Chapter 537: Intelligence Retained

Time went back two minutes.

Entering the room, Zhang Xuan glanced around.

The room was not large; what caught the eye was a weapon rack, fully stocked with swords, sabers, spears, and various other weapons.

Elder Bai stood in the center, looking over with a calm expression: "Pick a weapon, use the one you're best at!"

"Weapon?" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "Weapons can easily hurt people; let's forget it."

His expertise in longswords, spears, and broadswords all carried the true intent of the weapon, with astonishing power. This was just an assessment; there was no need for such danger.

"You..."

Elder Bai's face darkened.

Weapons can easily hurt people, but do you think you can hurt me?

His brows rose, his gaze turning cold.

What an arrogant brat who doesn't know his place.

"Fine, since you won't use one, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

Too lazy to waste words, Elder Bai shook his body, suppressing his Mortal Transformation Fourth Layer peak strength down to the First Layer peak.

"Now my cultivation is the same as yours. Make your move!"

Extending his arm, Elder Bai looked over coldly.

Since the other party wasn't using a weapon, he, as a dignified Mortal Transformation Fourth Layer, naturally felt embarrassed to use one either. Both sides would have to fight bare-handed.

"You go first..."

Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

"You..." Elder Bai's eyes twitched with anger.

Was this guy confident or just a bit "slow"? With my formidable strength, once I strike, you won't even be able to resist. Do you think you can last several moves?

You know, the previous few people, as soon as they arrived, unleashed their strongest attacks, suppressing like a storm, and only managed over twenty moves... If I go first, are you sure you can hold on?

"Very well!"

Seeing the other had no intention of making a move, Elder Bai raised his brows, stomped his foot on the ground, and charged straight forward.

Swish!

His body turned into a blur, reaching the young man in the blink of an eye.

"Lie down!"

Seeing the other didn't even dodge, standing still, Elder Bai snorted coldly and pressed his palm straight down.

Whoosh!

Before even touching the other's body, his palm suddenly met empty air.

That Zhang Xuan had vanished from sight.

"Damn..."

His pupils contracted, he quickly turned his head, and then saw a shoe sole appear before his eyes.

Slap!

Before he could react, his whole body flew backward, plastered straight against the wall, even worse off than Elder Wu just now, with a huge shoe print clearly visible on his face.

Elder Bai spat out a mouthful of blood, completely stunned.

The martial technique he had just used was called [Reaching into the Bag], already at the Spirit Grade Middle Level, with boundless power.

Especially its various changes and follow-ups, countless and dazzling, making it hard to distinguish truth from falsehood.

He had thought that once he used it, the other would be toyed with in his palm, unable to tell north from south, feints, real moves, illusions... He never dreamed it would be dodged in one go!

What made him even more dizzy was... the vital point of this technique, unlike other ultimate moves' armpits, groin, or back, was at the Jingming acupoint!

The Jingming acupoint is at the brow center, the most obvious place. Hiding the vital point there exposed the most dangerous spot right under everyone's noses; no one would expect it.

This was the most secret route for true qi circulation, completely unknown even to his closest personal disciples or even Hall Master Kang, yet this guy kicked it...

In an instant, the vital point was broken, his whole body's true qi scattered. If not for releasing his suppressed cultivation at the last moment, returning to Mortal Transformation Fourth Layer peak, he would have been done for with that one kick!

Damn it!

What the hell is going on?

I'm a Mortal Transformation Fourth Layer peak expert, suppressing my cultivation to spar with a Mortal Transformation First Layer guy, and I get kicked in the face, nearly dying...

I came specifically to assess him, to see how many rounds this kid could last, and instead... I couldn't even last one round, almost kicked to death...

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became, his face turning livid.

Struggling to jump down from the wall to regulate his chaotic true qi, he saw the young man walk over anxiously: "Elder Bai, are you alright?"

"Hmph!"

Snorting coldly, Elder Bai landed from the dent in the wall. Before he could regulate his breath, he heard the other muttering to himself with a slightly emotional voice.

"I thought if I let you go first, you could last a few moves, but you couldn't even withstand one. Too weak..."

Pfft!

A mouthful of blood sprayed out.

That should be my line, damn it!

I came to assess how many moves you could last, and you kicked me into severe injury...

"Shut up!"

The angrier he got, the louder he shouted.

"Shut up? Does Elder Bai want another round?" The other's voice continued.

“I…”

Elder Bai choked, his chest tight with frustration, wanting to cry but having no tears.

The other party’s dodge just now was as fast as lightning. If he were at the fourth level of Mortal Transformation, he could certainly evade and even render the attack futile, but… at the first level, it was utterly impossible.

More importantly, the kick from behind seemed somewhat despicable, but… given his strength at the first level of Mortal Transformation, he truly could not avoid it!

This move seemed to merge with heaven and earth, its power immense, and it struck his pulse gate. Even ignoring the opponent’s subsequent moves, relying solely on these two factors, if they competed ten more times, he would lose ten times, never able to win.

