Chapter 21: Floating Needle

While her leg injury didn't impede her ability to walk normally, it made her cultivation a torment, akin to a deeply embedded poison. For six months, she had scarcely known a moment of joy. This constant suffering had transformed her into someone fearful of strangers and reluctant to speak.

She had resigned herself to living with the injury for the rest of her life, so when Teacher Zhang Xuan, whom everyone regarded as a good-for-nothing, casually declared, "It's a minor issue!" she could hardly believe her ears. Had it been anyone else, she would have dismissed it as bragging. But he had immediately pinpointed the cause of her injury, filling her with an unexpected sense of hope.

"I asked you to come to this room specifically to treat you! Now, relax completely."

Zhang Xuan retrieved a small jade box from the room. He carefully opened it to reveal an assortment of silver needles, varying in length. Injuries are common in martial arts cultivation, so the academy equipped every classroom with these needles to help clear meridians and temporarily alleviate injuries.

"Yes!" Wang Ying replied. Seeing the young man's calm, steady, and understatedly confident demeanor, she found herself inexplicably trusting him deep down. She then allowed her entire body to relax.

*Whoosh!*

Zhang Xuan remained seated. He picked up a silver needle and flicked it straight forward. With a faint hum, the silver needle, imbued with a strand of his true qi, flew directly towards Wang Ying and embedded itself in her leg.

"This is... Aerial Acupuncturing?" Wang Ying's eyes widened, and her delicate body trembled once more.

Aerial Acupuncturing involves no direct physical contact with the patient. Instead, a martial artist uses their exquisite control over power to guide the silver needle's flight and precisely puncture acupuncture points. This method allows male practitioners to perform needling on female patients without physical contact, thus avoiding considerable unnecessary awkwardness.

While seemingly simple, this technique is actually highly complex. Firstly, it demands a martial artist's absolute control over their strength; even a slight deviation can result in failure. Secondly, it requires exceptional eyesight, as identifying acupuncture points through clothing is not easy, and misidentification can lead to various complications.

Master Yu Yu once stated that to perform Aerial Acupuncturing, one's cultivation must reach at least the fifth stage of a martial artist, the Dingli realm! Could it be that this teacher, widely dismissed as a good-for-nothing at the academy, had already reached such a profound realm?

That's impossible! Everyone who reaches the Dingli realm is highly renowned, like famous teachers such as Lu Xun. According to Old Liu, Teacher Zhang Xuan is merely at the third stage of martial arts, the True Qi realm, still a significant distance from the fifth stage Dingli realm! Could someone at the third stage of martial arts, the True Qi realm, truly perform Aerial Acupuncturing? She simply couldn't believe it!

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*

As she was still grappling with disbelief, the young man flicked out several more silver needles. With a flurry of soft whistles, the silver needles landed on her leg, all at precisely the same depth, demonstrating the opponent's mastery over power had reached an exquisite level of perfection.

As the silver needles rested on her leg, Wang Ying wondered how the treatment would proceed. Then, the young man made a swift gesture with his palm, and simultaneously, the true qi imbued in the needles activated, surging into her meridians.

"Ah..."

As the true qi permeated her body, a wave of numbness and soreness washed over her, and her previously blocked acupuncture points instantly cleared.

"This... this... is this the purity of top-grade true qi?"

As her entire body tingled with soreness and numbness, Wang Ying "perceived" the nature of the true qi entering her. It was as clear as water, without the slightest impurity. It was, incredibly... the quality found only in top-grade true qi!

Top-grade true qi? This type of true qi could only be cultivated through divine or saint-level techniques. In the entire Tianxuan Kingdom, no one had ever been known to cultivate it. Yet, this teacher, widely considered the most incompetent, possessed it? She must not be mistaken...

"It's done!"

As she remained in shock, her entire body suddenly relaxed, and the silver needles were swiftly withdrawn by him. Instantly, Wang Ying felt a profound lightness and comfort in her legs, a sensation she had never experienced before. Since her injury, even though her legs could walk normally, they had constantly felt stiff, as if encased in plaster. Now, waves of refreshing comfort washed over her, as if a long-held枷锁 had been broken, leaving her legs feeling incredibly flexible.

"My legs..."

Even a fool would understand that her legs were completely healed!

"Teacher, thank you..."

Her knees gave way, and Wang Ying knelt directly on the ground, her eyes welling up with tears. She had waited an eternity for this day, having even succumbed to despair at one point. She had never, not even in her wildest dreams, imagined that such a stubborn ailment would be cured by the academy's most incompetent teacher!

*Perhaps... he is a person of great ability, merely choosing to be low-key...* This thought surfaced in her mind. If he weren't low-key, setting aside his teaching skills, just his ability to cure her leg injury would have surely brought him immense renown within the academy. How could he have possibly ended up last in the faculty assessment?

With this realization, Wang Ying remained kneeling, willingly acknowledging Zhang Xuan as her teacher and abandoning any thought of dropping his class.

"Alright, now that your leg injury is healed, go out and cultivate diligently. If you encounter any problems, come back to me," Zhang Xuan said, waving his hand. He added, "Oh, and please call Liu Yang in."

"Yes!" Wang Ying replied, her face alight with excitement, as she left the room.

***

"I'm planning to drop this class in a little while. Is anyone else joining me?"

In the classroom, after Liu Yang, Zheng Yang, Zhao Ya, and Yuan Tao had introduced themselves to each other, Liu Yang spoke up. To be frank, he was thoroughly dejected. Students who ranked in the top hundred of the entrance examination were usually highly sought after by many senior teachers. Yet, he had ended up assigned to the academy's worst instructor, all because of a bet between two teachers! The intense feeling of humiliation was driving him crazy.

Regardless, he *had* to drop the class today, even if it meant withdrawing from the academy entirely. No one would stand in his way!

"I... I also want to drop," the stout Yuan Tao couldn't help but interject, "but be careful the teacher doesn't get angry and punish you!"

"Angry? Hmph, what can he do to me if he gets angry? I certainly don't want to suffer a qi deviation under his instruction!" Liu Yang scoffed.

"Qi deviation?" Zheng Yang looked at him, puzzled. He only knew that their teacher had ranked last in the faculty assessment; he had never heard of anyone being led into a qi deviation by him.

"Hmph!" Liu Yang snorted. "If you don't believe me, just wait and see. When Wang Ying comes out later, I guarantee she'll look upset! She might even feel cheated! I've already thoroughly investigated Teacher Zhang Xuan's abilities. If he were truly capable of providing good guidance, he would never have ended up in this position, scorned by all the other teachers..."

*Creak!*

As he was speaking, the door opened, and Wang Ying emerged, her face radiant with excitement.

"Huh?" He had expected her to appear utterly crestfallen, so Wang Ying's radiant excitement caught Liu Yang completely off guard. The other students, too, looked puzzled. Her joy was clearly heartfelt, indicating she must have gained something significant to appear this way. Could it be that this least renowned teacher was actually capable of providing proper guidance? A single guidance session capable of exciting a student as if they had found a treasure? Even the esteemed Teacher Lu Xun, highly celebrated within the academy, couldn't achieve that!

"Liu Yang, the teacher wants you to go in," Wang Ying instructed, before moving to a secluded spot to continue her cultivation, oblivious to the others' thoughts.

"Me?" Liu Yang gritted his teeth. "I'd like to see what you can possibly teach! If you can't provide proper guidance, I am absolutely dropping this class, dropping it!"

Muttering to himself, he stepped into the room.