Chapter 384: Half-Saint Wants to Take Disciples
The Xu Holy Clan, as an established power passed down for over ten thousand years, had deep roots in the Eastern Domain. Throughout history, it had produced many Saint-level powerhouses, and during its most glorious period, it could even command the entire Eastern Domain.
Even though it was now far from its heyday, it remained a behemoth-like existence. Not only did its own bloodline descendants include many geniuses and outstanding talents, but among the retainers and disciples it had taken in, there were also those with extremely high natural endowments.
The genius who had just been defeated by Si Xingkong, Xu Chu, could only rank tenth among the younger generation of the Xu Holy Clan.
A sharp roar rang out: "How bold! There really are quite a few people who aren't afraid of death. Picking a fight with our Xu Holy Clan means you've brought misfortune upon yourselves."
Xu Yuanzhi, the expert ranked fourth among the younger generation geniuses of the Xu Holy Clan, leaped up from the twenty-seventh step of the Heavenly Staircase and unleashed a move called "Wind Roc Snow Seal Palm."
This was a Spirit-rank top-grade palm technique, and Xu Yuanzhi had already cultivated it to the Great Perfection realm.
As soon as the palm technique was unleashed, wind and snow arrived simultaneously.
A wave of freezing cold energy swept out, as if it wanted to freeze the entire space. It transformed into a true energy hand seal and struck down toward Si Xingkong's chest.
Xu Yuanzhi's cultivation had reached the late stage of the Heavenly Extreme Realm, one realm higher than Si Xingkong. Moreover, the technique he cultivated was the Ghost-rank middle-grade *Indestructible Art*, which was considered a fairly powerful technique among martial artists in the Four Martial Realms.
This was because the more profound a technique was, the harder it was to understand and cultivate. A single misstep could lead to Qi deviation and utter ruin.
Therefore, even the heirs of Saintly clans mostly only cultivated Spirit-rank techniques during the Four Martial Realms. Only those with top-tier aptitudes would choose Ghost-rank techniques.
The vast majority of people only began to come into contact with Ghost-rank techniques, or even King-rank techniques, after reaching the Fish-Dragon Realm.
It could be said that Xu Yuanzhi's ability to successfully cultivate the Ghost-rank middle-grade *Indestructible Art* was already quite remarkable.
Standing below, Si Xingkong suddenly rotated his arms and met Xu Yuanzhi's attack head-on.
"Boom!"
After a single exchange, both sides retreated, ending up evenly matched.
"You do have some skill, but I only used thirty percent of my power just now."
Xu Yuanzhi's body swelled up, as if filled with wind inside his clothes. True energy surged within him, and he immediately increased his power by another twenty percent before attacking Si Xingkong again.
Another move of Wind Roc Snow Seal Palm collided with Si Xingkong's right hand, which was shaped like a dragon claw.
"Sizzle sizzle!"
That wave of freezing power spread over, nearly freezing half of Si Xingkong's body.
"Xu Yuanzhi is truly terrifyingly powerful, even more so than the number one prodigy of many Half-Saint families. Especially that set of Wind Roc Snow Seal Palm techniques—he has cultivated them to the point of supernatural mastery."
All the genius students were in awe. Just a fourth-ranked genius from a Saintly clan was already this formidable. From this, one could imagine how extraordinary Xu Qing, the number one expert of the younger generation of the Xu Holy Clan, must be.
"Xu Yuanzhi's talent is no less than Zi Hansha's. He can be considered a top-tier powerhouse," Duanmu Xingling said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "If they were at the same realm, Senior Brother should be able to contend with Xu Yuanzhi. But unfortunately, Senior Brother is currently one realm lower than Xu Yuanzhi, so he'll probably be at a disadvantage."
Duanmu Xingling asked, "Should we go and help them now? With just Senior Brother and Junior Brother Chang's strength, it's impossible to resist the entire younger generation of the Xu Holy Clan."
Luo Shuihan furrowed her brows slightly and said, "I think it's best to wait a little longer. If we also make a move, it would mean declaring war on a Saintly clan. The foundation of a Saintly clan is beyond your imagination. Moreover, the Xu Holy Clan has been passed down for over ten thousand years, with a vast family and descendants spread across the world. Even our Luo Holy Clan is far inferior to them."
The Luo Holy Clan had only a little over two hundred years of history. Although Luo Xu's strength far surpassed that Saint from the Xu Holy Clan, in terms of the overall power of the clan, they were not on the same level at all.
Chen Xi'er said, "Senior Sister Luo is right. We should indeed be cautious. You need to understand that all Saintly clans have many vested interests. Through continuous marriage alliances and various forms of cooperation, they can be said to be of the same breath. Once we go to war with the Xu Holy Clan, it will inevitably drag other Saintly clans into it."
"Those heirs of Saintly clans are each more arrogant than the last. They certainly won't stand by and watch the Xu Holy Clan be suppressed by our Demon Ridge. So, even if we can defeat the younger generation of the Xu Holy Clan, we'll probably have to face the predicament of fighting all the Saintly clans next. Would we still have a chance of winning then?"
No matter where, the highest echelon of people all belong to a circle of interests. They can fight among themselves, but they will never allow those from lower levels to rise up.
Once someone from a lower level shows their head, they will inevitably be jointly suppressed by them.
Just like Lei Jing back then—he was literally squeezed out of the Saint Academy by the people of the Saintly clans.
Only an extraordinary figure like Luo Xu could gain a foothold in the Saint Academy and even defy the heavens to become a Saint despite the suppression of the Saintly clans.
...
Inside the sacred hall at the top of the Pilgrimage Heavenly Staircase stood statues of various Saints.
