"…proof?"

Oh, d.a.m.n. I realized that I didn"t have any evidence to back up my claim. To be fair, what exactly did he expect me to do when I overheard the student council members" conversation? To have a recording device out? I was too busily trying to eavesdrop that it had completely slipped my mind. Not to mention, the recording device wouldn"t be capture the m.u.f.fled voices from behind the door.

Seriously, it wasn"t as if we all walked around with our recording devices switched on 24/7. That was just impractical.

"Uh, how am I supposed to collect proof? I just overheard their conversation…"

"How do you expect me to act based off just that?" Teacher Jiao looked a little frustrated. "Look, it"s not that I don"t trust you, but consider my point of view. These guys are the student council. They have earned the trust of everyone. Now a single person comes up with what sounds like an absurd accusation – you"ll need more than "I overheard them talking about this" to convince me that you"re telling the truth. Even if I approach them now, they"ll just deny it, and it"ll be your word against theirs. And surely you know who the other teachers and Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang will believe, right?"

He was right. I didn"t think things through. Did I really think I could just show up, tell the teachers what I overheard, and expect them to believe me? This was the student council I was talking about here, students supposedly selected because they were responsible, upright and exmplars of good behavior, as well as supposedly being role models.

If it came down to my word against theirs, there was never any doubt who everyone would believe.

Furthermore, now that I thought about it, even if I was fast enough to record the rest of their conversation after they admitted to rigging the matches, they didn"t really talk much about it other than taking care of me and Zhu Jiao by any means possible. Which was ambiguous enough to the point where n.o.body could accuse them of anything.

At least not "legally" anyway.

Even so, I couldn"t afford to give up.

"But if what I said is true, then it would be too late the moment they attack Zhu Jiao," I protested. Right now I was more worried about my friend"s wellbeing than getting into trouble over "false" accusations. "Isn"t it possible to protect him before his match against Bai Ning Xue?"

Teacher Jiao sighed. "I can"t promise anything, but I"ll try to keep an eye on Zhu Jiao. If they try anything, I"ll act. But if they don"t…" He glared at me. "You"ll be punished."

"That"s fine." I nodded, relieved. If Teacher Jiao was watching Zhu Jiao, then I could rest easy. Even the student council members wouldn"t be stupid enough to go against a teacher. "Please watch out for Zhu Jiao."

"…"

Teacher Jiao studied me and sighed. He obviously could tell that I wasn"t lying, but he wasn"t very keen on suspecting the student council either. He probably knew them enough to believe they weren"t the type to resort to such despicable measures.

"Anything else?"

"No." I shook my head and replied honestly.

Teacher Jiao grunted and dismissed me with a wave. I bowed politely and left. I could feel his gaze on me before I stepped out of the door.

"Oh, one more thing."

I paused and glanced back at Teacher Jiao quizzically. He still seemed skeptical of what I told him, but he could at least tell that I wasn"t lying. He stared at me sternly.

"If what you say is true, you should watch out for yourself as well."

"Well…" I considered his words for a moment. "I don"t know. Like I said, it seems that Li Chun Long plans to beat me in a match, so there"s very little that he could do. At least not in front of Teacher Cai."

"…yeah." Teacher Jiao exhaled as he leaned back on his chair. "Even so, be careful. I"ll believe you for now, but remember. If you"re making this up…"

"I understand."

"For now, I"ll keep an eye on Zhu Jiao. I don"t think Princ.i.p.al Xiao or the other teachers will believe me if I tell them, but I"ll write up a report just in case." He grimaced at the thought of more paperwork. "Hmm, maybe I should tell Teacher Cai, just in case."

"I"ll be counting on you."

"Sure, sure." Teacher Jiao waved impatiently. "You be careful yourself."

I bowed one last time before leaving the room. With that done, I decided to implement some countermeasures of my own.

*

"Ning Xue"s match is tomorrow, isn"t it?" Yuan Mei asked as she walked into the student council office.

Inside, Gu Chun Song sat on a couch with his hands clasped and his chin lowered in deep thought.

"Yeah, that"s right," he replied distractedly as Yuan Mei approached. He glanced at the mask on the table. "So we have to take care of Zhu Jiao before the match, right, Yuan Mei?"

"Hmm," Yuan Mei affirmed. "There"s still the matter with Fei Wu, but Chun Long promised to take care of him in the tournament match. I don"t think Fei Wu can defeat Chun Long, especially since Chun Long has mastered the twelfth level of the Solar Celestial Dragon Formula. There isn"t anyone in the academy, other than Ning Xue…and probably Zhu Jiao, who can beat him."

