Chapter 634: Combat Master
Fought with his eyes closed?
Ye Wentian and Wei Jiang were stunned.
What kind of trickery was this? Could this be... some kind of secret art?
"That’s right! His eyes were closed, and he had a difficult expression on his face. It was as if his opponents were too weak, to such an extent that he was reluctant to lay his hands on them... and in a moment, all nine of his opponents were already lying on the floor..."
The guard recounted the sight that he had just seen a moment ago.
Ye Wentian and Wei Jiang stared at one another...
This was possible as well?
A Clarifying Turbidity realm fellow actually defeated nine Consonant Spirit realm with his eyes closed, and even felt troubled at his opponents being too weak for him...
The heck, are you sure you aren’t telling us a joke?
"It’s true..." The guard’s face flushed in agitation. He knew that no one would believe his story, but it was the absolute truth.
"To fight against a stronger opponent without any difficulty, could it be..." Jiang Wei narrowed his eyes.
"Has Wei shi thought of something?" Ye Wentian asked.
After a moment of hesitation, Wei Jiang slowly said, "Has Your Majesty ever heard of ’Combat Master’?"
"Do you mean the sub-occupation of master teachers which specializes in fighting, combat master?" Ye Wentian asked.
"That’s right!"
Wei Jiang nodded his head. "While master teachers are known to be unrivaled among those of the same cultivation realm, their primary purpose is still to educate and nurture experts, thus strengthening the might of the human race. However... to fight against Otherworldly Demons and other forces that threaten the human race, we need a fighting force of the highest tier. As such, the sub-occupation combat master was born!
"Combat master is a branch of master teachers that specializes in combat. While they could be considered as master teachers as well, there’s a huge difference between them and a typical master teacher. For example, master teachers would require a fixed number of supporting occupations to be promoted to the next rank while combat masters have no such requirement—as long as they can pass a combat examination, they will be promoted to the next rank... Of course, the difficulty of the combat examination is staggering as well! Among ten thousand master teachers, it would be hard to tell if even a single one could pass such an examination. As such, most combat masters possess a unique constitution or special bloodlines that grant them innately superior fighting prowess...
"And given how this Zhang shi was able to fight nine Consonant Spirit realm experts despite being at Clarifying Turbidity realm, could it be possible that... he possesses the talent to become a combat master?"
Wei Jiang’s eyes gleamed in excitement.
If the statistics of becoming a master teacher were one in ten thousand, the statistics of becoming a combat master would be one in ten thousand master teachers. Every single one of them could be said to be truly invincible in their tier, and they possessed the strength to challenge even those stronger than them.
Despite the millenniums of history behind Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy, the number of master teachers who had been promoted to combat masters could be counted with one’s fingers.
If... a combat master could emerge from Huanyu Empire, the entire empire would prosper because of the individual.
"Now that you speak of it... it might really be possible!" Ye Wentian froze for a moment before his eyes slowly widened.
"Let’s hurry over to take a look. If it’s true, this is great news for our Huanyu Empire!"
Wei Jiang stood up and hurriedly walked over to the crown prince’s Eastern Palace.
Ye Wentian also quickly got up and hurried over.
...
Exhaling a deep breath, Zhang Xuan clapped his hands and shook his head.
At this moment, the nine master teachers from Fengyuan, Qianfeng, and Zhuyue were lying on the floor, moaning in pain.
Actually, without the Library of Heaven’s Path, given Zhang Xuan’s superior soul cultivation, the nine of them still wouldn’t be a match for him nevertheless. However, since the other party had flaws he could exploit, there was no reason for him not to do so.
"You all lost..."
Ignoring the injured group, Zhang Xuan turned his sights to Luo Zhao and the other pavilion masters and said, "Now, all five of the Lake Eyes belong to our Hongfeng Empire!"
"..." Luo Zhao, Feng Yu, and Chen Yue staggered. At this moment, they felt as though they were going mad.
Those were the top three in their respective Master Teacher Tournaments!
In order to raise their strength, they even bought a Consonant Spirit Pill for each of them... And yet, the nine of them couldn’t even rival a Clarifying Turbidity realm cultivator?
