Chapter 154: Sweeping All Before Him, Points Secured—Half a Year Later

Ten advance, five remain—the final match.

Tiger Jiao Army's Shi Yong versus Blazing Sun Army's Feng Qi.

Shi Yong is a top-grade genius of the Celestial Timing Academy, while Feng Qi is merely an upper-grade genius of the Grand Granary Academy.

Based on Shi Yong's usual image of being unmatched, everyone believed that in this match, Feng Qi would lose to Shi Yong.

After all, in the previous trial, Feng Qi's third place was also squeezed out by Shi Yong.

But once the battle began, it was completely different from what everyone imagined!

Shi Yong was completely suppressed from the very start!

Both were strawmen casters; Shi Yong cast two types of Nine-Turn strawmen—one was Mystic Soldier, the other was Giant Shield.

But Feng Qi also cast two types of Nine-Turn strawmen—one was Divine Valor, the other was Skyborne!

The difference in their strawman-casting speed was very small; Shi Yong was only slightly faster.

However… the moment Feng Qi cast his first strawman, he began to attack!

Shi Yong also sent out strawmen to attack.

The first two strawmen fought—Divine Valor and Skyborne strawmen against Mystic Soldier and Giant Shield strawmen.

The Mystic Soldier strawman, lacking a weapon and being a high-maneuverability strawman art, was at a slight disadvantage against Divine Valor's close-quarters brawling.

As for the Giant Shield strawman, facing the Skyborne strawman's speed, it could only passively take a beating.

But overall, they were evenly matched—after all, the gap in single arts was not very large.

Feng Qi gained a slight advantage and continued casting single-art strawmen to attack.

His speed was about three breaths slower than Shi Yong's, but in art control he was stronger than Shi Yong, and combined with the strawmen's innate advantage, this casting-speed advantage was erased.

One fierce assault after another—Shi Yong could only passively defend.

Moreover, his casting speed did not exceed Feng Qi's by much, so he had no time at all to perform dual-art fusion.

The two sides thus competed with single-art strawmen.

By the fifth strawman, Shi Yong's casting speed slowed and was caught up by Feng Qi.

By the seventh strawman, Shi Yong was actually overtaken by Feng Qi—his seventh strawman came out five breaths slower than Feng Qi's.

By the tenth strawman, all of Shi Yong's strawmen suddenly showed a decline in combat power.

This was because controlling too many strawmen at once, each one being Nine-Turn, placed a great burden on the mind and spirit.

Feng Qi was less affected and still maintained his advantage in art control.

When he extended this advantage to the twelfth strawman—

Shi Yong was defeated.

"Tenth match—Feng Qi wins!"

Liu Tianning's voice rang out, and the plaza immediately stirred with commotion.

"Shi Yong lost!"

"Both of his strawmen arts are Nine-Turn, with dual-art fusion—yet he still lost to Feng Qi?!"

"Feng Qi is also a dual Nine-Turn strawman caster! Did he hide his strength in the previous round, or did he have a breakthrough in the past few days?!"

"Feng Qi's strawmen—I feel his are more agile! Shi Yong's didn't show it at first, but the longer the fight went on, the clumsier they looked."

"The battle was too intense—Shi Yong never had a chance to perform dual-art fusion. Against this kind of fierce assault, Feng Qi has the greater advantage."

"In terms of art tier, the gap between them isn't large, but there's a gap in strawman art control!"

"I didn't expect Shi Yong to fail to even make the top five."

"Feng Qi—a dark horse bursting out of nowhere."

"Looking at his strawman art control, I fear the rankings this time are going to see some changes."

Inside the main hall of the Myriad Arts Palace.

"Feng Qi—I never noticed he had such talent." Lu Bang was somewhat surprised.

"Indeed rather unexpected." Liu Tianning nodded. "In art fusion, his realm is a bit lower than Shi Yong's. When his two Nine-Turn strawmen are fused, the single-art power can only reach the Eight-Turn level, but Shi Yong's is extremely close to Nine-Turn."

"However, in the micro-control of strawmen, he controls them more flexibly than Shi Yong, and can also handle a greater number of strawmen."

