Chapter 15 – Advancing to the Finals (I)
———————————————————————————————
“Stop looking, all the others have already left. Yin Zhu, quickly tell me what kind of weapon you used today at the end of your match! I had never seen anything like it before.” Sura’s curious face stared at him.
“Oh, that one! That was…” Ye Yin Zhu lifted his right hand and pulled at his sleeve. He revealed an aquamarine bracelet that sparkled with a soft light. The Life Guardian Bracelet fit snugly against his skin. This aquamarine bracelet was worn on his wrist.
“Wow, such a gorgeous bracelet! How much money is it worth?” Sura’s eyes lit up like gold coins.
Ye Yin Zhu laughed bitterly and replied, “You only care about money.”
Sura snorted and retorted, “Money isn’t everything, but you absolutely cannot be moneyless. How would we eat without money? Also, you’re a boy, yet you are wearing a bracelet.” Suddenly, he seemed to think of something. Sura opened his eyes wide and continued, “You’re not telling me that this bracelet was that weapon you used today, right?”
Ye Yin Zhu laughed lightly and said, “It’s called Jade Silk. Watch.” As he said this, he gently shook his wrist. Immediately, the aquamarine bracelet glinted with rays of light as it expanded in a flash, changing into a ten meter long emerald thread in the blink of an eye. Under the control of faint yellow dou qi, it constantly morphed into different shapes and forms in the air. It strangely felt as if it was alive.
Sura, startled, raised his hand to grab the Jade Silk in the air. She discovered that the Jade Silk was only a bit thicker than hair. It naturally gave him a gentle, warm feeling in the middle of his hand. When he pulled on it lightly, the Jade Silk didn’t react as it was extremely durable.
Ye Yin Zhu’s four fingers easily slid through the rippling loop. It once again twined around his wrist, changing back into a bracelet. “I lived in a region called the Desolate Jade Sea, a small area in the Kingdom of Arcadia. The Desolate Jade Sea is an enormous bamboo forest. In the center of this bamboo forest is a Bamboo Tree of Life, the nexus of the Desolate Jade Sea. The Bamboo of Life had a core at its center. Every century, it grows a little over two and a half centimeters. This was the material for Jade Silk. It can be said to be the toughest and most durable thing in the whole world. Moreover, it possesses tremendous vitality.”
Sura asked, dumbstruck, “Two and a half centimeters every century? Your Jade Silk is 10 meters long; isn’t that 30,000 years?” 1
Ye Yin Zhu smiled and replied, “Yes! As a result, its vitality is incomparably tremendous. You shouldn’t only see it as nothing more than a thin thread of silk. It can be both flexible and stiff, has innumerable uses, and can even turn rock into powder by striking it. Its sharpness isn’t inferior to any weapon.”
He didn’t say that this Jade Silk was precisely the Bamboo Sect’s most valuable treasure. Ye Yin Zhu was born with only eight fingers. Because both hands didn’t have a pinky finger, he was not at all suited to wield a sword. His grandfather, Ye Li, went through ten years of research. Using the Bamboo Sect Martial Arts as the foundation and Jade Silk as the weapon, he realized that this set would suit Yin Zhu’s special martial arts skills.
That very same year, Qin Shang and Ye Li agreed that when Yin Zhu turned 15, Ye Li could no longer teach Ye Yin Zhu any martial arts. And so, Ye Yin Zhu left Desolate Jade Sea at the age of 16. From the age of 15, the Jade Silk was in his possession. In addition to cultivating his Pure Zither Heart, he painstakingly cultivated his Jade Silk for a year as it was his martial arts technique. A focused Ye Yin Zhu had a comprehension ability several times higher than ordinary people due to his Yellow Bamboo Level 1 dou qi foundation and him being a disciple of the founder of the Bamboo Sect. Although his Jade Silk cultivation still wasn’t at the stage where he could completely control it, at least the Bamboo Sect martial arts technique Ye Li taught him could already be put to use.
