“Alright, we will end the lessons here. Everyone, remember to try to comprehend the contents of this lesson when you get back. If there is anything you are unsure of, you can come over to me to clarify it!”
Zhang Xuan gestured.
“Yes!” The five students answered in chorus before leaving the classroom.
They didn’t spend a long time immersed in the lesson and there were even a couple of times where someone barged in to create trouble, but they still benefited greatly from it. It could even be said that if they were to persist on to try to comprehend what was taught, their cultivation would surely rise by leaps and bounds.
The five of them left the room excitedly. The moment Wang Ying walked out, her elder brother, Wang Tao, grabbed her.
“Go, let’s return back to our clan!”
“Return back to our clan? Big brother, why must we return…” Wang Ying was taken aback.
“Hmph, you refused to listen to the words of your elder brother and chose to acknowledge the worst teacher in the academy as your teacher. I have already reported this matter to father and he says that he would like to talk to you personally!” Wang Tao harrumphed.
The first time he entered the classroom, he was thrown out. The second time, he returned without accomplishing anything. Judging from the expression on his younger sister, he knew that he would be unable to convince her to change her mind. Thus, he sent Old Liu back to inform the clan of the matter.
He intended to get their father to persuade her.
His younger sister’s personality might be pure and innocent, but she still listened rather obediently to the words of their father.
“Father…” Fright could be seen on Wang Ying’s face.
Their father was the current clan head of the Wang Clan, Wang Hong!
He was a very strict person who rarely smiles, even his children tremble before his presence.
“Zhang Xuan laoshi actually isn’t the way that you all put him out to be. His lectures are very good…”
Wang Ying tried to retort.
“Hmph, say those words to father and see if he believes it!” Wang Tao waved his hand and without a second word, he pulled his younger sister out of the academy.
Hongtian Academy and the Wang Clan are both in Tianxuan City and they weren’t too far apart from one another. In a short moment, the two siblings reached their destination and Wang Tao pulled Wang Ying to their father’s study.
“Enter!”
The cold and strict voice of clan head Wang Hong sounded out.
“Yes!” Wang Ying tremored from fright upon hearing that voice. Clenching her jaws, she followed closely behind her elder brother into the room.
In the study, clan head Wang Hong was sitting at the utmost center of the room. The few sitting behind him were the influential elders within the clan. There was also one youth who was sitting by the side.
Wang Ying recognized the youth as the grandson of the 2nd Elder, Wang Yan.
She went to the Hongtian Academy at the same time as Wang Yan. In the end, the latter managed to acknowledge the renowned Lu Xun laoshi as his teacher whereas she acknowledged the academy’s worst reputed teacher Zhang Xuan…
“Father!” The tense atmosphere in the study made Wang Ying dare not to breathe heavily.
“Kneel down!”
Clan head Wang Hong’s face darkened.
The teacher played an utmost role on one’s route of cultivation. Before entering the academy, he had reminded her time and time again to acknowledge Lu Xun as her teacher. Yet, this lass…
[Why can’t you acknowledge anyone else?
Why must you choose the worst one in the whole academy?]
When he heard that news, he almost died from sheer anger.
Putong!
Wang Ying shivered as she knelt down.
“Do you admit your mistake?” Wang Hong asked coldly.
“I…”
“Hmph, acknowledging one’s teacher should be based on an individual’s free will, so I didn’t want to say too much about it, but are you unaware of the standards of this Zhang Xuan laoshi? The one who scored the worst for the Teacher Qualification Examination and even left a student berserk. Does someone like that have the qualifications to become your teacher?” Clan head Wang Hong said with a grave expression on his face. “If you were unaware of the situation and were deceived by him, I would still turn a blind eye to it, but why didn’t you listen to your brother’s words? I heard that your elder brother asked you to withdraw from his lessons, but you refuted him? What are you trying to do?”
Clan head Wang Hong’s voice became louder and louder, to the point that the study tremored with creaking noises.
