At this moment, Sun Minhao could clearly feel the cold touch of Zhao Minhao's fist against his chin.
It almost felt like a pedestal holding his head up for the public to ridicule as they wished.
Insolent bastard!
Zhao Yunxiao never saw the fist coming.
Bang-!
A thunderous boom reverberated through the Snow Moon Arena as Zhao Yunxiao was thrown across the stage like a ragdoll.
Gasps sounded out from the crowds as the heavy collision broke everyone from their daze.
"Junior Martial Brother Zhao!" Jun Chuan called out in shock while trying to stand.
"Senior Martial Brother Zhao!" Lu Zhiying cried out as well, at the same time trying to push her way forward in vain. "Stop! The deacons have already been informed and are on the way!"
"The deacons?" Sun Minhao sneered while clenching his fists in rage. "Guess I will just have to settle this faster then!"
"Are you crazy, Senior Martial Brother Sun?" Wang Qisheng shouted. "How could you use the Northern Winter Fist Art on an outer disciple? Are you trying to kill him?!"
"Don't worry, I won't kill him," Sun Minhao slowly walked towards the motionless Zhao Yunxiao. "However, he would have to pay an arm or two for this!"
How could he just let Zhao Yunxiao off after he humiliated him in front of everyone?
He, Sun Minhao, was not a person who could be treated lightly like that!
"I was still wondering why my student is not showing up. So, it's because of you guys. I'm curious. What is he supposed to pay for again?"
It was yet another newcomer, and a female this time.
But unlike the case with Wang Qisheng and the other two inner disciples, Sun Minhao could not help but frown when he saw who it was.
Leng Huiqi – founder of the Frost Lotus Dance Troupe.
Still, Sun Minhao would not be too concerned if it was just her.
During the selection for inner disciples, the Black Tortoise Sect looked at a combination of two different aspects – ability and potential.
As for Leng Huiqi, she was an example of someone who joined the inner sect based on potential alone.
In fact, her current cultivation level was only at the Peak Essence Gathering realm, even lower than that of Jun Chuan's!
However, she was also only a year older than Zhao Yunxiao, making her five years younger than Jun Chuan.
To be able to reach the Peak Essence Gathering realm by the young age of twenty was testament to her innate talent, and this was what got her accepted into the inner sect.
Still, regardless of her talent, the fact was that the current Leng Huiqi would not be capable of stopping the Origin Core realm Sun Minhao.
So, the problem was the person standing beside her right now – Deng Wei.
Deng Wei had long made known his intention to pursue Leng Huiqi, so it was not surprising that he had appeared beside her.
But unlike Leng Huiqi, Deng Wei was an Origin Core realm cultivator as well.
Even though Deng Wei was a year younger than Sun Minhao, he actually progressed faster on the cultivation path, and was already at the Intermediate Origin Core realm – one boundary above Sun Minhao.
And Deng Wei was not just strong. Apart from that, he was also a favoured disciple of Elder Mo.
Because of that, few inner disciples dared to offend him, Sun Minhao included.
"Junior Martial Brother Deng, what brings you here today?" Sun Minhao forced himself to mellow his tone upon seeing him.
"I'm just taking a walk with Junior Martial Sister Leng," Deng Wei nodded back in greeting.
"More like you just followed me here," Leng Huiqi corrected before turning back to Sun Minhao. "Don't you think you are going too far right now?"
"I don't understand what you mean, Junior Marital Sister Leng," Sun Minhao answered. "I am merely sparring with the outer disciples, as a responsible senior would do. If you don't believe me, you can always ask them."
With that, Sun Minhao turned away from Leng Huiqi and continued to approach Zhao Yunxiao.
Things were starting to get complicated, so he wanted to end things as soon as possible!
At the same time, Zhao Yunxiao started to stir a little.
The earlier punch had completely knocked him out for a good few moments, and it was only now that he was starting to slowly regain his consciousness.
As he regained his senses, the first thing Zhao Yunxiao did was to check his body.
Good, there were at least no internal injuries.
Only after that did he let out a sigh of relief, though the simple act of sighing also caused a sharp pain to shoot through his body.
How risky.
He really got carried away earlier!
But as he thought back to how his punch managed to connect with Sun Minhao's chin, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel satisfied as well.
That was probably the best result that he could have possibly gotten under these circumstances.
"Take one step further and you will have to face me instead."
