Besides the over 2,000 Year Ones who began clapping, the over 100 teachers under Li Jun also followed suit without knowing what was going on. The atmosphere became very lively all of a sudden.
"This…" Li Jun had not thought that the situation would take such a turn. While he could yell at everyone to stop this, even he felt uncomfortable at halting such a heartwarming sight as he looked at everyone clapping while cheering. Besides, what Tie Ta did was considered minor.
Li Jun hesitated a bit before he decided to drop the matter as he turned to look at Ren Jie who had just arrived. Since when was this rascal so bold? How dare he do this right now and make the atmosphere so lively too.
However, he remembered that he only had a month left to deal with this incredibly difficult and good-for-nothing family head. While he was not a direct descendant of the royal family, he did have royal blood and he was committed to turning the Jade Imperial Academy into an academy that could truly groom talents for the Clear Jade Dynasty so as to abolish the view others had of it being the "Academy for the Pampered". Only, there had to be someone like Ren Jie who was so difficult that even he, as someone with a royal bloodline, did not know how to deal with him. Hence, whenever he thought about this, he would feel incredibly frustrated.
If he left him alone he would feel uncomfortable over it, as Ren Jie would then become an obstacle in his journey of giving the Jade Imperial Academy a strict makeover. However, it would involve too many parties if he was too harsh in his punishment, as Ren Jie was not just any spoilt child but the Ren family head. Li Jun had sought out the Emperor personally because of this matter, but unfortunately, he did not manage to do anything.
"Alright, we will end here today. Those who are unable to reach level-seven of the Body Refinement Realm and fail to catch a spirit beast in the hunt will retain." Li Jun repeated the main point of his speech as he looked at Ren Jie and left the fighting arena with the other teachers.
"'Twas a close one." When he saw that Li Jun did not pursue the matter, Tie Ta let out a huge sigh of relief as he said with a heavy accent.
"Big Tie Ta, you just can't whisper, can you? Your whispers are louder than someone else's speaking voice. No wonder you attract attention."
Big Tie Ta was a nickname given to Tie Ta by Gao Ren. Because while Tie Ta was around their age, he was a whopping 2.3 meters in height and would stand out even in a troop of elite soldiers. His body was also astonishingly strong as his arms were the size of someone's legs.
"I forgot…" Tie Ta smiled sheepishly and scratched his head when he heard what Gao Ren said.
"You're not dead yet, that's a surprise. Hey Ren Jie, were you the one behind the fire at Ms. Fang's quarters?" Just then, Gao Fei shouted from afar in hopes that others would hear him as he sauntered over with a group of people.
"It must be him, no wonder Ms. Fang is so livid."
"He's nothing, so he can only resort to such underhanded means."
"That's right, it must be him."
Gao Fei and the people following behind him had started a vivid discussion without waiting for Ren Jie to say anything.
"Seems like I went too easy on you the other time, so you didn't learn your lesson. Hey, since we're at the fighting arena, plus, don't you lose your mind the minute someone mentions your mother? Why don't we have a duel right here, right now? I will give myself a handicap by only using one hand, or maybe one finger if you really cannot handle it." Gao Fei had only just learned that Fang Qi's living quarters were on fire and was planning to rush over to the Fang residence to visit when he saw Ren Jie.
"We're about to take the final examination and you'll soon become my junior in school. It won't look nice for me to deal with you then and I'll have to leave it to the juniors. If not because you're the prime suspect behind Ms. Fang's burning quarters, I wouldn't even bother myself with you." Of course, he did not think that someone like Ren Jie would dare set fire to Fang Qi's living quarters since all he did was fawn over her. However, when he thought about how he was about to visit Fang Qi later, he could not help but to want to deal with Ren Jie properly. The last time he beat up Ren Jie he managed to spend time with Fang Qi. That was unprecedented progress. If he could bring the good news of him beating up Ren Jie over to Fang Qi when he visited later, she might just agree to date him…
"You scoundrel, I'll kill you…" Without waiting for Ren Jie to say anything, Tie Ta was angered the minute he heard that. The other time Ren Jie had been beaten up in class, he had even confronted Gao Fei over it. Only that time Gao Fei had been afraid that he had killed Ren Jie and thus ran away. Yet, now he brought so many people over to insult Ren Jie. So, Tie Ta immediately clenched his fists and got ready to punch the living daylights out of Gao Fei.
"You dumb giant, you think you deserve to fight with Gao Fei?" The people behind Gao Fei also readied themselves for the fight that seemed imminent.
"Tie Ta!" Ren Jie raised his hand slightly and stopped the glaring Tie Ta from charging forward.
"If you can stand there and take it for an hour without falling I'll give you 500,000 taels of gold." Ren Jie pointed at the center of the fighting arena and said calmly.
Five hundred… thousand… taels of gold? The people who were laughing around immediately stopped in shock when they heard that.
Did they mishear him? Even though 10 taels of gold were only worth one Jade coins, which was the most widely accepted form of currency; gold and silver were the most common currency out there. Besides, 500,000 taels of gold were enough to last an average family for an entire lifetime.
The hardest thing to believe was that Ren Jie had said this. The fighting arena, anyone who was beaten to death there deserved it.
He must be crazy, right? And an hour, too? He must be joking.
Did he really think that he was a master in the True Qi Realm?
"500,000 taels of gold, huh? Alright." Gao Fei agreed immediately as he thought to himself. An hour huh? He could turn him into a mash of pulp in a few seconds and still earn 500,000 taels of gold as well. And on top of it all, get on Fang Qi's good side. This was simply a dream come through.
Gao Fei agreed without hesitation. With a few leaps, he had landed in the center of the fighting arena like a ferocious tiger.
