Chapter 68 - The Exchange Tournament Begins

"Because I won’t know how much you've progressed or how long it will take you to grasp the Azure Wind Flow..." Lisa said. Her heart felt heavy.

While diligence and persistence were certainly related to one's disposition, but receiving positive feedback as a result of that diligence was far more important. When one trains, they become stronger; when one studies, they gain more knowledge. These are all examples of positive reinforcements.

However, the Azure Wind Flow had no such things because Lisa was the only one who had mastered it. Unlike the Wind Elephant Fist, where practitioners could gauge their progress by looking at and comparing with their peers, the Azure Wind Flow didn't have this feedback. As such, it could get very lonely and monotonous, making for an extremely tough process.

How long would it take for Cassius to master it? Perhaps a year. Or three years. Or maybe even ten years...

Could Cassius endure for that long? Probably not.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

If Lisa were to ask herself the same question, she had to admit that she wouldn't be able to do it either.

"Don't worry, Teacher. I may not be good at many things, but I am patient," Cassius assured her while he flicked a glance at the upper right corner.

[Azure Wind Flow: First Stage 59% (Total Two Stages)]

It didn't matter what Covert Martial Arts or technique he was attempting because so long as there was a progress bar, Cassius would grind it out until the end of time. After all, when he time traveled, the time in his real world would come to a standstill. Theoretically, if he accumulated a lot of time, Cassius could push himself and train all the different kinds of Covert Martial Arts to the extreme levels.

Regardless of his talent or constitution, he had excellent perseverance. He received positive feedback every morning when he woke up!

"Good!" Lisa nodded in approval. She had an acute understanding of Cassius's immense patience over the past six months.

"I envisioned the Azure Wind Flow as having five stages. So far, I have only perfected two. The remaining three stages will be up to you in the future," Lisa said with a sigh. Her expression turned serious.

She meticulously began teaching Cassius the Azure Wind Flow's various characteristics and key points. Occasionally, she would personally demonstrate the Azure Wind Flow on a wooden dummy for Cassius.

The wooden dummy was in a sorry state by the time the afternoon transitioned into evening. At noon, the head was flattened. Next came its hands, then its torso, and by the end of the session, the support column was gone too. The training room was covered in yellow sawdust with the culprit, Lisa, standing in the middle of it like an automated wood cutting machine.

"Alright, let's stop here for today. Go back and practice more on your own.

Cough, cough

." Lisa got up and glanced outside. The sky was already turning to dusk, and the white clouds looked like they were on fire.

She picked up the cup of water beside her and walked out. Cassius also stood up and followed. As he pushed the door open, a familiar person was standing outside. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and held a broom and a mop in his hands. It was his second junior brother, Damien.

"Senior Brother, I'm on duty today!" Damien smiled happily, the sunset shining on half his face. If one didn't know any better, they would think that he was the very picture of a bright, sunny boy.

"Mm." Cassius stared at him strangely.

When did Damien become so chipper? Did he develop Stockholm syndrome as a result of Li Wei beating him up for the past six months?

It was weird, but Cassius still needed to eat, so he ignored Damien and headed to the canteen to fill his stomach up.

Damien remained standing there, a polite smile still on his face.

Of course, he didn't have Stockholm syndrome. He had other reasons for why he was behaving this way. Ever since the core disciples' banquet ended half a month ago, nobody could keep the news of Li Wei becoming the fifth core disciple a secret and soon everyone knew.

What did a core disciple entail? As long as they didn’t die a premature death, they were bound to become elders!

Who cared how Li Wei became a core disciple, or how he used to employ his fists to discipline Damien? A core disciple was a core disciple, and everyone was to call him Senior Brother! So what if Damien was trying to curry favor with Li Wei? They shared the same teacher, after all!

Those close to the well naturally got the first sip. None of that fertile water would be allowed to flow to outsiders.

As for their past little tiffs and disagreements, those were nothing in Damien's mind. Obviously, Senior Brother was testing him. Senior Brother was clearly expressing how much he valued him when he chose him to be his sparring partner! Others wouldn't get this opportunity even if they tried to!

Damien smiled proudly at this epiphany and muttered to himself, "I should find some time for Senior Brother Li Wei to beat me up again."

The training room door creaked open and Damien walked in. The smile on his face instantly froze as soon as his eyes landed on the floor.

Did they open a sawmill in here?! How long was it going to take to clean this up?!

***

Two days later, on January 28.

That morning, Cassius knocked on Senior Brother Moses's door where he was temporarily staying at the headquarters. He heard heavy footsteps from within before a burly, muscular man opened the door. The two exchanged a glance before heading into the room.

"How's it going?" Moses took out a tea set and brewed two hot cups of red tea as he stood near the sofa in the second-floor hall.

Cassius leaned against the balcony, the sunlight warming one side of his body. He gazed at Moses, smiling faintly, and said, "Want to give it a try?"

"Sure. Full power?" Moses grinned.

"Full power."

"Alright, let's do it!"

"Let's go!"

No sooner had the words been spoken, a boom echoed in the living room. It was like a muffled thunderclap. Waves of air pressure dispersed out in layers, blowing away the gray newspaper on the shoe rack downstairs. More than half of the red tea spilled out onto the coffee table.

Moses backed up three steps, looking in amazement at his slightly numb fist. "This power, this speed—a pugilist!"

"That's right." Cassius clenched his hand, confirming it.

"When did you breakthrough?"

"Two days ago." Cassius reached into his coat and suddenly tossed over a black bottle to Moses whose sharp reflexes allowed him to catch it midair.

"Fire Oil. I used about half and there's half of it left." Cassius turned his head around. "You won't let me down, right, Senior Brother?"

"Rest assured! I was already quite confident going into my third attempt to break through to the realm of pugilist, but I'm practically guaranteed success now that I have your Fire Oil!" Moses couldn't help but laugh heartily. "

Hahaha

, I'm already excited at the thought of achieving a breakthrough before that sissy. I can't wait to see his face. He's going to be shocked,

hahaha

..."

Cassius's expression was a bit odd. The way Fourth Senior Brother Moses and Third Senior Brother Lance were always trying to one up each other made it seem as though they were a pair of happy rivals. It certainly explained why Moses was so delighted now.

"Thanks, Little Junior Brother! I'll go into seclusion now." Moses wrapped Cassius up in a bear hug. He gazed longingly at the black bottle in his hand, the yearning in his eyes seemingly stronger than when he had his eyes on a beautiful woman.

On February 1, Moses emerged from seclusion. The first thing he did was spar with Cassius where they fought to their heart's content. Just as Moses said, his breakthrough had been within his reach and he had finally succeeded!

That day, Moses made Cassius promise to keep their breakthroughs a secret. They were going to reveal their full strength once the Eastern Exchange Tournament started. Lance was going to be dumbstruck when he found out that four out of the five core disciples were pugilists.

Surprised, Lance? Didn't expect this, did you?

Regardless, Cassius didn't want to comment on Moses's twisted sense of humor.

Time flew by, and a month and a half passed. On March 15, the temperature rose, signaling the arrival of spring.

Senior Brother Hykal, who had been traveling around the Beiliu County, suddenly returned to the Wind Elephant Sect headquarters and summoned the sect's core disciples.

In the hall, he uttered his first words, "The Six Eastern Counties Martial Arts Exchange Tournament has begun!"