"Interesting, tell me, elder Shu, who is this kid's master? Yen Hu is still a kid and is inexperienced, so he can't see what I am seeing. This kid Yang Zhai is not only predicting Yen Hu's every move, but he is also manipulating Yen Hu's fighting style." Jun Nie was also stunned by Yang Zhai's fighting style. He did not think that someone of his age could do this. Forget about him, it was even impossible for many adults. Even Jun Nie himself had never done this.
"No, elder Jun, you are not telling the whole thing. He is not just manipulating Yen Hu's fighting style, he is even adapting his own moves to blend with Yen Hu's moves. And if I remember correctly, nobody is his master, he is a natural born talent" Elder Shu said with a serious expression.
When Jun Nie heard Elder Shu Ti , he was stunned.
"Ene, you were right, this kid is not ordinary. He is thinking of every move before making it. No, he is not thinking, a person cannot think this quickly in a battle, and it's like his body is adapting to the moves of his opponent by itself. And this is something that is not possible without experience from thousands of battles. A person needs to let their body endure all kinds of pain in a battle to make their body contain all kinds of moves. He is a natural-born talent for battling." Elder Ane said to Elder Ene with a smile.
"That is why I chose him, I wanted to see him personally in a battle. You know some of the elders wanted to choose another class leader, especially Elder Cu Gil, but Yang Zhai won the class competition and rendered their hopes fruitless. Elder Wang and Elder Ren praised him a lot and said that he is a great talent even though he has only 59 percent essence water, so it piqued my interest." Elder Ene replied with a smirk.
"Elder Cu Gil? Why did he want to remove him from the class leader's position?" Elder Ane was confused.
"Who knows, maybe because of his daughter? After all, his daughter is in the same class as Yang Zhai." Yu Ene smirked after thinking of how elder Cu Gil might be troubled by Yang Zhai being the class leader again.
…..
Somewhere in a room,
"Achu, achu…," elder Cu Gil sneezed.
"Is something thinking about me? Perhaps, they are praying for me; after all, my daughter Ci An always shouts at me ever since she lost the final round to Yang Zhai. She always makes my ears hurt." Elder Cu returned back to his work and thought that someone was praying for him.
…..
In the clan leader's residence,
"You two, get ready, we are going to begin our plan. We need to finish everything before the others enter the residence. And don't worry about the servants, father made sure to give them enough work that would keep them occupied." Jun Haru said to the two boys who were standing in front of him.
These two boys in front of him were two out of the eight disciples who came with them, including him.
"Don't worry, brother Haru, we will make sure to act according to the plan. This time, the war will start for sure and elder Jun will get what he wants." One of the two boys said.
"Shhh, are you crazy? Don't talk about such things loudly. Even the walls have ears." Jun Haru hurriedly stopped the boy from speaking anymore.
"Sorry, brother,"
"No worries, let's go." After saying this, Jun Haru and the other two left the room.
…..
The battle continued between Yang Zhai and Yen Hu, and both of them were panting. Of course, Yang Zhai was holding back and was using only half of his strength. If he wanted to, he could have won already. But he did not do that, he did not see any benefit in doing that. After all, this battle did not mean anything and was only a battle for others' entertainment.
If he gave his all, then he would only reveal his strength to the others for nothing. He would also get others' attention. There will be more eyes on him in the future.
He had already displayed enough. He only wanted to give others the impression that he was a natural-born talent for fighting, to make elder Ene believe that he was worthy of being the class leader. And if he was nurtured well enough, he might become useful for the clan. After all, only two people could change the class leader, one was the clan leader and the other one was the academy leader.
Yen Hu tried many things to distract Yang Zhai and win the fight. In the middle of the battle, Yen Hu had even forgotten that elder Jun Nie had asked him to stall the fight. Right now, Yen Hu only wanted to win. Therefore, he even threw one of his shoe¹ on Yang Zhai during the battle to distract Yang Zhai. Forget about that, Yen Hu even tried to fool Yang Zhai by saying the fire had started in the clan leader's residence.
Except for Yang Zhai, everyone looked back in fear and saw nothing. The one person, Yen Hu wanted to look behind, did not even budge.
Yang Zhai had already understood that Yen Hu had never lost a fight before. This was why Yen Hu was doing everything to win. Yen Hu did not want to lose no matter what, to him, this was a new experience that he didn't want to taste. Right now, Yen Hu was so desperate that his usual behavior could not be seen anywhere. And a desperate person could do anything.
If someone helps a desperate person, then that person would forever be thankful to the one who helped; however, if someone makes things difficult for the one who is desperate, then the desperate person would put all the blame on the one who makes things more difficult, thus,
"I give up," Yang Zhai raised his hand and gave up. He did not want to create unnecessary trouble for himself for others' amusement. And anyway, everyone could already see who was winning: So, Yang Zhai did not hesitate to give up. Only a fool would be stubborn enough to try to win for their pride and self-satisfaction no matter what happens. Yang Zhai saw no benefit in winning, and he would also create unnecessary trouble for himself. Yang Zhai didn't fear doing things that may trouble him later on; however, he would only do that when he sees enough benefits for himself. And in a situation where he would only get into trouble and would not benefit, then he would simply not do that.
"Why?" Yen Hu asked with a confused expression.
"I am impressed by your determination, and I also ran out of stamina. Sorry, brother, I could not keep up with you, I hope you forgive me." Yang Zhai made sure to not hurt Yen Hu's pride or he might think that Yang Zhai was taking pity on him. And he also made sure to remind Yen Hu implicitly that he had let him win. This way, Yang Zhai would not need to explain to the elders why he gave up. Elders would think that Yang Zhai was taking care of Yen Hu and did not want to hurt his pride, and would unconsciously imagine Yang Zhai as a soft kid.
If he was so soft to even his opponent, then wouldn't he give his life for his comrades?
*****/*****
1-Shoes:19th of September 1991 was an important date in shoe history. On this day, a mummy was found in a glacier in the Ötztal Alps. Researchers also discovered a pair of well-preserved primitive shoes on so-called Ötzi's feet. The footwear was estimated to be roughly 5,300 years old. This discovery, combined with research conducted on 40,000-year-old Chinese skeletons as well as paintings found in the Altamira Cave dating back to 15,000 - 12,000 B.C., demonstrates that humans developed the need to protect their feet from the elements quite early on.