Wei Yuan thought the boy was acting strangely. He had no idea what he was so angry about.
This boy was different from everyone else. Under the influence of Wei Yuan's fortune, he still moved incredibly fast in Wei Yuan's eyes. Though Wei Yuan's fortune suppressed him too, the effect was limited. He wasn't crawling like Brother Xu, much less moving as slowly as a snail like everyone else. And that sword technique, Three Thousand Lotuses, had been magnificent, with a little trick hidden in it: most of the lotuses weren't aimed at Wei Yuan, but at the wild boar. The boy had successfully taken the boar out in an instant.
That was exactly why Wei Yuan genuinely thought well of him and had shown him every courtesy, especially taking care to speak sincerely.
But the boy didn't seem to appreciate it.
The boy grew angrier and angrier. Suddenly, a galaxy shattered in his eyes, and the long sword in his hand blazed with light, like a blue sun slowly rising!
In an instant, Wei Yuan's vision was filled with boundless blue light; he couldn't see a thing. Meanwhile, his armor rang with a clatter, like pearls dropping onto a jade plate, and he had no idea how many sword strikes had hit him. All Wei Yuan could hear was the boy's furious voice:
"Winding Water Like a Lament!"
"Loneliness Unaware of Pipes and Drums!"
"A Fisherman's Song Flows Eastward!"
"General's Pavilion Asks of Immortal Fate!"
"Barbarian, face my sword!!!"
Wei Yuan felt as if he were caught in a violent storm, able to make out the boy's figure only faintly amid the countless streaks of blue light. At the heart of the blue tempest, wisps of black qi rose from Wei Yuan's body. As Heaven and Earth Madman ran its course, cracks appeared in the sea of blue light before his eyes, and the boy's figure kept appearing within them.
Wei Yuan thrust with his spear, but the boy flickered back and forth, and somehow not a single thrust landed!
After missing several times in a row, Wei Yuan felt his anger rise. He gave a heavy snort, and under the suppression of his fortune, the sea of blue light suddenly faltered for an instant. The boy's figure appeared in one spot. Without a moment's hesitation, Wei Yuan gripped the spear with both hands, wielded it like a staff, and swung it straight at him!
With a crack, the boy flickered away twice more, but the spear was sweeping in a wide arc. It still caught him hard across the waist! His body immediately bent at a bizarre angle, then vanished in a flash of light.
Only after the blue light had faded did Wei Yuan see the dents scattered all over his heavy armor. Looking at the battered armor, he couldn't help feeling a little shaken. This time, he really had come within a hair's breadth of being hurt.
Wei Yuan looked up toward the top of the slope again. Only three or four people remained there. At the center stood a girl of peerless beauty, delicate and frail, holding a long sword in both hands. It looked less like she was preparing to defend herself than like she was about to begin a dance.
The girl raised her sword with some effort and said to those beside her, "Looks like I'll have to go up myself after all! Don't be afraid. He's only a barbarian; he's nothing special."
But no one stepped forward this time. The three boys and girls left didn't even know any fortune techniques. All they could do was cheer her on and stand there as pretty background scenery.
Wei Yuan strode to the top of the slope and thrust straight at the girl. She lightly raised her sword and blocked him.
Wei Yuan was astonished. That thrust had been just as powerful as the one that had broken Xiao Yu across the waist, yet this little girl had blocked it with such ease?
At last, he had met a worthy opponent. Something inside Wei Yuan seemed to stir in anger, slowly awakening, like a True Immortal standing high above the world and looking down upon ten thousand years of mortal vicissitudes.
Wei Yuan had felt this way once before, when he was three years old. Back then, he had been driving a short spear into the heart of a refugee.
Heaven and Earth Madman began running on its own. Wisps of black qi suddenly seeped out through Wei Yuan's visor. He pushed forward with the spear that had been held at bay, and then came a bang, as if he had burst an invisible bubble.
The girl felt an unmatched force crash down upon her. The long sword in her hand suddenly exploded, sending countless shards flying in every direction. Three streaks of white light rose around her at once. She was drenched in blood as she toppled backward.
Looking at the girl lying motionless on the ground, Wei Yuan snorted and turned to look around.
Hiss!
