Dawnless Sovereign
Chapter 9: An Admirable Man

Chapter 9: An Admirable Man

Just the mere thought of this was enough to strike Sun Yuan with the urge of heaving a forlorn sigh.

In the past, whenever he had encountered any powerful cultivators complaining about how their disciples were too talented, and that they had nothing to teach them, he would internally curse them for their shamelessness.

If you're truly so embarrassed and ashamed of your inability to teach your excessive prodigious disciples, then why don't you go die?

Never had he imagined that a day would come when he would empathize with those detestable people.

Fang Che was such a prodigy that regardless of what saber techniques, sword techniques, and movement techniques Sun Yuan showed him, he would be able to replicate them after just a single demonstration.

At the very most, he only had to practice a technique three times to reach such an impeccable level of mastery that Sun Yuan was unable to pick out even a single fault.

In fact, he felt like Fang Che's movements were even more proficient than his own, and that only made him feel even more depressed.

There were some more difficult techniques that required the incorporation of mental, movement, and saber techniques, but those would also be mastered after no more than five repetitions.

In fact, Sun Yuan didn't even need to pick out any faults.

All Fang Che had to do was briefly reflect on his own imperfections, and with the next repetition, all of the minor faults that he had displayed the previous time would already have been remedied.

Sun Yuan felt like the most useless master in history.

Other masters were able to scold their students while pointing out their flaws, while he was not only unable to identify any flaws, he was beginning to wonder if he should learn from his disciple.

Fang Che had only been his disciple for four days. On the first afternoon, he had taught Fang Che a mental technique, and before even nightfall, Fang Che had already used it to manifest a spirit qi vortex in his dantian!

At night, he demonstrated his four sets of signature saber techniques to Fang Che, and even before midnight, Fang Che had already fully mastered them, displaying flawless technique and proficiency.

Sun Yuan had declared to him that it was these saber techniques that had earned him the title of Soaring Saber King, and that they were not to be taken lightly, but all of that seemed like a massive joke in the wake of the ridiculous ease with which Fang Che had mastered those techniques.

By the third day, Sun Yuan had absolutely nothing left to teach, and that was even after employing some stalling tactics.

The only thing that Fang Che was lacking in strength, while all of his other traits were already impeccable.

However, strength and battle experience had to be accumulated over time, and they could not be taught.

Just now, Sun Yuan had secretly returned to the One Heart Church to visit the elder shrine, the most secretive entity of the church.

All of the elders there had secret identities in the outside world, and Sun Yuan was one of the shrine's third-tier elders.

Upon his arrival, he immediately sought out several senior elders before delivering them an apology.

"I was wrong. I misunderstood you. Please accept my apology." The elders in question were perplexed.

Did he suffer a knock to the head? What is he apologizing for?

"What have you misunderstood?"

"In the past, I didn't understand, but today, I learned that there really are prodigies in this world," Sun Yuan replied. "It was really frustrating in the past when I had to hear you speak about how your disciples were too talented, and recently, I found a disciple for myself, and I've come to understand that you were all being genuine with me."

"???"

"It really is a huge pain. I've already run out of things to teach him after just three days. He manifested a spirit qi vortex on the first day, and within two hours, he mastered my own techniques to an even higher level of proficiency than myself. I feel no sense of achievement as his master, and sometimes, I'm even struck by the urge to learn from him! It made me realize just how genuine and heartfelt your sorrow had been."

He shook his head and heaved a forlorn sigh as he spoke, looking as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The three first-tier elders exchanged a few glances with one another, feeling a sense of fury arise in their hearts.

This bastard came to show off!

When it came to their disciples, even a week often wasn't enough for them to master a technique, and one was considered an outstanding prodigy if they could master the fundamentals of a cultivation art in half a month, yet Sun Yue was proclaiming that his disciple could accomplish the same thing in just two hours!

"Is that right?"

The three first-tier elders were suddenly looking a little hostile. "If it's such a bother for you, then why not let us instruct him instead?"

"No, no, it's fine, I'm sure all of you have much more important matters to attend to." "Not at all, we always have time to nurture prodigies for the church."

"No, really, it's fine..."

"Get him!"

In the end, Sun Yuan was just barely able to escape with his life.

The three elders hadn't held back at all, leaving Sun Yuan with two black eyes and several large lumps on his head.

The most severe damage had been inflicted upon his mouth, which had swelled to several times their original size, as if to serve a poignant reminder of the dangers of showing off.

As a result of his injuries, he received a great deal of attention as he traveled to the Missions Hall to request a mission.

"What happened? Did he run into a sworn enemy?"

"I reckon he must've been caught in the act of plowing someone else's wife!"

"...."

Sun Yuan could only suffer in silence, fuming as he entered the inner hall to find the pope.

"About the mission..."

