Chapter 973: Defeating Zhuo shi with a Single Finger

Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

"So, am I qualified to call you Wu Rufeng?" Zhang Xuan asked calmly.

"I..." Wu shi wanted to refute those words, but unable to find a counterargument to that, his face turned redder and redder. Eventually, he waved his hand and said, "Relying solely on your seniority won't earn you the respect of anyone. What is more important is the contribution that you have made to the Master Teacher Pavilion and mankind. No matter how formidable your teacher may be, if you aren't able to contribute anything to mankind, there is no way you can gain the respect of anyone. You can't possibly expect to rely on your teacher forever!"

"Contribution?"

"Indeed. Only those who work diligently to give back to mankind are truly worthy of respect!" Wu shi said with his head raised up high.

A master teacher wouldn't gain the respect of others just because he was highly ranked or powerful. Take You Xu for example, he was a 6-star pinnacle master teacher, as well as an esteemed vice school head of the Master Teacher Academy. But as a traitor of humanity, there was no way anyone would respect him.

Looking at Wu shi's proud demeanor and boastful tone, Zhang Xuan said, "Judging from your tone, you seem to have contributed a lot to mankind."

"Indeed! I killed my first Otherworldly Demon when I was sixteen, and to date, I have slain a total of 47 Otherworldly Demons at Chrysalis realm and beyond! All in all, I have accumulated a total of 22 Contribution Points for mankind!" Wu shi harrumphed proudly with an air of superiority and grandiose.

"22 Contribution Points?"

"That's incredible!"

"As expected of Vice Pavilion Master Wu. With that many Contribution Points, he is definitely ranked among the top in Qingyuan Conferred Kingdom!"

"A 7-star high-tier master teacher sure is fearsome."

...

Upon hearing those words, the eyes of Combat Master Liao, Combat Master Zhuo, Wo Tianqiong, and the others lit up in respect and admiration.

Even School Head Mo couldn't help but be awed by it, and his impression of Wu shi changed as well.

Uncomprehending of the significance of the numbers, Zhang Xuan turned to School Head Zhao Bingxu and asked, "22 Contribution Points? What does that mean?"

Seeing that their principal wasn't too sure what was going on, Zhao Bingxu explained discreetly, "Killing an Otherworldly Demon counts as a contribution; saving mankind also counts as a contribution. Each contribution has its own extent of significance. In order to better measure contributions, the Master Teacher Pavilion has to quantify them."

This was a system that was implemented only within the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, and the Master Teacher Academy didn't abide by it. Thus, there weren't any books regarding the topic in the academy's libraries.

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan nodded.

According to what he knew, it was possible to exchange one's contribution for artifacts at the Master Teacher Pavilion. If there was no method to quantify one's contribution, it would be hard to maintain the system efficiently.

For one, it would be hard to determine if one's contribution was sufficient to exchange for an artifact. After all, the Master Teacher Pavilion couldn't simply give out rare artifacts to individuals who had barely done anything at all.

Coming to that realization, Zhang Xuan continued his querying. "How are the Contribution Points derived?"

Zhao Bingxu pondered for a moment before replying. "Regarding the distribution of Contribution Points, the Master Teacher Pavilion has a set of guidelines and regulations to determine how it should be tabulated. I don't really know much about the details either, but... your previous accomplishment of taming all of the saint beasts and spirit beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge, sparing mankind from an impending crisis... After we reported it to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, they tabulated it to be worth around 5 Contribution Points!"

"Only 5 Points?" Zhang Xuan was astounded.

The Nine Kings of the Cloudmist Ridge had a cultivation of Saint 1-dan pinnacle, and there were many other Nascent Saint, Half-Saint, and Chrysalis realm spirit beasts among them as well.

He had tamed so many of them, but to think that they were only worth 5 Contribution Points...

Considering that the other party had 22, that was indeed rather formidable.

"Indeed. Even though the beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge are violent, they stayed cooped up within the mountain most of the time, only raising beast stampedes once in a blue moon. Furthermore, the Master Teacher Academy is stationed there, which minimized the threat they posed. As a result, the contribution from your actions was perceived to be lower," Zhao Bingxu said a little awkwardly.

