Chapter 302 - The Society of Excellence
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong stared at Duanmu Huanghun, looking as if they had seen a ghost.
At this point of time, Duanmu Huanghun’s appearance was extremely comical. His usual handsome face that even women would be envious of was swollen and bruised. Many plasters were stuck to his face in a disorderly manner, making it almost unbearable to look at.
However, Duanmu Huanghun seemed to be in a good mood as he wolfed down his food.
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong cast a glance at each other. Both of them sensed an unusual aura coming from Brother Duanmu.
Something was not right!
The news of Duanmu Huanghun’s terrible defeat had been spread throughout the Jadeite Forest. Various rumors were spreading everywhere in the city. Those who rejoiced in Duanmu Huanghun’s misfortune said that he had overestimated his capabilities and he was just fis.h.i.+ng for compliments. Some also said that he had thoroughly embarra.s.sed the Jadeite Forest.
Even as observers, Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong felt extremely pressured by the incident. They could sense a huge storm was brewing in the Jadeite City.
However, as the person that was directly involved in the incident, Duanmu Huanghun behaved as if nothing had happened.
Coming from a powerful and rich family, Yu Ziyi knew that nothing would go terribly wrong. On the other hand, Wu Qirong was like a faithful little brother to Duanmu Huanghun, and hence, he was deeply worried, "Brother Huanghun, next up… what should we do?"
"What do you mean by what should we do?"
Duanmu Huanghun looked baffled.
Yu Ziyi began to look restless. Wu Qirong braced himself and continued, "This time around, we failed so terribly. Everyone is somewhat worried…"
Duanmu Huanghun put down his chopsticks and replied solemnly, "I have indeed lost."
Upon seeing Duanmu Huanghun’s reaction, a cold s.h.i.+ver went down Wu Qirong’s spine. He quickly said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Defeats are very common in the battlefield…"
He could not continue his sentence as Brother Huanghun was looking at him with an eye-piercing gaze. Wu Qirong felt as if he was going to die soon.
"It’s better for me to lose the battle," Duanmu Huanghun said suddenly.
"Ah!" Wu Qirong and Yu Ziyi let out a gasp of surprise at the same time. They looked at Duanmu Huanghun for a while before looking at each other.
Had Brother Duanmu Huanghun sustained a head injury?
Duanmu Huanghun continued plainly, "Only by losing to her then I can know how far do I lag behind her."
Wu Qirong and Yu Ziyi were stunned.
"I will defeat her in the future."
Duanmu Huanghun looked as if he was talking about something casual. His facial expression was calm as he fiddled with the wine cup in his hand, "For the past three years, I have been troubled by many things, leading an unhappy life. I always felt that I was being played by fate. There are a lot of things that I don’t like but I felt like I should bear them on my shoulders, as though my fate had already been decided. However, I understand now."
"If one works for it and he doesn’t succeed, then it can be said that his fate had already been decided. However, if one never even tries then serves him right."
"One can either choose to let others control his life, or he can choose to control others’ lives."
Duanmu Huanghun drained the cup of strong liquor in one gulp and a burst of flames burned through his throat to his heart.
His severely bruised face curled into a charming smile. At this point of time, his limpid eyes did not bother to conceal the craziness and fervor within them.
He suddenly asked, "Have both of you forgotten about the Induction Ground?"
Wu Qirong and Yu Ziyi shuddered in fear.
"Honestly, I can’t forget that place," Duanmu Huanghun muttered, "I have often dreamed about the Induction Ground, our battles with the blood elementalists, and the process of my fellow students being eaten alive by the blood fiends. However, right now, we have to sit alongside them, drink with them, and flatter them. Ah, I still have to marry a blood elementalist."
Wu Qirong and Yu Ziyi’s faces became distorted with anger, clenching their teeth. Both of them made it out alive from the Induction Ground and had deep hatred towards the blood elementalists.
"Of course, right now, I’m a trash and trash’s opinions don’t matter." Duanmu Huanghun looked at the both of them and continued, "I’m already in this state but what about the both of you? Ziyi, if your family wants you to marry a blood elementalist, what will you do? Qirong, if the higher-ups want you to be the subordinate of a blood elementalist, what will you do?"
Wu Qirong heaved a long sigh and replied, "Brother Huanghun, I will follow whatever you say!"
Yu Ziyi nodded his head as well, "Huanghun, just tell us whatever plans you have in mind. I will rather die than to marry a blood elementalist."
"I still don’t have an exact plan yet," Duanmu Huanghun shook his head, and then continued, "There’s one thing we have to make sure and that’s to make our opinions matter to everyone."
Both of them looked blankly at Duanmu Huanghun.
Duanmu Huanghun racked his brain. Suddenly, he thought of Ai Hui. What would that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, Ai Hui do if it was him in this situation?
After thinking for awhile, he seemed to have some ideas, "First, we need to have strength. Only powerful individuals’ opinions would matter to everyone. We can’t waste our lives like this, we have to start training."
Upon finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, Duanmu Huanghun felt his face burning. Upon realizing he had been wasting his life for the past three years, he felt ashamed of himself.
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong nodded their heads heavily.
"Next, we need to have manpower. Unless we have reached the level of my Master, otherwise, it is still about having strength in numbers." Duanmu Huanghun continued, "We will form a club that only accepts survivors from the Induction Ground, regardless of their backgrounds. Everyone will train together and I will hire a famous teacher to give everyone pointers. Everyone will help each other in the process. Once we become stronger, our opinions will then matter."
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong looked at each other, seeing the excitement in each other’s eyes.
Yu Ziyi chuckled, "I like this idea! Huanghun, pick a name for this club!"
"Let’s call it Society of Excellence," Duanmu Huanghun blurted out.
