Chapter 585 - 367: A Battle
Chapter 585: Chapter 367: A Battle
"Thousands of years..."
Xu Yang and Sun Tao were both shocked by this exaggerated number.
In the vast Yunzhou City, there were only a handful of thousand-year-old noble families. For the Jiang family to survive for several thousand years, their so-called bloodline definitely played a massive role. Looking across the entire Yun Province, the Jiang family was likely the oldest.
"This bloodline stuff is truly terrifying," Sun Tao sighed.
In the beginning, probably everyone in the Jiang family could awaken their bloodline, making them all geniuses comparable to Spirit Bone Celestial Prides. Just imagining such a scene was fearsome.
"It has its pros and cons. In the first few generations, indeed, everyone in our Jiang family was a genius on par with Spirit Bone Celestial Prides. However, as the bloodline thinned, it became a shackle around our necks.
"For families without bloodlines, every few generations will inevitably birth a Spirit Bone Celestial Pride, or a genius with Perfection of Root Bone and Comprehension. But because of our bloodline, our disciples will forever have A-class Root Bones, stuck in an awkward, mediocre position," Jiang Fan lamented.
Having an entire clan with A-class Root Bones would be a monumental blessing in a small place, but in a place like the Marquis Mansion, it was undoubtedly disastrous. Their upper limit was locked. They could only watch helplessly as the family declined bit by bit, completely powerless to stop it.
"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK."
Xu Yang was just about to console Jiang Fan when someone knocked on the courtyard door. He went over to open it, finding Lu Ren and a few others from Basic Class A.
"Brother Xu, congratulations," they said with smiles.
Xu Yang smilingly invited them into the courtyard to sit. He had just served tea when more people arrived. This time, it was Gu Qingfeng! Not long after, Ye Qiuling and Wu Xiuyuan also arrived.
He had clashed with Ye Qiuling before, but the woman was clearly adept at keeping up appearances. To maintain her persona and prevent others from knowing she was at odds with a fellow disciple, she showed up brazenly, even knowing she wasn’t welcome. As the saying goes, one doesn’t slap a smiling face. Naturally, he wouldn’t turn her away, not to mention he had no bad blood with Wu Xiuyuan.
"It seems what Brother Xu said that day was true. The Azure Dragon Dominating Body didn’t truly injure you," Wu Xiuyuan chuckled.
In truth, some people hadn’t given up on the Azure Dragon Dominating Body. After all, it was the Celestial Strategy Academy’s strongest Body Refining Technique. Geniuses like Wu Xiuyuan and Gu Qingfeng, who had hopes of contending with Spirit Bone Celestial Prides, were particularly obsessed with it. Everyone here wasn’t stupid. Even if they could cultivate techniques like the Purple Extreme Heaven-Burning Technique after failing to cultivate Spirit Bone Techniques, it didn’t mean they had the confidence to rival Spirit Bone Celestial Prides.
If Lu Wei could cultivate the Azure Dragon Dominating Body, wouldn’t Spirit Bone Celestial Prides with even better talent than him also cultivate it? Therefore, if they wanted to compete against Spirit Bone Celestial Prides, the Azure Dragon Dominating Body was an absolutely unavoidable hurdle. Since Xu Yang was the only person other than Lu Wei who had cultivated it, they naturally wanted to glean insider knowledge from him.
"I stopped in time. I lost some qi-blood, but I’ve recovered it," Xu Yang smiled. He naturally knew Wu Xiuyuan’s underlying intent, but he couldn’t say much. Besides Lu Wei, no one else here could master it. If he made them think the technique was easy and prompted them to try it, they might end up thinking he had intentionally set them up.
"Brother Xu, now that you’ve broken through, are you confident you can defeat Du Ziming?" Wenshan suddenly asked.
As soon as these words left his mouth, everyone looked at Xu Yang.
Xu Yang shook his head. "I’ve never seen Du Ziming fight." During the selection, he hadn’t paid any attention to Du Ziming. Of course, given his personality, he wouldn’t speak too absolutely. If Du Ziming turned out to be some hidden genius, he would rather lose to him than expose all his trump cards.
