Chapter 269 – True Martial University
“I know that his newly implemented inspection rule ended up causing trouble for you and I must say that he is not at right in this regard. However, that Jin Xuan incident was not arranged by him.” Qi Feifan said, “I feel the need to disclose something important that all pro-disciples must know.”
“Oh? Please tell me, I am all ears.” Ye Xiwen humbly replied. He recently became a pro-disciple and was mostly busy cultivating, hence was unable to learn a lot of things about pro-disciples.
Actually, Ye Xiwen had already planned to teach Chu Jingcai a lesson if he continued to create troubles for him. Although Chu Jingcai suddenly became the most eligible candidate among all pro-disciples for the position of Sect Head after stepping into legendary realm, Ye Xiwen’s achievements also couldn’t be ignored. In a short time of half a year, he powered up to the extent that he was able to single-handedly kill two half-step legendary zombies. His potential was not hidden from anyone.
Ye Xiwen was not at all intimidated by Chu Jingcai and was confident to surpass him sooner or later.
However, after listening to what Qi Feifan said, it seemed like there was some kind of misunderstanding.
“In fact, there is a competition among pro-disciples but the sense of cooperation is more than cooperation. When there was a struggle going on between you and Luo Yifan, Chu Jingcai was aware of that but chose not to interfere, you know why?” Qi Feifan said.
“Why?” Ye Xiwen asked and recalled this was indeed the case. Chu Jingcai never tried to interfere even when a deadly battle took place between him and Luo Yifan. Perhaps, Chu Jingcai might have lent a hand to Luo Yifan behind the scenes but never did so openly.
Even so, it was very unusual since Chu Jingcai could have easily interfered as a pro-disciple to save his vassal, Luo Yifan. He had all the valid reasons to attack Ye Xiwen but why didn’t he do so?
Especially after Ye Xiwen became a pro-disciple, there was literally a cold war going on between him and Chu Jingcai, but even then, Chu Jingcai never really used extreme methods against him.
“The truth is that bystanders think that we pro-disciples are desperately and madly competing with each other for the position of Sect Head.” Qi Feifan said.
“Is that a wrong perception?” Ye Xiwen asked in a somewhat strange manner, especially because he had witnessed the fierce struggle between Chu Jingcai and Yellow Dust. Not just that, he had also seen a fierce battle between the disciples of two pro-factions.
(NT: Yellow Dust is the second pro-disciple. His Chinese name is Huang Luochen but some readers find it hard to remember his name so I will use the easier version of his name.)
“In fact, there isn’t a life and death type of competition among us, to be honest.” Qi Feifan said, “And in reality, this kind of life and death struggle is among the elders and disciples for their respective favorite pro-disciple. We pro-disciples have never actually fought life and death battles, neither do we intend to.”
“Since their interests are dependent on us, therefore they are always more anxious than us and pull things out of context to the point of exaggeration just to satisfy their own personal agendas.” Qi Feifan explained.
Ye Xiwen understood what Qi Feifan was trying to say. Indeed, sometimes other people are more anxious than you and act on your behalf without permission, making things difficult for all.
“In fact, I am going to tell you the truth. I have never wanted to compete for the position of Sect Head.” Qi Feifan said this and a look of disbelief appeared on Ye Xiwen’s face all of a sudden. Qi Feifan noticed it, smiled and said, “For many people, obtaining the position of leader is their lifelong goal and they continue to compete throughout their life, but for me, it has never been a goal. So long as I want, I can easily obtain it.”
“According to me, there are a lot of things that you can do outside the small boundary of Yi Yuan School. The world is too big and there’s so much to explore.” Qi Feifan said, “Brother Ye, have you heard of True Martial University?”
Ye Xiwen shook his head as he had never heard of True Martial University.
“Well, it cannot be helped. It seems like Brother Ye has devoted most of his time to cultivation and managed to enhance his cultivation in such a short time. So, lack of general knowledge is understandable.” Qi Feifan made a sharp point and Ye Xiwen immediately understood that his statement was aimed at pointing out the rapid and sharp rise in his cultivation while trying to link it to a lack of general knowledge he showed just now.
“In the Southern region of Zhen Wu Jie continent, there is a famous institution named True Martial University where everyone can go and study. A lot of extremely talented geniuses from several generations converge together to study in True Martial University, in search of brighter future prospects.” Qi Feifan said.
“I never knew about such a place.” Ye Xiwen really did not know, although he had read a lot of books on various topics when he used to be in Houtian realm but as his cultivation level advanced further, he began to focus more on martial arts practice and ancient legends to get hints about furthering his practice.
Ye Xiwen suddenly felt that he did not know a lot of things, in other words, his knowledge on current affairs was weak and he needed to visit Yi Yuan School’s main library to enrich his knowledge. Otherwise, lack of general knowledge might cause major embarrassment for him.
Of course, now reading books would be easier for him as he could just use his soul search skill on books for quick sorting of information and deeper understanding.