At this time, Deng Wei's declaration caused Sun Minhao to stop in his tracks.
Sun Minhao turned to look towards Deng Wei, who stared back in return.
There were no excess emotions in Deng Wei's eyes, as though the warning was an insignificant matter, a mere passing remark.
However, Sun Minhao knew very well that despite appearing to be indifferent, Deng Wei would definitely follow through on what he said.
With Leng Huiqi present, there was no way that Deng Wei would back down on any matter whatsoever, not to mention the fact that he was probably doing this to look good in front of Leng Huiqi in the first place!
Sun Minhao could not help but curse in his heart.
This love-smitten bastard!
Yet despite his despise for Deng Wei's current actions, Sun Minhao finally decided to endure it in the end.
He was not too afraid of Deng Wei, but fighting against Deng Wei would only result in him getting into the bad books of Elder Mo.
And getting to vent his anger was definitely not worth offending an elder of the sect!
"Since Junior Martial Brother Deng is so intent on stepping in, I will give you some face then," Sun Minhao relaxed his clenched fists as he turned to leave. "Let's go!"
"Hold it, even if you leave like that, what's stopping you from returning to bother them in the future?" Leng Huiqi questioned.
Sun Minhao clenched his fists once more.
This Leng Huiqi!
Just because Deng Wei was fond of her, did she really think that she could act like the boss around here?
"Do not return to bother them in the future," Deng Wei added.
"I have better things to do than that!" Sun Minhao shouted angrily without turning back to look at them. "Let's go!"
"Tch!"
The rest of the inner disciples who came with Sun Minhao joined him as he got off the stage and left the Snow Moon Arena.
"Senior Martial Brother Zhao!" Lu Zhiying immediately rushed up the stage to check on Zhao Yunxiao.
But even though she was already running as fast as she could, two figures easily dashed past her to reach Zhao Yunxiao first.
"Ju- Cough! Cough! Junior Martial Sister Huang?" Zhao Yunxiao asked weakly when he saw the person who had arrived by his side. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as it- Cough!"
"Don't speak for now," Huang An's eyes were focused as she entered her physician mode, carefully inspecting Zhao Yunxiao from head to toe.
"Ouch! Ouch! Be a little gentler, Junior Martial Sister Huang!" Zhao Yunxiao complained as Huang An proceeded with the inspection. "Ouch!"
"How's Senior Martial Brother Zhao?" Lu Zhiying asked as she walked up beside them.
"I'm all right," Zhao Yunxiao replied. "It just looks serious on the surface."
"She's not asking you," Gu Qiansi snapped at him immediately.
"There are a few broken bones and torn muscles here and there, but there should not be any lasting injuries as long as we don't delay the treatment," Huang An diagnosed. "You really got lucky there, Senior Martial Brother Zhao! If Senior Martial Brother Sun had exerted just a little more strength in that last punc-!"
"I know, I know," Zhao Yunxiao waved her off. "I will be more careful next time."
"Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it," Leng Huiqi's voice sounded out as she walked over with her arms crossed. "To think that you losing your footing there actually ended up creating an opening in that Sun Minhao's defence. That alone was probably enough to use up all your fortune for the year!"
In everyone's eyes, Zhao Yunxiao had accomplished an incredible feat in breaking through Sun Minhao's defence. However, they also saw that Sun Minhao's kick only missed because Zhao Yunxiao lost his footing, so they largely attributed it to sheer luck on Zhao Yunxiao's part.
Otherwise, Zhao Yunxiao would have been sent flying through the air long ago!
"Hah, I sure hope that isn't the case. I would like to have more lucky encounters this year," Zhao Yunxiao said with a bitter smile. "But thank you for helping me out just now, Senior Martial Sister Leng. Thank you as well, Senior Martial Brother Deng."
Deng Wei nodded in acknowledgement, at the same time sneaking a few glances in Lu Zhiying's direction.
"Who is helping you? I just don't want my student to be any later than this!" Leng Huiqi scoffed instead. "Are you done here? If so, come back with me!"
"Are you all right already, Senior Martial Brother Zhao?" Lu Zhiying asked again.
"Didn't you hear the physician girl? He's fine," Leng Huiqi rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I am all right," Zhao Yunxiao nodded, albeit still rather weakly. "I will be fine with Junior Martial Sister Huang here, so don't let me delay your practice."
"Hmm... all right then!" Lu Zhiying answered. "Let's go, Senior Martial Sister Leng!"
