Despite facing such a strike from Feng Jiang, Zhang Xuan showed no signs of wanting to dodge. Instead, he calmly placed his hands behind his back, as if opening himself up for Feng Jiang.
And just as the strike was about to connect, Zhang Xuan suddenly pouted and blew out lightly.
Hula!
His breath formed a surge of sword qi that, like a pin piercing a balloon, popped the ferocious might behind Feng Jiang’s attack, causing his energy to dissipate into the surroundings.
It was a rather bewildering maneuver that seemed to defy common sense.
Ding ding ding ding!
Alarmed, Feng Jiang immediately launched several other strikes to follow up, but the same thing happened again and again. It was like rain falling on an umbrella; no matter how Feng Jiang tried to attack, none of the attacks landed.
Instead, the dissipated energy from his offense caused a depression everywhere else except for a two meters radius where Zhang Xuan was standing.
Zhang Xuan walked in front silently amid Feng Jiang’s attack, undoing each and every strike of his with just a blow of his breath.
It was almost as if he was a tiger walking amid a pack of goats; it was very clear who the predator was and who the prey was.
Zhang Xuan glanced at Feng Jiuge and imparted his first teaching of the day. “No matter how powerful an attack is, as long as you are able to find its weakness, you will be able to overcome it easily. This applies to everything. Your opponent is rarely as frightening as you think.”
Then, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Xuan traversed across the uneven ground to appear around half a meter away from Feng Jiang.
On the other hand, Feng Jiang was already in full panic mode. He had not expected the other party to be so powerful that even his strongest attack was not doing a thing at all.
Seeing how the other party had managed to close the distance so easily, the flustered him immediately attempted to leap backward so as to distance himself from the other party. Yet, during his movements, his leg seemed to trip on something.
Peng!
Just like that, he fell to the ground and cloaked himself in a layer of dust.
The surroundings fell completely silent.
The spectators saw what happened clearly. Feng Jiang’s fall was caused by the young man stretching out his leg to trip him.
This was a very low-tier move that usually only happened in a scuffle among ordinary people. None of them would have imagined that they would see someone using such a move in a battle between two high-tier Celestial God, much less that it would actually be effective.
Knowing what everyone was thinking, Zhang Xuan chuckled softly as he said, “It’s foolish to rank maneuvers as if they belonged on a hierarchy. What works works.”
Under normal circumstances, such a simple move would not even work on a low-tier Celestial God, let alone Feng Jiang. However, as reality had shown, it turned out to be extraordinarily effective.
It was not that Zhang Xuan’s legs had some kind of magic that allowed them to trip anyone that he wanted to with perfect accuracy. However, it was simply the easiest maneuver to make for him to subdue his opponent in that context.
Feng Jiang’s offense had already been unraveled by him, and his mind had already been shaken, so he was in no state to keep tabs on his surroundings. Furthermore, they were in close proximity to one another.
All these conditions allowed Zhang Xuan’s simple maneuver to work with extraordinary effectiveness.
A duel was not just about who was stronger and faster, or else it would be nothing more than pitting numbers against one another.
“Did you learn anything from that?” Zhang Xuan asked as he calmly walked back to Feng Jiuge’s side.
Based on what he had seen thus far, the cultivators in the Firmament were simply too reliant on their cultivation, bloodlines, and battle techniques. They would release their zhenqi and create all sorts of hoo-ha in their battle.
It was true that putting on an imposing front would unnerve the opponent, but the key to winning a battle was not the flowery movements one made—it was one’s ability to take everything that was happening into account and react flexibly.
One could throw out a hundred punches in a second, but if none of them struck the opponent, it would be nothing more than a show. In fact, more often than not, the key to winning lay in just one good punch.
With quivering lips, Feng Jiuge nodded in a daze as he murmured, “I think I understand…”
He knew that his teacher would have to be in the top thirty of a Sky’s Board of Potential God Kings in order to obtain the Great Displacement Teleportation Formation, so it should not be too difficult for him to defeat Feng Jiang. However, he did not think that his teacher would actually be this powerful!
Then again…
It was one thing to be powerful, and it was another thing to make someone else powerful. He really could not imagine anything that his teacher could do to allow him to clear the Nine Phoenix Stellar Formation within just two hours.
“Is that so? What did you comprehend from that then?” Zhang Xuan asked.
Feng Jiuge pondered for a moment before replying, “A move is only strong if it lands on the opponent. Otherwise, it’s nothing more than a performance.”
