February 24th, the eleventh day of the first month of the lunar year.
Currently, almost all of the students who went back for the New Year had returned to the school.
On the 24th, the students all received a notice that the general assembly of teachers and students would be held on the morning of the 25th.
New Year was over, MCMAU had resumed its activities.
...
February 25th.
The teachers and students gathered at Field 1.
Today, the teachers and students in MCMAU totaled nearly 7,500 people.
The people on the field were packed like sardines, but many of them were preoccupied with staring at the person standing in front... bald and shiny.
At the front of the field.
Zhang Yu stared at Qin Fengqing for a long time, and he could not help but give a small cough. “Old Qin, you...”
Qin Fengqing chuckled and said lightly, “I shaved my head to demonstrate my sincere convictions. If the Catacombs are not destroyed, who needs hair!”
“I...”
Zhang Yu was at a loss for words!
Has he lost his mind?
Zhang Yu was speechless. He was unwilling to acknowledge this messed-up guy!
On a whim, he went ahead and had his big head shaved bald. Did he think that it looked good?
The former Qin Fengqing was fairly handsome, but now... he looked pretty unsightly.
Zhang Yu decided to ignore him and save his energy. Zhao Lei, who was standing at the side, gave him a sympathetic look and said quietly, “President Qin, did you listen to Fang Ping’s sermons and shave your head?”
Qin Fengqing sneered. “As if!”
Zhao Lei truly felt for him and gave a deep sigh. “Fang Ping didn’t get that bald head by choice. When he was recovering from his injuries a while ago, due to insufficient resources, he had no choice but to leave his head bald.”
“...”
Qin Fengqing stiffened as, behind him, Fu Changding also sighed. “President Qin, think these things through next time.”
Qin Fengqing suddenly turned red with fury and embarrassed and he gnashed his teeth. “Get lost! I wanted to shave my head and it had nothing to do with him!”
No one spoke, everybody just looked at him sympathetically.
What a foolish boy!
He was tricked into shaving his head and yet he was being stubborn about it.
The few of them present were too lazy to bother about him, and Zhang Yu did not continue to talk about him. Zhou Yan, who had just returned to school at that moment, looked around for a while and felt rather overwhelmed with everything she had to take in. “President, the school has changed a lot.”
At around the same time Zhang Yu stepped down as president of the Martial Arts Society, she had left the school and went for an internship in a large company.
Before she left, her strength was that of an Upper-stage Rank-3.
Now, she had reached Peak Rank-3.
However, when she returned to the school, Zhou Yan suddenly discovered that everything had changed.
Fang Ping had climbed to the top of the Rank-5 rankings, and the strength of the others had also increased greatly. Previously, the number of Rank-4s was less than ten. Now, it seemed like Rank-4 martial artists were everywhere. A quick look around already revealed more than ten Rank-4 martial artists.
Rank-3s were like common cabbages—there were hundreds of them!
The Rank-2s were no less impressive. At a glance, it seemed that except for a few of the freshmen, the other students were all Rank-2 and above.
MCMAU had changed!
Despite having just left for half a year, the environment now seemed to be completely foreign.
Even the president who used to know the place like the back of his hand felt like an outsider at the moment.
Zhang Yu murmured, “Don’t go back the next time, stay at the school.”
“President...”
Zhou Yan had a conflicted look on her eyes, she said softly, “I don’t like him, I admit that he is very strong, and he led MCMAU to the position of the Best Elite University, but he basically had you driven away...”
Zhou Yan still could not accept that Fang Ping had forced Zhang Yu to step down.
Throughout the school’s history, this was the first time in MCMAU that the president of the Martial Arts Society did not resign voluntarily from office, but was forced to leave.
Until now, she could not forget Zhang Yu’s unfortunate departure, the scene of his departure from the school.
That was the reason why she left the school soon after Zhang Yu left and never returned.
Zhang Yu chuckled, “It’s all in the past. Besides, he has clearly outperformed me.
“Maybe you think he doesn’t deserve all the credit. But without him, the current MCMAU will not be what you’re seeing right before your eyes.”
