Chapter 143: Qilin Hall
After Zhao Kun left Qilin Hall, he walked home filled with excitement.
The phonograph was an era creating invention. It was even more creative than the electrical lamps!
Zhao Kun was completely shocked by the fact that the knowledge within these sound discs surpassed the academy’s knowledge by thousands of years. He couldn’t wait to hear them all!
I really thought it was strange. How could that bastard Yun Xiao advance so quickly!
If I had this kind of resource, I would not lose to that fellow at all!
Only, Zhao Kun was born into a poor family and did not have a rich family to support him. With such an expensive tuition, he had no way of paying for it even if he sold everything!
Zhao Kun was not willing to fall behind others!
People could not be suppressed! There had to be a way!
Several rocks fell down around him and countless human figures appeared, instantly surrounding Zhao Kun.
This is bad!
Zhao Kun turned to run away.
“Hei, hei, hei!”
“Old master here has been waiting for a long time for you!”
A brawny face man with a cold expression stepped in front of him and blocked him. The other six people all had strong auras and it was clear that they were all experts.
“Wang Meng, what are you doing?!”
Wang Meng was the 26th ranked on the Azure Dragon Ranking and Zhao Kun was the 26th ranked on the Vermillion Bird Ranking, but even though they had the same rank, Wang Meng was much stronger than Zhao Kun.
Of the four Central State Academy Courtyards, the Vermillion Bird Courtyard was the weakest. The experts of the Vermillion Bird Rankings could not compare with the experts of the other three rankings.
“What am I doing?’ Wang Meng cracked his fingers, immediately releasing a ka ka noise that sounded like beans cracking. He had a fiendish smile as he looked at Zhao Kung, “I already warned you not to go back to the Qilin Dojo! The results? You completely ignored what father said! If I don’t make you suffer a bit, who would listen to father in the future!”
Damn, they really are here to cause trouble!
Wang Meng was already hard enough to deal with alone, not to mention all the people he brought with him!
“Boss! Why are you wasting words with him?”
“Let’s beat him until he’s unable to stand up! Then we’ll see if he dares to disobey again!”
Wang Meng’s brothers were eager to fight.
“It’s impossible for me to withdraw!” Zhao Kun was ready to sacrifice everything as he shouted with a determined face, “My life is not worth anything! If you have the skills, then take it!”
Wang Meng was filled with curiosity, “Has your brain become stupid? Isn’t it just leaving the organization! It’s not like we’re asking you to kill your father right?”
“You don’t understand anything!”
“You dare say this to father!”
Wang Meng flew into a rage as he attacked.
Zhao Kun was inspired as he loudly shouted, “Wang Meng! Use your brain and think about it, why did Yun Xiao show off in the Vermillion Bird Courtyard? Why did Yun Xiao blatantly join the Qilin Hall like that? He was advertising for Qilin Hall!”
Wang Meng could not understand, “Advertising? Advertising for what!”
“Yun Xiao took the advanced Qilin Hall classes for three days and was reborn. The current you couldn’t even block two slashes from him!”
“Is this true?”
Wang Meng was shocked.
“You don’t believe me?” Zhao Kun’s eyes shined as he said, “How about we make a trade? There will be several classes at Qilin Hall tomorrow, I recommend you go and listen. Each class costs twenty thousand gold coins!”
“Fuck!” Wang Meng flew into a rage, “Twenty thousand for a single class?! This bastard thinks father is a fool! Everyone attack! Beat him!”
Zhao Kun was ready to make any sacrifice, “I’ll pay for you!”
Wang Meng was stunned.
Twenty thousand gold coins!
Although it wasn’t a lot, it still wasn’t a small amount. It was not something that a common Body Refinement Cultivator could never take out. Even if it was an Awakened Soul Cultivator, twenty thousand gold coins would be enough for them to buy an Elixir and increase their cultivation.
Zhao Kun said, “I’ll lend you the money! If you are satisfied, then you’ll just pay me back! If you are not satisfied, then you don’t need to return a single coin!”
Is he serious?
They were dumbfounded.
A class that cost twenty thousand gold coins was something that the top scholars of Central State City charged. Did that mean that Qilin Hall was hiding a mysterious expert? Thinking about how Yun Xiao had changed in two days, this was completely possible.
