Chapter 338: Mu Xueqing's Countermeasure

Mu Xueqing was a talented student at Tianwu Academy. Although only eighteen this year, she had already reached the Pioneering Realm, having opened more than a dozen cultivation spots. She was quite famous within Tianwu Academy, and by all accounts, she should have been enjoying boundless glory and happiness. Yet, at this moment, she was downcast and looked utterly depressed.

This was because her instructor had left the academy and was no longer teaching. No new teacher had been hired, leaving them feeling like scattered soldiers, overlooked and ignored.

She stretched lazily, revealing a charming and captivating figure.

"Senior!"

Just then, a young man walked up to her.

"Meng Tao, have you found out everything? Do you believe it now?" Mu Xueqing asked, looking at him as he approached.

"I've found out... that Master Teacher Zhang Xuan is indeed as formidable as you said! However, I heard he's currently undertaking a Two-Star Master Teacher trial and will be leaving the capital, so he won't be back anytime soon. And I also learned... his accomplishments are even more impressive than what you told me this morning..." Meng Tao's face showed a hint of shame, then his eyes lit up with admiration.

"Tell me!" Mu Xueqing's face also flushed slightly.

Last night, she had heard the news that all of the genius Mo Hongyi's records had been broken, which was how she learned about the Master Teacher named Zhang Xuan. He was less than twenty years old, had set countless astonishing records, and was even directly attempting the Two-Star Master Teacher examination... Even hearing it from her elders at home, she could barely believe it. After confirming it multiple times, she decided that from then on, Master Teacher Zhang would be her most admired idol... bar none!

When she came to the academy today, she told her junior classmates about it, which caused them to gasp in astonishment. This particular fellow in front of her hadn't believed it, so he had been sent out to gather information.

"I heard that the night before last, when Master Teacher Zhang first arrived in the capital, he went to the Calligraphy and Painting Master Guild for an assessment," Meng Tao began. "He encountered a provocation from Young Master Ji Mo of the Ji clan and painted a Five-Realm artwork using a savage beast as his subject, becoming a Three-Star Calligraphy and Painting Master..."

Originally, Meng Tao hadn't believed it. He couldn't imagine anyone being more formidable than Mo Hongyi, whose reputation as a grand genius was deeply entrenched. Only after investigating did he realize that Master Teacher Zhang was far more impressive than Mo Hongyi. Even hearing it firsthand, it felt like a dream.

"Painting with a savage beast, and creating a Five-Realm artwork?" Mu Xueqing's delicate fists involuntarily clenched. She was a genius herself and revered other geniuses even more. Although Master Teacher Zhang had only risen to prominence yesterday, his legendary deeds were already so numerous that they commanded immense respect.

"You know... we don't have a teacher. How wonderful would it be if we could hire Master Teacher Zhang?" Mu Xueqing couldn't help but say after hearing the news he had gathered, which was largely consistent with what she had heard the previous day.

"Hire him? Senior, Master Teacher Zhang is a Two-Star Master Teacher! How could the academy afford that?" Meng Tao was speechless. There were only three Two-Star Master Teachers in the entire Tianwu Kingdom. Whenever one taught a class, all the other teachers would attend, and even the dean would respectfully go to listen. To hire him as their teacher... it was truly audacious to even think about it!

"Yes, I know," Mu Xueqing said, her face aglow with infatuation. "It's just that I have this hope in my heart, hoping to attend just one of his classes. Such a genius must be an even more incredible lecturer. Listening to him for even one lesson might dramatically increase my strength!"

"Oh, right, didn't you say the academy was recruiting teachers today? Any results yet?"

"It seems there's no news yet. But they're just ordinary teachers, hardly any star teachers among them. They probably won't be very skilled..." Meng Tao shook his head, not holding much hope for the incoming teachers.

"That's true..." Mu Xueqing nodded in agreement. Good teachers would have surely joined Tianwu Academy long ago; they wouldn't be recruited only now.

"Oh no, oh no..."

As the two muttered, an anxious voice rang out, and a girl with a flushed face rushed towards them.

"What's wrong? Why are you so flustered?" Mu Xueqing frowned, her elegant brows furrowed. "Didn't I ask you to wait outside the Elder's Pavilion and quietly observe the newly accepted teachers? Why are you back? Has the academy already found a teacher?"

