The outcome of Tong Zhenye and Qin Chuan hurting each other was a restrictive order from the empress that banned them from attending the morning court sessions for ten days .

It was said that after coming back on that day, both of them shut their doors hadn't stepped out since .

There was no other way . Their “fragrance” followed them everywhere they went . On the way back, they were treated like ghosts by the commoners who saw them . The crowd dispersed wherever either of them were .

Over the next few days, the same few words kept resonating in both of their residences .

“Tong Zhenye, you ignorant old man, I will never let you off!”

“Qin Chuan, you ignorant old man, I will never let you off!”

Even though both of them stayed in their residences, they would still occasionally take a stroll inside their houses . As a result, the entire Qin and Tong residences were filled with that odor . Over the next few days, Tong Lan gritted her teeth whenever she saw Ren Baqian at school, holding back the urge to bite him .

Then, the day finally came . Ren Baqian showed up to the palace training ground while looking extremely depressed . The empress had already given a strict order for him to train hard .

The reason for this was that he had poisoned the emperor of Great Xia, so they would definitely plot to a.s.sa.s.sinate him—just like what had happened the past few times .

Even though there were very few outsiders within Lan City at the moment, there were still a few shopkeepers from the large and influential foreign families who had to stay behind and perform their duties . At present, even with the addition of the Jing Tribe, there was still the possibility of Great Xia's agents sneaking in .

Full of emotion, Ren Baqian looked at Tong Lan, who was standing right in front of him . He somehow still felt that what the empress had said just now was utter nonsense .

No matter how much he trained, he still wouldn't match up to a Spirit Wheel expert . He could only rely on his bodyguards to buy time for him to escape back to Earth .

If he were to encounter experts below the Spirit Wheel level, then it wouldn't be possible for them to get past his bodyguards in the first place .

However, no matter how vast the world was, the empress still had the final say . As a result, he still stood here at the training ground .

On the contrary, the little lolita standing across from him looked excited . People in the Tong residence had been tormented and were pretty miserable these days . Now, she could finally take revenge .

“You said it yourself, Yagui, that a teacher is one who has attained . You are the teacher at school, but me beating you up during training can't be considered disobedience,” the little lolita said earnestly as she kneaded her fists .

Ren Baqian was astonished when he heard that .

“Why is that so? Your teacher will always be your teacher, and your grandfather will always be your grandfather . You will be disobedient if you beat me up! Then, I will find your grandfather for a chat afterward . ”

“He's at home . You can go look for him,” sneered Tong Lan, the little lolita, before taking a glance at the empress .

“You don't have to worry about his status . ” The empress lay on a deck chair and sported a pair of sungla.s.ses while Qing Yuan and Hong Luan held a large imperial canopy to s.h.i.+eld her from the sun . There were also fruit and wine on the small round table beside her . If she were to change into a bikini, she would practically be sunbathing .

After hearing the empress's orders, Tong Lan grinned, revealing her two tiny canines . In a flash, she appeared above Ren Baqian, and her small fists smashed downward like the rain .

Ren Baqian squinted his eyes and fell several meters back .

“Could this be the legendary [Pegasus Meteor Fist] 1 that was lost long ago? I never expected this move to actually originate from the Tong family . ”

Tong Lan's vigor immediately came to a halt . She somersaulted in the air and landed on the ground before asking, “What [Pegasus Meteor Fist]?”

Ren Baqian then began to feel his vision turn dark . He lunged forward and launched a [Heart Killing Blade], an extremely vicious technique from the [Boxing of Death] .

At this moment, as he was using the [Heart Killing Blade], the muscles in his arms engorged and blue veins twined around the like dragons . The strike from his palms stirred up an intense screech through the air . It was as if the air was being cut up .

Lying not too far away, the empress nodded gently . There had actually been a slight improvement in Ren Baqian's technique . However, it was still too soft and not fast enough .

Tong Lan leaped up slightly and stepped on Ren Baqian's arm with one leg . He felt a great force pressing down on his arm, and with a gale heading straight for him, Tong Lan's kick followed through immediately .

The [Heart Killing Blade] was a move used for ripping the chest or throat apart . After all, the [Boxing of Death] was a fighting technique used in the army for killing their enemies, so its moves were simple .

