Chapter 123: Fuyao from Yangtze-South

The soldiers who were in the sharp-arrow array formation gradually separated from the crowd, staying on one side of the public road and advancing quickly.

They no longer worried about the people far behind them; those people no longer posed a threat.

With Zhang Kuang in the middle and Fang Jie in the front, the sharp-arrow array formation shot toward the training field like a real arrow.

Xie Fuyao from Yangtze-South was slightly behind them.

This gongzi’s wide sleeves fluttered in the wind as he dashed forward, but he wasn’t in a hurry to surpass Fang Jie and others. He stayed behind the sharp-arrow array formation and didn’t show any hostility.

However, in Fang Jie’s eyes, Xie Fuyao’s position was crucial, looking like a fierce beast that was threatening the backline of the sharp-arrow array formation.

As one of the fundamental array formations of Great Sui’s military, the sharp-arrow array formation was an aggressive siege formation.

This formation was more suitable for cavalrymen. Since there were so few cavalrymen in Great Sui, it was up to infantrymen to siege and break the enemy’s formations.

Great Sui had been around for more than 100 years, and it had never lost a single war with a foreign power. The military relied on the well-trained infantrymen and the powerful array formations.

Great Sui’s infantrymen were unrivaled against Shang, Eastern Chu, Southern Yan, and Southern Zhao.

In terms of official positions, Zhang Kuang was the highest-ranked. He was a lieutenant, and Fang Jie was only a corporal. He was several levels lower.

According to the military laws of Great Sui, the command right was always in the hands of the highest-ranked person.

Fang Jie was in the front of the array formation, looking like the arrowhead.

The people in the lead were charging forward even faster, afraid that people behind them would catch up.

Before getting to the training field, Fang Jie didn’t want to get too close with the people in the front. If they battled, the people behind them could easily surpass them.

Right now, everyone in the front had similar thoughts. Before seeing the finish line, it wasn’t beneficial for them to actively block others.

The gate into the training field was wide open, and several professors in moon-white long robes stood on top of the gate of the small city in the field.

Seeing the participants getting close, the professor in the lead suddenly opened the thing that he was holding. As if he released a giant python, the big banner opened, stretching from the top of the city wall to the bottom.

Without taking a closer look, everyone could clearly see the big words written on it with ink.

[Participants who reach the finish line without fighting will be disqualified.]

Fang Jie wanted to curse when he saw this, and he thought, “How could the professors of the academy be this cunning?”

With this banner open, the people in the front who didn’t want to fight each other yet had to engage in combat. There were only a few dozens of people in the lead, and they didn’t plan on fighting the people close to them if they could reach the finish line in the first group.

After all, the people who were still in the lead by now weren’t wastrels.

As soon as Fang Jie and his peers’ array formation froze for a second, Xie Fuyao who was behind them all this time dashed into the air like an eagle, flying over the array formation and reaching the gate of the training field.

Zhang Kuang who was giving commands in the middle of the array formation was stunned. He looked at Xie Fuyao but didn’t give the order of attack.

“Look for someone else!” Zhang Kuang shouted after a moment of hesitation.

Since they only needed to fight someone, they didn’t need to offend Xie Fuyao who ranked in the top among all participants.

Fang Jie also had the same thought, so he charged toward where most people were after hearing Zhang Kuang’s command.

Fang Jie had already observed and knew who was stronger and who was weaker.

Fang Jie instantly found seven participants who gathered together. These people should be from the same state, and it seemed like they talked before the entrance exam. In order to quickly spot each other, they all tied right ribbons around their right arms.

These seven people gathered together from the beginning, and they didn’t separate.

Although they weren’t coordinating with each other perfectly, every angle was monitored; they weren’t rookies who had no real combat experience.

Fang Jie and his peers might not be able to defeat these people one-on-one, but Fang Jie wasn’t worried.

The combat techniques of soldiers all came from real battles and not from books. Even though they weren’t from the same armies, their coordination was seamless.

Fang Jie was confident in their group fight abilities.

“Break!”

Fang Jie led the sharp-arrow array formation and collided with those seven participants.

Fang Jie leaned forward to dodge the punch that one participant threw toward him, then he lowered his right knee with his left leg behind him, swinging his left shoulder forward and slamming into that participant’s chest.

As soon as their bodies touched, Fang Jie’s right leg suddenly straightened, causing his shoulders to shoot upward and knock that participant backward into the air.

One companion of this participant was surprised and didn’t have the time to help his friend.

He could only clench his teeth and punch toward Fang Jie’s chest.

Fang Jie just straightened his back, and he didn’t have time to dodge.

However, it didn’t seem like Fang Jie wanted to dodge.

Just as that fist was about to land on Fang Jie’s chest, the soldier to Fang Jie’s left punched that man’s abdomen.

This punch wasn’t light, and that person instantly curled up like a shrimp.

Fang Jie didn’t even look at this person; he stomped on the ground and charged forward.

The soldiers behind him changed their positions and helped him block the attacks coming from the two sides, allowing him to focus on the person in front of him.

This was the coordination that soldiers of Great Sui had. Each array formation was like a delicate machine. The two soldiers to the two sides of Fang Jie blocked attacks for him, and the soldiers behind them expanded the array formation, turning the sharp-arrow array formation into the triangular array formation.

The widening of the array formation enlarged the crack that Fang Jie put into their opponents’ formation.

It felt like a wedge was struck into a piece of wood.

Although their opponents’ strength wasn’t low, their coordination couldn’t be compared to that of well-trained soldiers.

