Chapter 130: Flexible Use of Tactics

Fang Jie didn’t notice Zhang Kuang’s desolate figure.

Right now, he mostly wanted to know why Xiang Qingniu only came to the training field now, looking disheveled.

It was clear that he just went through a battle.

In reality, Fang Jie was curious about Xiang Qingniu’s cultivation strength. He thought that Xiang Qingniu was only a con artist, but it turned out that this young man had such a high status in the Daoist Sect.

How could someone on the same level as Spiritual Master Xiao be a wastrel?

Fang Jie self-mocked and said that he was a wastrel who couldn’t cultivate. However, he was now making a group of gongzi jealous. Since he even experienced such a transformation, Fang Jie wouldn’t be surprised if Xiang Qingniu’s strength was insanely powerful.

However, this fat daoist seemed to only care about Fang Jie’s test results; he didn’t say anything more after mentioning doing clean-up for Fang Jie.

Fang Jie rolled his eyes at Xiang Qingniu and asked, “Are you really hoping that I won’t make it into the Martial Arts Academy?”

“Yeah,” the fatty daoist smiled innocently.

“Why?”

“Do you think the Martial Arts Academy is fun? Your days would be boring. Except for studying and learning, there is more studying and learning. Just think about it! No delicious food, no great liquor, and no beauties; how painful would that be? Little Fang Jie, how can someone as dirty as you hold it in? Although there are female students in the Martial Arts Academy, can they be considered women?”

“Why does it seem so strange when the word ‘women’ comes out of your mouth?” Fang Jie mocked, “After wearing this daoist robe, your strength increased, and you became more shameless. Your tongue didn’t twist when you said the word ‘women’. Don’t BS with me; where did you go?”

Xiang Qingniu glared at Fang Jie and said seriously, “You lack the respect toward an unworldly master of the Daoist Sect. If you make more rude comments, I will find Principal Zhou and ask him to expel you.”

Pia! Fang Jie kicked Xiang Qingniu’s butt and was too lazy to reply.

“Damn it! If someone in One Qi Daoist Temple on Pure Joy Mountain dares to kick my butt, I would have asked my second nephew-disciple who oversees punishment to arrest and beat him. The offender would need to grow another layer of skin and lose the ability to have kids!”

Pia! Fang Jie kicked Xiang Qingniu’s butt again, only more forceful this time.

“Quickly tell me where you were. If you aren’t going to say anything, then f*ck off.”

“Can’t you beg me?”

“Are you going to speak or f*ck off?”

Xiang Qingniu couldn’t do anything, so he patted Fang Jie’s shoulder and said with a flattering smile, “Do you have candy on you? I’m a bit hungry to begin with, and I ran too fast, wanting to see you mess up your tests. Now, I’m feeling a little anxious.”

Fang Jie rolled his eyes before taking out a pack of candies and tossing it toward Xiang Qingniu.

Xiang Qingniu quickly grabbed the pack, took out one candy, and put it in his mouth. While chewing with a satisfied expression, he smiled and said, “My extremely powerful second nephew-disciple found that guy from the Buddhist Sect, but he wasn’t careful and fell into a trap. If I didn’t react fast, perhaps it would be a pile of flesh coming here to ask you for candy.”

Fang Jie imagined a pile of flesh reaching out a hand and asking for candy; it was indeed disgusting.

“You guys fell into a trap, and you still didn’t find that man in the end, right?”

“What are you talking about. My second nephew disciple is born with a godly eye, and Mr. Zhuo of the Royal Guard got there. Even if that disciple of the Buddhist Sect turned into a bird, he couldn’t fly away. That man is already found. If I didn’t want to come here to see if you got disqualified, I would have gone along to watch the show.”

Fang Jie mocked, “Should I thank you for this?”

Xiang Qingniu replied, “Don’t mention it.”

“F*ck off!” Fang Jie cursed before lying on the grass to rest.

Seeing this, Xiang Qingniu knew that Fang Jie was pleased by the results of his tests, so he laughed and asked, “How was it? Is there hope for you to get into the top three?”

