Chapter 672: Embarrassment

…

“Humph, they’re messing around!” Ju Hang growled when he saw the 14 students of the Fifth and Seventh Classes of the Inner Division on the platform.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but break into a bitter smile. He shook his head slowly and sighed, “Perhaps, that’s the hot-bloodedness of youth…”

If they were to talk about everyone’s age, Shang Xia and Ju Hang were both barely over 20.

“What the hell are you talking about?! If they face the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World again in the battlefield between the two worlds, they will understand how stupid they are! I don’t even know how many of them will be able to return alive when that happens!” Ju Hang growled in frustration. It seemed as though those students were unable to meet his expectations as he continued, “If they used their battle formation immediately, they would have already won the battle!”

“Hmph, what do you mean by already won?! What a joke!” A cold snort came from behind them.

When they turned to look, they saw Liu Zhifei staring at them with a frown. He was the practical combat teacher of the Seventh Class.

As someone in the second generation of the Liu Clan, Liu Zhifei could be considered Shang Xia’s senior. Back when Shang Xia was still in the Outer Division as a student, he was already a Custodian.

When Shang Xia and Ju Hang ran into him, they would cup their fists and address him respectfully as their teacher.

Now that several years had passed, Liu Zhifei was no longer the Martial Extremity Realm cultivator he once was. He had also entered the Martial Intent Realm, and his status had risen from a Custodian of the Outer Division to a practical combat teacher of the Inner Division.

“Little Brother Ju, your Fifth Class has always been at the bottom of the ranking in the Inner Division. Do you really think you can defeat my Seventh Class just because 2 of your students entered the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm?” Liu Zhifei clasped his hands behind his back and approached them.

Ju Hang’s face nearly turned green in anger when Liu Zhifei called him ‘Little Brother Ju’. There were still many students around them who had lowered their heads quickly to prevent meeting the teachers’ gaze. Their shoulders were trembling uncontrollably as they held their laughter.

“Hah… What do you mean by that? Teacher Liu has been teaching for so many years and you have so much more experience than me! I’m afraid my useless students can’t defeat those you brought up personally and I hate that they didn’t go all out the moment the battle started!” Ju Hang chuckled dryly and he didn’t plan to squabble with the man.

With Ju Hang’s current strength, he could probably defeat 2 Liu Zhifeis and decided not to be petty.

Liu Zhifei nodded with satisfaction. His glance landed on Shang Xia who also had a smile on his face and he asked, “Little Shang, looks like you managed to develop a battle formation like what the Changbai Sect did. Is that true?”

Ju Hang found his words extremely jarring to the ears. He hated Liu Zhifei’s pretentious attitude and he quickly turned to look away.

Obviously, Shang Xia couldn’t be bothered. He simply chuckled in response, “I merely gave them a taste of it and allowed them to practice a little. Time was of the essence and they have a lot of room for improvement.”

Liu Zhifei nodded as though he agreed. “Yeah, that’s right. We don’t have much time and I heard that those battle formations developed by the holy lands have been perfected through the generations. Ha… Little Xia, you might be the genius of our institution and I definitely wouldn’t question your methods. However, it has only been a short month. How much can those students have learned? They’re not you. Why don’t you let them train step by step like they should?”

Clearly, Liu Zhifei was mocking Shang Xia for biting off more than he could chew.

With the smile still on his face, Shang Xia was too lazy to talk to him. He turned to look at the battle on the platform that had finally started.

The 7 students of the Fifth Class weren’t being careless. They were probably trying to deploy their battle formation carefully in order to prevent other people from seeing through their weakness.

Shang Xia found their thoughts amusing. If the Extremity Yin Yang Formation could be so easily seen through by those people, he wouldn’t have wasted a month of his time to teach them its execution.

…

Because of their constant training in the past month, many students of the Fifth Class experienced an increase in strength.

With the exception of Mu Songfang and Shi Huai who were already at the large completion stage and Wang Chenglin who broke through to the small completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm, the others also became stronger.

With their increase in strength and constant practice, Despite not being able to find time to enter secluded cultivation, all of them could feel the dramatic increase in their combat abilities.

They didn’t know that their understanding of Shang Xia’s cultivation philosophy was the reason behind their rapid increase in strength. Shang Xia’s lessons had something to do with it, but their heavy utilization of the Extremity Yin Yang Formation was the key factor.

The students of the Fifth Class had always been looked down on because of their lack of experts and weaker cultivation bases. Now that their combat capabilities took a huge leap forward, they needed to vent their frustrations somehow.

Liu Zhifei still had his hands clasped behind his back in an unperturbed manner and Shang Xia was standing beside Ju Hang while watching the battle. Even so, Shang Xia could see that the outcome had already been decided.

Of the Martial Extremity Realm students in the Seventh Class, there were 2 of them in the large completion stage. 3 were in the small completion stage, and the last 2 were slightly worse.