After the defensive formation that these seven participants put up was torn apart by Fang Jie, the sharp-arrow array formation divided them up in the middle.

Fang Jie didn’t do anything cruel; he only used his shoulders and elbows to knock down the people in front of him.

Now, Fang Jie was confident; he was no longer the wastrel who would look up to level 2 cultivation masters.

Soon, the team got to the gate of the training field.

“Don’t fight unnecessarily!” Zhang Kuang shouted at Fang Jie before issuing orders, changing the direction.

When Fang Jie turned around, his legs suddenly froze.

Xie Fuyao from Yangtze-South was standing in front of the gate. With his hands behind his back, he looked at Fang Jie and his peers with interest in his eyes.

…

Fang Jie liked knowing every person who could be his opponents. Before the exam, he went to Gold-Sharing Duke’s residence and asked many questions about these hyped-up participants shamelessly, getting almost everything that Wu Yidao knew out of his mouth.

However, the information from Wu Yidao didn’t satisfy him. He even ‘scammed’ some pieces of information from Zhuo Buyi by using the shameless threat of making Mu Xiaoyao not go back to the Royal Guard.

With all the information, Fang Jie knew how terrifying this young man who blocked their way was.

Xie Fuyao was famous in Yangtze-South since he was young, but his other identity made others more concerned – the in-name disciple of Spiritual Master Zhang of Three Pure Daoist Temple on Wudang Mountain.

The so-called in-name disciple made it sound like Xie Fuyao was an insignificant disciple. Many members of big families wanted to make themselves sound better, so they would always get connections with the more famous factions.

However, Xie Fuyao was different; he should be counted as Spiritual Master Zhang’s final disciple.

When Spiritual Master Zhang toured Yangtze-South, he encountered Xie Fuyao and said that this kid would be brilliant like a star in the future.

Since then, Spiritual Master Zhang would send his best disciples to Yangtze-South to teach Xie Fuyao, and he even came down Wudang Mountain four times in the last ten years-or-so to teach Xie Fuyao.

Spiritual Master Zhang’s status in the Daoist Sect was only inferior to that of Spiritual Master Xiao. However, many rumors said that Spiritual Master Zhang wasn’t inferior to Spiritual Master Xiao. Some people even said that if Spiritual Master Xiao didn’t have a relationship with the Emperor, Spiritual Master Zhang might be the Leader of Daoism.

With such a powerful master, it was easy to imagine how terrifying Xie Fuyao was.

Since the beginning, Fang Jie didn’t plan to fight with someone like Xie Fuyao. Admitting concern and fear wasn’t shameful. It would only be stupid for someone like Fang Jie who had no cultivation strength to fight to the death with someone like Xie Fuyao.

This was only a test and not a duel. Even if there were a duel, Fang Jie would try to avoid an opponent like Xie Fuyao.

However, Xie Fuyao was standing before the gate, so Fang Jie couldn’t avoid him.

Xie Fuyao slightly nodded at Fang Jie and the other soldiers who weren’t far away. His gesture seemed friendly, but Fang Jie didn’t think that Xie Fuyao was being friendly. Sometimes a greeting doesn’t contain complex meaning.

“You are good,” Xie Fuyao said to Fang Jie, “If it weren’t for this annoying rule, I would want to see how far you can go. Although you only obtained excellent ratings in the five written tests due to His Majesty’s appreciation, a wastrel couldn’t obtain such appreciation. Different from others who are jealous and angry, I truly admire you. I’m curious as to how much effort a common corporal from a border city must put in for His Majesty to pay attention to him. However, I never saw you as an opponent.”

Fang Jie froze for a second; he didn’t expect this handsome gongzi to say such things to him.

“Then, we are going in,” Fang Jie said after thinking for a bit, “In reality, I don’t want to be your opponent as well.”

Xie Fuyao shook his head slowly and said, “Incorrect.”

Fang Jie asked, “Why?”

Xie Fuyao replied, “It is not that I don’t want to see you as an opponent. On the contrary, although you aren’t on a high level, you brought me a ton of surprises. I said incorrect because… your array formation isn’t enough to be my opponent as well.”

Fang Jie’s heart lurched, and he looked back at Zhang Kuang subconsciously.

Gongzi Xie from Yangtze-South didn’t only want to block them; he wanted to block more people.

Xie Fuyao stood in front of the training field with his hands behind his back. Although he was standing with everyone else, it felt like he was standing at a higher place and looking down at everyone.

However, this haughty attitude didn’t make others feel like he was unworthy of such a display.

“Before yesterday, I only planned on entering the academy casually, and the so-called rankings didn’t intrigue me at all. However, I changed my mind today. Since you were so eye-catching yesterday, many people who are better than you got suppressed. Seeing the heat in their eyes when you were rewarded by His Majesty, I suddenly understood one principle,” Xie Fuyao said calmly, “Since I have the strength, why be so lowkey? I was being too arrogant by trying to enter the Martial Arts Academy casually. It isn’t arrogant to show your true strength; it is arrogant not to care about rankings at all. After thinking this through, I realized that I’m dumber than you.”

Xie Fuyao pointed at Fang Jie and said, “You made me feel arrogant and dumb; it isn’t a good experience. I didn’t want to fight because I thought I was stronger than all of you. It is my fault for thinking like that before fighting you. Therefore… Let’s fight!”

As soon as Xie Fuyao raised his finger, Fang Jie’s face changed colors.

“Retreat!” Fang Jie shouted without hesitation while dashing backward.

However, almost all the participants in the lead were blocked by Xie Fuyao at the gate; where could Fang Jie retreat to?