Free Web NovelChapter 206: Chapter 159: Irascible Wu Yi, Sword Cultivator Conjecture (Part 2)
According to the application guidelines, if he couldn’t reach an agreement with his university of choice, his information would be sent to the other six universities to await their offers.
If worse came to worst, it wasn’t out of the question for him to study the sword under Kong Sheng. As for the secrets of Shenhan University, they probably wouldn’t be too hard to uncover once he became powerful enough in the future.
Seeing Yu Fei about to leave without the slightest hesitation, Wu Yi grew anxious. ’Young people these days... why can’t they wait for someone to finish speaking?’
"Please wait, I’m not finished!"
With that, Wu Yi moved to block Yu Fei’s path.
"Don’t be so hasty, young man. Have a seat..."
Yu Fei paused. "Didn’t you say you could only offer two S+ ranks?"
Wu Yi took a breath and explained, "Normally, that’s true. But there’s another rule. If there are fewer than six S-rank applicants this cycle, I can promote one additional person to S+ for each vacant spot. I just noticed that only five S-rank applicants applied to Shenhan this time. Worst case, I can give up my chance to recruit other S-rank students and raise your offer to S+."
Yu Fei’s heart leaped with joy. That would work. He immediately sat down firmly in his seat and thanked him again.
Wu Yi spoke again. "However, there’s a condition!"
"A condition?"
Yu Fei stood up again. He had no intention of agreeing to some ridiculous, one-sided clause.
Veins bulged on Wu Yi’s forehead as he slammed a hand on the table.
"BANG! You will sit down! And you will listen to what I have to say!"
The sound was like a clap of thunder, and a numbing sensation coursed through Yu Fei’s body, forcing him to sit back down involuntarily.
*Whew...*
He heard Wu Yi let out a long breath and slowly say,
"After the semester starts, you must rank higher than Li Jueyin and Ace in at least one of the first three evaluations. Otherwise, your S+ benefits will be downgraded to S-rank!"
Yu Fei thought for a moment before asking, "What do the evaluations cover?"
"A lot of things. They include, but are not limited to, various forms of combat, written exams, training challenges, and so on."
"Deal!"
Yu Fei was well aware that his own rate of improvement would only accelerate. Furthermore, Li Jueyin and Ace were unlikely to have a major breakthrough in their cultivation realms anytime soon, so he would quickly catch up. With the help of the Fate-Defying Pearl, defeating them wouldn’t be a problem.
Besides, there were only five people with silver-level talents in their year. With Li Jueyin and Ace at the same university, it would be much more convenient for him to copy their talents later on.
Only then did Wu Yi nod in satisfaction. He then said, "Also, I must remind you—and I tell this to everyone—your current ranking only determines your resource allocation for the first semester. At the end of the term, you will be re-evaluated based on your performance. If you think getting into one of the Seven Greats means you can slack off and not cultivate properly, don’t come crying to me when you get your rank stripped away!"
"No problem!"
Yu Fei understood this was standard procedure. Every university operated this way.
Watching Yu Fei leave, Wu Yi couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. ’Martial Artists who grasp Sword Intent slowly undergo a personality change. Regardless of their Sword Intent’s specific characteristics or their previous disposition, their actions gradually become more direct, following their true heart. They come to dislike convoluted approaches.’
’Logically speaking, Sword Intent is just one type of spiritual intent, nothing special. Yet, throughout the ten-thousand-year history of martial arts, Sword Cultivators have become progressively more extreme in personality, their killing power unparalleled among those of the same rank. It’s just plain weird, isn’t it?’
Yuqing University had even published a report on this many years ago. Wu Yi remembered one of the theories it proposed.
’Spiritual intent-type methods are heavily influenced by one’s willpower; they are a rather idealistic form of power. Generation after generation, Sword Cultivators have unconsciously gravitated toward a mindset of "I am invincible, the greatest under heaven." Eventually, they willed this falsehood into truth. While they didn’t quite achieve invincibility, they did manage to become unparalleled in slaughter.’
’As a result, every generation of Sword Cultivators believes they are special and that all other forms of spiritual intent are trash. They enter every battle already having won a third of it in their minds. Then, as they fight, they find their opponent is weaker than them, which only reinforces their belief in the awesomeness of Sword Intent. When this mentality became a trend, and Sword Cultivators proved themselves time and again, a very strange positive feedback loop was formed.’
