In the nearly ten-acre mansion of Zhao Rucheng, two figures flickered and merged in the swordlight.
Clang!!
Zhao Rucheng's hand trembled, and his long sword flew out of his grasp. Jiang Wang's sword had already stopped beside his neck, and he was looking at him with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Amazing!" Zhao Rucheng exclaimed in astonishment. "What kind of swordsmanship is this?"
There was naturally some gap between his and Jiang Wang's swordsmanship, but it wasn't too large. In their past sparring matches, he could usually win three to five out of ten bouts. Yet today, after twenty rounds, he hadn't won a single one!
Jiang Wang smiled and sheathed his sword. This swordsmanship was truly a profound method of entering the Dao through martial practice. It consisted of nine practice forms and five killing forms. He had now only mastered four of the practice forms and one of the killing forms, yet his understanding of swordsmanship had already far surpassed what it was before.
He estimated that his combat strength was now sufficient to be considered of high quality. If he encountered the demon who had attacked that night again, he would definitely have the strength to fight.
"This swordsmanship is something I obtained by chance and doesn't have a specific name. Rucheng, you are well-versed in both literature and martial arts. What do you think it should be called?"
Zhao Rucheng pondered for a moment, "This is the emperor among swords. It should be named... 'Purple Qi from the East.'"
"Purple Qi from the East..." A gleam of admiration flashed in Jiang Wang's eyes. "What a great name!"
In that moment, he seemed to see a kind of magnanimous demeanor in Zhao Rucheng that he had never seen before.
But perhaps it was an illusion, because in the next moment, Zhao Rucheng picked up the fallen sword, jumped in front of Jiang Wang, and still had that carefree look on his face, grinning and saying, "Teach me, Third Brother!"
"Sure." Jiang Wang smiled brightly.
Both of them were swordsmanship experts among ordinary people and understood the value of the Purple Qi from the East sword technique. It was completely different from those martial arts techniques that circulated in the secular world. Instead, it was an extraordinary sword scripture that could lead one to enter the Dao through martial practice.
Those powerful sword cultivators were in no way inferior to masters of Daoist techniques.
Such a sword scripture could easily cause bloodshed in the martial world. But one of them was willing to learn it casually, and the other was willing to teach it without hesitation. It seemed as if the scripture was of little importance.
...
When Jiang Wang returned to the Daoist academy, it was already late.
Except when he had classes, Zhao Rucheng usually didn't stay in the academy, having a typical playboy temperament.
He was so preoccupied with contemplating the mysteries of the Purple Qi from the East sword technique that he only noticed Li Jianqiu standing with a sword at the entrance of the inner courtyard dormitory when he arrived there.
"What are you thinking about so intently?" Li Jianqiu asked with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Some issues related to swordsmanship," Jiang Wang replied frankly and asked, "Why are you here, Senior Li?"
"No wonder Junior Jiang's swordsmanship is astonishing," Li Jianqiu casually praised, and then said, "Teacher Dong asked me to tell you to visit him after tomorrow's morning class. I saw that you were not in the dormitory, so I waited for a while."
"Ah, I spent the entire afternoon at Rucheng's mansion," Jiang Wang said with a hint of embarrassment. "How dare I trouble Senior Li to wait? You could have just left a message with the attendant."
Inner disciples had dedicated attendants to take care of their daily needs, including clothing and food, so that these seeds of the Daoist gate could focus on their cultivation.
"Since Teacher Dong asked me to inform you, I cannot delegate this task to others. I am not from a noble family, so I am not too proud to wait for someone," Li Jianqiu said.
Jiang Wang slightly bowed his head, "I am feeling quite uneasy, Senior Li."
He indeed felt uneasy. Li Jianqiu was two grades above him and was one of the outstanding individuals in his cohort. It was a foregone conclusion that he would go to the Qinghe Prefecture Academy for further studies. He was one of the most talented individuals in the entire city academy.
And yet, such a person had waited for him at the dormitory entrance without any sign of impatience.
Li Jianqiu patted Jiang Wang's shoulder, "I see great potential in you, Junior Jiang. There is no need to be so formal."
With that, he turned and left.
...
The night passed without incident. The next morning, as soon as the morning class ended, Jiang Wang went to Dong A's residence.
In the small courtyard, besides Li Jianqiu, there were two other people. One of them was also a senior, named Zhang Linchuan. He came from the Zhang family, one of the three major surnames in Fenglin City. He was one of the strongest disciples in the city academy and had a considerable reputation.
He was not particularly handsome, but he was tall and elegant, with his own presence. His clothes and accessories were all exquisitely and appropriately arranged.
At that moment, he was standing in the courtyard, listening to what the person next to him was saying.
The remaining person in the courtyard was none other than Fang Hailing.
Noticing Jiang Wang's entrance, he deliberately raised his voice, "Young Master Zhang! Yesterday, a hunter from my manor sent over a pair of fine bear's paws. Tomorrow, I will have the chef from Wangyue Tower prepare them well, and then we can all taste them together."
Zhang Linchuan nodded with a smile.
Fang Hailing then turned to invite, "Senior Li, you should join us too!"
Li Jianqiu did not want to offend him and simply smiled, "I will if I have time."
Before Fang Hailing could continue flattering him, Li Jianqiu took a few steps towards the courtyard gate, "Junior Jiang has arrived?"
He actually went to greet him specifically.