"When Feng Qi simultaneously controls nine strawmen, his combat power only drops by ten percent, but when Shi Yong controls nine strawmen, his combat power drops by twenty percent."

"At the scale of ten strawmen, Feng Qi's strawman combat power drops by twenty percent, while Shi Yong's drops by forty percent."

Lu Bang nodded: "Shi Yong himself casting arts is very impressive, but with strawman arts, he cannot get used to casting this kind of spell."

"Mm, when I heard you mention the performance of 【Unable to Train】, Shi Yong was first, but the one leading was Zhao Xing—I knew then he wasn't suited to the dedicated study of strawman arts."

"Judging by this art, Shi Yong is an outstanding general talent, but not a commander talent." Liu Tianning commented. "If he were to lead troops, unless he had some other encounter and underwent a transformation, ten thousand men would be his limit."

After Shi Yong's defeat, he left directly, but the others did not leave. With Feng Qi this dark horse appearing, they all wanted to see who the final victor would be.

"Old Zhuang, Old Cai—you two aren't holding back too, are you?" Cao Shuang asked. "Damn it, why do I get the feeling Zhao Xing's first place isn't secure anymore?"

"Guess." Zhuang Ziqing smiled.

"Cai Jin—is that Feng Qi's full strength?" Han Bing asked.

"Feng Qi keeps a low profile. Although he's under the same teacher as me in the Grand Granary Academy, I haven't really talked with him much." Cai Jin shook his head.

"Can't really blame him for keeping a low profile—when you're like this, who has time to chat." Han Bing pointed at the jade pendant around Cai Jin's neck.

"……"

After Shi Yong's defeat, sixth through tenth were decided.

This tier earns eight thousand points.

Fourth and fifth place still need to be decided.

That is also eight thousand points.

Only five remain in contention: Zhao Xing, Zhuang Ziqing, Cai Jin, Feng Qi, and Yu Hao.

Based on Zhao Xing's previous performance, Liu Tianning directly gave him a bye. In other words, Zhao Xing was guaranteed a top-three score reward.

No one objected to this arrangement; after all, Zhao Xing's previous performance was worthy of a bye.

The remaining four actually breathed a sigh of relief—at least they wouldn't have to face Zhao Xing in the first round and end up fourth.

The remaining four.

Zhuang Ziqing versus Yu Hao; Cai Jin versus Feng Qi.

The losers need not fight again; fourth and fifth place received score rewards of the same tier.

First match: Cai Jin versus Feng Qi.

This match dragged on. Cai Jin and Feng Qi fought evenly until the fifteenth straw figure appeared.

In the end, these two fellow disciples chose to merge their straw figures together.

Ultimately, Cai Jin lost to Feng Qi by a narrow margin.

He had merged a Giant Shield Sacrificial Explosion straw figure, while Feng Qi had merged a Flying Sky Divine Valor straw figure.

Before the Giant Shield Sacrificial Explosion could blast Feng Qi away, the Flying Sky Divine Valor straw figure kicked Cai Jin flying.

Second match: Zhuang Ziqing versus Yu Hao.

Zhuang Ziqing, defeated!

His defeat was much like Shi Yong's.

Both lost at the limit of their mental burden, unable to outlast Yu Hao of Taicang Academy.

Although in researching single straw-figure techniques, and even dual-technique merging, Zhuang Ziqing performed very strongly,

in actual combat, since his single and dual techniques were only slightly stronger than Yu Hao's and couldn't form an advantage, his inability to control multiple straw figures was magnified infinitely.

The higher the level of combat, the more the special nature of straw-figure techniques came to light.

This also made the spectators in the plaza realize: being strong in other areas doesn't mean being strong in straw-figure techniques.

Even talents like Shi Yong and Zhuang Ziqing couldn't do it—straw-figure techniques seemed to calculate talent separately.

Those wanting to choose this path in depth still had to be cautious.

So then, could Zhao Xing handle these two geniuses from Taicang Academy?

Three remained: Zhao Xing, Feng Qi, Yu Hao.

There was no more drawing lots; each person had to fight the other once.

First, Zhao Xing versus Yu Hao.

The way Yu Hao and Feng Qi eliminated Zhuang Ziqing and Shi Yong was very similar.

