Chapter 482: Team

"Saving your life?" Huo Luan sneered, "Knowing how to save your life in a chaotic battle isn't enough. You have to be able to kill, and you have to be able to do so without being killed yourself. That set of investigation and arrest tricks from the Surveillance Office won't work on the ring of the Martial Arts Tournament."

"Luan'er." Wang Ji spoke up again, this time with a hint of genuine warning in her tone.

Only then did Huo Luan restrain herself, picking up the tea on the table to gulp down a mouthful, and stopped speaking.

Wang Ji turned to Cheng Feng and continued, "Huo Luan's strength is at Organ Refining Peak, but her Blade Technique follows the slaughter style of the Zhennan Army, and her practical combat experience is top-tier among her peers. You two can spar more in the future."

"Spar?" Huo Luan's eyes lit up, "That's a good idea. Warrior Cheng, why put off until tomorrow what you can do today? Shall we go to the Martial Arts Arena in a bit and trade a few moves?"

Before Cheng Feng could answer, Wang Ji, who had been silently drinking tea to the side, suddenly spoke up: "Girl Huo, what's the rush? Wait until I finish speaking; you two will have plenty of time to fight."

Huo Luan was surprisingly respectful toward this Liu Yu, immediately shutting her mouth and obediently sitting up straight.

"Liu Yu, introduce yourself."

"Yes, Wang Ji,"

Liu Yu stood up to receive the order, then said to Cheng Feng: "I joined the army at fourteen and have been practicing martial arts for six years now. I am untalented, but my aptitude is decent; I am currently at the True Qi Realm Mid-stage."

Cheng Feng was shocked inside: "This f*cking is a genius!!!"

He also said aloud, "Cheng Feng admires you!!!"

Since coming to this world and beginning to practice martial arts,

among the many people he had met, only two possessed a Different Body.

Wang Ji with the Qingyuan Sword Body and Organ Refining Counter-battle Gang Qi.

Shang Yan with the Three-Source Body, who had just begun practicing martial arts, but whose realm was also not slow.

The Liu Yu before him had practiced martial arts for six years to reach the True Qi Realm.

Whether he had a Different Body was unclear, but in terms of cultivation speed alone, among the people Cheng Feng had seen, his talent could be called number one.

Wang Ji nodded slightly at him: "The fourth candidate," Wang Ji took over the conversation, "is a disgraced disciple of the Gu Sect from the Southern Frontier, nicknamed 'Gu Niangzi'. This woman is skilled in using poison and Gu insects, and her control ability in group battles is extremely strong. She will arrive at the Wangfu to rendezvous with us within three days."

Cheng Feng frowned. He had heard a little about the Gu Sect; it was a mysterious sect in the Southern Frontier, famous for raising Gu insects and using poison. Its methods were strange and unpredictable, and within the Great Zhou, it was classified as an evil sect explicitly banned by the Imperial Court.

That Wang Ji would dare to recruit such a person showed that the competition for this Martial Arts Tournament was indeed intense to a certain degree.

"Your Highness," he said, weighing his words, "are people from the Gu Sect reliable?"

"They aren't." Wang Ji's answer was so blunt it surprised him, "But precisely because they aren't reliable, they are reliable."

Cheng Feng was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood her meaning. Since Gu Niangzi was a disgraced disciple, she surely had no foothold in the Southern Frontier.

She needed the protection and resources provided by Wang Ji, and Wang Ji needed her abilities. This kind of naked exchange of interests was sometimes more reliable than so-called loyalty.

"A five-person team," Wang Ji looked around at the three people present, "Huo Luan for close-quarters assault, Gu Niangzi for long-range control, Liu Yu to hold the line. As for you, Cheng Feng—"

She paused, a hint of deep meaning flashing in her eyes: "Your Flood Snake Physique? Its range and lethality in chaotic battles far exceed those of martial artists of the same rank. Therefore, your positioning is—the core of the battlefield."

"Core?" Huo Luan raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, "Cousin, you say he's a Organ Refining Mid-stage, and he's the core?"

"He is also a Different Body! I don't need to say more, right?" Wang Ji said calmly.

As a Different Body holder herself, Wang Ji deeply understood the power of a Different Body.

