(12)
“Has your cultivation increased a bit?”
Wu Moxun leaned against the doorframe, narrowing his eyes as he sized up the person outside the door. He could clearly feel that his body had undergone changes, with his spiritual energy being somewhat richer compared to when they first met. He clearly remembered that when he saw Jiang Xing yesterday, he was merely at the Qi Refining stage.
Jiang Xing’s movements paused slightly as he said in a low voice: “I’m not sure. I ask Senior Brother to give me guidance.”
How could anyone leap instantly from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment overnight? Thinking back, it must have been that he drank too much wine yesterday and misjudged.
Considering this, Wu Moxun let out a yawn and stepped aside to let him inside. “Come in first and then we’ll talk.”
The East Palace was the residence for inner sect disciples, where every disciple had a spacious and bright room to themselves. Jiang Xing cast a few casual glances around, his eyes gradually darkening.
He had to enter the inner sect so that at least he wouldn’t have to sleep in the same room as that idiot Yan Zhun, only to be woken up by his snoring at night.
Wu Moxun rummaged through the bookshelf, pulled out a few classic texts, and tossed them to him from afar; Jiang Xing had no choice but to reach out and catch them with difficulty.
“One of the events in the inner sect assessment is Dao Methods, testing your comprehension of cultivation. You will be given obscure spells you’ve never practiced before, and whoever masters them fastest and best will score high marks.”
“Read these books first; once you master them, you’ll be mostly secure.”
Speaking of which, Wu Moxun was a man of his word. Aside from having a violent temper, being arrogant, and being unable to tolerate anyone being stronger than him, he didn’t seem to be all that bad in the original book. He was also quite good to his followers, a hundred times better than a villain like Qin Shangyan.
Jiang Xing flipped open those books, listening to Wu Moxun explain the spells to him while yawning repeatedly.
Two incense sticks of time passed.
“Mastered condensing spiritual energy so fast?” Seeing the spiritual energy rising from Jiang Xing’s palm, Wu Moxun said with some pride, “I didn’t expect I’d actually have some talent for being a master.”
Jiang Xing was silent for a moment. That was clearly because he was smart and learned fast.
He just couldn’t understand those obscure and rare words in the books, but he was no fool.
Wu Moxun grew interested and taught him a few more minor spells. Sure enough, Jiang Xing got the point immediately; in terms of comprehension, he was absolute master-class enough to enter the inner sect.
Still, he felt it was mainly because he taught well.
“Lately, the seal on the Demon Realm side has been loosening, so many remaining demon lords have become restless one after another. The demon beast heavenly insect you killed in Sand Town earlier was one of them. The most important event in the inner sect assessment is also demon slaying, but it’s different from the demon-slaying trial you took part in before.”
Wu Moxun flipped open a book and tossed it to Jiang Xing, continuing, “The inner sect assessment requires slaying demon cultivators. Demon cultivators are crafty, treacherous, vicious, and ruthless. The elders will pick a demon cultivator out from the Demon Suppression Palace specifically for you to kill.”
In the original book, this segment was also simplified because Zishu Bai was a Heavenly Spiritual Root. After being discovered by the old Sect Master, he directly waved his hand and had the elders assign him to the inner sect.
Zishu Bai hadn’t even participated in the inner sect assessment at all.
Jiang Xing tried hard not to think about Zishu Bai’s protagonist halo, yet he still couldn’t help feeling envious. Look at how much thought and effort he had expended just to enter the inner sect, whereas Zishu Bai had been guaranteed a spot as a graduate student just by showing his face at the Mountain Opening Banquet.
No wonder Wu Moxun detested Zishu Bai; anyone would find Zishu Bai eyesore.
This person shouldn’t have appeared in this world to begin with.
A few dark thoughts flashed through his mind, and Jiang Xing drifted off.
“What are you mulling over?”
Wu Moxun spoke abruptly, his eyes narrowing slightly as his voice turned cold. “If I see you drifting off again, you’re dead. If you want to learn, then learn attentively for me. If you fail to enter the inner sect then and humiliate me, I won’t let you off.”
His tone was ruthless, yet Jiang Xing wasn’t angry at all. On the contrary, he really enjoyed Wu Moxun’s straight-from-the-shoulder way of speaking where it was either your death or mine—direct, crisp, and straightforward. It was far more comforting than Zishu Bai’s high-and-mighty, hypocritically merciful holy father speeches.
Wu Moxun suited his taste very well; this was the first time Jiang Xing had ever thought so.