Without the soul search skill, it would actually be an insane task to go through so many books, stored in the main library.
“Well, I really do not know when True Martial University came into existence, perhaps during the Devil war, or perhaps even earlier, no one knows when but it has been there since time immemorial, for all curious and ambitious experts to keep their aspirations incited.” Qi Feifan said, “Countless talents from southern region aspire to enter this university, and not just that, countless genius evildoers (monsters) from other foreign territories also come to join True Martial University. It is hard to tell how many great people have studied in this university, and the list is very long.”
“That is my battlefield!” Qi Feifan stood up and said with a hint of yearning expression on his face, “And not just me, Chu Jingcai, Yellow Dust and the other pro-disciples also yearn to enter True Martial University. All of us want to test ourselves by measuring our potential with respect to those countless evildoers.”
Qi Feifan said with confidence. Even if he was talking about countless geniuses from foreign lands, his flawless confidence didn’t budge at all.
Qi Feifan was counted among the top experts in the current generation of experts from southeast region. But, even if he managed to enter True Martial University, there was a chance that he would just be among the ordinary lot of disciples!
After all, this was the real competition among true geniuses! The competition among pro-disciples was nothing in front of it.
“You may know that we pro-disciples have stayed at half-step legendary realm for a long time, but do you know that we actually chose to do so?” Qi Feifan asked.
Ye Xiwen shook his head but this question was already present in his heart as to why even a famous expert like Qi Feifan, who should be able to easily step into legendary realm, was stuck at half-step legendary realm. He was always puzzled by this and it seemed like there really was a valid reason behind this.
Ye Xiwen knew that these pro-disciples had been stuck at half-step legendary realm for decades, in fact, Qi Feifan reached it about 40 years ago.
Was it really possible that these so-called super talented pro-disciples were incapable of stepping into the legendary realm?
Of course, not! Ye Xiwen never believed in the explanation that it was actually very touch to go from half-step legendary to legendary level and usually took decades to do so. This statement might be true for ordinary experts but definitely not for pro-disciples.
“In order to let experts join True Martial University, it opens once in a hundred years.”
For ordinary people, the period of hundred years was equivalent to a lifetime, but for successful martial artists, it was simply nothing. Not to mention, True Martial University gave enough time to the experts to practice and level up for next entrance test, and to be honest, the time period of 100 years was still not sufficient for most experts to prepare for the entrance test.
100 years ago, Chu Jingcai and other pro-disciples of that time had already experienced the opening of True Martial University for new applicants but they did not go, after all, not everyone was an exceptional case like Ye Xiwen who was barely 20 years old right now. In fact, they were far from being qualified, however, in accordance with the current level and potential of both Ye Xiwen and Hua Menghan, they should be more than qualified to participate in True Martial University recruitment campaign in the coming 100 years.
“True Martial University has disciples divided into several ranks such as janitor disciples, common disciples, outer disciples, inner disciples, core disciples, true disciples, pro-disciples and so on.”
“That is very similar to our system of rank division.” Ye Xiwen said.
“Actually, it’s the other way round. In reality, Yi Yuan School and the other major sects of not just Great Yue State but entire Southeast region have copied the education system and administration system of True Martial University.” Qi Feifan explained.
“True Martial University is the most powerful presence in the entire southern region. Just imagine, if a true disciple from our sect applies to enter this university, he can at most become a janitor disciple. Similarly, a disciple who is at half-step legendary will become a common disciple and a legendary disciple will become an outer disciple. The threshold to become an inner disciple is even higher.”
(NT: Janitor disciples are also there in Yi Yuan School. They are low ranked Houtian experts who are basically employed as cleaners by elders and senior disciples. Common disciple is a new concept that is not used in Yi Yuan School.
Hierarchy:-
Janitor disciple<Common disciple<Outer disciple<Inner disciple<True disciple<Pro-disciple<Legendary disciple<Sage disciple)
Ye Xiwen was stunned by Qi Feifan’s explanation. So basically, even legendary experts were not considered worthy enough to become anything more than the outer disciples in True Martial University, also, true disciples were treated as janitor disciples over there.
The monstrous strength and influence of True Martial University could be imagined simply from the fact that its outer disciples were enough to wreak havoc in the Southeast region. It was really hard to imagine the level of core disciples, true disciples and pro-disciples of True Martial University. Ye Xiwen was shocked to learn that Qi Feifan and the other pro-disciples were not even eligible to become outer disciples in True Martial University.
“Of course, this is not absolute because in addition to strength and cultivation level, True Martial University pays more attention to talent and future potential.” Qi Feifan said, “Their assessment is divided into truth, half legend, legend and also the sage realm. Only the most outstanding experts can earn fame there.”
“If you talk about us pro-disciples, our cultivation levels are still too low and if we stepped into legendary realm, like Chu Jingcai, our performances will be too mediocre in comparison to our competitors. Perhaps, we may even be demoted to the rank of janitor disciples from common disciples.”