“I…” Hearing the reprimand of her father, Wang Ying’s face turned red before she gritted her jade teeth and said, “Father, Zhang Xuan laoshi isn’t as bad as the rumors put him out to be. He is a talented teacher, just that he keeps a low profile. I want to be under his tutelage, I will not withdraw from his lessons!”
She benefited greatly from just a single lesson. Wang Ying knew that coming under the tutelage of Zhang Xuan was an opportunity for her. If she were to miss this chance, she would definitely regret it for the rest of her life.
“A talented teacher? Haha, a fellow who scored a zero in the Teacher Qualification Examination?”
“Wang Ying, you should listen to the advice of the clan head, don’t be deceived by that Zhang Xuan!”
“You should learn from Wang Yan. He might have only gone on one lesson, but his strength has already increased by 40%. The guidance of Lu Xun laoshi is definitely top-notch in the entire academy!”
…
Hearing the words of the young lady, the other elders laughed as they shook their head.
[There isn’t a single person in Tianxuan City who is unaware of Zhang Xuan’s reputation. Yet, you say that he is a talented teacher… What kind of joke is this!]
“You…” Hearing the words of his daughter, clan head Wang Hong was incensed, “I don’t care what you say, you have to withdraw from his lessons today! Otherwise, don’t even think about stepping into this house ever again!”
“I don’t agree with your decision!” Wang Ying might seem weak, but she had a stubborn temperament. She stood up and said indignantly, “You all have never listened into Zhang Xuan laoshi‘s lessons, so what rights do you all have to say that his lessons are sub par? What rights do you all have to force me to withdraw from his lessons?”
“We might not have listened into his lessons before, but do you think it is possible for his reputation and Teacher Qualification Examination results to be falsified?” An elder replied.
“Wang Ying xiaojie, stop being stubborn. There are so many students who can testify for whether his lessons are good or not. Do you think that you are the only smart one of the bunch?” Another elder stated.
“I don’t know whether the Teacher Qualification Examination results are falsified or not, but I know that he has treated my legs and gave me pointers for my cultivation. I can easily execute a might that is one-fold greater than previously!” Wang Ying declared.
“Treated your legs? What kind of joke is this!”
“Even Master Yuanyu is unable to do anything about your legs. Yet, you claim that a fellow who scored zero for the Teacher Qualification Examination is able to treat it?”
“Wang Ying xiaojie, even if you wish to lie in his stead, you should say something that is more believable…”
Everyone in the clan was aware of Wang Ying’s leg injury. Hearing her words, a few of the elders scoffed coldly.
“If you all don’t believe me, I will prove it to you all!”
Seeing the looks of disbelief on the elders’ faces, Wang Ying didn’t continue arguing and instead, walked over to the Strength Measuring Rock Pillar and sent a kick towards it.
Peng!
The rock pillar shook and a string of numbers appeared.
205!
“What?”
Seeing this sight, clan head Wang Hong’s eyes narrowed subconsciously.
The few elders who were reprimanding Wang Ying a moment ago were also taken aback as their lips trembled from shock.
The few elders here had specially looked into the injury of Wang Ying’s legs and had deduced that it was impossible to treat it. They concluded that it would be impossible to exert strength in them and just the fact that she was able to walk normally was already a blessing.
Yet, to wield 205kg behind such legs?
How… How was this possible?
After kicking the pillar, Wang Ying didn’t stop. She turned around and struck on the pillar with a fist.
Weng!
Numbers displayed on the rock pillar.
120!
A force of 120kg behind her fists!
“You… You’re still Juxi realm primary stage. I thought you were only able to hit 53kg when you left yesterday? How could it be possible for you to hit… 120kg?” Clan head Wang Hong abruptly stood up as his voice quivered in agitation.
Fighter 1-dan Juxi realm, cultivators would learn innate breathing and sensing of spirit in the air. Also, they would gain the ability to look into their body and control the flow of spirit energy in their body with their mind.
They would have a strength of 50kg in their primary stage, 70kg in the intermediate stage, 90kg in the advanced stage and 110kg at the pinnacle.
This was the mass that a cultivator would be able to carry with their present strength. It was normal for the strength behind their fist to be slightly lower or higher than the strength attributed to their level of cultivation.