He even suspected that even if he suppressed his cultivation to the second level of Mortal Transformation, he would still struggle to withstand it!

Hadn’t they said he was the weakest and easiest to deal with? Easy to deal with, my ass…

“Let’s go out!”

Afraid the other might say something else to make him spit blood, Elder Bai, ignoring his injuries, stood up and walked out, pushing the door open.

Seeing his urgency, Zhang Xuan followed.

…

Hall Master Kang’s anxious outburst drew everyone’s attention. They looked toward the door that had just opened, and their eyes widened as if they were about to vomit blood.

Elder Bai emerged clutching his chest, a trail of blood at the corner of his mouth, and a bright red, vivid shoe print on his face.

“What happened?”

“Elder Bai… is injured?”

“Wasn’t he testing Zhang Xuan?”

…

Everyone exchanged glances, utterly bewildered.

Elder Bai had gone to test someone else’s cultivation, but he looked even worse than Elder Wu earlier, beaten into a pig’s head?

Look at that face, that shoe print, that expression… Oh, better not look, or you’ll want to throw up.

“Elder Bai, you…”

Hall Master Kang also looked over with a strange expression.

“I…” Elder Bai wished he could find a crack to crawl into.

“Sorry, Hall Master Kang, it’s my fault. I should have held back, but I didn’t expect… Elder Bai, with his cultivation suppressed, to be so weak… I lost control of my strength for a moment and injured him. My mistake!”

Zhang Xuan stepped out, his face full of apology.

“Weak?”

“Lost control of your strength?”

“Injured?”

…

The many masters on the stage stared wide-eyed at each other, as if seeing a ghost.

On one side, Fu Xiaochen and Ruohuan Gongzi, who had been smug and excited moments ago, now looked at each other, their bodies trembling as if about to faint.

They had thought this guy couldn’t last a single move and was knocked down, but it turned out he really couldn’t last a single move… only the target was Elder Bai!

Is this for real?

This was a peak fourth-level Mortal Transformation cultivator, second only to Hall Master Kang, the so-called number one super expert, and he got kicked in the face, beaten into a pig’s head…

When they had fought Elder Bai earlier, they had used every ounce of strength and only lasted about thirty moves, but this guy defeated him in one move…

They felt darkness before their eyes, unable to believe it was true.

“This…”

Hall Master Kang, Master Su, and Master Ling also opened their mouths wide, hurriedly looking at Elder Bai, hoping to hear an accurate answer from him. Seeing him nod helplessly, they felt thunderstruck and wished they could die.

Just moments ago, they had confidently said that Master Zhang, because his cultivation had advanced too quickly, couldn’t possibly last ten moves. Now they realized… it was Elder Bai who couldn’t last, not even one move, and got beaten like this…

“Alright, since the results are out… let’s re-rank them!”

Forced to change his words again, Hall Master Kang’s face flushed red: “First, Master Zhang; second, Fu Xiaochen; third, Ruohuan Gongzi; fourth, Feng Mosheng, Du Hu…”

With the results announced, Zhang Xuan once again became the dark horse, taking first place.

They had no choice but to give him first place! Others lasted a few moves under the elders’ attacks, but he directly took down an elder… The gap was too great; they had to accept it!

“Alright, now for the third round of assessment!”

Knowing that dwelling on this matter would make the competition endless, Hall Master Kang cut to the chase and looked around.

“In the first two rounds, we tested your mental state and cultivation. Though important, these are only the foundation for becoming a master teacher! The most crucial aspect of being an excellent teacher is still giving lectures and educating students!”

“So, the third round is exactly this!”

“Normally, the assessment would require finding an academy, hiding your real name, teaching quietly, and after several months or even a year or two, having the students compete to judge the teacher’s teaching ability… However, the Master Teacher Grand Competition starts in two months, so we don’t have that much time. Therefore… we’ve thought of a faster, better way to test your teaching skills!”

“That is… [Spiritual Wisdom Retention]!”

Hall Master Kang introduced.

“Spiritual Wisdom Retention? What’s that?”

“I’m not sure either. I only know that Spiritual Wisdom is said to be an ability of a five-star calligrapher, allowing characters in paintings to possess intelligence, autonomously absorb spiritual energy from the air, and survive for a long time.”

“Now that you mention it, I recall—this is the sixth realm of calligraphy and painting!”

“Yes, Recording Reality, Vitality, Intent Imprint, Startling Swan, Spirit Transformation, Spiritual Wisdom… Being able to create works at this level already reaches the level of a five-star calligrapher. There isn’t a single one in the entire Ten Thousand Kingdoms City!”

“Since Spiritual Wisdom is an ability of a five-star calligrapher, what is Spiritual Wisdom Retention? And how does it test teaching and educating?”

…

Whispers arose below, everyone showing puzzled expressions. Many seemed not to understand what Spiritual Wisdom Retention meant.

Even Zhang Xuan frowned.

Only Ruohuan Gongzi, upon hearing this, looked delighted and clenched his fists in excitement.

He was a four-star calligrapher, so content related to the assessment would certainly be advantageous for him.