Gang Yongye made his way through the crowd after handing the two scrolls to Huang Ying, stepping onto the stone stage so that all the students could clearly see him. The students all took a few steps back and made space for each other, everyone quickly getting a meter or two of free space around them. Huang Ying was caught a bit off guard at first but quickly mimicked their actions, heading over to a spot where there was room for him.
Gang Yongye nodded his head after he saw that all the students had found an empty spot, his knees bending slightly as he pushed out both his palms and took a horse stance. He let out a long breath, the subdued sound of a chime coming from his mouth as thin lines of white Qi started to appear on his body. The lines of Qi moved around his body in a pattern mostly circulated around his arms and legs, the other students quickly mimicking his moves. Li Jun scoffed at the moves but didn't say anything, Gang Yongye speaking up to explain to Huang Ying exactly what he was doing.
"This is the first and fundamental stance of the Star Shade cultivation technique. It is a non-elemental cultivation technique that is well-suited for everyone to cultivate, its main purpose is to slightly temper the body while also hastening the process at which you adapt your body to Qi. Memorize the movements of these white lines, they mark the path that your own Qi has to traverse while cultivating this technique."
Huang Ying seriously nodded his head and focused on the white lines moving across Gang Yongye's body, quickly memorizing their path. It was possible to cultivate without a technique, Huang Ying himself had done so already, but a technique, especially one suited to your elements, would allow you to greatly increase your speed. Some cultivation techniques even contained special moves or other techniques you could use to devastating effect.
Acquiring techniques like these, as well as other resources, was often the main reason for people to join a sect or academy. Of course, there would always be people ready and willing to complain about just about everything, and in this case, that person happened to be Li Jun.
"Chet, that's the technique they're giving out, the Star Shade technique? It's not even the Major Night or the 12 Stars technique? Oy, quickly take out the techniques they just gave you, I gotta look over them to make sure that they aren't as useless as this one."
Huang Ying complied, his hands fumbling around inside his white robe to take out the two scrolls and unfurling them. But his eyes never left Gang Yongye as he did this, he had even already bent his knees and stretched out his arms. It didn't matter to him that Li Jun considered this a poor technique, it was the first one he learned anything about so he was incomparably serious about studying it.
Gang Yongye slowly changed his position, his knees remaining bent as he bowed his torso forward and placed on hand on the ground, taking on a posture like a cheetah about to strike. The white lines on his body also moved when he changed his position, gathering around his back, the soft sound of bells coming from Gang Yongye's shoulders. Huang Ying was slightly curious about the sounds coming from Gang Yongye so he interrupted Li Jun as he was going over the two techniques.
"Grampa Jun, are those sounds part of the technique or are they something that he himself is producing?"
His mouth produced the sound of a chime while his shoulders produced the sound of bells, they weren't exactly common sounds that you would ever hear coming from a person's body. Li Jun quickly responded in a somewhat off-handed manner, he was probably still going through the two techniques and wasn't too pleased with what he saw.
"Ah? Oh, they're coming from him, he cultivates the law of sound so those noises are a result of him circulating his Qi in a specific manner. But really, is this the standard of techniques that they can bring out?"
Li Jun continued to grumble, his voice slowly turning somewhat distant. But Huang Ying temporarily ignored his grumbling, he could listen to him complain later on when they had some free time. No, right now he was a bit more interested in the words that Li Jun had just spoken, continuing to converse with him.
"There's that word again, Law, what does it mean exactly, and what makes it different from having an element? Also, Headteacher Yongye cultivates the law of sound? How does a person like him end up with something like that?"
Gang Yongye had a powerful gaze, unruly hair, and a rather burly physique, he didn't exactly fit the image one would conjure up when they heard about sound. But his words were quickly met with a disdainful snort from Li Jun.
"Hmph, don't think that you can underestimate a law just because it sounds weak, it's all about how it gets used. I once knew a man who focused solely on the law of strings, a flick of his finger was enough to invade your entire body with strings and turn you into one of his marionettes, I've already lost count of how many living puppets he had under his control. And the most terrifying person I've ever known in my life was a woman who cultivated the law of bubbles, she was the most harrowing assassin I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. A glance from her was enough to stop your heart by flooding your veins with tiny air bubbles."
This was the first time Huang Ying had ever seen Li Jun react so strongly to something, it seemed like this particular topic was a rather sore spot for him. But hearing his words, Huang Ying couldn't help but get a small shock, something as simple as strings and bubbles could be used in such a manner? After apparently taking a second to regain his state of mind, Li Jun responded to Huang Ying's earlier question.