On the surface, their combat strength was a level above the students of the Fifth Class. Liu Zhifei was so confident that they would be the winner because his students had been in their current cultivation realm for a longer time than the students of the Fifth Class.

Mu Songfang, Shi Huai, and Wang Chenglin had just entered their current level of cultivation. They might not even have consolidated their foundations, and in his eyes, they were no match for his students.

The moment the exchange started, things went exactly as Liu Zhifei expected. The students of the Seventh Class erupted with their overwhelming strength and forced the students of the Fifth Class to retreat repeatedly. From the looks of it, the Fifth Class was barely able to withstand their ferocious assault.

Just as Liu Zhifei was about to start gloating, the situation on the platform changed. The students of the Fifth Class who seemed to be forced into a passive state started their counterattack from out of nowhere.

Mu Songfang’s slow and smooth sword strokes transformed to one of aggression and speed. It was surprisingly fast as it managed to catch her opponents off guard.

Without waiting for them to react, she retreated from her original opponent and stabbed at the student fighting Shi Huai.

Mu Songfang’s sword intent was related to the attribute of speed. She had already reached the point where her sword strikes could move as quickly or slowly as she wished.

Facing her sneak attack, Shi Huai’s opponent’s figure twisted in an attempt to avoid being struck.

Coordinating perfectly with Mu Songfang, Shi Huai’s blade came crashing down. However, it seemed pretty strange as his blade seemed weightless.

With the combined might of Shi Huai and Mu Songfang, the student of the Seventh Class was at a loss for what to do. When he noticed Shi Huai’s ‘powerless’ blade, he thought that it was a mistake and he quickly reached out to block it with his weapon.

Who would have thought that Shi Huai had practiced the art of weight? As soon as their weapons collided, the student from the Seventh Class felt as though he was hit by a truck. Even his weapon was sent flying.

Losing his weapon in the middle of their formation, there was no hope for him. His fellow student tried to come to his rescue but was stopped by Mu Songfang. Shi Huai might not have reached an enlightened level where he could wield the weapon however he wished, but he could at the very least alternate between a light and heavy sword. With 3 moves, he forced the weaponless student off the stage.

Now that his opponent was gone, the Fifth Class freed up a student with cultivation at the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm. They quickly pushed their advantage and Mu Songfang quickly defeated another student at the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm.

The situation tilted in the favor of the Fifth Class immediately and their opponents were eventually chased off the platform.

The situation changed so quickly that Liu Zhifei didn’t have time to lower his hand after stroking his beard.

When he finally realized that his students were defeated, he felt a massive ache in his heart. He nearly tore away a portion of his beard.

He could only leave with his tail tucked between his legs and he didn’t even greet Shang Xia or Ju Hang when he left.

Before the students of the Fifth Class could celebrate their victory, they ran into Ju Hang whose face was as black as a thundercloud. They were immediately reprimanded.

The few of them also understood that they made several mistakes, and they took the scolding without so much as a whimper.

When Ju Hang’s mouth finally ran dry, Shang Xia chuckled and took over, “Alright, start talking. What were you guys thinking up there?”

Yan Weihai looked at his fellow students before responding, “I was thinking of fighting with them for real. Even if we didn’t use our battle formation, we wouldn’t be the worst class in the Inner Division.”

Wang Chenglin felt a lot more gutsy now that someone else had spoken. He seemed a little excited as he blabbered, “Teacher, there is a combat ranking among the Inner Division and none of us in the Fifth Class are in the top 10. Even Chief Yan is ranked 15. The Seventh Class had 2 students in the large completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm. They were ranked 7 and 11 respectively and today, they lost to Brother Shi and Sister Mu. Looks like our Fifth Class finally produced an expert who can rank in the top 10! With Chief Yan, we have 3 students in the top 20 ranks! Let’s see if anyone dares to say that our Fifth Class is ranked at the bottom of the Inner Division after today!”

“Oh? You seem very proud of it?!” Ju Hang snapped, “Experts my ass! So what if you’re ranked in the Inner Division?! Can you not be a little more far-sighted?”

Everyone lowered their heads in shame.

Mu Songfang raised her head slightly to glance at Ju Hang and Shang Xia before lowering it again. However, she didn’t stay silent. She muttered, “Teachers, actually we were confident of deploying the battle formation at any time. We wouldn’t have lost no matter what.”

Ju Hang glared at her and wanted to start round 2 but he was stopped by Shang Xia with a single gesture.

Shang Xia stared at Mu Songfang with a meaningful expression and seemed to have seen through everything. He eventually chuckled, “Alright, let’s not rain on their parade anymore. No matter what, winning the Seventh Class is a good start.”

He turned to the students and gave them another reminder, “You can’t act like this in the future rounds. You’ll be facing disciples of the Protection Division next and you need to use all the time you can now to restore your exhausted inner qi and adjust your condition.”