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In other words, Shan Heyuan's Dantian is large enough and stores enough Spiritual Qi; otherwise, even if he frantically stimulated its growth, he wouldn't be able to produce so many spiritual herbs in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Zhi couldn't generate that many; he relied solely on the ferocious properties of the spirit herbs, one of which was equivalent to ten, attacking indiscriminately.

Shan Heyuan's idea was quite perfect, and he was quite proud of this combination of moves.

Unexpectedly, Shen Duheng stood in the field for two seconds. Before the spiritual herb could get close to him, his ears twitched slightly, and a Sword Intent was released, hitting Shan Heyuan's right shoulder and knocking him to the ground, where he fell on his butt.

Shen Duheng advised, "The sound you made was too loud; even a semi-deaf cultivator could probably hear it. If you want to use this method, you'll have to hide yourself first."

Shan Heyuan got up from the ground. "Again!"

It's just about concealing his presence. He'll use the noisy spirit herb to cover himself, and if he's careful, the two will cancel each other out. There shouldn't be any problem.

Shan Heyuan pressed on, and this time Shen Duheng's Sword Intent struck his left shoulder, causing him to fall flat on his backside. "The transitions between spirit herbs are poor. One spirit herb after another is too deliberate, the battle rhythm is off."

Shan Heyuan got up. "Again!"

They stayed in the arena for half the night, Shan Heyuan fell on his backside a total of forty-nine times.

Even with Golden Silk Dense Moss cushioning his fall, his bottom still swelled up.

On the way back, he lay on the dog's back, not daring to sit up straight the entire time.

Back home, after taking a shower, he tossed the medicine to Shen Duheng: "Give me a rub on my butt!"

Shen Duheng caught the medicine and threw it back at him. "How can you be such a grown man, still letting someone massage your butt? Aren't you embarrassed?"

"What's there to be embarrassed about?" Shan Heyuan slumped back in his chair. "Look how swollen my butt is, it's not easy for me to rub it myself."

Shen Duheng stared at his raised buttocks. "You rub them yourself; you don't have the habit of rubbing other people's buttocks."

"Sigh." Shan Heyuan sighed. Seeing that he insisted, she couldn't force him, so she took the medicine to her room and went to rub her bottom herself.

He fell really hard today; his buttocks are covered in bruises. It hurts terribly to rub those thick, fleshy areas, and there are some places that are really hard to rub.

After rubbing his head haphazardly for a while, he lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

When he went to work the next day, he was still limping and walking unsteadily.

The Sword Reverence Academy was full of cultivators. Although he tried his best to walk steadily, he still couldn't hide it from everyone.

During lunch, Jiang Zhi teased him, "What happened to your butt?"

"Don't even mention it." Shan Heyuan weakly poked at the rice on his plate with his chopsticks. "Didn't you guys suggest I challenge Brother Shen to a duel? Yesterday, I didn't even get a touch on his clothes, yet he still threw me down forty-nine times on my butt."

Jiang Zhi only cared about. "Will it be useful?"

Shan Heyuan thought for a moment and said, "I feel my combat rhythm has improved a lot."

Jiang Zhi: "Then it's useful. As expected, high-level cultivators are the best sparring partners for training."

Shan Heyuan: "But my butt hurts."

Jiang Zhi: "You didn't apply the medicine?"

Shan Heyuan: "I did it, but I didn't apply it evenly. Oh well, it should be fine after these next couple of days of pain."

Jiang Zhi's eyes lit up with gossip. "I thought Senior Shen would help you apply the medicine?"

"It might be a little awkward," Shan Heyuan sighed again. "For minor injuries like these, people usually apply the medicine themselves, right?"

"Not necessarily. It's quite normal to ask a friend to apply the medicine if you can't reach it yourself." Jiang Zhi nudged Li Jian, pulling him to testify, "Right?"

Li Jian calmly replied, "That's bullshit. If you're injured in a place like this, go find a healer."

Jiang Zhi rolled his eyes. "Heartless."

Shan Heyuan retorted to Jiang Zhi's previous statement, "I can still get there myself. My arms aren't that short. I just can't bring myself to rub away the bruises."

Amidst their intense preparations, the first round of the competition soon began.

