Time flew by in the heavy silence.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Wu Shangfeng opened his eyes, his sharp gaze sweeping over every face below the platform.
He raised a hand and gently tapped the lectern.
TAP.
The light sound landed like a heavy hammer, striking everyone in the heart.
In that instant, an oppressive aura—heavy as a mountain and unique to High-level Martial Artists—enveloped the entire Martial Arts Room.
"Time’s up,"
he said, his face expressionless and his voice ice-cold.
"Although you ultimately met the objectives for this combat mission, I am very dissatisfied."
"Qin Feng."
He called the first name.
"You’re first. Reflect on the mistakes you made during this battle."
As soon as he said this, an uproar erupted in the Martial Arts Room.
Everyone’s stunned gazes turned to the figure standing at the very front of the line.
In the eyes of the vast majority, Qin Feng was the undisputed Savior of this mission.
He was the one who, in the midst of a chaotic battle, had single-handedly turned the tide for Dorm 402’s front line, efficiently clearing out the most enemies.
After everyone else was at a loss, when even Shi Potian and Chu Lan had been crushed, Qin Feng had stood forth alone and slain the seemingly invincible monster.
Without Qin Feng, they could never have completed the mission so "easily" today.
There might have even been casualties.
But now, the first person the instructor called to review his mistakes was Qin Feng—the one who had contributed the most!
Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, Qin Feng showed no hesitation or dissatisfaction.
He paused for a moment before taking a step forward from the line.
He stood ramrod straight, his gaze clear, and began to speak in a serious tone:
"Sir, I..."
"I come from a humble background. My father was once a soldier in the Star Realm Army. He was disabled in a battle against a Flame Demon. After being discharged, he was assigned to a logistics factory."
His voice echoed in the room.
"Kro’s words reminded me of my father. My resolve wavered. When he was recounting his experiences, I zoned out for nearly half a minute."
"It was precisely because of my hesitation and distraction that the battle situation deteriorated, forcing Chu Lan, Shi Potian, and Qian Duoduo to step forward and face an enemy they couldn’t possibly defeat. In the end, Kro picked them off one by one, leaving them severely injured."
Qin Feng’s gaze swept over the three comrades who had just been fighting by his side, his voice tinged with apology.
"This was my mistake. If today’s enemy hadn’t been a Nagash Follower who reveled in decay and spreading despair, but a Believer of Khorne who knew only slaughter, then in the minute I was distracted, Chu Lan and the others would have been slain on the spot. My mistake nearly got my teammates killed."
Wu Shangfeng’s perpetually glacial face showed no change.
But a flicker of imperceptible approval flashed in his eyes.
"You’re right."
Wu Shangfeng began to speak slowly. "If Kro had been more bloodthirsty, your teammates would have died while you were distracted. And you would have had to face an enemy at full strength who had just slaughtered all your comrades."
"It’s good that you’re able to realize that."
"The difference between the truly strong and the weak lies not in talent, nor in resources. It lies in the fact that the strong can always self-reflect in the most objective and clear-headed way."
His tone suddenly shifted.
"A humble background is no disgrace. Qin Feng, you saw a shadow of your father in Kro, you saw your own past, and so... you felt inferior?"
"Not inferiority."
Qin Feng shook his head, his answer firm and decisive.
"Then what was it?" Wu Shangfeng asked in return.
"Disappointment."
"And... anger."
Qin Feng stated the two words calmly.
After speaking, he gave a slight bow, silently stepped back into the line, and said no more.
’Disappointed in whom?’
’And angry about what?’
Wu Shangfeng gave Qin Feng a long, deep look.
Next, the other students began to come forward one by one to review their own mistakes from the combat mission.
"I relied too much on my power armor’s performance. After my armor was breached, I panicked for a full three seconds and was nearly killed by the enemy..."
"My Body Technique wasn’t agile enough. While surrounding one of the followers, I overlapped with my teammate’s position and interfered with their attack..."
"I... I was scared. When I saw what those monsters looked like, I... I didn’t dare to go forward..."
Student after student laid bare their own shortcomings and faults.
The oppressive atmosphere gradually gave way to a grim determination, the kind that comes from acknowledging shame and vowing to improve.
Time flew by in this solemn atmosphere.
Soon, more than an hour had passed.
When the last student had finished their review, Wu Shangfeng stood forward once more.
"Very good,"
he summarized. "All of you have recognized your own mistakes. That’s very good. In the cultivation of the Martial Dao, the most terrifying thing isn’t making a mistake, but not knowing what your mistake was."
