"Today, we will be holding a friendly competition against our friends from the Azure Fist sect. Thanks to our honorable guest and previous star teacher, Li Zhao, you, the elite class will get the chance for spar with trained disciples!"
Examiner An Da, who is now the proctor and also announcer of the fight, stood on the stage as he introduced the disciples of the Azure Fist sect. Li Zhao was just calmly smiling beside him, not even looking at the boy who injured his wrists.
The young disciples of the Azure Fist sect stood domineeringly on the stage as they looked down on the students of the elite class. Their expressions were full of mockery, some are even ogling the two beauties of the elite class, Diao Mei and Violet.
In response to this, Diao Mei was just looked to the other side with her usual cold demeanor, but Violet didn't know where to look as she was embarrassed at being the attention of the boys from the Azure Fist sect.
"Tch. You dare look at goddess Mei!? Come here! I'll beat you to a pulp!", Wei Song was about to climb on stage and pounce on one of the boys but An Da stopped him.
"I see you children are ready to fight. Very well, we will begin! As coordinated earlier, the student who drew the 1st number on the lot will go first! Remember, this might be considered a friendly fight, but we will not stop it until your opponent is unconscious or surrenders! Do not be afraid to be injured, we have healers ready to tend to your wounds…"
An Da continued to explain the rules of the fight. One by one, the audience and guests of the academy took their seats as they anticipated the outcome of the fight.
Elder Xing Cai was already seated and was talking to the Headmaster about the arrangement of this mock battle.
"How come you accepted this arrangement, do you not know of the altercation between that Li Zhao and student Viel?", Elder Xing Cai was currently complaining to the Headmaster.
Knowing that there were some bad blood between the two, Li Zhao won't just sit this one down without planning something.
"Of course, that is why accepted it in the first place. Altercation and aggression is good if pointed into the right direction. The both of them will walk out stronger after his"
Headmaster Fu looked on the stage to see how Li Zhao was currently holding up. Out of all of the people present here today, the Headmaster is the one who knows how twisted Li Zhao's personality actually is, specially against westerners. Li Zhao treats them as inferiors only to be played with.
The only reason the Headmaster keeps inviting Li Zhao in the school was to watch his movement. After all, even if Li Zhao is now an inner disciple of the Azure Fist sect, he was still once a famous teacher in the academy and his name was still imprinted in the academy. People might still blame some of his actions to the academy.
At least in this sort of scenario, even if Li Zhao has planned something sinister, it will be in plain sight and easily preventable.
"Stil, where di-"
"My my, is that a wrinkled washboard I hear talking?"
Before Xing Cai can finished her sentence, a seductive but mocking voice interrupted her.
"Jin-ri!?"
Headmistress Cha slowly approached Elder Xing Cai, seemingly boasting her big bosom.
"Oh, why are you so surprised to see me here, senior?", Headmistress Cha emphasized the word "senior" as she stood in front of Elder Xing Cai, still somewhat boasting her big bosom.
"I was just shocked to see a cow princess walking in two legs", Elder Xing Cai's eyes fidgeted as the woman in front of her continues to showcase her big bosom. Although Xing Cai was not entirely flat on the front, it can be said to be nothing compared to the mountain that was right in front of her.
"Y-you!"
The bickering between the two lasted for a while before it died down and they started to have a normal conversation.
"Truly, why are you here, Princess Jin-ri?", Elder Xing Cai's tone became serious as she questioned Jin-ri. Although Elder Xing Cai probably already knows the answer.
"It's Headmistress Cha now, and I am here for the same reason as you. The student named Viel", Headmistress Cha waved her fan as she looked at the direction of a golden-haired boy.
"Then I am sorry to disappoint you, the boy is under my tutelage now. His guardians have already asked me to take care of him in their stead.", Elder Xing Cai crossed her arms.
"Oh? If letting him get hit by a feeble Azure First disciple is your definition of taking care of him. Then I am sorry to disappoint you, you are not very good at it."
Headmistress Cha rolled her eyes as she slightly smirked at Elder Xing Cai. Xing Cai was about to retort before she was interrupted by An Da's shout.
"Begin!"
With the signal of the fight lighted up, the combatant from the Azure Fist quickly rushed towards his opponent.
The student from the elite class immediately ducked down and countered the attack. The fight continued on with no one overpowering the other. Ultimately, the student from the elite class won as the Azure Fist disciple lacked in stamina.
For some reason, the matches continued in the same fashion. The Azure Fist has not yet won a single match.
"Tch. What's with the arrogant attitudes!? Is the Azure Fist disciples this weak!? C'mon, I haven't even warmed up yet!", Wei Song thumped his chest as he stepped on the head of an Azure Fist disciple.