This should have been an easy win for them, and yet, they didn’t even manage to nick the other party’s clothes...
They thought that their alliance could allow them to push all of the bad things to Hongfeng Empire, but in the end, it simply left them without any Lake Eyes at all...
What the hell was this?
The more they thought about it, the more stifled they felt.
If only they had known earlier, they would have never created such a farce. If they had just gone down the conventional route, they would have at least gotten a Lake Eye!
Putting aside how their plan had failed utterly, every member of their team, be it the elderly or the young, were also thoroughly wounded on top of that. Their faces had swollen to almost double the size. How were they supposed to face the others like that?
After a long moment of silence, Ye Qian coughed and spoke up.
"Cough cough. Zhang shi, Luo shi and the others meant no harm. They only did these in hopes of obtaining the best for their juniors. No matter what, Hongfeng Empire is an ally of Huanyu Empire and the other Vassal States. Since there are five Lake Eyes and only three people in your group, why don’t you give the remaining two to them? This way, they can at least be accountable to their countrymen when they return."
If three Vassal States that traveled all the way here were to return empty-handed without getting any of the slots, it would surely cause great discontent.
He wouldn’t be able to explain this farce to his father and Pavilion Master Wei either.
But... Hongfeng Empire did win all of the slots through fair means. All parties had agreed to it, so it was inappropriate for him for advise Zhang shi otherwise. As such, he felt extremely embarrassed.
"Give two Lake Eyes to them? That’s fine by us. However, the master teachers from the other empires are to share the Lake Eyes with each other as well so that our members can enjoy a Lake Eye each!" Knowing that he would be putting the crown prince in a spot if he were to claim all of the Lake Eyes, Zhang Xuan nodded his head in agreement.
Since there were only three of them, three Lake Eyes were sufficient. Rather than letting the other two go to waste and potentially incurring the hostility of everyone else here, he might as well generously give them away.
"Thank you!" Not expecting the other party to be so agreeable to the matter, Ye Qian nodded his head in approval. He gestured for a guard to come over and instructed, "Bring me that Gold-scaled Armor!"
"Yes!"
The guard turned around and left, and not too long later, he brought a resplendent armor back.
"This is a Spirit intermediate-tier pinnacle armor crafted by the skin of a Transcendent Mortal 6-dan Avalanche Gold-scaled Beast. In awe of Zhang shi’s magnanimity, I would like to give this to you!"
Ye Qian waved his hand, and the guard immediately passed the armor over.
"This... How can I accept this?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
"There’s no need to stand on ceremony!"
Ye Qian waved his hands. "I will be embarrassed if you do not accept it!"
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Knowing that this was the compensation the other party was giving him for the two Lake Eyes, Zhang Xuan knew it would be inappropriate for him to turn it down. Thus, he nodded and placed the armor in his storage ring.
"Zhang shi, you have my gratitude for giving the two Lake Eyes to us. Here are two Consonant Spirit Pills. I hope you can accept them as a token of goodwill!"
Luo Zhao also stepped forward and passed a jade bottle over.
Since even the crown prince had offered a gift as compensation, they couldn’t possibly just sit still and accept the two Lake Eyes without any reciprocation.
The three Vassal States had bought a total of eleven Consonant Spirit Pills. After giving one each to their men, there were two remaining.
"Un!"
Grabbing the pills, Zhang Xuan casually put them in his storage ring.
Luo Zhao, Feng Yu, and Chen Yue had accepted the bet and lost fair and square. If the other party were to refuse to give them the Lake Eyes, there was nothing they could do.
Under such circumstances, it was indeed a great favor for them to be given two Lake Eyes. Taking two Consonant Spirit Pills from them in return was nothing much in comparison.
Besides, accepting the Consonant Spirit Pills also meant that the other party had already repaid their debt, so it was beneficial from the other three’s point of view as well. As for Zhang Xuan, he had no interest in having them indebted to him either.
"Since the distribution of the slots and Lake Eyes have been determined, I hereby declare the start of the banquet. I hope that everyone can enjoy themselves tonight!"
Ye Qian gestured grandly, and beautiful court ladies immediately came in with many delicacies in hand.
