Chapter 165 Conversation (Part I)
Hearing Rota’s words, all three middle-aged Knights nodded.
They were all Knights who had been through decades of cultivation, constantly tempering their physique and skills. Therefore, they were more able to appreciate how hard it was to reach Fang Xingjian’s level.
White-haired Degas nodded and said, “Fang Xingjian’s level is truly rare and commendable. With his talent, he even has the chance to break through to the second transition and enter the realm of Conferred Knights. It’s a pity… a pity…”
He shook his head and turned to leave. “Dali, it’s just like what your elder sister has said. Don’t offend him. If what he said is the truth, then return him the Seism Steel within three days. It’s not worth losing the Versailles Clan’s reputation over something so small.”
The other two middle-aged Knights also nodded, showing no objections to this decision. Even if Fang Xingjian was blind, the level of his martial arts cultivation was truly admirable.
Degas then turned to Rota and said, “Alright. Rota, you’ll also need to work hard from now on. The rewards for the upcoming Regional Selection is by no means insignificant. The clan will do its best to allocate resources to you and give you its full support. If you can get into the top ten in the upcoming Regional Selection, your future will be very bright.”
Rota clenched her fists. Thinking of how the upcoming Regional Selection was an unprecedentedly grand occasion with countless geniuses pitting against each other, her fighting will surged.
…
However, Fang Xingjian was not aware of all these. He returned to his villa and continued his cultivation.
However, he was not longer cultivating his sword Qis to sense the world because of the limitations of using the air as the medium. He had already reached the maximum of what he would be able to achieve for this skill, and would never be able to sense anything beyond supersonic speed.
What he needed to do now was to study how to sense ether particles.
Unlike how it was for the first transition where he would only need to sense the existence of ether particles and transmit energy to them, the requirement for the second transition was to be able to accept the information the ether particles held.
Fang Xingjian sat on the grass lawn, cross-legged and eyes shut, as he lifted his head up. Suddenly, an Ether Sword Ripple shot out from three meters before him all the way to the sky, scattering after it had reached over ten meters.
‘Too fast… I can’t sense it at all.’
He wanted to sense ether particles and since his Ether Sword Ripples were formed by stacking ether particles, he set his goal to be on sensing his Ether Sword Ripples.
However, the speed of the Ether Sword Ripples was his own maximum speed. Fang Xingjian’s maximum speed was now at eight times that of supersonic speed. Thus, it was hard even for him himself to be able to sense them.
He also understood that even if his eyes were unharmed, there was no way that he would be able to consistently keep on moving at such extreme speed. It was because his eyes, his brain and nerves had no way of reacting in time. He would probably bang into a wall after every few steps. Even if he was to attack, he would not be able to hit his target.
Moreover, now that he was blind, it was even harder for him to sense the Ether Sword Ripples.
However, even if he was to reduce the speed of the Ether Sword Ripples, he would only be able to sense the existence of ether particles. He was unable to get any information from them at all.
He suddenly took out the Silver Dragon. Lifting this level 7 Empire’s Divine Weapon up high Fang Xingjian shot out a wave of Ether Sword Ripple onto this dagger, creating a crisp clank sound.
Even Fang Xingjian himself was unable to hold up against the impact which had 1.5 times his strength. The dagger flew out from his hand and pierced into the ground over ten meters away.
‘As I expected, the Ether Sword Ripples can’t slash through everything. It’s just like how they can’t slash through Rota’s silver spear. So, they can’t slash through my Silver Dragon either.
‘So, if the opponent’s protective gear is strong enough, the Ether Sword Ripples might not be able to slash through it.’
As he thought about this, with one hand, Fang Xingjian activated the Supreme Mistwind Sword. With sword Qis flying about, the Silver Dragon was sent back into his hand.
His Supreme Mistwind Sword could now be said that to be integrated into his daily lifestyle, even as he sat, slept, and walked. The gentleness of the sword Qis could feel like a slight brush against one’s face, but its toughness could be like a tornado.
Fang Xingjian then attempted to consistently slash out waves of Ether Sword Ripples across space. However, he was still unable to sense any information from the ether particles.
‘As expected, it’s still a bit hard to be trying to figure this out by myself.
‘Maybe I should go look for some books which recorded the experience of those who have attained Heaven’s Perception.’
Just then, the maid, Lina, pushed in the food cart, delivering the dinner for the night.
Fang Xingjian whiffed and then frowned. “What’s going on? Why is it that even the amount for dinner has been reduced?”
