Yuan Mei cried out and backed away immediately, her face turning pale. Ding Yan also retreated quickly, looking dismayed. Li Chun Long blanched and withdrew his sword from cutting my head off (not that he would be able to).

Only Gu Chun Song"s expression remained veiled behind that half-mask of his, but his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"What are you doing?" Teacher Jiao demanded, but was only greeted with silence as the student council members hung their heads in shame. I sent him an I told you so look, but as usual, I was ignored. That didn"t matter. Teacher Jiao had arrived as promised, ensuring that the student council members wouldn"t harm Zhu Jiao.

"This is blatant disregard for the academy rules," Teacher Cai declared as he arrived. Clearly he hadn"t been very far behind Teacher Jiao. The latter must have forwarded my email to him after he received it, especially since the former was officially in charge of handling the tournament. Teacher Cai"s authority would be needed here. "You"re supposed to be student council members! You"re supposed to set an example for other students! Yet here you are, breaking the rules and seceretly attacking the tournament partic.i.p.ants in the middle of the night!"

"Right before the day of the semifinals too." Teacher Jiao shook his head at the sheer stupidity of things. "What were you thinking? Did you really think you wouldn"t get caught?"

"Well, they almost got away with it, and would have if I didn"t inform you about this," I pointed out dryly. Teacher Jiao sent me a sharp glance.

"I mean, it would be hard not to launch an investigation if the tournament partic.i.p.ants were found injured and crippled the next day, right before the semifinals. Even an idiot would find the whole thing suspicious."

There was that, I suppose, but it would be too late for Zhu Jiao if they waited until the next day to start being suspicious and investigating.

"But sorry for taking so long." Teacher Jiao lowered his head slightly. "And thanks for watching out for Student Zhu Jiao."

"Yeah, well…" I scratched my head in embarra.s.sment. The student council members stared at me, not comprehending what was happening.

"I told you I trust you," Teacher Jiao said simply and c.o.c.ked his head at Teacher Cai, who nodded.

"You will all be following me to the office," Teacher Cai told the student council members strictly. Then he turned to me. "Student Fei Wu, we"ll count on you to bring Student Zhu Jiao to the infirmary. Seems like you"ll have to bring Student Qing Xin Xia, Student Li Guo Qiang and Student Xin Lai as well."

"The infirmary?" I asked as I glanced at the four injured students. "But, at this time of the night, would there be anyone?"

"Oh, you don"t have to worry about that," Teacher Jiao a.s.sured me. "I"ve already informed Teacher Yi before I got here. She"ll be waiting in the infirmary for you."

"I see." I nodded, stunned by his foresight. I had been so worried about Zhu Jiao that it didn"t occur to me that we might need Teacher Yi.

"I figured someone would get injured one way or another," Teacher Jiao explained humorlessly. "I was hoping that I wouldn"t be right, but I had to a.s.sume the worst-case scenario."

"You did the right thing," Teacher Cai told him and then turned to me. "Student Fei Wu, you should hurry. Zhu Jiao especially looks like he"s in critical condition."

I nodded as I made my way toward my friend. "What about the others? I can"t carry all of them on my own."

"That"s a good point," Teacher Cai admitted as he glanced at the other three students. "You"ll need some help."

At that moment, Xin Lai stirred and rose. She looked utterly shocked when she opened her eyes and saw the two teachers, yelping and falling over.

"W…why are the teachers here?!"

"Because Fei Wu told them about our plans." Gu Chun Song remained unmoved as ever, his lips pressed tightly into a thin line as he turned to me. "Tell me, how did you learn of our plans? Was there a traitor in our group?"

"Are you an idiot?" to be honest, he wasn"t, but I couldn"t tell him that I eavesdropped on the student council members" conversation last night. "Anyone would have suspected something when you called Jiao out in the middle of the night right before the semifinal."

"I see. I didn"t think Jiao would run into his friends in the middle of the night. Looks like I miscalculated."

"Ding Yan. Bring Li Guo Qiang to the infirmary and report straight to the office afterward. Don"t try to run away, we"ll track you down."

Ding Yan gulped and nodded. Among the student council members, he was the more cowardly of the bunch, and so was the least likely to run away. That was why Teacher Cai chose him to carry Li Guo Qiang to the infirmary instead.

