Chapter 290: The Semi-Finals Draw

"Ancient Confucian sect?" Zhu Yi's eyes turned to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng nodded, "In ancient times there was a boy named Confucius. From the age of three he started studying, and all he did everyday was read, write and think. He did not partake in any martial arts nor magical training, and his mind was solely focused on the pursuit of knowledge."

"The old sage lived over a hundred years old, which was already considered a living legend. On a rainy day when he was a hundred and three years old, he had an epiphany and concentrated everything he knew and felt into a cauldron. The cauldron exploded and shot through twelve levels of the building. Thereafter, he immediately erected an altar and an elixir stand."

Lin Feng's expression delivered a sense of awe, for he was in disbelief when he first heard of this story.

In the late morning after he set up the elixir stand, the Aurous Core began to form. By noon it had grown slightly, and by the evening it was complete and round.

Through the night, the storm continued to brew and rage. The sage drew the power of the lightning and thunder and directed it to the Aurous Core, forming a complete nascent soul overnight.

After that the sage continued studying and practicing, combining his knowledge and newfound power, ultimately becoming an immortal soul.

His teachings lived on under the Confucius sect, becoming a well-known legend in the Divine Lands.

But from what Lin Feng knew, this sect had been long defunct.

And it was clear, it was no easy feat to achieve magical powers solely from the study of academia. It would take a true scholar immense patience and knowledge to be able to cultivate and magic just from studying.

Even normal martial artists had difficulty reaching the nascent soul stage, lest the scholars and normal folks.

It would only be a one-in-a-million true scholar who could achieve such a feat.

In other words, this was a pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and all the studying beforehand was to establish a solid foundation upon which magic was built. But it was so of the highest level, for many have tried, but remained ordinary scholars.

Lin Feng looked at Jiao Junchen and added, "Looking from both the perspectives of academia and martial arts, this guy is a genius".

Jiao Junchen was only thirty years of age, and he had already reached the final aurous core stage. Such feat was beyond rare.

Presently, the only person who was faster than Jiao Junchen was the man with polycoria, Shi Tianyi, the man who once disrespected Xiao Budian.

After hearing Jiao Junchen's introduction, Zhu Yi understood the roots of the ancient Confucius sect. He looked and Jiao Junchen with mischievous eyes and blatantly commented, "Brother Jiao, not only do you see yourself as the benchmark for all scholars, but set Confucian teaching as a metric of academia, is that right?"

"Those who do not follow traditional teaching are people who know nothing?"

Zhu Yi flexed his fingers and continued, "You are the great scholar of the Great Qin Empire, I am but a nobody. If I were to request to exchange knowledge and you were to oblige, I'm afraid you would be reluctant"

"This reluctance would affect your performance and there are but two results. First, your writing will make absolutely no sense, or two, it would be overly filled with emotion that it weighs the reader down."

Jiao Junchen's eyes widened, "To be able to spout something like this, it seems that you are capable of some knowledge".

Zhu Yi laughed, "If I stimulate your thoughts, I should be happy. But I'm afraid that you are but an empty shell"

"No worry, I'll be heading to the capital later in the year to take the Qin Emperor's exams. After that we can have an exchange session to see who the learned truly is."

"Oh? That'll be great" replied Jiao Junchen.

Zhu Yi continued, "There's always time to compare knowledge. But since we're here, we might as well have a martial arts sparring"

"Even if the draws forbid, we can still have a private match" Zhu Yi added, "We are both learned people, there's a saying that there's always something to learn from another person"

"In his late years, the old sage once stopped to get advice from a kid. The more we know, the more we don't know. The scholar's ego is more sickening than a loner"

Jiao Junchen stared at Zhu Yi for a while. He smiled and replied, "All of a sudden I hope that the draws allow us to meet".

Zhu Yi smiled but did not answer.

After Jiao Junchen and Shi Xingyun took their leave, Lin Feng turned to Zhu Yi and said, "After this war of words your heart is much clearer. You're standing on the cusp, only an invisible membrane stands between you and the middle aurous core stage."

Zhu Yi nodded, "Thanks master for pointing out, I've indeed hit a glass ceiling"

He looked at Jiao Junchen's distant profile and continued, "defeating this man would take me to the next level".

