Geng Peng, an inner disciple of the Myriad Dharma Sect, watched the new students practice Basic Swordplay Three, finding the sight particularly pleasing to the eye.
Disciples of other sects found it difficult to understand why Myriad Dharma Sect disciples held such peculiar feelings toward a whole series of martial arts with "basic" in their names—basic swordplay, basic fist techniques, basic footwork, basic spearplay, basic saber techniques, basic halberd techniques, and so on. To most cultivators, these widely circulated introductory martial arts were like addition and subtraction within ten. You would benefit from them for your entire life, but you would not deliberately study them, much less harbor any special feelings toward them—what? You still vividly remembered the thrill of learning that one plus one equaled two? Even if that were true, you would be too embarrassed to say it aloud, wouldn't you?
Geng Peng had always scoffed at such views.
Myriad Dharma Sect disciples had always believed that the basic martial arts taught by the Immortal Academy were the embodiment of mathematical beauty!
The basic martial arts currently prevalent throughout the Immortal Alliance had been developed a thousand years ago by the Free and Unfettered Cultivator of the Myriad Dharma Sect, Ge Langri, the "Sword Maniac." Sword Maniac Ge Langri was also known as the Calculation Maniac, and he had dabbled in the research fields of the Yuanli Sect and the Mysterious Star Observatory. Yet what he had been proudest of was that diagramless sword manual. No diagrams meant no fixed moves, but as long as one followed the manual's teachings, whether wielding saber, spear, sword, halberd, axe, battleaxe, hook, fork, lance, staff, mace, whip, rod, hammer, or claw, one could break all methods by discerning the parameters, plugging them into the formulas, and proceeding step by step. By reverse-analyzing all sword arts in the world with those sword formulas, breaking them down into their simplest factors, and then recombining them according to mathematical principles, one obtained these basic martial arts.
Once every movement in the basic martial arts had been analyzed into formulas, each became a simplest factor. That also meant every movement was at once the most concise and filled with limitless possibilities. Once these disciples truly stepped onto the path of martial arts, they could freely combine them into "martial formulas" suited to themselves.
And in the eyes of the Myriad Dharma Sect, basic martial arts were mathematical beauty itself!
Oh, look at that kick—that was the simplest factor, "A multiplied by X squared"! That arm stretch, that was "the product of B and D"! Look at that lifted chest... Tsk, the harvest had been good these past few years. Look at that girl... What impressive curvature!
Without realizing it, Geng Peng's thoughts had slid in a certain wrong direction. At that moment, however, the cultivation of a Myriad Dharma Sect disciple made him sense a trace of discord within the formation.
"What is going on? Is someone doing it improperly?"
His duty as an instructor made him grow serious, and his eyes swiftly locked onto the target. When he spotted the fellow whose movements were not up to standard, a flicker of displeasure passed through Geng Peng's heart, and he shouted instinctively, "Wang Qi, step out."
The one called upon wore a helpless expression. Wang Qi understood that this was someone looking for trouble. Su Junyu had actually told him before that Li Ziye was one of the rare Myriad Dharma Sect cultivators skilled at socializing, with considerable prestige among disciples of his generation. And because Li Ziye's death was inseparably connected to him, roughly eighty percent of the Myriad Dharma Sect disciples currently in Xinyue City disliked the sight of him. That was also why, despite cultivating the Yao Ding Suanjing, Wang Qi could not find anyone to play a game of Go with, leaving him no choice but to play cards with Su Junyu—yes, it was absolutely not because of some lousy excuse like "I have few friends" that he hung around with Su Junyu.
Even Su Junyu admitted that if they had not played a few rounds of cards together first, and if he had not been on fairly good terms with Xiang Qi, he might also have found Wang Qi irritating. Thus, Wang Qi had been mentally prepared for the Myriad Dharma Sect's attempts to make things difficult for him.
But while the one called upon was prepared, the assistant instructor who had called him out fell silent.
Geng Peng admitted that Wang Qi rubbed him the wrong way. If Wang Qi caused trouble at the Immortal Academy, he would gladly stomp on him twice. But right now, the other party could at most be said to have slacked off, and according to the teaching staff regulations, he could only give him a verbal warning or two. Yet in a moment of impulse, he had directly called him out of formation! If he punished him severely, he himself would be violating the rules...
