“Wooaah!!”
“He did it!! Shiming did it, he beat the last opponent!!”
“That’s the fourth Faction they beat on our Sword Pavilion, to think they were this powerful!”
The Sword Pavilion mountain had its own private training grounds and this was where the Ming Academy disciples chose to hold the Faction against Faction battles.
A disciple who was nearby suddenly snorted and said derisively, “Are all of you a bunch of fucking idiots? Why are you all cheering that we lost? Aren't you ashamed that they manage to beat four of our Factions? All of you don’t deserve to be disciples of the Sword Pavilion.”
Hearing those words, the few disciples who were cheering at the Ming Clan’s victory looked around them to see various of their fellow disciples staring at them with anger and contempt. It was completely humiliating that they lost all their matches until now, but these bastards were even cheering on the enemy who came into their home and was ransacking the place!
Xi Shen looked over at this scene and he agreed with that disciple. The disciples of the Ming Academy came to the Sword Pavilion and Blade Pavilion to challenge the Factions.
For the past three days battles had occurred, and in that time news of losses came from the Blade Pavilion, as well as four Factions from the Sword Pavilion had lost so far.
On the stage, an unconscious disciple was carried off by his Faction members while a confident-looking Ming Shiming looked over the sea of white robes disciples below the stage and said, “Fellow disciples of the Sword Pavilion, we have learned a lot from our matches. I hope you can continue with our selfish request to battle your Factions who are from the number one Division of the Celestial Academy!”
Shiming cupped his fist and bowed upon saying that.
The Sword Pavilion disciples in the crowd all shot deadly daggers at Ming Shiming. His words were obviously said with another meaning.
Like how they were the number one Division on the Sword Pavilion but were still conceding a loss to them in each battle.
“This bastard Ming Shiming, he’s from our Celestial Academy but ever since the ten members of the Ming Academy came here he’s been acting like he has nothing to do with our Academy.”
A disciple in the crowd said in anger.
“He’s from the Blade Pavilion, so it’s obvious he won’t have any reservation against our Sword Pavilion.”
More and more disciples began whispering among the crowd.
Xi Shen, Yang Su, Lihua, Fei Yin, and Fang Chen were among the crowd watching just like the three previous days.
Xi Shen looked at Shiming on the stage in the Blade Pavilions blood-red robes and then turned his gaze to the other four disciples across the stage who were in golden robes, with a bright shiny character that spells “Ming” on their right chest.
Despite Shiming being of the Blade Pavilion, he was still among the younger generation of the Ming Clan who had cultivated in their new cultivation system. He was known to be the strongest of them as well.
His participation in the Ming Academy invasion shouldn’t come as a surprise then.
One thing that should be mentioned was that the Ming Clan doesn’t have a Faction on the Sword Pavilion for some reason.
Almost every, if not all Six Major Clans have Factions that spread into the strong Divisions, such as the Alchemy Pavilion, Formations Pavilion, Blacksmith Pavilion, etc.
There are members of those Factions who aren’t from the Major Clan but were suppressed by the Major Clans’ members.
Shiming was from the Ming Clan’s Faction on the Blade Pavilion, which was called The Invincible Ming Blade Faction.
His first time hearing the name, Xi Shen realize that the Ming Clan had the narcissistic habit of putting their name on everything.
On the stage, Shiming rose from his bow and waited for another Faction to send out their members.
After a while of nothing happening, Shiming smiled slightly and then said, “Fellow disciples of the Sword Pavilion, even though we only have five members here to represent the Ming Academy’s new method of Cultivation, I assure you we aren’t weak. There is no need for you to hold back against us. I myself am in the Sea Expansion Realm as well as my Clan members behind me. You can send out Faction members of equal strength to battle us on this stage!”
As Shiming said that, he looked at the crowd waiting for another Faction to send out five of its members, while he then recalled what his granduncle had said before he came here.
“Ming’er, this is an important task you must fulfill. Our Ming Clan is on the rise and with our new Academy established we need to show off our strength to the other institutes. You will be the one to lead the members of our Ming Academy to challenge the various Factions on the Sword and Blade Pavilion in the Celestial Academy, to build up the reputation of the new cultivation system for the Four Physical Realms. When on the Sword Pavilion pay close attention to the Divine Sword Faction, do everything in your power to arrange a match with them and beat their members. As the number one Faction in the number one Division in the Celestial Academy, their position is absolute among the disciples. With the defeat of their members, it will be known that our Ming Academy defeated the best the Celestial Academy has to offer. My nephew, you must accomplish this task no matter what, it’s crucial for my plans to succeed.”