Zhang Yu said heavily, “You don’t understand, a good role model and an excellent leader will bring about great changes even if they do nothing.
“He topped the Rank-5 rankings and killed a Peak Rank-6 powerhouse. Nowadays, teachers and students of the whole school take him as an example and goal.
“I wouldn’t be able to do that.
“If, right now, I am still the president of the Martial Arts Society, the biggest goal for MCMAU’s students would be to become a Rank-4 martial artist like me, and they wouldn’t look beyond that.
“Not just MCMAU but every other school too.
“Lately, the powerhouse students in various schools, even some instructors, are striving to catch up.
“The pressure is not only external, but also internal pressure.
“This pressure comes from Fang Ping.
“When being surpassed by one’s student, and being left behind by another peer of the same age, no one will take that lying down! So even if he doesn’t do anything, and doesn’t make any contributions to MCMAU, his crushing strength alone is a huge source of motivation for the teachers and students of MCMAU.”
Zhou Yan still looked conflicted and she said softly, “And that affected you too?”
“Yes.”
Zhang Yu gave a low laugh. “If not, I would still be hovering around Middle or Upper-stage of Rank-4, and I will never have stepped into Peak Rank-4 so quickly.”
Zhang Yu continued, “I thought that before I graduated, to reach Rank-5 was impossible, but now, it feels like there is some hope.”
“President...”
As the two continued talking, beside them, a foul-tempered Qin Fengqing snapped at them with a dark look on his face, “Stop blabbering, you two. A Rank-3 martial artist, it doesn’t matter if you stay or not! You two, quit the public displays of affection in front of me. There’s a big enemy in front of us, and you two are just flirting around, it’s so annoying!”
Zhou Yan rounded on him angrily and hissed, “Cut the crap!”
“Why? You gonna bite me?” Qin Fengqing said indifferently. “Female martial artists talk too much, what a pain, just shut up!”
“You!”
“You what, one more sound from you and I’ll shave your head bald!”
Zhou Yan was livid with rage. Zhang Yu was also losing his cool and he said, “Qin Fengqing, just because you’re mad at Fang Ping, don’t take it out on others!”
This bastard was adept at exploiting the weak but always cowered in the face of the strong. Every time he suffered at the hands of Fang Ping, he would vent on others.
Zhang Yu added, “You better keep a low profile. Dean Tang is about to come out from his closed-door training. Once he’s done, you’re going to have to clear your past debts!”
Qin Fengqing’s face was sour and he mumbled darkly.
Was he afraid of them?
However, his strength was still too low. Previously, he could still be arrogant in MCMAU as a Peak Rank-4. Now, it seemed that everyone was stronger than him and they were all his opponents. These days, it was not easy for him to get by.
“Rank-5... No, at least Rank-6!”
Qin Fengqing’s made a ruthless decision. He had to break through successive levels. Rank-5 was not enough. He needed to be at least Rank-6 to protect himself.
This world was way too dangerous!
While these people were talking, Fang Ping came out from the rostrum. He was not wearing a hat, but he was not bald.
Qin Fengqing was stunned for a few moments, and the others tried their best to suppress their smiles, not wanting to become Qin Fengqing’s target.
“A wig?”
Qin Fengqing was somewhat flabbergasted, not far away, Chen Yunxi whispered, “It’s not a wig, I saw him go to Vice-chancellor Wu yesterday. Vice-chancellor Wu helped him recover.”
“What?”
‘Was it not agreed that if the Catacombs were not exterminated, we should not keep our hair?’
Chen Yunxi ignored him.
Yesterday, she saw Fang Ping going to see Wu Kuishan and was constantly pestering him. He was kicked out a few times but was eventually shoved in.
Wu Kuishan probably could not the badgering and agreed to help him recover his hair.
However, the details of this matter were somewhat shameful, so Chen Yunxi decided not to say it.
Meanwhile, Qin Fengqing’s face had become stiff.
What the heck, this bastard Fang Ping, he wanted to skin him alive now!