“It’s my fault,” he handed over a few more books and said in a low voice, “I will learn all of these today. I trouble Senior Brother to guide me.”
Hearing this, the coldness on Wu Moxun’s face eased slightly as he took the books over. “That’s more like it. Finish reading the books I just gave you; they contain explanations on forbidden techniques of demon cultivators. Only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you have a winning chance.”
For the next two whole days, Jiang Xing read books by day and practiced his sword by night. He barely got any sleep, yet strangely enough, after establishing his foundation, he never felt sleepy again, and even the feeling of hunger rarely appeared—perhaps he was able to fast from grain.
During this period, he hadn’t seen Zishu Bai, though he had heard Yan Zhun mention that person a few times, talking about going down the mountain together to eat at restaurants, stroll the streets to look at lanterns, and all sorts of useless nonsense.
Living quite comfortably, aren’t you, Zishu Bai? Once you enter the inner sect, that will be true hell. Wu Moxun won’t let him off, nor will Qin Shangyan, and other villains will also come knocking on his door one after another.
His life won’t keep going this smoothly forever.
Jiang Xing felt much better at the mere thought of this, and had even more strength when practicing his sword.
Regrettably, right up until the day of the assessment, no matter how much effort he exerted, his sword technique remained very poor. After all, it wasn’t something that could be made up for overnight.
Inner Sect, Thousand Immortals Peak.
New disciples arrived in ones and twos, all looking over curiously from afar. Everyone knew that the inner sect assessment would filter out the top genius disciples of this session in the Wuwang Sect, but no one knew who those people would be.
Yan Zhun pulled a handful of melon seeds out from his robe and handed them to Zishu Bai, asking in confusion, “Jiang Xing actually dares to come participate in the inner sect assessment? Isn’t he afraid of exposing himself?”
These past few days, he did know that Jiang Xing was practicing hard, but he couldn’t see any changes in him.
Zishu Bai didn’t take the handful of melon seeds; he merely raised his head slightly, looked toward the distant crowd, and said softly: “Don’t underestimate him. He works very hard and has made great progress.”
He spotted Jiang Xing with a single glance—his extremely prominent gloomy aura was vastly different from the other dazzling, ostentatious genius disciples beside him.
He was already at the Foundation Establishment stage, and with Wu Moxun’s guidance, there should be no problem entering the inner sect.
He felt somewhat happy deep down, but that bit of happiness didn’t last too long. Soon, Zishu Bai saw Wu Moxun walk over to Jiang Xing’s side and raise a hand to rest on Jiang Xing’s shoulder.
It was just like declaring to everyone that Jiang Xing was his man, and no one was to mess with him.
The smile on the corners of Zishu Bai’s lips gradually vanished, and he couldn’t even understand himself why he felt a thread of discomfort.
Over these two days, he had been worried about bothering Jiang Xing, so he hadn’t gone to see him all this time. Thinking about it, Jiang Xing didn’t need him either; originally this was very normal, and he hadn’t felt anything was wrong.
Yet when seeing Wu Moxun chatting and laughing intimately with Jiang Xing, the scene of seeing Jiang Xing drinking with Wu Moxun that day surfaced in his mind once again—
—They seem to get along very well.
This abruptly emerging thought caused the corners of Zishu Bai’s lips to press down even lower. He suddenly shifted his eyes away, not wanting to look anymore.
Yan Zhun didn’t notice his mood. After finding Jiang Xing, he tugged at him in excitement, “I found him! Who is that person beside Jiang Xing? Wearing a black Daoist robe—isn’t that an inner sect disciple?”
His fingertips pinched even tighter in his palm. Zishu Bai still didn’t look, keeping his head lowered as he said in a cool, quiet voice: “I don’t like him.”
As his words fell, Yan Zhun suddenly froze, turned back to look at him, and blinked. “What did you say?”
Zishu Bai realized hindsight-style what he had just said, his breathing halting abruptly. He hurriedly changed his tune: “Apologies, I shouldn’t have evaluated him like that. Perhaps he’s very good to Jiang Xing.”
Why did he suddenly say something like that?
He didn’t know what was wrong with himself. Zishu Bai pursed his lips tightly, an indescribable sense of guilt rising in his heart as the force in his palm grew heavier, almost piercing his skin.
Yet Yan Zhun patted his shoulder, comforting him softly: “Don’t be nervous. I know you definitely have your reasons.”
Zishu Bai didn’t speak again, as if determined not to say a single wrong word ever again.
On the other side.