With Tong Lan's leg stepping on Ren Baqian's arm, he wasn't able to perform any moves .

According to how it usually went, Tong Lan's kick would basically end the entire fight . Regardless of whether it was strength or speed, she had absolute dominance over him .

Little did she expect that Ren Baqian would immediately lie flat as if he had predicted her move beforehand . With both hands supported by the ground, he unexpectedly bent his waist at a 90 degree angle and wrapped his legs around Tong Lan's waist .

It would still be manageable for a lady to use this move, but for a man weighing 110 kilograms like Ren Baqian, it was rather taxing .

This was actually one of the simplest ground grappling moves that the empress taught from another set called the [Hunter Techniques] . When practicing the [Entangling Python], Ren Baqian had to aim for the waist, neck, or jaw . This was what he was actually doing right now .

Even though Tong Lan was a little surprised, she twisted her body in midair even with Ren Baqian's legs practically sticking to her . She then grabbed ahold of both of his legs and threw him to the ground, making a human-sized pit out of it .

Ren Baqian became dizzy after taking that throw . He stood up and shook his head before looking at Tong Lan with an odd expression .

“Your pants dropped . ”

“You really think I will believe you? This trick is obsolete!” Tong Lan complained and wriggled her nose before feeling a chill on her legs…

Ren Baqian looked at the little pair of underwear that was revealed after Tong Lan's pants dropped . They were the same type that Lin Qiaole always wore, something similar to that of a pair of safety shorts . After all, the women in this world often would perform many leg raising movements when fighting and even leap to high spots .

If she were to be like the ladies in ancient China, she would have been completely exposed .

Subconsciously, Ren Baqian turned and looked at the empress, only to see her holding her wine gla.s.s while looking back at him with a half smile . Her face was blus.h.i.+ng as well .

It seemed like it wasn't exactly brilliant to use this move against a ten year old lolita .

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! I'll fight it out with you!” Tong Lan screamed as if she had been molested, and her face blushed crimson like blood .

An hour later, Tong Lan stomped away, still panting in rage . Meanwhile, the area around Ren Baqian's eyes looked like those of a panda . Even though he had bruised black eyes, he had already achieved tremendous improvement this time around .

At least… Alright, even though he hadn't hurt Tong Lan, he managed to damage her waistband . Even if it was a result of her carelessness, this was still a big improvement for him .

“Your ground grappling move was executed pretty well . What about the other techniques?” The empress smiled .

“Still not perfect yet . Many of the moves simply challenge the limits of a human . ” Ren Baqian was also helpless . There were 13 moves in the [Hunter Techniques], but he could only perform two of them . There were five that he could barely execute, whereas he couldn't even perform the movements for the rest .

“This set of moves is only effective against humans . However, you aren't in the mountains currently, so you don't have to fight beasts . If you can master this set of [Hunter Techniques], you will more or less have the ability to defend yourself,” the empress replied dully .

Tong Lan was still panting in fury when she saw Ren Baqian in cla.s.s the next day .

Even though she was only a ten year old girl, she would remember an extremely humiliating event like dropping her pants for the rest of her life . Let alone that, she had been wearing striped underpants and actually let someone see her wearing them . This was simply a lifelong shame .

It didn't really matter to Ren Baqian . In any case, Tong Lan was angry most of the time .

After these two weeks, there was actually some progress in the students' steam train as well . They at least changed the single flywheel at the front to a double flywheel and a row of gradually smaller sized wheels at the back . They also wrapped the exterior with animal tendons that held all the wheels together, resembling the caterpillar tracks of tanks .

The positions of the linkages were also s.h.i.+fted to the inside .

They were only able to make such good progress after consulting a few craftsmen . However, they merely asked for guidance, and Ren Baqian personally saw them do the work with their own hands .

As such, Ren Baqian didn't mind that at all . In the end, it was impossible to expect the students to have the skills of the carpenters and blacksmiths . Also, even under the guidance of the craftsmen, most of the progress was made by the students' own efforts .

However, the problem that followed was that the output of the steam engine was unable to move the simple steam locomotive that was made from this type of wood .