Chapter 1385: Call Me Senior Brother!

In order to become the Holy Son of the Holy Son Hall, everyone tried their utmost to perform, just like him—during the three-day assessment, he didn't dare close his eyes even once, using every means at his disposal, not daring to be the least bit careless.

But this one, he was content just to barely make it into the elite class, and as for his ranking, he couldn't care less!

He didn't even bother to refute the doubts of so many people!

Calm as water, aloof from worldly strife—this was a true master, a true genius, a truly low-key person.

"Yes, indeed very low-key. If it weren't for Feng Ziyi's challenge, I wouldn't have known that among this year's new students, there was such an impressive figure..."

Master Fei also sighed, and was about to continue praising when he saw a student rush up to him and whisper something in his ear. His eyebrows shot up, and he quickly turned around.

"Elder Han Fu, why are you here?"

His face was full of respect.

Zhang Xu quickly turned and saw an old man with white hair and a celestial bearing approaching.

"Elder Han Fu?"

He frantically searched his memory, recalling the information about the Holy Son Hall he had seen back in the Zhang family, and soon his expression turned serious.

"Elder of the Holy Son Hall, Grand Elder of the Spirit Awakener Guild, with cultivation at the peak of the Eighth Layer of the Saint Domain..."

He nodded to himself, then bowed with clasped fists: "Zhang Xu of the Zhang family pays respects to Elder Han!"

"No need for formalities..." Waving his hand casually, Elder Han looked toward the arena with some urgency: "Master Zhang... when will the battle end?"

"May I ask what business Elder Han has with Master Zhang? If it's urgent, I can find a way to make them stop..."

Master Fei couldn't help but look over.

The other party was the strongest spirit awakener in the Holy Son Hall; even if Master Zhang became the Holy Son, it shouldn't warrant him coming in person.

"I'm looking for him..."

Hearing the question, Elder Han's face flushed red with shame: "I wanted to ask... when will that guardian stone statue that keeps running finally stop? Because it's running faster and faster, it has already crashed into and destroyed the halls of four nearby guilds. If it doesn't stop soon, I'm afraid... the Spirit Awakener Guild will be hunted down by the other guilds..."

When others awakened a guardian stone statue, taking seven steps had already broken a three-thousand-year record. But this one not only did warm-up exercises but also ran without stopping... It had been so long, and it was still sprinting. He had tried to stop it and was trampled and spat blood three times, yet he still had no solution.

To be honest, if it just obediently ran, it wouldn't be a big deal—according to the statue's nature, it would eventually stop. But... this thing was just too big, and it ran faster and faster, occasionally doing frog jumps, push-ups, squats, high knees, sprints, accelerations, forward rolls, back handsprings, backflips... that was one thing, but the circle it ran kept getting larger, shaking and collapsing all the neighboring guilds. That was really inconsiderate...

If it didn't stop soon, it would truly provoke the other guilds, and they might destroy the statue outright. Then... it would be a real problem.

"The guardian stone statue... won't stop?"

"Collapsed several guilds?"

Master Fei and Zhang Xu both staggered.

"Also, when I came, I saw that the Diviner Guild had also collapsed into ruins, and I heard it was related to him. I wanted to come and see if the other party had come to cause trouble..."

Elder Han continued.

"The Diviner Guild... turned to ruins?"

Master Fei and Zhang Xu exchanged glances, their mouths twitching...

Wasn't he supposed to be very low-key?

None of these things seemed like something a low-key person would do...

Unable to hold back, they looked up at the arena.

There, they saw Feng Ziyi pressed against a glass-like seal, his face twisted like a pretzel, with sword qi crisscrossing behind him, constantly surging. His eyes were dazed, and his whole expression was one of utter despair, as if he might go mad at any moment.

"Truly strong..."

Seeing that Feng Ziyi's four pre-prepared defenses were all shattered, his body full of sword holes, and he looked like a beggar, the two swallowed again.

To break through so many attacks while the sword qi remained undiminished... even Master Fei couldn't do that.

"I'll ask when it will end..."

Seeing the endless torrent of sword qi with no sign of stopping, Master Fei took a deep breath and was about to call out when he heard Feng Ziyi's angry, groaning voice.

"You lied, lied... Earlier you said you only used one-sixth of your strength, but it was actually one-tenth..."

This personal disciple of Master Yang was about to go mad.

Earlier, when the other said one-third, he thought it was fake; then when he said one-sixth, he thought it even more fake... That's why he suggested coming here to let him show his full strength, hoping to see if it was as he said...

As a result, the guy really had lied...

It wasn't one-sixth at all, but only one-tenth!

If it was one-tenth, why say one-sixth? That made his defenses insufficient, and now he was almost beaten to death...

You know? Sometimes being low-key can really kill people...

Rumble! Rumble!

Only when all the true energy in his body was completely depleted did Zhang Xuan stop, panting heavily, his face full of helplessness.

Although the amount of true energy in his body had increased fivefold, and his strength had risen from the early stage of the Out-of-Body Realm to the peak, he still couldn't fully control the One Sword Splits the Sea. Once he used it, he had to exhaust all his true energy before he could stop.

