Emperor of The Cosmos Chapter 22 - Zheng Wenbing

In the exercise room at school, Jiang Li couldn’t help but be surrounded by students as he trained, like stars around the moon.
He had made himself a reputation after fighting on equal terms with Zhang Yue.
“Brother Jiang, since your physical capabilities have grown a lot recently, want to test how strong your punches are?” A male student flattered.
His name was Li Dong, with a life force of 0.8, which was considered outstanding in the class, top of the crop. However it paled in comparison to Jiang Li and Zhang Yue.
It used to be that many people wanted to suck up to Zhang Yue, however, Zhang Yue cared not for little characters, and Jiang Li was much more amiable and easy to approach.
“Ye Jiang Li, let’s test your physical capabilities.”
A few girls chimed in, chattering away.
Before, they would have paid no attention to Jiang Li, but now they had also crowded around him. Jiang Li recognized that power brought status.
Guo Meng also received attention, and felt great about himself.
“Ok, I’ll try it.”
Jiang Li walked in front of a measuring instrument.
It was as tall and wide as two people, with a sandbag connected to a holographic computer that could accurately calculate the force of a punch.
Hai!
Jiang Li was relaxed as he made a slashing gesture at the sandbag, creating air ripples. Halfway upon impact he formed a first at a speed that was visibly unfathomable. His hands struck the sandbag with great force.
“Fist Power: 0.8 tons!”
Numbers appeared on the holographic screen, with an A.I voice declaring the stats.
“Wow! 0.8 tons!” A girl started to scream.
“Zhang Yue only have 0.76 tons when he tested… So basically Jiang Li has surpassed Zhang Yue in terms of fist power?” Li Dong was shocked, but he didn’t show it. His suggestion to test Jiang Li’s power was to see how strong the latter had become, but he never thought it would exceed his expectations by this much.
A point to note was that Jiang Li had not used his legs to propel himself in the punch. If solely by fist he could reach 0.8 tons, it was scary to imagine what would happen if he had given it his all.
Jiang Tao could reach 0.9 tons. Jiang Li could easily as well, as long as he used his full power.
But this simple punch gained Jiang Li considerable prestige amongst the crowd.
It needed to be said that in the class of more than 4000 students, most only had a punching power of 0.4 tons. A few outstanding students could reach 0.5 tons. The results of countless tests were that no one had passed 0.5 tons yet.
Looking at the numbers, Jiang Li was pleased. It seemed that after the fight with Illusory Fox and training [Spiritual Emperor Seal], not only had his physical capabilities increased, but also his coordination as well. The next time he met Zhang Yue he would beat him to pulp.
“Strange, class captain Zhang Yue is not at class today?”
Many students wanted to see what would happen in the next confrontation between Jiang Li and Zhang Yue.
“Zhang Yue only befriends the school’s elites. He doesn’t bother with anyone with a life force below 0.9.”
“I reckon by the time exams come around, brother Jiang’s life force would be 0.9 for sure. He’d also be one of the school’s elites.”
“Zhang Yue will no longer be arrogant.”
Everyone gossiped.
“Let’s start training boys. Come ask for if you need any help or don’t understand something.’ Jiang Li was different to Zhang Yue. He was very friendly, and had a good relationship with others. He didn’t act haughtily, and thus after a few days he had become a leader in the class.
“Ok brother Jiang!”
“Brother Jiang is such a good friend! If other people bully our class, hopefully brother Jiang can flatten them out.”
“That’s right. Our class is quite weak amongst the cohort, and so we get bullied often. Zhang Yue didn’t care about us, but finally brother Jiang has come around.”
The girl’s buttered Jiang Li up.
“Bro, you’re quite successful right now,” Guo Meng walked towards Jiang Li and whispered. “I think a few chicks are interested in you. Getting them would be breeze. Wanna’ create an opportunity for your brother and leave me one? I feel so bad about the fact that I’m still single in year 12.”
“Kill yourself,” Jiang Li bantered. “Feeling bad? It’s the last year of high school. Work hard now. Once you get a good grade in the final exam the university chicks will be for your picking.
As they talked, all students were training in the room, using every ounce of energy and sweat to pound and fight.
Ping!
The door was kicked open, the sound carrying across the whole room. Every student looked towards the door.
A student appeared at the door. He was 1.9m in height, with a flawless stature. His handsome brows carried a sense of authority.
“It’s Yang Wu of Class A, with a life force of 0.9. He’s placed 37th in the school’s tests, even above Zhang Yue. What’s he doing in our class? Class A is known to be the strongest class in the cohort.”
Yang Wu was one of the strong men of the school. He exuded pressure as soon as he entered the room. The room quieted down, and no one knew what he was doing here.
“Who’s Jiang Li?”
Yang Wu raised his heads and scanned the area.
“Looking for me?” Jiang Li furrowed his brows, and took a step forward. “What’s up?”
“You’re Jiang Li?” Looking at the 1.8m Jiang Li, a look of disdain crossed Yang Wu’s eyes.
“Brother Bing wants to see you. Come with me.”
Jiang Li used to be 1.75m. After these few months of training, coupled with large amounts of nutrients and changing internal secretions, he had become a lot sturdier, stronger and taller. He was 1.8m right now, but was still a bit below Yang Wu’s 1.9m.
“Brother Bing?”