"So you think we can leave Fei Wu to Chun Long?"

"Yes. Even if Fei Wu defeats Chun Long by some miracle, we can still take care of him before the final."

"Good point."

Whoa. These guys. They probably didn"t know I was eavesdropping on them, and I was seething with every word I heard. I would have attacked them, but I would get into trouble for that, and again, I had no proof. It was their word against mine.

Well, actually, I had the sense to record their conversation right now, so there was that. Now all I needed to do was get this recorded dialogue to Teacher Jiao and he would accept it as evidence. I was so glad I decided to spend my evening camping outside the student council office instead of returning to the dormitory.

I had waited long hours fruitlessly, but achieved nothing…it was only after dinner when I finally spotted Gu Chun Song entering the room. Feeling a bit of hope flare up, I waited for a bit before Yuan Mei finally showed up. Not wanting to repeat the mistake yesterday of not possessing proof, I had taken out my cellphone and used the recording function.

As I expected, the voices were m.u.f.fled, but thankfully Yuan Mei had left the door open. That slight fortune allowed me to record their every word clearly. Now I had best leave before they noticed that I was here…

"Let"s take care of Zhu Jiao right now."

Gu Chun Song"s words caused me to freeze. Halting my withdrawal within the shadows, I paused and strained my ears to listen further.

"With the exception of Tian Yong, call the others. Contact Xin Lai, Guo Qiang, Ding Yan, Chun Long and Xin Xia and get them to a.s.semble."

"We"re leaving Tian Yong out of this?" Yuan Mei asked uncertainly. Gu Chun Song nodded.

"He"s too close to Zhu Jiao and Fei Wu. They"re in the same cla.s.s, and pretty good friends. He won"t agree to this. I trust him, but it"s best not to let him know or he might stop us. Or inform his friends about this."

"Chun Song."

There was a tinge of anxiety in Yuan Mei"s voice now. Idiot. It was too late to regret anything. She was already deep into this s.h.i.t as everyone else. I even had the evidence.

"I don"t know how you plan to take care of Zhu Jiao, but the semifinal between him and Ning Xue is tomorrow. If something major occurs tonight, then the other students and even the teachers will suspect something…"

"Don"t worry about it," Gu Chun Song cut her off. "Zhu Jiao is naïve and trusting. He"s pretty gullible. He has always seen me as a real older brother. He trusts me completely."

What the f.u.c.k?! No? I don"t remember Zhu Jiao ever thinking of this guy as an older brother?!

"If I call him, he will definitely come." Gu Chun Song put on his mask, concealing his features for the rest of the story. "We can settle this quietly."

f.u.c.k you, no! I was pretty sure Zhu Jiao didn"t even know who Gu Chun Song was! Why the h.e.l.l would he trust you and come out alone at night?! I had never heard Zhu Jiao mention anything about knowing Gu Chun Song or having brotherly relations with him throughout our long friendship! h.e.l.l, neither of us even knew who Gu Chun Song was until this late into the story, during the tournament arc! He was just a random character who showed up out of nowhere for the story to enter into a new arc and have new dramatic developments!

However, this was no time to complain against logic. If Gu Chun Song was telling the truth and had some sort of relationship with Zhu Jiao that I didn"t know of, then my good friend would be in serious trouble if he agreed to meet with him!

And I still had to deliver the proof to Teacher Jiao. But if Teacher Jiao wouldn"t be in his office right now, having gone home for the day (most likely with Teacher Yi). So much for keeping an eye on Zhu Jiao. Not that I could blame him, though – what was he supposed to do? Act as a bodyguard? That would have been too blatant and reeked of favoritism and paranoia.

No, I had best contact Zhu Jiao.

"?! I can"t get through!?"

Despite calling him with my cellphone, I found the line engaged. No doubt Gu Chun Song was calling Zhu Jiao and calling him. Why would Gu Chun Song have Zhu Jiao"s number? Was he telling the truth, after all?

Come to think of it, Zhu Jiao had no obligation to tell me everyone he befriended or had a relationship with. And we sort of drifted apart over the last two years when I was trying to a.s.similate all that demonic qi from the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect.

"Ugh!"

Feeling a sense of frustration, I hurried toward the dormitory, hoping to catch him before he could leave. Using my footwork techniques, I literally flew across the campus grounds and reached the male dormitory in no time at all. Twisting around the entrance, I began running up the winding stairs and toward the level where Zhu Jiao stayed at.

Please let me make it in time!

Praying fervently, I bounded up the stairs three at a time, hurling myself forward. And then I heard the sounds of footsteps as someone descended from above.

Is that…?!

"Oh? Wu, you"ve just come back?"

