6: Chapter 6: Classic Characters Re-release

Xie Feng's footsteps paused for a moment.

Two men and two women.

Sitting by the window was a sword-carrying youth whose sword was not drawn, but the position where he sat allowed the hilt to always be on his right side, at a distance of just a single grip.

The youth looked seventeen or eighteen years old, with sharp eyebrows and eyes, wearing a dark green martial outfit, cuffs tightened, and collar bound meticulously.

Seeing Xie Feng and Tu Ziguan come up, his gaze lingered on Xie Feng's face for a moment, then moved away expressionlessly.

A ruthless Dao swordsman, huh, little friend?

You truly belong to the classic character trope.

Xie Feng mentally slapped a label on him.

Sitting on a chair against the wall was a young girl, lowering her head to fiddle with a pile of parts in her hands.

Copper, iron, wood, gears, screws, and chains were spread all over her knees.

Hearing the commotion, she raised her head, revealing a round face and a pair of bright eyes.

The way she looked at people was a bit strange; first looking at the hands, then the waist, and finally the face.

Someone who plays with Puppets and mechanisms.

Xie Feng slapped on another label.

Sitting beside the Eight Immortals table was a brocade-robed youth, fair-faced and beardless, born with a pair of peach blossom eyes that should look very good when smiling, except he wasn't smiling right now.

He held a cup of tea in his hand, the tea cover poking at the tea leaves in a leisurely manner, and a piece of mutton-fat jade of extremely good quality hung from his wrist.

He slightly narrowed his eyes when looking at people.

Xie Feng noticed his sitting posture; his back was straight but not stiff, the teacup held steadily, and his toes pointing toward the door.

This was a person who knew where he should sit and who he should face in any occasion.

This kind of squinty-eyed person is the most sinister, looking like a Young Master.

This time Xie Feng was just guessing.

The last person sat in the innermost corner of the hall, a tall young girl.

She didn't sit in a chair, but directly cross-legged on the ground, her back against the wall.

Her shoulders were wider than any peer female Xie Feng had ever seen, and the muscle lines on her arms were clearly visible through her sleeves.

She wasn't looking at Xie Feng, currently closing her eyes to rest, her breathing long and even, the fluctuation amplitude of her chest much larger than ordinary people.

At a glance, this one is about physical strength, huge force.

Xie Feng finished slapping the last label, then found himself standing in the center of the hall, with all four people looking at him.

Just kidding, coming from an HR background in his past life, handling finance, human resources, and administration all at once, hobbies include tabletop RPGs, and lifelong online web novel reading volume far exceeding veteran bookworms, for these few people, Xie Feng's evaluation was:

"Classic."

"This humble one is Xie Feng."

Xie Feng cupped his fists.

A brief silence.

The swordsman by the window spoke first: "Gu Jian, Gu Family."

The young girl fiddling with mechanisms was much more enthusiastic; she gathered the parts on her knees to the side, stood up, and performed a less-than-standard salute: "My name is Mo Tang! Third in the Mo Family, you can just call me Xiaotang. You are Xie Feng? We've all heard about the Martial Arts Arena incident."

Xie Feng's body tightened: "What have you heard?"

"They said you opened one Meridian, and then frontally defeated a low-tier anomaly."

Mo Tang's eyes were frighteningly bright: "How did you do that? Are you hiding some mechanism on your body?"

"Not really."

"Then how did you do it?"

Xie Feng opened his mouth, realizing he couldn't explain it.

He couldn't possibly say "Pardon me for a few minutes, let me introduce you to our great Loving Father."

"Luck."

Mo Tang obviously didn't believe it, but didn't pursue the questioning, only her gaze sizing him up and down becoming even more fervent.

The brocade-robed youth put down his teacup, nodded toward Xie Feng, his attitude lukewarm: "Wen Yushu. My ancestor is an inner sect Elder of the Qingyun Sect, with the single name 'Heng'."

When he said "with the single name Heng", his tone was flat, as if he were merely stating a fact.

