Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

"...What exactly happened?" Ye Jiao asked in a low voice, trying to remain calm.

The middle-aged man sighed. He had already realized that Ye Jiaofang knew nothing about this matter and had previously refused him for other reasons. Theoretically, this matter should have been kept secret. But perhaps the middle-aged man felt that this matter was destined to be kept secret and that Ye Jiaofang would find out sooner or later, so he simply told him to do him a favor.

"Don't make this a secret."

Ye Jiao nodded.

The middle-aged man then asked, "Do you know what a dragon is?"

Ye Jiaofang was slightly taken aback, then nodded. Of course he knew about dragons; they were mythical creatures from ancient times, mysterious and unpredictable.

—The "ancient times" in ancient times basically refer to the age of gods. As for dragons, some are magical beasts, and some are mythical creatures. But regardless of whether they are magical beasts or mythical creatures, they are already on the verge of extinction.

“Beneath Sakura, there is a dragon,” the middle-aged man said. “This is a secret discovered by a magician two hundred years ago. Beneath Sakura, there is a giant dragon, beneath the Yin Lei Shen Mountain.”

Yin Lei Shen Shan... Ye Jiao Fang was stunned. This was a volcano about 300 kilometers away, the largest active volcano in Ying Man, with an altitude of over 3,000 meters. It erupted on average once every four years, each time with astonishing force, like the end of the world, hence its nickname "Mount Doomsday".

There's actually a dragon sleeping beneath that mountain?!

Ye Jiao suppressed her surprise and waited for the middle-aged man to speak.

"Two hundred years ago, we discovered that dragon, but it remained dormant for two centuries. Until recently, we received a warning that the dragon was about to awaken. Therefore, we gathered martial artists, armed with heavy weaponry, hoping to vanquish the dragon..."

—Dragons have their own unique characteristics, but just as the progenitors possessed the common ability to control their own lineage, mythical dragons and magical dragons alike share one common ability: immunity to magic.

Dragons are walking magic immune systems; their scales possess a special immunity to magic. Unfortunately, these scales only remain active on a dragon's body. Once removed from the dragon's body, the scales lose their activity and the magic immunity effect disappears.

—And then the frustrating thing is, the dragons themselves are all masters of magic, and they're all incredibly skilled at using area-of-effect attacks. So there's a bizarre saying that the dragons have a teammate invulnerability cheat, making them basically the only creatures that can freely cast spells without worrying about other beings.

Therefore, mages are not very useful in defeating dragons... Moreover, like Qin, the country of Sakuraman basically only has martial artists and no mages.

Ye Jiaofang had already guessed what was going to happen next, and he asked in a low voice, "The campaign has already begun?"

He felt this was already a very bad situation. The middle-aged man had contacted him just two days ago, and now he was forced to start a punitive expedition. There was simply not enough time to prepare. Was Ouma really prepared?

As soon as he spoke, he noticed the middle-aged man's complicated gaze. Ye Jiao's heart tightened, and he suddenly recalled what the middle-aged man had said at the beginning.

"...It's over."

The middle-aged man said in a low voice, "Do you remember what I told you? It's a good thing you didn't go. Otherwise, you would have been almost wiped out like them."

"...They were all wiped out?" Ye Jiaofang asked incredulously.

“Almost.” The middle-aged man took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled out two, and handed one to Ye Jiaofang. Ye Jiaofang shook his head, took the cigarettes back, and lit one for himself. “The news just came back today: a crushing defeat. That dragon wasn’t an ordinary magical beast; it was a mythical creature. It wiped out the entire expeditionary force with just a few breaths… Only a small number of people survived. Luckily, you didn’t go.”

Ye Jiaofang's expression suddenly calmed down, and his eyes revealed an expression that the middle-aged man could not understand. He calmly asked, "I have a question. Are there any people from the Qiming Shrine on Mount Datianjin in the expeditionary force?"

"How do you know this?" The middle-aged man was somewhat surprised; his question was itself an answer.

Ye Jiaofang didn't say anything more. He stood up and walked outside.

"Hey!" the middle-aged man called out to him, "What are you going to do?"

"You said it's a good thing I didn't go." Ye Jiaofang strode out without turning his head, his voice filled with chilling killing intent.

