Chương 7: Chapter 7: Giving Pointers

As Wudi rubbed his arms, trying to shake off both the goosebumps and the memory of Chou Xinniang's coquettish smile, his uncle shot him a knowing glance. They were on their way to the Coiling Dragon Academy, located at the heart of the imperial city and boasting a reputation even higher than the royal palace.

Unlike the palace, however, the academy was not subject to any kingdom or empire. It stood alone, well-protected and well-loved by all, offering its techniques and teachings to anyone who achieved a certain level of cultivation by a specific age. It was this free sharing of knowledge that made the academy so cherished, with graduates leaving behind their cultivation techniques and secret arts for future generations to learn and build upon.

Wudi had taken his time reaching the academy, staying at various inns along the way. He needed to be reinstated, having been absent for some time, and he had been meditating and practicing his techniques daily. He was close to comprehending his first martial technique.

Wudi wasn't idle during his previous time at the academy. Although he hadn't taken on any missions or sparred with anyone, he diligently practiced simple moves every day. Others saw this and didn't quite understand why, as the academy had plenty of techniques. They didn't realize that he was simply trying to gain insight and create his own martial technique. It was a little odd because a cultivator couldn't create a martial technique while in the martial realm.

Entering the martial insight realm would finally be granted access to the heavenly dao and allow one to sense their surrounding heaven and earth to a degree, making it possible to create their own techniques. However, this didn't prevent the accumulation that Wudi had built prior to advancing. He was on the verge of forming his technique and comprehending his own intent in the process.

Forming a martial intent was difficult, and one could only do so after entering the martial insight realm. However, most didn't form martial intents until reaching the Martial Dao Realm. The saying goes, "insight turns to dao to form your intent." Comparatively speaking, one could have two martial intents by the time they reach the end of the Martial Dao Realm. Intents differed in strength, and the power could vary greatly.

The dao was vast, and comprehending an intent could be difficult unless you could feel which dao you were most in tune with. Wudi had a dao bone in his fist, which allowed him to feel the dao more strongly than others. He knew he was close, but it was shockingly not a fist intent. The intent he was comprehending was tyrannical and comprised of light and darkness.

Coming out of seclusion and feeling very close to comprehending his intent, Wudi decided that he needed a whetting stone to temper himself. The inn was close to the academy, and since his uncle had left to handle some business there, Wudi figured he would make his way there himself. It should be the day that people from many regions would arrive to apply to become outer disciples, and it also coincided with reenrollment for those who were entering as inner disciples.

It was then that he caught sight of Ji Xuanming, who was talking to a female disciple that was absolutely stunning but as icy as jade itself. Her eyebrows were thinly pointed, and she had dark, deep hair and thin lips. She wore a light blue robe and had a thin sword by her waist.

It seemed like they were also heading to the academy, but they already had the robes of the inner disciples. To become an inner disciple, one only needed the proper cultivation level and age. If you could show this to the academy, you could be immediately enrolled for the upcoming year as long as you were still in that age bracket. One could spend a long time in the Martial Insight Realm before advancing into the next realm, so the age group was actually quite large. Today was the final day to enroll for the current year. If Wudi missed today, he could still be accepted as an inner disciple, but he wouldn't get a cultivation cave or have priority for missions.

Wudi was actually familiar with Shuang Hua as she also would come to the training to practice her moves often, and was one of the few people that wouldn't say anything about Wudi just practicing mortal techniques. She would even watch from time to time as if she were seemingly learning something from his continued movement. Noticing Wudi looking in their direction, she actually gestured with a nod. This made Ji Xuanming take notice and look over as well. Seeing that she was nodding to Wudi royally pissed him off. She hadn't even acknowledged that he was talking to her, but she was nodding to other men?

Suppressing his anger, Ji Xuanming approached Wudi. "Brother Wudi, it's been awhile. I had seen you a few days ago at Quilin peak but didn't get the chance to congratulate you on your breakthrough," he said, glancing lightly at Wudi. Wudi ignored Ji Xuanming and turned his attention to Shuang Hua and nodded back. Seeing this utter disregard made Ji Xuanming fume even more, but he held a smile on his face and said, "Brother Wudi truly is gifted. With your dao bone, I'm sure your comprehension far surpasses others." Wudi finally took notice and did a slight smirk and said, "Maybe I can give Brother Xuanming some pointers. Perhaps you might comprehend your intent before you breakthrough." Shocked by Wudi's words, Ji Xuanming nearly lost his smile, thinking to himself, "Me, a large completion stage Martial Insight Realm cultivator, receiving pointers from someone who just broke through?" One had to know that Ji Xuanming was close to reaching the Martial Dao Realm and was even hailed as one of the strongest geniuses of his clan history, at least in terms of cultivation speed.

Holding his anger, Ji Xuanming made a fist and smacked it into his other hand's palm. "That's a great idea Brother Wudi. Not only myself, but others will benefit greatly from watching us spar. I'm sure people would be very excited to see the dao accumulation from someone with a dao bone."

Nodding as if he didn't care for the flattery, Wudi said, "That's perfect then. I believe your uncle is currently one of the teachers handling the enrollments. Perhaps he can be the judge." Ji Xuanming was surprised Wudi would suggest his uncle, but didn't argue because that was his plan anyway. Nodding and waving a hand lightly, one of the clan members here with Ji Xuanming took the hint and went to inform his uncle.

Then the two began heading toward one of the sparing rings nearby. Typically disciples would settle feuds in the rings but neither Ji Xuanming or Wudi wanted to suggest that there was any issue between their clans and decided to make it a cordial match. However, anyone with half a brain could tell that Wudi was being somewhat haughty. Most still wanted Wudi to win because Ji Xuanming was known to be a jerk.

Despite wanting Wudi to win, it seemed rather impossible. Everyone knew Wudi used fist technique and had a dao bone, but the cultivation between the two was just too far apart. Wudi couldn't have learned a decent technique yet for his fist since he just entered the Martial Insight Realm. Not to mention that Ji Xuanming used a sword and even had a graded weapon. It might be low grade, but a graded weapon was a graded weapon nonetheless. Mortal weapons could be used into the martial insight realm, but having a graded weapon was all the better because it could handle more qi and could channel intents especially if your intent matched the weapon you used.

Knowing all of this, people didn't feel confident about Wudi's chances and felt he likely overstepped his abilities as Ji Xuanming wouldn't miss the chance to make a fool of Wudi.

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