But Xie Feng noticed that after he finished speaking, he paused for a moment, waiting for the reactions of the others present.

Who asked you?

"Brother Xie."

Wen Yushu looked at him, his peach blossom eyes carrying a hint of a smile that wasn't quite a smile: "I've also heard about the Martial Arts Arena incident. Opening one Meridian to defeat an anomaly, you are the second person in the three hundred years since the founding of the Qingyun Sect."

"Second? Who was the first?"

Wen Yushu didn't answer, just smiled, and picked up his teacup again.

Riddler, get out of Gotham.

Xie Feng felt this smile was very annoying.

The Body Refining young girl in the corner finally opened her eyes.

Her eyes were amber, her pupils larger than ordinary people, looking at people like a quiet beast.

"Tie Rong. A blacksmith."

One word more than Gu Jian.

Xie Feng waited two seconds, confirming she had nothing more to say.

"That's all?"

"That's all."

Okay, each one talks less than the last.

You aloof types always play the craziest after getting familiar.

Tu Ziguan timely took over the conversation, cupping his fists toward the crowd with a full face of smiles: "This humble one is Tu Ziguan, fifth of the Tu Family, everyone can just call me Tu Wu. Seven Meridians, ranking fifth. For the next month, we will be fellow Disciples, please take care of me."

His tone was just right, neither humble nor overbearing, neither showing off nor acting subservient.

Xie Feng watched from the side, confirming once again that this person really knew how to navigate human relations.

With the addition of Tu Ziguan, the atmosphere in the hall loosened a bit.

Mo Tang was the first to respond: "Six Meridians! But my dad said, the number of Meridians doesn't represent everything; once mechanism arts are practiced well, even Six Meridians can defeat Eight Meridians."

Gu Jian: "Seven Meridians."

Tie Rong: "Seven Meridians."

Wen Yushu spoke last, gentle as jade: "Eight Meridians."

Eight Meridians, the highest among this batch of Disciples.

Mo Tang's gaze towards Wen Yushu carried a bit more scrutiny, Gu Jian's brows moved slightly, and Tie Rong had no reaction, continuing to close her eyes to rest.

Tu Ziguan smiled to smooth things over: "Brother Wen has Eight Meridians, truly deserving to be Elder Wen's grandson. In future assessments, we must look out for each other."

When he said this, his gaze inadvertently swept over Xie Feng.

Xie Feng understood his meaning.

There were six people in this room, five are Prodigies, and only Xie Feng was the trash protected into the sect by a token.

Tu Ziguan was helping him smooth things over, pulling everyone's attention back to cultivation to prevent anyone from bringing up Xie Feng's background.

Wen Yushu nodded, neither saying good nor bad.

Mo Tang suddenly turned to Xie Feng: "Xie Feng, do you really only have one Meridian?"

"Really."

Xie Feng responded, while feeling that this girl truly lacked emotional intelligence; didn't she see that others weren't talking, yet she kept asking and asking?

"How can one Meridian defeat an anomaly?"

"Luck."

"What kind of luck can defeat an anomaly? I want it too."

At this moment Xie Feng fell silent for two seconds, seriously thinking about it.

"No, you don't."

Mo Tang tilted her head and didn't understand, but Xie Feng's expression made her not continue to pursue the question.

Wen Yushu put down his teacup and suddenly spoke: "Have you all learned about the one-month introductory assessment?"

With a twist of the topic, everyone's attention was pulled over.

Xie Feng noticed that Wen Yushu was very good at this; when the conversation was about to slide in a direction he wasn't interested in, he would casually pull the topic back.

"Brother Wen knows the inside story?" Tu Ziguan asked.

"Not much. I only know that the content of the assessment varies every year, but there is one commonality."

Wen Yushu paused.

"My ancestor said, the Qingyun Sect does not accept trash. Whether you enter through testing or are protected in by a token, you are only given a chance. Whether you can seize it depends on yourself."

Wen Yushu's gaze swept across Xie Feng's face: "Over the years, the assessment pass rate for token Disciples is less than thirty percent."