Aside from people like the Divine Lord Bai Ze, who feared neither heaven nor earth, most Myriad Dharma Sect disciples were famous for observing rules and regulations.
An inexplicable sense of awkwardness swelled in Geng Peng's heart. If Xiang Qi knew what was happening right now, she would probably directly mock him—Myriad Dharma Sect emotional intelligence really was low!
Geng Peng's ever-changing expression fell into Wang Qi's eyes, but it meant something entirely different to him. Wang Qi sneered inwardly. Oh? The little brat is still charging up his ultimate move. How is he planning to screw me over? Heh, I know the Immortal Academy rules like the back of my hand. There are only A, B, and C ways you can use them against me, and I've long prepared countermeasures A, B, and C!
Sure enough, slapping faces was what a transmigrator was supposed to do!
Yet the strange silence between the two looked different again in the eyes of the other disciples. Quite a few had vaguely heard of the friction between Wang Qi and the Myriad Dharma Sect disciples. Among them were no small number of promising youths born into imperial families, with sharp political instincts. A genius like Wang Qi, who had converted from the ancient methods to modern methods and still broken through the Heavenly Passage on his own, was a strong contender for the Five Excellences' True Disciple position. The Immortal Academy also gave scores for ideology and conduct. They were delighted to see Wang Qi being harassed by an instructor, and if he clashed with this Foundation Establishment senior and lost an entire month's conduct points, that would be even better.
A low-emotional-intelligence Myriad Dharma Sect disciple tried to trip up a new student, only to get his face slapped in this posture or that posture or yet another posture. Just thinking about it was a little exciting!
Because Geng Peng spent too long wavering, Wang Qi had already begun imagining everyone's reactions after he slapped their faces.
Fortunately, Myriad Dharma Sect disciples might generally have low emotional intelligence, but they were definitely not stupid—their intelligence was solid as iron. In that short time, Geng Peng had come up with a way to climb down from the tiger's back.
The Myriad Dharma Sect disciple barely squeezed out a smile uglier than crying. Wang Qi's spirits sharpened at once, and he thought, Here comes the main course.
"Your swordplay is not bad."
"Mm." Wang Qi answered blandly.
"Have you practiced before? Sword techniques for actual combat."
"I learned a couple of defensive moves while cultivating an ancient-method spiritual body."
Geng Peng nodded. "Very good..."
Was he going to rebuke me for clinging to inferior ancient methods, or accuse me of being too full of myself? Wang Qi stared at Geng Peng, waiting for his next reaction.
"The rest of you listen carefully as well! Do not think this set of basic martial arts is truly only basic! This martial art is the root of all martial arts! You must learn from Wang Qi! Learn to incorporate your own awareness and your own knowledge into these martial techniques, and develop your own martial path!"
Wait a moment, this script seemed rather wrong?
Shouldn't he have accused me of practicing carelessly, then either made me perform a sword routine alone only for my understanding of the sword to slap his face, or randomly found some so-called genius to teach me a lesson, only for me to whittle him into a human stick with a few swift strokes and slap his face?
Wasn't this development a little too bizarre?
Geng Peng continued, "Next, I will show you how to incorporate your own ideas into basic martial arts! Wang Qi is on the same level as you, and he has learned the best among you. In a moment, he will spar with me. Watch our swordplay carefully, then compare it with your own!"
Another Foundation Establishment assistant instructor frowned. "Old Geng, isn't this beyond the syllabus? It does not seem to be within the exam scope."
A bead of cold sweat appeared on Geng Peng's forehead. "Bonus points, bonus points..."
Wang Qi had no time to mock the two Foundation Establishment cultivators who seemed to be marking key points during a physical education class. He was pondering Geng Peng's intentions. Is this guy planning to personally step in and deal with me? I'm at Qi Refinement while he's at Foundation Establishment, and he's from the precision-focused Myriad Dharma Sect, so the odds of him pretending to slip up and injure someone are too low. Besides, even if he really hurt me, he would probably make enemies of two True Disciple cultivators, Xiang Qi and Su Junyu. A minor punishment as a warning? The medical hall here is clearly free, and there are Golden Core Cultivators stationed here... As for making me lose face, that's even less likely. It's perfectly normal for someone at Qi Refinement to lose to someone at Foundation Establishment...