On Jun Chuan's end, Wang Qisheng, the other two inner disciples, as well as the other outer disciples present went to take a look at his current condition.
Jun Chuan's condition was slightly better than Zhao Yunxiao's, but that was only because his higher cultivation level allowed him to take more punishment.
In actual terms, his injuries were actually more serious than Zhao Yunxiao's!
That was only to be expected as well.
Sun Minhao was here for Jun Chuan right from the very start, so his moves were naturally more vicious when it came to Jun Chuan.
After Huang An administered the basic first aid and made sure that both of them were all right, the duo were helped back to their residences where they were told to rest as much as they could.
Just like that, the incident at the Snow Moon Arena finally came to an end.
As for those involved – from Jun Chuan and Zhao Yunxiao to the outer disciples who were powerless beneath the stage, to Wang Qisheng and the other inner disciples who came with him – all of them had their own takeaways from this incident.
***
Zhao Yunxiao lay on his bed with his eyes wide open, his body hurting all over, and his entire room smelling of medicine.
If there was one redeeming point right now, it was that at least his stomach was full, satisfied by a sumptuous dinner.
Wanting Zhao Yunxiao to have the maximum amount of rest for a speedy recovery, Gu Qiansi had made a meal with the Giant Tree Ostrich eggs from before and brought it over to his residence along with Lu Zhiying after she completed her dance practice.
It was an amazing meal just like before, with the trio once again indulging in the wonderful taste and benefits of the eggs.
But now that Gu Qiansi and Lu Zhiying had their meal and left, Zhao Yunxiao finally had time to reflect on his actions today.
He understood that what he did had been a little too reckless, but he did not regret standing by Jun Chuan.
Even if he was given the choice to do things over, Zhao Yunxiao was certain that he would remain on that stage to face Sun Minhao while standing shoulder to shoulder with Jun Chuan.
Instead, what Zhao Yunxiao reflected on was how he had approached the fight.
He was not a fool.
In the end, he understood that the only reason why he managed to get past Sun Minhao was by faking a misstep, and even then, it was only doable because Sun Minhao was acting in an overconfident manner.
And the punch barely did anything to Sun Minhao anyway.
Could he have done it better?
No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible.
At least, not with the way that he was right now.
If he wanted to do so, he definitely had to learn to fight more effectively.
But unlike those geniuses out there, he could not afford to just increase the number of moves in his arsenal and mix things up as he wished, executing the most effective move in every situation.
After all, in comparison to them, it would take him much more effort to learn a single technique.
By the time he finished learning all the techniques that he needed, who knew how many years would have passed?
Instead of that, what he needed was to find another way of fighting – a way that suited him best.
Only then would he be able to identify which were the techniques he needed, and then focus wholeheartedly on learning them well.
That was the one most important thing that he had to do right now!
Knock-! Knock-!
"Is Junior Martial Brother Zhao in?"
Hmm?
Zhao Yunxiao endured the pain that was coming from every inch of his body, dragging himself from his bed to go to the door.
"Junior Martial Br- Wait, what happened to you?" the outer disciple at the door frowned upon seeing the state that Zhao Yunxiao was in.
"Don't worry about it, it's just some external injuries," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head. "What is this about?"
"Some external injuries, eh?" the outer disciple raised an eyebrow.
What he was seeing right now definitely could not be described as just 'some external injuries'.
Still, since Zhao Yunxiao himself was treating it lightly, the outer disciple would normally leave Zhao Yunxiao to mind his own business.
It was just that today was a special case.
"I am here on orders to inform you that you have passed the interview and have thus been selected to join Elder He's work trip that is in two days' time," the outer disciple was about to hand Zhao Yunxiao an envelope but hesitated. "...However, are you in the state to go? If your injuries are too serious, I can tell th-"
"No, not at all!" Zhao Yunxiao hurriedly snatched the envelope over from the outer disciple. "Ouc-! I mean, wow! How exciting! These are just surface injuries and will recover by then! Thank you and have a nice day!"
Not wanting to give the outer disciple any chance of declining, Zhao Yunxiao immediately turned back into his residence and closed the door on him.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao took a deep breath to calm himself down.
Now then, it seemed that the number of things that he had to do had just doubled.
While looking for a way to improve his combat efficiency was important, he also had to ensure that he made sufficient preparations for the upcoming trip to the Origin Lake Sect!