Chapter 160: Zhang Jin’s Doubt
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_, Tehrn
Jiang Long, nineteen-year-old, a genius boy who caught everyone’s attention and was directly accepted by Lustre Academy at a young age. Similar to the Earth’s Academy of Capth and the Academy of Yalden, intense rivalries were also commonly found in Moon’s Lustre Academy, and Jiang Long was definitely the top-dog of the younger generation.
He was unrivaled, along with his spectacular Firmament Palm Strike. He had never lost a single match, and managed to remain as the No.1 student amongst third graders. Apparently, the other S-Ranked academies had become interested in Einherjar Wannabe after Cisco’s defeat.
“Boss, Einherjar Wannabe picked you as his opponent.”
Jiang Long had just finished his warm-up. Then, he wiped off his sweat and sneered, “Good, he has a good taste after all!”
Within minutes, Peerless Palm Strike responded to the challenge. Cameron wished that he could postpone the fight due to the principles of business interests, but Einherjar Wannabe would never approve. So, all he could do was to spread the news as hard as he could.
The fight would take place in half an hour.
Later, Peerless Palm Strike’s personal data was uploaded to the official website, and many strong fighters were surprised by what they saw.
More and more students from Lustre Academy logged in, and they were also somehow surprised by the pairing. Aside from them, there were also quite a lot of students from Estrella Academy. This was the perfect opportunity to observe and learn.
Half an hour was more than enough for Jiang Long to prepare himself. Actually, he wasn’t very interested in Einherjar Wannabe; in fact, he didn’t even mind if his opponent was Einherjar Wannabe or Rookie Wannabe. He only wanted to challenge him because of his fame. Moreover, Jiang Long wasn’t even interested in Cisco, mostly because he had inherited the sense of pride of his fellow Ivantians. Even though he was also a student from an S-Ranked academy, Jiang Long disdained students from both Capth and Yalden. The only thing that caught his attention was Einherjar Wannabe’s capability of defeating the Fist of the Racing Tiger, and apparently, he was also able to mimic it. Furthermore, Jiang Long wanted to challenge him because Einherjar Wannabe was able to vanquish a fighter with level five Soul Energy even though he was only a fighter with level four Soul Energy. Obviously, one had to have an extraordinary method of utilizing their GN Force in order to achieve that level of strength.
Different methods of utilizing the same amount of GN Force would have a different output of power and effects. The Fist of the Racing Tiger and the Firmament Palm Strike were known for being amongst the greatest tactics because both had unique utilization of GN Force.
This was why Jiang Long was now very interested in defeating this mysterious opponent that he was about to face.
Meanwhile, at the Estrella Academy, someone was also paying attention to this upcoming match. Without a doubt, Patroclus was the biggest celebrity in this academy. But instead of looking like a warrior, he looked more like an artist. He barely participated in any fights. He was not even a student of the Command Force or METAL Combat, but he majored in music instead, which explained why some girls would find him attractive. Nevertheless, strange events like this would only happen to the House of Dower. Usually, the eldest son of a family would have to become the successor, but it seemed like Patroclus, who had mastered the Tactics of the Deva King, wasn’t interested in fights and battles at all. Some even suspected that he behaved like this because he actually didn’t master the tactics of his family at all.
Patroclus was indeed keeping a low profile; however, wherever there was a descendant of the House of Dower, there would also be a descendant of another family, one known as “the House of Intelligence.” — the House of Zhang.
The House of Zhang served as the most prominent supporting pillar of the Ivantians, and their people were in every corner of the Moon. Their descendant in Estrella Academy was Zhang Jin, a second-grade student of the Command Force.
Zhang Jin was a warm person and was well-received by most of the students. She was also the first freshman who got elected as the President of the Student Council; the way she handled things was peerless indeed.
Zhang Jin’s dorm was luxurious, Wang Tong would never be able to afford any of her furniture, even if he were to work his *ss off.
Zhang Jin was looking at the series of info about Einherjar Wannabe since he was becoming more popular recently. Somehow, she found some similarities between him and the Blade Warrior, even though there was no proof of the connection between them. Being the successor of one of the ancient Houses, Zhang Jin was quite interested and wondered if they were really related to each other. Nevertheless, she knew that it was practically impossible, because what happened hundreds of years ago was not a miracle, only a legend.
If miracles only happened once a century, then legends would only be born once every millennium.
Jiang Long’s fight against Einherjar Wannabe had caught Zhang Jin’s attention. The House of Zhang was known to possess the world’s greatest intelligence sources, and Jiang Long had been on their radar. In fact, the House of Zhang always paid attention to every elite of the Ivantians, especially the talented ones who would become the hopes for the future generations, and the House of Zhang would provide any help to support these elites.
Apparently, each family of the Five Great Houses had their own uniqueness in their operations. As for the House of Zhang, the way they operated was to provide only strategies instead of getting directly involved, and they would provide assistance to any other parties if necessary. They didn’t care much about personal benefits as long as it could help the development of the Ivantian community, and this ancient tradition had created a unique bond between the Ivantians and the House of Zhang. It took them hundreds of years to recognize each other, which gradually strengthened the House of Zhang’s existence amongst the other Houses. In fact, the House of Zhang was the only one that was not envied by the other parties.
Zhang Jin was surprised after going through the summarized data of Einherjar Wannabe; however, it wasn’t because of his strength. She had seen a lot of strong fighters, and she was even one amongst the only few who knew Patroclus’ actual strength. To her, only House of Li’s Li Shimin would have what it took to pull out a fight against him amongst the younger generation.