The students of the elite class cheered as they pride themselves on their winning streak. They kept throwing mocking gazes at the Azure Fist disciples on the other side of the stage.
However, the other Azure Fist disciple that hasn't fought yet looked like they didn't even care as they chatted with each other, not even bothering about the fight.
Li Zhao, who was watching on the side, was also the same. He just had his eyes closed even at the start of the match.
Headmistress Cha noticed that something was amiss. Although the students of the elite class are good, the disciples from the Azure Fist seemed like they have not even put up a single effort to win, their performance clumsy and stiff.
"Of course, something is wrong", Elder Xing Cai sighed as she shook her head.
"Hm?"
"I have fought people from the Azure Fist before, and I can tell you this; Not one of these people have yet to show a single technique from the Azure Fist. This Li Zhao, what exactly is he planning?", Elder Xing Cai was in deep thought, to even tarnish the name of his own sect and invite these riff raffs to represent his sect. Is this Li Zhao truly mad?
The Headmaster grunted when he heard this.
"Oh? Curious. Is this Li Zhao really that petty? If this was in my academy, I won't even let this kind of pervert near my students", Headmistress Cha said loudly, hoping that the Headmaster heard what she said, "But this is getting boring, I should have arrived at a later time if I knew that Viel was fighting last"
"Li Zhao was the one who oversaw the drawing of lots", Elder Xing Cai muttered.
"Hm…"
The fights continued on, and although some fights were close, the students from the elite class still kept on winning, only losing twice so far.
When it came to the top students of the Elite Class, the so called disciples from the Azure Fist sect did not even last a second.
It was an instant win for Xiao Pei as his opponent could not even follow his fast movements.
Violet's fight was more boring. She just stood on her spot, avoiding the flurry of attacks from her opponent as if she was dancing. When her opponent ran out of breathe, that was the moment she attacked, and it only took 1 hit to win the fight.
"Ready?", An Da signaled to the current combatants on the stage.
Diao Mei nodded as she locked on to her opponent. It was a boy with a muscular body. No, perhaps calling it a boy is not enough. The opponent in front of her already has an obvious stubble on his chin.
Diao Mei felt creeped out because she could not shake this feeling that something was wrong. She shook her head to clear it out as An Da signaled the start of the battle.
"Begin!"
However, Diao Mei and his opponent did not move. Her opponent just looked at her, maintaining his fighting stance. They stayed like this for a while.
The first to break the silence was her opponent. The man rushed towards her. Diao Mei prepared to counter attack but just before the man was in her reach, the man crouched and touched the dusty stage floor.
The man quickly gathered dust on his hand and precisely threw it at Diao Mei's eyes.
Diao Mei closed her eyes in pain as she backed away.
She shook her head to remove the dust on her face, but before she could collect herself, she felt a sting on her stomach as she flew a few feet away.
Diao Mei quickly readied her stance as soon as she landed on her feet. She still had her eyes closed, patiently waiting for her opponent to attack. But contrary to her expectations, the opponent did not attack even after she has regained her sight.
She saw the man smirking at her. Diao Mei started to get pissed off. It felt like the man was just toying with her. When she could no longer control her temper, she rushed towards the man with all of her strength.
Halfway through her rush, she noticed that the man was no longer looking at her, but to the side. The opponent nodded to Li Zhao before once again looking at her with a smile on his face.
Diao Mei carefully fainted her attack as she thought that the man was planning something, she placed all of her strength in her feet as she aimed for the man's legs.
Diao Mei was getting ready to launch another kick as she felt like her previous attack missed, however…
"UGH!", the man kneeled down in pain as he held his knee.
Diao Mei immediately backed away and stopped her attack, visibly confused with what just happened. She was so sure that her attack missed, but as she stared at the man's legs, she could not help but look away.
It was twisted in a very disgusting way. The man was crying in pain so loud that the students of the elite class' reactions could not be painted.
"The combatant from the Azure Fist disciple can no longer continue to fight! Winner, Diao Mei of the Elite Class!"
An Da announced Diao Mei as the winner.
Diao Mei walked down the stage still confused as to what had happened. Could she be mistaken? Did her last attack actually hit her opponent?
She could not complete her thoughts before she heard someone clapping.
"W-wow… Miss Mei, I did not know you were so… violent", Viel clapped awkwardly as he welcome Diao Mei back.
"U-un.", Diao Mei nodded in response. She was a little embarrassed as she felt like she did not really win the fight, unlike her friends.
"I..I'm next! I am a little nervous… but I should remember Miss… Sister Xing Cai's teachings!", Viel rubbed his hands as he waited for his name to be called by An Da.
"Beat them down, Viel!", Xiao Pei said as he placed his hand on Viel's shoulder, "B-but not too much"
"Please don't overdo it. Good luck!", Violet nodded.
