Carrie’s tone was far from kind when she left, but Zhang Wen still managed to discern her true intentions. Clearly, Carrie had come specifically to warn him that Governor Callahan would be attending the match. And her final harsh words, though bitter, were actually meant for his benefit. Although Zhang Wen didn’t know Governor Temes as well as Carrie did, he had heard whispers of the feud between him and Governor Callahan.
“Governor Callahan is coming to watch the match too? This competition is turning out to be more interesting than I thought!” Zhang Wen smirked as he watched the two girls walk away.
※※※
True to Carrie’s announcement, she indeed did not appear at Zhang Wen’s martial arts training session the next day. Meanwhile, Linoah sent a student to deliver a message filled with apologies, explaining that she had been selected as one of the lead teachers for the Psychic Arts Department. Over the following days, she would need to participate in a “closed session” training with the Psychic Arts students and would no longer be able to attend Zhang Wen’s martial arts class.
“Teacher group, huh…” Zhang Wen dismissed the student sent by Linoah and glanced at the three lonely figures left on the training ground, sighing dramatically at life’s inequalities.
“Mr. Zhang, what should we do?” Zack blinked, looking at Zhang Wen helplessly.
Unlike the Psychic Arts Department, which always had an abundance of strong competitors during annual matches, finding a willing participant in the Physical Arts Department was nearly as difficult as finding a teacher willing to lead them! Moreover, everyone was convinced that Zhang Wen would embarrass himself during the competition this year. Finding students willing to share that embarrassment with him was even more challenging.
Originally, Zack and Cloud had assumed Carrie would represent the Physical Arts Department, but now she had clearly stated she wouldn’t help. Without Carrie, they couldn’t imagine how Zhang Wen could possibly lead the Physical Arts Department to victory.
“Hmph! What’s there to be nervous about? I never counted on Carrie participating in the competition this year anyway,” Zhang Wen said casually, shaking his head at Zack.
“R-really? Haha!” Zack and Cloud laughed along with Zhang Wen, but their expressions clearly showed their doubt. They obviously thought Zhang Wen was just trying to comfort them after Carrie’s departure.
After all, it was extremely difficult to expect Amyris, whose physical arts skill was only at level four, to fight against the carefully selected experts from the Temis Academy’s Physical Arts Department! Even the weakest student in Temis Academy’s delegation had a sixth-level ability, surpassing both Zack and Cloud!
“Alright, in any case, whether we can defeat Temis Academy is my responsibility. You just need to focus on winning your own matches,” Zhang Wen said, walking up to the three students and patting their shoulders with a smile.
“Haha! Mr. Zhang, we definitely want to win. But…” When it came to the match, even Amyris looked uncertain.
“I know, I know,” Zhang Wen said, seeing the expressions on their faces. “You’ve been training hard for over a week. It’s time to see what results your training has brought.”
“Have you already mastered all the moves I taught you?” Zhang Wen asked Amyris while walking to the side of the field to fetch two crystal energy swords.
“Of course!” The pretty girl nodded without hesitation.
“And did you follow my instructions to assign numbers to each move? Good, I’m going to test you now.” Zhang Wen said, handing one crystal energy sword each to Zack and Amyris.
“Am I being tested too?” The straightforward Zack asked in confusion after receiving the crystal energy sword.
“No, you’re the villain helping the heroine train,” Zhang Wen said with a mischievous grin, sending Cloud to the side of the field and leaving only Zack and Amyris in the center.
“Mr. Zhang?” Zack clearly didn’t understand Zhang Wen’s joke, shaking his head helplessly.
“Alright, the rules for this test are like this… Amyris, you first close your eyes and stand over there. Yes, that spot!” Zhang Wen had Amyris stand a few steps away before turning to Zack and saying, “You will be attacking Amyris.”
“Does that mean… using the moves you taught us?” Zack asked in a low voice, his face full of confusion.
“Of course not! Just use your usual fighting moves. But be careful not to hurt Amyris,” Zhang Wen carefully instructed.
“Alright.” So far, Zack still didn’t understand what Zhang Wen wanted to do. However, as Zhang Wen’s student, he could only follow his teacher’s instructions.