...
On the stage, Fang Ping could not care less about what Qin Fengqing thought.
As he glanced around, Fang Ping saw Qin Fengqing’s bright head and gave a warm smile. Old Qin’s appearance was incredibly handsome.
Ignoring his hostile look, Fang Ping coughed and said, “Teachers and classmates, the new semester has begun. The new year brings a new ambiance. Let me wish everyone a Happy New Year!”
After some polite words, Fang Ping went straight to the point. “Today, there are a total of 7460 teachers and students in MCMAU—6,575 students and 885 instructors. In this new semester, as 30 more instructors have yet to arrive, in a few days, the number of instructors will be more than 900.
“Out of 7460 people, there are 2 Rank-8, 2 Rank-7, 35 Rank-6, 300 Rank-5, and 282 Rank-4.
“MCMAU’s middle and high-ranked martial artists have exceeded 600 people!
“As for the Rank-3 martial artists, including the instructors, they total more than 600!
“Rank-2 martial artists are approaching the 3000 mark!
“Rank-1 martial artists are also close to 3000 people, and aspiring martial artists... number less than 300 people.”
While Fang Ping was talking, off the stage, some aspiring martial artists felt a little ashamed of themselves.
MCMAU was about to enter an era of 100% martial artists, but even now, there were still some people who had failed to officially become martial artists. There were only a few of them, which enhanced their embarrassment.
Before Fang Ping’s announcement, only a few people knew that MCMAU had reached this point.
Middle-ranked martial artists already exceeded 600. Previously, there were not that many, with just over 400 teachers and students.
Over the past half a year, one to two hundred people had entered the middle-ranks.
Fang Ping did not care what everyone thought, and said with a light smile, “I’m saying all this, not to prove how strong my MCMAU is. MCMAU is not strong, in fact, it is very weak! We have only 4 Grandmasters powerhouses. Although Dean Tang and Dean Lu are on the verge of breaking through, even so, there are only 6 people!
“6 people?
“Is that a lot?”
Fang Ping’s face became serious and he exclaimed, “This is not a large number, it’s very small! Middle-ranked martial artists should know what I mean. Rank-2 and 3 martial artists should also mostly understand what I mean!
“Compared to our enemies, MCMAU’s strength is not even enough to squeeze into the gaps between their teeth!
“Aspiring martial artist students should go to the Energy Room and the Vitality Pool now to cultivate, free of charge. From now on, MCMAU students, students below the martial artists’ level who cultivate will be provided free training resources by the school and will no longer be limited to the number of credits!
“But, remember, getting it free does not mean you can waste!
“I will give you time, but the enemy will not give us time!
“Today’s aspiring martial artist students, once this semester is over, if you have not become martial artists, you will all be expelled!
“For the next batch of freshmen who enters the school, within half a year, unless being twice-honed or thrice-honed, all those who do not become martial artists in one semester will have to drop out!”
As soon as these words came out, the aspiring martial artist students off the stage looked at each other, and Fang Ping shouted, “What are you looking at. Go out and practice! All of you now don’t even have the rights to understand the situation. I hope you will become martial artists as soon as possible!”
At Fang Ping’s harsh dismissal, many people looked at their instructors. Some of the instructors nodded their heads slightly.
Helplessly, these aspiring martial artist students had to leave.
Under the stares of many people, many of them were red-faced in shame.
Even if Fang Ping was doing it for their own good, there were seven or eight thousand people present. To be singled out and kicked out, they felt rather embarrassed.
Fang Ping did not care if they were resentful. When they had left, Fang Ping said loudly, “Without strength, we are destined for grief! Now, the people present are all martial artists. I don’t care if you know or not. I want to say a few things.
“First, MCMAU has great enemies, sworn enemies of life and death. It is not those that you imagine to be, like CCMAU and the First Military School. They are not our enemies, but our comrades-in-arms, and our compatriots!
“Our enemies are much stronger and more ruthless than them. Many people may have noticed that these years, countless teachers and students have died out of the blue. Where did they die?
“They died on the battlefield!
