Volume One, Chapter Six: Leading the Counterattack

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The scorekeeper, seated beneath the Heavenly Stems class, recorded three points. Beside them, the Earthly Branches class still showed a blank, representing zero points.

Song Han stepped down from the podium, and now it was Yan Jin’s turn to take the stage. The applause from the audience was sparse and scattered. Whether she was distracted or nervous, no one could tell. After several prompts from the crowd, Yan Jin finally snapped back to reality, apologized with a nod, and hurriedly climbed onto the stage.

After drawing the scroll, Yan Jin’s eyes involuntarily widened for a moment. Then, taking a deep breath, she began to explain.

“This technique evolved from the forces of nature. Those struck by it experience anything from full-body convulsions to their bodies blackening as if scorched. Also… there’s one more characteristic: its effect is amplified during thunderstorms.”

Yan Jin’s description was vague—so vague that Si Nanxi’s mind immediately jumped to three or four names that might match it. Even he couldn’t be certain, let alone the junior disciples in his class who had only been enrolled for two months.

Sure enough, the Earthly Branches class exchanged uneasy glances, none daring to raise a hand to answer. As time ticked by, still no response came. On stage, Yan Jin hurriedly added,

“This technique is not among the Five Spirits but is an extension beyond them. It’s…”

Her supplement clearly showed her unfamiliarity with the topic she had drawn, relying only on vague impressions and common knowledge.

Based on her description, Si Nanxi thought it matched “Thunder God Finger” from the Chao Sect of the Southern Abyss, or the Taoist supreme secret technique “Ten Thousand Thunder Invocation.” Both call upon the power of heaven and earth. The “Ten Thousand Thunder Invocation” tests the practitioner’s ability to perceive nature and can be activated by top-tier body dominants and spirit cultivators alike. When triggered, it seems as if the lightning from the sky is drawn to a designated point, hence the name “Heavenly Thunder Invocation.”

The “Thunder God Finger,” on the other hand, requires the cultivator to spend years in thunderstorms, using a special method to turn their body into a kind of lightning rod, drawing lightning into themselves, then grounding it through their feet, altering the attribute of their spiritual power. The technique concentrates all spiritual energy in the fingertip.

“Time’s up. No answer, zero points.”

“Oh~~”

“Zero.”

“Absolutely pathetic…”

Cheers of ridicule came from the Heavenly Stems class, while Si Nanxi’s side was sullen, heads bowed, unwilling to retort.

“See, I said Yan Jin’s niece still needs more training, but Vice Dean Yan insisted on admitting her to the Spirit Appraisal Institute. Poor students—looks like they won’t learn much,”

Xing Zhen whispered to the nearby instructors, who stroked their beards and shook their heads.

“Who could argue? Vice Dean Yan really was negligent on this matter.”

Not far from them, Yan Shenxing’s face was ashen, though he dared not voice his anger.

“Quiet!”

Song Han theatrically stepped forward after the taunts died down.

“You’re all fellow disciples. Don’t do things that embarrass everyone.”

In the next few rounds, Song Han’s class flawlessly answered every question as if rehearsed. Each time Yan Jin’s students answered, the opposing class would perfect the answer and steal the three points. The score quickly climbed to 18-0.

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After three rounds, Si Nanxi noticed that aside from the few chosen to answer, the rest of Song Han’s class was just going through the motions, mechanically raising their hands.

It was clear those few had the question bank and had prepared specifically for this demonstration class.

Yan Jin stood on stage, her face pale. Her eyes, once always filled with passion and wisdom, now dimmed like a dark night, reflecting deep confusion and helplessness.

She looked at the students below, at Si Nanxi, her gaze full of apology and guilt. The thirty students in the Earthly Branches class, sharing her silence, sank into a profound sense of defeat.

After mechanically describing the topic, the room fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop. The opposing class stared provocatively, ready to snatch any attempt to answer with a more complete and precise reply to reclaim points.

By this point in the demonstration, many instructors had finished their evaluation forms, ready to announce Yan Jin’s failure in the first phase of assessment.

What appeared to outsiders as an ordinary course demonstration had become, within the Spirit Appraisal Institute, a trial of Yan Jin’s professional competence orchestrated by Xing Zhen. Clearly, under current circumstances, her performance was deemed unsatisfactory.