"Find your mistake, admit your mistake, and next time, correct it. If you do that, you will be stronger next time than you were this time."
His gaze swept across the room.
"Any other questions?"
The Martial Arts Room was completely silent.
Qin Feng’s lips twitched.
He wanted to step forward and say something, but in the end, he hesitated.
It wasn’t in Qin Feng’s nature to question a very responsible teacher with an extremely pointed question in such a setting.
But just then, a clear and resolute voice broke the silence.
"Sir, I have a question."
Shi Potian stepped forward.
Though his face was still pale and bloodstains remained on the chest of his training uniform, his posture was as straight and unyielding as a pine tree.
Wu Shangfeng’s gaze fell upon him.
"Speak."
"Sir, was what Kro said true?"
Shi Potian asked in a clear voice, his eyes fixed on Wu Shangfeng on the platform, without a hint of retreat.
"What he said... that he was once a decorated Warrior of the Star Realm Army, who shed blood for the Empire and lost a leg for the Emperor. And in the end, because of his disability, he was thrown away like trash onto Purgatory-IV Planet to become a miner."
"What he said... that his three sons all joined the army to escape their fate, only to die innocently in a power struggle among the planet’s leadership."
"And that because of all this despair, he finally abandoned the Emperor and threw himself into the arms of an Evil God."
"Is all of that... true?"
Qin Feng’s eyes lit up instantly.
’That was exactly the question I wanted to ask, but couldn’t bring myself to, because of my personality.’
It wasn’t just him.
The eyes of Chu Lan, Qian Duoduo, and the vast majority of students in the class all lit up.
Shi Potian had asked the most pointed and central question on behalf of them all.
The air in the Martial Arts Room seemed to freeze at that moment.
All eyes were focused on Wu Shangfeng, awaiting his answer.
Faced with dozens of pairs of eyes filled with searching, confusion, and even doubt, Wu Shangfeng’s perpetually taut, rock-carved face finally showed a slight crack.
"Yes."
He gave an affirmative answer that made everyone’s heart sink.
Immediately after, he offered no further explanation.
Instead, he raised his wrist and activated his wrist-mounted terminal.
A holographic light screen was projected into the air above the lectern, clearly visible to everyone.
The background of the screen was the sigil of a two-headed iron eagle clutching a lightning bolt—the symbol of the Empire’s highest judicial and enforcement body.
It was the seal of the Imperial Court of Justice.
Below the sigil was a file titled: [INVESTIGATION AND EXECUTION REPORT ON THE CORRUPTION CASE OF PURGATORY-IV PLANET’S HIGH-LEVEL OFFICIALS].
[Applicant]: Wu Shangfeng, High-tier Combat Tutor, Qiming First Martial Arts High School.
[Application Time]: 1.5 standard hours ago.
[Accepting Unit]: Imperial Court of Justice, Kepulu Star Zone Direct Action Department.
[Status]: Executed.
[Investigation Results]: Following investigation, it has been confirmed that Purgatory-IV Planet Governor Zhou Lang, Head of the Defense Department Collier, Minister of Mining Ruihe... and thirty-seven other active Imperial officials and Martial Artists, during their tenure, committed multiple high crimes including abuse of power for personal gain, wanton disregard for human life, trafficking of strategic materials, collusion with the Alien Race, and the murder of comrades. The evidence is conclusive; their crimes are unpardonable.
[Execution Result]: The thirty-seven main culprits listed above have all been slain on the spot. Their immediate relatives and associates are under further investigation.
At the very bottom of the file, the time of execution completion was marked.
One standard hour ago.
In other words, within the short hour it took them to return to Planet Qiming from Purgatory-IV, the thunderous wrath of the Imperial Court of Justice had already descended.
From Wu Shangfeng submitting the investigation request, to the Judicial Court accepting, investigating, and finally executing the sentence, the entire process took only half an Imperial standard hour. It was clean, decisive, and unbelievably fast.
That crimson word, "slain," seemed to still be wet with blood, exuding a chilling, Iron Blood aura.
Wu Shangfeng looked at the shocked, stunned, and thoughtful young faces below, as if seeing a past version of himself.
He pointed to the execution file and said in a low voice:
"This is my answer to you, and it is also the Empire’s answer to you."
"As for the rest, you must think for yourselves."
"As qualified Martial Artists, you should have the ability to think all of this through clearly."