“Alright! Amyris, don’t open your eyes. The test is about to start!” Zhang Wen shouted loudly, pushing Zack to a spot ten steps away from Amyris—the perfect distance to launch an attack.
“Alright, begin!” Zhang Wen shouted.
Amyris focused her mind, waiting for Zhang Wen to call out the move number. Meanwhile, Zack shrugged helplessly at Cloud and, with a grin, assumed his most familiar lunge stance and attacked Amyris. However, because he was worried about hurting Amyris, who still had her eyes closed, Zack only used about half of his full strength.
Watching Zack’s careless movements, Zhang Wen smirked again. When Zack was five steps away from Amyris, Zhang Wen shouted the first number: “Seventeen!”
At Zhang Wen’s shout, Amyris immediately executed the move she had practiced hundreds of times. She first lifted the crystal energy sword diagonally upward, then forcefully swung it downward to the side. With her eyes closed, Amyris could focus more intently, making the move from memory even more perfect.
Thus, the crystal energy sword in Amyris’s hand accurately struck Zack’s blade. The force and sound of the impact startled Amyris, who was unprepared for it. Fortunately, the recoil wasn’t too strong, preventing her sword from flying out of her hand.
On the other side, Zack’s situation wasn’t much better. Although he knew that when Zhang Wen shouted “seventeen,” Amyris’s crystal energy sword would slash down, his well-practiced lunge move wasn’t easy to withdraw. As a result, Zack looked quite foolish as he charged forward and let Amyris strike him.
However, Zack’s battle energy level was ultimately a full level higher than Amyris’s. This meant that although Amyris’s downward slash had the advantage, it didn’t achieve the expected result.
After the evenly matched sword clash, Zack reacted quickly. He used the recoil to retreat rapidly, hoping to create distance from Amyris. In Imperial martial arts, close combat was a very risky move. Since Zack had a clear advantage in battle energy, he naturally didn’t want to get entangled with Amyris.
“Four!” Almost simultaneously with the clash of swords between Zack and Amyris, Zhang Wen shouted the second number.
Amyris, still with her eyes closed, didn’t understand what had happened, but upon hearing Zhang Wen’s voice, she acted on instinct.
Amyris slightly bent her knees, her right arm drawing a perfect arc as she forcefully planted the crystal energy sword into the ground behind her, bending the specially made crystal blade slightly. Then, as the bent crystal energy sword released its elasticity, Amyris leaped forward, raising the sword above her head and slashing downward fiercely.
Normally, when practicing the “move number 4,” Amyris always felt the first motion was somewhat stiff. However, this time, after clashing swords with Zack, she found an indescribable smoothness in the movement.
On the other side, when Zack heard the number “4,” his heart sank. He certainly knew what Amyris’s next move would be. However, after retreating with all his might, he could only watch helplessly as Amyris, moving faster than him, leaped forward again and slashed her sword downward.
At this point, Zack had already forgotten about holding back. He could only desperately swing his crystal energy sword upward to block Amyris’s attack.
Clang! Amyris’s forceful downward slash struck Zack’s crystal energy sword again. Although Zack used all his strength while in mid-air, he still suffered a slight disadvantage. When he landed, he had to retreat several steps backward to steady himself.
As Zack was retreating, Zhang Wen’s voice had already called out a new number: “Eleven!”
Immediately, Amyris followed up with her attack. She darted forward, her crystal energy sword thrusting rapidly from her shoulder to the left front.
Zack, who hadn’t yet stabilized himself, could only watch helplessly as the crystal energy sword approached. He desperately dodged to his left. Just as he was halfway through his dodge, Zhang Wen shouted another number, “6,” nearly making Zack spit blood on the spot. Zack certainly knew that move number 6, which Professor Zhang had taught, was a continuous cross-cutting strike. And in Zack’s current posture, the next vertical slash from Amyris would cut him in two.
Looking at Amyris’s tightly closed eyes, Zack’s initial underestimation had all transformed into dread in his heart—he had originally thought that Amyris, with her eyes closed, would be easy to handle. But he had forgotten that when Amyris’s eyes were closed, she also didn’t know how to show mercy when striking! Moreover, Amyris’s movements were skillful, not even giving Zack the opportunity to shout.