Lina the maid threw him a glance and thought to herself about how Fang Xingjian had said that he wanted to get his Seism Steel back but eventually, he still came back empty-handed.
She replied, “Sir, previously, your daily meals had all exceeded the amount that should be allocated to you. Now, the new Deputy Headmaster, Lord Edger, wishes to relook at the academy’s finances. Therefore, all the meals that you’re having now are all based on what a Prefectural Champion should be given from the start.”
Fang Xingjian frowned. He was different from normal Knights because be it physically or mentally, he would be circulating Waves and sword arts twenty-four hours a day. Only by complimenting his Genius Swordsmanship with these, would his cultivating speed be extremely fast.
However, such extreme cultivation measures tended to require constant nourishment from ferocious beasts and high quality medicinal food to replenish his vital energy and blood, energy, and even possibly increase his potential.
If he was only given the cultivation resources for a Prefectural Champion, he would only be able to keep his cultivation time to twelve hours a day.
Compared to the other Prefectural Champions, the results from cultivating twelve hours a day was considered quite good. However, to Fang Xingjian, it was merely half the efficiency.
Just as Fang Xingjian was feeling slightly angered and wanted to look for that Degas guy, he suddenly turned. Through his sword Qis, he had sensed that someone was slowly walking towards him.
“Who’s there?”
“Xingjian, it’s me.” The Headmaster looked at Fang Xingjian apologetically and said, “Let’s talk inside.”
Sitting indoors, the Headmaster looked at Fang Xingjian’s movements and said, “It seems like you’ve gotten accustomed very quickly.”
Fang Xingjian said calmly, “After turning blind, without the confusions of the colors in the material world, maybe I’ll be able to get closer to the highest realm of sword arts.”
Hearing Fang Xingjian say this, a hint of dimness flashed past the Headmaster’s eyes and he continued to speak, “Xingjian, from today onwards, we might have to make some adjustments to the cultivation resources you are allocated with each month.”
Fang Xingjian did not say anything as he knew that the Headmaster would naturally explain the reason.
The Headmaster continued, “If everything goes well for Huang Lin, he will be able to reach the Sacred Mountain where the Holy Orison is at. I’ve gathered some books with records of Heaven’s Perception for you. Get some Knights to read them to you. The experiences of predecessors can be used for references. Moreover, these books were written in great detail and it would be more useful to go through them, rather than have me tell you about it…”
The Headmaster then fell silent for a moment. However, he eventually continued, “But I’ve thought about it for very long. This year’s Regional Selection… I think you better not participate in it.
“I know that you have great talent and I also know that you are trying hard to uncover the mysteries behind the Heaven’s Perception. However, your blindness is still a flaw. The rewards for this year’s Regional Selection and next year’s National Selection have all been increased by more than onefold. There will be countless geniuses appearing out of nowhere, lighting up their talents to the world.
“And there’s also a stage in the Regional Selection which is known as ‘Pantheon Monument Observation’. With your current condition, there’s no way that you would be able to see the inscriptions on the monument. You would have already lost before the stage even started. That is, unless you are able to attain Heaven’s Perception in the remaining three plus months before the Regional Selection.”
It was not as if there had not been any past precedences of participants being able to sense ether particles and attain Heaven’s Perception before the Regional Selection.
However, only individuals who had been through various extremely lucky and coincidental encounters were able to achieve this.
The truth was that almost all of the Conferred Knights had only successfully attained Heaven’s Perception after passing the Regional Selection and receiving help from the Regional Academy’s massive amount of resources.
However, even with the help of the Regional Academy, there would still be many Conferred Knights who failed in their attempt to attain Heaven’s Perception and, eventually, ended up falling into coma or becoming an idiot.
Now, although Fang Xingjian had become blind, he wanted to try to take on a completely different approach of attaining Heaven’s Perception first before participating in the Regional Selection. What were the chances of his success? Moreover, how long had it been since he had transitioned? How was it possible that someone, who had just transitioned into the first transition for half a year, could successfully attain Heaven’s Perception and eventually strive to complete the second transition?
Truth be told, even Headmaster Jackson felt that it was impossible for him to succeed.
He felt that Fang Xingjian could only give up on the upcoming Regional Selection and contribute in helping the academy to achieve good results. Only if the academy managed to get a higher budget from the next year onwards would Fang Xingjian then have the chance to slowly work to attain the Heaven’s Perception.