Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

Even though the sudden appearance of the Rehabilitation Sect caught the students off guard, none of them felt truly threatened.

Some students grumbled about the sudden ambush, protesting to Baek Suryong or complaining about being tired.

"What's going on all of a sudden?"

"Don't they know we have exams tomorrow?"

"Oh, seriously…"

Some of them, who had gotten to know the Rehabilitation Sect members during the class patrols in the slums, casually exchanged friendly greetings with them.

"Hey, Cheoldu-hyung!"

"Asam-hyung is here too!"

To sum it up, no one was taking the Rehabilitation Sect seriously.

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From his lofty perch, Baek Suryong clicked his tongue in disdain. "Foolish brats. They'll regret underestimating the Rehabilitation Sect."

"Kaah… Ptooey!" Cheoldu spat on the ground, swaggering forward with an intimidating glint in his eye. "What the hell? You punks think we're here to screw around?"

"Uh? Cheoldu-hyung, that's not…"

WHISTLE… THUD!

Cheoldu's hatchet whistled through the air, missing Hyonwon Kang's face by a fraction of an inch before lodging itself into the wall.

The students shuddered. While the edge of the axe was wrapped in leather to prevent a lethal wound, the force behind it seemed powerful enough to shatter bone.

Cheoldu scowled. "If you don't want to die, take this seriously, you little punks."

"……"

Sensing Cheoldu's terrifying killing intent, chills ran down the spines of the students. The carefree smiles vanished from their faces, replaced by pallid countenances and a trail of goosebumps.

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Charging forward like a mad dog, Cheoldu roared, "Kill them all!!"

Suddenly, this didn't feel like a joke anymore.

Thrown into a panic by the Rehabilitation Sect's indomitable fervor, the students finally began to pull themselves together. Nevertheless, confident that their martial arts skills far surpassed those of the Rehabilitation Sect, they still failed to recognize the approaching thugs as a genuine challenge.

"Don't hold back, you careless, conceited morons. Your pride will be your undoing," Baek Suryong sighed, narrowing his eyes and clicking his tongue. "Tsk, looks like they've forgotten why this class is called Defense Against the Unorthodox Arts."

Even though they had turned over a new leaf, the Rehabilitation Sect had only recently changed its ways. At its core, it was still an unorthodox sect, and unorthodox sects stopped at nothing to overcome stronger opponents. On top of that, Baek Suryong himself was the one who trained them.

"Oh well. I guess I'll just have to kick things up a notch."

SNAP!

Baek Suryong snapped his fingers, signaling the Rehabilitation Sect to launch their full-scale attack.

"Cough! Cough! Watch out! The smoke is toxic!"

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Black toxic smoke billowed across the training ground, burning eyes and scraping throats.

"Arrows incoming! Dodge!"

From the rooftops of surrounding buildings, arrows and various hidden weapons started pouring down.

"Attacking in numbers? Be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Are you an idiot? Did you really think we'd just line up and fight you one on one?"

The thugs felt no shame in ganging up on a solitary target. Such tactics were practically second nature to them.

From his vantage point above, Baek Suryong watched the battle unfold, truly impressed by the coordination of the Rehabilitation Sect. Besides the unorthodox strategies they'd prepared for this day, their basic teamwork also exceeded his expectations.

The Rehabilitation Sect, formerly known as the Ironhead Sect, were less like martial artists and more like street rats roaming the slums, barely equipped with even the simplest martial skills. However, under Baek Suryong's guidance, they had trained with an intensity born of desperation, and their painstaking efforts were finally bearing fruit.

CRASH! CLANG! BOOM!

"Argh!"

"These guys are stronger than we thought!"

"When did they get this good…?"

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Unlike the half-hearted students, the Rehabilitation Sect had a clear, single-minded goal: victory. For them, this exam was as much a platform for them to demonstrate everything they had learned as it was for the Azure Dragon Academy students.

"Die!" Cheoldu bellowed, headbutting Hyonwon Kang in the face.

"Ugh!" Caught off guard, Hyonwon Kang stumbled backwards, nearly losing his balance.

Siezing the opportunity, Cheoldu quickly followed up with his hatchet, swinging it downward with enough force to split Hyonwon Kang in two.

"Damn it!" Dropping to the ground, Hyonwon Kang barely dodged the smash with a lazy donkey roll, but not without getting a nosebleed from the effort. Wiping off the blood with the back of his hand, he glared fiercely at Cheoldu.

"Okay, so you want a real fight?" he growled, releasing a feral killing intent just as intense as Cheoldu's.

Hmph, I'll show him the terrifying power of the Asura Blood Heaven Blade…

Suddenly, Hyonwon Kang's face turned pale. The qi that should have flowed smoothly from his qi center to his meridians spiraled out of control and evaporated away.

"Huh? W-What the hell…? Is this Qi Dispersing Poison? When did you…?"

Struck by a terrifying thought, Hyonwon Kang hurriedly glanced around. Judging by the mayhem and screams echoing all around him, he wasn't the only one affected.

"I can't use my inner arts!"

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"It's Qi Dispersing Poison!"

"They're actually using this in an exam?"

Qi Dispersing Poison wasn't lethal, but it dispersed a martial artist's inner qi, rendering them unable to use it. Although it was harmless to ordinary people, for martial artists, it was one of the most deadly poisons in existence.

Most importantly, it helped the thugs overcome their greatest disadvantage against the students—their lack of inner qi. After all, most of the Azure Dragon Academy's students came from privileged backgrounds and had been practicing inner arts since they were toddlers, while the Rehabilitation Sect members had only been training for a few months.

At last, terror crept onto the faces of the previously confident students.

"W-Wait a minute!"

"This is too much!"

