Yan Kuangtu

"What about you?"

Headmaster Liu neither approved nor disapproved of Wang Weifeng's answer.

His gaze then turned to the several Top Students from the Separate Courtyards standing beside him as he asked the Inner Sect candidates.

"Reporting to the Dean, this Disciple believes Zhang Qingyuan has a higher chance of winning."

Within the Seventeenth Branch, ranked second,

Zhao Yuanyang, who usually treated others with refined courtesy and carried himself like a scion of a great family, gave Wang Weifeng a deep look and voiced the same opinion.

The other outstanding disciples of the Seventeenth Branch gathered around Headmaster Liu

also had no major objections.

As the foremost figures within the Seventeenth Branch, their cultivation generally stood at the Eighth and Ninth Layers of the Spirit Essence Realm or above.

They could claim a place even within the entire Outer Sect.

With their insight,

they could naturally see that although Yao Ping appeared fierce on the arena, he had actually fallen into a disadvantage as time passed.

"I am very pleased that you possess such discernment."

Headmaster Liu nodded in satisfaction.

Though he had only temporarily taken on the role of head of the Outer Sect's Seventeenth Branch, if the Seventeenth Branch advanced more disciples into the Inner Sect during this Outer Sect Grand Competition, he would receive greater rewards from the sect as well.

"You must remember this: as cultivators, you must be cautious when facing anyone. Never underestimate others at any time. Some people may look insignificant, yet the methods they hide may not be inferior to yours. One careless step, and your Dao Path may be annihilated. Your enemies will not give you another chance to start over."

"Take Zhang Qingyuan, for instance."

"Your realms are not high enough, so you cannot see the details within."

"Though Zhang Qingyuan's Water Essence Art is unremarkable, merely one of the ordinary Cultivation Methods widely circulated throughout the Outer Sect,"

"if I am not mistaken, Zhang Qingyuan has likely already cultivated it to the Fourth Layer! He has drawn out the special traits attached to the profound Spirit Essence of the Cultivation Method, allowing him to effortlessly dissolve the Sha Qi filling Yao Ping's Black Fiend Tiger Essence Art during battle."

"A Fourth Layer Water Essence Art is as rare as Phoenix Feathers and Unicorn Horns even among the entire Cloud Water Sect's hundred thousand Outer Sect disciples."

Rarely in such a good mood,

Headmaster Liu also imparted some deeper knowledge about cultivation to those around him.

"The first three layers of this art are unremarkable. Aside from the Spirit Essence cultivated being somewhat deeper and thicker than that of Ordinary People, it possesses no remarkable traits. But once one first breaks through to the Fourth Layer, the originally ordinary Water Essence Art Spirit Essence undergoes an immense change, gaining additional special enhancements that are no weaker than the Outer Sect's top-tier first-rate Cultivation Methods."

"Moreover, the Water Essence Art was originally renowned for the unbroken, mellow abundance of the Spirit Essence it cultivated. After breaking through to the Fourth Layer, its original advantage in the sheer abundance of Spirit Essence rises another level. Judging by Zhang Qingyuan's current strength, the vast Spirit Essence within him alone is at least twice that of an ordinary Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level cultivator!"

"If Yao Ping cannot defeat Zhang Qingyuan in a short time, then once the battle falls into a prolonged tug-of-war, Zhang Qingyuan will certainly be the final victor."

"Let alone the fact that Zhang Qingyuan's methods are not limited to the Fourth Layer Water Essence Art."

"I observed that his use of the Nine Refinements Bone Forging Fist has already reached seamless Great Accomplishment, touching upon a trace of the threshold of perfection. In terms of his understanding of this fist art, I fear no Disciple in the entire Separate Courtyard can surpass him."

At this point, Headmaster Liu could not help but sigh inwardly.

In truth,

both the Water Essence Art and the Nine Refinements Bone Forging Fist were Basic Cultivation Methods and Martial Arts of the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect.

They were inherently easy to learn but difficult to master, meant to lay foundations for Outer Sect disciples.