Jiang Wang hurriedly caught up and greeted, "Sorry, I am late."
He walked up to Li Jianqiu and greeted Zhang Linchuan with a respectful gesture: "Greetings, Senior Zhang."
He completely ignored Fang Hailing.
"You too," Zhang Linchuan nodded with a faint smile, seemingly oblivious to the undercurrents between Jiang and Fang.
But some people just had to make their presence known.
"Humph." Fang Hailing snorted loudly and then spoke in a sarcastic tone, "Teacher Dong has given orders, and even Senior Zhang and Senior Li came early. I was so eager that I skipped the morning class and rushed here as soon as I got up. I wonder what qualifications certain people have to make Teacher Dong and the two seniors wait for him?"
Jiang Wang still ignored him and only greeted Li Jianqiu and Zhang Linchuan with a bow, "I just finished the morning class and rushed here. I would never dare to be negligent in following the teacher's orders. The morning and evening classes, reciting scriptures and regulating breathing. The morning bell and the evening drum, I dare not slacken for a moment."
Li Jianqiu patted Jiang Wang's shoulder again to show closeness, "It's fine. It's not that you are late, but that we are early. The path of cultivation indeed does not allow for negligence. Although Zhang and I do not need to go to the scripture hall to recite scriptures with the juniors, we still do our morning classes in our rooms."
Fang Hailing was even more annoyed inside, but with Li Jianqiu's stance, he did not dare to stir up trouble further.
At this moment, they heard a creaking sound as Dong A pushed the door open and stepped out.
"Everyone's here?" He looked around, his presence naturally commanding respect without anger.
All four of them performed the Daoist salute, "Teacher Dong!"
Dong A waved his hand. He was a man of decisive and straightforward nature, disliking any unnecessary delay. He immediately said, "I have called you here today to assign you a task. You should all be aware of the incident where a demon attacked the outer courtyard and killed an outer disciple. The Judicial Department has been investigating for so long without any results. We don't necessarily have to wait for them to handle our affairs at the city academy. Therefore, I am assigning you to investigate this matter, with the rewards calculated according to the standards of an eighth-grade mission."
Unlike outer missions, inner missions were graded, usually based on the highest level of combat strength encountered during the mission. Moreover, the reward unit was no longer contribution points but Daoist merits.
The difficulty was vastly different, and naturally, the rewards were as different as heaven and earth. Take the Meridian-Opening Pill, for example. It would require an enormous amount of outer contribution points to exchange for it, while Daoist merits only needed one hundred points.
Of course, obtaining one hundred points of Daoist merits was not easy either.
Taking this left-path demon's attack on the outer courtyard as an example, the demon's displayed strength was only within the ninth-grade range. Dong A's grading it as an eighth-grade mission clearly had an encouraging nature.
"Jiang Wang and Fang Hailing are the only two disciples in this cohort with manifest Daoist pulses. They need to be well-honed. Linchuan and Jianqiu, you have been cultivating for a longer time. You can take the two juniors and investigate separately. The mission rewards will be split ninety-one, with the side that finds the clues first getting ninety percent."
Zhang Linchuan and Li Jianqiu both bowed, "We will follow the teacher's orders."
Dong A swung his wide sleeves and walked back into the door by himself, clearly not intending to interfere with what happened next.
Zhang Linchuan seemed to be well-prepared. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I have friends in the Judicial Department. There are two clues in this demon attack case that are most useful. One is that the demon stayed at the Fuli Inn for three days before the attack. There should be some clues left behind. The other is that a family in Tangshe Town was wiped out, and the scene had a lingering corpse qi that is similar to the demon who attacked our outer courtyard. Junior Li, which route do you choose?"
Li Jianqiu replied, "Since this is Senior Zhang's intelligence, naturally I will follow Senior Zhang's arrangement."
Zhang Linchuan was not surprised at all. If Li Jianqiu had any sense, he would not compete with him at this moment. He was just going through the motions. He nodded and said, "In that case, I will go to Tangshe Town, and Junior Li will go to Fuli Inn."
Fang Hailing, standing next to Zhang Linchuan, had brightened eyes, "With Senior Zhang taking action, where can a mere left-path demon hide?"
After speaking, he also glanced at Jiang Wang, quite pleased with himself.
It was clear to everyone with eyes that Tangshe Town was more in line with the conditions for the demon to lie low, and the clues were more evident. In Fang Hailing's view, in this first eighth-grade mission, he was going to take the lion's share.
At this moment, Zhang Linchuan said to Li Jianqiu again, "Junior Li, how about I take Jiang Wang?"
Li Jianqiu remained expressionless, "That's fine too."
In fact, the previous positioning of everyone had already tacitly acknowledged the division of routes. Jiang Wang was more familiar with Li Jianqiu, while Zhang Linchuan and Fang Hailing both came from the three major surnames.
Although he did not understand why Zhang Linchuan did not choose Fang Hailing, who had a closer family background and was more familiar, Jiang Wang had no right to choose. He immediately said politely, "Then I will trouble Senior Zhang."
Both Zhang Linchuan and Li Jianqiu were experienced and quickly made task assignments and prepared some supplies that might be needed for the mission. Jiang Wang also busied himself helping with the preparations.
Only Fang Hailing stood there, his face turning pale and then red.
He did have some opinions he wanted to express, but he couldn't bring himself to say a word.