Chapter 106: Headmaster of Western Campus
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Zhang Ruochen hid his true strength and did not demonstrate the Peak Comprehension for Sword Following the Heart.
He knew that everyone would be even more shocked if he fully unleashed it, but anyhow, the sheer force of the Advanced Stage of the Sword Following the Heart was sufficient to defeat Feng Zhilin.
“The Advanced Stage of the Sword Following the Heart?”
Feng Zhilin’s expression turned ugly. He never imagined that Zhang Ruochen had already reached such realms in his sword technique.
“No, I won’t lose, I haven’t lost! I am three Martial Arts realms above him, I can certainly defeat him!”
Feng Zhilin gritted his teeth and refused to admit defeat. Swinging his long spear, he charged forward again.
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly and started to concentrate on preparing a counterattack. A swirl of Qi billow began to pool at the tip of his sword.
The movement of Qi billow was similar to that of water. Rumbling sounds rose and fell as countless threads of Sword Breath shuttled through the air like the ocean tides.
“Sacred Wave Sword!”
The instant the sword was swung, the Sword Breath condensed to form a five-meter-tall wave, which crashed onto Feng Zhilin and swept him over.
“Ahh… ”
Feng Zhilin cried out in pain. The long spear fell from his hand and clattered to the ground.
“Boom!”
Feng Zhilin’s white martial arts robe was completely shredded by the Sword Breaths that it turned into rags, leaving only the Silver Scale Armor Vest covering his body.
Other than the areas covered by the armored vest, every other part of his body had been badly cut open by the Sword Breaths. His whole body was now a complete mess of flesh and blood.
This was Zhang Ruochen being merciful, otherwise, with that powerful stroke, he could have easily chopped off Feng Zhilin’s head and all four limbs.
“Feng Zhilin, you’ve lost!”
Zhang Ruochen held his sword and walked over. He brought his sword to Feng Zhilin’s neck and said, “I said I wouldn’t kill you. I only want revenge for my fourth brother. I’m going to break the bones in both your hands!”
“Wa-wait!”
Feng Zhilin’s entire body was trembling as he crawled up from the ground. He then dropped to his knees in front of Zhang Ruochen, kowtowed to him and said, “Zhang Ruochen, thank… thank you for sparing my life.”
Zhang Ruochen looked at Feng Zhilin who was kneeling in front of him with his face full of doubt. Suddenly, a sense of imminent danger swept over him.
Oh no!
Right at that moment, Feng Zhilin raised his head abruptly and spat out three needles consecutively.
“Phew! Phew! Phew!”
It was the Archery Tongue, the Feng’s unique talent.
Feng Zhiyi could only shoot out one needle with his tongue, but Feng Zhilin could spit out three at a time.
None of the audience in the observatory platform expected Feng Zhilin to suddenly launch an attack.
It was simply impossible to dodge the attack at such a close distance. Even warriors at the Completion of the Black Realm would be tricked, let alone Zhang Ruochen, who was at the Mid Stage of the Black Realm.
“Ding! Ding!”
With a single swipe of his sword, Zhang Ruochen precisely hit the tips of the three silver needles and sent them flying back to his owner.
One of the needles pierced into Feng Zhilin’s throat.
Two other needles went through his eyes.
“Ah… Prin-Prince… Huo Xing… save me… ”
Ignoring the stabbing pain, Feng Zhilin pulled out the needle stuck at his throat. Both of his hands were clutching at his own neck while he rushed to leave the life and death platform. However, he had gone blind and could not see the way. Without knowing where he was heading to, he took a step into empty air, lost his balance and fell off the 30-meter-tall platform.
In a series of screams, Feng Zhilin landed in the forest of spikes. The spikes stabbed into him, leaving dozens of blood holes all over his body. After a brief struggle, his hand fell limp. There were no more sounds coming from him.
Silence.
The entire platform became deathly silent. Only the breathing and heartbeats of the crowd were audible.