Zhu Jiao peered down on me from above, looking puzzled. I understood why – it was fairly late at night, almost eleven now. Camping outside the student council office had taken up a lot more time than I antic.i.p.ated.

"You…where are you going?"

Panting after using so many footwork techniques, I leaned on the railing and stared up at him. Zhu Jiao scratched his head sheepishly.

"Oh, I got a call, a senior asking me to meet him right now. Probably offering me advice for tomorrow"s semifinal match against Ning Xue."

"Is it from Gu Chun Song?" I asked. Zhu Jiao"s eyes widened.

"How did you know?"

"Don"t go!" I told him firmly. "It"s a trap!"

"Hmm?" Zhu Jiao stared at me in bewilderment. "What are you talking about, Wu?"

I tightened my grip on the railing and gritted my teeth, not sure how to break this to him. "The student council is planning to eliminate you right now. The fact that you advanced to the semifinals after beating three student council members in a row and graduating top of the group of death that they put you in has disturbed them."

"What?"

Zhu Jiao"s mouth was hanging open. He shook his head dismissively and scoffed.

"What are you talking about? That"s impossible. I"m going out because Senior Chun Song called me."

"Yeah, and that Gu Chun Song is the mastermind who"s scheming your elimination." I held up my cellphone.

"No way," Zhu Jiao snapped. "That"s impossible."

"Listen to this!" I urged him as I hit the play b.u.t.ton. Zhu Jiao listened to Gu Chun Song"s conversation with Yuan Mei and turned pale.

"No way…" He repeated, his face ashen. "I know that Senior Chun Song is part of the student council, but we"ve known each other before we entered the academy."

"Huh? You did?" I was completely unaware of that fact. Zhu Jiao shrugged, as if saying that it wasn"t something he thought was worth mentioning. It was true, though. Given that Gu Chun Song was a couple of years older than us, the rest of the cla.s.s had completely no interaction with him. There was no reason for Zhu Jiao to introduce us to him or inform us of his relationship, even if I had been friends with him for over three years.

"Why…? Why, Senior Chun Song?"

Right now, Zhu Jiao was in complete denial, shaking his head in disbelief. He held his temples, on the verge of tears. He evidently did not hear my question or was in no mental state to answer it. I felt bad when I saw his dismay.

"Do you think he will value you more than Bai Ning Xue?"

"What does Ning Xue have to do with anything?" Zhu Jiao snapped. "This is just an inter-school tournament. I know Senior Chun Song has a crush on Ning Xue, but so does ninety percent of the male population in school. Du Lang too…"

"I want to know too," I grumbled. "Why the f.u.c.k are they going so far? This makes no sense. I hope it"s not some bulls.h.i.t reason like, even if this was just a friendly tournament match, Bai Ning Xue"s reputation and authority in the student council can never be allowed to be challenged. That"s just f.u.c.king bulls.h.i.t and outright corruption."

"Corruption." Zhu Jiao snorted. "Wherever we go, there will always be corruption. Even if Ning Xue wants to win, she will never go this far…"

"I don"t think Bai Ning Xue has anything to do with this." I sighed. "It"s the people who are having faith in her who are plotting behind her back and going around carrying out such underhanded tactics to eliminate all opposition."

The very definition of corruption.

That said, I found it highly ironic. If they had so much faith in Bai Ning Xue, then they surely didn"t have to resort to this. Not unless it had something to do with that night a month ago, when…

Right. I told Bai Ning Xue to keep it a secret, so these guys don"t know about that. Is that why they think…?

Nah, that couldn"t be right.

"Even so…Senior Chun Song…why!?"

My thoughts were interrupted by Zhu Jiao"s anguished cry. It was clear that Zhu Jiao trusted Gu Chun Song dearly and felt terribly betrayed by this revelation. He was clenching his fists and trembling violently. This time, he couldn"t stop the tears from leaking from his eyes.

"No, there must be some mistake!"

I held my cellphone up to play the conversation again, but Zhu Jiao shook his head and waved me away.

"There must be some mistake!" he repeated vehemently. "We"re misunderstanding something! Surely Senior Chun Song couldn"t possibly be planning anything against me! Just let me talk to him! I"m sure everything"s a misunderstanding!"

"Wait!"

I panicked when Zhu Jiao walked past me and descended the stairs. Eeven though I reached out for him, he brushed me off.

"Sorry, Wu. It"s not that I don"t trust you, but…I"ve known Senior Chun Song for a long time now. There"s no way he"ll do this to me. Surely he meant no harm even when he said he"ll take care of me. He has watched out for me ever since we were children and helped me out a lot even after that debacle with the Bai Clan."