Huo Luan was unconvinced: "So what if he's a Different Body? Right now he's just a Organ Refining Mid-stage."

Liu Yu placed his teacup back on the table, his slender fingers turning gently around the rim of the cup, as if organizing his thoughts.

Those dark, heavy eyes rested on Cheng Feng for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was clear, yet carried a composure inconsistent with his age: "The slaughter style of the Zhennan Army relies on a three-word mantra—fast, ruthless, and absolute.

Girl Huo has obtained seven-tenths of the true teachings; in terms of killing techniques alone, few among her peers can surpass her."

He paused, then changed the subject: "But you have a fatal weakness."

Huo Luan's brow furrowed, and she opened her mouth to retort, but was suppressed by a look from Liu Yu.

That look was not severe, and could even be called indifferent, but Huo Luan shrank back just like a cat that had its tail stepped on.

The True Qi Realm is indeed different.

"She is too solitary." Liu Yu's tone was as flat as if he were stating the weather, "The blade technique of the Zhennan Army is designed for the battlefield. Taking the head of an enemy general amidst thousands of troops relies on the lone courage of a single killing blow followed by fleeing a thousand miles.

But the chaotic battle of the Martial Arts Tournament is not a battlefield. Thirty-two people are squeezed into one circle; if you kill one and can't run away, your teammates beside you can't cover your back.

So Girl Huo's problem is not that she isn't strong enough, but that she doesn't know how to coordinate with others."

Huo Luan's expression was not very good; she sullenly gulped down a mouthful of tea and muttered in a low voice: "You aren't many years older than me, stop acting like an elder."

Liu Yu acted as if he hadn't heard, his gaze turning to Cheng Feng: "And you are the exact opposite. As far as I know, you have a heaven-sent talent for body refinement, your physical body is formidable, and your combat power is not low. In a chaotic battle, you can survive better than her."

Cheng Feng said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"So, Her Highness putting you in one team was not a random assembly." Liu Yu crossed his fingers and placed them on his knees, his body leaning slightly forward, "Wang Ji and Huo Luan are the spears, you are the shield. Gu Niangzi is the net, and I am the final insurance. Only when the five perform their respective duties can we stand firm in the chaotic battle. But the premise is—"

He raised his hand, his slender index finger pointing through the air at Cheng Feng, then at Huo Luan: "You two must first learn to trust each other. Not the kind of trust you say with your mouths, but the kind where you hand over your back once you're on the ring."

The warm pavilion was quiet for a moment.

Huo Luan turned her head to size up Cheng Feng, her gaze containing less of the previous scrutiny and more of a thoughtful flavor.

Cheng Feng met her gaze frankly, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly: "Miss Huo, Young Master Liu's words were blunt enough. You are the spear and I am the shield; neither of us is effective without the other. Why don't we start now and try to get used to each other?"

Huo Luan stared at him for two breaths, then suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Fine. But I have a flaw; I don't take weaklings as teammates. If you can't even take ten of my moves in the Martial Arts Arena later, I don't want this shield."

"Then let's try." Cheng Feng stood up with a smile.

Cheng Feng now considered himself able to fight Gang Qi martial artists, so he couldn't handle a girl who wasn't even in the True Qi Realm?

Liu Yu also stood up.

He was half a head taller than Cheng Feng, his figure slender and tall, his waist and back as straight as a blade. He wore an indigo martial robe tailored to fit, with the cuffs tied tight with leather cords, looking clean and sharp.

A narrow-bladed long sword hung at his waist; the scabbard was pitch-black and unpatterned, without any decoration, yet it inexplicably gave people a sense of oppression.

The Martial Arts Arena was larger than Cheng Feng had expected. Paved with bluestone, it was fully twenty zhang in circumference, with weapon racks and archery targets standing around it, and several severely worn wooden dummy posts piled in the corner.

This specification did not look like a private training ground for a Wangfu, but rather like a miniature version of a drill ground in an army camp.

Liu Yu did not enter the cool pavilion, but instead leaned against a flagpole at the edge of the arena with his sword in his arms, his chin slightly raised; his posture did not look like he was going to guide a junior, but rather like he was here to watch a show.

Wang Ji did not follow; Cheng Feng guessed she probably had other things to deal with—this Highness's schedule was clearly fuller than he had imagined.