“Therefore, from this semester onwards, MCMAU has added a new class, the basic Catacombs knowledge class!
“Remember, no information should be divulged without permission. If panic is created among the people, MCMAU and the government will hold them accountable and the punishment will be severe!”
The instructors did not say anything, and some students did not even flinch at this.
However, some of the Rank-1 and 2 students instantly piped up.
Someone could not help but shout, “President Fang, what kind of enemy are you talking about? Is it an evil sect? Catacombs... What is that? What is the enemy’s strength?”
Fang Ping said indifferently, “You will naturally find out later on. Now we don’t need to do a detailed recount. All that matters is that you understand that MCMAU has a huge difference in strength compared with the other party, and most of you cannot even count as cannon fodder!
“If you don’t want to die, then work hard!”
The words settled down and Fang Ping continued, “If you want to practice, many people will say that they lack resources, so they need to take on assignments. And people say there are not enough assignments, so what should they do?
“This is the second thing that I want to say. To help everyone’s cultivation, MCMAU has decided to open a loan amount of 10 million credits to everyone!”
“Ten million credits?”
“Did I hear that right!”
“This...How can this be?”
“...”
Offstage, sentiments flared. At this moment, even some instructors were also fired up.
10 million credits of resources, according to the previous ratio, valued 300 billion cash!
Of course, in reality, the value of credits have dropped, but even so, the price of the exchanged goods had not changed. The market value for the exchange of the credits with the resources was still above 300 billion!
Did MCMAU have so many resources?
Below the stage, it became noisy. So many resources, if it were divided equally, each person would be able to borrow one to two thousand credits and that would be around tens of millions!
Fang Ping clapped his hands and barked, “Quiet!
“Everyone, listen well! The martial artists will not reap where they have not sown, and I will not allow such things to happen! Those aspiring martial artists have limited strength, so we can supply for them for free. However, when you become a martial artist, you have to take up the martial artists’ responsibility. This is only lending, not gifting!
“And all these resources are covered with blood!”
Fang Ping said coldly, “Not only reeking with the blood of the enemy, but also the blood and life of countless predecessors of 61 years of MCMAU! You may not understand all of this at all. After today, class instructors at all levels should lead students to the school archives to take a look, take a look at the Southern Area Cemetery grounds!
“On the top floor of the school archives, there is no longer space to place the memorial tablets of my MCMAU’s teachers and students!
“At Southern Area Cemetery, no more remains can be buried!
“Whoever dares to waste resources, arbitrarily squandering, once it’s confirmed, will be punished severally!
“The reason we are opening up everything that was exchanged with the blood of our former generations is because we don’t want to see more of you enter the school archives or the Southern Area Cemetery!
“After today, cultivate well. The so-called Rank-3 elite is a bunch of bull!
“In MCMAU, if you don’t reach the middle-ranks, then you can’t even count yourselves as cannon fodder!
“If you don’t want to die yourself, don’t want your family to die, then you need to work hard. Don’t think of yourselves as prodigies, as geniuses, all of you are nothing!
“I, Fang Ping, am a Peak Rank-5, number one on the Rank-5 rankings. Not even I dare to say how strong and how awesome I am!
“And... after taking the loan, it must be repaid!
“No one can be made an exception for this. If anyone feels that you don’t need to pay and that it will be fine once you leave school after graduation, that’s wishful thinking.
“These people, upon leaving MCMAU, will not be recruited by any department or enterprise. I don’t care whether you go down the Catacombs or you undertake other tasks. In short, if you borrow, you must pay it back. MCMAU is not opening just for you but as a school, we need to be responsible for future students.”
Fang Ping continued, “That was the second thing. Thirdly, from this semester onwards, many schools such as MCMAU, NMAU, CCMAU, SCMAU... our network platforms will be interconnected!
“Task sharing, contribution sharing, techniques sharing, including the guidance of the instructors, you can also contact the instructors of other schools to give guidance, but you have to pay the corresponding remuneration to those instructors.
