Chapter 142 – The Advancing Fist (1/2)
That examinee suddenly turned around, staring at the clergyman who was in charge of the duelling phase, he pointed towards the four examinees behind him and asked: “Can I choose my opponent from someone amongst them?”
Those four examinees were the last of the first 64 to cross the River Qu, upon hearing that this person wished to challenge them, not only did they not feel any anger, conversely, they revealed signs of joy, expressing their approval.
The Li Palace clergyman answered indifferently: “Do you all think that the Grand Examination is some kind of joke? My explanation was clear; the upper-half 49 examinees can choose anyone from the remaining 49 as their opponent; the winner advances to the next round. Don’t tell me none of you understood what I said?
Silence followed, that examinee remained silent for a long while before suddenly saying: “This isn’t fair!”
He looked at the bottom-half examinees that had managed to achieve victory, angrily and loudly saying: “I scored better than they did in the Martial Trial, crossing the river before them, on what basis should I be required to fight against a stronger opponent? The Grand Examination isn’t some sort of joke, but don’t you think this type of rule is unreasonable?”
The Li Palace clergyman continued to show indifference and replied: “It can only be said that your luck is bad; who told you to place between 60th and 64th in crossing the river?”
Hearing this, the match grounds erupted in an uproar, everyone thought to themselves, was luck something that was within the purview of what the Grand Examination graded for as well? The clergyman’s words were completely unreasonable.
The clergyman knew what these young cultivators were thinking and looked at them with a slightly frosty expression, saying: “What in this world is absolutely fair? On the battlefield, if you are placed in charge of guarding the rear, needing to block the advance of the demon race’s top fighters, would you refuse to carry out your orders because you find it unfair? If you want to survive, then luck is always the most important factor.”
The examinees all remained silent, they still disapproved of this reasoning, but they didn’t know how to refute it.
That examinee couldn’t do anything apart from accepting their bitter reality, something to take a measure of comfort from was that, in comparison to the remaining four, he had a marginally larger selection.
He once again turned around and directed his gaze towards the woodlands, shifting it from one person after the other in Chen Chang Sheng’s group, unable to make a decision.
The area before the tower was silent, with the surrounding air seemingly becoming cold and frosty, tens of examinees waited nervously for his final decision.
Conversely, the ones who should have been most nervous, the group by the woodlands who could only await being chosen, they displayed an extremely calm demeanour.
Unknown why, the Li Palace clergyman didn’t urge him to be quicker, unlike how he had previously done so for the others, this might have been because he and the other examiners were also curious about this examinee’s choice.
Finally, that examinee made his decision, pointing at Xuan Yuan Po, saying: “I choose you.”
The silence was broken and the sound of dialogue rose up; for any other examinee, they would also be troubled with whom to choose as their opponent.
Xuan Yuan Po was startled for a moment before finally coming to his senses, he said to Luo Luo: “Master, I’m leaving.”
Tang Thirty-Six was standing by the side, his brow twitching and said: “’leaving’ doesn’t sound very auspicious, change it.”
Xuan Yuan Po ignored him, he did a formal gesture to Chen Chang Sheng and said: “I’m leaving.”
Technically speaking, he should be calling Chen Chang Sheng his Grand Master; but, even though he currently admired, or maybe even respected him, he still couldn’t bring himself to call out this form of address.
The ignored Tang Thirty-Six didn’t get angry, raising his hand high and patting the yao youth’s broad shoulder, he quietly said: “You remember what was said last night?”
Xuan Yuan Po made a sound of acknowledgement, saying: “Don’t give the opponent any chance to think, use the fastest speed possible to close in on them, then directly strike them down.”
Finishing those words, he suddenly found that Tang Thirty-Six’s expression was a little strange, likewise he found that Luo Luo and Chen Chang Sheng also had a change in their expressions, even Su Mo Yu had his jaw lightly hanging, evincing his surprise.
“What wrong?” he blankly rubbed the back of his head, asking: “Did I get it wrong?”
Tang Thirty-Six sighed as he once again patted him on the shoulder, saying: “You didn’t say it wrong, you were just a little loud.”
It was only then, that Xuan Yuan Po realised the area before the Tower of Purging Dust was quiet as can be; everyone was staring at him with spectacular expressions upon their faces.
His voice was loud and clear, he had answered Tang Thirty-Six very naturally, without thinking to tone down his volume.
Thus, he had informed everyone present of the tactic Orthodox Academy had prepared for him in advance, including his opponent.
Was this battle tactic still going to be effective?
Chen Chang Sheng shook his head and placed two crystals into Xuan Yuan Po’s pocket, he also passed a water pouch to Yuan Po’s mouth and had him drink some.
Tang Thirty-Six moved to Xuan Yuan Po’s side and said something to him quietly.
The Li Palace clergyman looked at the Orthodox Academy group, wanting to laugh yet holding back, saying: “Be a little quicker.”
After being urged to hurry, Xuan Yuan Po felt a little nervous, almost choking on the water; Chen Chang Sheng quickly smacked his back; Tang Thirty-Six hastened his words, reminding him to pay attention to battle events; the match grounds became a little chaotic, seeing this scene, Su Mo Yu couldn’t control himself, he shook his head and said: “There was such a long period of time previously and yet all of you just spent it frivolously, isn’t it rather late to be rushing now?”
“You don’t understand, if we told him too early, we would have to worry about him forgetting. Not to mention, we didn’t know who his opponent would be, how could we teach him anything?” replied Tang Thirty-Six, without even turning his head around.
Luo Luo walked up to Xuan Yuan Po and said: “Since you’re going to win anyway, what is there to be nervous about?”
Xuan Yuan Po stammered a little, replying: “It… it… can’t be… helped.”
Chen Chang Sheng stared into his eyes and said: “Just remember Tang Thirty-Six’s words, you will win for certain.”
Xuan Yuan Po vigorously nodded his head.
Tang Thirty finally finished his last minute battle advice; he pumped a fist onto Xuan Yuan Po’s chest and said: “Have a good opening match.”
……
……
Xuan Yuan Po stood upon a ground covered with sand, he lifted his head to look at the black eaves that created a circle and the blue sky above that had been segmented out by this circle; he was suddenly reminded of the dish back at the Hundred Herb Garden.
A single creak could be heard from behind him and the doors to the Tower of Purging Dust once again closed shut.
He came to his senses, finding that his mind had just wandered, this didn’t cause him to fluster, but instead, he found that he could clearly remember what Tang Thirty-Six had told him over these past few nights; he thought to himself, this should count as to not being nervous?
He looked opposite, gestured his hands and did a formal greeting to his opponent.
At this moment, on the floor of the tower, stood only he and his opponent, no examiners were present and neither could any sounds from outside the tower be heard; it seems there was some sort of silencing array in action.
An emotionless voice came drifting in from above.
“If you are ready, then you can start.”
Xuan Yuan Po peered at the upper floor but didn’t see anyone, nor did he see any sort of window, he couldn’t help being curious about the location of the examiners, he suddenly remembered what Chen Chang Sheng had told him and rushed to ask: “What if… what if someone was to be beaten to death?”
The Tower of Purging Dust was blanketed in silence; the unseen examiner was quiet for a long time.
His opponent had an unsightly expression upon their face.