"If you're gonna be like this, we won't hold back either!"

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Unfortunately, the students' bravado didn't last long. Backed into a corner by the relentless assault, they found themselves struggling to hold their ground… and the Four Heavenly Kings had yet to make a move.

Watching his students indifferently from atop a building, Baek Suryong sighed, "Maybe I shouldn't have gotten my expectations up… Even after all I've taught them, they still have a long way to go."

Individually, each Azure Dragon Academy student was much stronger than anyone from the Rehabilitation Sect. However, their methods of dealing with enemies were embarrassingly sloppy. They underestimated seemingly weak opponents, played around, and fought complacently. In a real fight, they would already be dead.

Even now, as long as they regroup and strategize properly, victory is still within their grasp, but… I suppose that's too much to expect from teenagers. Their morales are already completely shattered.

Baek Suryong sighed again. As the one who had set the trap and arranged everything, he had suspected all along that things might unfold this way. From the students' perspective, it probably felt unfair, but it was really their own fault for being overconfident and not using their brains.

Still… I'll give these idiots one more chance.

Infusing his voice with qi, Baek Suryong announced, "AHEM! I'll repeat the rules. If you can hold out for four hours without losing your name tag, you pass. You can run or hide anywhere within the academy."

This time, Baek Suryong made sure to emphasize the hints, that it was possible to pass the test without fighting.

Finally, the students came to a realization.

Let's just run!

We have to get out of here!

The quick-witted ones acted immediately, swinging their weapons wildly to forcibly clear a path and slip through the gaps in the encirclement.

"Move aside!"

"YAAAAH!"

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Geo Sangwoong and Ya Suhyeok were the first to bulldoze through the siege, sending the thugs who collided with them flying. Being outer arts specialists, they weren't as badly affected by the Qi Dispersing Poison as the other students.

"We're forcing our way out! Anyone who can, follow us!" Geo Sangwoong shouted.

Led by the two giants, several students broke through the encirclement and started to flee.

"Don't chase them! We still have plenty of time to catch them," Cheoldu yelled, stopping his men from embarking on a reckless pursuit. The last thing they needed was to fall into a trap set by the students, who knew the terrain much better than they did.

Grinning, Cheoldu gathered his thugs. Only five were injured, and the wounds were minor. It was an overwhelming victory for them.

Looking up at Baek Suryong, Cheoldu flashed a grin. "So, how about it? We're pretty capable now, right?"

Baek Suryong leapt down from his perch, landing with effortless grace, before taking a quick look around. Every eye in the Rehabilitation Sect was on him, eagerly awaiting his words.

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He smiled. The entire Rehabilitation Sect had grown so tremendously that they were hardly recognizable. Recognizing that this was an occasion for praise, he nodded, saying, "You guys exceeded my expectations by a mile."

A huge grin spread across Cheoldu's scarred face, giving him an even more intimidating appearance. "Heheh. Of course! We've been training like mad!"

Baek Suryong clapped him on the shoulder. "You've done well. I'm proud of you all."

Tears threatened to flow down Cheoldu's cheeks. All of a sudden, he felt as if every hardship he'd endured was justified. His hands, raw and blistered from endless hours of swinging his hatchets, were proof of his tireless efforts.

He wasn't alone. The faces of everyone in the Rehabilitation Sect brightened at Baek Suryong's words.

Baek Suryong chuckled wryly to himself, "Man, should I be pleased about this or not…"

Frankly, he had not expected the thugs to improve so much so quickly. Their growth was mind-blowing.

If they're already at this level, they could become a real force to reckon with in the future.

The rapid growth of the Rehabilitation Sect accelerated his anti-Blood Cult plans considerably. Perhaps the time had come for him to formally establish the sect.

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"Hey, we didn't even get to do anything…"

Just then, the Four Heavenly Kings approached Baek Suryong, emerging from the shadows where they'd been lurking, waiting for their chance to enter the fray. They'd been standing by in case the Rehabilitation Sect needed support, but as it turned out, the thugs had taken care of everything themselves, leaving the Four Heavenly Kings with nothing to do.

"Yeah, we were all geared up to make a dramatic entrance, you know, right at the critical moment."

"But the kids ran off before we even got to say a word!"

"After all the effort I went through to prepare a fun variety of trap and illusion formations…"

"…I want to go home."

"Oh come on, now is when your fun really starts. It is time to seek out and capture the kids who've scattered all over the academy," Baek Suryong consoled, before turning toward Cheoldu with a sly grin. "By the way, Cheoldu… Did you manage to plant the tracking incense on them?"

Cheoldu grinned back. "Of course. Finding them will be a piece of cake."

This was the real reason why Cheoldu had let the students go so easily. As long as they couldn't leave the Azure Dragon Academy for the next four hours, they were basically trapped rats.

Nodding, Baek Suryong smirked wickedly. Since he had already given the students one chance, he didn't intend to go easy on them anymore.

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"Alright, folks! Let's seriously start collecting those name tags. From now on, the Four Heavenly Kings will also take part in the game. Whoever collects the most name tags will get a reward, so look forward to it."

At first, the Four Heavenly Kings were indifferent, but when Baek Suryong revealed what the reward was, their expressions changed.

"For real?"

"That's the reward?"

"I-I need that. Absolutely."

"…You'd better not go back on your words."

In a flash, the Four Heavenly Kings sprang into action, each one launching themselves in a different direction.

"Rehabilitation Sect, form search teams of four! When you spot the prey, send out a signal first and wait for back up. Don't attack recklessly!" Cheoldu commanded.

"Yes, sir!"

Amid a chorus of heated shouts, the Rehabilitation Sect's forces mobilized.

Baek Suryong's grin widened. The hunt is on.

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