Chapter 41: Western Garrison Liege Lord

Martial skills were techniques of martial arts, and it contained mystical power. General martial skills could be activated by the physical body, but its power was much lesser when compared to power generated by essence force. Most of the martial skills even required the essence force to activate it.

The usage of martial skills was to allow the martial artist to gain enhancement in their strength. With the use of special methods, it allowed the body to be circulated with essence force through bizarre circulation routes. By doing so, it could create various array formations to increase the offense, defense, speed, etc.

From a stricter point of view, most of the martial skills could be emulated using a specific road map. The essence force originated from the dantian, it would then pass through the body’s complex meridians, producing a special array formation and finally released from a certain part of the body.

What Jiang Yi experienced was a mystical encounter. His mind actually automatically formed a road map that was incomparably explicit, just like a road map of the martial skill’s circulation route. Even though the majority of the road map was completed, there was a small portion in the center that was missing.

The reason why Jiang Yi believed he had the hope of comprehending the martial skill was because he had obtained the front and back portion of the road map. He could take reference from the existing portions to deduce the center portion and create a flawless road map, which would help him to comprehend this incomplete martial skill.

It was entirely possible in theory but was extremely difficult to execute. If anything went wrong, Jiang Yi’s essence force might go haywire, bursting his meridians and die from the explosion.

But now, Jiang Yi didn’t take that into consideration. He immersed himself in the excitement of his new-found ability. He didn’t even bother to sit cross-legged before putting his concentration on deciphering the Exploding Essence Palm.

It was late into the night, but Jiang Yi had no intention to sleep. One hour later, he opened his eyes; his black essence force was depleted, and the road map in his mind vanished. His mind wasn’t as clear and had exited the bizarre state.

“Continue comprehending!”

He immediately mustered the black essence force to circulate towards his brain. Inside of the Martial Arts Hall, his cultivation speed was increased by a few folds. In addition, the broken runic patterns helped to further increase his cultivation speed. He wasn’t afraid that his black essence force would run out as he could cultivate ten wisps of black essence forces within an hour’s time.

Jiang Yi stopped cultivating only when the sun rose. He felt no fatigue even after staying awake throughout the night and felt more alert than last night instead.

After he took two hours to stock up fully on his black essence forces, he then walked out and began his daily sparring sessions. He took a look at the name list from Manager Yang and saw a name that made him uncomfortable—Jiang Gushui!

Jiang Gushui was currently at the fifth stage of the Cast Tripod Realm, and it was apparent that Jiang Yunshan wanted to help him increase his strength. Even if Jiang Gushui couldn’t enter the Mt. Spirit Beast College, he would at least be able to enter the West Garrison Army.

Jiang Yi couldn’t reject this sparring session, or it might attract the suspicions of the Jiang Clan. He entered silently and noticed a weird look in the eyes of Jiang Gushui.

His heart panicked a little, but he put on a cool expression and didn’t even utter a single word. Luckily, Jiang Gushui didn’t seem to have much of a suspicion. After sparring for an hour, Jiang Gushui yelled in pain after being abused by Jiang Yi, and he then gave a wry smile before bidding farewell.

Could Jiang Gushui have recognized me?

Once Jiang Gushui left, Jiang Yi tried to recall Jiang Gushui’s every move and reaction, but he couldn’t ascertain whether Jiang Gushui recognized him or not. Since the next sparring partner was on the stage, he couldn’t do much about it.

At the current juncture, Jiang Yi couldn’t do anything even if Jiang Gushui recognized him. He didn’t have any fear within his heart. After all, would the Jiang Clan dare to murder him inside the Martial Arts Hall?

After spending an entire morning for five sparring sessions, Jiang Yi remained spirited as he returned to analyzing the Exploding Essence Palm. It was only at midnight when he did go to sleep.

Next day, Jiang Gushui didn’t appear, but it was Jiang Rulang who came instead. Jiang Rulang had this special look in his eyes, but he covered it up rather well. Jiang Yi couldn’t be bothered anymore, and he had decided to adopt measures appropriate to the situation.