What caught Zhang Jin’s eyes was actually Einherjar Wannabe’s speed of growth, and his most terrifying ability to absorb the tactics and techniques of the other fighters. However, the most important question was, of course, what kind of tactics did he practice?
Zhang Jin was familiar with the tens of thousands of tactics created by the Earthlings, the Ivantians, and even the Kaedeians. Yet, she had never heard of any tactics that were able to mimic the others.
What sort of tactics would possess such an amazing compatibility?
Zhang Jin then began to go through the information in her mind as she watched the footages of his battles. The descendants of the House of Zhang loved to think; their Tactics of the Conscious Heart might be weak in terms of battle might, but they possessed other extraordinary abilities. To her, solving problems was an entertaining business, and any difficult tasks that fell into her hands would be simplified in no time, not to mention that she was a living archive of various information.
“Omniscience” was the best word to describe the descendants of the House of Zhang.
They were the experts of reasoning and troubleshooting.
Soon, Zhang Jin was able to find the answer that she had been looking for, and it was a surprising answer indeed.
The Tactics of the Blade!
Only the Tactics of the Blade would possess such compatibility, but what sort of Tactics of the Blade would show such an amazing strength?
Could he really be the descendant of the Blade Warrior himself?
Zhang Jin’s heart began to race.
Every youngster wished that they were born during that legendary era, because everyone was curious about the appearance of the mysterious warrior.
Zhang Jin was willing to trade her life for the answer. In fact, every descendant of their family was willing to exchange their lives to obtain that answer.
Nevertheless, it took her a while to calm down, knowing that thoughts would be twisted if a person was taken over by desires.
The word “Jin” in her name meant calm and patience, and she would have to truly understand the meaning of her name in order to master the Tactics of the Conscious Heart.
In their family history, there was an ancestor who belonged to the same era as the Blade Warrior. Her name was Zhang Linjing — also the creator of the Tactics of the Conscious Heart — and she was the only one who was able to achieve the highest state of the tactics known as “The State of Anatta”.
The family history also stated that Zhang Linjing somehow shared a unique connection with the Blade Warrior; in fact, she was able to achieve the State of Anatta after getting the help from the Blade Warrior. However, Zhang Linjing had disappeared after defeating the Zergs, and no one had ever heard from her since.
Since then, no one in the House of Zhang was able to reach the highest state.
Meanwhile, Wang Tong was holding his breath as he concentrated while observing Einherjar Wannabe’s movements. It only took nine seconds to unleash the palm strike, but it took Wang Tong twenty minutes while remaining still to understand what was going on.
Instead of spending his precious “freedom” accompanying Wang Tong, Einherjar Wannabe took the time to stroll around the PA, but he immediately returned as the match was about to begin.
“Hey, yo, figured it out yet? Hurry up, the match is about to start!” Einherjar Wannabe seemed happy because Wang Tong had been spending his time figuring out what was going on, which also proved that Einherjar Wannabe was stronger than Wang Tong had expected!
Wang Tong lifted his head and said, “This is not just some regular palm strike, huh? Hehe, I think you’re trying to hide something from me, but… hehe.”
“Hey, Kid, I’m an Einherjar for god’s sake! I’m not hiding anything from you. So cut the crap, go out there and fight like a man! I’d like to see how much you have mastered. I don’t care what kind of techniques you’ll be using, just make sure you kick his *ss with all your might!”
“Haha, got it, boss!” Wang Tong had been thinking a lot, and it seemed like he would need to get Einherjar Wannabe to teach him more in the future.
“Hold on, when you defeat him with a palm strike, make sure to mention my name and the name of my tactics… It’s called…” Einherjar Wannabe scratched his head and got frustrated, “Dammit, how could I forget such an important thing, sh*t… Awww… just call it the Supreme Palm Strike!”
“Nope, I’m not gonna embarrass myself. Since your palm strike looks evil, let’s call it the Sucker Palm instead!”
“Sucker your *ss, this wasn’t evil at all! It should be called the Fair and Square Palm Strike instead!” Einherjar Wannabe scolded.
“Heh, I was just joking. Enough talking, I’m going in!” Wang Tong accessed PA without saying thanks to Einherjar Wannabe. He couldn’t wait to demonstrate what he had learned a while ago.
Wang Tong rarely used his palm to attack, so it still felt kind of awkward. Nevertheless, he was planning on “comparing” with his opponent’s Firmament Palm Strike, and he needed to think of another way to learn, since Mr. Einherjar Wannabe had only taught him half of his technique. However, Wang Tong didn’t feel bad about it because he wanted to make this his own technique through understanding by himself.
“Boss, the number of people logging in has multiplied by 20 within half an hour…”
Cameron’s staff members were startled by what was happening. They didn’t expect that many people would show up due to the short notice; however, the number of spectators went beyond their imaginations. It appeared that everyone was interested in the fight between Einherjar Wannabe and Jiang Long, especially the Ivantians.
Cameron touched his chin and tried to remain calm. His career had been “saved” by Einherjar Wannabe, and the PA business was getting better. He saw an opportunity even though it was not enough to cover his previous losses. Nevertheless, he was able to buy some time from the board of directors.
Cameron prayed for Einherjar Wannabe’s victory, and although his chances of winning were low, he still believed in miracles… or to be exact, his only option was to hope for a miracle.