“Brother Meng, what do we do?”
“I feel like we can give it a try!”
“After all, that Yun Xiao’s change was too strange.”
“Since this idiot is paying for us, we might as well go and take a look!”
Wang Meng’s brothers were all filled with curiosity. It was just like what Chu Tian said, for a student of the Central State Academy, knowledge had a greater enticement than money.
“Alright!”
“We’ll give it a try!”
“If I find out that you’re speaking nonsense, father will beat you until you can’t even piss!”
Zhao Kun let out a sigh.
He had escaped this trial.
Wang Meng and his brothers left. Once they returned to the Azure Dragon Courtyard, they found that there were many people there discussing something.
“Did you hear? A mysterious treasure has appeared in Central State Academy!”
“Treasure? What treasure!”
“It’s a thing called the phonograph. It can completely record anything that a person says. It’s said that there is a grandmaster level character giving people lessons through recordings!”
“Are you serious?”
“Don’t doubt me, I saw it personally! It’s also said that Yun Xiao was reborn because he learned from the content recorded!”
“Is this real? Why don’t we go take a look as well!”
“…….”
Wang Meng’s group was stunned.
That brat did not lie to them!
In just a short evening, the news spread all over the Central State Academy. After the large family juniors of Qilin Hall came back, they began to appeal to their friends and families, doing everything possible to win them over.
Recruiting people could bring immediate benefits for them and could give surprising benefits to anyone they invited. With the resources at the Qilin Hall’s disposal, it was inevitable that they would rise up. Of course they would get more benefits for joining sooner!
Phonograph?
What kind of thing is this!
They had never heard of it before!
Dozens of people spread wonderful rumours.
How could this device talk? How strange!
What principle was this phonograph made from!
Another even heavier piece of news was spread around. The reason why Yun Xiao was reborn and could fight his way to the Vermillion Bird second rank was all because of this thing!
This was incredible!
Everyone began to ask around and find where these rumours came from. It was the Vermillion Bird Courtyard’s Qilin Hall!
This was a very normal training hall, but they released a set of courses with such a high price. It made everyone’s blood boil!
But even with the expensive price of the Qilin Hall, with Yun Xiao personally acting as advertisement, as well as the mysterious phonograph they heard about, this was two gimmicks launching a two pronged attack. Adding in the recommendations of the training hall members, there were people that were half doubtful now.
There were some rich people that decided to give it a try!
………
The next morning.
It was the first day Qilin Hall was open for business.
“What kind of crappy training hall is this!” Wang Meng entered into the crude Qilin Hall and looked around himself, “It’s this broken and it still dares to do business?”
Zhao Kun ignored him and went to pay the tuition fee, “Come this way!”
There were five lessons today and there were three lessons that cost twenty thousand gold coins each.
Zhao Kun had picked «Thirty Six Foundational Martial Arts One». The training hall area for the broadcast was very big and there were twenty-thirty cushions placed. In front of them were a few people. Many of them were familiar faces, but there was a small portion of new people.
Yun Xiao gave a yawn and walked over while digging for earwax.
“Sit down! Everyone sit down!”
“Everyone be quiet!”
Everyone immediately closed their mouths. He was a famous person in the academy and there was no one that dared to offend him. Yun Xiao appearing in the Qilin Hall confirmed many rumours that they heard and filled many of the new people with excitement.
He carried out the crude phonograph and placed it in the center.
“Get ready! Let’s begin!”
Yun Xiao carefully placed a Magnetic Sound Stone disc inside and activated the phonograph array. Once it began to operate, static came from the loudspeaker, “Zi, zi, zi!”
The entire hall was filled with silence and no one dared to blink. They all opened their ears to listen.
Finally a low, deep, and clear voice came out of the loudspeaker.
“Hello everybody!”
Wang Meng and the others who were here for the first time all had their eyes pop out in shock, just like they had seen a ghost!
This……This is too strange!
This crude machine could really talk!
For people born in this era, they would not know how this thing worked even if they broke their heads!
“The topic being discussed today will the first class of «Thirty Six Foundational Martial Arts»!”
“Combat strength is something that cultivators need to have, so how should one effectively increase their combat strength? Have you already displayed the strongest combat strength you can display? Today’s lesson will talk about the problems with foundational martial arts……”
The disc slowly rotated on the phonograph.
