Chapter 121 (3): Whipping Rookies Into Shape

The sound of cracking ribs instantly sounded, but before his unfortunate victim even had a chance to cry out, he was dealt a vicious punch to the chest, one that sent him flying back like a cannonball.

His back struck the wall behind him with a resounding thump, and blood came gushing out of his mouth as he slid down to the ground, limp and unconscious.

"Someone go wake him up! Playing dead is unacceptable here! I don't need any cowardly trash as my subordinate! If we're going up by ascending order of cultivation base, then it's time for the two Kings to take the stage now, right?"

Fang Che turned to the two Kings with a cold expression as he spoke, and both of them were looking very grim, indeed.

Clearly, Fang Che had displayed far more power than they had anticipated.

"Very impressive, Chief Fang!" one of the Kings said as he stepped forward. "I am Ping Shansong, a third-rank King. Please enlighten me."

"Come," Fang Che said with a faint smile.

As soon as Ping Shansong sprang into action, Fang Che immediately felt a marked difference.

Sure enough, there was a fundamental difference between Kings and Warlords.

Ping Shangsong's spirit power was much stronger and more solid, and clearly, he wanted to engage Fang Che in a prolonged battle, using his cultivation base advantage to wear him out over time.

However, Fang Che had no patience for that, opting for the most aggressive and violent approach as he rammed his fist straight into his opponent's.

A resounding boom rang out as the entire drill grounds shuddered.

Following the clash of fists, Fang Che immediately threw a punch of his own, and Ping Shansong was forced to retaliate, even though his fist was still sore from the previous clash.

Yet another resounding boom rang out, and Ping Shansong stumbled back while trembling from pain.

He could feel that several bones in his hand had been broken.

Fang Che refused to relent, springing forward like lightning before throwing another almighty punch as he sneered, "This is what you wanted, isn't it? Why're you backing down now?"

After ten consecutive punches, Ping Shansong was sent flying back with an agonized expression.

His fist was a bloody and mangled mess, and even the bones had been exposed through the skin and flesh.

"I concede," he said with a sullen expression.

Fang Che's fist wasn't in much better condition, but he didn't seem to be feeling any pain at all as he pointed at the other King and declared, "It's your turn now!"

"I'll wait for you to treat your injuries first, Chief Fang," the other King said. "Also, I'm a sword-wielder, and that's what I'll be using in our battle."

"You're going to use a sword? Fine, I'll use a saber then," Fang Che grinned. "I don't need to attend to these minor injuries. Come!"

"My name is Yun Jianqiu. Please enlighten me."

As soon as Yun Jianqiu drew his sword, everyone was instantly stunned by his formidable sword intent.

However, Fang Che was a little disappointed. Yun Jianqiu was definitely a prodigy, but he was nowhere near the level of Mo Ganyun and the others.

Furthermore, even though he was a King, the sharpness of his sword qi couldn't even match that of a General tier Yan Beihan.

Fang Che raised his saber, and an almighty wave of baleful qi instantly erupted out of his body, sending chills running the spines of everyone gathered in the entire drill grounds.

Fang Che charged headfirst into Yun Jianqiu's attack as he swung his saber like a bludgeon, and Yun Jianqiu was instantly forced onto the back foot as he stumbled back three steps.

Having gained the upper hand, Fang Che began exerting relentless pressure on his opponent, unleashing a ferocious, rapidfire barrage of attacks.

All Yun Jianqiu could do was passively defend and retreat, and with each passing clash, the more Fang Che's advantage grew.

Finally, an ear-splitting clang rang out as Yun Jianqiu stumbled back in an unsteady fashion, his sword already snapped into two.

His sword-wielding arm was completely numb, and blood was trickling out of all of his orifices as he conceded his defeat with a broken expression.

"What a disappointment you are!" Fang Che sneered. "You gained the initiative by attacking first, yet you immediately conceded the initiative as soon as I retaliated. You should've already surrendered then to spare yourself the embarrassment! You call yourself a Sword King? You lack both the dignity of the sword and the flair of a king!"

Yun Jianqiu lowered his head in shame.

Fang Che casually tipped some medicinal powder onto his mangled hand as he continued, "I know all of you have come from some reclusive clan, but regardless of where you've come from, you must follow the rules here! If you don't want to follow the rules, then piss off! If your combat prowess could come anywhere close to matching your arrogance, you'd already be challenging Duan Xiyang by now! What have you come here for?

“To work, not to strut around like arrogant pricks! You bully the weak, then immediately start sulking as soon as you encounter someone too strong for you to bully! I don't care which sect you're from, you better learn some respect! Otherwise, either you piss off, or I beat the shit out of you every single day! The only thing that matters in the Hall of Protectionists are your contributions!