Xin Lai, on the other hand, was pretty unlucky. She woke up at the most inopportune moment and was now expected to report to the office along with the rest of her comrades. Qing Xin Xia, on the other hand, was still unconscious. I made a mental note to inform Teacher Jiao and Teacher Cai later of her actions before she was knocked out.

Out of the student council, Qing Xin Xia was the most innocent, and she didn"t deserve to be punished. Not when she protested against the a.s.sault of Zhu Jiao and was knocked out for it. Fortunately, judging from Li Chun Long"s expression, I knew that he would certainly take care of her and tell the teachers about her lack of involvement in the attack.

There clearly was some sort of complex of love triangle or love rectangle going around here. Qing Xin Xia was in love with Zhu Jiao, who was clearly smitten with his childhood sweetheart, Bai Ning Xue. Li Chun Long always had feelings for Qing Xin Xia, which was why he was so hostile toward Zhu Jiao. Bai Ning Xue, while usually cool and aloof, seemed to harbor affections for Zhu Jiao, but she was never very open with them so it was difficult to tell.

I was so glad I wasn"t involved in all this romantic bulls.h.i.t that plagued protagonists. Being a realistic side character, I would be lucky if even one girl looked at me, never mind two or more. And even the one girl I thought I might have a chance with was too busily focused on succeeding the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect that she had chosen to discard romance.

Being a protagonist was great, wasn"t it? Too bad I didn"t have the same sort of fortune as Zhu Jiao, or I might be able to get a harem.

"Are you all right?"

However, this wasn"t the time to be indulging in my jealousy. Placing Zhu Jiao"s arm over my shoulders, I helped him up and supported him toward the infirmary. Zhu Jiao might be the typical enviable dense harem protagonist, but he was still my friend and as such, I had to help him. Behind me, Ding Yan carried Li Guo Qiang on his back and hurried after us. Qing Xin Xia seemed fine, not in any critical condition at all, so Teacher Cai eventually allowed Li Chun Long to carry her to the office along with everyone else.

That meant only the four of us would be heading to the infirmary.

"Remember to get your injuries treated as well!" Teacher Jiao told me sternly. "I know the priority is Student Zhu Jiao and Student Li Guo Qiang, but you"re not exactly unscathed yourself. Get yourself healed up too."

"Yes, sir."

I waved a hand at him to show that I heard him before I proceeded to bring Zhu Jiao to the infirmary. As we limped along, Zhu Jiao sagged visibly.

"Ugh…you knew about this all along?"

"I warned you," I grumbled under my breath. Zhu Jiao sighed and hung his head in shame.

"Yes, you did. I"m sorry I didn"t believe you."

I said nothing to that. I wasn"t the kind to gloat over being right or whatever. Okay, maybe I was, but Zhu Jiao was a good friend and I wasn"t stupid enough to do something that would lose me my friends.

"Let"s get you healed up," I told him instead as I half-carried the nearly crippled Zhu Jiao into the infirmary.

As promised, Teacher Yi was waiting in the infirmary for us. She looked dismayed when she saw the state of Zhu Jiao. Rounding on Li Guo Qiang and Ding Yan, she glared at them furiously. I swallowed in surprise. This was the first time I had seen Teacher Yi so angry.

"What were you thinking?" she snarled at them. "You"re student council members! How could you beat up a fellow student to this condition?"

"Uh, we…"

"To be fair, it wasn"t them who beat up Jiao," I told Teacher Yi. "It was Gu Chun Song who was the main perpetuator. Li Guo Qiang was injured by me."

Teacher Yi studied me with a quick glance, and then nodded. "Good thing you were there to watch out for Student Zhu Jiao. You don"t look like you"re in good shape yourself. Take a seat. I"ll take care of Student Zhu Jiao and Student Li Guo Qiang first before I take a look at you." her expression hardened. "Don"t go running away now. Your condition is serious as well, even if it"s not as critical as these two."

Well, Zhu Jiao basically took hits from at least three student council members while Li Guo Qiang had his bodily fluids frozen by me, so they were definitely in worse shape than I was. That said, I wasn"t stupid enough to antagonize Teacher Yi, so I obeyed. d.a.m.n it, I was really spending too much time in the infirmary lately.

"And you, Ding Yan, report to the office. I"m letting Teacher Jiao know that I"ve sent you back, so don"t try to run away."

"I won"t," Ding Yan mumbled quietly before he took his leave. I watched him leave before I leaned back on the bed.

