Chapter 32 (1/2)

Chapter 32: Speed Learning

Translator: Yukidaruma Translations  Editor: Yukidaruma Translations

‘This set of sword technique is called the Nine-Headed Dragon Sword Technique?’

Fang Xingjian stood in front of the second mural as he studied it. Compared to the first set, this one had a slightly higher difficulty level. The person in the mural displayed many unbelievable stances, twisting and contorting his body in unimaginable postures, as though he was practicing the Earth’s yoga.

Although this set of sword technique was somewhat difficult, he only analyzed it for three minutes before he walked to the next mural.

Nine-Headed Dragon Sword Technique – 10%.

The third mural’s difficulty increased yet again. The male figure in the mural constantly intertwined his hands, legs, shoulders, and waist, displaying various postures beyond an ordinary human’s limits, and relentlessly twisting about, akin to a snake.

Fang Xingjian spent five minutes on this mural before he moved on to the fourth.

Just like this, Fang Xingjian spent a total of around half an hour to go through about 25% of the murals.

At this moment, Kaunitz was only just starting his second mural, and was moving his sword according to the motions depicted on it.

Fang Xingjian’s movements easily aroused the attention of all the examinees. It was as if each and every one of his movements would make people glance in his direction. Seeing his speedy movements made many of the examinees panic.

Seeing how Fang Xingjian was moving towards another mural, Eldest Martial Brother Ogden could not hold it in anymore and shouted, “Fang Xingjian, what the hell are you trying to do? You are affecting us all!”

Fang Xingjian did not even turn his head, but continued to study the murals. He could not be bothered to even reply to Ogden.

Ogden could not help but scold him, “Kaunitz is only at the second mural, but you’ve already gone so far ahead. What are you trying to do? What you’re doing is merely trying to affect our examination.”

With Ogden’s words, most of the examinees’ attention was caught, and they looked towards Fang Xingjian with faint looks of contempt.

Seeing that Fang Xingjian continued to ignore him, he shouted out to one of the invigilators standing by the side, “Sir, Fang Xingjian is affecting all of us! Could you tell him to be serious about learning the sword technique?”

The invigilator frowned as he approached Fang Xingjian, saying, “Your actions really do arouse the suspicion that you are trying to affect the other examinees.”

Fang Xingjian faintly smiled. Before coming here, he had already done his research. With his talent, it was not a problem for him to become a Knight, but the crux was how much of his talent he could reveal.

Which also raised the question of how much acceptance and tolerance would the Royal Academy show towards one with a phenomenal level of talent to become a Knight?

Fang Xingjian wanted to understand this point, and that was why he had gathered information on many relevant cases.

In the Empire’s history, there had been countless geniuses emerging in succession, and among them there were also several whose phenomenal talent was well-known to all.

For example, fifty years before, in the South-Eastern region of the Empire, there had been an extraordinary genius. It was said that he had started practicing martial arts at the age of fifteen, and that as a commoner, he had only spent a total of ten months to become a Knight.

However, his ending had not been a good one, as he had not accepted the olive branch[1] extended to him by the aristocrats. In the end, his four limbs and his vertebrae had been crippled, and he had ended up as a handicapped good-for-nothing.

Naturally, the culprit had later been caught and beheaded by the Empire. However, no one knew who exactly the mastermind behind the attack had been.

In another example, amongst the Royal Academy’s Royal Knights in the Empire’s capital, Dong Fangling had passed the National Selection to become a Royal Knight, and had been recognized as a world-renowned genius.

This person had started practicing martial arts at the age of five, and it was said that his most amazing record had been taking only two hours to learn a set of spear technique. After which, half a year later, he had managed to bring a set of spear technique from level 1 to level 15.