Fang Jie didn’t respond. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Fatty, tell me something. Is the most powerful force in the world, the Buddhist Sect, truly invincible?”

“Why did you suddenly think of this?”

“I’m curious.”

“Probably not. You should know that the Buddhist Sect’s reach is across the world, except Great Sui of course. Since you are smart, you should know that the existence of Great Sui, a nation that doesn’t respect Buddhism, is proof that the Buddhist Sect isn’t invincible. If they are invincible, there wouldn’t be Great Sui that has a history of more than 100 years. Don’t forget that there is also the Daoist Sect in Great Sui. That guy named Great Wheel Wisdom King in Great Wheel Temple on Great Snow Mountain has four disciples, and they are known as Four Heavenly Lords. My senior brother is the leader of Daoism, so he is on the same level as that wisdom king. My senior brother also has four disciples; they might not be weaker than those four so-called heavenly lords.”

Fang Jie nodded and said, “Hopefully.”

“Damn it! Are you a member of Great Sui? What is that attitude? Do you think the Daoist Sect is inferior to the Buddhist Sect?” Xiang Qingniu asked angrily.

“Me?” Fang Jie froze for a second and thought, “Am I a member of Great Sui? I guess?”

Just as Xiang Qingniu was about to mock Fang Jie after not hearing a reply, the bronze gong sounded from afar. The professors of the Martial Arts Academy were reminding the participants that the last test was about to begin.

Xiang Qingniu glared at Fang Jie and said, “Alright, I will let you go for now. Go do your test first. I’m one of the supervisors in the last test. Since you gave me some candies, I will help you a little.”

“Thanks.” It was rare for Fang Jie to be so polite toward Xiang Qingniu.

Xiang Qingniu froze for a second before asking awkwardly, “Shouldn’t you be humble? You should say with pride that you don’t need anyone’s help and are going to get a high rating on your own.”

“A man of virtue would do that. Do you think I’m a man of virtue?” Fang Jie asked.

Xiang Qingniu nodded with sudden understanding. “You aren’t a man of virtue even if I observed with my butt.”

“I admire your ability.” Fang Jie cupped his hands.

“You are too polite.” Xiang Qingniu returned the gesture.

…

The last test was individual combat, which wasn’t surprising. The Martial Arts Academy already arranged the schedule, and thousands of participants gathered on the training field and got ready. The winners would move onto the next round and pick their opponents. After several rounds, the top ten participants would receive excellent ratings.

Without a doubt, this was a cruel test.

Except for the first round that was arranged by the academy, the rest of the matches would be unknown. The participants who could finish the first round quickly would be powerful cultivation masters; this wasn’t a piece of good news for Fang Jie who had no cultivation strength.

In terms of group fights, the participants from the military had the advantage. However, in individual combat, the members of big families who were taught by famous teachers were better.

Also, Fang Jie was sure that as soon as he won the first round, many people would come to challenge him. Many people wanted to stomp him on this occasion, especially those from big families.

Even if a member of a big family did horrible in previous tests, this person would be a hero among his peers as soon as he defeated Fang Jie, even though Fang Jie knocked away Xie Fuyao who was famous in Great Sui.

While Fang Jie was having a headache, Xiang Qingniu was also having a headache. Sitting on the stage, he looked at all the participants and murmured to himself in an apologetic tone, “Little Fang Jie, it isn’t that I don’t want to help. In this situation, I can only talk to the professors and try to get a weak opponent for you in the first round. After that, you are on your own.”

At the same time, Lu Fan from Chen State looked at the name of his opponent, and his lips twitched.

“Damn it!” Lu Fan cursed and spat out a mouthful of spit mixed with blood.

His opponent was Fang Jie.

He didn’t know if he was unlucky or someone was playing him. Earlier, he got beat several times.

First, he failed in sneak-attacking Fang Jie and got kicked by that lieutenant named Zhang Kuang. Then, when he tried to create an alliance with Cui Pingzhou and Pei Chuxing, he got kicked by Pei Chuxing. Even though the two people who kicked him held back their strength, Lu Fan was still injured.

