His words had moved Xia Ruoyin to the point that she dropped her icy expression for a smile. She started walking towards Jiang Mang and out of nowhere hugged him. This flustered Jiang Mang, he even blushed and acted for the first time like someone his age. This made her giggle, she broke the hug off while recovering her icy expression but her eyes betrayed some signs of twinkling while she looked at her new friend. Jiang Mang stayed frozen like a block while all this happened but his face had turned beet red.
Headteacher Zhu watched their antics before coughing which returned the duo's attention to him. He started officially training the duo after he had gauged their abilities. He had them work together as a team and spar against him without using qi. At first, they had problems with coöperating with each other but as they got used to working together over the training, their teamwork improved to the point where they got an edge over Zhu Min when he only used his physical strength. Their training ended when they had reached that point and they were instructed that they would participate in the Newcomer's tournament that would take place a month later. The tournament was open to all the new students, but they had to form teams of three people to participate. Normally there wouldn't be participants of the musician's house, but as they were unique musician-type cultivators, the teachers expected their participation.
The headteacher had also informed them that they wouldn't need to search for a third team member as he would make them participate as a duo team. They both returned together accompanied by Xiao Lu and had agreed to keep training together until the tournament. They headed towards an empty training hall where they sparred against each other until it was time for dinner. Xia Ruoyin had decided to eat together in Jiang Mang's room. When they arrived, both of Jiang Mang's guards were surprised that their little master had brought the little princess of the Kingdom of Ice with him. They welcomed them before they cooked dinner. While Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin waited for dinner, the duo discussed each other abilities to start making a plan on how their abilities could complement each other best. As Jiang Mang didn't want to reveal his abilities as a hidden weapon master, it was decided that he would support Xia Ruoyin with his illusion technique by playing music with his flute infused with his life qi. Jiang Mang would still be able to avoid being hit if he played the flute, as he would retain his mobility and nimbleness if he executed the hidden moon traversal. Xia Ruoyin would be responsible for the offense through ice elemental techniques.
They returned to the empty training hall to practice their ability to work together. They had asked, Jiang Mang's guards to act as sparring partners and they were intrigued by the suggestion of the two kids. The guards lowered their qi to the peak of the foundation stage so that they could break through Jiang Mang's illusion while being able to act as appropriate opponents if they controlled their strength. At first, Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin were only capable of facing one guard who fought with the power of an early foundation stage cultivator, but as their teamwork improved and their techniques became more refined, they became able in facing both guards who had the power of early foundation stage cultivators when it was nighttime. They both went back to sleep to be ready for the next day.
The next day after sunrise, Jiang Mang was cultivating when he noticed that his control over his qi had improved after continuously fighting and using his qi against the guards. It should be mentioned that when these guards had lowered their power level they hadn't restricted their combat experience. That made them superior compared to commonly seen early foundation stage cultivators. This point was accidentally forgotten by the children and guards, which made Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin think that they were only capable of facing two equal cultivation stage opponents, which pushed the duo to break their limits multiple times.
After cultivating and eating breakfast, he once again headed towards the training hall under Xiao Lu's guidance, where headteacher Zhu would be waiting. He was the first to arrive soo to relieve his boredom, he took his flute and played some music. Xia Ruoyin arrived during the middle of the performance, which she joined in by making the piece a duet between the flute and zither. When they finished, they heard clapping sounds from the headteacher who had arrived during the duet. Zhu Min was shocked when he had arrived because of their synergy while they had only known each other for a day. He started the training where they had previously left off. Unfortunately for him, after yesterday's extra training, their teamwork had improved by leaps and bounds and he was defeated in only a couple of moves. This perplexed him but only for a moment as he restored his calm instantly. He asked how they had improved and became extremely gratified after hearing about their additional training and plans they had made. He adjusted their training by starting to fight them while they used their qi and cooperated as they had yesterday against the guards. He was quite a bit stronger than the guards and could thus hold his own against their teamwork while only using power equal to an early foundation stage cultivation base. He assessed their strength to be equal to one ordinary high foundation stage student cultivator of the academy. This result made him realize that they were already able to sweep the competition in the upcoming tournament which made him excited. After their sparring session, he planned for them to refine and learn new techniques during the morning while they would be sparring against Jiang Mang's guards in the evening. This training would last for an entire month and was mandatory but neither of them complained.
Headteacher Zhu called the four other teachers to discuss the duo's training. The four teachers were first confused, but after Zhu Min's explanation, they were first shocked before becoming enthusiastic about teaching the two new students. It was ultimately decided that Xia Ruoyin would keep training zither techniques under the headteacher every day while also having to learn two ice elemental martial techniques from the technique department. Jiang Mang, on the other hand, would switch every day between teachers to refine his ability in both instruments better while he had to learn four qi songs. Two for each instrument and he would be thought one by each teacher for one month. He would learn an illusion type qi song under teacher Wang and a qi song specialized in disorienting opponents from teacher Zi for his flute spirit. He would learn on the other two days qi songs for his zither spirit from teacher Mei and Teacher Ming. He would learn a charm qi song from teacher Mei and a qi song that induced a target to sleep while attacking the target with unending nightmares from teacher Ming.
Jiang Mang and Xia Ruoyin would both be busy every morning before sparring in the afternoon for the coming month. They were only this day free because she had to procure two martial techniques and he had to procure four specific qi songs of which he had gained a name list.