Emily Bolton's expression turned serious: "I'm being serious, no joking around!" Instantly, the whole classroom quieted down. She really had presence, and everyone was convinced.

Emily Bolton stepped onto the podium. Her Mandarin was both crisp and clear, and James Carter found it pleasant to the ear. "It's about the Taekwondo club." As soon as she finished speaking, James Carter's eyes lit up. At that moment, a man and a woman entered through the door. The man was about 1.8 meters tall, looking like a basketball player, but now he was dressed in a spotless Taekwondo uniform. With thick eyebrows and big eyes, he was half handsome, half dignified. The girl was dressed the same, exuding a heroic and spirited aura—definitely the type to turn heads.

"To be honest, training uniforms really aren't as good-looking as Taekwondo uniforms. It's all the Qing dynasty's fault!"

It turns out that the current Chinese martial arts training uniforms aren't Hanfu, but were adapted from Manchu clothing after the Qing entered China and cultures merged. Those long centipede buttons—just missing the horse-hoof sleeves to look like a servant's outfit. Normally, the sleeves are rolled up, but when meeting the master, they'd quickly snap them down with a couple of slaps, kneel, and say, "Your servant is here!" or "Zha!"

James Carter thought about it and suddenly got goosebumps all over. He decided that from now on, he wouldn't wear the training uniform when practicing Iron Sand Palm.

Suddenly, he saw the girl glance at him, nod, and smile. James Carter was taken aback, feeling a sense of familiarity: "So that's who it is—my neighbor!" It turned out to be the senior who had knocked on his door and caused trouble that morning. But that senior could never have imagined that in just half a day, James Carter would already be carrying a murder case on his back.

"Oh, these two are the vice presidents of the school's Taekwondo club. This is Charles Bennett." Seeing the man and woman enter, Emily Bolton quickly greeted them. After shaking hands, the three of them stood on the podium. James Carter noticed that the students below were all staring at the front like hungry monkeys.

Before Emily Bolton could finish, the man cut in: "Charles Bennett, third-degree black belt in Taekwondo." After speaking, he bent at the waist and bowed to the audience.

This Charles Bennett was extremely polite and impeccable in manner, but for some reason, James Carter was reminded again of those horse-hoof sleeves and the image of "Your servant is here!" "Zha!" The goosebumps that had just faded came back all over his body.

Chapter 006: The Founder Possesses Me

Bang! A solid wooden board, three centimeters thick, was chopped in half by Charles Bennett. With a reverse kick, another board was split into two pieces. The two students holding the boards, wearing chest protectors, were knocked back by the force and fell onto the foam mats. Charles Bennett stood barefoot, smoothly retracting his leg and striking a dashing pose. A chorus of "Ah!" erupted from all around in amazement! Even Emily Bolton and Grace Turner, the two beauties, nodded in secret approval. James Carter noticed that in Emily Bolton, the class monitor's eyes, there was clearly a look of admiration.

"Well, every inch has its strengths, every foot its weaknesses. Martial arts have countless routines, profound and intricate. Only with great effort can one achieve anything, often after ten years or more of hard training, and even then, only a little progress is made. Ordinary people don't have that kind of dedication. If you only learn the superficial routines, martial arts become nothing more than a performance—good to watch, but useless in a real fight. Taekwondo is simple and easy to learn, and its moves are quite powerful. No wonder it's become so popular."

When James Carter joined the club, he saw Charles Bennett perform several sets of moves. Although they couldn't compare to his own Iron Sand Palm, they were still practical. With a year or two of hard training, if you ran into a few thugs on the street, you wouldn't panic.

Of course, that's assuming those thugs don't use tricks like throwing lime powder, chili powder, splashing acid, sneak attacks, setting up ambushes, or wielding machetes. If they suddenly pulled those moves, even James Carter would be wary. If three or four people threw lime or acid at you, not even Iron Sand Palm—or even Bronze Sand Palm—could withstand it.

Needless to say, Charles Bennett and Lily Turner were there to recruit new members. Every club at school had expenses, so they naturally needed to collect membership fees to cover costs. The two solid wooden boards that Charles Bennett just broke probably cost forty or fifty yuan, by James Carter's estimate.

But as the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child, and you can't catch a hooligan without risking your wife. If you want new members to pay, you have to put on a show and impress them. Otherwise, people wouldn't be willing to pay to learn. Of course, there were plenty of beautiful girls learning Taekwondo—not only is it good for fitness, but the uniform really does look sharp and heroic. This also attracted a large group of guys. As soon as Lily Turner spoke, the girls in the class responded immediately, and seeing that, the boys all eagerly joined in. The atmosphere became lively, and almost everyone signed up.

Freshmen still hadn't outgrown their childishness.

Besides, attraction between the sexes is only natural. Even James Carter couldn't help but have a little bit of that thought.

Lily Turner, that exceptionally straightforward senior, had only met James Carter once and exchanged a few words, but she had already left an impression on him. Plus, since they were neighbors, there were more chances to talk. Hearing that James Carter had learned martial arts, she wanted to see for herself, so on the way to the club, the two of them chatted quite a bit, making a lot of the guys envious.