"Come on, don't even talk about an hour. If a good-for-nothing like you can take 10 moves from me I'll immediately consider you as the winner." While a portion of the people had left, there were still over a thousand people there, and with a shout from Gao Fei, even those who had no idea what was going on immediately stopped to look.
"Boss, are you crazy? Don't joke around, this is not the way to die." Everything had happened too quickly and Gao Ren did not have the chance to stop him, but now that he had come to his senses, he quickly tried to stop Ren Jie.
"Family head, I'll go fight to the death with him…" Tie Ta said as he prepared to go up.
"What are you panicking over, get ready for a good show…" Ren Jie picked up an ironwood stool made of dense ironwood that weighed a good dozen pounds and, with his other hand, he took out a stack of gold notes.
"Gao Fei voluntarily agreed to bet with me for 500,000 taels of gold. If he can withstand an hour of beating from ironwood stools, then I'll give him 500,000 taels of gold willingly. Now, everyone, listen up. If you want to earn money, then do something right now. Throw the ironwood stools in your hand. If you miss, you'll get 100 taels of gold, but if you hit the target, you'll get 1,000 taels of gold. If there's blood, you get 10,000 taels of gold. There are 5,000 ironwood stools here. If you want to earn money, then get to work now." Ren Jie bellowed out with the vigor in his body that was even more powerful than those at level-seven of the Body Refinement Realm. While he was unable to achieve the effect of sounding as if he was right next to you like Li Jun was able to, his words could still be heard clearly by everyone.
"Whoosh…" After he finished speaking, Ren Jie had already hurled the ironwood stool in his hand towards the center of the fighting arena.
Wh-what?
Since when did I bet this with you? What is this fellow talking about?
Gao Fei was incredibly confused as he stood in the center of the fighting arena. What was this fellow saying? When he saw the ironwood stool flying towards him, he quickly dodged it. Since it came from a great distance and it was so large, it was not difficult to dodge it.
"Haha, time to earn some money! If we hit the target, it's 1,000 taels of gold, what are you waiting for?" Gao Ren immediately reacted when he heard Ren Jie's words. Then, he immediately picked up an ironwood stool and hurled it after Ren Jie finished throwing his.
"Big Tie Ta, what are you standing there for? Throw!" Gao Ren reminded Tie Ta as he hurled it.
While Tie Ta had not come to his senses yet, seeing his family head and Gao Ren do so he also picked up a couple of ironwood stools and hurled them all at once.
"Ren Jie… you…" Gao Fei wanted to say something, but ironwood stools immediately came flying at him and he was soon busy dodging them.
"What are you all waiting for? Get to work if you want to earn money! There are a million taels of gold worth of gold notes here. If you hit the target, come and get 1,000 taels of gold from our family head here; The more you throw, the more money you'll earn!" Ren Jie had thrown a stack of gold notes worth 100 taels of gold in the air as it rained down.
Obviously, nobody studying here was lacking money, but this was also why they had equally large expenditures and their need for money was much more than an average person. When Ren Jie did that, many people did know what was going on and really thought that this was the bet. Besides, Gao Fei had offended many people in the academy.
With that, a stack of gold notes and piles of ironwood stools immediately started raining down. A bunch of people who already had a grudge against Gao Fei immediately took the opportunity to hurl the ironwood stool in their hand. This was just like what happened with the clapping earlier. As long as there was enough money and thrill, the crowd would be mobilized even though they did not fully understand what was going on.
As long as one person started throwing, the rest would also follow suit. These rich kids at the academy gambled with everything, anyway.
In the beginning, only Tie Ta and Gao Ren were hurling with all their might, but Tie Ta was very fast and made it seem as though a group of people was throwing at the same time. However, when Ren Jie threw the stack of gold notes in the air, the people at the side also started cheering as they hurled their ironwood stools as well.
"Ren Jie… I… was betting with you… ah… you bastards…"
"Stop… I… it's not…"
"You bastards, stop… now… make them stop!"
"Save… me…"
Gao Fei could still dodge the ironwood stools at first, but there were too many to do so as time went on as ironwood stools came flying at him from every direction. Since he could no longer dodge them, he could only try his best to block them. He was able to do so when the numbers were few at the start, but there were more as time passed and some of them came crashing down very hard. leaving Gao Fei in much pain as his painful yells filled the air. He wanted to leave the fighting arena but realized that he could not find a way to escape.
Throngs of ironwood stools came flying towards him non-stop just like arrows.
"Fuck…" The people who followed behind Gao Fei were dumbfounded. Save him? How were they going to do that?
The people throwing were getting excited. Looking at the ironwood stools flying towards the fighting arena, they would be knocked down before they even managed to get to Gao Fei.
They all stood there helplessly as they wondered why the situation had taken such a turn.
"That was great, here's 1,000 taels of gold." Ren Jie took out a stack of gold notes worth 1,000 taels of gold each and scrunched them up to throw at a group of people who had managed to hit Gao Fei's head.
"That was a great roundabout throw, I'll give you a special reward of 1,000 taels."
"This one over here managed to get blood, here's 10,000 taels."
They were not really doing it for money, but nobody would say no to free money either. And besides, there were already a lot of people who hated Gao Fei, anyway. Some of them did not dare confront him in private, and these were the ones who were the fiercest when it came to hurling the stools. Anyway, with a few hundred people hurling at once they would not be blamed even if Gao Fei died in the chaos. Because of that, they were even more vicious in their attack.
Ren Jie only fanned the flames at the start, and in the end, he did not even have to do anything as all 5,000 ironwood stools in the fighting arena were soon hurled at Gao Fei.
In the end, Gao Fei was buried underneath all the ironwood stools, and the good thing was that they were not stones and thus, had many gaps in between that would make sure that at least he would not suffocate. Still, anyone could tell that even if Gao Fei was not dead, he would not be much better off.