Shan Heyuan had prepared for so long, imagining the actual competition countless times.

In reality, the actual competition wasn't exciting at all; it was just like participating in a school sports meet on Earth—when his name was called, he went to compete.

Perhaps it was because both he and his opponent were relatively unknown rookies that the atmosphere was so subdued.

The cultivator Shan Heyuan was fighting was named Xuan Lu, a Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivator.

After taking the stage, he threw Law Artifact outside, appearing quite flustered and completely neglecting Shan Heyuan's side.

Shan Heyuan threw out a large clump of Golden Silk Dense Moss, which covered half of the training ground. Then, various kinds of Spirit Plant, along with the stench and mist, quickly disappeared into the clump of Spirit Plant.

After Xuan Lu threw away the magical Law Artifact, he realized that Shan Heyuan was gone. He became even more flustered and looked around the stage.

Even though Shan Heyuan wasn't good at fighting, he couldn't help but feel that "this disciple's combat awareness is too weak" when faced with such a scene.

All the elaborate methods he had prepared were completely useless. He simply urged the Ghost Bud Grass to extend through the gaps in the Law Artifact, shoved Xuan Lu on the butt, tied him up, and the battle was over.

After the match, the three referees standing on the sidelines recorded the results on the jade talisman.

The two then bowed to conclude the conversation.

Xuan Lu was unharmed, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Shan Heyuan: "Assistant Instructor Shan, you're amazing! Thank you for going easy on me."

Shan Heyuan never expected to be praised for his skills, and felt quite embarrassed. "You're not bad either."

Xuan Lu followed Shan Heyuan off the field. "Assistant Instructor Shan, let's exchange our Spiritual Power patterns, and perhaps have another match sometime?"

Shan Heyuan agreed.

There wasn't much fighting on their end; it was over quickly.

Shan Heyuan glanced at his communicator; Li Jian had just sent a message saying that Jiang Zhi's competition was still ongoing, so he rushed over.

Jiang Zhi's battle against the sword cultivator was far more intense.

The swordsman's sword moves came one after another, like a storm, pressing towards Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi's Spirit Plant grew in clumps, one after another, which could not be cut down by the spiritual sword, but were reborn with the help of Spiritual Power.

In addition, Jiang Zhi's Movement Method was also excellent. He dodged and rolled, managing to avoid being touched by the swordsman's sword.

Both of them were prominent figures in the academy, with many supporters, and every move they made was met with cheers and encouragement from the crowd.

Shan Heyuan walked over to Li Jian and exclaimed in admiration, "Brother Jiang is truly amazing!"

Li Jian laughed, "You've worked so hard for so long, you definitely have a few trump cards up your sleeve."

They exchanged a few words and then stood aside, watching the game with bated breath.

The game was very close.

Fortunately, Jiang Zhi ultimately prevailed due to his combat experience.

After winning, Jiang Zhi's smile was radiant, while the sword cultivator assistant looked quite annoyed.

After the referee recorded the result, Jiang Zhi ran off the field, jumped between Shan Heyuan and Li Jian despite his injuries and sweat, and put his arms around their necks. "How was that? Wasn't I amazing?"

Shan Heyuan gave a thumbs up, sincerely praising, "I didn't expect you to be so strong, able to last so long."

Jiang Zhi: "I've been training so hard lately, and my combat rhythm has improved a bit. You were the one who reminded me."

Shan Heyuan: "No, no, no, it's mainly because you have good comprehension."

Li Jian: "You two both won the first round. No matter the outcome of this competition, at least you'll get a small gift from the academy."

Shan Heyuan: "Yes. If we can get the guaranteed reward, then going on stage wasn't a waste."

Jiang Zhi: "A mere guaranteed prize is enough? We need to win at least three rounds. Didn't you want to pick Spring Crystal? That means we'll have to win until the very last round."

The prizes from the Planting Institute are Spring Crystal, Dainty Grass, and Qishan Worm; only the first-place winner can choose Spring Crystal.

In other words, to obtain the Spring Crystal, he not only needs to be among the top 100 in the entire Sword Reverence Academy, but also rank first among the disciples participating in the competition from the Planting Institute.