“Indeed. Your understanding is spot-on,” Zhang Xuan replied with a nod.
He had noticed that Feng Jiuge was a smart person who could catch on quickly as long as one dropped some hints before him.
It was a pity that Feng Jiuge had wasted his last two years, but he was confident that the young man could swiftly surpass the others as long as he was given proper guidance.
It was for this reason that Zhang Xuan had dared claim that he would make Feng Jiuge strong enough to clear the trial within two hours.
He might not even need that long!
While Zhang Xuan was talking to Feng Jiuge, Feng Jiang rose to his feet and asked doubtfully, “Are you really a clan member from the side family?”
Even though he felt humiliated by the earlier display, he took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.
“Un!” Zhang Xuan nodded quietly. “If you don’t believe me, you can always check my bloodline!”
With the disguise amulet in hand, he was confident that he would be able to clear all sorts of checks with ease.
Feng Jiang assessed Zhang Xuan for a moment before turning his body around. “Wait there for a moment. I’ll report this matter and have the Nine Phoenix Stellar Formation prepared. Feng Jiuge has been expelled from the clan, so he must go through the trial in order to return. On the other hand, you are a member of the side family, so you need not undergo the trial…”
As long as members of the side family could reach a certain cultivation realm, they would be entitled to a chance to verify their bloodline.
Given how he was unable to defeat the other party, it was obvious that the other party had already met the minimum requirement.
Zhang Xuan nodded in response before turning his attention back to his disciple. “Alright, we should start on your training.”
Most likely, it should take at least two hours to prepare the Nine Phoenix Stellar Formation no matter how efficient the Inferno Phoenix Clan was. That was more than enough time for him to impart his combat insights to his new disciple.
Activating the Impartation of Heaven’s Will, Zhang Xuan began his lecture.
Initially, Feng Jiuge was still feeling very iffy about this entire matter, but as soon as he heard the first word, the anxiety in his heart vanished, and he found himself completely absorbed in the lecture.
The knowledge that his teacher was imparting to him was far more profound than what he had learned in the past. The more he learned, the more he realized how shallow his understanding of combat had been.
It was only when Feng Jiang returned once more that Feng Jiuge returned to his senses. By this moment, his anxiety had already been replaced entirely with anticipation. He was looking forward to testing what he had just learned.
It had not even been two hours yet, but his comprehension of combat and battle techniques had risen to a whole new level. In fact, when he looked back, he could not believe just how ignorant he had once been.
To be honest, he was not sure if he could clear the Nine Phoenix Stellar Formation in his current state, but he felt like he at least stood a chance.
“Thank you, Teacher!” Feng Jiuge kneeled to the ground yet again and kowtowed deeply.
He did not know how else he could thank his teacher other than that.
He felt like all the suffering he had gone through was worth it. It had allowed him to meet his teacher, and that was all that mattered.
In terms of comprehension of combat, he felt like the only one who could match his teacher was the old ancestor.
Meanwhile, Feng Jiang’s complexion turned a little awful when he saw how Feng Jiuge, a highly esteemed genius of the Inferno Phoenix Clan in the past, was kneeling and kowtowing to a member of the side family. But in the end, he chose not to say anything.
Instead, with a cold harrumph, he gestured for the two of them to follow him with a swerve of his head.
Following Feng Jiang, it did not take long for the two of them to arrive at the destination.
Right before them was a dueling ring sealed up tightly by dozens of massive phoenix sculptures.
Feng Jiang paused for a moment before speaking. “This is the training ground of our Inferno Phoenix Clan. The Nine Phoenix Stellar Formation has already been prepared, but it’s not too late if you wish to back down now… You won’t be able to turn back once we start the trial!”
While he harbored a deep grudge against Feng Jiuge, he did not hate him to the point that he wanted him to die.
“It’s fine. I have no plans of backing down after coming this far,” Feng Jiuge replied.
“Since you have made up your mind, let’s begin!”
Without any hesitation, Feng Jiang walked straight into the center of the dueling ring.
Weng!
With a slight buzz, the mist shrouding the dueling ring dissipated, revealing another eight figures within.
“Feng Xu, Feng Yuancheng, Feng Qingyan…”
Recognizing the people inside the dueling ring, Feng Jiuge clenched his fists tightly.
He had thought that he would only face opponents around Feng Jiang’s level, but it seemed like he had underestimated the trial.
With just a swift count, there were at least five cultivators in there who were even stronger than Feng Jiang!
How was he supposed to win this?
