Brushing his chin-length dark-blue hair back, the young man leaned back into his chair, sipping his wine and kicking his legs up as he watched the video continue on the big screen. Now in the thick of content, there should be a decent chunk of time before the next ad break.
[The other reason they’re called the Ghost Legion,] a new expert chimed in, the camera cutting to focus on them. [Is because of their unparalleled mission efficiency. In an area as competitive as Westriver, they manage to make it look like a walk in the park. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re having game nights or something!]
[Amazing...] The host murmured, his awe—in the young man’s opinion—being drummed up a little for the camera. [Well, can you go into a little more detail? About the various members of the party. Their current cultivation progress? Their fighting style? Projections about their future? Give a run-down for the more unfamiliar viewers.]
[Of course, that’s what we’re here to do,] the old expert with the white beard answered with a small smile. [This is where our expertise as experts really comes in handy. Let me start with Zhao Liying. She’s a prototypical spear user with a well-rounded offensive tool-set who’s able to fight in a variety of situations. As we all know, she’s the first and only child of the esteemed Phoenix Clan in the main line as of now. However, I wouldn’t worry as she’s shaping up to be a perfect next head of the house, even after the disease she had to recover from.]
With the broadcast now putting up some images of Zhao Liying, a red-haired lady, one of the more boisterous people in the room, laughed. “She still has that edge to her. She’s grown up well! She really hasn’t changed since we saw her five years ago!”
As silenced interview clips from a couple months prior began to play, the voice over from the panel of experts continued. [Being part of the Phoenix Clan, Zhao Liying, as expected, practices a fire based cultivation-style. Because of that, she always has far more firepower compared to those in the same realm as her. Easily overlooked, however, is her ability to defend. Joining the Ghost Legion... we approximate... a year ago, her skill set was imbalanced, one focused solely on offense. Now, she’s much more well-rounded and falls, easily, within the top ten defenders in the class.]
[I’d personally say, given what we theorize her cultivation realm to be, she could easily make a case for being top five.] Another expert added in with another couple backing her up. [Of course, being third-party analysts, we don’t know exactly what realm these young cultivators are in. It doesn’t help that we haven’t seen the Ghost Legion in a tough fight since their run in with Avarice over a year ago.]
With the shuffling of some papers being picked up on the microphone, the broadcast shifted back to the main view of the usual Daoist Times news broadcast room with its extra-large table for the unique episode.
One expert, brushing her hair back, continued explaining the realms the party were at. [However, personally, I’ve been analyzing many young cultivators for close to half a century. Given the time-frame and their exhibited combat prowess, I theorize that everyone in the party is a step or two ahead of the rest of the pack. The top ten this year seem to be cultivating as if there’s a hound chasing them from behind. However, as of now, the five members of Ghost Legion are, in my opinion, easily within the top seven or eight. That means they’ve all definitely opened their twelve main meridians, and are probably around five or six of their extraordinary meridians.]
[Wow... just... wow,] The host murmured, nodding his head as he organized his own papers. [Listeners, I know the experts are presenting these bits of knowledge as if they’re trivial, but I want to take a moment to make the impact clear. The analysis of Zhao Liying’s fighting style is invaluable information only trained eyes can make out. Don’t even mention their cultivation progress!]
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Pushing his chair back and walking over to a screen, the camera focused on the host as he straightened his suit and tapped on the screen. With a neat graphic flashing up onto the screen, turned towards the camera. [Last year’s cultivation class, I want to reiterate that since it’s still too early to really analyze this year’s class. Is truly bonkers. Truly, unparalleled.]
Tapping the screen, changing it to a bar-chart format where the length of each bar was a disciple’s cultivation progress, the host pointed to the five theorized positions of the Ghost Legion. [For a place like Westriver, where disciples go in just starting their cultivation journey and come out with all twenty of their meridians opened, the usual marker for a genius is around two years.]
Pointing to a couple of the furthest along cultivators, the host continued. [As of now, the record is held by Yan Mingliang. Well-known cultivation savant from fifteen years ago who managed to leave in one-and-a-half years. Because we’re coming up on a year plus four-and-a-half months, it looks like no one in this class will be able to break his record, but nonetheless, they will be admirably close.]
With a now empty wine glass in his hand, the young man shook his head as he leaned over to pour himself a new glass. Pulling out his terminal to check it real quick amidst the darkness of the theater room, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
Of course they had to bring him up.
Scrolling through his messages with Yan Mingqing, Yan Mingliang compared the information he had with the graphic on the screen.
They were wrong. Collapsing his terminal once more, Yan Mingliang shrugged to himself, impressed with how far they had come.
Seven extraordinary meridians.
It seemed little Mingqing and her girlfriend would be blowing a hole clean through his record.
Focusing back onto the broadcast, Yan Mingliang sipped some more of his wine, popping some grapes into his mouth as the host transitioned while walking back to his seat. [Speaking of Yan Mingliang, let’s get back to our original topic at hand. Experts, give me a rundown on Yan Mingliang’s younger sister, Yan Mingqing.]
“Finally!” The lady sitting in the top row called out, talking over the broadcast as they began to give some cursory background information about who Yan Mingqing was, what sect she was a part of, and what techniques she used. “Vermillion, I don’t care if you’re biased towards Zhao Liying, my baby Mingqing is better than her! Just watch! She’ll make you drop your jaw!”
“I... I never said that...” Vermillion Bird trailed off with a smile, ignoring how the lady was now gushing over how cute Yan Mingqing was. “Though you are right, I am partial to the Phoenix Clan. Their ancestors were dear to my heart after all! You can’t blame me!”
“Mom, you can’t say Vermillion Bird is biased! You’re the most biased person in the room! You’re Mingqing’s mother!” Yan Mingliang called out with a smile. Even if he was sitting alone, far from his more talkative parents and the esteemed spiritual beasts, he couldn’t resist chiming in with one comment.
“Well, I agree, with the Kunpengs, Vermillion,” Azure Dragon retorted as Vermillion Bird leaned against her, looking at her with pleading eyes to support her side. Pushing her glasses up, Azure Dragon cleared her throat. “I may be a little more partial to the Kunpeng Clan, but I’m level-headed enough to know Yan Mingqing is the better prospect.”
“It’s so early... you can’t say anything right now... and honestly, they’re really quite similar,” Black Tortoise murmured, adding in his own—truly unbiased—comment.
“I think the youngsters are great either way! I don’t have a horse in this race, so c’mon, let’s just listen. We can debate this stuff later! I’m sure this broadcast has some good information.” White Tiger laughed, elbowing the stoic man next to him. “You aren’t talking since you’re trying to listen as much as you can about your precious daughter aren’t ya? You gotta learn how to express your love more, my man, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know you like her.”
“Shut up, White Tiger, I’m trying to listen. Go get reprimanded by Black Tortoise or something.”