Teacher Cai was quick to make the announcement this time. Kuang Hu"s qi had gotten so faint that we could barely notice it. A master would have immediately realized that the poor guy had lost consciousness.

Even so, I didn"t leave the arena. I remained where I was, even as the teachers and medical staff rushed into the coliseum to dig through the rubble. Only when they dug out Kuang Hu"s unconscious body and began rendering emergency first aid to him did I breathe a sigh of relief. Adjusting my gla.s.ses, I relaxed and turned to leave.

"Student Fei Wu!" Teacher Cai called out to me. I glanced at him, gulping when I saw his stern gaze. He appraised me for a moment and then nodded. "Make sure you get your own injuries treated in the infirmary. Don"t try to be a hero and ignore them."

"Yes, Teacher Cai."

I bowed slightly, and then made haste to depart. So as not to get into trouble, I planned to at least show my face in the infirmary, perhaps get some medicine, then return to the dormitory to rest and recuperate.

"Student Fei Wu."

This time it was Teacher Jiao. I stopped and turned toward him curiously, and was relieved to see that he was smiling. He showed me a thumb"s up.

"I see you"ve completely mastered the footwork techniques I taught you. Excellent job."

I couldn"t help but smile back. "You were right. Now no one in my generation can touch me."

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Teacher Jiao burst out laughing. "That is true. Make sure you keep this up for the rest of the tournament!"

"The rest of the tournament, huh…?"

I watched as Teacher Jiao returned to check on Kuang Hu"s condition. The guy was battered, but would live. The worst damage he suffered was probably the nasty bruise to his ego. I doubted he would hold a grudge against me – this wasn"t some stupid wuxia or xianxia story where random side characters hated the protagonist for no reason or because they were jealous of his achievements. From what I knew, most people in real life weren"t that petty.

Even so, it was undeniable that I had progressed to the quarterfinals at his expense. If I didn"t put on a good show, he would feel that his defeat was unjustified. Nonetheless, the both of us had fought with everything we had, without holding anything back. Neither he nor I would have any regrets, regardless of the outcome.

Bending over, I picked up the weights I had taken off during the match. Even though I had discarded them while fighting, they were still official training gear that belonged to Wu Ling Academy. I couldn"t just throw them away like this. Moreover, I would prefer to avoid paying compensation for lost equipment if I could help it.

"Wu!"

"You did it!"

"Congratulations!"

"Great job!"

My friends greeted me when I left the changing room. Even Zhu Jiao had shown up, probably a little late because of his perpetual habit of oversleeping. It seemed like he had watched most of the match, though, so I didn"t complain.

"Yeah." I sighed and shook my head. "It was a very close match. I was this close to losing." Raising two fingers, I s.p.a.ced them a micrometer apart.

"Ha ha ha, you certainly were cutting it close!" Tong Xue chuckled.

"Man, I was worried for a moment." Ban Zhang shook his head. "I warned you that Kuang Hu would be ruthless and merciless."

Tong Xue nudged him, smiling cheekily. "You thought that Wu would lose, didn"t you? You owe him an apology!"

"Sorry…"

"No need to apologize," I cut him off. "It was thanks to your warning that I didn"t underestimate him."

"Still, it"s good that you"re all right," Lian Rou remarked as she studied me.

Tang Qi Hong folded her arms and nodded proudly. "You did well! I knew you would win! You bring great honor to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!"

Right. I almost forgot that I was from the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I had joined it on a whim, when Elder Zhao invited me, but to everyone, it seemed that my ident.i.ty was irrevocably tied to that of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I wondered what would happen when I revealed that my parent sect was the Heaven and Earth Sect.

"Now you had better keep your promise and defeat Bai Ning Xue!"

"I"ll do my best," I a.s.sured her. Zhu Jiao tried not to snort.

"Hey, Ning Xue is my opponent. I"ll be the one who defeats her."

I shrugged. "We"ll leave that up to fate then."

"Hey!" Tang Qi Hong complained. "You promised!"

The rest of the group laughed at her mocked outrage, and then Lian Rou suddenly raised her pale hand.

"We should get Fei Wu to the infirmary."

Oh, right. I almost forgot about that. Teacher Cai had just ordered me to get my injuries treated. While I was still walking around like normal and felt fine, it was true that my injuries were severe. I had sustained some internal damage from the fight, and there were plenty of cuts on my bodies. Fortunately, I had frozen my wounds to stop the bleeding, so there wasn"t much to worry about other than the internal injury.