“Every university has its own characteristics. Although MCMAU is very strong among the universities, it does not mean that other universities have nothing worthy for you to learn.
“Moreover, other universities also have some good things that will be shared with us.
“Including some extremely rare energy fruits, natural resources, and gems. In order to cooperate with us, these schools even took out their treasures from under their coffers.
“As long as you have enough credits, you can exchange for any of them. Don’t say that you are not given a chance.
“There are many treasures that can accelerate bone honing, not only the pills, the pills are nothing. Those energy fruits with sufficient energy, one fruit may let you hone dozens of bones a day!
“Of course, the price is also scary. If you have the will, you can work hard at your cultivation to become stronger. Once you are stronger, then you can have everything!
“Besides, the e-commerce platform will also open a specialized martial arts forum. If you have any questions, you can consult on the forum.
“We will arrange for some powerful instructors who will be responsible for the operation and will clear all doubts for everyone.
“Some students don’t dare to ask about things they don’t understand, they don’t feel good to ask, but cultivation is not child’s play.
“Some people, if the instructor is busy, or is not in the school, and they cannot find anyone to ask, they just delay the cultivation. In the future, you don’t need to wait for the instructor to come back.
“There are also some people who have their own unique cultivation methods. You also don’t have to hide them. If you contribute and it is confirmed that they are beneficial for everyone, there are bound to be benefits from the school.
“For the progression of martial arts, sharing is important. Our Grandmaster powerhouses will rarely hide the Combat Techniques that they have created unless it is determined that it is not suitable for popularization.”
Having said so much, Fang Ping finally said, “The last thing, the peculiar martial artists, since the second championship, I think many people know about it.
“If someone has become a peculiar martial artist, don’t be afraid, don’t hide, tell the school, and the school will help you to master your strength and speed up your cultivation.
“If this happens to any of your relatives and friends, they can also come to MCMAU for consultation or even study in MCMAU.
“Do you think that if you become a peculiar martial artist, you will be dissected?
“Complete nonsense, simply ridiculous!
“I, Fang Ping, am a peculiar martial artist, as well as NMAU’s Wang Jinyang, CCMAU’s Li Hansong, and Yao Chengjun of the First Military School. Among us who has become a guinea pig?
“Don’t blindly ponder over it yourself. Once you delay the golden cultivation period, you will lose more than you get. ”
Fang Ping had said almost all that he wanted to say.
He looked below the stage and saw that many people were still discussing in low voices, some were excited, some were confused. He decided to end his speech.
As he was about to announce the end of the assembly, Fang Ping suddenly thought of something and added, “Yes, the Rank-2 martial arts competition and the Rank-3 martial arts competition will continue to be held by the school. Everyone will participate actively! Now, we will adjourn the meeting. If you don’t have any pressing matters, don’t leave the school. Finish the basic knowledge of the Catacombs class first!”
As Fang Ping announced the adjournment of the assembly, below the stage, a loud voice of discussion started to rise immediately.
Fang Ping had not gone far when a bright bald head appeared in front of him. The bald head growled at Fang Ping through gritted teeth, “Fang Ping, you lied to me!”
Fang Ping pretended he did not hear anything, he walked on and said, “Chop, chop, let’s go to Martial Arts Society, and talk about the situation where you found the mine. If you want to enter Rank-5, talk about it in more detail. If you don’t enter Rank-5, in the future you won’t even have the qualifications to be cannon fodder.”
“I ... I won’t go with you!” Qin Fengqing was very angry.
Fang Ping turned his head to look at him, and after a while, he said, “Okay, you said it yourself, then you go and dig it yourself. Don’t think of borrowing a penny from the school loans. You can find a way to get into Rank-5 yourself. Anyway, depending on the natural energy, you should be able to enter Rank-5 after seven or eight years of grinding.”
Qin Fengqing was struggling, and in the end, he said with indignantly, “You always bully me!”
Fang Ping suddenly shuddered. ‘Damn it, can you not be so bitter?
‘You big bald head, suddenly shrieking out these words so bitterly, what should I do if I was misunderstood?’