Only Jiang Xing himself knew that Wu Moxun had walked over to his side merely to laugh and whisper a sentence to him: “If you fail the assessment, you’re dead for sure.”
Many disciples in the inner sect already knew that Wu Moxun was guiding a new disciple. Should Jiang Xing fail, Wu Moxun would lose all face and definitely vent his rage on him.
“Wu Moxun, is this that disciple you’ve been teaching?” Fang Wenjie folded his arms, sizing them up, and said in a cool voice, “A few days ago in Sand Town he was still at Qi Refining, yet he’s reached Foundation Establishment so fast. Looks like your guidance is quite effective.”
Jiang Xing’s heart thumped. This Fang Wenjie was precisely the Senior Brother who had led them back in Sand Town; turns out he was an inner sect disciple as well, and acquainted with Wu Moxun.
“Qi Refining?” Wu Moxun narrowed his eyes, looked toward Jiang Xing, and said in a chilly voice, “Yeah, making progress really fast.”
He had been saying how could he possibly be so drunk that day as to not even see his cultivation clearly! This kid had crossed a whole major realm in a single day—he definitely had an expert helping him, to actually dare conceal something from him.
Wu Moxun shot him a cold, sharp glare and flicked his sleeves to leave. Everyone sat on the high platform, preparing to watch the assessment.
Finally, the assessment began.
From morning till night, for an entire day, the assessment didn’t end until the sky was pitch black. Scores were published on the spot, and only the top-ranking disciples could enter the inner sect.
Holding the assessment roster, the elder stroked his beard, stepped onto the platform, and read out the rankings one by one.
In the demon-slaying assessment, Jiang Xing performed extremely poorly. His sword technique was far inferior to anyone present; it could even be said he wouldn’t necessarily win in a sparring match against Yan Zhun, so how could he fight against a demon cultivator?
He lost excruciatingly miserably, covered in injuries, and in the end, it was only when the elder called a halt that he barely survived from the hands of the demon cultivator.
Curiously enough, Jiang Xing didn’t feel fear upon seeing the demon cultivator. Perhaps it was because demon cultivators were human just like anyone else, whereas demon beasts lacked human nature.
Sure enough, he was at the very bottom in the demon-slaying category.
Offstage, Wu Moxun’s face turned green then black, looking as if he wished he could charge up and strangle him to death.
Jiang Xing took a deep breath, calming himself down.
No rush.
“Next, announcing the Dao Methods rankings—”
The old man stroked his beard again, his expression freezing slightly as he looked over it twice in surprise. “First place: Jiang Xing.”
As his words fell, the entire field fell silent.
Wu Moxun sat up straight with a bounce.
“Second place…”
Only when the elder’s voice rang out again did the crowd react: that bottom-feeder of the demon-slaying assessment was actually first in the Dao Methods assessment!
Jiang Xing let out a trembling breath, and the wounds on his body inflicted by the demon cultivator seemed no longer painful.
The Dao Methods assessment tested comprehension—whoever learned new spells faster and better got higher scores. And learning things just happened to be his strong suit.
Truly a long-awaited first place.
Starting out as a nameless NPC and crawling all the way into the inner sect of the four major sects’ Wuwang Sect—in the original book, this probably wouldn’t warrant more than a few strokes of the pen, but he was very satisfied with himself. Other people didn’t even have those few strokes.
Zishu Bai stood below the platform, looking at Jiang Xing’s back figure from afar.
He was already severely injured, his clothes slashed open, covered in dust and congealed blood, yet his back remained as straight as a board.
No one could refrain from being drawn to him. Even though the names of others were already being announced, everyone’s gaze still rested upon him.
Jiang Xing was always the most special one in the crowd.
Zishu Bai urgently wanted to go congratulate him, to talk to him, to say anything at all—just like that day when they were treating the small cat under the plum tree. But in the next moment, Zishu Bai saw Wu Moxun walk onto the stage with a face full of pride, intimately slinging an arm around his shoulder.
The setting sun sank, wrapping all things in warm-colored lingering light. Jiang Xing seemed to cast a glance toward this direction, but quickly shifted his gaze as if nothing had happened, flashing a smile at Wu Moxun.
His movements froze abruptly. Zishu Bai stood on the spot, the light in his eyes gradually dimming.
If he hadn’t intentionally lost to Wu Moxun that day, but instead made Jiang Xing feel that he was a trustworthy, dependable, and powerful friend…
Perhaps the person standing by Jiang Xing’s side right now would be him.
Uncomfortable.
He raised his hand and clutched the lapel at his chest.
It felt uncomfortable right here.