Chapter 71: The Second Half of "Jingke Assassinates Emperor Qin" is...
As the oldest person present and the senior with the most unfathomable realm, the old Secretary was truly worthy of his reputation. With his years of experience and his mysterious realm level, the old Secretary had been able to faintly sense that there was something unusual about this small wooden sword.
Nevertheless, Wang Ling didn't have to worry about this old Secretary noticing anything.
He had already peeked at Odd Zhuo's memory earlier and was very clear on the old Secretary's past. He was an old senior from that particular era who, along with several of the other founders of Huaxiu nation, had killed a demon god. This had made him unusually sensitive to the blood of demon gods.
Thus, Wang Ling had wrapped Jingke in an obscure aura before offering it up.
He had chosen not to completely block out the demon god's blood aura since that would seem very unnatural. Instead, the partial protection Jingke was wrapped in would make the old Secretary feel that he was mistaken, which would further help to hide Jingke's true aura.
...
Odd Zhuo felt that it had been a long time since he had shown off his skills in public, after his promotion to Deputy Director. The general public had always taken his taciturn personality to mean that he was modest and wanted to keep a low profile.
So as time went by, his Sky-Parting Sword faded into legend...
Actually, the truth was, he really didn't f**king know this skill!
And so, when he had been invited to attend the spirit sword exchange meet held between his alma mater No. 60 High School and No. 59 High School, Odd Zhuo's feelings had been complicated.
He didn't think he was any sort of genius. Even when he had reached Core Formation stage in Senior Grade Two, it was because he had accidentally fallen into a sinkhole that year in his agricultural course and had then made the mistake of eating a spirit fruit.
It could be said that Odd Zhuo's life was full of dramatic happenstances.
For example, that mysterious demon rampage six years ago; another example, that assassin maiden who had just been arrested yesterday... who the hell knew how the credit for all these incidents had got thrown to him?
Odd Zhuo had always felt that since entering No. 60 High School back then, if he wasn't winning at life yet, he was at least on the right path to it.
No. 60 High School was a magical place, a bright longevity village 1 ...
Odd Zhuo stood in the center of the sports field. The scene at this moment was utterly silent as this old senior graduate took the stage. It really had been too long since he had exhibited his skills; Odd Zhuo felt his heartbeat accelerate and he was a little nervous.
Once he had started working, the number of opportunities Odd Zhuo had had to touch a spirit sword was like the drop tower ride in an amusement park — a sharp plummet down.
Now, he needed to get a feel for it, which was important in order to coordinate with an unfamiliar spirit sword in a short period of time.
Theoretically speaking, the Hundred Steps Flying Sword was much easier than the Sky-Parting Sword. But for high school students who had yet to take the advanced spirit swords course, it was a high-level skill that they could only watch.
And since it was a high-level skill, there was still a possibility he could fail...
Under thousands of eyes, Odd Zhuo raised Jingke, and then performed twenty-three back flips and three Thomas flairs in one go. Everyone's gazes were fixed on his moving figure in the air. Jingke cut through the air swiftly, trailing spirit light which gave the whole scene an unusual beauty.
"What a stunning opening act!" Tang Jingze and the others stared in awe!
Thunderous applause burst out all around the sports field. On the stage, even Old Antique was lavish with his praise. "This is the Blink Swordsmanship passed down by Old Demon Han. While plenty of people know this sword skill, only a very rare few can practice it so naturally and smoothly."
"That's right." Even the old Secretary was effusive in his praise. "This sword skill is not very powerful, but it is the most pleasing of all to watch; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this is one of the top ten performances I've seen. Little Zhuozi has been busy working all these years, but it looks like he still made sure to practice in his spare time."
Little Zhuozi...
Hearing this old leader call Odd Zhuo by this name, the school leaders on the stage all had the same wonderful expression on their faces as Odd Zhuo when he had heard it himself back then.
In their hearts, Headmaster Chen and Headmaster Jin couldn't help pondering... what would make the old Secretary use such an intimate nickname — the depth of this relationship was worth thinking about!
"Senior Zhuo is too awesome. By the way, why is it called Blink Swordsmanship?" Feather Lin's face was etched with confusion.
Master of Dopey sighed disdainfully. "Haven't you noticed that throughout the display, Senior Zhuo didn't even blink once? Blink Swordsmanship is famous for its elegance. The more skilled a performer is, the less he blinks. At the Battle of Shimen, those cultivators who were master swordsmen used this simplest of sword skills to disrupt the enemy's line of sight as part of the army's attack strategy."
"So it's like that..."
