Chapter 311 Crowding Around To Watch
“Xingjian, you’re here again?”
“Mmm.”
“How’s your progress? Have you figured out what language those Ancient Era’s writings are in?”
“Mmm, I’m about there.”
“I’ve heard that Sword Saint Sasa has already deciphered the first two hundred words. Xingjian, you must work hard too.”
“Mmm.”
As he watched Fang Xingjian leave with an indifferent look, the student who had approached Fang Xingjian thought to himself, ‘He’s just putting up an act.’
Fang Xingjian continued to head for the room where the dragon’s scale was located. On the way, quite a number of people greeted him and asked him about his progress with the Ancient Era’s artifact. When he came across them, Fang Xingjian would just give a casual reply.
When Leon walked over, he could not hold it in and stared at the students as they walked past. He then patted Xingjian’s shoulder and said, “Don’t think too much about it. These people are just extremely jealous of a 17 year old genius… a 17 year old Conferred Knight. They’re just waiting to see you make a fool of yourself.”
“It’s fine.”
Leon then continued to say, “Sasa’s side has basically verified that the words on the artifact don’t belong to any known languages. He has invited a language specialist to decipher the words together with him. I heard that it’s a type of hieroglyphic, and their progress is very fast.”
“Is that so?” Fang Xingjian replied.
Leon continued, “Aren’t you anxious? The other party is a well-known sword master from the southeast and an expert with a reputation as a Sword Saint.”
“Then it must be really cheap to be a Sword Saint in the Eastern Sand Region.”
Leon smiled bitterly and said, “You sure are open-minded.”
As the two of them conversed, they gradually arrived at the room where the dragon’s scale was located. Sasa and a few other old men were flipping through materials and debating on the meaning of each character as over ten people surrounded them and watched.
“This one should be referring to sword intent.”
“It’s saying that there’s sword intent inside?”
“But is that really possible? A sword intent that has existed since 2,000 years ago?”
“Even if there was, it should be gone by now?”
As the few of them debated, Fang Xingjian pushed his way through the crowd and walked up to the dragon’s scale. “It’s time. It’s my turn today.”
Sasa threw Fang Xingjian an annoyed look. However, they had already transferred a copy of the words on the dragon’s scale onto a piece of paper. Even if they were not in front of the dragon’s scale, it wouldn’t affect their progress in deciphering the words on it.
“Alright, let’s make a move.”
Sasa led the other professionals and left. Some people who were just here to spectate left as well, but there were still some who stayed behind, wanting to check out how Fang Xingjian was deciphering the words.
However, Fang Xingjian said, “I’m sure everyone has watched enough? I don’t wish to be disturbed today. Please leave.” It was only then that the group of people left helplessly, leaving Fang Xingjian alone once as he started to analyze the waves again.
Then as his consciousness got continuously close to the source of the waves on the dragon’s scale, he could feel the throbbing of an extremely strong and sharp aura, as if it was awakening from thousands or tens of thousands years of deep sleep.
Fang Xingjian could feel that as he continued to decipher the waves of the dragon’s scale through the words, he was getting closer and closer to the sword intent which was contained within. He would be able to truly get in touch with the sword intent in perhaps just a few more days.
…
In another office, Hoppes, the head of the sword arts team and the head of the Sword Tower, was checking through the research reports which had been done during this period of time. He was ensuring that there were no problems as to the general direction and focus of all the projects, as well as verify the direction they would need to take for the next few months.
Next to him, Leon was drinking a cup of coffee and saying, “Teacher, between Fang Xingjian and Sasa, who do you think will win?”
“Those two… What do you guys think?” Hoppes did not even raise his head and decided to test his students.
Next to him, a silver-haired young man in his twenties said sourly, “It’s true that Fang Xingjian is talented, but when it comes down to studying ancient artifacts, it depends on one’s experience and not talent. Sasa has already started to decipher the words, while Fang Xingjian… he hasn’t even really flipped through any materials. I think he’ll definitely lose.”
Leon smiled and said, “Hehe, Younger Martial Brother, you’re jealous.”
“What’s there to be jealous of? I’m just stating the truth. Leon, do you think that he has a chance to win against Sasa?”
Leon shook his head and said, “To win against Sasa… It’s too difficult. Teacher, what do you think?”
Hoppes replied calmly, “Under normal circumstances, no matter what Fang Xingjian does, there’s no way that he would be able to win Sasa. But the problem is, do you guys think that Fang Xingjian is an idiot?”
“Of course not,” Leon replied, “If a person who can clear all the sword techniques in the Killing Techniques Palace within a day is an idiot, then won’t we all be pigs?”
“Since Fang Xingjian isn’t an idiot and given that he’s the one who initiated this competition, he would naturally be confident. Therefore, even I can’t tell who will end up winning.”
The younger Martial Brother frowned and said, “Couldn’t it be because Fang Xingjian is too arrogant?”
Hoppes said calmly, “Never think of others as too much of a fool. This is especially so in battles. Never hope to bet your chances of winning on other people’s failures.”
…
Another day passed by, and Sasa let out a big yawn. Although most Conferred Knights no longer needed sleep, with the way he had been spending the past few days, consecutively expending a tremendous amount of brainpower to decipher the words… he still could feel the fatigue getting to him.
After all, deciphering words was like playing a guessing game by combining different possible variations together and then removing the wrong possibilities.
It was also thanks to the fact that an existence like Sasa was not like that of a human anymore. His strong powers at being level 29 allowed his brain to be like some super calculator, capable of storing countless pieces of information in his brain and then comparing and guessing different combination possibilities.
Thinking of how tired he had been for the past few days, Sasa suddenly laughed at himself. He felt he was being too careful. His opponent was only a young lad who had just completed his second transition for over a month. Was there a need for him to fight so hard?
‘But this is good as well. These geniuses need to be put down a little. Otherwise, they will really think that their talents are unrivalled and that they don’t give a hoot about their seniors.’
Thinking of the smooth progress they had made during the past few days in deciphering the artifact, Sasa was able to remain comfortable and calm despite being in a tense situation.
As Sasa walked toward the room where the dragon’s scale was located, there was a continuous stream of countless people greeting him.
“Lord Sword Saint, you’re here again?”
“Good morning, Lord Sword Saint.”
Sasa smiled as he greeted them. That bright and warm smile quickly drew close the distance he had with others, giving them the feeling as though he was easy to get along with.
This was the image which Sasa had always been maintaining, of him being graceful yet warm like spring, as if he was a well-educated great scholar. Upon one look, he would give off the feeling that he was a person of great virtue.
However, as he got closer to the room with the dragon’s scale, he suddenly frowned.
An assistant walked up to him and greeted, “Good morning, Lord Sasa. Is your research going smoothly?”
Sasa abruptly turned in his direction with an extremely sharp and fierce gaze, causing that assistant to take a few steps back uncontrollably. The assistant felt as if his body had been pierced, and he started to tremble.
However, Sasa did not have the time to be bothered with that. He gazed into the room, glaring at the dragon’s scale and Fang Xingjian. Sasa could sense that there was a gush of sword intent, or rather, information flow, slowly emerging from the dragon’s scale and having an exchange with Fang Xingjian.
‘How could this be?
‘This youngster… has already reached this stage?’