Zhang Ruochen sighed softly. He just wanted to teach Feng Zhilin a lesson. He did not want to kill him. Even if he broke both of Feng Zhilin’s arms, as long as he applied some Muscles and Bones Regenerating Ointment, he could recover within two weeks.
Shaking his head, Zhang Ruochen walked down from the life and death platform.
Soon after, the students in Yunwu Commandery all cheered and rushed toward Zhang Ruochen.
“Ninth Prince is so powerful, even Feng Zhilin died at your hands. I bet no one else will dare to bully our students of Yunwu Commandery from now on.”
Eyes full of admiration, a pretty female student stared at Zhang Ruochen and asked, “Ninth Prince, the sword stroke you used to defeat Feng Zhilin was amazing! May I learn swordsmanship from you?”
Liu Chengfeng noticed that Zhang Ruochen seemed to be in a bad mood. He could somewhat guess the reason behind his change of mood, and thus, he smiled and said, “Your Majesty, Feng Zhilin brought this upon himself, and his death was of his own making; so don’t blame yourself! Besides, he fell off the life and death platform by himself. It has nothing to do with you.”
Zhang Ruochen gently nodded his head and said blandly, “Since Feng Zhilin is already dead, this matter has also come to an end. Everybody, please go back!”
The students from Yunwu Commandery were all beyond excited, but Prince Huo Xing’s expression was unusually cold. Staring at Zhang Ruochen’s receding figure, he said, “Useless, Feng Zhilin was useless. He couldn’t even kill someone like Zhang Ruochen!”
A student from Square Commandery, who was standing aside, asked, “What now? Are we just going to let Zhang Ruochen go like that?”
“Let him go? How is that possible?”
Prince Huo Xing clenched his fists tightly and said in a cold tone, “I will write to my father right now, and ask him to pay a huge price and have killers from the Hades Department get rid of Zhang Ruochen. If he doesn’t die, he will certainly be an enemy of Square Commandery in the future.”
…
After the battle on the life and death platform, Zhang Ruochen returned to Dragon Martial Temple and continued to practice his sword technique.
On the third day, he finally received an audience with Headmaster of Western Campus.
Headmaster of Western Campus, dressed in his golden robe, was sitting on a white stone next to the pond. With a fishing rod in his hands, anyone could tell that he was fishing.
“Greetings, Headmaster!”
Zhang Ruochen approached Headmaster of Western Campus from behind and gently bowed in greeting.
“Zhang Ruochen, do you know why I waited for a month after the entrance exams to summon you to an audience?” Headmaster of Western Campus was still holding his fishing rod, his eyes fixed on the surface of the pond. He did not turn to face Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “This student does not know.”
Zhang Ruochen saw Headmaster once during the school exam. But it was too far away, and he only took a casual look.
It was at this moment that Zhang Ruochen took a serious look at Headmaster for the first time, who was the only superior in Western Campus who could wear a golden robe.
With a head full of white hair, he should be around 70 or 80 years old. However, there was not a single wrinkle visible on his hands and the side of his face. It was strange as he did not show any traces of old age.
“I wonder which Realm Headmaster is at?” Zhang Ruochen could not see through Headmaster’s cultivation.
The lord of the Western Campus put down the fishing rod and stood up. He turned to look at Zhang Ruochen and said, “Do you know, for every year, the top freshman will be accepted by the Deputy Headmaster as his own disciple. Of course, if the new student is talented enough, I will personally take him in.”
“Your performance in the Wu Tower was quite outstanding. At that moment, I’ve already thought of taking you as my disciple. When I say outstanding, I’m not referring to you crossing the second obstacle on the third level, rather, it is referring to you passing the third obstacle on the third level, and you defeating Luo Xu in the same Realm.”
Zhang Ruochen was slightly surprised. He said, “The headmaster know what happened in the Wu Tower?”
“Haha!”