’It’s like, ’I believe my Sword Intent is strong,’ so the idealistic power of the mind enhances the Sword Intent first. This enhancement creates an advantage in battle, leading to victory. This victory then reinforces the original belief—’I was right all along!’ The lever of idealism is pulled, and the positive feedback kicks in.’
’But when a Sword Cultivator is defeated, he doesn’t think his Sword Intent is weak. Instead, he believes his own training was insufficient. And so, the negative feedback loop never occurs!’
Wu Yi mostly agreed with this theory, but he would never say so out loud. The Grandmaster who had published that conclusion years ago had been hacked to pieces several times, and the culprit was never found. The Grandmaster never even filed a complaint, so the whole affair was just quietly forgotten.
Wu Yi reined in his thoughts. After Yuqing, Shenhan University was probably the institution with the most profound research on Sword Cultivators. As educators, they had extensive experience in dealing with them. He had initially thought that since Yu Fei had only recently grasped Sword Intent, he wouldn’t have picked up those bad habits yet. It seemed his judgment had been wrong.
After bidding farewell to Wu Yi, Yu Fei followed a staff member’s directions to fill out the legally binding paperwork and certifications. As it turned out, he ran into Li Jueyin and Ace.
"I can’t believe the three of us ended up applying to the same university! Let’s look out for each other in the future!"
Ace chuckled, scratching his head. ’This guy really loves to scratch his hair,’ Yu Fei thought. ’I wonder what’s up with that.’
Li Jueyin also smiled in welcome. She knew more than the others. Barring any accidents, the three of them would be rivals in the short term, but they might also form a squad on the battlefield. Of course, it all depended on their future development. None of them had undergone systematic training yet, so it was impossible to say who might fall behind.
According to her mother, some people were self-taught and would get stuck at a critical bottleneck due to a lack of resources. Once they overcame it, they would soar into the sky. Examples like this happened every year.
However, Yu Fei and Ace probably weren’t like that. Both of them possessed unique skills. Yu Fei’s Sword Intent was sharp and unpredictable, while Ace’s throwing knives were impossible to defend against. They clearly came from established lineages.
Yu Fei replied with a smile, "Then I’ll have to ask you two peerless prodigies to look after me from now on!"
"Don’t worry, Ace has got you covered!"
"By the way, did you end up getting the S+?" Li Jueyin asked.
Since learning that the three of them were at the same university, Li Jueyin had become much warmer.
Yu Fei had seen her matches. Li Jueyin wielded a great spear with immense power. Her figure was graceful and slender, making her appear delicate, but her strength was formidable.
"I got it, but with a condition!"
"What condition?"
Ace and Li Jueyin asked at the same time, extremely curious.
Yu Fei blinked. "What, you guys have a condition too?"
Ace explained, "Jueyin and I have the same condition: we each have to defeat the other in one of the three evaluations! Oof..."
Before Ace could finish, Li Jueyin jabbed him with her elbow and snapped coquettishly, "Is ’Jueyin’ something you should be calling me? Please use my full name!"
"My condition is to defeat either one of you in one of the three evaluations."
Li Jueyin propped her chin on her hand and said suspiciously, "That old man is just trying to stir up trouble. With these conditions, it’s highly likely one of us will lose their S+ rank after the three evaluations."
Ace said mysteriously, "It’s not like there’s no way around it. There are three evaluations. The three of us can take turns placing first. That’ll foil Wu Yi’s scheme. What do you think? Care to consider it?"
Before Yu Fei could answer, Li Jueyin said excitedly, "No way! I’m going to take first place all three times and crush you both! I’m done with my paperwork, bye-bye~"
With that, she turned and left, looking carefree and spirited.
"Hey! How can she be so arrogant? Bro, I can’t just stand by and watch this!"
Ace scratched his head and said, "Let’s team up and take her down. Then we brothers can take turns at first place. How about it?"
Yu Fei pondered for a moment, then said solemnly, "I’m afraid not."
"Why not?" Ace was confused.
Yu Fei put on a deadpan expression and said, "Because I also want to take first place all three times."
Ace was instantly speechless. "Heh~ So that’s how you two are gonna play it, huh? Fine, fine, fine! Just you wait, I’ll deal with both of you when the semester starts! I’m leaving, finished my paperwork too!"
"See you at school!"
"Bye-bye~"
Yu Fei turned to fill out his forms. He knew Ace had just been joking. When faced with the real evaluations, none of the three would ever hold back or resort to dirty tricks. Their pride wouldn’t allow it.
As prodigies of the same generation, who wouldn’t want to dominate the entire era?
