Fantasy: Immortality Begins with Absorbing Demons

Chapter 377 Summoning (Part Two)

Han Yi chatted with Sun Zheng for a while longer.

Soon, several more people arrived, and the small square began to feel crowded.

Zhong Yunxiu, the head of the courtyard, who was seated in the main seat, coughed lightly.

Zhong Han understood and quickly came down to maintain order and keep quiet.

The winter snow was biting cold, and the chill seeped into my body through the cushion, making my bottom feel a little cold.

However, anyone randomly selected from those present possessed the strength of a martial arts master. Furthermore, the Nine Curves Courtyard's true skill, the Cold Yin Nine Curves Palm, was inherently somewhat sinister in nature.

Therefore, everyone can withstand it. Zhong Yunxiu looked up, checked the time, then turned back, her gaze slowly sweeping over the crowd.

The Nine-Bend Academy was already poor, and now that the festival has just ended, some disciples who live far away have not yet arrived.

In fact, besides the strict requirements for years of cultivation within the Nine Bends Academy, which is essentially a disciple elimination mechanism, there is also a normal option for disciples to graduate upon completion of their apprenticeship.

After three years, one can reach the fourth level of true skill. If a disciple can meet the requirements, they can freely choose to leave the inner courtyard or continue cultivating.

Many people, after reaching the fourth level of true skill and feeling exhausted or hopeless about breaking through, will choose to leave the inner courtyard and go out to make a living while they are still young.

The fact that more than twenty people have come means that basically all the disciples who could come are present.

"Everyone should know why we're here today, right?" She stood up, walked to the front of the group, and asked loudly.

Before anyone could answer, she continued, "This year's boxing match is two months earlier than usual. My Nine-Bend Academy didn't perform well last year, and if we fall behind again this year..."

Her voice was clear and cool; although it wasn't loud, every disciple could hear it clearly.

The fist-fighting match was initially just an internal meeting and exchange session within Jingtian Manor.

Jingtian Manor, the Seven Transformations of Heavenly Evolution True Skill, and the Seven Academy of Jingtian, each academy's true skill is derived from the Seven Transformations of Heavenly Evolution downgraded and differentiated.

Or rather, the seven true skills combined into one is the true skill of the Seven Transformations of Heaven.

As an old saying goes within Jingtian Manor, only when the seven skills are combined can one achieve the Heavenly Evolution.

Apart from their shared martial arts skills, the seven courtyards of Jingtian Manor are essentially similar to independent sects in other aspects.

The founder of Jingtian Manor was originally a person with exceptional virtue, strength, comprehension, and talent. In order to fight against Yuanmiao Sect, he forcibly merged seven different sects. He then collected the true skills and secret manuals of the seven sects, combined them with his own knowledge, and deduced the Seven Transformations of Heavenly Evolution True Skill, thus forming the Seven Jingtian Academy.

That was also the most glorious period for Jingtian Manor. After that, it began to decline.

Now, let alone confronting the Yuanmiao Sect, they are even losing their reputation as one of the five major powers in Yunzhou.

Therefore, the initial fist-sparring was actually a seminar organized by the founder of Jingtianzhuang, with seven separate courtyards where each person offered their opinions on the true skills and exchanged ideas.

At first, everyone was quite friendly, with only occasional arguments and debates about who was stronger or weaker. At most, the arguments would escalate to a point where everyone was red in the face and their necks were bulging, but that was it.

But later on, the disputes between the different courtyards took a turn for the worse, and they started to fight.

After all, you say your sect's martial arts are stronger, and he says their sect's martial arts have an advantage. So, why don't you two just have a fight? Aren't martial artists all about who has the bigger fist?

Whoever has the bigger fist gets to listen to them.

You claim your ideas are advanced and your skills are powerful, so you're right? Fine, then send a disciple out to see if your skills, at the same level, can defeat others.

Gradually, the verbal battles turned into physical battles.

As Jingtian Manor declined and resources became scarce, the rankings in the boxing match became the basis for allocating resources fairly.

This is precisely why the importance of boxing has become increasingly important.

Because the Nine-Bend Academy has a large number of female disciples, the Cold Yin Nine-Bend Palm technique is relatively weak in the early stages, resulting in poor performance year after year. According to the rules, if a school is ranked last for many consecutive years, then the allocation of resources will need to be reduced.

The strong take more, the weak take less.

This is Jingtianzhuang, and these are the rules for boxing.

Silence, complete stillness. Only the howling wind could be heard; not a sound could be heard, not even the sound of breathing.

Everyone understood what Zhong Yunxiu meant.

For martial arts practitioners, resources are of paramount importance.

Of the four elements—wealth, companionship, law, and land—wealth comes first. This is not without reason.

Aside from a very few geniuses, the people who can enter the inner courtyard of Jingtian Manor are all roughly the same in terms of aptitude and innate talent.

Often, the speed of cultivation and the breakthrough of realms are actually related to the amount of resources available.

Take Han Yi for example. If he hadn't gotten so much funding from Tao Qingtang, and hadn't earned so much extra money from killing and searching people outside, he would have been much better off.

Even if he had the system to force a breakthrough, without consuming demon beast meat day and night to accumulate resources, he would never have been able to achieve such a fast cultivation progress.

If he is like this, then the disciples who have no connections or family background must be even more distressed.

Just like Huang Rong before, he had to travel back and forth everywhere to make money.

Therefore, if the rankings of the boxing matches are lagging behind and the distribution of resources is reduced, it will undoubtedly be adding insult to injury for these disciples.

"Well, it seems everyone knows the importance of this matter, so I won't go into too much detail." Zhong Yunxiu glanced at the silent crowd and said calmly, "However, there are still quite a few days before it officially begins."

I inquired about the strength of the other academies beforehand, and none of them are as strong as ours. During this time, you should all restrain yourselves and strive to improve your cultivation. A good ranking for our Nine-Bend Academy will benefit everyone.

For the next period of time, I will be giving lectures here every morning and evening. Of course, if you have any questions about cultivation, you are welcome to come and ask.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Just as they were about to get up and leave, Zhong Yunxiu suddenly spoke up: "By the way, Han Yi, Fang Chengqi... Xiao Zhong, you guys stay behind for now."

Soon, a large number of disciples left, leaving only a few people on the small square.

Zhong Yunxiu looked over at them one by one.

Sitting at the front were Zhong Han and Xiao Zhong, who were also the only two disciples of the Nine Bends Academy at the sixth level of true skill.

The remaining few were disciples who had broken through to the third or fourth level of true skill.

Fang Chengqi, Yang Wei, Han Yi, and three other senior disciples.

Only these few are truly usable...

She sighed almost imperceptibly.

Actually, those words were just meant to comfort people; I said them on purpose. The Nine-Bend Academy only has twenty or thirty disciples in total, and most of them are hovering around the first or second level of true skill.

However, in internal combat, only those who have broken through the third level of true skill can barely step onto the arena.

In other words, these eight people are the true main force in the fight. The rest can only do errands and logistical tasks.