Both used fierce assaults, giving these high-Dao-Comprehension-realm cultivators no time to merge multiple techniques.

But this time, Yu Hao had clearly picked the wrong opponent.

He had trained hard in combat control, but from the fourth level onward, Zhao Xing's main direction had also been toward combat control.

Speaking of combat experience? The opponents Zhao Xing had seen had ceilings far higher than Yu Hao's. From the fourth level onward, Zhao Xing's past-life experience gradually merged with this life.

Speaking of the limit of mental burden, Zhao Xing cultivated the Great Dream Spring and Autumn, and was personally praised by Liu Tianning, who even told Zhao Xing to come find him if he needed anything. All of this showed that Zhao Xing's talent in straw-figure techniques was in a class of his own.

So from the very start of the battle, Yu Hao was at a disadvantage.

And he was being suppressed using the very method he was best at!

"Tenth one!"

Yu Hao gritted his teeth and raised the tenth straw figure, but felt utterly exhausted; his straw figures' combat power dropped significantly.

Even now, Yu Hao couldn't issue precise commands to control his straw figures.

After all, the straw figures' speed was thirty to forty percent of the speed of sound!

At this level, every combat action required second-level reactions!

One or two straw figures was fine, but over a dozen, each needing millisecond-level operation? Too difficult!

"In straw-figure types, I have no advantage either. Everything I know, he knows too, and he's stronger—Flying Sky is Perfection, Sacrificial Explosion is also Perfection, Divine Valor is Nine Turns, Holy Shield and Illusion Form are also Nine Turns."

"In terms of quantity… does he have no limit?"

Yu Hao actually already knew he was going to lose, because his first nine straw figures had all suffered varying degrees of damage, while his opponent—apart from one Sacrificial Explosion straw figure being destroyed—had almost no damage to the rest.

But Yu Hao wouldn't allow himself to surrender. He'd rather be beaten flying out than call surrender. Not surrendering—this is a soldier's most basic faith!

"Sacrificial Explosion straw figure, charge!"

Yu Hao gritted his teeth and raised a Sacrificial Explosion straw figure, but the one he raised was only Six Turns.

There was no helping it—unlike the fight with Zhuang Ziqing, the pressure Zhao Xing gave him was too great. By the tenth straw figure, his casting could only produce straw figures below Seven Turns!

"Go!"

Zhao Xing pointed a finger, directly ordering the Giant Shield straw figure to embrace the opponent's straw figure.

He now had fourteen straw figures on the field, completely holding the advantage. It was just that Yu Hao kept refusing to surrender, barely holding on.

"Boom!" Before the Sacrificial Explosion straw figure could charge over, Yu Hao was beaten flying out of the arena. The Sacrificial Explosion straw figure charged at nothing and detonated empty mid-way.

"Zhao Xing, wins!"

Yu Hao was carried off for treatment and rest.

Feng Qi saw this scene and his heart went cold.

Whether in technique or skill, Zhao Xing was extraordinarily strong.

Feng Qi knew this course could only get him second place.

Because he wasn't much stronger than Yu Hao; his win over Cai Jin had also been narrow.

Zhao Xing fought Yu Hao with such ease.

He could also perform perfect dual-technique merging. The fact that he didn't immediately summon a perfectly merged straw figure to finish off Yu Hao was giving face—he didn't want anyone to lose too ugly.

"I thought after beating Shi Yong, I could finally fight for first. Who knew, after climbing one mountain, there's always another."

Feng Qi took a deep breath and leaped onto the plaza.

Two quarter-hours later, Feng Qi was sent flying off the plaza.

At this point, Zhao Xing had won both matches, locked in first place, and earned 50,000 points.

After Feng Qi and Yu Hao recovered, they fought another match; Feng Qi won, took second place, and earned 30,000 points.

Yu Hao earned 10,000 points.

An ordinary elective training class had caused quite a stir.

Because Zhao Xing's dominance over the Strawman Method had actually surpassed even the prodigies of Taicang Court.

Even Shi Yong and Zhuang Ziqing failed to break into the top three, yet Zhao Xing stood proud above all rivals, claiming the first-place 50,000 points all for himself.

In no time, the Strawman Method training class became the hot topic of discussion at the Agricultural Supervisorate, and many people came out of admiration to study at the Ten Thousand Dharma Palace.