"It"ll only take a second," I told the rest when I reached the infirmary. The shallow injuries could heal on their own, to be honest. It was the wounds I couldn"t see that worried me – and the teachers the most. Best not to take them for granted. "But you guys should return to the dorm without me. There might be other patients and I"ll have to wait in line."

"Are you sure?" Tang Qi Hong looked at me worriedly. I waved her concerns away dismissively and smiled.

"Why wouldn"t I be sure? What"s the worst that could happen? This is Teacher Yi we"re talking about here. It"s not as if she"ll abuse me or anything, right?"

"Wu has a point," Tong Xue conceded. "We don"t know how long it"ll take, and he"s fine. And we"ll just be in the way, standing outside the infirmary like this."

The others in the group nodded, seeing the sense in his argument.

"We"ll head back first, Wu," Zhu Jiao told me. the five of them then departed from the corridor.

"Yeah." I waved goodbye and watched as they left. Then I took a deep breath and turned toward the door to the infirmary.

"That was a good match," Teacher Yi told me when I entered the room. She was still tending to another student from one of the group matches for school ranking. Giving me the look-over, she then gestured for me to take a seat. "Your injuries don"t look so serious, so sit there and wait a bit." She smiled. "At least they aren"t as serious as Kuang Hu"s."

"How is Kuang Hu?" I asked, remembering that they brought him in before me. The staff had rushed him to the infirmary after the match while I was still talking with my friends. Glancing around the infirmary, I saw no sign of him.

"His condition has been stabilized. He"ll live. I"ll be treating him in an hour, after I finish all the minor cases…I"ll need to concentrate in order to restore him to full health." Teacher Yi wiped the perspiration from her forehead. "That brat actually did something so risky and ended up causing severe damage to himself."

"Sorry. I didn"t hold back."

"And you shouldn"t, so don"t apologize." Teacher Yi risked a glance at me before infusing her current patient with more of her green healing qi. "You were in a match with him, so you were well within your rights to fight back. Rather, Kuang Hu was the one who subjected his own body to tremendous stress by releasing his limiters." She snorted in disgust. "It"s only a tournament. There"s no need to risk your life for victory. One wrong move and he would have crippled himself…or worse, killed himself from demonic possession."

"Demonic possession?" I asked, finding the term unfamiliar.

Teacher Yi sighed.

"There is a belief that if you mess up your inner qi training or the execution of your qi – for example, if you forcibly use a technique that you had not fully mastered, the qi within your body will rebel against you, ultimately resulting in…your death."

I shuddered, suddenly feeling a chill that had nothing to do with my ice techniques. Why hadn"t I heard about this before?

"Well…" I scratched my head. "I don"t think my injuries are too serious, so I should be able to recover by myself. You might want to focus on treating Kuang Hu."

"Are you a doctor?"

"Eh?" I was caught off guard by Teacher Yu"s question. She was giving me a sharp look. I shook my head. "No."

"Then don"t presume to tell me what to do. You should be the one listening to me. Don"t go anywhere. You"ve sustained internal damage, and that"s not something you can simply heal by yourself overnight."

"Yes, Teacher Yi."

I sighed and nodded. It was true that I possessed little medical knowledge. It wasn"t as if I was some guy who could seal the heavens or go against the G.o.ds, after all. Or even concoct spirit pills while I battle through the heavens.

"Anyway, just sit there and wait. This shouldn"t take much time."

Teacher Yi returned to treating her other patient. I obediently sat down in one of the plastic chairs provided and closed my eyes.

"Okay, it"s your turn."

I had most likely dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Teacher Yi was shaking me awake. Opening my eyes, I stood up groggily, momentarily forgetting where I was.

"Come on, get to the treatment table. Don"t worry, it won"t take much time. Once we"re done, you can return to the dormitory and rest."

"Right." I nodded absent-mindedly and obeyed. Teacher Yi placed her hands on my shoulders and began infusing me with gentle, green qi. Within moments, I felt the pain inside my body abate, and my strength fully restorted.

"That should do it." Teacher Yi removed her hands, satisfied. I got up and bowed.

"Thanks!"

"No problem." Teacher Yi sent me a strict look. "Don"t do anything reckless now, got it? Go straight to the dormitory and rest. Your next match will be in a couple of days, after all. So make sure you"re fully recovered by then. Come back if you feel there"s anything wrong with your body. Don"t take any unnecessary risks."

"Yeah, I understand."