In addition, on the ground, there were Half-Saints sitting cross-legged.
After all, it was the once-a-decade Saint Academy examination, which naturally attracted many Half-Saints who wanted to see which prodigies would appear this year.
If a truly heaven-defying talent emerged, they could take the opportunity to take them as disciples and bring them into their own faction.
Although the various Half-Saints were lecturers at the Saint Academy, most of them also belonged to some clan or sect, each with different vested interests.
Only a very few Half-Saints were solitary individuals with no affiliations.
Among them was a Half-Saint with a body four meters tall, dressed in hemp clothing, with a bare chest and a fat belly. A string of black Buddhist prayer beads hung around his neck. He sat cross-legged on the ground like a Maitreya Buddha.
His body was like a small mountain.
His name was A Lan Half-Saint, one of the lecturers recruited by the Saint Academy. He had once cultivated at the Ten Thousand Buddha Path for a period of time.
A Lan Half-Saint laughed heartily and said, "Interesting, truly interesting. Those two students from Demon Ridge must have obtained the dragon blood of a Golden Dragon, causing their physiques to mutate. One has grown dragon scales, and the other has grown dragon claws. If they can be carefully guided to awaken the Golden Dragon's knowledge within the dragon blood, their future achievements will be limitless."
"Oh? A Lan Half-Saint, do you want to take them as your disciples?" Ling Shu Half-Saint asked, turning her head slightly.
Ling Shu Half-Saint was a woman dressed in a large red robe, carrying a sacred sword on her back, giving off an imposing aura.
However, she formed an extreme contrast with A Lan Half-Saint. She appeared to be only three inches tall, sitting cross-legged on the ground, no bigger than a fist.
One was four meters tall, the other only three inches.
"Of course."
A Lan Half-Saint laughed and said, "The Golden Dragon has a deep connection with our Buddhist sect. Those two lads obtaining the Golden Dragon's dragon blood shows they have an affinity with Buddhism. Moreover, the most important point is that they are bold enough to openly challenge the Xu Holy Clan. How interesting."
"However, it's still too early to talk about taking disciples now. We need to wait a bit longer, at least until they pass the three rounds of examinations and officially become Saint Disciples. If they fail during the three rounds of examinations, then they won't be qualified to be my disciples either."
Taking disciples as a Half-Saint was extremely strict.
Even though Chang Qiqi and Si Xingkong had an affinity with Buddhism, they still had to be further tested. Only by passing all the tests would A Lan Half-Saint consider taking them as disciples.
Taking disciples and taking students were completely different concepts.
A cold voice rang out in the sacred hall: "Those two juniors actually dared to openly insult our Xu Holy Clan. They will probably have their cultivation wasted during the first round of examinations. A Lan Half-Saint, I'm afraid you won't have the chance to take them as disciples."
The speaker was a Half-Saint of the Xu Holy Clan, with the title "Three Blades Half-Saint."
The three-inch-tall woman in red, Ling Shu Half-Saint, laughed and said, "Three Blades Half-Saint, I heard that fifty years ago, Lei Jing offended your Xu Holy Clan and was driven out of the Saint Academy by you. Back then, Lei Jing even swore that one day, he would lead a top-tier prodigy back to the Saint Academy to sweep through the heirs of all the Saintly clans."
"Now, Lei Jing has brought the genius students of Demon Ridge to the Saint Academy. What do you think about that?"
Three Blades Half-Saint snorted coldly: "Lei Jing? He's just an audacious junior. Fifty years ago, I didn't take him seriously, and fifty years later, I still don't."
"As for those two geniuses from Demon Ridge, even if they obtained the Golden Dragon's dragon blood, they can only be considered first-rate geniuses at best. They are still far from contending with the most top-tier talents. The genius students of our Xu Holy Clan's younger generation will suppress them with ease."
Ling Shu Half-Saint said, "I've heard that Demon Ridge has produced several proud sons of heaven. Among them, that proud daughter of heaven from the Luo Holy Clan has already cultivated a Saintly Body. Among the young students of the entire Eastern Domain, how many can stop her?"
"Not only that, I've also heard that Lei Jing took on a disciple who obtained the inheritance of the Buddha Emperor. I don't know if it's true or false," A Lan Half-Saint said.
Although the news of Zhang Ruochen defeating Di Yi had not yet spread, many important figures in the Martial Market Academy had heard some rumors.
It was for this reason that so many Half-Saints had come today. They also wanted to see with their own eyes whether Lei Jing had really taken on an extraordinary disciple.
Lei Jing was a well-known rebellious student of the Saint Academy who dared to challenge the Saintly clans.
Even the Half-Saints had heard of his name.
Three Blades Half-Saint remained very calm and said, "That proud daughter of heaven from the Luo family is indeed a Saintly Body, but she represents a Saintly clan, not Demon Ridge. As for Lei Jing's disciple, who knows if he's really as formidable as Lei Jing boasts?"
"Moreover, the overall strength of this year's students is far superior to previous years anyway. Empress Chi Yao has ruled the world for five hundred years, with favorable weather and flourishing martial arts. Saints emerge in succession, and geniuses and talents are becoming more and more numerous. Even if Demon Ridge produces a genius with decent aptitude, it's a very normal thing. Unfortunately, no matter how strong Lei Jing's disciple is, when he encounters our Xu Holy Clan's genius disciple, Xu Qing, he will still be suppressed."
Since Three Blades Half-Saint had brought up Empress Chi Yao, who would dare to continue arguing with him?
To continue arguing would be disrespectful to Empress Chi Yao.
All the Half-Saints remained silent, dividing their sacred souls to continue watching the Pilgrimage Heavenly Staircase, quietly observing the subsequent developments.