"What about the remaining seventy percent?" Mo Tang asked.

Are you an idiot?

Xie Feng looked at Mo Tang with his eyes, secretly cursing in his heart; he had no feeling for this kind of naive sweetheart character trope.

Seventy percent become Grand Elders, do you think that's right?

And this Elder's grandson, you are a real grandson, who asked you?

Wen Yushu glanced at her and didn't answer.

Everyone understood the answer.

Xie Feng felt his legs starting to shake again; he sat down in the chair, placed his hands on his knees, and pressed down hard.

No choice, he didn't want to either, but he was a coward.

"What direction is the content of the assessment roughly in?" Tu Ziguan asked.

"I don't know, it's different every year," Wen Yushu said.

"Sometimes it's actual combat, sometimes it's deciphering anomalies, and sometimes it's survival trials. The only certainty is that the assessment will push you to your limit."

When he said this, his gaze swept across everyone's face, lingering on Xie Feng's face the longest.

Xie Feng knew what he was thinking.

How can a trash with one Meridian muddle through an assessment?

What a coincidence, Xie Feng wanted to know too.

That night, Xie Feng lay on the bed in the inn, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

He turned over, facing the wall.

There was a thin crack on the wall, extending all the way from the ceiling to the head of the bed.

Xie Feng stared at that crack and began to think about the one-month assessment.

"One Meridian, the Cultivation speed is one-tenth of others, and the total amount of spiritual power is probably also one-tenth. Others Cultivate for a day, I have to Cultivate for ten days. Others Cultivate for a month, I have to Cultivate for ten months."

He tried to circulate the Xie Family's ancestral Cultivation Technique.

Spiritual power flowed slowly in that single Meridian, so slowly that he doubted if he had done something wrong somewhere.

One cycle, two cycles, by the third cycle, the spiritual power suddenly stagnated—not exhausted, but intercepted by something.

Xie Feng was slightly stunned and circulated it again.

This time he intentionally slowed down his speed, carefully feeling every node of spiritual power flow.

Then he discovered that in his Meridians, there was a "knot".

Not a bottleneck produced by cultivation, but a real, physical-sense blockage.

Something was stuck in that sole Meridian, blocking more than half of the already narrow passage.

When spiritual power flowed there, it could only squeeze through the gaps, and the speed naturally became slow.

Xie Feng opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling in the dark.

There was no such thing in the original owner's memory.

When the people of the Xie Family tested his bone structure, they only measured the number of opened Meridians, without checking the interior of the Meridians.

Or rather, with the level of the Xie Family, they simply couldn't check it out.

Therefore, the original owner never knew that he wasn't poor in talent, but that his Meridians had been tampered with by someone.

"How utterly sinister, do I also have to carry the background of a persecuted Family Prodigy?"

When? Who? Why?

Xie Feng thought for a long time, then closed his eyes.

Now was not the time to investigate this; the problem now was: the Meridians were blocked, and the Cultivation speed was only one-tenth of an ordinary person's.

And the only thing he could rely on was the thing he wanted least.

Yog-Sothoth was watching him.

Xie Feng pulled the quilt over his head, letting out a muffled sigh.

"Yog-Sothoth."

He said to the pillow, "Can you... stop looking at me?"

There was no response.

In fact, he also knew that a Cthulhu-like deity truly didn't treat humans as humans, but there was no help for it; when people were under great stress, they always said some meaningless words.

Outside the window, the moonlight shone on the bluestone ground of the Qingyun Sect, glowing with a faint silver.

From afar came the faint sound of the night-patrolling Disciple's wooden clapper, one, two, three strokes.

Tu Ziguan lay on the bed, hands pillowing the back of his head, eyes open.

He was thinking about today's events, thinking about what Xie Feng looked like standing in the center of the Martial Arts Arena.

One Meridian, defeating an anomaly.

"It's not luck, absolutely not luck. There is a secret on that person, a secret more valuable than Seven Meridians, Eight Meridians, or any talent."

"This world really does have a protagonist!"