22 Dancing Moonblade (2/2)

Fang Yuan stood in the middle of the row, but he did not garner any attention. The practice began.

The students all stretched out their right hands, letting the Moonlight Gu move to the heart of their palm. One by one the blue crescent mark started to give out water blue light as green copper primeval essence was poured in.

But when they drew a vertical cut with their palm, only seven or eight crescents flew out. Among these crescents, some of them only appeared for a short moment before dissipating away. Some flew out for two to three meters before disintegrating into blue light with a bang. Some flew further, but the direction was severely off-course, flying straight up to the sky.

The young teens all frowned. When they saw the elder’s demonstration earlier it seemed quite easy. But when they started practicing themselves, they realised the skill required in this action. To throw out a moonblade and to have it hit on the grass puppet, it really was not that simple.

The elder had a faint smile as he watched. He saw this scene every year, and was not surprised. The remaining twenty-two students could only stand outside the field, watching jealously.

After practicing for five minutes, the youngsters were gradually able to produce moonblades. For a time in the training ground, pale-blue coloured moonblades flew about everywhere.

A few moonblades would fade halfway, a few unluckily crashing into another. Some flew out of the training field, twisting around. Those that were able to hit on the grass puppets were just a small few. Of course these were all due to sheer luck.

The academy elder started to tutor and guide each one personally.

He focused greatly on Fang Zheng, Mo Bei and Chi Cheng and those others with good latent talent. He patiently corrected their postures, teaching them his experience. Towards those C grade talent students like Fang Yuan, he only mentioned two sentences.

Fang Yuan kept condensing the blue light in his hand. He waved his palm a few times cutting the air, but he did not release the light, pretending and acting. With the field a mess at the moment and no one focusing on himself, he moved his thoughts and released his hold on the Moonlight Gu, his palm tilting a little, making a cutting action.

In order not to raise attention, he did not focus on his own grass puppet opposite him, but aimed at the one on his left.

With a whoosh, a moonblade flew out quickly, passing through the center of chaos, drawing a straight line in the air and cutting accurately into the neck area of a grass puppet.

The grass puppet wavered for a moment, the neck area cut deeply by the moonblade. But very quickly, the green grassy area that was cut began to regrow, tangling together and healing away the wound.

Of course, this grass puppet was not a normal scarecrow. It was a Rank one Scarecrow Gu, having the nature-type ability of self-recovery.

Unless the puppet was cut into half at once, it would just recover back to normal in a short while.

“Wow, look at that crescent!”

“How cool, who threw it?”

Moonblades that were able to hit grass puppets right now were rare. Fang Yuan just casually hit one, yet it caused the most significant result so far. Thus in an instant the students outside the field gave out cries of surprise. Even the academy elder’s attention was caught, and he asked, “That moonblade just now was not bad. Was it yours?”

He looked at a C grade talent student with an enquiring eye, since that grass puppet was just opposite him.

This male student blinked his eyes, feeling somewhat bewildered as he faced everyone’s sudden gazes at him. To be honest the field was just in a chaos earlier with moonblades flying about, so even he did not know if it was he himself who threw it.

However looking at it, it probably is me? Thought the young boy. Then he nodded his head subconsciously.

The youngsters around him immediately looked at him with admiration.

“Who is he, what is his name?” Some of the girl students asked around.

“Even he can throw out a moonblade, I must not lose!” Gu Yue Mo Bei’s eyes flashed with a hint of determination.

“So it’s not big brother who threw it,” Gu Yue Fang Zheng inexplicably sighed with relief. After Uncle and Aunt consoled him, he was able to recover from the previous blow.

“Big brother, you won first place last time because your luck was good, picking a weak-willed Moonlight Gu. A GuMaster’s cultivation cannot always rely on luck, I will win you.” Fang Zheng was cheering for himself in his heart.

“You did well. Continue trying hard, seize the feeling you had earlier.” The academy elder patted the student’s shoulder, smiling as he encouraged him.

The young boy quickly showed excitement and he nodded continuously, his eyes appearing with a different luster.

The elder took the opportunity and announced, “Listen up everyone, this will be your homework. Practice well after class, in three days I will check the results. Whoever performs the best will receive ten pieces of primeval stones as the prize. Understand?”

“Yes!” The young students all shouted loudly. They could not help but be more excited when they heard about the primeval stone reward.

However only three minutes later, the moonblades that flew about in the air started to thin gradually.

“Damn, every single moonblade takes up 10% of primeval essence.”

“The consumption of the moonblade is just too much, I am just a C grade talent, my aperture can only hold 38% of green copper primeval essence. I can only throw out three moonblades.”

Those that stopped all sighed.

The academy elder was calm as he witnessed everything, but his heart sighed, “This is the benefit of those with high cultivating talent. To use the moonblade, it is simply just three words – Practice makes perfect. Those with higher grade talent are able to hold more primeval essence in their apertures, and the rate of recovery is faster, so they have more chances to practice. Those with poorer talent can also use primeval stones to make up for it, strengthening the number of practices. But those with low grade talent and have no primeval stones, though they have the mind to practice they will still be powerless. Sigh, the Gu Master’s cultivation process is just so cruel. I had just better take care of those high grade talent students.”

(1) 亩 – Mu, an ancient Chinese measurement. 1 Mu is 666 ⅔ meters²

(2) 熊家 – Xiong House, Xiong is the word for Bear

(3) 白家 – Bai House, Bai is the word for ‘white’ as in white colou