He was a little surprised when he heard that Principal Zhang had only received this many Contribution Points after taming so many saint beasts and spirit beasts, so he had asked about the matter. That was the exact answer he had received.

The extent of the contribution wasn't determined by how formidable one's feat was, but by how much one had actually contributed to mankind.

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan nodded.

The killings conducted by the beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge was done extremely discreetly, such that even Zhao Bingxu and the others didn't know much about it. They also thought that those beasts had only camped on the mountain, rarely conducting any acts of aggression against humans.

Due to the Bluehorn Dragon Beast and Vicious being involved in this matter, Zhang Xuan had instructed School Head Mo not to speak of this matter to another. Naturally, the headquarters were unaware of this matter, so the Contribution Points awarded to him were less than initially expected.

"Wu shi, Senior Uncle is still young. Given his talent and capability, it is just a matter of time before he makes a great contribution to humanity. Besides, he was the one who captured You Xu and exposed his facade, ridding mankind of a black sheep..." Mu shi tried to ease the tension in the room.

He wasn't aware of the matter regarding the Cloudmist Ridge, but the capture of You Xu, a traitor of humanity, would surely count as Zhang Xuan's contribution as well.

"Capturing You Xu? Humph, does this contribution even add up to a single point?" Wu shi smirked coldly.

"This... It happens to add up to a single point," Mu shi replied awkwardly.

"Hehe!" Wu shi sneered coldly before turning to Zhang Xuan once more. "Principal Zhang, just as you can see, no matter how capable as your teacher is, you still need to depend on yourself to win the respect of others. You should just stay here! The expedition to the ancient domain will be extremely dangerous; we aren't going there to play. There won't be anyone to take care of you; I fear that you might meet with danger if you head there!"

Zhang Xuan scratched his head.

Considering that he was only at Nascent Saint pinnacle, it was indeed very dangerous for him to head to an ancient domain where even a 7-star master teacher could possibly lose his life. It wasn't completely unreasonable for the other party to not want to bring him along.

Just that... To just a person's strength solely by their cultivation, wasn't the other party jumping to conclusions a little too fast?

With such thoughts in mind, Zhang Xuan looked at Wu shi and chuckled softly. "Since that is the case... may I know if Combat Master Zhuo is qualified to join the expedition?"

"As a Hundred Men Commander of the Combat Master Hall and a Saint 2-dan Spiritual Perception realm expert, Combat Master Zhuo is naturally qualified to join the expedition!" Wu shi replied.

"I see..." Zhang Xuan's lips curled up as he turned to Zhuo Qingfeng with a bright smile. "Combat Master Zhuo, are you free? It happens that I managed to achieve a breakthrough recently, and I would like to find someone to spar with."

"You want to spar with me?" Zhuo Qingfeng was taken aback. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. "Since Principal Zhang is in the mood, I am more than willing to accompany you!"

Honestly speaking, after having two parties from the Combat Master Hall decimated by the students of the young man before him, he had been wanting to see the young man's strength for himself.

However, it was a pity that the other party was often not around, so he hadn't been able to find an opportunity to do so. Since this was a rare opportunity for him to test the other party's strength, his interest was immediately piqued.

In any case, no matter how formidable Principal Zhang might have been, he was only at Nascent Saint pinnacle. As a Saint 2-dan expert, he didn't think that he would lose to the other party!

"Alright, let's begin!" Zhang Xuan said with a smile, and he took a nimble step to the center of the room.

"You want to spar here?" Zhuo Qingfeng was taken aback. "If we fight here, won't the shockwaves of our battle cause this assembly room to collapse?"

As spacious as the assembly room seemed, if the might of his Saint realm 2-dan cultivation were to leak out, it could easily devastate the entire area. It would be embarrassing if he collapsed the Elder Hall by accident.

"Don't worry, there is no such risk. The battle will end quickly!" Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.

"End quickly?" A frown emerged on Zhuo Qingfeng's face as his complexion turned awful. "Since Principal Zhang insists on it, I won't stand on ceremony!"

Zhuo Qingfeng flicked his wrist and took out a sword before harrumphing coldly. "Draw your weapon!"

"Weapon?" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "There is no need to go through that much trouble. Let's begin!"