"You actually shouldn’t have been in such a hurry to break through. You’d have had a higher chance of winning if you fought him while at the Celestial Essence First Layer," Lu Ren said, shaking his head.
Fighting Du Ziming at the Celestial Essence First Layer would actually give Xu Yang the advantage, or at the very least, put them on equal footing in terms of realm. The Celestial Essence Second Layer was a different story. Xu Yang had just broken through, and his realm might not even be stable yet. Meanwhile, Du Ziming had already progressed far in this realm; there was bound to be a gap in their cultivation.
Xu Yang shot the guy a sidelong glance. "If I didn’t break through and someone challenged me next month, was I supposed to keep suppressing my breakthrough?"
A sheepish look flashed across Lu Ren’s face as he realized that Du Ziming wasn’t the only one eyeing Xu Yang. Suppressing his breakthrough simply wasn’t a sustainable solution.
"Brother Xu, I heard that Du Ziming has mixed himself up with Huo Xiaochen. You’d better be careful when you fight him; watch out for him trying to be ruthless," Gu Qingfeng suddenly warned. The Qin family he was affiliated with and the Xiao family were at odds. He would do his utmost to ruin anything Huo Xiaochen tried to accomplish.
"Thank you for the information, Brother Gu. I’ll be careful," Xu Yang said, cupping his hands. He genuinely hadn’t known about Huo Xiaochen and Du Ziming joining forces. Even though Du Ziming posed no threat to him, knowing the other party’s stance would help him gauge how heavily to strike.
Ten days later, in the quiet chamber.
"CRACK CRACK CRACK."
Accompanied by a burst of popping joints, Xu Yang’s entire body grew gaunt, shrinking a full foot until he looked like a sickly scholar.
"The Formless Thousand Illusions has finally reached Minor Achievement." Under his focused cultivation, he had finally reached Minor Achievement in Formless Thousand Illusions—a secret technique for concealing breath and altering one’s appearance—attaining a realm where he could freely adjust his aura and change his physique. From now on, whenever he needed a disguise, he wouldn’t just be able to change his facial features, but also his height and body shape.
He thought, "I’m still missing a martial technique that I can use in public!"
The Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Fist came from the Song family’s treasure vault and couldn’t be used openly. After all, Han Yingjie was still around, and the Purple Sun Sect had once put out a bounty for Song Yushao’s killer. Now that he had also killed Yang Zheng using the Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Fist, the fist technique absolutely couldn’t be exposed.
As a result, the only Celestial Essence Martial Technique he could use was the Extreme Prison Heaven-Slaying Technique, but he didn’t want to expose his saber technique as his killing move. In the eyes of outsiders, he was a genius with extraordinary body refining talent. His martial techniques should lean toward strength-based fist techniques, not saber techniques.
The Celestial Strategy Academy certainly didn’t lack powerful unarmed martial techniques, but they all cost credits. Right now, he hadn’t even exchanged for the subsequent volumes of the Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture or the Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength. Where would he find spare credits for other martial techniques? His Blood Prison Heart Blade Scripture had reached Perfection long ago, and his Eight Ferocious Hidden Dragon Strength was nearing Great Success. These two cultivation techniques were his top priorities. Furthermore, he had yet to exchange for the subsequent volume of the Golden Gang Skill.
He thought, "I have to find a way to earn some credits and get my hands on the necessary martial techniques."
The Canglang Sword Technique had already reached Perfection, and it would only be a day or two before the Black Tortoise Mountain-Suppressing Fist did the same. By then, he would have a lot of free time. Without more cultivation techniques, all that extra time would be wasted.
Rising to his feet, Xu Yang stepped out of the quiet chamber and headed to the backyard. All the medicinal seedlings he had planted had survived. Now, in addition to his daily cultivation, he had one more task: using the Yunling Technique to enhance the seedlings’ spirituality and accelerate their growth. The Yunling Technique’s effects were wondrous. In just a few days, the seedlings had undergone significant changes, as if time had been sped up for them. These medicinal herbs would evolve into spirit medicines in a year or two at most. The effects far surpassed the Purple Sun Sect’s Cyan Wood Technique.
