Chapter 8: I Am That Trash
"Un?"
Zheng Yang stares blankly before his face turns red and darkens.
"I once had a crush on a girl. Then... I was humiliated by her. But this has nothing to do with teacher!"
He once had a crush on a girl and he had once confessed to her excitedly. However, he was humiliated heartlessly by the other party and he felt ashamed of it. He has kept this incident a secret such that not even Mo Xiao is aware of it. How did this teacher know of this?
"Is that for real? Zheng Yang, why didn’t you tell me that you got humiliated by someone? Who is it?" Hearing him admit to it, Mo Xiao is surprised and hurriedly asks him.
"I will tell you about it later!" Zheng Yang shakes his head, refusing to say any more about it here. He looks at the teacher before him and says, "Teacher, this is my private affair. I have no idea how you could have knew this, but this should have nothing to do with guiding me in the way of the spear!"
"Nothing to do with it?" Zhang Xuan shakes his head. "This has everything to do with it!"
"Everything to do with it?" Zheng Yang is a little doubtful of his words.
What does a broken heart have to do with the Zhang Xuan guiding him?
"Your spear is decisive and powerful. This is just like your personality. No matter what you do, you always charge straight ahead without thinking about the consequences! This should have been a good thing. Warriors should be like that, charging ahead without concerning themselves with minor things!" Zhang Xuan looks at Zheng Yang calmly. "However, it is a pity that after your emotional experience, fear started to sprout within you. You fear rejection and you fear humiliation! There is hesitation in your spear. With that additional hesitation, your strength greatly reduces!"
"You.... You... You could see all these from my spear? You could tell that I was once heartbroken? You could tell my personality?"
Zheng Yang is shocked.
The words of the other party aren’t wrong. Rather, they are too correct, there isn’t even a single error in it.
His personality is straightforward and in this past, this allows him to charge ahead bravely without fear. Yet, due to that emotional experience, he starts to become timid and hesitant in everything he does.
For him to be capable of telling all these through his spear, even his heartbreak, what kind of eyes do he possess?
When did such an impressive teacher appear in the academy?
He feels as though he is going crazy.
Previously, when he visited the number 1 spear teacher Wang Chao to request for him to accept him as a student, Wang Chao only told him that he has yet to grasp the crux of the way of the spear. As for the reason behind it, he couldn’t really tell. However, with just a single look, the man before him could tell that he had a history of heartbreak and that his skills stagnated due to the emotional trauma from it. Could this teacher’s ability to discern... be stronger to Wang Chao?
"This is normal!" Zhang Xuan gestures with his hand, a look of an expert appearing on his face. "The spear is a reflection of one’s heart. If one’s heart isn’t clear, the skills they display through it would be dark! Even though your skills with the spear is coherent, it feels as though there is something shrouding it, something that you are unable to make sense of, something that you are unable to sever from you. With just one look, I can tell that it is definitely a crush!"
"This..."
This time, not only does Zheng Yang’s face crumbles, even the mouth of Mo Xiao beside him is opens so wide that an egg could soon be stuffed inside it.
What the heck, are you for real?
Just by looking at one’s skill with the spears, you could tell that emotions are shrouding it, and the unable to make sense of and unable to sever... Are these still the eyes of a human?
Mo Xiao and Zheng Yang stares at one another, disbelief appearing in both of their eyes.
"Teacher, can you help me take a look as well?"
After the shock, Mo Xiao steps forward with a look of desire on his face. Regardless of whether Zhang Xuan is agreeable or not, the spear in his hands tremble and he begins to execute his moves.
He executes the same moves as Zheng Yang, just that they are stronger and much more fluid.
Just by his skills with the spears itself, he is indeed better than Zheng Yang. It is no wonder that Wang Chao laoshi chose him and not Zheng Yang.
Hu!
After a gust of wind, Mo Xiao retracts his spear and stands up straight.
When his spear moves, he is like an unparalleled frenzied demon. When his strength overflows, even gods and spirits dare not approach. When his spear retracts, he stands quietly just like a statue.
With a movement of his hands and feet, his disposition changes.
Although he cannot be considered to be strong, being at Fighter One-dan, he could be considered to have walked quite a distance in the way of the spear.
"You have a weak stomach. If I am not wrong, you even suffered diarrhea today!"
Zhang Xuan’s serene gaze turns towards him.
"Ah?" A shudder passes through Mo Xiao. "Teacher, you could tell that I had diarrhea from my spear?"
Just like what the other party said, his stomach isn’t doing well today. He already started having diarrhea from yesterday. Today, it got even worse and his body feels weak.
