At two o'clock in the afternoon, Class 8 of the first grade, led by their head teacher Shan Qingrong, occupied a piece of the playground.
Class 8 had a total of fifty-two students, facing the flag-raising platform, divided into four rows, two rows of boys and two rows of girls, clearly delineated.
Next to Jiang Ning was the girls' team, and in line with him was Chen Siyu.
Chen Siyu was chatting with her female classmates, glancing at Jiang Ning from time to time. She had wanted to switch classes with her sister this afternoon, all thanks to Jiang Ning, but her sister did not agree to the exchange, for fear of being discovered.
As a result, she was now full of resentment towards Jiang Ning, but this was not the kind of thing she could share with others, so she could only keep it bottled up inside.
Jiang Ning noticed her gaze but didn't care much, just a pretty little girl, after all. In his past life, as a Nascent Soul True Monarch, he had seen all kinds of fairies.
With his cultivation, countless women had thrown themselves at him: Dynasty Princesses, Daughters of Genius, Female Sect Leaders, Demon Sect Saintesses, Pure Taoist Nuns, you name it.
However, the 'Ice Soul Life Transformation Technique' he practiced was devoid of emotion and desire, with only ascension in mind, and he never showed interest in women, for they would only slow down his cultivation.
Although he had now changed his Cultivation Technique, his standards remained high, and he felt nothing for ordinary women.
Jiang Ning ignored Chen Siyu and resumed circulating his Cultivation Technique, confidently absorbing energy, keeping only himself cool while others did not benefit.
On the flag-raising platform, the leaders of Fourth Middle School delivered impassioned speeches, encouraging the newcomers. At first, the students listened with vigor, but as one leader after another took the stage, repeating the same old speeches, restlessness set in.
The September sun was still harsh, mercilessly scorching the Fourth Middle School playground, the six or seven hundred students like wheat on the ground, drained of a great deal of moisture, wilting listlessly.
With the principal's closing remarks, the lengthy two and a half hour student assembly finally concluded.
The classmates all heaved a sigh of relief, finally liberated.
Jiang Ning, carrying his stool, queued to return to the classroom. After a burst of commotion, everyone settled down, and Shan Qingrong announced the end of the day, telling everyone to dress in their military training uniforms and assemble in the classroom before seven-thirty the next morning.
Jiang Ning stepped out of the classroom door and called Xue Yuantong from the steps, inviting her to ride on his mountain bike.
Xue Yuantong's face was expressionless as she waved her hand to decline.
How she came to school was how she intended to return.
'Xue Yuantong, oh Xue Yuantong, you need to muster the energy and bravely face that three kilometers!' she thought to herself.
Facing the summer sunset, Xue Yuantong took forty-five minutes, her legs weak, relying on her strong willpower to finally make it home.
Then, she saw Jiang Ning sitting on a small stool at the doorstep, enjoying a big watermelon, looking quite content.
"You've come back, huh?" Jiang Ning greeted.
For some reason, at that moment, Xue Yuantong suddenly felt a twinge of heartache, as if the whole world was against her, and a sense of injustice involuntarily spread.
She felt so pitiful, almost on the verge of tears, yet it was her choice to walk to school, and her choice to refuse the ride.
Xue Yuantong clenched her teeth, thinking, 'It's not me who's wrong, it's the world.'
She thought resentfully:
Only weaklings ride to school, the strong always walk!
The next day, during military training, Jiang Ning rode his bike with the wind at his back.
Last night, he had been Body Refining by the transformer box, then Refining God in the early morning, and now he would absorb Spiritual Energy and the Power of the Sun during the day's military training. With three paths to becoming stronger progressing side by side, his prospects were bright, and he was in quite a good mood.
He happened to see Xue Yuantong again on the road; she was dressed in her green military uniform, taking short strides.
Out of habit, he called out: "Xue Yuantong, get on!"
Xue Yuantong kept a straight face, coldly saying:
"I prefer walking; you go ahead."
"Oh, I'll go ahead then." Jiang Ning outpaced her, that little girl was quite stubborn.
Xue Yuantong gritted her teeth and persevered. Walking could strengthen her body, and once she got stronger, she wouldn't feel tired anymore.
When Jiang Ning arrived at the class, he found a seat by the window. Ma Shicheng was already there, engrossed in his smartphone playing "Carrot Defense," with two boys huddled beside him, watching with keen interest.
Smartphones had become commonplace by then, but there were still many classmates using button phones or without phones at all. Some parents worried about the impact on their children's studies and thus didn't buy them one. These students could only watch others play or borrow phones to play.
Jiang Ning's 300 yuan phone was often lent out for others to play.
Back then, there were only 2G and 3G networks, and data wasn't cheap, with packages costing 5 yuan for 30MB.
Every time he lent it out, he made sure to tell others not to use up too much of his data.
As the students were nearly all present, Shan Qingrong entered the classroom at 7:30, followed by a tall and strong military officer.
Gazing at the group of students dressed in military training uniforms, Shan Qingrong briefly introduced the instructor without giving his name, only mentioning that his surname was Li, and then instructed them about other matters. Afterward, he allowed Instructor Li to lead the students of Class 8 to the playground.
Once they reached the playground, the girls were left behind while the boys were taken away to join Class 7, forming a formation.
At first, the formation was full of chatter, but after Instructor Li scolded them twice, the students quieted down.
The military presence had a significant deterrent effect, especially since the Instructor Li before them was exceptionally strong, with noticeable muscles on his forearms that many students envied.
Then, they lined up according to their height and began to stand at attention. Jiang Ning had done military training once in high school and once in college, so after the instructor demonstrated, he easily mastered the stance.
Some students, however, lacked the correct posture, and even after Instructor Li corrected them twice, there were still students not standing properly.
Instructor Li walked along the formation, and when he saw an incorrect stance, he would smack the student. With his strong arms, the smacked students grimaced in pain.
After repeating this a few times, the stances finally became standard.
After standing for fifteen minutes under Instructor Li's watchful gaze, the students were intimidated by his scrutiny. Even if they felt an itch somewhere, they didn't dare scratch, fearing a sudden smack from the instructor, which would hurt for quite a while.
The students mentally cursed Instructor Li, annoyed by his strictness, while adjacent female student teams occasionally burst into giggles. Hearing this, many of the boys felt an itch in their hearts, wishing they were girls at that moment.
"Not bad, now let's start marching in step!" Instructor Li demonstrated a couple of times, "Lead with the left foot!"
"Mark time... march!"
The formation moved forward noisily, causing Instructor Li to frown, "Attention."
"Mark time... march!" The formation clumped forward, walking on and on, until they neared the female student formation. Many students instinctively stopped, which caused the formation to fall into disarray.
"Stop!" bellowed Instructor Li.
"Until I say stop, you're not allowed to stop. Keep walking until you drop! Do you understand?"
Seeing Instructor Li's anger, the atmosphere in the formation instantly turned deathly still.
"Do you understand?" Instructor Li questioned again.
Jiang Ning casually responded, "Understood."
The other students, belatedly realizing, followed and shouted, "Understood!"
Instructor Li noticed Jiang Ning, the student wasn't bad, with a correct standing posture, stable base, and standard marching steps, a good prospect for enlistment.
He glared at the others, "Didn't you eat? Louder!"
Everyone shouted in unison, "Understood!"
Privately, someone glanced at Jiang Ning and said resentfully,
"What's with the act? Think you're the only one who can show off?"