"Yes!" The girl panted rapidly, nodding repeatedly.

"That fast?" Mu Xueqing was taken aback. She had heard that many teachers, over a hundred, were participating in the recruitment today. How could they have finished selecting so quickly?

"I saw with my own eyes outside that the dean handed all of our class tokens to a young teacher..." the girl said, finally catching her breath after taking a few gulps of air.

"A young teacher?"

"Yes, this teacher looks only about twenty years old. I was too far away to hear his exact name, but I saw... I saw..." The girl recalled something, still seeming to be in disbelief.

"You're going to drive me crazy! What exactly did you see?" Mu Xueqing glared, her elegant brows rising as she looked over anxiously.

"I saw... that teacher beat a new student until he vomited blood..." the girl said.

"Beat a new student until he vomited blood?" Mu Xueqing and Meng Tao exchanged glances. A teacher beating a student? They had never heard of such a violent incident at Tianwu Academy.

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes... This is what I secretly recorded just now, look!" As she spoke, the girl flipped her wrist, producing a recording jade crystal. True Qi flowed into it, and instantly, two figures appeared: a young man lashing out at a student. The student vomited blood profusely and finally knelt before the young man. Their conversation was indistinct due to the distance, but the beaten student's miserable state was clearly visible.

"You mean... the dean gave this guy all the tokens that represent our class?" As the recording ended, Mu Xueqing's face turned ashen. What was going on? How could they hire such a violent person to be their teacher?

"Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, and..." The girl was filled with urgency. "He took the tokens and is already on his way! He might arrive any moment!"

"Arriving any moment?" Mu Xueqing clenched her delicate fist. "Doesn't the Teacher Guild prohibit corporal punishment of students? Why would the academy hire such a teacher?"

"Well..." The girl shook her head. "I don't know either!"

"Senior, do you think it's possible that the academy knows our class is... unmanageable, so they deliberately found a formidable teacher to discipline us and show us who's boss?" The boy scratched his head.

"Show us who's boss? Hmph, we'll see if he has the ability to do that!" Mu Xueqing's face darkened. "Meng Tao, tell everyone to stop cultivating and gather here with me!"

"Alright!" Meng Tao nodded and turned to leave. A moment later, about a dozen students gathered around them.

"Senior!"

"Alright! Meng Tao must have already told you what happened. The academy has hired a brutal fellow who arbitrarily inflicts corporal punishment on students to be our teacher. What are your thoughts on this?" Mu Xueqing waved her hand, glancing around at everyone.

"If he becomes our teacher, how can we possibly have a good life? Absolutely not!"

"What can we do if we refuse? This is an academy assignment, and our student tokens are already in his hands. Unless we go to the Dean's Office to switch classes, there's no other way!"

"Since the academy sent him, they definitely won't let us switch classes. If it comes to it, we'll have to find a way to drive him away and get a better teacher!"

"Even if we can't get a genius as formidable as Master Teacher Zhang, we need at least a star teacher. If we're taught by some violent brute who only knows how to beat students, our future is ruined!"

Everyone was filled with indignation. Meng Tao had just recounted the events, and they had also seen the footage from the recording jade crystal. Seeing this teacher directly beat a student until he vomited blood, they were all furious. So ruthless towards students? Did such a person even deserve to be a teacher? And them, to be students of such a person? No way!

"Alright, arguing alone won't do anything. Since the academy gave him the tokens, it means we are already his students. We must find a way to drive him away!" Mu Xueqing waved her delicate hand.

"How about we deliberately refuse to cooperate and trip him up?"

"Trip him up? How?"

"It means... we don't listen to anything he says, and if he instructs us to cultivate, we won't do it! If a teacher can't command his students, he definitely won't be able to bear it for long and will leave on his own."

"That might work for others, but didn't we just say this guy is extremely violent? If we really disobey, and he lays a hand on us, who can withstand it?"

"This..." Silence fell over the group. Non-cooperation, tripping him up, or disobeying were all fine, but the key issue was that this new teacher was a violent individual. If he directly resorted to force and overpowered them, they would have no way to resist. After all, even Mu Xueqing, their strongest leader, was only in the Pioneering Realm, still a significant gap compared to a teacher in the Profound Connection Realm.