“You haven't done shit, what gives you the right to look down on your established colleagues? So what if their cultivation bases are inferior to yours? Any single one of you has done more for the continent and the people than all of you pathetic little shits combined! While you're hiding in your little sect, suckling on your mother's teats, these people are putting their lives on the line for a much greater cause!"

An indignant look appeared on Yun Jianqiu's face as he protested, "Chief Fang, you are indeed a superior warrior to all of us, and that's something we're willing to concede, but there's no need to be so scathing with your words! Our sect..."

"Your sect? What about your sect?" Fang Che interrupted. "If you want to defend your sect, then fight for its honor! You're a fourth-rank Sword King, yet you just got beaten into submission by an eighth-rank Warlord! Is that how you intend to defend the honor of your sect? This is the type of useless trash that comes out of the sect that you take so much pride in? If I were you, I'd be too ashamed to even mention my sect!"

Yun Jianqiu's complexion had become beetroot-red with embarrassment.

"I don't know which sect you've come from, nor do I have any interest in finding out," Fang Che scoffed. "Pathetic embarrassments like you should learn to keep your mouths shut!"

All of a sudden, Fang Che turned his gaze to the Frost Sword Pavilion warriors that had been assigned to the first hall.

"What the hell are you laughing at? Are you not from the same sect as them? Do you also wanna challenge me? I'll beat the shit out of all of you as well!"

The Frost Sword Pavilion warriors could only stare back at him in a stunned silence.

Who was laughing? No one was laughing just now!

"Your background doesn't mean shit in the Hall of Protectionists! The only thing that matters is your contributions! Don't ever bring up your sect again! If you want to be respected here, then go out and earn merit points! If any of you still have no merit points after your internship period is over, you can all piss off back to whichever shithole you came from!"

With that, he turned to depart from the drill grounds as he yelled, "What're you all still standing around for? Get back to work!"

***

Everyone quickly returned to their posts, marking the conclusion of an eventful and theatrical morning.

Fang Che had forced all sixty rookies from the Frost Sword Pavilion into submission with his display of power, and even the ones assigned to the first hall had to bow their heads to him.

Chief Administrator Lei Hu was extremely grateful.

Without Fang Che's intimidation, he would've had no authority left over the first hall. With Fang Che looming as a constant threat, the Frost Sword Pavilion warriors assigned to the first hall had become a lot more humble and restrained, and they didn't dare to challenge Lei Hu's authority any further.

The incumbent administrators of the second hall were all feeling very proud.

So what if you came from some bigshot sect? As long as Chief Fang is around, there's no place for you to run your mouths! You wanna step out of line? You better be prepared for a beating!

After returning to the second hall, Fang Che split all of the administrators under his command into ten groups, with three people from the Frost Sword Sect assigned to each group.

Each group was also assigned a leader, and all of them received the same instructions from Fang Che: "Go out there and put the rookies to work! If anyone refuses to follow your orders, report them to me, and I'll send them back to whichever bullshit sect they came from!

“If any of you fail to report instances of insubordination, then I'll fire you as well! While you're out on patrol, give the rookie a rundown of the rules of our administration hall. I don't want to have to waste my time personally educating them! Get out of here!"

Everyone immediately departed from the administration hall, practically fleeing in a panic.

For some reason, Fang Che seemed to have become even more terrifying of late. Ever since the deaths of Zuo Guanglie and his band of brothers, his personality seemed to have changed, and he was more unapproachable and menacing than ever.

***

With the arrogance beaten out of them, everyone from the Frost Sword Pavilion had become much more docile, and while out on patrol, they began asking the incumbent administrators questions about Fang Che.

What's his background? How did he get so strong? Has he always been like this?

The incumbent administrators were more than happy to answer their questions.

"Chief Fang has only been working at our Hall of Protectionists for less than half a year. When he first arrived, he was an intern just like all of you, and it only took him two months to become a second-rank administrator! Just last month, he was promoted to chief administrator, and all of his merit points were earned through killing demonic church members! Normally, we're supposed to get merit points just for attendance, but he's refused to take those!"

"Chief Fang has killed over a thousand demonic church members over the past few months!"

"One time, Chief Fang challenged the hall master to fire him, and Hall Master Song didn't even dare to say anything!"

"Chief Fang doesn't even have any respect for Supervisor Zhao Shanhe!"

"Master Bing Qianshan knows Chief Fang by name!"

All of the Frost Sword Sect disciples were stunned by all of these stories.

They sounded too far-fetched to be true, but the stories were corroborated by all of the incumbent administrators!

All of the Frost Sword Sect disciples had been well and truly intimidated into submission.

Never had they imagined that a mere chief administrator would be so badass!