"The mission is fine, and I have no issues with the reward that you proposed, but don't you think you showed off a little too much?" the pope asked with a peculiar look in his eyes.

An embarrassed look appeared on Sun Yuan's face.

"It's a good thing that you're guiding new blood into the church, but according to the rules, any disciples that have overcome the trial of the Five Spirit Parasite is to be brought back to the church to be nurtured before choosing a master.

“In light of that, it was rather improper of you to have secretly taken him as your disciples, and now, you're also trying to fabricate a nonexistent mission to earn merit points for him. Also, has he even undergone our church's baptism yet?"

"Well... At the time, I felt that it was imperative above all else to secure this talent for our church, and I feel the mission is a reasonable one, given the difficulty and perils involved," Sun Yuan protested in an embarrassed manner. "I never said I was going to deny the mission, but the other elders are very unhappy!" the pope said. "Did it really only take him two hours to master a full set of sword techniques?"

A smug look appeared on Sun Yuan's face as he corrected, "To tell you the truth, it only actually took him one hour."

"Well, that really is a bit of a pity then," the pope mused as his eyes narrowed slightly.

Sun Yuan immediately realized what the pope was implying, and he wailed, "You can't take him from me!"

After some negotiation, the mission was successfully approved, and the reward was set at a hundred merit points, but there were two conditions: Fang Che had to secure the top rank, and the reward was only to be issued after a baptism was completed.

"Also, the three first-tier elders just so happen to have an important matter to attend to in the southeast, and I also have some loose ends to tie up there, so we'll all be making a trip there."

Sun Yuan was internally cussing profusely, but he had no choice but to agree.

Clearly, this "important matter" and those "loose ends" were just excuses for them to go and see Fang Che for themselves.

However, there was no helping that.

At the very least, he had secured the mission, yet as soon as he scurried back to the Fang Clan's estate, he overheard that conversation between Fang Che and his mother, leaving him feeling even more glum and dejected.

That night, Fang Qianyi cooked up a feast for herself and her son, both to celebrate the latter's breakthrough to the Warrior Tier and the fact that he had been blessed with a King Tier master.

Fang Qianyi had a vague sense that her son was somewhat different from before, but she had never had a keen eye for detail, so she didn't notice anything amiss.

In her mind, Fang Che was at an age of rapid change, so this was only to be expected.

In his past life, Fang Che had been an orphan, so he greatly cherished the warm feeling of having a mother, and Fang Qianyi's motherly love touched a part of his soul that had been sorely neglected in his past.

The two of them shared a pleasant meal together.

When it came time for dessert, Fang Che chopped up three of the Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruits into a puree for Fang Qianyi to drink.

"My master gave me these fruits. Apparently, they're good for cultivation," Fang Che explained in a casual manner.

These fruits were very effective for enhancing aptitude, but only when consumed in conjunction with channeling the Boundless Sutra could they perform the miracle that had befallen Fang Che.

Unfortunately, his mastery over the Boundless Sutra was still nowhere near sufficient for him to help others channel the cultivation art through him.

On top of that, Fang Qianyi was already a Lesser Grandmaster, and there was no way that Fang Che could aid her in her cultivation with his paltry spirit qi.

Hence, she would just have to eat the fruits on their own.

Fang Qianyi consumed the fruits without a second thought before chasing down the puree with some wine.

"Now that you've reached the Warrior Tier and are about to take part in the warrior academy entrance examinations, there's a question that I want to ask you: what do you think of Mr. Liu?" Fang Qianyi asked.

Mr. Liu was the one that had always served as Su Yue's underling, granting him access to Fang Che, and it could be said that he was a mole in the Fang Clan.

Fang Che's seniors in the Fang Clan were aware of the influence that the Su Clan and Su Yue had been exerting upon him, but Fang Che and Su Yue had met in school, and the Fang Clan's influence didn't extend there.

After all, parents had no say on what types of friends their children made at school, and they were aware that even without Mr. Liu, they wouldn't be able to prevent Fang Che from seeing Su Yue.

However, now that it seemed like Fang Che had seemingly understood some things, Fang Che wanted to test him and gauge his reaction.

"Mr. Liu is a decent guy, but somehow, he managed to get on my master's bad side, and my master broke his back, so he'll be crippled for life. It truly is very unfortunate," Fang Che sighed with a wistful shake of his head, while Fang Qianyi's eyes widened in shock.

Of course, Fang Che had orchestrated all of this, and even Sun Yuan was still confused about how everything had come to be.

"Don't worry, Mother, my uncle knows about this. I wanted to give Mr. Liu some silver, but he refused. He's a very resilient man, and I'm sure he'll continue to live a strong and dignified life."

Fang Qianyi cleared her throat, suddenly feeling a little dazed, and she asked, "How much silver did you give him?"

"One tael."

"Wow, that really is... quite a lot..."

"It is, but he refused."

"What a strong and admirable man!"

"Indeed!"