After confirming the matter with the other party, Zhang Xuan turned to Zhao Bingxu and instructed, “School Head Zhao, make some preparations. We shall construct a flying ship for our academy.”
Zhao Bingxu nodded.
The construction of a flying ship was a huge project, but there were tens of thousands of students in the Blacksmith School. With all of them working simultaneously, it wouldn’t take too long to finish it. The only reason Hongyuan still didn’t have one to date was due to their lack of saint beasts to drive it.
However, having tamed the nine kings of the Cloudmist Ridge, as well as many other Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts, they had sufficient beastpower to drive the flying ship.
Since Zhang Xuan intended to take the members of the Xuanxuan Faction to Qingyuan Empire to conduct an exchange with the Combat Master Hall, it was infeasible to fly them over on spirit beasts. Who knew how many trips it would take to fly them there and back? If they could obtain a flying ship, that would make things much easier.
After settling the matter, the crowd chatted for a moment longer.
“Firesource City is around a week’s journey away from here. The ancient domain hasn’t opened yet, and there is no point in us arriving there too early either. Since that’s the case, why don’t we make our own preparations within this period of time and meet up at Firesource City when the time comes?” Wu shi proposed.
“That’s a good idea!”
Voices of approval sounded among the crowd.
Not only was it pointless for them to arrive at Firesource City earlier, they might also catch the attention of the Otherworldly Demons and prompt them to prepare in advance to deal with them, thus resulting in unneeded trouble.
“Alright then, we will take our leave first.”
After saying so, Wu shi and Mu shi left the assembly room.
As the other academies were too far away, Wo Tianqiong and the others decided to remain in Hongyuan for the time being.
After arranging for School Head Mo to take good care of them, Zhang Xuan beckoned for Liao Song, Zhuo Qingfeng, and the other combat masters to gather before bringing them to the Xuanxuan Faction headquarters.
Before even arriving at their destination, they could already see plenty of people cultivating and practicing their battle techniques by the side.
With just a look, rage bubbled within Zhang Xuan, and his face darkened in anger. Unable to take it any longer, he roared furiously, “Stop whatever you are doing and come over! What in the world are you all doing?”
As the leader of the Xuanxuan Faction, he had great expectations for it. This was the reason he had lectured them tirelessly and even brought the combat masters over so that they could train with them.
He had thought that his hard work would bear him some fruits, but when he came over, these fellows… Just what in the world were they practicing?
Their movements were slack and lacking force, and their timing and combat sense were completely lacking. It was as if someone had starved them for days! Were they trying to swat flies?
“What in the world are they doing?”
Hearing the bellow, Liao Song, Zhuo Qingfeng, and the others glanced at one another, their eyebrows leaping up in astonishment.
In their eyes, the battle techniques that this group of students had been practicing were already plenty fearsome.
Why was the other party speaking as if they were making a huge mistake?
Weren’t his expectations a little too high?
At this point, Ruohuan gongzi, Song Chao, and the others rushed out to greet Zhang Xuan. “Principal Zhang.”
“What happened to what I taught you all before leaving?” Zhang Xuan roared furiously.
What the heck is this?
I put in so much effort into lecturing all of you, but what is it that you all are doing? How disgraceful!
“We are… already practicing very seriously!” The faces of Ruohuan gongzi and the others reddened.
“You call this practicing very seriously?”
With a deeply disappointed look, Zhang Xuan pointed to the few students not too far away and said, “The Autumn Wind Heralding Rain you were practicing previously might look impressive, but it is, in truth, an utter joke! What do you need so many feints for? In the first strike, as long you were to just lower your palm by three inches, you would have already been able to fell your opponent!”
After which, Zhang Xuan pointed to another student and said, “The Emerald Leaf Swordsmanship that you were practicing a moment ago is clearly an offensive move, but you actually practiced it as a defensive move! It would still have been fine if you actually managed to protect yourself well through that move, but as long as your opponent lowers their posture and attacks your lower body, what do you think will happen?