The lord of the Western Campus laughed heartily and said, “You really think that such an important place was only guarded by the girls Huang and Duanmu? There are some secrets, even the two of them don’t know about.”
Shortly afterward, Headmaster’s expression became more solemn and serious. He said, “However, I don’t oppose the decisions they made. Even if they did not stop you at that time, I would have personally intercepted you from entering the fourth floor of the Wu Tower.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Is the headmaster worried that if I have shown too much talent, I will be targeted by others?”
The lord of the Western Campus nodded his head and said, “The Martial School is not completely safe. The Black Market and the Moon Worship Demon Sect have continuously tried to infiltrate the school over the recent years. Not only are they among the students, they are also in the higher levels of the school.”
“If you had made it to the fourth floor, the Black Market would surely use all necessary means to make sure you were killed in the cradle. It would be difficult even for me to protect you.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Is Headmaster referring to the ‘Black House Killing Action’?”
The lord of the Western Campus exclaimed in surprise and said, “You know about ‘Black House Killing Action’?”
It must be noted that the Black Market and the Martial Market Bank were in opposition to each other since time immemorial. They had been fighting and killing each other in order to expand their territory and to compete for market resources.
The School of the Martial Market was Martial Market Bank’s training ground for talents. In order to eradicate Martial Market Bank down to its roots, Black Market had launched the “Black House Killing Action”, which was aimed to assassinate young prodigies from the Martial School.
The Black Market started the action since 800 years ago. It was no surprise Zhang Ruochen knew about it.
Zhang Ruochen could not explain to Headmaster, and so could only contribute it to the Yunwu Commandery Prince. He replied, “Before I came to take the exam, it was brought up once in conversation by my father. Honestly, I don’t know much about the action other than that.”
“Ah, so the Yunwu Commandery Prince has already warned you, then I don’t need to say more about it!”
From the Headmaster’s perspective, it was not difficult for the Yunwu Commandery Prince to have heard of the “Black House Killing Action”. After all, the action had been around for over a thousand years. It was not that much of a secret.
It must be noted that the Black Market and the Martial Market Bank were in opposition to each other since time immemorial. They had been fighting and killing each other in order to expand their territory and to compete for market resources.
“That’s right!” The lord of the Western Campus laughed. “You won’t hold it against me, right?”
Zhang Ruochen said with a smile, “Since the headmaster has already told me in person, why would I hold it against you? I really want to know, did the headmaster manage to find out any agents on the Western Campus?”
“I have found some clues, but I am still waiting for the big fish to be caught. I believe we can close the net soon.” Headmaster said.
Soon after, Headmaster said again, “Zhang Ruochen, would you like to accept me as your teacher and become my disciple?”
There was a big difference between being one’s student and one’s own disciple.
A teacher could teach many students, but, he would have very few disciples.
Once he became a disciple to the lord of the Western Campus, he would have another strong supporter. His status in the Western Campus would immediately rise to new heights. In the future, no one would dare to find him trouble. Even as an internal student, his status would still be above other internal students.
However, Zhang Ruochen did not want to accept the lord of the Western Campus as a teacher. He had too many secrets with him. He could not let anyone know. If he accepted to be Headmaster’s disciple, then some of his secrets would surely be exposed.
Zhang Ruochen respectfully saluted the lord of the Western Campus and said, “Thank you for the offer, but I would like to practice a Martial Arts to call my own. I have no intention of having a teacher at the moment.”
Surprisingly, the lord of the Western Campus did not get angry, instead, he showed a faint smile and said, “Hehe! I have been a lord of the Western Campus for 34 years. I have offered to take 11 students as disciples, and you are the second to reject me.”
…
Note: Previously it was stated Western Campus has only been around for 460 years. It refers to the Western Campus of the Martial Market School in the Omen Ridge. The branches of the Martial Market School covers the entire Kunlun’s Field, and its history extends far beyond 460 years.