Chapter 30: Chapter-30: A Challenge
Next Morning
After Bai Chenyu got back from hunting beasts with his master, he hit the bed right away due to the mental strain of taking a human life. It was uncomfortable taking a life for the first time, even though he knew it was a kill-or-be-killed world out there. It'd probably take him a bit to get used to it, maybe after a few more kills.
" Huff" Bai Chenyu let out a sigh and decided to head to the sect's training ground to try his Crystal Finger again. Closing his eyes, he pictured the map in his head, and once he figured out where to go, off he went.
After a while, he reached the training ground. It was huge, stretching for miles in both length and width. Early in the morning, he spotted disciples practicing various techniques and cultivation. Bai Chenyu was surprised to see disciples working hard so early, concluding that some were really dedicated.
Looking around, he noticed the area divided into four spaces. In the first section, there were over a hundred human-shaped puppets made from some special wood. These puppets could withstand disciples' attacks but didn't fight back.
In the second area, there were about two hundred human-shaped puppets, but these ones were made of steel. Unlike the first batch, these steel puppets not only defended against the disciples' attacks but also fought back, simulating real-time combat in training.
As Bai Chenyu checked out the third area, it seemed like there were multiple arenas for disciples to spar with each other. He remembered hearing that this place was also where inner sect disciples had their promotion exams. Bai Chenyu knew he'd be participating in these exams in the future.
The fourth area looked a bit unique, with several arrays on the ground that seemed to draw in spiritual energy. It was a spot where disciples would come to cultivate, thanks to the rich spiritual energy gathered by those arrays. Another array was set up to block out noise, making it a peaceful place to cultivate. Without this noise-canceling array, who would want to cultivate in a place buzzing with the sounds of disciples training their techniques? Bai Chenyu wasn't interested, though, since his body could absorb more spiritual energy without relying on those arrays.
Bai Chenyu stood in front of a puppet, pointing his finger at it. As soon as he did, the steel puppet lunged at him. He easily dodged it and used his Crystal Finger on the puppet. Other disciples were surprised to see Bai Chenyu, and they quickly stopped to watch his move since he was the personal disciple of the sect master, and were curious how he would perform
BOOM
The moment the beam hit the puppet, half of it's body exploded into smithereens, mildly surprising Bai Chenyu.
"As expected, it's all thanks to my physique," Bai Chenyu murmured to himself. He had heard that the sect's puppets were supposed to be indestructible, even resistant to chaos rank techniques. So, Bai Chenyu wanted to see if his Earth rank technique could do any damage. He was eager to test its effectiveness under the influence of his unique physique. The result shocked him a bit, making him wonder what would happen if he used Death Strike.
As he mumbled to himself, the crowd was completely stunned by his demonstration.
"Heck, did the puppet just explode?" asked a disciple, rubbing her eyes in disbelief.
"Yeah, it did explode," said another disciple in a dazed voice.
"Hey, is it mere for that technique to look like the Crystal Finger?" asked a disciple, nervously swallowing her saliva. The others were also stunned, realizing they had witnessed Bai Chenyu blowing up a puppet using the Earth rank technique Crystal Finger.
"H-Heh, it must be some other technique, maybe a secret one that the sect master taught him," said a disciple, trying to convince himself that it wasn't the Crystal Finger everyone knew.
"Disciple Chenyu," Bai Chenyu was lost in thought when he heard a familiar voice that snapped him out of it. He turned around to see the person calling him. His brows furrowed as he recognized the figure—it was Su Yang, the one who got beaten by Feng Bing Huang a few days ago. Su Yang was walking towards him with a smile on his face, but Bai Chenyu could easily tell it was fake, hiding his true intentions. Others might be deceived, but Bai Chenyu already knew about his character from the novel.
"Disciple Su Yang, do you need something?" Bai Chenyu asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Disciple Chenyu, are you here to practice? Since you haven't started yet, how about a spar with me? I'd be honored to receive some pointers from the personal disciple of the sect master," Su Yang said with a smile. He had already been chosen by a peak master and learned a secret technique, so he was confident he could defeat and humiliate Bai Chenyu.
'What's up with this broken puppet?' Su Yang frowned as he saw the damaged steel puppet. He wondered if it malfunctioned and exploded or something. If he had arrived a few seconds earlier and witnessed Bai Chenyu destroying the supposedly indestructible puppet, he wouldn't dare to challenge him. However, due to his ignorance, he was grinning and imagining defeating him.
The others who heard his words were also dumbfounded, looking at him like he was some kind of fool. They wondered, What gave this guy the courage? Can't he see the destroyed puppet? Some of them were grinning, expecting to witness a good show, and then glanced back at Bai Chenyu.
"Huh, you want some pointers?" Bai Chenyu was taken aback, but he soon caught on to Su Yang's plan and decided it was time to teach him a lesson.
"Yes, I hope you're not too busy," Su Yang said with a smirk, thinking Bai Chenyu was nervous to face him.
"Hmm, sure, why not? I always like to help those who are less talented than me. Let's go to the arena," Bai Chenyu replied, causing Su Yang's face to darken as Bai Chenyu called him less talented. Seeing Bai Chenyu's confident look, Su Yang grimaced even more.
'Hmph, I will use the new technique I learned from my master to defeat you. It's just a pity that not many people are here at this moment,' Su Yang smirked, thinking he would easily defeat Bai Chenyu. He regretted that only a few disciples were present in the training ground to witness him defeating the personal disciple of the sect master and causing Bai Chenyu embarrassment. Silently, he followed behind Bai Chenyu towards an arena.
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