Chapter 271: White belt vs. blue belt (1/2)

As Ben experienced his first blue belt class, the differences were apparent right away: the warm-ups were more intense, the lessons taught by Valentina more advanced, and the stares from the other blue belts—more aggressive...

Watching them, Ben shook his head with helplessness. 'It's only a matter of time before these fools run into my windmill hands…Should I play it by the book?' He was considering a stratagem he'd run into before: to feign softness, so he could faceslap with hardness…

48th stratagem of web novels: Play the pig to eat the tiger.

After thinking about it though, Ben chose not to go this route. His palms needed a rest too…

However, even if he didn't want to use the trope, that didn't mean others wouldn't force him to. As the teaching portion of the class ended and the time for paired practice arrived, when a dozen blue belts approached Ben, he looked at the ceiling and sighed. 'Daddies, forgive them…they know not what they do…'

Besides for offering a prayer for them though, from Ben himself, there would be no forgiveness. Despite not desiring this, he wouldn't go easy on someone if they provoked him. That's because this was another of the great stratagems, one he wouldn't shy away from on this occasion.

55th stratagem of web novels: To create constant conflict, one should murder or at least cripple everyone who so much as farts in your direction.

...

He'd go with the classic approach this time, because he was unwilling to allow these blue belts to ninja-dust him...

So when the first one arrived, Ben wasn't planning to hold back, and it's too bad for the opponent, that such a serious attitude was only present in one of them. Thinking Ben would be easy to solve, the blue belt relaxed, allowing the rookie to launch the starting attack. Yet, when Ben came at him, the difference in strength was clear as soon as they made contact, as Ben threw the blue belt's arms to the side, and proceeded to secure a dominant position laying on top of him.

Things only became worse for the blue belt though. Before he was able to adjust, Ben slapped on a choke, and a few seconds later...

*Tap* *Tap*

Ben didn't even have to use soul attacks on him. It was that easy. With the combination of being one of the weakest blue belts in the gym and underestimating Ben, his opponent never stood a chance.