie Li at the back of the class, Shen Xiu's eyes darkened and she hummed, "Since you also like standing, you can stand together with him."
Nie Li and Du Ze looked at each other. Their eyes flashed a sense of rapport and they lightly smiled at each other.
At this moment, Nie Li felt as though he was back in his past life when he and Du Ze were best friends. Du Ze was still that Du Ze.
After Du Ze stood at the side of Nie Li, Lu Piao was submerged in his thoughts for a moment and then he also stood beside Nie Li.
Nie Li smiled as he asked, "Why are you here?"
Lu Piao shrugged, "Sitting down is pretty boring. I feel more cool standing, can't I?"
"Haha, that suits you!" Nie Li laughed. Lu Piao was still the same as in his past. Although he spoke a lot of bullshit, he was very loyal. This punishment had nothing to do with Lu Piao, but he thought of Nie Li as a friend, and friends should share their fates together.
Successively, three other commoner kids stood up and stood by Nie Li's side. Nie Li belonged to a noble family, but he took the risk of withdrawing from the institute to speak up for them. They were grateful for that, so they felt that they had to support Nie Li.
With these brothers by his side, Nie Li felt that it wasn't so bad to have been punished and his mood turned exceptionally cheerful.
When she saw this, Shen Xiu's facial expression turned ugly. She put on a cold face and continued her lecture.
"After being tested, among the students in this class, Ye Ziyun, with a cyan soul realm, has a soul force of 86. Shen Yue and Xiao Ning'er both have green soul realms and a soul force of 78. They will soon reach 1-star Bronze rank. Congratulations to the three of them!" Shen Xiu lightly said. Her gaze fell on Nie Li for a moment. This was real talent. What was Nie Li compared to them?
Listening to Shen Xiu's words, the students in the class all cried out in surprise. A cyan soul realm, with a soul force of 86! Such an amazing person was actually in their class. With such powerful talent, she had a chance to become a Legend rank Demon Spiritualist in her lifetime!
As for Shen Yue and Xiao Ning'er, they also had extraordinary talent. Their future achievements were limitless!
Ye Ziyun's origins were unknown. She had a fresh and beautiful appearance with an extraordinary talent and mysterious background. This made her the most dazzling figure in the class. As for Xiao Ning'er, her appearance was not any less than Ye Ziyun's, but her talent was slightly inferior compared to her.
No matter what, ordinary people had no hopes of catching up to them.
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