Upon finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, Duanmu Huanghun was dumbfounded. He did not expect himself to pick this name.
He did not have much memories of the Society of Excellence. The memorable memories that he had of the club were the two instructors, Zhou Xiaoxi and Li Wei. It was a pity that both instructors had died in the Induction Ground.
"Nice name!"
"Nice!"
Yu Ziyi and Wu Qirong were energized.
The Society of Excellence was a student club that existed in every city in the Induction Ground. It was a club that was exclusive to Induction Ground. Since the Induction Ground had been destroyed, the Society of Excellence was destroyed as well.
The Society of Excellence. There was no better name than this. This name reminded them of the Induction Ground and the blood catastrophe.
The Induction Ground might be extinct after the blood catastrophe but not the Society of Excellence. In the hands of a bunch of youngsters, the Society of Excellence was rising from the ashes.
At this point of time, the Society of Excellence did not catch anyone’s attention.
The G.o.d-subduing Peak had given Ai Hui a huge shock.
His understanding towards G.o.d-subduing Peak even surpa.s.sed s.h.i.+ Xueman’s. Before s.h.i.+ Xueman and her counterparts even knew about the mightiness of the G.o.d-subduing Peak, he could already imagine how powerful it was.
The G.o.d-subduing Peak was a war machine that was specially designed for huge situations.
He could see the numerous marvels surrounding the G.o.d-subduing Peak. Even if one gave him enough materials and manpower, he could not have built something like the G.o.d-subduing Peak. He had no idea how much elemental energy was involved in the process of building the G.o.d-subduing Peak.
Another thing was its structure.
Even if he had many materials, he would not have known how to build G.o.d-subduing Peak. He does not have enough experience to understand its structural blueprint.
Alright, for a poor fellow like him, there was no point talking about the G.o.d-subduing Peak’s structural blueprint. Such a money-losing issue was not something he could think of now.
His train of thought was cleared up all of a sudden.
When he looked back at his own formation, he felt that it was an ugly-looking junk.
He knew of his own shortcomings. His understanding towards elemental energy was still shallow. He remembered every detail of his master’s plan but he was far from really understanding the concept behind it and how it worked.
The idea of "treating the city as a piece of cloth" was inspired by the spell formations in the Cultivation Era. Its’ effect was very similar to that of spell formations. His master’s plan was complicated yet perfect, like an art piece.
It was so perfect that Ai Hui did not know where to start studying it. It looked and behaved like a living thing, so much so that Ai Hui could not add anything to it or remove anything from it. He simply couldn’t make any changes to it.
Luckily, there was an expert who made it possible for him to witness an application of his master’s theory in the G.o.d-subduing Peak. All the questions he had in the past had been answered.
The most important thing was the G.o.d-subduing Peak had displayed to him how his master’s theory could be applied.
The creator of the G.o.d-subduing Peak would not have thought that someone could have so many insights just by taking a glance at his creation.
Ai Hui began to ponder about it.
The mightiness of the G.o.d-subduing Peak lay in its Cycle of Five Elements and vigorous elemental energy. Like a terrifyingly powerful volcano, it contained boundless amounts of elemental energy. It was built with top-grade materials, superb techniques and powerful elementalists. After going through a perfect building process, the Cycle of Five Elements was formed within it. The five elements were in harmonious balance and a perfect structure was achieved. It had no obvious weaknesses and its offensive capabilities were terrifying.
The G.o.d-subduing Peak was so mighty that Ai Hui could not see any weaknesses in it even until now.
He definitely would not have so much money, rare materials, elemental energy or superb techniques.
As such, it was not possible for him to build something like the G.o.d-subduing Peak.
When one’s strength was not adequate, he would usually face defeat.
Only by launching a surprise attack then he could have a chance of winning.
An extremely strange formation was like a sharp blade, possessing a tremendous amount of destructive power. However, if his enemy was able to see through the formation, then he or she would be able to break it easily. Whether it was the Cultivation Era or the Elemental Era, this was general knowledge that everyone knew about.
How could he prevent the enemy from seeing through it?
There was only one way and that was to use something that the enemy was not familiar with.
With a jolt of his mind, Ai Hui thought of his swordsmans.h.i.+p.
Swordsmans.h.i.+p was merely popularized two years ago. It was still rather new and unfamiliar to the entire Avalon of Five Elements. Furthermore, Ai Hu’s swordsmans.h.i.+p was self-learned.
Why not… built a sword formation?
The moment this idea emerged in his head, it stuck there.
He thought of the sword formation because the a.s.sembly of Patriarchs wanted to reward him by sending him to Karakorum to train in their sword formation. He had never seen a legitimate sword formation before. His understanding towards sword formations mainly derived from swordplay manuals.
If he wanted to use his master’s theory to build a sword formation, how would he go about doing it?
Ai Hui unknowingly felt somewhat excited.
If setting up a spell formation was a test of his understanding towards his master’s theory, then setting up a sword formation would be a test of his knowledge on swordsmans.h.i.+p.
Since he was building a sword formation, he would need many swords.
Ai Hui only had Dragonspine and Chu Zhaoyang’s Silver Broadsword. Furthermore, Silver Broadsword still could not be used. If he revealed anything by accident, Chu Zhaoyang’s ident.i.ty’s value might be lost.
However, this was not the first time Ai Hui encountered such situation. After being poor for many years, he naturally had ways to deal with it.
Ai Hui suddenly thought of his weasel bristle arrows.
After thinking about it for a moment, he was sure that the arrows could be used. After solving the most important issue, Ai Hui became even more excited!
Very soon, he realized that he did not need to overhaul and rebuild his formation. All he needed to do was to make certain alterations to it and he could implement his own ideas into it.
Hence, Ai Hui began to build his first ever sword formation.