The next few days went by peacefully. Jiang Gushui reappeared twice and even offered his deepest gratitude, explaining that one of his new martial skills was now at Phenomenal Stage. He even told Jiang Yi to be a guest at the Jiang Clan whenever he was free and would treat him with great hospitality.

Jiang Yi pretended to be cool and didn’t say a single word—all while sneering in his heart. Go visit the Jiang Clan? Wouldn’t he be walking in and exiting on a stretcher?

Time flew as though a white horse galloping across the plains. As the day of the recruitment ceremony drew nearer, the entire Skyplume City began to bustle with excitement. Many of those small town’s minor clan members were already here at Skyplume City, waiting for the recruitment ceremony to begin. Clan members of those huge cities were here, too; they wanted to see if this small city had any elites that they could enlist to their clan. But they were, of course, here for the show.

Two days before the start of the recruitment ceremony, the Martial Arts Hall didn’t have much business. It was obvious that the upper echelons of the various clans had given their clansmen a holiday. It allowed them to relax and prepared themselves in the optimal condition for a fight.

Although Jiang Yi didn’t need to go for any sparring sessions, he was even more assiduous than before. With the Exploding Essence Palm at the final phase, he took reference of the road map in his mind to constantly deduce and verify. He tried to predict how the essence force condensation technique should be carried out.

For the entire two days, Jiang Yi would only consume some bread if he was hungry. He would fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes; he acted like a maniac that fully concentrated on comprehending the Exploding Essence Palm.

Finally—

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The night before the recruitment ceremony, Jiang Yi finally opened his eyes. There were traces of blood vessels in his excited and fatigued eyes. After spending eight days of comprehending as though there was no day and night, Jiang Yi finally completed the circulation road map of the Exploding Essence Palm with the assistance of his black essence force’s mystical abilities.

He didn’t recklessly start any experimentation but collapsed on the floor and fell asleep—he was just too sleepy! With such an unstable mental state, he didn’t dare circulate the Exploding Essence Palm. What if he were to accidentally circulate using the wrong route and caused his meridians to explode? It would then be the end of everything.

“Uh?”

Not knowing how much time had passed, Jiang Yi violently jerked himself awake. He looked around blankly and saw that already late in the morning. He frantically stood up and rushed out in frenzy before rinsing himself.

“Lone Wolf, there is no need to hurry!”

Manager Yang suddenly walked out from one of the room. He smiled and said, “Today is just some formalities and the registration. The matches would only officially start tomorrow.”

“I know! But I’ve got to go register…” Jiang Yi replied quickly and sprinted towards the direction of the outdoors.

“You silly child!”

Manager Yang laughed, “Can’t you already see what time is it? By the time you reached that place, the registration would have already ended. I have sent someone to go register for you earlier in the morning. Take it, this is your token!”

“Ah?”

Jiang Yi received a black token. Seeing the three numbers ‘536,’ Jiang Yi instantly bowed to Manager Yang with cupped fists. “Thank you, Manager. No matter what happens in the end, Lone Wolf shall not forget the kindness you offered to me.”

“Hehe!”

Manager Yang didn’t think anything about it and spoke after a moment of silence, “Lone Wolf, I shall not speak of unnecessary things. It would be best if you were to succeed, but you shouldn’t lose heart even if you fail. With me here… I will not let you be at a loss. Alright then, come into the room, and I will explain to you the rules of the recruitment ceremony.”

“Alright!”

Jiang Yi got a boost in his spirit as he quickly followed Manager Yang into a small room. They then went into a door that led to a secret room.

After asking Jiang Yi to casually take a seat, Manager Yang began speaking after taking a sip of tea, “I expect you to already know about Mt. Spirit Beast College, right? This college is remarkable, being one of the three major colleges of the continent. It is located at the Mt. Thirty Thousand which was between the borders of our Divine Martial Kingdom and the South’s Great Xia Kingdom.