Si Nanxi could no longer hold back. Yan Jin might not be a prodigiously talented teacher, but he knew she never taught her students to use underhanded tactics to claim unearned achievements.

Breaking the silence, Si Nanxi suddenly raised his hand.

His junior disciples on his left and right quickly pressed him down.

Si Nanxi looked puzzled. “What are you doing?”

In unison, they replied, “Teacher Yan said to watch over you and not let you speak nonsense during the demonstration.”

“Come on! You two, look at the situation! It’s zero to eighteen. If you won’t answer, fine, but you have to stop me, the senior brother?”

The two glanced at each other and shook their heads vigorously, still firmly holding down Si Nanxi’s eager right hand.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Before the count ended, Si Nanxi shouted, “Wait! I know!”

Then he smirked contemptuously at both sides, “Didn’t expect that, did you? Without hands, I still have a mouth.”

Yan Jin, seeing Si Nanxi stand, flashed a moment of surprise, quickly replaced by despair. Based on his previous exam answers, he was likely to ramble incoherently again.

“If I’m not mistaken, the technique Teacher Yan described should be the ‘Le Ming Array-Breaking Technique,’ an ancestral secret of the Bian family from Wei Yang Continent.”

No sooner had Si Nanxi spoken than the opposing class eagerly recited the full description of the term, trying to snatch back the points.

“I know this junior sister is anxious—perhaps Teacher Yan just happened to draw the answer you memorized, thinking it’s your time to shine?”

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“Who… who memorized the answer? Don’t slander me!”

Caught off guard by Si Nanxi’s accusation, the junior sister in the opposing class faltered, her speech stammering. Song Han quickly signaled her to stop speaking.

Si Nanxi sneered confidently as he paced the hall.

“The ‘Le Ming Array-Breaking Technique’ is the Bian family’s ancestral mastery on Wei Yang Continent. Mastery of this technique transforms instruments such as the qin, zheng, xiao, flute, drum, chime, and clay whistle into deadly weapons. Those with strong spiritual power can confuse enemies’ minds from hundreds of yards away, even killing from a distance. To resist it requires a calm mind, free from distractions—no sound outside the ears, no thoughts beyond the heart.”

Halfway through, Si Nanxi glanced mockingly at Song Han and the junior sister who had hastily supplemented the answer.

“All this is in the Spirit Appraisal Codex. Since you like stealing points by supplementing answers, today I, as your senior brother, will speak of things you can’t recite from memory.”

“In the past six years, over three thousand people have died under the Bian family’s Le Ming technique, mostly on the Alien Wasteland battlefield. Three years ago, during the Battle of Kui Valley, the Bian family’s young master led the tribe’s elite, ambushing both sides of the valley. The enclosed, towering valley amplified the technique’s effect. Nearly a hundred Bian family experts formed the Le Ming Array, decisively defeating an invading stealth squad from the Central Continent, annihilating over thirteen hundred enemies.”

Si Nanxi’s answer, far surpassing the rote memorization of the young novices, was a crushing blow. The hall fell into a deathly silence.

Only when Dean Zhuge cleared his throat did the crowd begin to stir. The scorekeeper glanced at Dean Zhuge and loudly announced,

“Earthly Branches class, three points!”

The previously listless Earthly Branches class erupted into jubilant cheers—this three points was hard-earned.

On stage, Yan Jin stared at Si Nanxi in disbelief. After a long moment, she realized he wasn’t bluffing—he had truly answered correctly.

The two junior disciples who had desperately held Si Nanxi back now looked at him with admiration.

“Senior Brother, you’re amazing!”

“Yeah, but you two were just stopping me from speaking a moment ago.”

…

In the following rounds, no matter what questions Song Han or Yan Jin drew, no matter how thoroughly the Heavenly Stems class memorized their answers, Si Nanxi effortlessly cited classics and expanded the topics to deeper, higher levels, reclaiming points for the Earthly Branches class.

Encouraged by Si Nanxi, Yan Jin and the junior disciples shed their pressure and gradually found their rhythm. The huge point gap steadily closed: six points, three points…

As the last incense stick burned down, several students from Yan Jin’s class together seized the final three points.

Behind them, the scoreboard displayed a massive 25 to 25.

“A tie…?”