"What debacle?" I asked, confused, but Zhu Jiao dismissed me with a wave of his hand. He clearly didn"t want to talk about it right now.

"Anyway, Senior Chun Song was the one who picked me up when I was lying in the dirt and taught me the basics of combat. It was thanks to him that I knew about Wu Ling Academy in the first place. He wouldn"t help me this far, only to destroy me over Ning Xue. I know he shares the same type of feelings as me, but we"re practically brothers!"

"Yeah, but…"

"Enough. I don"t want to hear it." Zhu Jiao glared at me. "I"ll talk to Senior Chun Song and figure this out. You"ll see. It"s all a misunderstanding."

I had no idea what relationship Zhu Jiao had with Gu Chun Song, and that turned out to be my one fatal mistake. I had utterly underestimated the una.s.sailable trust and faith that Zhu Jiao had in his adopted brother.

"I"ll come with you, just in case."

"Don"t follow me!" Zhu Jiao snapped. "You"ll only make things worse!"

Ouch. That hurt. But even so, I couldn"t just let my friend walk into a trap by himself. While Zhu Jiao"s loyalty to Gu Chun Song would be commendable under any other circ.u.mstances, for me who knew the truth, my conscience wouldn"t allow me to let him go.

However, I didn"t have a choice. Taking a deep breath, I took a step back and nodded. Feigning defeat, I slumped against the wall.

"Suit yourself."

"…sorry. I don"t mean anything by it. It"s just that…Senior Chun Song and I go way back. You know?" Zhu Jiao turned to look at me. "If someone comes up to me telling me that you"re betraying me, I wouldn"t believe him either, even if he"s Senior Chun Song."

"…I know."

And that was exactly why I couldn"t let my friend walk to his death like this. However, I was highly aware of how stubborn Zhu Jiao was, so stalling him here was no solution. Closing my eyes briefly, I prayed that Teacher Jiao had received the email with the attached recording that I sent before I rushed to the dormitory.

If he wasn"t the type to check his email at night, then we were doomed. d.a.m.n, but I didn"t have Teacher Jiao"s number. And there wouldn"t be any teachers in the campus grounds this time at night. Who could I approach for help?

Sighing, I let Zhu Jiao go. While he descended the stairs, I quietly melted into the shadows and trailed him without him ever noticing my presence.

Unsurprisingly, Zhu Jiao went to the plaza, far from the male and female dormitories. It wasn"t far away from the main campus building that housed the student council office and the cla.s.srooms for the high school division.

"Senior Chun Song, I got your call." Zhu Jiao waved as he walked up to the waiting masked high school third year. "What"s up, calling me so late at night?"

"Nothing. Like I said, I heard you made it to the semifinals. You"ve a match against Ning Xue tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah! You said something about advice?"

"I did indeed." Beneath his mask, which covered only the top half of his face, Gu Chun Song smiled ominously. Behind him, the rest of the student council members emerged, almost as if from nowhere.

Yuan Mei. Li Guo Qiang. Xin Lai. Ding Yan. Even Li Chun Long and Qing Xin Xia, our cla.s.smates, were there.

"Senior Chun Song?" Zhu Jiao blinked rapidly, suddenly realizing that I might have been right all this time and this was no misunderstanding. He swallowed nervously and subconsciously took a step back. "What"s going on?"

"About tomorrow"s match…would you be so kind as to forfeit?"

Zhu Jiao laughed timidly. "You know that"s not possible, Senior Chun Song. I"ve been looking forward to this match with Ning Xue for a long time now. We made a promise…"

"I"m well aware of your promise." Gu Chun Song leaned forward, steepling his fingers. "But I"m afraid I can"t allow you to prioritize your personal feelings over the academy."

"Prioritize my personal feelings over the academy? What do you mean?" Zhu Jiao was looking very uncertain.

"You know how Ning Xue is the student council president by virtue of her overwhelming strength, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"Now…what do you think will happen if she loses? Do you think the student body will continue to respect her authority or strength if they know that their leader is not invincible? Won"t everyone"s faith in her get shaken?"

"That"s…even then, this is still…"

…complete bulls.h.i.t. So you"re justifying your corruption and intimidation by claiming that it was all for the academy"s sake. Wasn"t this all about your personal feelings and biasness too? Bai Ning Xue had no G.o.d-given right to be the student council president. If she wanted the position, she had to earn it like everyone else. What made these student council members think Bai Ning Xue deserved the position by virtue of her being her? This was clearly biasness based off personal feelings and attachment, wasn"t it?

