That was impossible!
There were only five rounds for the selection, and every single round was of utmost importance. This concerned whether one would obtain the final slot or not. Even if Ruohuan gongzi knew that he would pass the selection round for sure, he couldn’t possibly be content with being in second place.
After all, the ultimate goal was the Master Teacher Tournament. If he couldn’t even be the champion for a selection round, how could he possibly fare well in the tournament?
Amidst perplexed gazes, Ruohuan gongzi walked up to Zhang Xuan with a smile and said, “It’s your turn…”
Only then did everyone realize that it was Zhang shi’s turn.
“To be recommended so strongly by Su shi and Ling shi, he must possess some outstanding capability!”
“Look at his age, how capable can he be? I worry whether that fellow can survive until the end of the melody or not!”
“If he can’t even withstand it until the end, it would indeed be embarrassing!”
“Indeed!”
…
Seeing that it was Zhang shi’s turn, everyone tore their gazes away from Ruohuan gongzi onto the new contender.
In truth, they were rather curious about this mysterious young man.
To come late even for an event as important as the selection round, was he truly that confident or was it just plain arrogance?
Ignoring the glee on Ruohuan gongzi’s face, Zhang Xuan stepped forward and picked up the formation plate.
Even though he was a quasi 4-star formation master, the only blank formation plate he had come into contact with was the grade-5 formation plate which he inscribed into a Spirit Gathering Formation. This was his first time seeing such a low-grade formation plate.
Holding it in his hand, he could clearly feel that the material was much softer than a grade-5 formation plate. Clearly, the quality of the material was at completely different levels.
Walking over to the location where the previous competitors sat down earlier, Zhang Xuan scanned the surroundings for a moment and did a quick mental calculation. Then, scratching his head, he asked sheepishly, “I apologize but can I affix this formation plate on the wall?”
“Affix?”
Elder Wu was taken aback. “As long as it’s convenient for you, feel free!”
The main point of the test was to test one’s resilience under the onslaught of the Demonic Tune of Psychosis. The formation plate was just a means to gauge one’s consciousness. Whether it was affixed onto the wall or within one’s hand, it didn’t make a difference at all.
“Thank you!”
Receiving the other party’s agreement, Zhang Xuan took in a deep breath and flicked his wrist.
Hong long!
The blank formation plate was fixed onto the wall not too far away.
“I’m ready, let’s begin!” Zhang Xuan clapped his hands.
“What is he doing?”
“I’ve no idea. Shouldn’t he hold the formation plate in his hand to inscribe it better? What is he doing by affixing it onto the wall?”
“I don’t know either…”
The crowd didn’t expect Zhang Xuan to throw the formation plate straight at the wall. None of them had ever seen someone inscribing a formation plate like that!
Besides, the wall was three to four meters away from the seat. Could his carving knife even reach the formation plate?
Everyone stared at one another in confusion.
“What in the world… is this fellow thinking?”
Ruohuan gongzi and Fu Xiaochen stared at one another in bewilderment.
Only by holding the formation plate in one’s hand could one control his strength better to carve thin lines of equal depth. To smash the formation plate into the wall… Could this be the other party’s way of declaring his loss?
“Ready?” Elder Wu’s mouth twitched. “You do know that for the sake of fairness, you can only stand there, right?”
The previous five had sat on the same position on the test. If this fellow were to walk to the wall, he would be cast under the doubt of cheating.
“I know!” Zhang Xuan smiled.
“Then… Since your carving knife cannot reach the wall, how do you intend to carve the formation plate?” Elder Wu asked.
Everyone carried the same doubt as well.
A carving knife’s length was only half a chi (16.6cm) long whereas it was a distance of four meters to the wall… No matter how long one’s arm could stretch, one couldn’t possibly cover that distance!
If one’s carving knife couldn’t even reach the formation plate, how could one possibly inscribe anything on it?
Pavilion Master Kang, Elder Su, and Elder Ling stared at one another in doubt as well.
The trio knew that Zhang shi was a man of great capability, so it was unlikely for him to be fooling around… But this sight still left them completely bewildered. They couldn’t fathom what the other party was trying to do at all.
“Oh, I’m not going to use a carving knife. I’m using this instead!”
Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out a spear.
A grade-5 formation plate needed a Spirit intermediate-tier weapon to carve on it but a grade-3 formation plate had no such requirement.
A Phantom pinnacle weapon would be more than sufficient to leave a mark on it, and this spear happened to be of that level.
The spear was already more than three meters in length. Taking into account the length of Zhang Xuan’s arm as well, he could easily cover the distance to the formation plate.
“Did he just say that… he is using a spear to carve the formation plate?”
“Am I seeing things?”
“The heck, is there something wrong with that fellow’s head?! It is easy to err even with a carving knife, and yet, he wants to use a spear… Can that toy even be used to carve a formation plate?”
“I’ve no idea at all…”
…
Seeing the young man take out a spear, everyone nearly spurted a mouthful of blood.
Using a spear to carve a formation plate? What the heck was going on?
Never in their lives had they stumble across such a ridiculous notion!
Ruohuan gongzi, Fu Xiaochen, and the others found their mouths twitching violently, and their eyes nearly popped to the floor.
Su shi and Ling shi trembled violently and their vision went dark.
They knew that this fellow wasn’t one to follow conventions but this… Wasn’t this too freaking unconventional?
Using a spear to inscribe?
Can you be even more exaggerated than that? I dare you to be even more ridiculous than that!
With a spear in his hands, Zhang Xuan looked like an undefeatable war god. Ignoring the doubtful gazes of the crowd, Zhang Xuan turned to Elder Wu and said, “Let’s begin!”