At this moment, it seemed like time had froze!
Everyone had a shocked expression on their face.
That low, deep, and clear voice that was somewhat magnetic came from the loudspeaker shaped like a flower. It discussed the essence of combat martial arts from every angle and even introduced some practical fighting skills. It also talked about various academy martial arts, breaking down each move and improving them.
Wang Meng’s surprised gradually changed into pleasant surprise and finally became shock!
He was filled with disdain at first!
What was the point of learning foundational martial arts?
Hasn’t it been the same for thousands of years? Even if they were changed, would their might be increased by that much?
When the phonograph’s voice gave a detailed explanation, Wang Meng instantly realized that there were many profound skills within these basic martial arts!
What was called returning to the basics after ten thousand changes?
What is called making the large dao simple!
These seemingly simple and common martial arts were actually hard innovate and improve!
Wang Meng realized in this moment that the foundational martial arts he had trained for years couldn’t even be considered trash. It was completely filled with errors!
Inconceivable!
Unthinkable!
Wang Meng was more and more shocked and excited as he listened. The voice coming from this phonograph was like that of an old master. There was not a single wasted word and each word was filled with wisdom. Each word far surpassed anything written in the books he read!
This was a completely new foundational cultivation system!
Wang Meng was being choked by his emotions. This was like discovering a whole new continent!
“The lesson will end here today.”
“If you wish to learn more, please pay attention to the broadcast time for the «Thirty Six Foundational Martial Arts» second class. The second class will introduce several classical techniques that will allow one to easily control a battle. Goodbye everyone!”
It’s over?
How could it be over!
“Why is there nothing? Continue broadcasting!” Wang Meng stood up, “I’ll give you money!”
Yun Xiao casually sat beside the phonograph and squinted his eyes as he looked at him, “Fuck, thinking you can listen just by giving money? Do you think you’re watching a show in a brothel! Scram!”
Wang Meng anxiously scratched his head.
This was too excruciating!
Because what was said was too great and he had not heard most of it while he was in his shocked condition. When he recovered, he couldn’t remember most of the content.
It had to be known.
The lesson seemed like it was very simple, but it contained a lot of information which one had to carefully study.
Zhao Kun stood up while holding a notebook.
“You took notes?” Wang Meng glanced at the notes and seeing that it was completely filled, he was like a man who had eaten several pounds of aphrodisiac suddenly seeing a woman. He excitedly jumped up and reached out his hand to steal the book, “Quick! Let me take a look!”
“This master has given many theories which contains hidden knowledge, I need to study it for several days to digest the information! Why would I give it to you?” Zhao Kun did not give him face at all, “Do you know how much this information is worth? Your fee for the class was also paid for by me!”
Wang Meng loudly shouted, “Fuck! What does twenty thousand gold coins count for! Can this even be measured with money? This is something incredibly rare! Do you want money? Father has money! I’ll buy your notebook for one hundred thousand gold coins! Just let me have a look!”
“I want to as well!”
“Also me!”
“My family has money, let me look at it first!”
The people Wang Meng brought all crowded around him.
“Fuck!” Wang Meng looked at them with killing intent, “Aren’t you thinking a little backwards! Who is the boss! Scram for me!”
Wang Meng had high prestige, so if he said something, no one dared to go against him.
Of course, that was for a normal situation. The way things developed today completely surpassed their expectations.
“Young master Wang Meng is truly too arrogant!”
“I have been uncomfortable looking at you for a while now!”
“We will be people of Qilin Hall from now on, so we need to create the boundaries!”
“You’re completely right. This fellow dares to beat people of the Qilin Hall, so we don’t want to associate with him in the future!”
“Humph, daring to hit members of the Qilin Hall. For beating up our comrades, we can no longer co-exist with you!”
Wang Meng almost exploded from his anger!
These fools were getting ahead of themselves!
When we were beating the Qilin Hall members, didn’t you all have a part in it? Now you are all completely wiping yourself clean and leaving! It’s fine if you betray me, but now you want to pin it all on father, how is that fine!
If this matter caused him to be unable to join the Qilin Hall, wasn’t this trying to take his life?