After his Golden Origin Core's metamorphosis into a Violet Origin Core, the fighting prowess he could display had been enhanced more than twofold. In his current state, even a Saint 2-dan opponent was nothing to him.

"Don't blame me if you get hurt then!" Seeing how the other party was even more arrogant than his student, refusing to even draw his weapon against him, Zhuo Qingfeng's face turned incredibly livid. With a swift flick of his wrist, he charged forward to make the first move.

This time, he didn't suppress his cultivation. Exerting the full might of a Saint 2-dan Spiritual Perception realm cultivator, his zhenqi burst forth from his body and ravaged the surroundings. In an instant, a sound reminiscent of the crazy rumbling of thunder sounded.

"How powerful..." School Head Mo, School Head Zhao, and the others paled in fright.

Even Wo Tianqiong and the others couldn't help but narrow their eyes in alarm.

While they did possess higher cultivation than Zhuo Qingfeng, in a true duel, they had no doubt that they would be the ones to be defeated in the end.

Principal Zhang was only at Nascent Saint pinnacle, two whole cultivation realms weaker than Zhuo Qingfeng, so how could he possibly even stand his ground against the latter?

With such thoughts in mind, everyone hurriedly turned their gazes to Zhang Xuan, only to see the latter standing with a composed smile on his face against Zhuo Qingfeng's powerful swordsmanship, clearly devoid of any intention to dodge at all.

"Humph!" Realizing that he was being looked down upon, rage flickered across Zhuo Qingfeng's eyes as he leaped forward to strike. A cold, sharp glint flashed across the area before a sword whizzed right for Zhang Xuan's chest, as if a venomous snake.

Since this was a spar, Zhuo Qingfeng didn't intend to land a fatal blow.

Nevertheless, if Zhang Xuan were to be caught in the attack, he would surely suffer severe injuries under the onslaught of the sharp sword qi and rampaging zhenqi,

"Hehe!" Watching as the other party's sword swiftly approached him, Zhang Xuan chuckled.

In the moment that the sword was just about to pierce his chest, Zhang Xuan raised two fingers and grabbed lightly.

Weng!

The astounding momentum of Zhuo Qingfeng's sword came to an abrupt halt just like that. As if a snake grabbed at the neck, no matter how Zhuo Qingfeng tugged and pulled, his sword just wouldn't budge.

"This..." Zhuo Qingfeng's eyes narrowed in astonishment.

Grabbing a sword empty-handed was no easy feat. To achieve this feat, one had to possess not only an outstanding eye of discernment and a precise grasp of timing in combat, but most importantly of all, formidable strength!

As a combat master, Zhuo Qingfeng's strength was far greater than other Spiritual Perception realm cultivators. For his strongest sword art to be stopped with a simple pinch of two fingers... How could this possibly happen?

In the midst of Zhuo Qingfeng's shock, the young man opposite to him abruptly released his grip on the sword and flicked the blade of it lightly.

Boom!

An immense might tore through the sword and struck Zhuo Qingfeng, forcing him to retreat eight steps.

Every single step he took left a deep footprint in the ground.

Yet, those eight steps were still insufficient for him to neutralize the relentless might from Zhang Xuan's flick, so he chose to leap up in hopes that it could further thin the might.

Peng!

However, Zhuo Qingfeng was still underestimating the might of the flick. The leap he took sent him crashing straight into a pillar in the assembly room, and with a reddened face, he spurted a mouthful of blood.

It was only then that the might finally dissipated. Swiftly withdrawing his sword, Zhuo Qingfeng walked up to the young man before him and clasped his fist. "Principal Zhang, thank you for going easy on me!"

Had the other party not held back, he might have been smashed into a lump of meat paste earlier.

It was no wonder Zheng Yang and Wei Ruyan were so monstrously powerful... It turned out that their teacher was a real monster!

To think that a day would come which he, a Saint 2-dan combat master, would lose to a Nascent Saint.

"You are being too kind."

Zhang Xuan's purpose was only to display his strength. It would suffice to make in his point.

After trading a few pleasantries with Zhuo Qingfeng, he turned to Wu shi and asked, "So, is someone of my strength qualified to join the expedition?"