Everyone who heard this showed enlightened expressions.
After his simple demonstration with Jingke, Odd Zhuo sighed with relief. Judging from the strength of the applause, it seemed that his opening act had been a success... after all, he had practiced Blink Swordsmanship daily after entering university and was more familiar with it than with radio gymnastics and eye exercises 2 !
Even in the last few years when he had been so busy with work and had scarcely touched a spirit sword, Odd Zhuo would still make time to practice it on occasion.
But this opening act was nothing...
The show was only just starting.
Odd Zhuo draw in a deep breath; it was time for the Hundred Steps Flying Sword.
Two hundred meters away from the central sports field, a target the size of a bowl had already been set up. For many Foundation Establishment students, it was already too far to see; they could only make out a rough profile by extending their spiritual senses.
"This target is too small; hitting it will be extremely difficult!" Director Xie exclaimed on the stage.
Headmaster Jin gave a faint smile. "Legend says that General Yi's Hundred Steps Flying Sword could pierce a grain of rice from a thousand meters away."
The leaders, teachers and the female host on the stage all had the same sentiment in their hearts: F**k... wasn't this too formidable!
According to historical texts, this was a godly skill which some swordmaster had used to slay an ancient tyrant. History also recorded that it was General Yi who had perfected its ideology and bolstered its theoretical framework.
In the end, it turned out that this legendary godly skill wasn't as complicated as people might imagine it to be. On a difficulty scale of one to ten stars, the Hundred Steps Flying Sword was rated six stars, so at best it was only just over the line.
Odd Zhuo had already memorized the theory behind the Hundred Steps Flying Sword at university. But when he had put it into practice back then, Odd Zhuo remembered that his success rate had only been over sixty percent...
It was a sword skill which really tested a person's technique, timing and explosive power.
"Whatever you do, do not screw up!" Odd Zhuo encouraged himself in his heart. Then he slowly swept the fore and middle fingers of the hand not holding Jingke over the sword's edge before pointing it at the bowl two hundred meters away.
A rope of azure spirit energy wound itself around Jingke's light brown body...
Then, from a distance, Wang Ling could see it.
Jingke was trembling violently, like Erkang's shaky hand 3 ...
— Not good!
Intuition told Wang Ling that Jingke was strongly adverse to this unfamiliar spirit energy and was about to go ballistic!
There were two ways in which Jingke could go ballistic...
The first, Jingke would release devastating, destructive power and the shock wave would cause a mighty earthquake that would be felt for ten thousand li around!
But this possibility could be pretty much discounted since if that were to really happen, Wang Ling's eyelid warning alarm would have already long entered demon mode.
Thus, if the first possibility in the event of Jingke going crazy was eliminated, then only the second possibility remained...
Wang Ling covered his eyes since he had a bad feeling that a scene to blind them was about to happen.
...
Odd Zhuo hadn't expected Jingke to reject his spirit energy this harshly. Usually, the best way to deal with a spirit sword rejection was to slice the air with the sword and use up the spirit energy stuck to it.
So that was what Odd Zhuo did.
However, this wasn't enough to stop Jingke from going ballistic.
The moment Odd Zhuo brought the sword down...
There was a " hu " sound!
On the stage, the old Secretary was inexplicably pulled by a powerful force out of the chair he was sitting in toward Odd Zhuo. His pants became directly twisted around the sword and were sliced apart!
Then, what was revealed was...
Two thick, hairy legs...
Before anyone could react, this strange gravitational wave had already subsided.
And then, everyone was utterly horrified when they realized that the old Secretary's legs were hanging firmly over Odd Zhuo's shoulders.
His leg hair, as thick as long johns, bristled in the breeze...
"..."
Wang Ling looked at this scene, speechless.
Legend was that the second way in which Jingke went ballistic... was one hundred percent, hairy legs hanging over the shoulders 4 !
[0] Jingke is a historical Chinese figure well-known for his failed attempt to assassinate King Zheng, who later became China's first emperor, Emperor Qin. This is a dirty gag from an episode of 'Bao Zou Big News Events,' a popular Chinese Internet talk-variety show program. The Chinese word for 'assassinate' here also means 'pierce.' So Emperor Qin's hairy legs are hanging over Jingke's shoulders as the latter 'pierces' him... Eye exercises is another practice in Chinese schools where children massage the areas around the eyes in the belief that it will help improve their eye health and vision. Erkang is a character from the popular Chinese drama 'Princess Pearl.' A screencap of him with one outstretched hand has become a well-known meme. Bama village in China has been called 'Longevity Village' as it's well-known for its long-lived residents.