As Amyris’s crystal energy sword slashed toward him again, a terrified Zack could only use his left hand to slightly block her sword before falling backward.
But Amyris, of course, didn’t know to spare Zack, who had fallen to the ground. She continued to follow Professor Zhang’s teachings, swinging her sword in a cross-cutting motion. Poor Zack was slashed all over the ground, his crystal energy sword long gone, who knows where.
Meanwhile, Zhang Wen continued to call out numbers: “Six, four, twelve, seven, five, six…” Thus, Zack rolled like a ball from the center of the field all the way to the iron fence.
“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” finally, Zhang Wen smiled and told Amyris, who was already drenched in sweat.
“Ah?” When Amyris saw Zack, who was now covered in dirt under her sword, the little beauty, who had already had a premonition, was still greatly surprised. She couldn’t believe that she had just defeated Zack, who was ranked in the top ten of the Temis Academy’s Physical Arts Department!
“Watch out!” Seeing Amyris’s excited expression, Zack shouted in alarm, carefully moving the tip of the crystal energy sword away from his neck.
“Unbelievable…” Cloud, standing beside Zhang Wen, had already been stunned into silence. The popular young heartthrob of the Almishus Academy’s Physical Arts Department stood there with his mouth wide open, staring motionless at the two students in the distance. When practicing the moves Professor Zhang had taught, he had absolutely never imagined that combining them could unleash such powerful strength!
In Cloud’s previous understanding, he had never seen an offensive style that was like a tide, giving the opponent no chance to catch their breath. In the fight between Zack and Amyris, apart from the first strike where Zack underestimated her, he had used all his strength to resist throughout. Yet from start to finish, he couldn’t even get a single decent counterattack opportunity, and was relentlessly pursued and defeated by Amyris, who had her eyes closed, in a rather confusing manner!
You must know, Zack’s battle energy level was a full level and a half higher than Amyris’s! In the Empire’s view, a one-level difference in battle was already considered a foregone conclusion. As for a battle energy difference of one and a half levels, in a typical fight, when the higher-level fighter used their full strength, the shock wave generated by their battle energy could even make the lower-level fighter unable to stand steady!
Yet, under such circumstances, Amyris had easily won!
“Have you all understood now?” Zhang Wen called Zack and Amyris back to his side and smiled at the three of them again.
“Uh-huh!” The three nodded their heads rapidly like little chicks pecking at rice. Zhang Wen’s usual smile now seemed infinitely mysterious in their eyes.
Seeing the three students so excited, Zhang Wen gave each of them a sharp knock on the head, dousing their enthusiasm with a cold splash of reality: “Hey! Don’t get too excited! You still have a long way to go! What you’ve mastered now are just the most basic moves! Do you think Amyris won because she was strong enough to beat Zack? No! It was because Zack underestimated her at the beginning. Secondly, I helped Amyris find a way to counter Zack’s moves! You don’t think you’ll have someone to help you shout out the move numbers behind you in future battles, do you?”
“Yikes! We understand.” Zack held his aching head and grimaced in agreement. Amyris, on the other hand, let out a pitiful “mew” and pouted at Zhang Wen.
“Understand? Hmph!” Zhang Wen smiled, his gaze on Zack and the other three carrying an unreadable expression. “What I’ve taught you is different from those third-rate martial arts techniques like thrusts and spinning blades. Since you’re so confident, how about using the rest of today’s class to figure out ways to counter various martial arts techniques from the Empire?”
“Understood!” Zack and the others answered without hesitation.
Frankly, when they heard Zhang Wen refer to the Empire’s most popular martial arts techniques as “third-rate moves,” they couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of superiority. Even Zack, the son of a Shinra military officer, didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.
“Good! Then you can practice on your own first. Dismissed!” Zhang Wen smiled and casually waved them off. However, the three students didn’t immediately leave but instead hesitated and exchanged glances.
“Hmm? What are you still doing here?” Zhang Wen soon noticed the students’ unusual behavior and looked at them curiously.
“Well… Mr. Zhang, have you heard about the banquet at the governor’s mansion tonight?” Zack bravely stepped forward, his handsome face forcing a laugh that was almost amusing, as he nervously asked.
“I’ve heard about it,” Zhang Wen replied indifferently.
