Yin Tianfan was enraged, “No need to taunt me. I was expelled and didn’t even graduate — so what? At least I relied on my own capabilities and commanded a fleet later on. I was learning in the Space Command System in Shrek Academy for a few years before I was expelled due to some special circumstances.”
Speaking up to this point, a tinge of agony flashed in his eyes. It has been so many years, yet Yin Tianfan’s heart still hurt each time this incident was brought up.
Ji Hongbin furrowed his brows and said, “That incident wasn’t entirely your fault. Even though your battle power isn’t strong, you’re very gifted in the commanding sector. At that time, we all thought that you got into the inner court. Once you graduated from the inner court’s Space Command System, you would have the chance of becoming the commander of the Federal fleet.”
Yin Tianfan waved him off, “Stop, there’s no point in talking about it now. It’s been a fact long ago. Xuanyu, since we’re at this topic, I’ll tell you why I was fired previously so you can draw lessons from it.”
As he spoke, he glanced askance at Liu Feng and Qian Lei.
“What are both of you standing here for? You guys want to listen to this old man’s embarrassing story, too? Old Ji! They’re in Xuanyu’s team, shouldn’t they go for training?” Yin Tianfan said in annoyance.
Ji Hongbin’s gaze moved, “Both of you follow me.”
Liu Feng and Qian Lei were still in shock when they were taken away by the Great Demon King. In the office, only Lan Xuanyu and Yin Tianfan were left.
“Speaking of which, I am still a little unable to accept that dismissal,” Yin Tianfan sighed. At this moment, Lan Xuanyu felt that his master had aged a bit.
“I’ve been struggling with this. Old Ji was right, I was bent on getting into the inner court that time and was also consciously quite confident. As the saying goes, ‘The horse runs swiftly in the spring wind.’ [1] When I was in the Shrek Academy, I was quite proud. At that time, I got into Shrek Academy’s Space Command System with my outstanding results and wasn’t as fat as I am right now. I was quite handsome, too. There were many girls in class who were interested in me. They were quite pretty and had great figures. If not for the academy’s regulation of not falling in love below the age of 18, hng hng!”
The corners of Lan Xuanyu’s mouth twitched, and he thought to himself, ‘Master, are you going out of topic?’
In the end, Yin Tianfan returned to the topic, “Ay, I’m filled with tears when I think back now! I didn’t know how to cherish it when I had it and only felt the pain after losing it. When I first enrolled in Shrek, under the most advanced teaching, I made remarkable progress. At that time, even the teacher said that I was gifted in space wars and could definitely become an outstanding commander in the future. The only problem was that I loved making unexpected moves and seized victory through surprise attacks; I needed to improve on fighting head-on. But I disagree; I always felt that it was most important to obtain the biggest victory by putting in the least effort. As for what the tactics are, it depends on the battlefield. So, at that time, I was known for my sly, multi-faceted command. You should be able to see a little of this from the way I pilot the space warship.”
Lan Xuanyu instinctively nodded — how could he not be able to see it? The first time he let his disciple pilot the space warship simulator, he fired at his butt and destroyed his disciple’s plane, then claimed in a glorified manner that it was to boost Lan Xuanyu’s awareness.
Yin Tianfan continued, “After a few years of studying there, I have learned many surprise attacks and crafty tactics. There were some teachers in the academy who appreciated my talent in this area, and there were some who didn’t. But I did not care, I simply thought that it is enough as long as I do a good job, I must stick to whatever I think is right. At that time, I always felt that some of the teachers’ lessons were not necessary and no matter what, the results were the most important. Until that time…”
At this point, a hint of pain flashed across his eyes, “It was the final exam for the sixth semester. By the end of the exam, I would be 18 years old. Generally speaking, people at this age would be entering the advanced academy. But in Shrek, we had already completed all the curriculum of the advanced academy, and the next step was to see whether or not one could enter the inner court or not. If you’re unable to get into the inner court, you can still continue studying in the outer court for four years. If you get in, I don’t know how long it will be.”
“I’ve already prepared and was very confident that I would be able to stand out in the final exam, then take part in the inner court exam. That teacher who was the nicest to me said that I had talent in commanding an entire space fleet and would definitely shine in the future. Hence, I was really too arrogant at that time and didn’t listen to other people’s persuasion. My biggest problem was that I didn’t know how to reflect on my shortcomings. After that, when I learned how to, it was too late.”
“That final exam was set as a major battle, and all the students in the Space Command System had to participate. Then, we were separated into groups; there were three people in each group, and each of us had a fleet under our command, forming a joint fleet. We would then battle against other groups. The final results are determined by the operation of the battle.”
“I was full of confidence in myself, and those two teammates of mine were relatively weaker. This was arranged on purpose by the teacher, hoping that I would be able to better showcase my ability this way. Then, the test began and everything went quite smoothly at the start, but we soon encountered a siege. There were students from three teams that formed a coalition and encircled us. They were fearful of my strength and didn’t want me to do too well, because then, they would have a chance to get into the inner court.”
“As if I cared about these? I immediately fought with them head-on and deployed one tactic after another, tricking them and bringing them to all sorts of ambush. I kept weakening their joint fleets through harassment, interference, provocation, and so on. And in the process, my teammates suffered losses continuously. As their control of fleets was way lousier compared to me and I needed them to act as decoys, those two teammates of mine didn’t object at all and cooperated with me.”
“Finally, those three groups of students couldn’t withstand the countless tactics I deployed and chose to negotiate with me. They hoped that I would let them off so that their results would not look so bad. They even promised to do my bidding and cooperate with me to deal with the rest of the students.”
“I was simply too proud at that time. We managed to get our enemies, who were three times stronger than our one group, to surrender. That feeling gave me a psychological problem. I felt that I could get first place by my own efforts and didn’t need them at all. Also, as those three groups joined forces against me, I was already filled with resentment towards them. Hence, I agreed to their terms. But when we were preparing for the alliance, I snuck an attack and destroyed all of the fleets of those three teams.”
“What I didn’t expect was that my teammates, who had been supportive of me from the start, weren’t very happy about this. They asked me why I didn’t keep my word, and I told them that there can never be too much deception in war. We didn’t need to be merciful at all — only strength would prove everything, and we must destroy our enemies with the least amount of effort.”
“Those two teammates of mine were still mad and said some nasty things. I was prideful and confident at that time. I could always remain calm in battles, and everyone said that I’m as sly as a fox. But in actual fact, I didn’t heed people’s advice; and that problem of not knowing how to reflect on my shortcomings was completely exposed. I was enraged by them, which led me to do something I regretted for life. I commanded my own fleet and destroyed theirs. As they distracted the enemies and acted as decoys before that, they had already suffered huge losses, so they obviously were no match for me. In just a moment, the world was quiet.”
“After destroying their fleets, I did regret it. I regretted being so rash but I also felt that I have shown such great talent in battling — so what if I did that, huh?”
Lan Xuanyu was flabbergasted when he heard this. Although he had always known that his master’s temperament was quite unique, he didn’t expect that it would be to this extent.