On the square located along the perimeter of the mountain…
Shang Wu suddenly materialized in midair before falling heavily to the ground. He had just been teleported out of the mountain under the effects of a Teleportation Formation. He looked at the sky with a dazed look in his eyes, almost as if he was doubting his own existence.
He was a descendant of Ancient Sage Zi Xiu’s lineage, a genius blessed with great talents. He had to step over thousands of his peers in order to come to where he currently was, but after coming this far… even though he had collaborated with several others to gang up on someone weaker than him, he still ended up being eliminated so easily…
The thought of others mocking him for this failure was more than enough to make his entire body cringe in sheer embarrassment.
Struggling to his feet, he was just about to hide his face and leave silently when he heard a shocked voice exclaiming in the air, “Shang Wu, you have been eliminated too? I didn’t think that I would see you here…”
Following which, a figure walked over.
After catching a closer sight of the other party, Shang Wu was stunned for a moment before exclaiming as well, “Xi Yuan, what are you doing here?”
Xi Yuan was a descendant of Ancient Sage Zi Xi, as well as a good friend of Shang Wu’s. In terms of fighting prowess, they were a close match with one another, so they would frequently spar with one another.
It was already incredibly humiliating for him to be eliminated so swiftly into the examination, but who could have thought that his good friend would end up being eliminated even quicker than he did!
“Hai, let’s not talk about such depressing matters! I attacked someone weaker than me in hopes of raising his ranking, but who could have thought that the other party would end up sending me here…” Xi Yuan shook his head bitterly.
“You were also eliminated by someone weaker than you?” Shang Wu was stunned as a thought surfaced in his head. “May I know who that person is?”
“It’s embarrassing even just to talk about it. The other party is only at Saint 9-dan pinnacle, a huge gap away from matching you and me…” Xi Yuan’s face reddened in shame.
“He’s also a Saint 9-dan pinnacle cultivator too? Who is it?” Shang Wu asked anxiously.
“He’s… a descendant of Ancient Sage Zi Chi, Fan Xiaofeng!” Xi Yuan replied awkwardly.
“It really is him! I was eliminated by that fellow as well!” Shang Wu widened his eyes in disbelief.
“Wait a moment… You were eliminated by Fan Xiaofeng too?” Xi Yuan was stunned.
“Indeed! He fought against all twelve of us alone and ended up eliminating all of us…” Shang Wu explained agitatedly.
However, before he could finish his piece, another shocked exclamation sounded in the air.
“You were eliminated by Fan Xiaofeng too? What a coincidence! We were eliminated by him as well! He single-handedly sent the three of us out of the examination…”
Following which, four young ladies walked over.
“It really is a huge coincidence. It was the exact same for us too!”
Two young men and a young lady walked over.
“Oh? All of you were eliminated by Fan Xiaofeng? The same happened to us too. We were eliminated so tragically…”
Yet another five more youths walked over.
“Hey, you aren’t the most tragic ones, alright? Do you see Yan Yixiao and his group over there? It seems like he was eliminated by the descendants of Ancient Sage Zi Yuan too…”
A few more people walked over and joined in the conversation.
Watching as a huge crowd of similar ill-fated individuals gathered around him, Shang Wu’s lips twitched wildly.
It was just an instant, but the name ‘Fan Xiaofeng’ had already rallied more than forty people over. Shockingly, they were all eliminated by Fan Xiaofeng single-handedly!
Was there some kind of mistake here?
How could that fellow possibly not sustain any injuries or run out of zhenqi when he had fought with so many opponents already?
“There’s no need to feel down. Come, follow me!” a young man walked up to Shang Wu and consoled.
“Un!”
Recognizing the person standing before him to be Bo Xu from the lineage of Ancient Sage Zi Xu, Shang Wu nodded slightly before following behind the young man.
Bo Xu brought Shang Wu out of the crowd to another group of eliminated young men and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. We were eliminated by the descendants of Ancient Sage Zi Chi. May I know if…”
“Ah, what a coincidence! We were eliminated by the descendants of Ancient Sage Zi Chi too!”
“Me too!”
“Wow, we are comrades of the same plight… We really should get along well!”
A commotion flared up, and it took only an instant for the group to expand to dozens of people.
After which, Bo Xu brought Shang Wu away to approach yet another group, but before they could begin speaking, the other party had already begun speaking, “You are eliminated by Fan Xiaofeng too, right? It’s the same for us too!”
“…” Shang Wu.
At this moment, he really had no idea what to make of this peculiar situation.