Ming Shiming clenched his fist by his side.
‘Don’t worry granduncle, I will definitely accomplish this task you assign me.’
Shiming's eyes glowed with determination before he turned and went to the side of the stage the golden robes youth were situated.
After landing next to them, one of the Ming Clan youths who had a nonchalant demeanor turned to Ming Shiming and said, “Young Master, it looks like defeating those four Factions has scared the others from stepping up. They’re afraid to lose face for their Sword Pavilion.”
Another youth next to them who had sword-like eyebrows sneered and said, “To think disciples on the Sword Pavilion would only be so-so. In my battle, I didn’t even use the full extent of my power and yet they were sent flying coughing up blood. How disappointing.”
The youth’s voice was dripping with so much contempt it almost became visible to the naked eye.
The only female of the group suddenly said to the youth with the sword eyebrows, “Ping Su, don’t get overconfident. Those Factions we beat were among the bottom of the barrel when compared with what the Sword Pavilion has to offer. So their strength was bound to be weak.”
The youth with the sword eyebrow name Ping Su sneered and said, “That Faction that we just battled, weren't they among the top ten? But they still lost so easily to us.”
The last of the four in golden robes who looked rather burly said, “Look another Faction has stepped up.”
Shiming and the others turn to the stage to see a youth standing at the other end.
Seeing this youth, Shiming narrowed his eyes.
The youth on the stage cupped his fist and said, “I Guiren of the Flowing River Faction Extends a challenge to the Ming Academy disciples.”
A small commotion occurred in the crowd when they saw Guiren stepping up to battle.
“That’s brother Guiren! He finally decided to enter the Sea Expansion Realm with 56 meridians after being in the Academy for three years.”
“Then does this mean the Sua Clan is stepping up to challenge the Ming Clan? Guiren is from his Family’s Faction the Flowing River Faction.”
“No I don’t think so, I think brother Guiren gather a few people from his Faction just to battle. It looks like he wants to battle Shiming who he had lost to in the Freshmen Disciple Competition.”
An observant youth said, and the disciples near him found that possibility to be sound, given how Guiren was eagerly staring at Shiming.
Shiming turn to the burly youth and said, “Brother Chu, you go ahead.”
The burly youth nodded and said, “Yes young master!”
When Guiren saw that the burly youth was the one appearing on stage, he frowned and shot Shiming an annoyed stare.
He didn’t want to battle anyone but Shiming, he refused to believe he was inferior to him and wanted to make up for his loss. But Shiming wasn’t giving him that opportunity.
The burly youth leaped up onto the stage before he bowed his head and said, “Ming Chu, a disciple from the Ming Academy. I entered the Sea Expansion after opening 82 meridians.”
“….???!!!”
The crowd below suddenly became dumbfounded at Ming Chu’s words.
“Wait, what?! Did he just say he opened 82 meridians before he breakthrough into the Sea Expansion Realm?!!”
“That’s terrifying, how come he didn’t announce it before? No wonder these Ming Academy disciples are so strong, just one of them has opened so many of his meridians, what about the others? The disciples they fought before were just low-level Third Phase Sea Expansion Realm cultivators. With such a huge gap of course they were beaten so easily!”
“So wait, doesn’t that mean the way how they cultivated through the Four Physical Realms made them so strong? The number of disciples in the Inner Academy who had opened more than sixty meridians can be counted on one hand. Just look at brother Guiren, he’s a top genius in the Inner Academy but has only opened 56 of his meridians!”
Everyone began to voice their shock because of Ming Chu’s words.
Seeing the reaction of the crowd, Ming Chu smirked arrogantly, but he suddenly saw that Guiren was looking at him with a calm expression.
‘What? I thought I could ruffle him a bit by revealing the number of meridians I had opened but, he’s still calm.’
“Alright let’s battle,” said Guiren.
Hearing that, Ming Chu thought, ‘Why does he sound so unenthusiastic? This bastard, is he even taking this match seriously?’
Guiren took a step forward and dash towards Ming Chu.
‘Is he trying to attack me head-on? Fool!’
Ming Chu's eyes flared with intensity and he too dashed towards Guiren.
Both youths appeared in the middle of the eighty-meter-wide stage and sent out their fists towards each other.
Seeing this, Shiming sneered.
‘This Guiren is just like before, always trying to go head to head with his opponent. With brother Chu’s raw strength he’ll easily be able to crush him in the first exchange.’
Xi Shen who was watching this as well thought the same, but his eyes suddenly focus on Guiren tilting his posture as he was about to throw out his fist.
‘This brat, did he combine those two battle styles?’
*******
Word Count: 1831