Chapter 35: A More Graceful Approach

Chapter 35: A More Graceful Approach

The entire class turned and looked back at the obstacle course. They had already been watching it earlier, but as Elder Ji motioned to it, the wall of crystals came alive, lighting up and moving quicker, even as they were all watching.

He continued to talk, “I will be splitting you into teams of five. Today, we shall just do it for time to learn about the obstacles. But over the next few weeks, we will use different variations to force you to learn to work with what you have and to utilize your team to the fullest extent. Everyone, look for your teammates.”

Paike immediately found Liming and Guan Li next to him and looked around. Already, he could see groups forming. They needed two more people, but they didn’t want just anyone. Unfortunately, he didn’t really know anyone who would actually consider joining their group.

Already, the three of them together were a bit unfair, but they covered each other’s weaknesses well. That should help with convincing a couple others to join them. What they really needed was some ranged damage. Unfortunately, Yixin hadn’t made it into the class, but that was one of the easier roles to replace.

Paike watched as Li Feng and Mei Lingchi grouped up and grabbed three people he didn’t recognize. Han Saiyan and Ren Shu were standing across from each other, arms crossed as they talked, standoffish but clearly gathering their own group. Zhai Lianitian and Xia Jun were also talking nearby. It was unsurprising that Zhai Lianitian had managed to get in the class even after he had hurt her.

She was probably the favorite going into their little tournament. She saw him looking in her direction and turned away. He was certain that there was a flash of fear on her face. Before Paike could make a move one way or another, Liming returned with two cultivators.

“Paike, Guan Li,” Liming said, gesturing to them in turn. “This is Zhang Shuying and Mi Lixian.”

The two women bowed politely.

“We would be honored to join your group,” Mi Lixian said. She was much shorter than his sister despite being at least an year older than her.

Liming turned to Paike, who gave her an inquisitive look.

“I know these two from when I was choosing my house,” she explained. “Miss Zhang is an archer of some skill, and Miss Mei has a rather unique combat style using her lute. But I’ve seen her use it to great effectiveness.”

Paike nodded. Well, having anyone with ranged ability—a replacement archer—was going to be a blessing for sure. As for a musical cultivator, well, that was interesting. She had to be exceptionally talented to make it to this level. It wouldn’t have been his first choice, but it wasn’t a bad addition.

“We’d love to have you. We’d be honored to accept your presence on the team,” Paike said after a moment’s thought.

“Well, with that, we have five,” Guan Li said as he looked around, finding most of the other young cultivators had formed groups. The rest of the students had been quickly picked up by the two more powerful members of each team. Though some looked happier than others.

Elder Ji clapped his hands, gathering everyone’s attention. “These are your groups for now. I hold the right to change them at a moment’s notice, though. So get used to them, but don’t get too reliant on any one person.”

Paike frowned. Why had he given a warning? A quick group switch early on would have thrown them off balance and maybe been a better teaching moment. Perhaps there was another reason for it. Paike tried to think of some reason for the warning beyond the obvious. It didn’t seem like Elder Ji wanted to reveal too much too soon. Maybe it was about not revealing too many secrets between cultivators. That might be it.

“Okay, everyone gets five minutes to talk, and then we will all run the obstacle course together,” Elder Ji said, waving his hand. The obstacle course shifted, with two rows duplicated, leaving four rows with shimmering barriers between them.

Paike looked and noticed that the course wasn’t actually any wider. It was simply a bending of space that allowed there to be four instances of the obstacle course instead of the two they had seen before. Interesting, he thought, and he wrenched his gaze away from the distorted sense of scale between the forest and the obstacle course, which was starting to give him a headache. That concept was far beyond his current ability to fully ponder, more than just acknowledging its existence.

The five of them walked quietly, putting a little distance between themselves and the others, hopefully far enough that they wouldn’t be easily overheard.

“So,” Paike said, “tell me more about yourselves.”

Zhang Shuying unslung the bow from her shoulder. It was taller than she was. “I mainly focus on arrows of wind,” she said. “My primary focus for physical cultivation is speed. Up close, I won’t fare well in a fight, but from a distance, it will be difficult to evade my arrows,” she added with a modest tone and a neutral expression.

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“Good. You’ll probably work well with this obstacle course, especially if eventually we need to interfere with each other,” Paike said.

He then turned to Mi Lixian. “What about you, musician? What do you do with your lute?”

She smiled. “My lute has a certain charming effect. Those who listen to it find themselves easily snared and redirected.”

Paike tapped his chin. That wasn’t an uncommon sort of ability for a musical cultivator. It often depended heavily on their target’s willpower, though even the strongest-willed cultivators couldn’t entirely ignore it, as long as they were of similar power. It had a lot to do with cleverness, timing, and making sure it was targeted correctly. That was all something they would need to see in action.