In front of the training field, his sea of qi was easily sealed by Xie Fuyao’s Four-Symbol Finger. Now, his strength was less than half of his prime!

It was a nightmare for Lu Fan to battle Fang Jie.

He sneak-attacked Fang Jie before, and he knew that this young man who was in the center of attention wouldn’t go easy on him!

Upon thinking, Lu Fan’s expression turned extremely gloomy. He didn’t dare to imagine how he was going to be tortured. He looked down at Fang Jie in the beginning, thinking that Fang Jie was physically weak.

When he saw Fang Jie knocking away Xie Fuyao with a punch, Lu Fan realized how wrong he was.

“How should I fight this?” Lu Fan thought with a headache.

At this moment, the bronze gong sounded again; the first round began!

…

Seeing the young man standing in front of him, Lu Fan swallowed his saliva with difficulty and said, “Brother Fang… Hello.”

Fang Jie cupped his hands and greeted politely, “Good to see you again, Brother Lu.”

Lu Fan’s lips twitched a little, and he said with an awkward smile, “Uh… Brother Fang, you know that I got injured earlier. In this battle, please go easy on me. It isn’t a deathmatch, so let’s behave like men of virtue and stop when necessary, not crossing the line.”

“Ok,” Fang Jie replied with a smile, “I like being a man of virtue.”

“Really?” Lu Fan was overjoyed.

“Of course. Brother Lu, do you think I’m not a man of virtue?”

“Of course, you are! Brother Fang, you are being kind despite the grudge. I feel ashamed. Brother Fang, let’s start. Remember to stop when…”

Fang Jie nodded and said, “I got it.”

As soon as he finished, he stomped on the ground and shot forward like a cannonball.

Lu Fan didn’t expect Fang Jie who was speaking kindly and talking about being men of virtue to suddenly charge over and punch his chin shamelessly.

This punch was so forceful that Lu Fan’s jaw was almost dislocated.

The more enraging thing was that Fang Jie murmured when he threw the punch, “I got to stop.”

After knocking Lu Fan away, he added, “Don’t cross the line.”

Although this punch was heavy, Fang Jie didn’t use all his force. He found that he could use his muscles proficiently, much stronger than when he was at Fangu.

Although Lu Fan looked terrible, he wasn’t that injured.

Lu Fan quickly got up and cursed while pointing at Fang Jie, “You are shameless! Didn’t we agree on stopping and not crossing the line?”

Fang Jie shrugged innocently and said, “Yeah, you aren’t that injured.”

Lu Fan glared at Fang Jie and saw a supervisor walking by. He instantly waved his hand and said, “Supervisor! Supervisor! I admit defeat!”

The supervisor who was young and fat got surprised. Then, he pointed at Lu Fan and cursed in anger, “Admit defeat? Even if you aren’t ashamed, I am ashamed for you! Not allowed!”

“Not allowed?” Lu Fan was surprised and asked, “Not allowed to admit defeat? What?”

The fat supervisor said proudly, “I’m a supervisor. Since I said it isn’t allowed, then it isn’t allowed! This is the rule, alright?”

After saying that, he blinked at Fang Jie and said in a low voice, “I can only help you this much.”

On the viewing platform, a professor pointed toward Fang Jie and said in surprise, “This is unexpected. I thought that the participant named Fang Jie would finish the first round quickly. With his strength, it shouldn’t be hard to defeat Lu Fan since Lu Fan is already injured. Why is he so slow?”

“Slow?” Principal Zhou snorted, “He probably thinks it is still too fast.”

“Huh?” The professor was confused. “Why?”

Principal Zhou smiled and said, “Didn’t you think about this? The faster someone finishes the first battle, the tougher the second opponent would be. Fang Jie is intentionally dragging this out. He is waiting for the people who pose threats to him to pick their opponents for the second round first.”

The professor asked in disbelief, “Does this count as the flexible use of tactics?”

Principal Zhou snorted, “You can see it as being shameless.”