Chapter 151: Zhang Xuan's Decision

"Life-Nourishing Pill?""Three of them?"Upon hearing this, Zheng Yang, Zhao Ya, and the others immediately began to breathe rapidly.

The Life-Nourishing Pill was unique to Hongtian Academy and couldn't even be bought by the Alchemist Guild. It could help martial artists absorb spiritual energy faster, enabling rapid progress.

"Teacher Zhang has done so much for us without asking for anything in return. As his students, we should do something for him too!" Zheng Yang's gaze was resolute.

Since childhood, he had practiced alone, painstakingly researching. He had assumed that in the academy, teachers would merely offer guidance and solve problems. However, Teacher Zhang had given him more warmth and a different experience. He had custom-created cultivation techniques for them, pointed out flaws in their practice, and even risked a pill debate to help them improve their strength. Everything he did inspired and moved them from the bottom of their hearts.

"Teacher Zhang might not care about these resources, but if all the other teachers receive them and he doesn't, it's a matter of dignity. As his students, we must fight for it, no matter what!" Zhao Ya gritted her teeth as well. Teacher Zhang could casually give away a Cold Sun Mother Herb worth 100,000. While Life-Nourishing Pills were good, he certainly wouldn't value them. But this was no longer about resources; it was about reputation. So many teachers in the academy had them, but he didn't. If word got out, where would his dignity be?

"Since he's away from the academy, Teacher, we students will fight for your reputation!""Your dignity, we will protect it for you!"Zhao Ya, Zheng Yang, Liu Yang, and the others all had resolute gazes, without the slightest hesitation or wavering.

"Alright, we'll challenge the Student Battle Arena!"Nodding in agreement, Zheng Yang took the long spear from his back, assembled it section by section, and with a flick of his wrist, it hummed, as if ready to spring into action at any moment.

"This is your choice, don't regret it!"Zhou Tian's face flashed with a cold sneer. With a wave of his hand, he called out, "Everyone, come out! Someone wants to challenge you. It's time to teach them a lesson. As long as you defeat them, I'll give each of you a portion of Life-Nourishing Powder!"

*Clatter!*Along with his shout, a group of people walked over, all new students from that year, numbering forty or fifty.

"I have a total of forty-seven students. No matter how many of you participate, as long as you defeat all of them, you win!" Zhou Tian's lips curled into a smile.

"Forty-seven..."Zhao Ya, Zheng Yang, and the others' mouths twitched. They clearly hadn't expected this new teacher, who had only recently joined the faculty, to have gathered so many students.

"Let's fight! We can't lose face!"The Student Battle Arena had its own rules: one could choose a rotating battle or fight multiple opponents simultaneously. As long as one defeated all of that teacher's students, they would be declared victorious. Since they had made their choice, there was nothing to hesitate about.

With a leap, Zheng Yang was the first to jump onto the arena.*Whoosh!* One of Zhou Tian's students also jumped up. The battle began immediately.

"Zhou Tian?"Walking with large strides, Zhang Xuan frowned after hearing Yuan Tao's explanation. He hadn't offended this teacher, either in his previous life or after his reincarnation. Why was he being deliberately targeted? Although the academy was calmer than the outside world, it was still a place of hidden struggles and open competition. However, Zhou Tian was a teacher in the Student Affairs Office, with no direct conflict of interest with Zhang Xuan. In such ambiguous situations, where the resources could be given or not, many teachers wouldn't choose to openly antagonize others. Moreover, Zhang Xuan had just brought down the Dean of Students. While students might not know much about it, as a teacher, Zhou Tian must have been aware of the news. Yet, he was deliberately causing trouble. Wasn't he asking for a beating?

"I heard he used to be Elder Shang Chen's student, and it was the latter who arranged for him to stay at the academy," Yuan Tao said, having heard the news from who knows where."So that's it!" That explained everything. Zhang Xuan had caused Elder Shang Chen to lose his position as Dean of Students and potentially face penalties from the Teacher's Guild. As Shang Chen's student, it was natural for Zhou Tian to try and stick up for his teacher.

"However, my face isn't that easy to slap!"Knowing the reason, Zhang Xuan shook his head. 'You want to slap my face? That's fine, but let's see if your hand is strong enough!'

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*Several consecutive punches landed heavily on Zheng Yang's back, leaving a metallic taste in his mouth, and the hand gripping his long spear seemed almost unable to bend. After the improvements of the past few days, his cultivation had significantly increased again. Teacher Zhou Tian's students were no match for him individually, but there were simply too many of them! This was the fifth one, and he was already struggling to hold on. If it were a simple rotating battle, he wouldn't be so exhausted. The opponents seemed to have planned this in advance, constantly moving around and avoiding direct confrontation, specifically to wear down his physical strength.

"Hold on, you must hold on!"Zheng Yang gritted his teeth, used his last ounce of strength, and with a flick of his spear, defeated the fifth student.

"Haha, can't hold on anymore?"With a loud laugh, the sixth student jumped up and kicked Zheng Yang in the chest. Zheng Yang staggered back seven or eight steps. If not for a surge of willpower, he would have likely fallen off the battle platform already.

"If you can't hold on, stop pretending to be strong! How dare you challenge Teacher Zhou's dignity? Get down!"The sixth student sneered, wielding a long staff and striking out. Judging by the speed of the strike, if it connected, Zheng Yang would definitely be seriously injured.

