Jiang Mang had already mastered techniques for his hidden weapon mastery and could use them until the peak of the manifestation stage. He had also reformed four qi songs meant for illusions, trapping, hallucinations, temporary mind control, and harassment. Nightmare Hell was also mastered and became his assassination technique while he had learned the death qi wave for defense. These musical techniques would stay effective during the foundation stage with Jiang Mang's strong qi.
He was now only interested in a physical attack technique and rare unique techniques suitable for him.
He eventually found four suitable techniques. The first was called Ghost claw which was a claw attack with a sinister, deathly, or ghostly qi. This technique allows the user's hands to penetrate through a peak foundation stage wild beast defense. The second was called Flower's hand which is a hand combined with wood qi, or similar types of qi and allows the user to damage all those below the manifestation stage. This technique is a preliminary technique to the Xuang tier technique Flower Beauty which is a body cultivation technique that strengthens and beautifies the user. The third was a qi song named Nature's call which allows the user to control the flora and fauna in his surroundings. The last technique is a mental technique called Mark which allows the user to mark a target's consciousness and control their life and death. The technique can only be performed on those who are asleep and have no mental defenses which hinder the marking and it also requires the user to be at the same or a higher cultivation level.
The first technique cost 300 Tiancai points while the second and third cost 200 Tiancai points. The last only costs 100 Tiancai points because of all of its restrictions, the technique was effective at all cultivation stages and could only be undone by the user which made it a unique technique.
Jiang Mang eventually chose to learn all techniques except for the first as the technique might influence his ability to play music while also having an inadequate amount of Tiancai points.
The duo checked out of the technique department with their skills with a balance of zero Tiancai points. They ended their day and returned to the musician house to prepare for their task by training their new techniques and qi songs. Xia Ruoyin trained her new ice elemental technique under the headteacher while learning Snow Queen under teacher Mei. Jiang Mang trained Nature's call under teacher Zi while learning Flower's hand and Mark on his own.
A week passed until they had to perform the task. Xia Ruoyin learned how to summon one ice mirror and control it anywhere in a radius of five meters. She had also mastered her qi song and was able to charm all at the same cultivation level who dared to think about her. Jiang Mang had become proficiënt in Flower's hand which makes his hands more nimble while also strengthening them to the point where they can harm high foundation stage beasts. He had also learned Mark and became able to control all flora and fauna within a radius of 10 meters through Nature's call.
The duo headed towards the assembly place where a group of third and fourth-year students was waiting. All these students had reached the mid foundation stage and should be able to deal with a high foundation stage beast if they cooperated. The moment they arrived, they were looked down upon as the duo was only at the early foundation stage. They were, however, not shunned away as they were musician cultivators who could calm the animal down to increase the chance of taming a wild beast.
The student who wanted to tame the beast was the leader and was called Xiang Mo. He was still waiting for one person to complete the group which would consist of ten persons. The last person to arrive was a girl from the knight house who used a bow as her weapon.
Jiang Mang who was leisurely waiting was shocked the moment he heard her voice as it was Song Meiling's, his childhood friend. He turned his head towards her and said "Meiling". This action grabbed her attention, and the moment she looked at him, she was stunned. She quickly recovered and blurted out, "What are you doing here blockhead?"
This sentence made Jiang Mang smile, and he went up to her to hug her. They went into their little world and started catching up while the group set off. Jiang Mang came to know that she was one of the ten flowers of the Imperial academy known as the arrow fairy. She is one of the strongest students in the fourth year and could rank in the top 3.
She was participating in this task to earn enough points to redeem the technique eagle eye, which will increase her eyesight and precision when handling her bow. Jiang Mang also introduced Xia Ruoyin to Song Meilin, and the two girls got along quite well. The trio kept together during the journey and happily got along. Song Meiling also decided to spend more time with the duo as she knows about Jiang Mang's abilities and also because she has made no reliable friends during her stay at the academy.
Xiang Mo was dissatisfied with the trio's get together as he liked Song Meiling. He interrupted them by asking about their friendship but he was shut out after getting the answer. He was embarrassed and retreated while developing a grudge for the blind prince.
After a couple of hours, they arrived at their target destination for finding and taming the tiger. Everyone got together and discussed a plan under Xiang Mo's leadership. Jiang Mang kept himself in the shadows but his earlier interactions with the two girls had attracted some animosity. The team had ultimately decided on the following plan. The two girls would support the team from the back while the others would subdue the tiger. Jiang Mang would be responsible for calming the beast to allow placing a taming mark. This plan required him to perform nearby the beast while it was being subdued, which is considered a dangerous task for musician cultivators. The other team members didn't know of his capabilities as he remained low key after the Newcomer's tournament and thus assumed him to be a weak musician cultivator.