Viel and Xiao Pei were currently in a squatting horse position on the hallway as punishment for their antics.
"Ugh, why also me. Viel, why did you tell on me to the Professor!?", Xiao Pei was dismayed as he also got punished even though he didn't really do anything and was just staying quiet the whole time.
"Pei Pei, there is a saying. Friends who stand together in the hallway will stay as brothers all the way!", Viel confidently said as he raised his thumbs up to Xiao Pei.
"You don't snitch your friends, VIel!"
"O…oops?", Viel made a fist and lightly knocked on his head with his tongue sticking out.
"What do you mean "Oops"!?", Xiao Pei once again sighed.
The two were awkwardly quiet for a while until they glanced at each other. They stared at each other for a good second until the both of them burst out in laughter.
"HAHAHA! Did you see the Professor's face when you told him his hair was fake?"
"Hehehe, but I don't get why he was so mad… it's the truth though?", Viel was visibly confused as to why his actions warranted such a response from their professor. He only wanted to know the truth since he himself has a lustrous golden hair, albeit his was natural.
"Eh? Because he was embarrassed?", Xiao Pei looked at Viel curiously.
"But why?"
"Uuhhh… maybe be-", seeing that Viel was serious with his question, Xiao Pei couldn't help but think of an answer, but he too was not really sure about the reason why. He was about to say something but was stopped by a female voice approaching them.
"Are you students of the elite class? May I ask what you're doing loitering around outside the class?", a redhaired woman wearing a teacher's robe saw the two kids that were talking to each other, she couldn't help but think that the two on their way to skip classes.
"This student greets the teacher!", Viel and Xiao Pei immediately bowed to the teacher.
"We..uh… We were kicked out because the teacher thought that we were disturbing the class!"
"T-that's right, Miss Teacher! I only asked teacher Hamburgdole a question, but he couldn't answer and instead he kicked us out of the class!", the two of them reasoned to this unfamiliar teacher in front of them. Viel, although telling the truth, did not really bring out all of the facts.
"I see, so the old geezer is the one handling your class? Tough luck, that pervert is extremely stubborn.", the female teacher shook her head as she seemed to be imagining something.
"Anyway, you children follow me inside and let's kick that professor out, he is already passed his lecture time. I'm your combat instructor for basic magic arts, you may call me Miss Anna."
"Yes ma'am!", the pair saluted to this new teacher of theirs as they revealed traces of admiration. They thought they will be stuck all the time with Hamburgdole for the rest of the classes, they didn't know that someone else will be handling their combat classes. And this Miss Anna seemed to be a lot cooler than their homeroom teacher.
Anna was about to open the door to the classroom, but someone called her before she could do so.
"Anna, you left this in the room."
It was a handsome man, also wearing a teacher's robe. But his robe was a different color and more stylish than what they've seen so far.
The man was handing a what seems to be a piece of clothing.
"Y-you!", Anna quickly grabbed the piece of clothing. Her face reddened as she quickly put it inside her pocket.
The handsome teacher had a mischievous grin on his face as he lightly touched Anna's buttocks.
"Me what?", he whispered.
"N-not in front of the kids!", Anna slapped the man's hand as she voiced out her contempt.
Seeing this happening in front of them, Xiao Pei was lightly elbowing Viel and raising his eyebrows a multiple times as if implying something.
Viel, on the other hand, just stood there and stared at the man.
Anna coughed as she noticed the kids staring at them, "Ahem.. students, this is Professor Li Zhao, an inner disciple from the Azure Fist sect. He was previously a regular teacher in this very academy, but now, he is just here as a guest instructor."
Anna collected herself as she introduced the man called Li Zhao to the two kids.
"Oh, is that old man still kicking out kids he doesn't like?", Li Zhao examined the kids in front of them. He looked at Xiao Pei but quickly lost interest. He shifted his gaze to the other boy, he smirked slightly when he saw the boy's golden hair, but once again quickly lost interest. But as he was about to say his goodbyes to Anna, he noticed that the golden-haired boy was staring at him.
"Do you need something, boy?", he quickly became irritated at the boy as his voice became cold.
Li Zhao felt unusually more irritated than usual. For some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity with the boy that he couldn't shake off, and he didn't like it. It didn't help that the boy was a westerner with golden hair. It reminded him of an affair he had with a whore a few years back.
"I said, what're you staring at, you western runt!?", Li Zhao slowly approached the boy with a commanding tone.
"Li Zhao, maybe it's the boy's first time seeing a famous senior and he's just shocked in admiration. Let it go. The boy will be late for my class", Anna signaled the two boys to quickly follow her inside before the whole situation gets blown to proportions.
However, the golden-haired boy, like hearing nothing, just continued to stare at Li Zhao.
"V-viel, c'mon. Let's go", Xiao Pei tried pulling Viel away, but alas, Viel did not even budge. "W-what's wrong, Viel!?". Xiao Pei was confused, just a little while ago, they were laughing and bad-mouthing professor Hamburgdole, but after this Li Zhao arrived, his mood quickly shifted.
"You dare not answer me when I speak to you, western brat!?", Li Zhao started to grab Viel by the collars as the boy seemed to be resolute in pissing him off.
Viel seemed to be unaffected as he still continued to stare at Li Zhao.
"Y-you-", before Li Zhao can say another word, to his surprise, the boy grabbed his wrists as tears fell down on the boy's face.
"Y-you dare!?", Li Zhao lifted Viel and slammed him on the wall.
"V-viel!", Xiao Pei shouted in concern.
"Li Zhao, what are you doing!?", Anna quickly grabbed Li Zhao's shoulder to stop him. But Li Zhao just deflected it by shrugging his shoulders.