Of course, the two weren’t on the same level. The Purple Sun Sect’s Cyan Wood Technique could be cultivated by Gang Qi Martial Artists, and it primarily relied on a martial artist’s essence qi to nourish the herbs. The Yunling Technique was different. This secret technique could only be mastered by a Celestial Essence Martial Artist. The level of profundity was worlds apart. The essence qi of a Gang Qi Martial Artist and that of a Celestial Essence Martial Artist were fundamentally different, so naturally, their effects on medicinal herbs varied. Not to mention, the Yunling Technique also helped the herbs absorb spiritual qi.
Spending more than an hour, Xu Yang applied the Yunling Technique to all the herbs once. After finishing these chores, he returned to the quiet chamber to continue comprehending his cultivation techniques.
Time flew by, and the day of Du Ziming’s challenge arrived.
Early in the morning, Xu Yang ate at the dining hall before making his way to the academy classroom at a leisurely pace. Today was not only the day of Du Ziming’s challenge but also their once-a-month class day. Naturally, they had to attend class first before fighting.
Just as Xu Yang stepped into the classroom, two figures approached from a distance. It was Huo Xiaochen and Du Ziming.
"Brother Du, if you get the chance, teach him a severe lesson for me." Huo Xiaochen stared at Xu Yang’s back, a sinister glint flashing in his eyes. His talent far exceeded Xu Yang’s, and Sun Tao was no match for him either. Yet, during their several overt and covert clashes, not only had he failed to gain any advantage, but Xu Yang had also humiliated him on multiple occasions.
"I’ll do my best. If the opportunity arises, I won’t show any mercy. But I’m afraid there won’t be a chance," Du Ziming said. He knew that if he was going to pick a side, he had to commit fully. Wavering back and forth would only alienate both parties. However, while the Celestial Strategy Academy encouraged geniuses on the Lingyun List to challenge one another, it strictly forbade intentionally crippling opponents. Jin Yu would also be present during the challenge, so it wasn’t as if he could strike ruthlessly just because he wanted to.
Today’s class was once again about cultivating spirit medicines. The Celestial Strategy Academy placed great importance on the self-reliance of martial artists. In Jin Yu’s words, no matter how vast the world was, there would eventually come a day when all the spirit medicines were depleted. Martial artists shouldn’t just take from nature; they needed to cultivate their own spirit medicines to sustain their cultivation. He cited examples, noting that in ancient times, spirit medicines could be found everywhere. But because martial artists blindly plundered nature, spirit medicines had grown increasingly scarce across the world. Aside from desolate forbidden zones devoid of life, many spirit medicines had already gone extinct. If martial artists didn’t take this issue seriously, there might not be a single spirit medicine left in the world in the future.
He then went over the Yunling Technique one more time for everyone, bringing the class to an end.
"To the arena," Jin Yu said, leading the way out of the classroom.
All the students of Basic Class A followed suit. They knew Jin Yu was heading out to officiate Du Ziming and Wan He’s challenges against Xu Yang and Sun Tao. The destructive power of Celestial Essence Martial Artists was terrifying. A single battle could reduce a hundred-zhang radius to ruins. Thus, the arena was a designated combat zone within the Celestial Strategy Academy.
The arena was near the classroom. Xu Yang followed Jin Yu for a short while before arriving at an arena forged from an unknown material. It was embedded into the earth. Like most structures in the Celestial Strategy Academy, it was covered in mysterious runes that exuded intense spirituality. Not just the arena, but even the surrounding ground was etched with runes. The perimeter of the arena was already packed with spectators.
"Who’s up first?" Jin Yu drifted onto the arena.
"Our challenge was issued first, so we’ll go." Du Ziming impatiently leapt onto the arena, his face brimming with battle intent as he stared at Xu Yang. "Xu Yang, come up and fight!"