“Since you insist on it… Alright then!”
Wiping away the sweat on his forehead, Elder Wu nodded in agreement.
Since the other party insisted on it, he had no other choice as well.
Tzing!
Plucking the string of the zither, the Demonic Tune of Psychosis sounded once more.
Zhang Xuan immediately felt a violent aura gushing at him, stimulating his soul, threatening to tear his head apart.
“It’s exactly as I inferred!”
The bizarre energy kept striking at Zhang Xuan’s consciousness, leaving him faint-headed. It was completely different to when he’d listened to it previously. Zhang Xuan couldn’t help but shake his head.
When listening from outside, Zhang Xuan could only hear the music—he couldn’t sense the violent aura at all. On the other hand, from his current location, he felt like a boat in the midst of a storm. No matter how he struggled, he seemed to be unable to avoid his ultimate fate of drowning in the whirlpool.
It was no wonder why Ruohuan gongzi, Feng Mosheng, and the others looked so worn out when they were challenging the test previously. Indeed, no occupation of the Nine Paths was ordinary.
“If we view the world with humility, there’s much that is to be learned!”
Knowing that he might be forced mad if he were to withstand it forcefully, he immediately drove his Soul Depth of 14.1.
Weng!
Vanquishing Facade, Lucid Mind!
Upon reaching this state, one could find order amidst chaos. One’s mind would become clearer, making it much easier to analyze matters.
Driving his Soul Depth, Zhang Xuan immediately felt the violent aura stimulating his soul previously dampening to the point that he could hardly feel it at all.
“This Elder Wu’s Soul Depth is around the same level as me. Even though his Demonic Tune of Psychosis is impressive, it doesn’t have much of a use on me!”
Looking around, he saw that the other party’s melody had yet to stop. Clearly, it wasn’t that the other party was going easy on him but that the other party’s ability was no longer effective on him.
Zhang Xuan’s Soul Depth was on par with a 4-star pinnacle master teacher. He didn’t even lose out much in comparison to Pavilion Master Kang. No matter how formidable Elder Wu was, he could only be equal to him!
Besides, Zhang Xuan was a soul oracle on top of that. The resilience of his soul was far greater than that of ordinary cultivators. It was impossible for a Demonic Tune of Psychosis to subdue him.
“Time to start!”
Knowing that the melody was ineffective on him, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and the spear immediately exuded a radiant white glow and flew at the formation plate affixed on the wall.
Ding!
The collision between the spear and the formation plate created a crisp sound. It wasn’t loud, but as though the chiming of a bell, it resounded in one’s heart.
Affected by the sound, Elder Wu’s zither couldn’t help but fall into a temporary state of chaos. However, it didn’t take long for him to recover, and the melody began flowing smoothly once more.
Ding!
However, the crisp sound echoed once more accurately during a moment of weakness of the melody. Under the influence of the sound, the smooth melody fell into chaos once more.
“Hmm?”
With a grim expression, Elder Wu’s eyebrows shot up.
It might have been a coincidence the first time, but it was impossible for such coincidences to happen twice.
The two strikes of the spear occurred at the instant when the old tune had faded and a new tune was in the midst of being produced. Not only did it break the flow of the music, even Elder Wu’s zhenqi, under the other party’s disturbances, began to flow erratically.
A demonic tunist uses his own zhenqi to convert them into notes to attack another. Interrupting his melody means to interrupt his flow of zhenqi. If this goes on, not only would Elder Wu be unable to finish his melody, he might even be severely wounded due to the disturbance in his zhenqi.
Hu!
With a grim expression, Elder Wu stood up. With his both hands moving quickly about the zither, he drove his zhenqi to the maximum and the melody crescendoed.
Seemingly pressured by the other party’s sudden movements, the clash between the spear and the formation plate also hastened.
Ding ding ding ding!
The crisp sound produced by the spear and the formation plate sounded like a dissonance, but nevertheless, it struck accurately during the weak points of the Demonic Tune of Psychosis.
“Something is wrong!”
Despite exerting his full strength, the other party was still able to strike accurately at his brief windows of weakness. This showed that the other party wasn’t striking randomly but that he intended to pit it out with him!
“Humph! I don’t believe that I can’t even subdue a Transcendent Mortal 1-dan pinnacle cultivator like you!”
Having been interrupted by the other party consecutively, Elder Wu felt a stifled sensation on his chest. Harrumphing forcefully, Elder Wu drove his zhenqi even harder, and it seemed as though steam was pouring out from his head. In that instant, his might reached a maximum.
Hong long!
Under the violent clash of energy, the table beneath the zither burst apart.
However, expecting such a situation, Elder Wu used his leg to hook the zither up and embraced it with his left hand while playing it with his right. The melody didn’t stop in the midst of this hiccup at all.
Ding ding ding ding!
Similarly, the sounds of collision between the spear and the formation plate didn’t stop either. On the contrary, it grew louder and louder, leaving one feeling immensely pressured.
If the melody Elder Wu’s zither was relentless waves, then the crisp sound Zhang Xuan produced would be a huge tornado that blew away everything in its path! No matter how huge a wave was, it couldn’t possibly fight against something a tornado!
“Damn it!”
With a pale face, Elder Wu’s right hand swiftly moved around the zither, producing a consistent melody. Due to his zhenqi flowing too fast, a sound reminiscent to the rumbling of the thunder could be heard in the hall.
At the same time, he was swiftly moving about using a unique footwork technique.
Ancient Zither Eight Trigram Steps!
Through this unique footwork, he created a formation that complemented with the zither, thus causing the prowess of the Demonic Tune of Psychosis to increase by twofold in an instant.
Bonus chapter of the week~