Gosh, but Teacher Yi could be a nag sometimes. Still, I appreciated her concern, so I maintained a polite response before taking my leave.

By this time, most of the students had finished their cla.s.ses or ranking matches, so the academy was deserted. It seemed that I had dozed off for quite some time – the sky outside was now dark. Night had fallen before I knew it. I was glad I had asked my friends to return to the dormitory ahead of me, or they would be waiting outside the infirmary like fools.

Plodding through the dark, empty corridors, which were still shrouded in shadows despite the fluorescent lights having automatically come on, I made my way back toward the dormitory. Not wanting to spend more time than necessary in the creepy corridor, I hastened my pace.

"!"

The lights at the end of the corridor were flickering for a while, concealing a significant part in shadow. When they came back on, a familiar figure appeared, leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

"…Bai Ning Xue."

I recognized the silver-haired beauty, the ice princess of Wu Ling Academy. Even though she was the "ice" queen, she wielded lightning, so it was a bit of a misnomer, but I wasn"t one to quibble over trivial details like that. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find her waiting there. I wondered if she was waiting for Zhu Jiao.

That couldn"t be right. Zhu Jiao had returned to the dorm long ago, after my match…after I told him to go ahead with the rest before I went into the infirmary to receive medical treatment from Teacher Yi. Bai Ning Xue couldn"t possibly be waiting for him.

Well, whatever she planned on doing here was none of my business. I nodded at her politely as a form of greeting, and then made to move past her.

"Why do you fight like that?"

Her question caused me to freeze. I knew she was talking to me. There was no one else present, no one whose presence I can sense anyway. And with my Heaven and Earth qi sense, there was almost n.o.body who could conceal their presence from me.

"Fight like what?" I asked, scratching my head sheepishly. Bai Ning Xue rose from the wall to stare at me coldly.

"Holding yourself back. Putting on those training gear and weights. Not using those techniques you used…"

"You promised to keep that a secret," I interrupted. Bai Ning Xue glared at me, but she didn"t protest. I sighed. "And I won"t use the training gear for the rest of the tournament matches. If the other opponents are on par with Kuang Hu, I can"t afford to weigh myself down."

"Is this your idea of concealing your strength and deceiving everyone else?" Bai Ning Xue snapped. "Are you trying to get everyone to underestimate you so that they will lower their guard when fighting against you?"

"Maybe."

"With your strength, you don"t need to resort to cheap tricks!"

"I am not as strong as you think I am."

"Hmph." Bai Ning Xue snorted frostily. "There"s no point lying to me. I saw for myself what kind of strength you possessed that night…"

This time the level of frostiness in my glare surpa.s.sed hers and she fell silent. Defiant, yes, but at least she didn"t continue speaking.

"Neither of us are to speak of that night," I told her icily and then walked off.

"What if you lose?" Bai Ning Xue demanded as she tried to hurry after me. "Wouldn"t you regret not using all your power?"

"Those techniques are not something I want to use against my schoolmates," I replied. "It would be too unfair. I do not want to win in such a manner. Besides, if I use them during a tournament right in front of everyone, then what"s the point of asking you to keep them a secret in the first place?"

"That"s…" Bai Ning Xue was at a loss for words. Particularly because she realized that she could not fault my logic.

"There will be no further discussion of this," I told her firmly. "Now, if there"s nothing else, I wish to return to the dormitory."

"There is one last thing." Bai Ning Xue paused for a moment. "Since I owe you a favor, I might as well warn you about this. The student council…they are up to something."

I raised an eyebrow at that, finding the whole thing odd. "Aren"t you the student council president? Shouldn"t you keep them in check?"

Bai Ning Xue lowered her head in frustration. "I want to, but I don"t have proof. They are doing things behind my back, and they are covering their tracks flawlessly. Even though I am aware that they"re doing something, I don"t know what exactly they are doing. I"m sure even you have heard the rumors, haven"t you?"

"No, I have not," I admitted. Bai Ning Xue sighed exaggeratedly.

"I"ve told Jiao this, but I"ll extend it to you as well, since I owe you." she narrowed her eyes. "If any of the student council members approach you, threatening you or attacking you secretly, inform me right away."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure…but wouldn"t it be too late by the time you arrive?"

"Not if you contact me the moment they start behaving suspiciously." Bai Ning Xue clenched her fists. "I won"t forgive them if they make a move against Jiao…and since I owe you, please treat this as me repaying the favor."

"I don"t need you to repay me," I pointed out wearily. Bai Ning Xue shook her head and turned away to leave.