And I was pretty sure it was precisely because Gu Chun Song knew about Zhu Jiao"s promise with Bai Ning Xue – that she would accept him as her lover if he defeated her – he was going through such lengths to ensure Zhu Jiao forfeited.

Zhu Jiao was aware of this too, but he realized that Gu Chun Song had no intention of listening to reason. He was going to twist his words to suit his side of the argument like the self-centered hypocrite that he was.

"I"m sorry, but even so…I can"t do it. I won"t."

"I see."

Gu Chun Song sighed and shook his head while shrugging in resignation.

"I was hoping that we could settle this quietly and painlessly, but it seems that we have no choice but to do this the hard way."

"What do you mean by that, Senior Chun Song?" Zhu Jiao demanded, a bead of cold perspiration dripping down his face. "What do you mean by hard way?"

"We"ve to stop you by force."

Zhu Jiao swallowed and adopted a defensive stance, watching the student council members warily. Seeing his reaction, Gu Chun Song chuckled.

"Surely you don"t think you can win against seven student council members by yourself, do you?"

"You don"t really plan on attacking me here, right now, do you?" Zhu Jiao retorted, but his face had turned pale. "If word of this gets out…"

"And who are they going to believe? Just one guy? Or the entire student council? It"s your word against ours."

"You…!"

"Wait!"

Unexpectedly, it was Qing Xin Xia. She stepped in front of the others and placed herself firmly between Zhu Jiao and the rest of the student council, staring defiantly at Gu Chun Song. Spreading her hands to stop them from getting near Zhu Jiao, she glared at them.

"You said you weren"t going to hurt Zhu Jiao!"

"I wasn"t planning to," Gu Chun Song replied. What a liar he was. "But he has forced our hand, as you can clearly see."

"No! Even then, I won"t let you…!"

Qing Xin Xia never got to finish her sentence. Li Chun Long appeared behind her before she realized it and struck the back of her neck, knocking her out. She collapsed into his arms and he gently lay her down on the ground.

"You…!" Zhu Jiao spluttered, but Li Chun Long ignored him. Instead, he turned to Gu Chun Song apologetically.

"Sorry about that."

"No, that was my fault. I miscalculated. I didn"t think Xin Xia would be opposed to the plan this vehemently."

Gu Chun Song shook his head and rubbed his scalp. Xin Lai made a face as she stared at the masked ringleader.

"You guys are so dense," she complained. "Did none of you know that Xin Xia was in love with Zhu Jiao? Really?"

Li Chun Long"s expression darkened when he heard that, but he said nothing. Gu Chun Song looked surprised, but it was hard to tell, with half his face behind concealed behind a mask. Why the h.e.l.l was he wearing a mask, anyway? Was he trying to copy some character from an abandoned Korean martial arts manhwa whose part 2 would never come because the writer and the artist had some sort of falling out?

"I was completely unaware," Gu Chun Song admitted. "As I said, I completely miscalculated. I thought only Feng Tian Yong would object to this."

"Object to what?" Zhu Jiao demanded, his voice shaking. Li Chun Ling turned to him with a grim grin, the Green Dragon Sect successor clearly relishing his fear.

"We can"t just defeat him," he remarked. "We"ve to cripple him…destroy his qi channels so that he wouldn"t be able to fight for at least half a year."

"Hang on. We can"t do that." Gu Chun Song shook his head. "We need to…uh, persuade him to do that on his own. Otherwise, even Ning Xue can"t save us."

"If Ning Xue finds out, she"ll never let you get away with this!" Zhu Jiao snarled. Gu Chun Song"s smile spread across the unconcealed lower half of his face.

"That"s exactly why you need to do it out of your own volition."

"Are you stupid? Why would I…?"

"Because if you don"t, we"ll make you wish you were dead."

"Yeah!" Li Chun Long agreed, a little too gleefully, but he was the only one other than Gu Chun Song who seemed eager about this. The rest of the student council members were avoiding their gazes and looking extremely uncomfortable with the situation. Unlike, Qing Xin Xia, none of them raised any protest, so that still made them as complicit.

However, it was still Li Chun Long who made the first move. His green, fiery qi exploding around him, he drew his sword and lunged at Zhu Jiao. Zhu Jiao glanced up, too shocked to move. He was still rooted to the ground in disbelief and could only watch helplessly as the blazing blade descended upon him…

Clang!

The fiery sword never reached him. Instead, it was parried by a pair of shorter swords that emanated a cool, azure qi of frost.

"You…!" Li Chun Long"s eyes widened.

"Yo," I replied as I knocked him back and stood in front of Zhu Jiao. "It might be a little early, but why don"t you and I have our match right now, Li Chun Long?"