"How about this: if he really dares to lay a hand on us, we'll record the footage and find a way to send it to the Teacher Guild. I refuse to believe the Guild would ignore a teacher arbitrarily inflicting corporal punishment!"

"That's a good idea, but this teacher dared to beat a student in front of the dean and so many other teachers. He must have significant connections or already have the academy's backing. What if we mess up and he holds a grudge? I'm afraid our lives would become even worse then!"

"Yeah, if he finds out we're deliberately trying to mess with him, won't he beat us every day?"

The group proposed several plans in succession, but all were rejected. The fact that this incoming teacher could brutally beat a student in front of so many other teachers meant he must have had the dean's explicit instruction; otherwise, he wouldn't dare to be so brazen. While recording the footage was a good idea, if it didn't reach the Guild and instead fell into his hands, they would definitely have a miserable time. They had to plan carefully for a permanent solution, rather than recklessly inviting trouble.

"So what do we do? Senior, do you have a plan?" After thinking for a while, even to the point of a headache without finding a solution, everyone turned in unison to Mu Xueqing. She was the class leader; everyone listened to her, and she was the only one who usually had the best ideas.

"I do have an idea!" Mu Xueqing's eyes suddenly lit up, as if something had occurred to her. She looked at everyone: "We are students. If we try to make trouble for a teacher and the Guild finds out, we'll definitely be punished, even scorned!"

Everyone nodded. In this world, teachers were held in high regard. Students had to obey their teachers' commands. If they deliberately plotted against a teacher and it became known, they would certainly be ridiculed, and their families would not let them off either.

"Then what should we do?" Meng Tao couldn't help but ask.

"Since we can't try to deal with the teacher, then... we can always ask the teacher questions, can't we?" With a flash in her eyes, Mu Xueqing revealed a mischievous glint. "In our class, there are quite a few students who enjoy calligraphy and painting, tea ceremonies, formation arrays, artifact forging, and pill refining... We can go and ask him questions! If we ask too many, and he can't answer any of them, I'd like to see what face he has left to stay here!"

"Good idea!"

"Yes, this way we don't offend him, yet we make him lose face enough to not want to stay. Kill two birds with one stone!"

"That's excellent..."

Hearing Mu Xueqing's plan, everyone's eyes lit up. This was indeed the best approach. It neither offended him nor allowed him to save face.

"Wait... he's our cultivation teacher. If he simply states that he's not proficient in these professions, then we won't be able to trouble him further, right?" a girl couldn't help but say. Every profession has its specialists. Tianwu Academy is vast, with teachers for all sorts of disciplines. If they asked all their questions to just one teacher, even the most foolish person would realize something was amiss. Furthermore, even if a martial cultivation teacher couldn't answer questions about other professions, it wouldn't be considered shameful! After all, it was impossible for one person to be skilled in every profession.

"I thought of that already," Mu Xueqing said, a smile flashing in her beautiful eyes, as if she had already devised a countermeasure. "Actually, we can apply pressure to him!"

"Apply pressure?"

"Exactly! A little later, when this teacher arrives, I'll tell him I've had a chance encounter with Master Teacher Zhang Xuan and that he expressed interest in taking me as his student!" Mu Xueqing smiled faintly.

"That way, with Master Teacher Zhang as our backing, he'll be wary and won't dare to go too far, nor will he dare to admit he knows nothing... But, if Master Teacher Zhang were to find out about us using his name like this, wouldn't that be bad?" one student hesitated.

"How could he possibly find out? Master Teacher Zhang is a super genius, a Two-Star Master Teacher; we might never even meet him in our lifetime! Since he's been so popular these past two days, with everyone talking about him in the streets and alleys, we're just borrowing his name. He probably won't notice!" Mu Xueqing tossed her elegant hair. Master Teacher Zhang's world was too far removed from theirs; there was no way their paths would ever cross. Since his reputation was so immense these past two days, it was perfect to leverage it to intimidate this violent teacher.

"Alright then, let's do it this way..." After a bit more thought, the others also felt it wasn't a big problem and nodded in unison.

"Okay, when this teacher arrives, make sure none of you show any hostility. Be respectful and polite, don't give him any leverage!" Mu Xueqing instructed.

"Yes!" The group nodded.

"So this is the class I'll be teaching?" While they were discussing, outside the classroom, Zhang Xuan looked left and right at the class name, confirming it.