“As for your Chaotic Demon Hammering Art, it might look powerful and grand on the surface, but in truth, you aren’t channeling your zhenqi into your strength well. If one were to find the point where your zhenqi intersects, even without making a move, just a sharp gaze in itself can potentially cause your zhenqi to fall into disarray, thus causing you severe injuries from the backlash…
“As for that…”
Zhang Xuan pointed to another eight more students, and every word he spoke left the pointed student lowering his head in shame.
They realized that all of the mistakes pointed out earlier had been covered in Principal Zhang’s lecture back then, but they had somehow accidentally neglected it while practicing their battle techniques.
Thus, upon hearing what Principal Zhang said, they could only lower their heads silently in shame.
It was no wonder Zhang Xuan got so enraged upon seeing them.
He had imparted his knowledge unreservedly, and he had thought that after a few days of hard work, everyone would at least have been able to internalize 60% to 70% of what he had covered back then. However, from the looks of it, they didn’t even manage to internalize 20%!
For master teachers, wasn’t their intelligence a little too poor?
Of course, one thing that Zhang Xuan had failed to realize was that his breakthroughs and modification of the Saint Ascension Decipher in the Subterranean Gallery had enhanced his eye of discernment, deepening his understanding of combat.
As a result, he was noticing more mistakes in the students’ techniques than ever, and naturally, he thought that they hadn’t made any improvements at all.
“T-this…” Liao Song and Zhuo Qingfeng’s breathing hastened.
Those movements were overwhelmingly powerful and completely flawless in their eyes, and yet, the other party had been able to point out fatal flaws within them so easily. Wasn’t his eye of discernment way too powerful?
It was no wonder he was able to defeat a Saint 2-dan combat master easily despite possessing only the cultivation of a Nascent Saint.
Just his eye of discernment in itself was already far beyond what they could compare with.
At this point, one of his subordinates, Zhou Ye, sent a telepathic message to him. “Liao shi, since there are so many flaws in their battle techniques and maneuvers, is it possible for us to exploit them to cleanse ourselves of our previous shame?”
For a Hundred Men Commander of the Combat Master Hall to be defeated by an ordinary student of a Master Teacher Academy so easily, it was natural that he would be frustrated and vexed. Over the past few days, this feeling only seemed to have deepened.
Upon hearing that there were actually so many flaws in the moves of the Xuanxuan Faction members, his eyes immediately lit up in excitement.
“It is, but… I fear that it won’t be as easy as you think to find their flaws.” Liao Song shook his head.
As easy as Principal Zhang made it seem, even a person with his eye of discernment couldn’t see through the flaws in the maneuvers of those Xuanxuan Faction members, so he didn’t believe that his subordinate would be able to do so either.
How could one exploit a flaw they didn’t even know of?
“Then… what if we find the weakest of them to challenge? There are thirty thousand of them, so it is impossible for all of them to be powerful!” Zhou Ye exclaimed.
“This…” Liao Song hesitated.
The other party was right. Every person had varying levels of aptitude for combat. Even if they had all listened to the same lecture from Principal Zhang, what they were able to comprehend and learn would inevitably be different from one another.
Just as there were incredibly powerful cultivators among the thirty thousand members of the Xuanxuan Faction, there were bound to be weak ones as well.
Take the few students whom Principal Zhang had berated earlier, this clearly showed that there were still many of them who were lacking in one way or another.
“Enough. What we should be thinking of is not to exploit their weaknesses to defeat them, but to reflect on and improve ourselves through them.”
Just after Liao Song had lectured the others, Zhang Xuan began the introduction. “I believe I need not introduce Combat Master Liao, Combat Master Zhuo, and the others. I have invited them here today to offer you some pointers. Make sure to learn diligently later on and don’t slack off.”
“Yes!” The crowd nodded.
“Combat Master Liao, these are the students I was talking about. I have only lectured them for an afternoon, so their fighting prowess isn’t too impressive yet. Just do whatever you can, and it will be best if you can show them how powerful combat masters are so that they can have a goal to pursue!”
After introducing both sides to one another, Zhang Xuan smiled.
“Ah…”
Liao Song was just about to speak when Ruohuan gongzi abruptly walked over and greeted, “Liao shi, we meet once again.”
He was feeling a little embarrassed for pummeling the other party without knowing their identity.
“Yes, indeed. We meet again.” Liao Song nodded in response.