"What is going on here!?", Hamburgdole who couldn't help but notice the commotion just outside of his class, exited the room to see what was going on. There were also other curious students behind him.
"V-viel!?", Violet quickly pushed Hamburgdole to the side when he saw Viel being grabbed and lifted by the neck. Diao Mei also followed as they tried to pull Li Zhao by his feet.
"What do you think you're doing to my student, unhand hi-"
"Guh!", Hamburgdole was about to rush over Li Zhao. But Li Zhao suddenly groaned as dropped Viel, seemingly in pain as he backed away. The two girls who were grabbing Li Zhao's legs were thrown off.
The onlookers revealed obvious shock on their faces as they were confused to this sudden upset of events. However, when they saw Li Zhao holding his wrists in pain, they saw a small hand print on it.
"Y-you!", Li Zhao's expression could not be painted. It was a face of shock and extreme anger. How dare this western child, who was no bigger than a stool, make him feel pain.
"W…what's happening? Why are all of you outside? Did professor Hamburgdole also kick all of you out!?"
Viel, the instigator of this whole mess, finally opened his mouth. However, it was like he had no idea of what he has done as he revealed a confused expression.
Before Viel could figure out what was happening, he felt a pain on his cheeks as he suddenly flew away. He rolled over a few good meters before stopping.
"W…what…", Viel quickly sat up and held his cheek as tears started to appear from his eyes. He hasn't been hit like this his whole life, not to mention this hard.
"V-viel!", Xiao Pei, Violet, and Diao Mei quickly rushed towards Viel to see if he was okay.
"G-guys? W..what's happening?", Viel was still visibly shock as he stuttered his words.
"Li Zhao! How dare you hit one of my students!?", Hamburgdole released a punch towards Li Zhao.
Li Zhao quickly deflected Hamburgdole's fist as he dodged to the side. He ignored Hamburgdole's intent as he once again released a kick towards Viel.
"You western runt! You will wish you haven't been born!"
"I think that's far enough."
A woman in golden robes suddenly appeared in front of Viel and grabbed Li Zhao's incoming kick with one hand. The woman pushed Li Zhao's foot away as she turned her back to check on Viel.
"Are you alright, boy?"
"M..miss Xing Cai…"
Elder Xing Cai gently placed her hands on Viel's cheeks as it glowed yellow. Viel immediately felt a warm feeling enveloping his cheeks as the pain that he previously felt went away. With the presence of an adult in front of him, Viel suddenly cried and hugged Elder Xing Cai. (AN: Xing Cai best girl)
"M..miss Xing Cai… uwwuuu"
"Now now, Viel. It's alright now."
"E-elder Xing Cai, will Viel be alright?", Diao Mei expressed her concern.
"Yes, she's alright now, Diao girl. Return to your classes, I will take the boy home for now.", Elder Xing Cai lifted Viel, who was currently hugging her.
"Wait! I am not done with the western brat!", Li Zhao grabbed Elder Xing Cai's shoulders. But as soon as he did so, Xing Cai released a barrier, causing him to trip backwards and land on his butt.
"You've done enough, brat.", Xing Cai said with a cold voice, emphasizing the word "brat".
Li Zhao gritted his teeth. He still wanted to punish the boy for staring at him, but he knew that if he pushed any further, he would risk antagonizing the woman in front of him. He recognized that the robes the woman was wearing was a uniform of the Golden Pavilion sect.
Sure, his sect may be able to offend a low-ranking member of the Golden Pavilion sect, but the woman in front of him was clearly a high ranking member of the sect.
"Tch. Just you wait, you western brat", Li Zhao stood up and quickly left after threatening Viel one last time. He couldn't just let this go after the boy humiliated him in front of all these people. He smiled as an idea to get back at the boy appeared on his mind. He remembered that there was an upcoming mock competition happening just next week, and he was one of the judges.
With Li Zhao gone, Hamburgdole and combat instructor Anna asked the curious kids to go back inside the classroom.
"W-wait, can I come with you, Elder Xing Cai?", Diao Mei tugged on Elder Xing Cai's robe before she could leave.
"No, you still have classes to attend to."
"P-please! I am very concerned about my friend!", Diao Mei did not let go of Xing Cai's robes as she once again pleaded stubbornly.
Elder Xing Cai sighed, "Fine". Elder Xing Cai nodded at the teachers as she excused Diao Mei and Viel out of the class.
"P-please wait! Can I also come!?", as they were leaving. Someone once again tugged on Elder Xing Cai's robes, this time it was Violet.
"Ugh… who else wants to come?", Elder Xing Cai rolled her eyes as she gave up on reasoning with the kids.
With this question, Xiao Pei raised his hand. He was also concerned for Viel as he saw that something was not right with Viel even before Li Zhao kicked him on the head. Also, he wouldn't let a chance to skip classes slip by.
"W-wait! I am also coming, I can't let Diao Mei be alone with this brat!", Wei Song, who was quiet the whole ordeal, followed the group in the last minute as they were leaving.
---------------------
"Grandma! Grandpa! I'm home!", Viel opened the door to his house with a wide smile on his face. It was like the previous fiasco no longer affected him as he happily trotted towards Grandma Ling who was currently folding clothes.
"V-viel!? Why are you home so early aga-", Grandma Ling was about to scold Viel when she noticed there were people at his back, "Oh my, who might these little kids be?"
"We meet again, Madame Ling.", Xing Cai smiled as she bowed.
"D-Diao Mei pays her r-respect to the elder!"
"H-hello! Sorry to intrude"
"Yo, you must be Viel's grandmother. Hello!"
"Hmph… this place is even shabbier than our stables"
"…"
And thus, like the starts aligning, the people who will shape the fate of the entire world gathered in the same house for the first time... and in a way, also the last.