Chapter 413: Training
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It did not take long for Ye Chong to notice the fear in everyone's eyes upon seeing him. Seeing them backing down all the time was puzzling at first but he understood the cause very soon after. May Night's Ridge could be a mysterious place of wondrous alchemy to the people outside. The residents in the ridge might possibly be the strongest alchemist he could find anywhere else, but they eventually were just a bunch of researchers isolated from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, that they had never once witnessed the bloodshed of an actual war. In Ye Chong's eyes, they were just weak.
"Brother Zhu Feng, I have a proposition," said Guan Jin, seeing nobody around. She had spent most time with Ye Chong so she could say she knew Ye Chong the best. No doubt Ye Chong was an extremely dangerous figure but somehow she felt a kind of security being with him. Brother Zhu Feng would be a tamed, friendly animal as long as he was never enraged. Naturally he was neither odd-tempered nor hot-tempered, after all.
"What is it?" Ye Chong could definitely feel her talents in alchemy, she might be the brightest student in Guan family. Sadly he did not have the microchip with him. He could have taught her all the essentials with it.
For example, the Guan's automatic analysis mechanism had always been a mystery to Ye Chong regarding the exact concept that made it work in the first place. To him, the mechanism probably was the most valuable and brilliant invention in the chip, as it was the solid proof of Lunatic Guan's vast knowledge of alchemy.
Guan Jin was a born alchemist. Ye Chong believed her future would still be bright even without the aid of the mechanism. Strangely the little girl showed no fear towards him, while being ever-mischievous, a little perplexing to be honest. She was the exact opposite to the other apprentices who were loyal and modest in the family. Well, perhaps it was her personality that she always was able to create surprises in alchemy.
"Brother Zhu Feng...," her watery eyes blinked in the harmless innocence, "why don't you go challenge somebody too?"
"Challenge who?" He took a look at the little girl biting her index finger.
"Yes! Yes! Challenge!" shouted Guan Jin cheerfully. "It doesn't feel good to always get challenged by people. Brother Zhu Feng it would be better if we go and hit on somebody else instead! Let's keep hitting them till they never wanted to hit on us anymore!" said Guan Jin, in the most innocent expression possible. That was quite a contrast.
Somehow Ye Chong was reminded of Lunatic Guan. They were still from the same family after all. The same brutal honesty, the same brutal inquisitiveness. Ye Chong seriously could imagine Lunatic Guan flipping out then crashing Shi family's home right away, and she would not stop till the entire building turned into debris.
Sentiments aside, Ye Chong was processing Guan Jin's request.
Does Guan Jin's proposition make sense?
Pretty much. Concluded he. It would be far better to initiator instead of a receiver in wars. The odds would be likelier on their side.
"Can I assassinate?" It would be simple if Ye Chong was allowed to assassinate. He already had an impeccable plan in his mind - he would pilot Moon King at a dark, cold night and make his way to Shi family, then he would raze the entire building to the ground, everything would be accomplished in few seconds of pure silence. It would be smooth and-
"Nah...," shook Guan Jin, "I don't think so." Guan Jin seemed intrigued by his plan at first but luck was not doing them a favor, "The committee had just set up a new rule days ago. Challengers are not allowed to use strategies other than alchemy, or the committee would be stepping in. It is no good for you to raise your fist, since only you know how to use your fist in this ridge. If a bleeding war happened and no flask was thrown, our family would be taking all the blame. Not good, bad plan." Obviously that new rule was a countermeasure for a monstrous fighter like Ye Chong.
Guan Jin seemed to be a fairly good strategist at her age, like too good, that people would have given her the strangest stare if they heard her explanation. But Ye Chong had already recognized her talents even in wars.
Well, challenging other family in light was something pretty laborious to Ye Chong, since that would be just another war of territory while exposing all his cards at once. He never fancied everything being put under the spotlight, that was simply dangerous.
Ye Chong did not mind helping the family out on some chores, since Lunatic Guan was his teacher, but that did not translate as he was willing to do everything. His own security was still the top priority.
"Not interested," shook Ye Chong, as he declined Guan Jin's offer.
"H-how could you...," tears welled up in her eyes, "How could you simply reject me so? Oh Brother Zhu Feng, how could you say no even to a cute girl with a simple request like me?" she said pitifully, with her shaking voice. She was fairly confident in her trick, since even her father would forgive her whenever she put that face on.
Well, she was facing the wrong foe today. Ye Chong was unaffected by her weeping expression.
"If you don't mind, I could teach you a trick or two on combats," said Ye Chong, which was a surprising suggestion to Guan Jin.
"You want to teach me on combats?" Guan Jin was bewildered.
That was probably the moment Ye Chong regretted his generosity the most. He intended to teach only Guan Jin at first, who knows Guan Zhengyuan got informed of this and became excited, "All the apprentices, join your teacher now!" Then Ye Chong got an additional 30 students in his fighting class.
Well, Ye Chong did not show resistance towards the unexpected turn of event however. He knew that students could benefit from a larger group since they could have partners for practical combats which would be the best method to improve their skills.
The Guan apprentices were certainly excited but they behaved themselves in front of Ye Chong, since this teacher was also that murderer who finished over 30 challengers in less than a minute.
Ye Chong took a careful look at bodies of his students. He did not seem very pleased.
"From today onwards, you will be learning martial arts," said Ye Chong concisely on the first class, to the hell.
Speed is the key term in winning an alchemy war. The shorter time the better, be it the time taken for making the potion, or the time needed before the effects of the potion activate. In a place like May Night's Ridge, there were countless poison that could activate in 0.1 second. One might ask why the rush, but it was always that 0.1 second which determined the outcome of the war. Thus Ye Chong first trained them to create the deadly poison the quickest possible. The formula he chose was simple yet very effective.
Yup, it all relied on the speed of their hands again, just like how Ye Chong almost broke his hands during Mu's special training course in the past.
To encourage these students, "Look," he decided to demonstrate his own speed, "If you work hard enough, you could be like me too." Said he after executing an intense acrobatic performance with his hands.
"Wow..." The kids were simply amazed.
Well that was not Ye Chong's maximum speed. A real quick hand-movement would be one that lost its silhouette. Certainly that would be very helpful in wars but people could learn nothing if Ye Chong demonstrated that instead.
The passion in students did not last the moment the mundane training began. They never failed to end up looking muddy, swollen and sweaty. Contrary to Ye Chong's expectation, no one had put up their white flag just yet, not even Guan Jin the blooming princess.
Other than physical training, they also had research training to do. They were required to find out the optimized application of offensive reagents. And that was when practical came in handy. To be frank, a war between alchemists was still fatal even as a practice. Accidents still happened occasionally under supervision of few senior family members.
Everyone looked calm nevertheless. And Ye Chong realized how the competition between families could be cruel at the ridge.
He started estimating the time he had to spend there. Well, he did not intend a permanent residence there. He came just because of Lunatic Guans request and it already felt like the time to go. This was not a good place for permanent resident after all.
The young apprentices learned rapidly. They still needed more time to further improvise their alchemy training but they were already given the best foundation. Under these intensive trainings, it would only be a matter of time till a horrendous army was born and perhaps nobody at the ridge could have a chance against them.
Too bad Ye Chong would be leaving soon and none of the afterstory would have anything to do with him.
But wait, there was one last thing to do. He had to examine his students after the training.
He decided to test them with an actual war. They would be heading to Shi family to initiate a challenge. Of course, the one knocking on Shi family's door would never be him. That would be a job for Guan's apprentices.