When he confronted the Green Dragon earlier today, Fei Fei’s speed had exceeded Yin Zhu’s expectations. Thus, he didn’t have enough time to use sound blades to fend it off. Lacking a better option, he used this martial arts technique for the first time. If it weren’t for the Jade Silk’s toughness, durability, and sharpness, how could he have possibly damaged the Green Dragon’s genuine gigantic dragon scales defense?
“So you really are a dual magic-martial arts cultivator! And at Yellow Rank dou qi as well! It’s significantly stronger than your magic.” Sura looked at the Jade Silk on Ye Yin Zhu’s wrist, his eyes flashing with hint of peculiarity.
Ye Yin Zhu smiled but remained silent about his secret capabilities. Even though he already trusted Sura a lot, he still couldn’t speak of it lightly.
At this very moment, a knock suddenly sounded from the door.
“Who would come this late? Could it be that Hai Yang has returned?” Sura asked puzzledly as he got up and left the room to open the door.
Dressed in a white magic robe, Nina walked into the dorm room. As soon as she entered through the door, she asked, “How is Ye Yin Zhu?”
“Oh, it’s Dean Nina. Hello. Ye Yin Zhu has already awoken.” Sura hurriedly let Nina into the dorm.
“Grandma Nina, why did you come?” Ye Yin Zhu stood up. The room was really a bit small. He was obliged to yield his bed in order for Nina to take a seat.
Nina took several glances at Ye Yin Zhu from top to bottom. His restored, clear, bright gaze indicated that his body’s status was pretty good. “Are you alright? You recovered so quickly. I really don’t know what your body is made of.” Seeing that Ye Yin Zhu was alright, she let out a sigh of relief.
Ye Yin Zhu scratched his head and answered, “I also don’t know how I recovered so quickly. Maybe my body is relatively strong.” Even as he spoke those words, he couldn’t refrain from recalling that dream where his body was plagued by a strange, difficult to endure itch. He faintly felt that his body’s recovery and that dream seemed to somehow be related.
“If you’re alright, then I’m relieved. For one, I came here today to see how your body is. Secondly, I wanted to tell you some good news.” Nina exposed a rare smile, her current mood extraordinarily good. She hadn’t felt this happy in many years.
“Good news? What good news?” Ye Yin Zhu asked in surprise.
Nina smiled and said, “Our Divine Music division has already broken into the Freshman Competition finals.”
“Eh? Didn’t we only compete in six preliminary matches?” Ye Yin Zhu stated, stunned.
Nina proudly said, “Praise Blue Dias. Perhaps this is Heaven’s favor. Our Divine Music division won six matches and can already qualify to enter the finals. No matter if it is the Magic Department or the Martial Arts Department, we are first.”
To the side, Sura said, “That can’t be right. Even if the Divine Music division became this year’s dark horse, there is still the three popular divisions: the Spatial division, the Summon division, and the Spiritual division! The Divine Music division will face them in the final three matches. Those will be hard battles. Can you still determine that the Divine Music division will be victorious?”
Nina said, “Of course not. Because, even without the last three matches, we have already qualified. Although the quality of the freshmen in the Spiritual division and Spatial division are pretty good, they are too close in strength. Today in the afternoon, they’re battling each other to advance in the competition, and both sides will suffer. Altogether, there are 10 competitors, and eight of them have been seriously injured, including the two generals. Both of them have already forfeited tomorrow’s match. In other words, they can at most have a 7 victory: 2 loss record. And these two divisions just happen to be our opponents for tomorrow. Winning by default, we would have eight victories. No matter how our match against the Summon division goes, we will inevitably appear within the top two of the Magic Department. The Summon division’s luck is also excellent. They didn’t have to face our Divine Music division, Spatial division, and Spiritual division until the last two days of the competition. It is almost certain that they will go hand in hand with us in qualifying.”
Ye Yin Zhu was pleasantly surprised and said, “So it’s like this. It seems that our luck is indeed very good. Grandma Nina, don’t worry. I will certainly prepare well for the final match against the Summon division, and I will strive to defeat them.”
Nina shook her head and said, “No. I have already decided to forfeit the match against the Summon division.”
“Why?” Ye Yin Zhu’s eyes widened.
(More like 36,000 years, but Sura’s rather understating it. Or Sura’s bad at math, either or.)