Normally, it would already be incredible to achieve an increase of 20% to 30% around that level. Even for a renowned teacher like Lu Xun, he could only induce an improvement of 40%!
Despite not breaking through in her cultivation, being still in Juxi realm primary stage, she was able to hit with a force of 120kg, even stronger than someone at Juxi realm pinnacle! This meant that her strength enhancement was greater than a single fold, that was too formidable!
“I only improved to such an extent due to Zhang Xuan laoshi‘s guidance!” After hitting the pillar, Wang Ying stopped and declared calmly.
“With just a slight pointer, he is able to induce such a great improvement? Furthermore… treating your legs as well?”
Clan leader Wang Hong was in a state of disbelief. In a few short steps, he walked to the front of his daughter. With a single look, he immediately understood that his daughter’s legs were truly cured!
As the worst teacher in the entire academy, not only was he able to treat an injury Master Yuanyu was unable to cure, he was even able to induce a massive improvement through a short moment of guidance. Was this for real?
“Can you tell us a little about the contents of the lessons he went through today? What did he talk about?”
After a short period of shock, clan head Wang Hong couldn’t resist asking.
“Alright. Today, Zhang laoshi talked about cultivation technique. However, as what he talked about was too profound, I could only remember less than a tenth of it. This is what he said…”
After hesitating for a moment, she mentioned everything that she recalled in her mind.
“Gathering one’s breath and nourishing it… To think that there would be such a profound theory behind a simple Juxi realm!”
“This… is too incredible. If only I had undergone such lessons back then, I wouldn’t be stuck in such a realm, unable to advance ahead!”
“This is truly the theory derived from a true master. I am enlightened…”
…
Just by repeating a few sentences, the clan head and the elders in the room seemed to have gone into a daze, as though they were drunk on those words, on the verge of going frenzied.
To be able to become the clan head and an elder of a prestigious clan, they all possess high levels of cultivation, even the weakest of them are Fighter 6-dan Pixue realm experts.
After cultivating for so many years, they have a higher level of enlightenment towards cultivation and they understood much more about it.
Although Wang Ying was only reciting those words without understanding the underlying theories behind them, to them, those words were no different from the voice of god. It solved many of the mysteries that they were unable to decipher before in an instant and they felt refreshed.
“He… He is truly a master… No, not even a master is able to explain such profound and mystical theories!” Clan head Wang Hong’s eyes radiated a bright light and his breath quickened in agitation.
“Father, father?”
Seeing her father on the verge of going into a frenzy, Wang Ying tried to pull him back.
“Ah? Ying-er, you must not withdraw from this Zhang laoshi‘s lesson at all cost! You must learn from him diligently…” After clan head Wang Hong’s consciousness was pulled back from a mystical realm, he looked at Wang Ying with a solemn expression and said.
“But father, you just said that…” She didn’t expect that her father, who tended to be conservative, would change his mind so quickly, to the extent that she was unable to adapt to it on the spot.
“Father didn’t know that Zhang laoshi would be so incredible! Oh, right…”
At this point, clan head Wang Hong’s face had traces of excitement and anticipation on his face as he asked, “Ying-er, can you ask your Zhang laoshi… whether he is still accepting student? Let Wang Yan and Tao-er learn from him as well… Actually, why don’t I become his student as well…”
“Clan head, as the leader of the Wang Clan, how could you become the student of the low-level teacher in the academy? If word were to spread, how can our Wang Clan continue to uphold our dignity in Tianxuan City?”
Before clan head Wang Hong could finish his words, he was interrupted by the words of another elder. After reprimanding the clan head, the elder turned over with a bundle of smiles and said, “Look, I am only a normal elder and I don’t represent the image of the Wang Clan. If it is still unacceptable, I can even resign from my position of an elder. So, can you all help me ask him if I am able to acknowledge him as my teacher?”
“…” Wang Tao, Wang Ying and Wang Yan.
“…” Clan head Wang Hong.
——
Ying-er, Tao-er
Adding -er after someone’s name is an intimate way to address one’s sons and daughters, sometimes even close nephews etc.