"My opinion is exactly the opposite."

Chapter Eighty-Four: The Heart of Struggle (Part Nine)

(PS: 26 missing)

Dragon.

dragon.

The simplest and most brutal of mythical creatures, like the Earth Mother Goddess among the progenitors, is simply powerful.

The dragons in Warcraft basically stand at the pinnacle of combat power. As mythical creatures, they are considered top-tier in current understanding. This statement is somewhat similar to saying that "the clown is the most bizarre progenitor" or "the Earth Mother is the strongest progenitor in direct combat." Is the clown really the most bizarre? Is the Earth Mother really the strongest in combat? Actually, neither is necessarily true. It's just that humans have never seen anything more bizarre than the clown, or anything stronger in direct combat than the Earth Mother.

Mythical dragons also occupy a similar position.

Mythical creatures have always been few in number, and dragons are even rarer, but the giant dragon sleeping beneath Yinlei Mountain is a genuine mythical creature.

Even in modern times, this kind of thing is extremely difficult to deal with. The opponent has the ability to travel through the void, so weapons like the apocalypse are completely ineffective. It also has magic immunity. It can be said that even in modern times, it would be a top-level trouble, let alone in ancient times.

"it's over.."

At the foot of Yinlei Mountain, the remaining few people hid in a cave; they were the only survivors.

"boom.."

The awe-inspiring roar of the dragon resounded, making one's eardrums ache slightly. A violent gale swept through the cave entrance, tearing apart trees and grass... This was the power of mythical creatures.

With just a few breaths, they routed Ouma's team, killing dozens in an instant. Only a few survived, and they could only wait to die there.

Although Shenya used magic to send the message back, everyone knew that no reinforcements would come. To be precise, even if they did, it would be too late.

"Is this... the tribulation you were destined to face?"

Shen Ya leaned against the cave wall, her face pale. In the previous battle, in order to survive and protect the people in front of her, she had exhausted her life force. Although she was not blind or deaf yet, she was almost gone.

The person who spoke to her was the priestess of the Qiming Shrine, a woman around thirty years old, remarkably well-preserved, and considered one of the best magicians in the Sakura Man realm. Now, her face was ashen, and she lamented, "No wonder your family was reduced to only five people after the fire..."

When disaster strikes, the descendants of a person's son will develop a high fever. Only those who survive can inherit the ability. Generally speaking, the more terrifying the disaster, the higher the fever. In the previous generation of Shenya, there were nearly a hundred people in four generations of her family, but after a high fever, only five people remained. Three of them inherited the ability and were sent to different regions to prepare for the possible disasters to come.

Among them, Shenya was assigned to Ouma and placed under the care of the priest of the Kyome Shrine. The priest was an old friend of the Hito no Ko lineage and agreed to the matter. Naturally, he also knew all the details about Shenya and Hito no Ko.

Now, the disaster has arrived as expected, but its intensity has exceeded everyone's expectations.

"Is this the end for us?"

Shen Ya barely managed to lift the blackboard.

"Yes...it's all over." Gong Si responded softly, looking out of the cave. She saw enormous wings sweeping across the sky—the wings of a dragon, pitch black, shimmering with a chilling, captivating light. They were immense, blotting out the sun... Many had already despaired upon arriving here, even before the battle began. This dragon was simply too large. While size doesn't tell the whole story, such a colossal form couldn't be weak in combat.

Everything that followed was just as feared. Up until now, when Shen Ya asked if it was going to end, the priest said yes, it was going to end.

They had sentenced themselves to death; the magic would soon wear off, and the dragon would discover the cave. With a single breath, they wouldn't even be able to preserve their bodies.

An atmosphere of sorrow and despair filled the cave. The wounded wailed in agony, even though they hadn't been directly hit by the dragon's breath. The terrifying heat and shockwave still claimed the lives of the vast majority, and those who survived were simply waiting to die.

【"Finish.."】

Shen Ya pondered these two words: end, and death. These two words felt so distant. But now, they were about to truly descend upon her.

"Do you regret it, Shinya?" Miyaji asked softly.

"I regret it so much..."

Shinya gave an unexpected answer. Miyaji had expected her to say she had no regrets, because it was her mission. But Shinya said... she deeply regretted it.