“Will you be going?” Zack asked with growing nervousness.
“Me? Probably not,” Zhang Wen thought for a moment and shook his head with a smile.
“Oh!” Zack immediately let out a long breath of relief and exchanged a thumbs-up with Cloud behind him with a happy expression.
“So, you’re happy that I’m not going to the banquet?” Zhang Wen asked with a deliberately cold tone.
“Hehe! Mr. Zhang, we were just worried that if you went to the governor’s mansion tonight and we didn’t go, you might get upset. Now that you’re not going either, we don’t have to worry about that anymore!” Zack smiled again, stepping forward and whispering to Zhang Wen.
“Yeah. The banquet hosted by the governor’s mansion must be incredibly boring! Compared to wasting time at such a banquet, it would be better to go to the training hall and hone our martial arts techniques a bit more.” Cloud also nodded in agreement with a worried expression.
For most young students at Almishus Academy, being able to attend the governor’s banquet and meet nobles from various countries was a great opportunity to show off and stand out! However, with Zack and Cloud’s status, they obviously didn’t need such an opportunity. To these two martial arts-loving “promising youths,” there was nothing more painful than having to stay at a boring banquet and smiling while dealing with a group of old noble men.
“So, are you satisfied now?” Zhang Wen asked again with a displeased tone.
“Hehe!” Although Zhang Wen’s tone was harsh, the two young men could tell from his voice that he wasn’t really angry. They grinned shamelessly, afraid that Zhang Wen might change his mind, and in the blink of an eye, they had already slipped away from him.
Watching Zack and Cloud run to a corner of the training ground, Zhang Wen was surprised to find that Amyris was still standing in place, her face full of hesitation. “Why haven’t you left? Is there something else?” Zhang Wen asked curiously. In his memory, Amyris was always straightforward and not the kind of girl who liked to be coy.
“That… no… nothing,” Amyris hesitated for a while and shook her head at Zhang Wen.
“If you have something to say, just say it! If there’s really nothing, then see you tomorrow,” Zhang Wen said carelessly, waving his hand at her and turning around.
“Alright! I’ll just say it then!” Seeing that Zhang Wen really was about to leave, Amyris finally couldn’t hold back and shouted. Then, the girl took a few big steps to Zhang Wen’s side, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stared at Zhang Wen, asking straightforwardly, “About the banquet tonight, can you change your mind? I’m not forcing you!”
That’s not forcing? Amyris’s last sentence made Zhang Wen almost laugh out loud. He really wanted to immediately take out a mirror and let Amyris see her own expression. She was practically writing the words “unhappy” on her face!
“Whether I attend the governor’s banquet tonight has nothing to do with you, does it?” Zhang Wen neither agreed to Amyris’s request nor refused it, instead asking her a question.
As soon as Zhang Wen asked the question, Amyris’s momentum immediately dropped. The pretty girl pouted her lips and muttered in disappointment, “It’s all because of my father! He’s been looking for an opportunity to ingratiate himself with those imperial nobles for a long time. As soon as the invitation from the governor’s mansion arrived yesterday, he proudly guaranteed that his ‘daughter would definitely attend on time.’ Sigh! It’s so much better for Zack and the others. No one is watching them, so they can just choose not to go!”
“Haha! So you’re saying that if I also don’t go, you’ll be the representative of the Almishus Academy’s Physical Arts Department at tonight’s banquet at the governor’s mansion. That’ll be a great opportunity to show off!” Zhang Wen teased with a smile.
“Mr. Zhang, how can you say that?” Amyris was immediately provoked, jumping up in a panic. She pitifully hugged Zhang Wen’s arm, begging repeatedly, “Please, just do it for me, okay? Please, please?”
Amyris was wearing the most popular training outfit at the Imperial Academy. Except for the color not being black, it was practically the same as the tight-fitting clothes favored by modern female thieves in Earth TV dramas. And to ensure flexibility, the thickness of the training outfit was only a thin layer. Although Amyris’s chest wasn’t as full as Linoah’s, when she hugged Zhang Wen’s arm, he immediately felt the amazing elasticity of the young beauty’s chest.