Viel excitedly waited on the side as his friends gave him advise and cheers.
"Now for the next match, Student Vi"
"Wait."
An Da was about to call upon Viel to the stage before Li Zhao interrupted him.
"What is it, guest instructor Li Zhao?", An Da was a bit pissed that someone interrupted his announcement.
"The disciple who got injured on the last fight was the best fighter I had in the group. Seeing as the student that will be fighting next is considered the strongest of the Elite Class, I feel like it would be a boring match to let him fight an ordinary disciple"
Li Zhao walked onto the stage with a dignified stride and a smile on his face.
"So, I suggest… let us take this golden opportunity to teach some pointers to the students of the elite class…", Li Zhao looked over to the direction of the Headmaster.
"Let me give them lessons personally. And what better way but actual experience."
Li Zhao charmed most of the students of the elite class with his speech. They were excited that an inner disciple from Azure Fist sect will be giving them pointers personally.
But unlike most of the students, the children that were surrounding Viel were not happy at all.
Diao Mei, Violet, Xiao Pei, and even Wei Song revealed signs of disdain as they looked upon this benevolent man in front of them.
"So, what are you suggesting?", the Headmaster replied calmly.
"Let me spar with the Elite Class' best. Do not worry, it will only be for learning purposes", Li Zhao said with a smile on his face. He bowed down, once again not in respect, but hiding a malicious grin on his face.
"Hm. Very well.", the Headmaster nodded.
"W-what!? What are you doing!?"
"Uncle, are you crazy!?"
Both Elder Xing Cai and Headmistress Cha revealed exasperated gasps as they could not believe that the Headmaster will actually go along with this vile man's whims.
"It is fine. I will stop him personally if he goes too far. And besides, you girls are here as well", the Headmaster winked at the ladies.
The Headmaster saw this as a chance to finally reprimand Li Zhao.
Once Li Zhao does something that would endanger the life of a student, this would be taken as an offense and an attack to the Academy itself.
The Academy would finally be able to completely kick out Li Zhao from their annex, cleanly and legally.
Giving his assurance to both the ladies, he then gave a go signal to An Da that he has allowed this arrangement.
"Very well. Student Viel, please come up to the stage and greet the instructor!"
"W-wait Viel, you don't have to go!", Violet grabbed Viel's arms.
"Violet is right, my brother. Let the other kids go, they are the ones who seem excited", Xiao Pei also joined Violet into convincing Viel not to go up on the stage.
He once again recalled of how Viel just blanked out in front of Li Zhao, if the same thing happened again, Viel might really be put in danger this time.
Diao Mei just quietly gripped on Viel's robes tightly. She put two and two together, she now fully understands that this whole thing was just orchestrated by Li Zhao in order to have a reason to fight with Viel.
"Hey brat, if you go, you die.", Wei Song crossed his arms as he stood in front of Viel.
However, even with all of his friends telling him not to go. Viel just chuckled and shook his head.
"I will be alright. Sister Xing Cai has taught me a lot of techniques! I will win", Viel confidently said as he pointed towards Li Zhao. After that, he suddenly grabbed the hands of the girls that were holding onto him
Diao Mei and Violet blushed in surprise as Viel oddly held their hands gently, like he was used to doing so.
"I will be right back", Viel calmly said as he turned his back from group before heading towards the stage.
Li Zhao smiled as he saw the boy that humiliated him come up to the stage slowly. His smile grew even wider when he noticed that the boy was shaking in fear.
"Student Viel, are you rea…dy..?", An Da was about to check up on the shaking Viel, but he could not help but stutter when he realized that the boy wasn't shaking at all, he was actually laughing silently.
"Oh, An Da? Yes, I'm good", the boy stopped laughing as he replied to An Da with a smile on his face.
'An Da?', An Da was surprised. This was the first time that the boy called him directly by his name. However, he put the thought outside as Viel was probably just nervous.
"Very Well. Combatants, bow to each other!"
Both Viel and Li Zhao bowed to each other. Li Zhao smiled like the devil as he could not help but get excited imagining the ways he will toy with the boy.
Still bowing to each other, Li Zhao took a glance at Viel to see if he was still shaking in fear, but he almost backed away when he saw that the bowing Viel was looking back at him.
And like him, the boy also had a sinister smile on his face.
--------------------------------
"Xanthus! Xanthus wake up! What the hell happened again!?"
In a vast darkness, Lord God Lu Yi was once again slapping the life out of Xanthus. Just a moment ago, Xanthus assured Lu Yi that he was fine even after seeing Viel's father.
But now, even with Lu Yi tugging and slapping him repeatedly, Xanthus did not even lift a finger.
He just kept staring at the mirror with a blank expression on his face, almost as if he was lifeless.