After a long, seemingly endless intake of breath, Wei Yuan sucked all the black qi around him into his heavy armor. His spiritual senses spread farther and farther, and then several small beasts came running. His gaze swept over a rabbit, a wolf, and a wildcat. None seemed sturdy enough to bear the weight, so his eyes finally settled on the wild boar. A wisp of black qi shot from between his brows and entered its body.
As the boar let out a cry of pain, it endured all manner of immortal tortures. Its body swelled in an instant, becoming a monster ten feet tall and several dozen feet long.
Wei Yuan walked toward the boar, his battle boots pounding the ground step by step. His final step landed squarely on the sand table. The exquisite model shattered into pieces in an instant, turning into swirling sand.
Wei Yuan stopped and looked down. Only the final corner of the sand table remained beneath his feet. The little hill had been sculpted with lifelike detail; he wondered whose skillful hands had made it.
His battle boot didn't move forward. Instead, it turned on the spot, and its toe swept across the last little hill, cleaving it in half.
Atop the hill, a bloodied girl lay face down, her life or death unknown.
Wei Yuan walked over to her. His hand rose and his spear fell; a streak of white light appeared.
The Deliberation Hall fell utterly silent. The young cultivator covered his face and remained motionless for a long time. The other judges wore all kinds of expressions. Even Daoist Fu Feng raised an eyebrow and secretly drew in a sharp breath.
The two Confucians had been sitting back, smugly pleased with themselves, but then they saw Wei Yuan climb onto the wild boar and turn south.
Their expressions stiffened at once.
On the way south, Wei Yuan briefly reviewed the battle he had just fought. The Northern Green Team's commander had been a master tactician, and the soldiers had fought with all their might. He also had many experts under his command who knew fortune techniques. The girl in the goose-yellow dress had been formidable in her own right. She had actually managed to block one of his spear thrusts!
And he had wiped out a force like that all by himself?
As the enemy's ships and oars vanished into ashes amid laughter and conversation—that was the bearing of a master of the Art of War, wasn't it? Wei Yuan suddenly wondered if perhaps he was a grand master of military strategy himself.
The wild boar galloped like the wind. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan had crossed the Central District and entered the Southern District.
Li Zhi was sitting on pins and needles.
On the two hills, the opposing forces were locked in a brutal battle. But against the Green Team's thirty soldiers on each side, Li Zhi had only sent twenty men to hold each flank. His main force, especially the thirty elite soldiers of his central army, remained completely still, facing north the entire time.
Even as the forces on both wings dwindled with every passing battle, Li Zhi still refused to deploy his main force. A girl beside him cried out anxiously, "Senior Brother Li, if we don't save the flanks now, our people are going to be wiped out!"
Li Zhi suddenly flew into a rage and shouted, "What do you know! If the central army moves and Bao Yun attacks right now, we'll be utterly defeated!"
The girl jumped and shrank back. "But she hasn't come!"
Li Zhi froze too. "That's right. Why hasn't she come yet?"
Bao Yun had outdone Li Zhi at every turn even before the Martial Assessment. She had organized her forces early, and not only did she have more people, but she also had far more experts bolstered by fortune. Once the Martial Assessment began, Bao Yun had swiftly devoured Li Zhi's vanguard. Now her double envelopment of the flanks was an open stratagem, forcing Li Zhi into a battle of attrition and securing her an absolute advantage. The reason Li Zhi didn't dare move his central army was that he feared Bao Yun's main force would suddenly attack. If that happened, he really would be utterly defeated.
Li Zhi knew he was probably going to lose, but there was a great deal to consider about how he lost. If he lost his nerve and moved the central army, only for Bao Yun to ambush him and break through his formation, his score would drop considerably. Li Zhi knew someone had his back, but Bao Yun had even more people backing her. A mistake this serious would inevitably leave him behind Bao Yun in points.
His other option was to attack first, but Li Zhi knew Bao Yun's main force was probably staying out of sight because she was waiting for him to make a move. With the troops he had now, an attack would still end in defeat, so he might as well hold his ground. Li Zhi refused to believe Bao Yun could turn a bunch of children into battle-hardened elites in such a short time. By the time her forces traveled from north to south, they would surely be in disarray.
Then Li Zhi could wait at ease, with thirty elite soldiers in his central army rested and ready. He had also gathered everyone's pills, and after repeated charges, he might actually have a chance of defeating Bao Yun. Li Zhi was betting that Bao Yun was too proud of her status to take the ordinary examinees' pills.
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