Jiang Li remembered that Brother Bing was famous in the school. The guy’s full name was Zheng Wenbing.
“What does he want with me?”
“Don’t ask. All you need to do is come with me.” Yang Wu gestured with his fingers. “I’ll take you to him.”
“Don’t go bro.” Guo Meng stepped up. “He might fuck you up. If you are going to go, the whole class will come. We won’t make it easy for other classes trying to bully us.”
“Ye Brother Jiang, we’ll come with you!” A few students yelled.
“No need, continue your training.” Jiang Li waved his hands. After confronting Illusory Fox, and the subsequent life and death struggle, he now looked at many things lightly. What could a few students do to him?
“Let’s go, show me the way.”
“Hm!” Yang Wu responded coldly and turned around. He did not care at all about the others in the class. In his eyes, those with a life force of below 0.9 were of similar status to dogs and cats. Two hundred years ago in the sovereign state era, students with good grades looked down upon those without, let alone now.
Back then good grades were only a superficial status. Now, good grades meant a strong life force, an elitist status.
Not long after, Jiang Li arrived at another building with Yang Wu. It was also a training room; however it was of a much higher grade. It had all types of equipment, and even had an A.I computer.
This was an A.I computer training room built by the school on purpose. It could conjure many types of environments for training. It costs 100 star coins per hour of training, equivalent to a month’s salary of Jiang Li’s parents. Only wealthy families could afford to train in it.
Yang Wu swiped his I.D, and the giant glass doors slid open. In the middle of the room there was an arena. On it, a student in white clothes was battling with many soldiers.
The soldiers were all computer projections, however they look completely real. Under the A.I their movements were lithe and fluid. One could even see facial expressions on them. They simulated elite soldiers that were adept in close combat. Though they were fake, if one was to stand face to face with them, killing intent could be felt.
The high grade A.I computer utilized many lasers to construct the artificial realm. The soldiers were all energy vessels that could bleed like real people if injured.
The initial artificial training constituted of chopping up glowing fruit that fell from the sky, honing one’s sword accuracy.
Now, artificial training meant lively vessels that had attacking power.
Ping…
The student in white suddenly leaped up, avoiding the attack of two soldiers. One punch knocked a soldier’s head clean off, with fake blood splattering, that disappeared after a while. Afterwards the student continued to evade attacks, punching here and there.
The student’s fists were like a hurricane, each containing a force of hundreds of kilograms. His speed was like the wind, his vigor like a tiger. More than ten soldiers were immediately torn apart.
Diiii…
The artificial environment disappeared.
Sou!
The student in white jumped off the arena, and a few nearby students hurriedly served up towels for him to wipe his sweat.
“Brother Bing, Jiang Li is here.”
“Yang Wu, indeed a good friend of mine.” The student in white was Zheng WenBing. Tall, and handsome, one could tell he was a fine man at first glance. He also possessed a natural imposing aura, and deducing from his battle with the artificial soldiers, his power and technique are at its peak.
The nearby students all had a life force of 0.8. There people were of normal household backgrounds, and thus were willing to be lackeys for Zheng Wenbing as they’d gain benefits.
But there was also another student nearby, also tall and handsome. However he acted distant, as if too prideful to interact with people. It was in fact Class Captain Zhang Yue.
Three outstanding characters of the school Zheng Wenbing, Yang Wu and Zhang Yue gathered together, staring down Jiang Li.
Of course, Zheng Wenbing was the centre of them all.
His family was the most powerful, and his own physical capabilities were crème de la crème. In last semester’s exams, his life force had already reached 0.98, a breadth away from 1.
Once you have a life force of 1, your status would change immeasurably. Not only could you do pretty much anything at school, you also possessed great status even in society.
The army, police and government bodies craved such students.
“It was easy, not worthy of praise,” Yang Wu nodded his head, and looked towards Jiang Li.
“Brother Bing is here, aren’t you going to send your greetings?”
“Everyone is a fellow student,” Jiang Li couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not like you’re a gang or anything, why would you need to be greeted? When did such rules apply in school?”
“Such reckless words,” A student sneered. “Brother Bing, want to bash him up first?”
Other students huddled in and glanced at Jiang Li was if he was prey. It seems it wasn’t the first time they had done something like this.
“You’re very brave.” Zheng Wenbing waved his hands, beckoning the others to stay put for now.
“Your brother Jiang Tao is strong, and looks down on me. But what are you relying on? Are you perhaps riding on your brother’s power and influence?”
“What do you want from me?” Jiang Li scanned the sides. He had been surrounded.
If it were his former self, he’d feel great pressure, but now he craved for battle. “Don’t tell me it’s about stopping Jiang Tap interacting with Yelanie Lu? I can’t control him, so finding me is useless.”
“Calling you here today is for you to help me do something,” Zheng Wenbing chucked aside the towel, “I have a packet of stuff here. When your family eats, put it inside Jiang Tao’s bowl. Afterwards I’ll give you 10,000 star coins! You have never seen so much star coins in your life, have you?”
“What, you want me to defile my brother?” Jiang Li had a weird expression on his face. Two hundred years ago in the 21st century, there had been cases of students that were jealous of another student’s accomplishments, and resorted to food poisoning. Zheng Wenbing was also attempting the same ploy here.
To think Zheng Wenbing would try to kill Jiang Tao just because he beat him in a fight.