"Perhaps not, but it at least makes me feel better. The women of the Bai Clan will never forget a favor they owe."

And with that, she was gone, the shadows covering her withdrawal. I stared in the direction she disappeared in, and then shook my head. A smile crept over my face.

"If the student council members want to come threaten me, they"re more than welcome to do so."

Fortunately for them, they had more pressing matters to worry about than me.

*

"Hey, Wu! The arrangement for the quarterfinals are up!"

I was heading to cla.s.s a few days later when Tong Xue called out to me. Turning around, I caught sight of him hopping toward my position.

"Look!"

He gestured toward the huge crowd of students gathering in front of the gigantic bulletin board in front of the main campus building. I joined him and we made our way to the plaza. Along the way, we ran into Ban Zhang, Lian Rou and Tang Qi Hong.

As usual, Zhu Jiao wasn"t there because he was late. He probably overslept again, like always. We had given up on him being punctual.

"Oh…! Our cla.s.s is putting on a strong performance!"

Ban Zhang sounded impressed as he glanced through the quarterfinals postings. He turned back and beamed proudly.

"Fei Wu, Zhu Jiao, Bai Ning Xue, Feng Tian Yong and Li Chun Long. Out of the eight quarterfinalists, five of them are from our cla.s.s!"

"That"s over half!" Lian Rou murmured, amazed.

"The matchups have been pretty kind to our cla.s.s," Tang Qi Hong pointed out. "But even then, for so many of our cla.s.smates to reach the top of their respective groups, and make it to the quarterfinals is still quite a feat."

"So who will be Wu"s next opponent?" Tong Xue asked, and then he stopped. "Ah, Feng Tian Yong!"

I had caught sight of my a.s.signed opponent just a second before he could, and felt my stomach sink. Looked like I was matched against Feng Tian Yong in the quarterfinals. I hated to fight a cla.s.smate, but just like when I fought against Tu Zi Yi and Wu Hei Gui, I had no plans of holding back. I would do my best to defeat them.

"You"ve got to be careful," Ban Zhang warned me. "Feng Tian Yong might not be as ruthless and merciless as Kuang Hu, but he"s no pushover. In fact, he might even be stronger than that mad tiger from the White Tiger Sect."

"He has to be, if he can reach the quarterfinals," I pointed out dryly.

"That"s not all. He"s also in the student council." Tong Xue turned to me with a gulp. "And you know the student council only accepts the strongest members in the academy."

"Then why am I not part of it?" Tang Qi Hong snorted.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Uh…you are," Lian Rou pointed out. Tang Qi Hong blinked.

"Huh?!"

"You"re officially listed as one of the student council members," Tong Xue confirmed. Tang Qi Hong"s jaw dropped.

"You"re kidding?! Why didn"t anyone tell me about this!?"

"Because…you didn"t ask?"

"What the h.e.l.l!? That"s not right!"

"Who else is in the student council?" I asked. Having been in isolation training for almost two years, and then keeping myself busy in the matters of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, I hadn"t kept abreast of the political situation in Wu Ling Academy. As I said, such trivial matters didn"t concern me. But I hoped I wasn"t in the student council without realizing it, like poor Tang Q Hong.

That would be disastrous.

"Hmm, Zhu Jiao is one of them. So is Feng Tian Yong, as I said earlier, and Li Chun Long and Qing Xin Xia." Tong Xue counted them off. "That"s all from our cla.s.s. Six students from our cla.s.s, out of the eleven student council seat members."

"Do you know the others?" Tang Qi Hong asked, looking a little perturbed. She was still dismayed that she was part of the student council without knowing. As for me, I could breathe a sigh of relief when I realized I wasn"t part of them.

"Gu Chun Song, Yuan Mei, Li Guo Qiang, Xin Lai, and Ding Yan."

The names were unfamiliar to me, but I was pretty sure I knew them. I met them on that fateful night about a month ago, after all. Well, Gu Chun Song, Yuan Mei, Li Guo Qiang and Xin Lai anyway. But I wasn"t aware that they belonged to the student council.

So that was why they were with Bai Ning Xue that night.

All right, the readers would probably be confused, but I would most likely reveal everything in a flashback later. For now, the details of our meeting and that night were not important, and I bet it would bore the h.e.l.l out of everyone who wanted some tournament action.

Speaking of tournament…

I sighed as I studied the name of my opponent. "Feng Tian Yong, huh? This is going to be difficult…"