However, this doesn’t really affect him much. With a spear in his hand, he still managed to execute his skills at top form such that even Wang Chao laoshi couldn’t stop praising him. Yet, the man before him could see through it in an instant...
Is that for real?
To be able to tell one’s heartbreak and diarrhea just from his spear, what are his eyes made of?
"You want me to guide you? If you want, then acknowledge me as your master!"
Ignoring the shock of the two, Zhang Xuan looks at them calmly.
To be able to tell the condition of them both so simply, the both of them are about to go mad from shock. Yet, it doesn’t seem like anything much to him.
The truth is the same as well. When the both of them executed their skills, the Library of Heaven’s Path automatically compiled a book on them both and the heartbreak and diarrhea naturally appeared in the list of their flaws. Zhang Xuan only has to take a look and read them out loud. There isn’t any difficulty to it at all.
"Disciple Zheng Yang is willing to acknowledge teacher as my mentor!"
Without any hesitation, Zheng Yang immediately kneels on my floor.
He is truly impressed by Zhang Xuan.
With this kind of eye for discernment, how could his guidance be ordinary?
"Un!" Seeing how Zheng Yang acknowledges him as his master just after he pointed out a flaw of his, even before he started guiding him, Zhang Xuan nods his head satisfactorily. He retrieves a jade token representing his new identity to him and says, "Verify our relationship!"
"Yes!" Without any delay, Zheng Yang immediately drips a blood on it to verify his ownership of the token.
Very quickly, the procedures are completed.
"Since you are now my student, let me give you a suggestion. If you want to be respected in a relationship, you must first hold sufficient strength. Without strength, how could the other party think of you as an equal? Thus, the first thing you have to do is not to be depressed but to open up your mind and focus on your training. You must let the other party know how foolish they were to reject you! You must use your strength to prove to them..." At this point, Zhang Xuan suddenly recalls a very show off book from his previous life and smiles faintly, "The river reverses its flow after thirty years, do not bully the youths just because they are poor!"
"Do not bully the youths just because they are poor?"
Hearing those words, Zheng Yang feels a burning sensation in his chest. He feels so agitated that his face turns entirely red and his body trembles uncontrollably.
As a person born in this world, how could Zheng Yang possibly have heard of those words!
In that instant, his battle will seem to have been lit.
The depressed emotions he welled up from his heartbreak seems to shine brightly like diamonds.
"Try executing your skills again!"
Seeing how he has broken out of his shell, Zhang Xuan gestures.
"Alright!"
Without saying anything, with the spear in his hands, Zheng Yang’s disposition changes in an instant. It is completely different from his disposition previously.
Hong hong hong hong!
His spear sweeps about as his aura rumbles. Powerful strength is exerted through the spear and scatters into the surrounding, shaking the entire room.
Peng!
At the end of his spear routine, he sends a horizontal stab towards the rock pillar.
A deafening reverberation and a line of digits appear on it.
235!
To think it would be 235kg!
Previously, when he used his full strength, it was only 110. With just a pointer, his strength increased by more than a single fold!
"Thank you, teacher!"
Seeing the numbers, the doubts in Zheng Yang vanished. He kneels onto the floor. At this moment, he is truly convinced in the capabilities of the teacher before him.
"Incredible!"
Looking at the numbers on the rock pillar, Mo Xiao couldn’t help but turn red as his entire body trembles.
He is delighted over finding a good teacher for his good brother. Yet, he feels disappointed at the same time.
Previously, when Wang Chao guided him, his strength only increased by 30%.
Yet, the teacher before him enhanced Zheng Yang’s strength by more than a fold!
If only he had known that this nameless teacher is that formidable, he wouldn’t have wasted his effort to look for Wang Chao and would have immediately acknowledged him as his teacher.
At this moment, he feels a little regretful.
However, doubt sprouts in his mind. How could such a formidable spear teacher remain unknown?
He can’t resist asking, "Teacher, since you have accepted Zheng Yang as your student, could we have the honor of knowing your name..."
Hearing his words, Zheng Yang looks over as well.
He is completely impressed by this teacher, but at this moment, he realises that he doesn’t even know his name!
"I am Zhang Xuan!" Zhang Xuan replies calmly.
"Zhang Xuan? That name sounds familiar..."
Hearing that name, Mo Xiao ponders for a moment. Then, something comes to mind and his eyes narrow. His lips quiver uncontrollably as he asks, "I seem to recall... The trash teacher who scored zero points for his Teacher Qualification Examination is also called Zhang Xuan. It seems that teacher, you... have the same name as him!"
"Un, I am that trash!"
Zhang Xuan nods his head.
"Ah..."
Zheng Yang and Mo Xiao petrify.