Chapter 25: The Newly Initiated Disciple Is Very Unorthodox

"Hahaha, that's hilarious!"

"The Herb Garden disciples can manage farming, but let us handle combat."

"Indeed, that makes sense!"

"Hahaha!"

With Qing Cong leading, the audience below need not fear being blamed by Steward Hong Zhi and began a wave of mockery. The facts were plain; even the female cultivators of the Blue Phoenix Sect and a few friends from the Labor Area could not support Wei Yuning.

Yun Yan, the fairy, looked puzzled; she hadn't expected this outcome. Nevertheless, her view of Wei Yuning remained unchanged—spiritual perception does not deceive.

Steward Hong Zhi knew Wei Yuning's background; it might be normal for Herb Garden disciples, who lack offensive techniques, to act this way. Yet his gaze was sharp, and Wei Yuning's entire attack unfolded before his eyes without omission. The guy from the Fallen World had indeed given his all, which was odd—a flesh-bodied Foundation Establishment cultivator's punch, relying only on brute force, shouldn't achieve such results.

"Where exactly did it go wrong?" Hong Zhi stroked his mustache and frowned.

As the person involved, Wei Yuning was speechless; at this moment, his internal spiritual energy was completely depleted, a series of dizzying impacts pounded his brain, and his body trembled on the brink of collapse.

He ultimately chose not a hard‑fisted punch but the innate spell of a wood‑element spiritual‑root disciple, the "Entanglement Technique."

Just as gold‑element spiritual‑root disciples can naturally make weapons sharper, water‑element ones can conjure "Healing Water" out of thin air, the Entanglement Technique is a trivial skill for a wood‑element spiritual‑root disciple who has already entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

The purpose of the Entanglement Technique is chiefly to bind opponents; its lethality is modest, yet the spirit‑energy‑generated vines become almost solid within moments, and the binding force is remarkably strong.

Wei Yuning originally intended to use that binding power to demonstrate his attack on the wooden dummy, but the instant he touched it, he sensed an awareness emanating from the dummy—a profound yearning for plant energy.

That barren golden‑wood dummy was still alive. Of course, other wood‑element spiritual‑root disciples wouldn't have their spirit energy drained so completely; they could simply abort the spell and step back. But Wei Yuning was different—his imagined construct was entirely uncontrolled, perhaps because the giant golden pine and the golden wood belong to the same plant lineage; upon seeing a kin, the golden pine construct, disregarding its own safety, poured all its internal spirit energy into the golden wood.

"You parasitic creature, what good are you to me?" Wei Yuning shook his head, unable to stop berating the golden giant pine in his mind.

As for the audience's contempt below, he was completely immune. Earlier, a dog chewing mud was no big deal! They're merely a bunch of other‑worldly bumpkins; why bother matching them?

Of course, mere mental fortitude wasn't enough; he also had to show this group of bumpkins his attitude.

Wei Yuning put on a radiant smile, turned, and enthusiastically waved both hands toward the boiling crowd below, shouting, "Thank you, thank you all for your support; I love you too! Your support is my motivation; I will keep working hard and won't disappoint anyone's expectations. Here, I especially thank Uncle Hong Zhi for his teachings—without him, I wouldn't have today's success! Thank you, thank you!"

Wei Yuning spoke while moving, walking toward the audience below.

The audience below first stared in shock, then in bewilderment, and finally turned angry.

"Did you just praise him?"

"I didn't, who praised him?"

"How shameless!"

"Yeah, such a shameless person."

"I've never seen anyone so brazen!" a familiar, rhythmic voice shouted loudly.

"Right, I've never seen one either."

Steward Hong Zhi's complexion shifted from pale to red, then red to green, and finally green to black. Fortunately, his cultivation kept him from losing his mind; he remained calm, observing Wei Yuning. He also saw Wei Yuning's body sway—a sign of exhaustion.

"Brother Hong Zhi, take a look at the wooden dummy—what's really going on?" Yun Yan's telepathic voice suddenly pierced his ear.

Hong Zhi was startled and looked at the dummy. The golden gauze cover has a marvelous trait: it automatically adjusts to the shape of the object it envelops. At this moment, the dummy, which originally had only three main branches, had changed its form, sprouting new leaves in several spots, and the new foliage kept emerging.

When Wei Yuning lifted his head and walked to his seat, all the mocking laughter vanished.

"It's no big deal! A person's greatest weakness is needing a face; when you cast off your facial skin, you become incredibly strong, and others can no longer stand you!" Wei Yuning found himself apparently summarizing a profound maxim.

"Miss Qiu Hu, why are you staring at me? I know I'm handsome… but this is a public setting, you can't… huh, why is everyone looking at me?" Wei Yuning arrived at his seat, thought his mind had returned, lowered his head for a moment, only to find everyone's gaze still fixed on him.

"Yuning, come over, what's happening?" Hong Zhi's voice came over.

Wei Yuning turned his head, saw Steward Hong Zhi's excited face pointing at the stage. Following the direction of Hong Zhi's finger, he was stunned.

"Unfair, Uncle, you saw it too; I only gave a light punch, I have no idea why the wooden dummy turned that purple?" Wei Yuning's first reaction was that he had broken the dummy. The sect's golden‑wood dummies are limited in number; losing one is a loss, and wild golden‑wood is extremely scarce, growing very slowly. If the sect had to compensate, even the recent earnings from pest catching wouldn't cover the cost.

Hong Zhi, both annoyed and amused, said, "Enough, I'm not going to hold you accountable. Look closely; the dummy actually grew! This is a piece of golden wood that takes twelve hundred years to grow a foot. What spell did you just use?"

"I…" Wei Yuning couldn't answer naturally; he wanted to say Entanglement Technique, but couldn't explain how his imagined construct transformed the spell.

"Fine, since there's something unspeakable, let's leave it for now. I was already planning to discuss your Foundation Establishment matters; we'll talk later!" Hong Zhi glanced at Yun Yan, cutting off Wei Yuning's words.

"Yes, Uncle Zhi!" Wei Yuning quickly seized the opportunity.

Hong Zhi nodded at Wei Yuning, stood up, and walked toward the contest platform.

"Silence! No more ruckus; behave!" Upon stepping onto the stage, Hong Zhi immediately quelled the unrest below.

"The final contest result: Qing Cong is first!" Hong Zhi finished and led the applause.

Unfortunately, the disciples below still stared at that dummy, which by now could no longer be called a dummy; it had truly become a lush little tree. Though its height hadn't changed much, its sprawling branches were verdant, displaying tremendous vitality.

"Is this a Plant Growth Technique?" someone whispered in the crowd.

"There's no growth technique that fast; this is golden wood, not some roadside weed!"

"This new disciple Yuning is really weird!"

"Yeah, super weird!"

The disciples' gazes toward Wei Yuning all changed, including Qing Cong's.

"Nephew Qing Cong, come up to receive your award!" Hong Zhi, disregarding the audience below, continued, as he now only wanted to end the contest quickly.