“It is also the only college that recruits commoners. Azure Dragon College and Centaurea College seldom recruit new students. The Azure Dragon College is only reserved for the crown princes and princesses of the six major vassal states or clansmen of those large powerful clans to enroll into.”

Jiang Yi nodded. He had heard about both the Azure Dragon College and the Centaurea College. These two colleges were ranked higher than Mt. Spirit Beast College but didn’t accept enrollments from outsiders. Only the Mt. Spirit Beast College would hold annual recruitments in the various cities of the six major vassal states. It was a blessing for the youths of the Skyplume City that they were hosting a recruitment ceremony here this year.

Manager Yang paused for a moment before continuing his explanation: “It isn’t a coincidence that both the Mt. Spirit Beast College and West Garrison Army are hosting their recruitment ceremony. It is actually the Western Garrison Liege Lord that is showing some respect to the Mt. Spirit Beast College. Or else, why would the formidable West Garrison Army be here to recruit troops in the small Skyplume City? Of course… you shouldn’t even think about joining the West Garrison Army, the spots are all decided internally. So your only chance would be to grasp one of the five spots from the Mt. Spirit Beast College.”

“Internally decided? How could it be? The Western Garrison Liege Lord is so wise and god-like, while the West Garrison Army is so formidable. This isn’t possible, right?”

Jiang Yi blinked doubtfully. A man appeared in his mind, a man so strong that all the youths of the Divine Martial Kingdom worshiped—West Garrison Liege Lord!

Perhaps it was because the Western Garrison Liege Lord had the same surname Jiang, or because Grand Elder once served in the Western Garrison Liege Lord’s residence when he was young. Jiang Yi had always worshiped the strongest man of the Divine Martial Kingdom. Of course, it wasn’t just Jiang Yi: the Western Garrison Liege Lord was the hero within the hearts of the entire Divine Martial Kingdom’s citizens. Had it not been for him and his West Garrison Army, the Divine Martial Kingdom would have been eradicated by now.

The Western Garrison Liege Lord started his career at the age of 13. At the age of 15, his reputation rose rapidly. He headed the West Garrison Army at the age of 18 and led an army of 100,000. He destroyed the 300,000-strong North Icy Army that invaded the Divine Martial Kingdom, shocking the entire world. Two years later, he gained nobility as the Western Garrison Liege Lord. Since then, he experienced dozens of minor and major battles, all of which he was victorious. His overall strength was at the peak of all heroes. Before he was 40 years old, he was already a top-notch fighter of the continent, unrivaled by any. He was a god-like existence and also the guardian of Divine Martial Kingdom.

This was why Jiang Yi doubted it when Manager Yang described the West Garrison Army to be so dark. It was equivalent to breaking the reputation of the idol in his heart.

Manager Yang laughed and shook his head, “Lone Wolf, you are still young and ignorant. If the water is too clean, there will not be any fish ¹ . Even if the Western Garrison Liege Lord knew about such things, he wouldn’t be getting involved. Alright. Stop interrupting and let me finish.”

Manager Yang’s expression turned serious as he explained with a deep voice, “Mt. Spirit Beast College’s recruitment, very simple! There are two methods—first is the single elimination open tournament, and the other is the knock-out tournament!”

“The first method would be to honorably challenge all the participants. Anyone can come up the stage to challenge you, and you would have to win a hundred matches. This method is rather difficult, but if you can truly win a hundred matches, you would be immediately offered one of the five spots.”

“The second method would be to draw lots and fight. The winner will advance, and the loser shall be eliminated. All the way until there are only five participants left. Of course… if there are five individuals who took all the spots using the first method, then the knock-out tournament would be pointless! I want you to know that there are over 2000 participants, and among them, there are at least a hundred who are at least at the seventh stage of the Cast Tripod Realm. So… my advice is for you to not have a high expectation.”