This crown prince was indeed a man who knew how to enjoy himself. Every single dish in the banquet was worth a huge sum, and this entire feast could probably leave even the wealthy bankrupt.
"Luo Xuan and Bi Jianghai, you should take these Consonant Spirit Pills. Consume them after we return from the banquet!"
Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan passed the two Consonant Spirit Pills that he had just received from Luo shi and the others to them.
While this pill could raise a Consonant Spirit realm expert’s cultivation by a small realm unconditionally, this effect could be said to be negligible to him
As long as he could gather sufficient Consonant Spirit realm cultivation technique, achieving a breakthrough was not much different from eating and drinking to him. It would be a waste for him to consume it, so he might as well put it to better use.
"You’re giving them to us?"
Luo Xuan and Bi Jianghai were taken aback.
It was not like they didn’t know how valuable the pill was. To think that the other party would be giving the two pills received to them, this...
"Un. Quickly raise your cultivation before entering the Cleansing Lake. Don’t waste the slot that I’ve obtained for you all with great difficulty!" Zhang Xuan said calmly.
"Thank you, Zhang shi!"
The duo’s eyes turned red, and they quickly bowed in gratitude.
While the others were scheming against one another to obtain the best resources for their cultivation, Zhang shi was generously offering such a valuable gift to them... and this gesture left them touched from the bottom of their hearts.
Luo Xuan and Bi Jianghai was still thinking of pitting it out with the other party to see who was better in the Master Teacher Academy. Only now did they realize that they didn’t just lose out to the other party in terms of cultivation, even their magnanimity was paling far in comparison to the other party.
If the thoughts of the duo were to be known by Luo shi and the others, they would surely burst into tears.
This fellow—magnanimous?
Magnanimous your head! Can’t you see how badly we were done in?
Those slots and Lake Eyes should have been ours, and yet we still had to thank the other party humbly for them... You actually call such a despicable and shameless man magnanimous?
...
Outside the crown prince’s Eastern Palace...
"Your Majesty, Wei shi!"
The two figures who walked over from the distance left the guards on duty leaping in shock.
"I’ll inform His Highness right now to have him welcome Your Majesty and Wei shi..."
The two most authoritative men in Huanyu Empire had come to visit late at night abruptly, there was no one who wouldn’t be scared out of their wits.
"There’s no need for that, you should just continue remaining on duty. Wei shi and I are just going in to take a casual look!"
Ye Wentian waved his hands casually before walking in with Wei Jiang.
As the duo navigated through the Eastern Palace, Ye Wentian asked, "If... Zhang shi really possesses the talent to become a combat master, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? Of course, we should immediately report it to the Master Teacher Academy and have them groom him specially! This kind of talent is extremely important to the Master Teacher Pavilion. You should be aware of it as well!" Wei Jiang said with a grim expression.
"Un!" Ye Wentian nodded.
While he wasn’t a master teacher, he did know a thing or two about combat masters.
Dubbed as the Emperors of Combat among the master teachers, if Zhang shi were to become an official combat master, his standing might immediately soar above that of the principal of Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy!
"Just that... the conditions to becoming a combat master are extremely stringent, one has to go through many difficult tests to be qualified as one. How can we ensure that he’s really capable of becoming a combat master?"
Ye Wentian frowned.
There were many specific tests that a master teacher had to undergo before he could be officially accepted as a combat master. It was an extremely troublesome process.
"This... Let’s take a look first before deciding on anything..." Wei Jiang hesitated for a moment before speaking. Halfway through his words, he suddenly heard footsteps ahead of him. Taking a closer look, he saw three figures just ahead of him.
Getting a clear glimpse at their appearance, Ye Wentian quickly rushed forward. "Ye Wentian pays respect to Sixth Princess! I see that Luo shi and Xing shi are here as well!"
They were no other than Sixth Princess Yu Fei-er, Luo Qiqi, and Xing Yuan, who were here for the banquet.
"So, it’s Emperor Wentian. I just happen to have something I need to talk to you about."
Upon seeing that it was Ye Wentian, Princess Fei-er’s eyebrows shot up. "How in the world do you govern your Huanyu Empire? If you’re sick of your job, just give the word..."