“Alright, I will leave you all to it. I still have some matters to attend to, so I will be taking my leave first!” Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
Since there was still a month’s time before the ancient domain opened, he was intending to use this period of time to pay a visit to Jingyuan City to find the Poison Hall and resolve Wei Ruyan’s condition.
But first, he would have to make sure that everything was in order so that he could leave in peace.
Thus, he had brought these combat masters over in the hope of tempering the members of the Xuanxuan Faction.
If he could give them a glimpse of the strength of the combat masters, they could realize the gap between them and not embarrass themselves that badly when they went for the exchange later on.
On the other hand, hearing that Zhang Xuan was going to leave, Liao Song heaved a sigh of relief and clasped his fist. “Farewell!”
It would be best if the other party wasn’t around. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing if their combat masters were to be defeated by the other party’s students after all that was said!
“Un.” Zhang Xuan turned around and flew toward his residence. In the blink of an eye, he had already disappeared from sight.
Turning to the members of the Xuanxuan Faction, Liao Song clasped his fist and smiled. “Pleased to meet you all. While Principal Zhang has asked us to offer pointers to you, what he truly means is for the both of us to learn from one another. We can spar with one another so as to deepen our understanding of battle techniques.”
Ruohuan gongzi nodded in agreement.
It wouldn’t do to just learn the theories of combat. Only by the accumulation of experience through practical combat would one be able to improve.
Zhou Ye stepped forward. “Leader, I would like to challenge an expert of the Xuanxuan Faction!”
“Brother Zhou!” Ruohuan gongzi recognized the other party, and he greeted him with a smile. “I will help you find an opponent.”
While he had managed to defeat Zhou Ye back then, the other party’s fighting prowess was still considerable. The members of the Xuanxuan Faction looked formidable on the surface, but just as what Zhou Ye thought, there was a significant gap in the fighting prowess among them. Not every single one of them was a match for the combat masters.
“There is no need to go through that much trouble.” Zhou Ye interrupted Ruohuan gongzi and asked with a smile, “Is it possible for me to select my own opponent?”
If he wished to cleanse himself of his shame, he would have to select a weak opponent. Otherwise, if Ruohuan gongzi were to pick an opponent for him, he would only be defeated once more.
“You wish to select an opponent yourself?” Ruohuan gongzi frowned. He could see through the other party’s intention clearly, but after a moment of hesitation, he still nodded in agreement. “Feel free!”
The purpose of this sparring session was to enhance their fighting prowess, not to vie for honor. Losing here was not a big deal.
“Thank you.” Hearing the other party agree to his request, Zhou Ye heaved a sigh of relief.
He began scanning the crowd to find an opponent.
The Xuanxuan Faction had more members than what one could see with a single glimpse. It wasn’t very easy to determine the strength of an individual among the crowd from outside.
A moment later, Zhou Ye’s eyes lit up as he pointed toward a certain figure. “I choose that person!”
“You choose her?” Turning to look at the person whom Zhou Ye had pointed at, Ruohuan gongzi’s lips twitched. “Are you certain?”
“I am!” Zhou Ye nodded.
He had met a few of the male students of the Xuanxuan Faction, and he hadn’t been a match for them. Thus, he decided to challenge a lady this time around.
The lady he had chosen looked like she was in her early twenties, and she was extremely beautiful as well. At first sight, his heart was already moved.
If he could defeat the other party and display tremendous strength in the process, perhaps he might be able to win the other party’s favor and capture her heart.
More importantly, the other party’s cultivation was equal to his, Chrysalis realm. This way, he wouldn’t have to suppress his cultivation, allowing him to exert the full extent of his might.
“If you are really certain, alright then…” Seeing Zhou Ye insisting on it, Ruohuan gongzi could only shake his head.
He walked toward the young lady and explained the situation. The latter frowned for a moment before giving a nod of agreement and then walking to the nearby dueling ring.
Leaping onto the dueling ring as well, Zhou Ye bowed gentlemanly and asked with a smile, “I am Zhou Ye. May I know how to address you?”
“I am…” The young lady looked at Zhou Ye and spoke with a nonchalant voice.
“Yu Fei-er!”