"What we call a law is actually two things, the edict of the universe as well as the building blocks of Qi. The second part is easy to explain, just like all matter is made up of tiny atoms and molecules, all forms of energy are made up of tiny law fragments of various elements. The first part is a bit more complex, but basically, the universe is filled with invisible energy that dictates how things are and how they act. The wind feels and moves the way it does because the law of wind controls it, that's the basic gist of it at least. The elements you have don't limit what laws you can utilize, but you would have to put in at least 100 times the effort to control a law that doesn't match the elements you were born with or acquired through special means. Due to this, most cultivators just refer to their elements as their laws, you should hear it quite a few times in this academy."
Li Jun wasn't quite done talking but stopped so that Huang Ying could absorb the information he had just been fed. It wasn't information someone at his level could come in contact with, but there also wasn't any harm in knowing it. Huang Ying's eyes sparkled as he listened, his posture changing to mimic Gang Yongye's new stance. Hearing about something as special as laws, there was no way that he wouldn't be rather excited. After all, how extraordinary wasn't something that was an edict made by the universe itself? Once he was certain that Huang Ying had absorbed the information, Li Jun continued to talk.
"Most people only come into contact with the laws when they enter the Nine Mountains of Immortality, it's usually at that stage that they become able to utilize them properly. When you use the laws, you are basically utilizing your understanding of that law to control the laws that are ever-present around you. This allows you to heavily cut down how much Qi you have to use to produce an effect, if your understanding is deep enough, you can even fight without needing to use a shred of Qi. Of course, despite telling you all this, you shouldn't be too focused on the laws until you reach the Nine Mountains of Immortality, focusing too much on it can even distract you from proper cultivation and thus be detrimental."
Huang Ying nodded his head seriously in response to Li Jun's casual reminder, carefully engraving the words in his heart. He continued to focus on Gang Yongye as he changed his stances, copying his moves and doing his best to have his own Qi flow along the white lines.
He quickly noticed a difference compared to normal when he cultivated using the showcased technique. His devouring element, or rather his law of devouring, activated on its own whenever he had his Qi follow the paths, further increasing the speed at which his body absorbed the surrounding Qi. Furthermore, under the control of the law of devouring, the absorbed Qi was moved through his body in a rapid and forceful manner, even spilling over into the parts that he wasn't focusing on right now, tempering a larger part of his body than the technique should be able to.
When he compared it to the speed he had when he cultivated without the technique, the absorption was about 50% faster and it also brought with it the added tempering effect. But while Huang Ying was marveling at the change that his law of devouring brought about, the disdainful grumbling of Li Jun rang out again, he didn't seem to have noticed the special effect that the law of devouring had on the cultivation technique.
"Really, even these two techniques are utter trash. If this is the standard they have then it'll just be better for me to give you some of my techniques. They don't match your laws so you'll only be able to gain about 50% of the benefit, but even that is leagues better than this utter garbage that they are so proudly serving you. I'll give them to you once you return to the cabin, they're best cultivated in solitude."
Huang Ying's eyes practically lit up with fire when he heard Li Jun's grumbling. Just the generic technique that was supposedly nothing more than trash worked so well with his law of devouring, just how well would Li Jun's technique work in tandem with the law of devouring? But he could only temporarily curb his excitement, continuing to focus on Gang Yongye as he showcased the various stances of the Star Shade technique.
Gang Yongye showcased all eight stances four times, taking a short break between each session to give advice to the students that were having some issues. He spent the better portion of the day doing this, a full 14 hours having passed by the time he was done, causing Huang Ying to question whether or not this was still considered a morning class.
But what he didn't know was that Gang Yongye only spent so long on it was because this was Huang Ying's first class, he wanted to make sure that Huang Ying properly understood everything. Future classes would be much shorter and rely more heavily on self-cultivation. Gang Yongye ended the class and said his farewells to the tired students, giving them the next day off so that they could get some proper rest after such a long class.
Song Yi quickly bounced over to Huang Ying once the class ended, Chen Hong and Langye following right behind her with calmer steps. It seemed like not even cultivating like this for 14 hours was enough to tire out Song Yi, Huang Ying couldn't help but admit that she was the natural scourge of everyone who liked peace and quiet. But before Song Yi was even able to open her mouth, a somewhat tired voice rang out from the edge of the martial field.
"You're finally finished, I was starting to think that my legs would give out before this class ended. If all your classes with Headteacher Yognye are like this then I can only pity you and offer a small prayer for your social life."
Huang Ying turned around upon hearing the somewhat familiar voice, his gaze landing on the almond-haired and black-eyed Ling Uyong, who he hadn't seen since the entrance tests. There were currently large bags under her eyes, her posture somewhat sagged as she looked extremely tired. Huang Ying's gaze lowered slightly and landed on the metal box that she was carrying, a flash of excitement appearing in his eyes when he realized what she had come for, she had come to deliver his weapon.