"I still have so many regrets, so many things I haven't been able to do, and it's all ending like this... How can it end like this? I'm so unwilling to accept it..."

With tears in his eyes, the priest embraced Shenya, choking back sobs, "Good child..."

Are you unwilling to accept this?

Suddenly, a calm voice rang out in the cave, shattering the despair and sorrow within.

Shen Ya's pupils contracted as she looked towards the cave entrance... but her eyesight was severely impaired, and she couldn't see anything clearly except for a blurry figure... walking towards her.

It's Ye Jiaofang!

He traversed 300 kilometers at an incredible speed and arrived here!

Ye Jiao walked over quickly. He squatted down in front of Shen Ya and said calmly, "Now you feel resentful? You despicable guy, when I was leaving, you clung to me like a leech, but when you were leaving, you didn't give me any news. You lost the battle, and now you're crying and whining here, feeling resentful. You're utterly pathetic."

Shen Ya broke free from Gong Si's embrace, gestured to her to be quiet, and then began writing on the blackboard. She was somewhat weak, and her writing was slower than usual. ["Are you angry... because I abandoned you? But if this isn't a dream, I'm happy, Ye Jiaofang, to see you one last time before I die. But I'm also very sad. You made a mistake. What should I do? How can you leave this place...? Thinking about this makes me too heartbroken to die like this. I feel I can't just abandon you like this."]

"Of course I'm angry..." Ye Jiaofang said calmly, paused slightly, and then suddenly laughed, "But I'm also very happy, just like you... because you're still alive, and then, I came."

He stood up and walked outside.

"Wait...wait, what are you going to do?!"

Gong Si couldn't help but speak up; she didn't recognize Ye Jiaofang. His appearance and departure were shrouded in mystery. At the very last moment before he was about to leave, she finally called out to him.

“I went and killed that dragon...because I had sworn an oath.”

Ye Jiaofang didn't look back, but strode forward. He raised one hand, held it high above his head, and then clenched it tightly, as if he wanted to strangle fate.

"I must win everything!"

Chapter Eighty-Five: The Heart of Struggle

Win...all!

Faced with Ying Qin Guan's unavoidable slash, Ye Jiao Fang's eyes suddenly flashed with an astonishing light. He suddenly sprang up and swung his sword with incredible speed!

Clang!

The clang of metal against metal resounded, but the two did not continue to engage in a physical contest. Their swords separated as soon as they touched, followed by a frenzied swinging and a series of violent collisions that wove together a symphony of murderous intent.

Ding ding ding ding ding ding—

The wildly dancing swords and the surging inner energy created an atmosphere like an untouchable sacred realm.

Ye Jiaofang had lost an arm, and now, in his fight with Ying Qinguan, he was being suppressed at an extremely slow pace. Others might not have noticed—they couldn't even see it clearly, let alone sense it. But Ye Jiaofang could clearly feel it. It was like an arm-wrestling match; perhaps the two were briefly evenly matched, but you could feel the trembling of your right hand and the mountain-like steadiness of your opponent.

But unexpectedly... he felt incredibly calm inside. Memories gradually surfaced in his mind, but instead of disrupting his fighting rhythm, they made him even more adept. His body moved instinctively, and gradually, he no longer needed to think.

What kind of feeling is this...? Ye Jiaofang didn't know, nor did he want to think about these questions.

Struggle, struggle!

Keep going, keep going!

boom!

With a loud bang, Ying Qin Guan and Ye Jiao Fang's inner energy clashed, and the surging airflow spread out, pushing both of them dozens of feet away.

Ye Jiao took a deep breath... and launched another fierce attack!

In other battles, such a respite might be a good opportunity for verbal sparring. But in this fight, neither side has anything to say; they may both have their reasons. But there's no need to argue about whether those reasons are valid. For martial artists, the outcome of the fight speaks for itself.

Ye Jiaofang relinquished control of his body and surrendered everything to his heart. He thought that perhaps Ying Qin Guan was the same way.

Give everything to your own heart.

Just like what he said to Shenya back then.

-

Ye Jiaofang achieved great success in one battle, but before his fame could spread throughout the world, he was about to leave.