Jiao Junchen's arrival was a minor disruption. The crowd had thought that he was here for a showdown with Zhu Yi, hence his departure left many disappointed.

Once again, the crowd's attention turned to the semi final draw of the foundation establishment stage.

Wang Lin, Yue Hongyan, Shi Shaogan and Dao Yuting had all reached such a stage of mastery at a tender age, proving to be the best among their peers. The earlier stages of fighting had revealed all their prowess, and the crowd was eager to see the match-up.

This was especially since Yue Hongyan and Wang Lin were from the same sect, making the Celestial Sect of Wonders a powerhouse once again.

For the majority of the crowd, many of them were silently hoping that Yue Hongyan would face Wang Lin, to let the weirdos face off.

Lin Feng looked at Vivant Joy Holy Man's bottle, if the draw was such that his disciples faced each other, he would really curse and swear.

Xiao Budian and the rest were anxious too, all of them hoping for their comrades to enter the finals and boost the reputation of their sect.

Apart from the members of the Celestial Sect of Wonders, there was one other person in the arena who was hoping that Yue Hongyan and Wang Lin would avoid each other.

Jiao Junchen looked at Shi Xingyun, "Since when were you on such good terms with the Celestial Sect of Wonders?"

"I've long heard of them, but only got to meet them recently"

Jiao Junchen looked slightly puzzled, "Isn't it better for your cousin Shi Shaogan if Yue and Wang were to meet?"

"Although I did not see for myself, but I heard that each one of them has a unique fighting style, and every one of them is formidable."

"If there's one person I hope he meets, it'll be Wang Lin" added Shi Xingyun.

"Why? Is he the weakest?" asked Jiao Junchen.

"No, because he's a man."

"So what?"

Shi Xingyun stuttered for a moment, seemingly embarrassed, "My cousin he...he...if he were to meet a lady, a young lady..."

Jiao Junchen came to a sudden realisation, "So his usual cool appearance is just a facade! Ha! Who'd expect him to be such a man?"

Jiao Junchen was keen and picked up that Shi Xingyun appeared more awkward than before. This bemused him even further.

"What cool appearance...he was taught by someone, it's all an act" Shi Xingyun continued, "Anyway, may all heavens bless him to get Wang Lin. Even if he really loses, that's fine as well".

Finally, the results of the draw were out.

Wang Lin was to meet Dao Yuting. Yue Hongyan was up against Shi Shaogan!

Shi Xingyun sighed, "it's over."

Over at Lin Feng's camp, Xiao Budian motioned to Yue Hongyan, "fourth senior, that brat is looking at you".

Yue Hongyan looked over her shoulder and caught Shi Shaogan staring straight at her with an unusual expression.

"Who cares, a fight is a fight" Yue Hongyan replied nonchalantly and turned her gaze away.

Lin Feng smiled and projected his power to send a message to Yue Hongyan.

A moment later, a startled Yue Hongyan turned to face Lin Feng, who gently nodded. Yue Hongyan's expressions turned solemn and she replied, "Yes master, I'll heed your word".

Over at the other side of the arena, the Heaven Lake Sect looked at the Celestial Sect of Wonders with contempt, especially Fang Zhong who venomously glared at Yang Qing.

Yang Qing felt the uncomfortable gaze and was about to turn away when Wang Lin interjected, "What're you afraid of? You beat him earlier on"

Yang Qing let out an awkward laugh. Wang Lin looked at him apathetically and added, "His hatred towards you just goes to show that you did not pound him hard enough. This kind of guys are worse than dogs, they only cower when they meet someone fiercer than themselves".

Amidst the Heaven Lake Sect, perhaps the most usual-looking person was Dao Yuting. Her long hair billowing in the wind, revealing an icy cold face and snow white lips.

Even as she turned to look at Wang Lin, she maintained her ice-queen self.

The first match of the semi finals was Yue Hongyan's. She took a bow towards Lin Feng and headed into the ring.

Shi Shaogan followed closely behind, the two of them only ten metres apart.

Shi Xingyun nervously glanced at the entrance of the ring, "please don't...please..." he uttered to himself.

Lin Feng noticed his unease and was slightly intrigued. He then realised than Shi Zongyue was also anxiously looking upon Shi Shaogan.

Just before Yue Hongyan made her first move, Shi Shaogan suddenly shouted, "Wait!"