"Block it..."His face contorted in a grimace, Zheng Yang tried to raise his spear to block, but found he was always a step too slow. Knowing the staff was certain to hit him and having no other options, he closed his eyes. He expected to immediately cough up blood and fall from the Student Battle Arena. To his surprise, after waiting for a long time, nothing happened. He quickly opened his eyes and saw a figure, not particularly tall but resolute and trustworthy, standing in front of him.

The long staff that the sixth student had swung wildly was now clamped between two of the figure's fingers. No matter how hard the opponent struggled, he couldn't pull it free.

"Teacher Zhang..."With just one glance, he recognized him. The figure before him was none other than Teacher Zhang Xuan. 'Wasn't he away from the academy? How did he get here...?'

It was indeed Zhang Xuan who had clamped the opponent's staff. He had just arrived with Yuan Tao when he witnessed this scene and immediately jumped onto the platform. The wager with Teacher Lu Xun was only about ten days away. These young ones absolutely couldn't get injured; otherwise, there would be no need for the competition! Zhou Tian, harboring resentment because Zhang Xuan had brought down Shang Chen, knew he wasn't Zhang Xuan's match. He had likely provoked Zheng Yang and the others with words specifically to achieve this outcome. If Zheng Yang and the others were injured, Zhang Xuan would undoubtedly lose the Teacher Qualification Exam. Therefore, seeing that there was no time to lose, he immediately jumped onto the platform.

"Zhang Xuan, what's the meaning of this? Your students are challenging the Student Battle Arena. As a teacher, are you going to attack my students?"Zhou Tian wasn't too surprised to see him rush over, and his eyes glinted.

"Attack your students? You're overthinking it!"With a flick of his finger, the opponent's long staff immediately broke into several pieces. Zhang Xuan clapped his hands and raised an eyebrow.

"Then what's the meaning of jumping onto the Student Battle Arena? Do you intend to back out? However, it seems it's too late. Your students have already accepted the Student Battle Arena challenge and have already injured five of mine. Today's match will continue whether you like it or not; it's not up to you! Unless..." At this point, Zhou Tian's lips curled into a cold smile: "Unless you admit defeat yourself and acknowledge that your students are inferior to mine!"

"We can't surrender!""Even if we have to give it our all today, we will win..."Hearing the blatant mockery, Zheng Yang and the others clenched their fists, their faces flushed. If they truly surrendered today, they would never be able to hold their heads high in the academy again.

"Surrender?" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "Are you still dreaming?"

"Hmph, if that's the case, then let's continue. Teacher Zhang, please step down!" Zhou Tian flicked his sleeve. "It's a student-versus-student battle. For a teacher like you to interfere, aren't you being a bit of a bully?"

"Don't be so hasty!" Zhang Xuan smiled faintly. "I'm not surrendering, nor did I say I want to continue the Student Battle Arena match!"

"Not continue? The Student Battle Arena match has already begun. There's no reason to stop now. It's too late to regret it," Zhou Tian scoffed.

"My students' decision is my decision. Since they challenged the Student Battle Arena, I naturally have nothing to regret!" Zhang Xuan looked over. "However, I find this petty Student Battle Arena challenge too boring. How about we just have a Teacher Battle Arena instead? I wonder if you dare to accept?"

"What? Challenge the Teacher Battle Arena? Is this guy crazy?""Is something wrong with his head?""The Teacher Battle Arena is where students challenge a teacher. I just saw his students; they could barely win in the Student Battle Arena. Now they want to challenge a teacher? Isn't that just dreaming?"Other teachers and students from the Student Affairs Office, upon hearing Zhang Xuan's words, were all dumbfounded, frozen in place.

In a Student Battle Arena, students dissatisfied with a teacher challenge all of their students, forcing the teacher to admit fault. In contrast, in a Teacher Battle Arena, students directly challenge the teacher themselves. If they win, admitting fault is secondary; the teacher's dignity and reputation would be severely humiliated. Of course, students' cultivation levels were considerably lower than teachers', making victory in battle impossible. For fairness, in a Teacher Battle Arena match, the teacher had to suppress their cultivation to match that of the student. Even so, it wasn't truly fair. As teachers, their insights and mastery of combat far surpassed those of students. Even at the same cultivation level, it was impossible for a student to win.

Not only were the onlookers stunned, but even Zheng Yang, Zhao Ya, and the others stumbled, almost fainting. They had thought that their decision to challenge the Student Battle Arena was audacious and over-the-top enough. But Teacher Zhang was even bolder, opening his mouth to suggest a Teacher Battle Arena... 'You've got to be kidding, right?' This Teacher Zhou Tian, although his cultivation wasn't high among the many teachers, only at the early stage of Martial Artist 4-dan, Skin and Bone Realm, was still a genuine teacher, not someone that small fries like them, only at Martial Artist 1-dan, Qi Gathering Realm, could defeat.

"Teacher Battle Arena? You want these students to challenge me?" Zhou Tian sounded as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"What? Are you scared?" Zhang Xuan looked at him.

"Haha, you're asking for death!" Zhou Tian burst out laughing. "Alright, I accept! If you win, I'll give you ten Life-Nourishing Pills directly. But if you lose, hehe, I won't ask for anything from you, just kneel down before me!"