While using physical persuasion, Amyris also lifted her pretty face, her beautiful eyes filled with tears, looking pitiful and cute like a homeless little kitten. Although he knew Amyris was deliberately doing this, the young beauty’s flattery and the expression that made him feel a sense of conquest were still hard to resist.
“Alright, alright! I’ll go with you,” Zhang Wen said with a pretend sigh of resignation.
Whether or not to attend the governor’s banquet was a trivial matter to Zhang Wen. He had originally decided not to go just because he was too lazy to deal with the hassle. Since Amyris begged so desperately, if he still refused, he would be too heartless.
“Hehe! I knew Mr. Zhang wouldn’t abandon me!” Amyris blushed slightly and threw a flirtatious glance at Zhang Wen. Whether intentionally or not, she took half a step back, and as she let go of Zhang Wen’s arm, she just happened to let his hand slide past her chest. Then, with a series of crisp laughter, she ran away.
After all, Zhang Wen and Amyris had already experienced everything between them, so a brief touch like this shouldn’t be a big deal. However, perhaps only Zhang Wen and Amyris herself could understand that it was precisely because of their ambiguous and complicated relationship that Amyris’s little tricks of feigned resistance were even more tantalizing.
“Little temptress… I’ll make you pay me back with interest someday!” As he savored the soft and elastic feeling he had just experienced on his hand, Zhang Wen couldn’t help but smile slightly and shake his head.
Under Zhang Wen’s strict orders, the trio of students indeed gave their all in the following time. Among them, Zack, who had a deep family martial arts background, was responsible for demonstrating all the martial arts techniques of the Empire that he could master. After each demonstration, the three would gather together to brainstorm about what combinations of movements could be used to deal with them.
However, the trio soon discovered that Zhang Wen’s requirements were not as easy to fulfill as they had imagined. Although when Zhang Wen was giving commands, Amyris seemed to effortlessly handle Zack’s attacks, when the three students tried to research on their own, they realized how incredibly difficult it was!
Because when fighting against a higher level opponent, it was not only necessary to counter their techniques but also to counter their battle energy!
In the battle between Amyris and Zack, every time Zack swung his crystal energy sword, the power from his battle energy would create explosive waves around him. Even though Amyris could counter Zack’s techniques, against absolute power, she was like a small boat in a storm, easily capsized if she wasn’t careful.
However, during the fight with Amyris, Zack used all his strength, yet Amyris became more and more courageous! Zack even felt that when Amyris attacked, her movements created a strange effect. Not only did it make him feel like he couldn’t exert his full strength, but sometimes she could even use the battle energy he emitted to attack him.
When Zack was being beaten up by Amyris, he never really considered this issue seriously. Now that he had calmed down and thought about it again, he realized how incredible it was!
Well, if that were all, the trio might have barely met Zhang Wen’s requirements. After all, Zhang Wen’s movements were naturally more sophisticated than the Empire’s martial arts techniques by several degrees. With a bit of thought, it was relatively easy to find a few suitable combinations to counter the relatively rigid martial arts of the Empire. Even if they added the requirement of countering battle energy, the trio could still manage to find some solutions after racking their brains.
However, just as Zack and the others finally managed to come up with several exquisite consecutive techniques and hadn’t even had time to feel proud, they saw Zhang Wen slowly walking toward them.
“You seem to be doing pretty well!” Zhang Wen first smiled appreciatively.
“Of course! We put in a lot of effort!”
“Ah, I can see that. Come on! Since you’ve already come up with so many consecutive techniques, take this opportunity to demonstrate them for me,” Zhang Wen said with a smile as he sat down on the bench by the side of the training ground.
“No problem!” Zack confidently agreed and immediately took up a stance with Cloud on either side.
“Wait!” Seeing their posture, Zhang Wen suddenly called them to a halt. “Zack, this time you and Cloud should switch roles. Let Cloud use the Empire’s martial arts, and you use the techniques you just worked out to fight against her. Oh, and Zack, you don’t need to hold back your battle energy; you can go all out.”
“Huh?” The three turned their heads in confusion, puzzled by Zhang Wen’s request.
Earlier, Amyris had already proven that the techniques taught by Professor Zhang were sufficient to defeat an opponent who was a level and a half higher. Now, with Zack, who was already slightly stronger than Cloud, going all out, was there even a need to continue this match?
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