The newly admitted disciples cast envious looks at Wang Qi, all believing that receiving personal instruction from the instructor was an enormous stroke of luck. Some were also gloating, as they too assumed Geng Peng intended to personally teach Wang Qi a lesson.
Wang Qi was still uncertain, but Geng Peng felt that he had already smoothed things over. He walked up to Wang Qi and drew a training longsword. "Wang Qi, pay attention."
No matter how Wang Qi turned it over in his mind, he could not figure out how the other party intended to trap him. But he had confirmed that he was unlikely to be in any danger, so he assumed an opening stance toward Geng Peng. "Senior Brother Geng, please instruct me."
By immortal dao etiquette, when two people sparred, the one with lower cultivation generally moved first. If the weaker cultivator insisted on "striking after the opponent," then the stronger cultivator would first launch a probing offensive.
Wang Qi directly used a move called "Basic Swordplay One: Level-Shoulder Thrust Method Three," aiming straight for Geng Peng's centerline.
The instant the move was unleashed, countless countermeasures sprang into Geng Peng's mind. Under normal circumstances, he would certainly have executed them one by one, thoroughly showing Wang Qi why flowers were so red. But he had just insisted, in order to find himself a way out, that calling Wang Qi from formation had been for the sake of demonstration. How could he use profound sword arts now? Thus, he had no choice but to extinguish those tempting countermeasures one by one in his mind. Then, following the basic martial arts as well, he used a move from Basic Swordplay Three, raising his sword vertically to deflect Wang Qi's direct thrust.
But Geng Peng's movement was not merely a simple move in Wang Qi's eyes. The trajectory of the sword was outlined in his mind, and he clearly saw the curve represented by its momentum!
Geometry Book, a powerful cultivation method that strengthened abstract thinking!
Wang Qi's mana was still insufficient to support the Yao Ding Suanjing in ultra-high-speed calculations, but the empowerment of this Myriad Dharma Sect divine art allowed him to faintly grasp Geng Peng's next strike. He swiftly withdrew his sword, holding it horizontally before his chest without any discernible pattern.
Sure enough, Geng Peng's next move was to chop downward with his upright longsword!
Wang Qi retreated half a step and pressed his sword forward, using another move from Basic Swordplay One to attack Geng Peng. Geng Peng used another sword technique from the basic swordplay to block the strike.
The two exchanged more than a dozen moves. Wang Qi gradually grew excited. Sparring with such a practice partner, who absolutely dared not seriously injure him, greatly benefited his martial arts cultivation. Moreover, both the Geometry Book and the Yao Ding Suanjing could improve as well. The exhilaration in this was not something face-slapping could compare to! No matter how the other party wanted to deal with him, this bout alone made it worthwhile!
In contrast to Wang Qi's delight, Geng Peng became more and more stifled with every exchange. Clearly, he had countless excellent moves with which to deal with this irritating fellow before him, but... but... but... This should clearly have been my home ground, yet judging from our expressions alone, why did it seem like I was the one being humiliated?
The Foundation Establishment assistant instructor who was familiar with Geng Peng saw his expression and vaguely guessed the truth of the matter. But most people simply could not understand what bizarre logic had led Geng Peng to think of using this method to climb down from the tiger's back.
Later, they did ask Geng Peng for his reason. Geng Peng's answer was, "That is the sentiment of the Myriad Dharma Sect."
Incidentally, after Xiang Qi and several other cultivators heard about this, they were dumbfounded for a long time. Xiang Qi's exact words were, "Ahahahahaha, wasn't it just that he couldn't control his emotions and didn't understand social interaction, so... ahahahahaha, I'll be living off this bunch of low-emotional-intelligence people for the next half year!"
And much later, Wang Qi delivered the final verdict on the matter: "The sentiments of the Myriad Dharma Sect are something ordinary people will never understand."
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