“Everything, hear us! We wish to establish a ‘Fellowship of Examinees Eliminated by the Descendants of Ancient Sage Zi Chi’. Is there anyone who wishes to join us?” a voice echoed across the crowd.
“I wish to register!”
“Me too, me too!”
…
The invitation was met with popular response and voices of approval rippled across the crowd.
“…”
It was in this instant that Shang Wu suddenly felt that it wasn’t a humiliation that he was eliminated by the weaker Fan Xiaofeng. Instead, it felt like a symbol of honor, a mark that solidarity amongst him and the others!
…
“That’s all?”
Fan Xiaoxing stared at the impassive Fan Xiaofeng as he felt as if his notion of what ‘being powerful’ meant had just been refreshed.
If he had been the one who had fought against these twelve opponents, it was likely that he wouldn’t have even gotten a chance to flee. Yet, Fan Xiaofeng, who was at the same cultivation realm as him, actually defeated all of them with ease…
Just what in the world had the other party been through over the past hour for such a massive change to happen to him?
On the other hand, paying no heed to Fan Xiaoxing’s incredulity, Fan Xiaofeng walked up to Zhang Xuan and asked, “So… how did I do this time around?”
His eyes reflected deep nervousness reminiscent of a student facing his teacher after forgetting to complete his holiday assignment.
“How did you do?” Zhang Xuan’s eyes were filled with boredom as he waved his hands perfunctorily, “It’s so-so!”
He couldn’t even bother to comment on Fan Xiaofeng’s performance anymore.
After all of the pointers he had given and the battles that the other party had been through, this was all the other party could do? It was fortunate that he was adopting a persona at the moment or else he would have really died from embarrassment!
All of the disciples whom he, Zhang Xuan, had taught eventually became powerhouses who possessed extraordinary battle sense. However, the one standing before him was truly…
It was just a moment ago that he thought that the descendants of the Hundred Schools of Philosophers possessed superior intelligence, capable of comprehending and assimilating new knowledge swiftly… Yet, it was as if Fan Xiaofeng’s intelligence had turned against him! He was focusing too much of the trivialities that he was losing sight of what was important, causing his movements to lack spirit!
“I… I was wrong! I know that I didn’t do well for the earlier battle…” Sensing Zhang Xuan disappointment, Fan Xiaofeng hurriedly lowered his head and apologized with a trembling voice.
His accomplishments were all built upon the other party’s pointers. If the other party was no longer willing to teach him anymore, how was he going to climb to greater heights?
At the same time, Fan Xiaoxing clutched his hair as this seemingly ridiculous scene unfolded before his eyes. He found himself unable to catch up with the thought process of the other two at all!
“Can this even be called ‘didn’t do well’?” Zhang Xuan snapped. “Fine, I guess I’ll give you some leeway for your self-awareness! Earlier, for the third move that you executed after charging into the crowd, you could have used the Coupled Arm Fist to eliminate that red-robed young man with the least amount of effort. Why did you switch to the Startling Fronthand to attack that blue-robed young lady at the right instead? Do you know that you have wasted three whole moves due to the choice you have made? Think of the time you have wasted with that! If they had recovered during that period of time, you would have been dead before you even knew it! Also, for the kick earlier, you could have dodged it in advance too. Why did you catch it instead? Are you trying to show off that you are capable of defending yourself, or are you trying to flaunt the resilience of your scrawny body…”
As Zhang Xuan spoke, his fury seemed to build up even more and more, such that he ended up pointing out eight flaws in a single breath. Furthermore, every single one of these flaws pointed out were spot-on in the analysis.
“I…” Fan Xiaofeng was rendered speechless by the questions.
Everything had happened so quickly earlier, such that Fan Xiaofeng didn’t think that Fan Xiaoxu would have been able to remember every move and every flaw so clearly.
He was initially proud that he had managed to eliminate twelve people at once, but those words jolted him back to reality. He knew that he still had a long way to go before reaching the top. There was no pride in just being able to defeat weaklings!
Humility and low profile; that was the way to go!
“Xiaofeng was already so formidable in the battle, but Xiaoxu was still able to point out so many flaws in his movements. That eye of discernment is truly…” Fan Xiaoxing gulped down a mouthful of saliva.
It was at this instant that he felt that he had gotten a glimpse into the reason why Fan Xiaofeng was able to make such a huge progress within a short hour…
It turned out that everything was Fan Xiaoxu’s credit!
“Xiaoxu, can you teach me as well? I wish to become as powerful as Xiaofeng too…” Unable to stand it any longer, Fan Xiaoxing walked up to Zhang Xuan and clasped his fist earnestly, putting down the pride that he had shown previously.