Before, with less true energy, it would stop after a short while. Now, with the sword qi surging, it lasted over ten minutes before it was completely exhausted.

Exhaling, he retracted the countless swords in the air and looked up to see Feng Ziyi twisted into a bizarre pose, stuck to the seal. His clothes were mostly shredded, and though he wasn't dead, he was severely injured, looking indescribably miserable.

"I really didn't lie to you. When I was executing the sword technique just now, I had a new insight, and the power increased a bit..."

Walking over and peeling him off the seal, Zhang Xuan explained with slight embarrassment.

He really hadn't meant to deceive him. He had never used this move with all his strength before. With ample true energy and enough time to experiment, he gained more insights while executing it, so the attack power grew stronger.

The Heavenly Path technique had no errors, but his physical strength and spirit were limited. The more he exerted, the better the coordination, and naturally the greater the power.

"It can still increase..."

Feng Ziyi spat blood again.

With such power, and it still increased—how could anyone live?

"Your strength is indeed formidable, but a master's strongest point isn't combat, but teaching... Dare you compete with me in that?"

After a long while, Feng Ziyi recovered and glared at him fiercely.

By then, Zhang Xuan had finished instructing Elder Han on how to control the stone statue. Seeing that he still wanted to compete and wouldn't let it go, he couldn't help but say: "Better forget it. I'm afraid you'll be even more crushed."

Although he didn't know why the other was so insistent on competing with him, when it came to teaching... he was really afraid the other couldn't handle it and would go mad.

"There's nothing to crush. My teacher told me he only took me as a student, but now you've appeared. I want to see what kind of talent made him break his rule!"

Feng Ziyi said.

"Break the rule? Talent?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

From the other's tone, it seemed he didn't know that this one was a fake. He thought Zhang Xuan was another student Master Yang had taken on, which was why he came to challenge him out of jealousy.

But he never expected to lose so miserably.

"Some eminent masters take disciples as fate dictates. How many disciples they have, aside from themselves, outsiders don't know, and even the disciples themselves may not know!"

Having read many books, he knew some habits of masters.

For example, if he took disciples now, Zhao Ya, Wang Ying, Yuan Tao, and the others would certainly not know about the existence of a little junior brother or sister.

"I was lucky enough to gain the teacher's favor..."

Seeing that the other didn't know the truth and wasn't exposing his false identity, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him expectantly: "I haven't seen the teacher for a long time. Do you know where he is now? Can you take me to see him?"

"The teacher and I parted ways two years ago. I don't know exactly where he went. Anyway, I can't reach him through the communication jade slip..."

Feng Ziyi shook his head.

"Great..." Zhang Xuan almost jumped up in excitement.

He had been worried that this guy might leak the secret and report him. Since he couldn't be contacted, that was great—at least he had dodged a bullet for now.

As long as he became the master of the Holy Son Hall later, even if the other came to expose his impersonation, with that identity, probably no one would dare to cause trouble...

In other words, time was very important to him. The sooner, the better.

"Great?"

Feng Ziyi frowned.

Hearing that the teacher couldn't be contacted, shouldn't he be disappointed? Why was he so excited?

"Oh, I meant... how disappointing..."

Realizing he had lost his composure, Zhang Xuan quickly said.

"Is that how you show disappointment?"

With a face full of black lines, Feng Ziyi's eyebrows twitched uncontrollably. He couldn't help but say: "So? Do you dare to compete with me in teaching?"

"Junior Brother Ziyi, you're no match for me. Better forget it. Since we're both students of Master Yang, I won't crush you..." Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

"Junior Brother?"

Feng Ziyi nearly exploded: "I've been with the teacher since I was seven. I entered earlier, and I'm older than you. You should call me junior brother..."

"Don't be so polite... The one who excels is the teacher. I'm stronger than you, so naturally I'm the senior brother. When you can surpass me, then you can call me junior brother..."

Waving his hand, Zhang Xuan felt a sense of relief.

Since this guy didn't know the truth, he could use him as a shield to confirm his identity as Master Yang's disciple.

"You..."

His face flushed red, Feng Ziyi wanted to say something but couldn't.

The other's cultivation was lower than his, but his combat strength was indeed far greater. If he used that sword technique, he couldn't withstand it.

As fellow personal disciples, before the teacher confirmed their status, the stronger one indeed had the say. He couldn't defeat the other, so wanting to be the senior brother was indeed unconvincing.

"Let's finish the teaching competition first. If you win, I'll naturally acknowledge you as senior brother..."

Flicking his sleeve, Feng Ziyi said.

"Teaching?"

Seeing that he wouldn't give up, Zhang Xuan frowned and was about to speak when a young man walked over hurriedly with a strange expression.

"Master Fei, Elder Liao from Puppet Alley is waiting outside, insisting on taking Zhang Xuan as his teacher..."

"Elder Liao... wants to take him as teacher?"

Feng Ziyi was stunned, and everyone was in an uproar.