To cultivate these two Basic Cultivation Methods and Martial Arts to such a degree,

either the other party possessed exceedingly high talent in cultivation,

whether Cultivation Methods or Martial Skills,

he understood them as soon as he learned them,

mastered them as soon as he practiced them,

a peerless genius for whom anything became incomparably simple once it entered his hands.

Or Zhang Qingyuan possessed an unyielding Dao Heart,

able to endure repeated practice time and time again, continuing to study and train diligently without pause even when progress was difficult to see, until Practice Makes Perfect.

And in Headmaster Liu's view,

it was likely more the latter.

That was also one reason a trace of emotion had risen in his heart.

At an age when a Youth's temperament was naturally restless and unpredictable,

he could achieve what most ordinary people could not.

If no accidents befell him in the future,

it might be somewhat remote for this Disciple named Zhang Qingyuan to rise above the rest of the Cloud Water Sect and become renowned throughout the sect, or even throughout the entire Cultivation World.

But if he could preserve his Dao Heart

and persevere,

he would ultimately never become a mediocre and commonplace person,

like the majority of ordinary disciples among the tens of thousands of Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect disciples,

who lived their lives without achievement and faded into obscurity.

"An Abundant foundation and masterful Martial Skills. Though his combat methods are somewhat immature and his experience lacking, the advantages he possesses are simply not something Yao Ping, who has only recently advanced, can compare with."

Looking at the two fighting on the arena,

Headmaster Liu thought to himself.

Compared with Yao Ping, who fought with divine valor and had displayed the title of Lesser Invincible among peers while still at the Mid Spirit Essence Realm,

a Disciple like Zhang Qingyuan, who neither hurried nor faltered, was upright and balanced, rarely fought, yet could still keep his Cultivation Methods and Martial Skills from falling behind,

was far more worthy of his regard.

Titles such as Little Fierce Tiger and invincible among peers

certainly sounded imposing when spoken aloud.

But,

in this Cultivation World, one had to know that what was rigid was easily broken.

Unless one was like Yan Kuangtu, first among the Outer Sect's Ten Prodigies, who had made countless enemies in the two-plus years since entering the sect, yet fought his way through the Outer Sect without meeting a single rival and had never suffered defeat since his rise.

It was said that

not long ago,

an Elder in the True Essence Realm, who had only recently advanced from the Outer Sect, could not bear to see a Junior bullied and stepped forward to teach him a lesson, only for Yan Kuangtu to challenge him instead.

Upon the arena,

with the cultivation of the Spirit Essence Realm Ninth Layer,

he fought a True Essence Realm expert for eight hundred and seventy-six moves without falling into a disadvantage,

then in the end unleashed the surging Spirit Essence of a perfected Lesser Heaven Imprisoning Hand in One Move, blotting out the sky and striking that True Essence Realm expert down from the high altitude where he rode his sword, winning by a narrow margin.

For a time,

Yan Kuangtu's name

instantly shook the entire Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect!

It reached the point where no one was unaware of it.

He was now acclaimed as the foremost of the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect's Ten Prodigies.

The so-called Ten Prodigies

were precisely the ten with the greatest strength and widest renown among the Cloud Water Sect's hundred thousand Outer Sect disciples!

Truly standing above ten thousand others!

These past days,

Yan Kuangtu had even declared

that at the coming Outer Sect Grand Competition, he would defeat every Fellow Sect Member, gather an invincible momentum, forge an unparalleled Abundant foundation in one stroke, and advance into the True Essence Realm!

Such boldness

made even Headmaster Liu, who had already become an Inner Sect Disciple and broken through to the True Essence Realm many years ago,

unable to help but feel admiration for a legendary Junior like Yan Kuangtu.

Such a monstrous genius, dazzling the world with boundless brilliance from the moment he emerged,

was what true invincibility among peers looked like.

In comparison,

Yao Ping's so-called "Lesser Invincible among peers," limited to the tiny pond of the Seventeenth Branch, was instead like a joke.