The man at the center of it all, Zhao Xing, quietly returned to his own Scholar Willow Court.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop~"

The familiar sound of bamboo horses came and paused at Scholar Willow Court.

"Ah!"

"Clip-clop, clip-clop~" Then the bamboo horses moved away again.

Swish~

Zhao Xing appeared at the courtyard gate and carried the chest into the cultivation room.

"The first-layer secret method of the Dripping Water Domain."

Zhao Xing opened the chest; inside was a fifth-tier Dao-comprehension painting.

Purchasing it required 50,000 points, but he could get a thirty-percent discount, needing to spend only 35,000 points.

"Advancing the Dripping Rain Method can help me better comprehend the 'Solar Terms Command.'"

He took the painting out and set it aside; the chest also contained two other scrolls.

"Dao-comprehension paintings for Divine Steps Underground Palace and Mysterious Earth Guardian, worth 20,000 points."

Zhao Xing had originally had another 10,000 points; after earning the elective training class points, he bought the Dao-comprehension paintings for 【Dripping Rain Domain】, 【Divine Steps Underground Palace】, and 【Mysterious Earth Guardian】 in one go.

"Divine Steps Guardian is also a high-tier method; once cultivated to the tenth revolution, it will help me comprehend the Later Earth Return to Origin Secret Canon. Learning this method can pierce through the surface to awaken the way of the earth's veins."

The Dili Sect's secret canon centers on Later Earth Return to Origin; that grain of sand within his Origin Dantian will continually grow along with his enlightenment of the Dao, ultimately forming 'Pure Origin Soil.'

As for Benwo Sect methods? Zhao Xing would devote at most twenty percent of his energy to them, and he didn't need to buy any extra treasures. He could go to Taicang Court to comprehend the 【Primordial Dao Field】 and advance the 'Four Benwo Methods,' or find Liu Tianning at the Ten Thousand Dharma Palace to use the Strawman Method to comprehend the Benwo Sect's 'Yin-Yang Benwo Scripture.'

"It's already mid-August now, and the Military Agricultural Officials' training load keeps growing. In the final half-year, it will be real combat." Zhao Xing thought to himself.

In the final half-year, they would no longer train in the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, but would go out for real combat, because Datong Prefecture was on the border.

By convention, there would definitely be hands-on combat practice!

"This final half-year for the Military Agricultural Officials is essentially an internship; once training is complete, whether one can directly become a seventh-rank official depends entirely on this final half-year."

Zhao Xing closed the door and, based on the information given by Tian Hou, Old Chen, and others, as well as the Agricultural Supervisorate's various elective and mandatory course arrangements, began to adjust his self-planning.

"The three great secret canons remain the main cultivation, and even all kinds of theoretical books must be read—this is the Dao."

"The two high-tier methods, Dripping Rain Method and Divine Steps Guardian, along with the Yijisan Sect methods, still prioritize Heaven's Timing and Earth's Advantage, with Benwo as support. The breadth of methods need not be expanded further; instead, I must begin intensive study."

"Technique—this is the skill and experience of casting spells. My past life's experience, as I thoroughly implement these methods, is exerting an ever-greater influence, but I also need to constantly sense the differences within and master them all as one."

"Grab as many resources as possible, and with the help of the Sleep Bug, sleep for just one quarter-hour a day."

"I cannot waste this great campaign against the barbarians during Emperor Jing's reign." Zhao Xing thought to himself. During Emperor Jing's reign, large-scale wars occurred precisely during the Jingxin calendar years.

After that, there weren't many military merits to be gained; one only needs to look at the later era names to know—'Great Governance,' 'Eternal Governance.' With Great Governance and Eternal Governance, it's obvious there weren't many wars to fight.

"Begin cultivation!"

Time flowed on, days and months flew by like a shuttle. Within the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, the Military Agricultural Officials' training was in full swing. Zhao Xing was like a little blade of grass, taking root in the Ten Sun Grotto-Heaven, doing his utmost to absorb every bit of resources and nourishment.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had already passed.

There's more to come! Also, I've set up a group; the group number is in the synopsis.

Brothers interested in urging updates and supervising can join the group.