"This has really been one h.e.l.l of a night," I muttered before I ended up dozing off.

*

"So that"s basically what happened," I finished and bowed slightly before taking a step back. Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang watched me for a moment and then nodded. He seemed to consider my side of the story for a few moments.

"Yeah, I can roughly guess the situation now," he said and turned toward the student council members who were standing trial in a different section of the room. They looked away guiltily, unable to meet his gaze. "To think that I trusted you with governing the school body. If you guys fall into corruption, then how can we have hope for the rest of the students? For the future of this academy? If word of this gets out…"

"It won"t, sir," Gu Chun Song interrupted softly, only to shirk when Xiao Zhang visited upon him the full gaze of his wrath.

"Whether outsiders know of this or not isn"t the problem. The problem is that you"ve abused the authority I had bestowed upon you and betrayed the trust of not just the teachers, but also all the students. You"ve let the academy down with your actions."

"Sorry," Yuan Mei murmured, looking ashamed. Then she took a deep breath, and tried to hold back her tears as she pleaded. "Please, Princ.i.p.al Xiao, Bai Ning Xue has nothing to do with this. We did all of this on our own, without her knowledge. She shouldn"t be punished for our actions. We"ve already provided proof of her lack of involvement."

"I know," Xiao Zhang cut her off. "I have no intention of punishing Bai Ning Xue. But the rest of you, on the other hand…"

He glanced at the row of teachers lined up as jury, and they nodded, as if agreeing with whatever he had planned.

"All of you here will be stripped of your student council positions and demoted back to ordinary students. You"ll also have your resources appropriate to your level withheld, and with the exception of Qing Xin Xia, you will be sentenced to six months in isolation training. Xin Xia, you will only get three because you tried to stop the a.s.sault, but I cannot let go of your involvement in the match-fixing of the tournament."

"That"s fair," Qing Xin Xia replied softly. She had accepted her fate long ago, and thanks to my intercession – as well as Zhu Jiao and Li Chun Long"s – she was spared the same lengthy punishment that the other student council members suffered.

This meant that the student council will be made out of Feng Tian Yong, Zhu Jiao and Tang Qi Hong, with Bai Ning Xue retaining her seat as the student council president. There was a great need to recruit and replace the seven now vacant spots.

Well, that was none of my business. They could choose whoever they want as replacements while I returned to my life of normalcy, which would hopefully be free of such backstabbing and conspiracies.

"What about the tournament?"

Teacher Cai raised a hand.

"If I"m not mistaken, this means that Li Chun Long will be disqualified and the other semifinal match will be held tomorrow?"

The seminfinals had been postponed indefinitely after the student council"s actions had come to light. Apparently the academy had to sentence them first before deciding what to do with the tournament. Since Bai Ning Xue wasn"t involved in the entire fiasco, there was no reason to punish her. On the other hand, Li Chun Long would clearly be disqualified because of his role in matchfixing as well as being part of the group who attacked Zhu Jiao just before the original day of the semifinal match. That meant I had automatically won.

But I didn"t like that. Not a single bit.

"Yes. The student council members will be given several days to prepare and set their affairs in order before they enter isolation training."

Isolation training was a little harsh, especially as it meant that you spent a specific amount of time locked up inside a highly fortified chamber – which was little better than a prison cell – and you were expected to invest all that time into cultivating and developing your martial arts. Just like ascetics of old, where they imposed a self-exile on themselves and cultivated alone in remote mountains and other deserted places bereft of human life and civilizations, they were forbidden to make any contact with any other person as they developed their skills.

That might not sound like much of a punishment, but it was precisely because they were isolated from any human contact that they were deprived of resources. Well, mostly. Technically, teachers and masters were allowed to deliver scrolls and techniques to them through the fortified steel door that separated the inmates from the outside world, but without access to the Internet, phone service or any of the modern amneities that allowed communication, the people on the outside rarely had any way of knowing which scrolls or techniques they needed. Spirit pills, artificial qi, equipment, spirit armaments and other non-scoll or non-technique resources were banned, however. So no test dummy or battle puppet to practice your skills on while you were locked up.

In a sense, the isolation training was good for martial artists desperate to make a breakthrough and develop their martial arts further, but the complete lack of human contact and socialization might drive the prisoners crazy.

I didn"t envy them.

"There shouldn"t be any problems with that," Xiao Zhang continued when no one objected. He glared at the now former student council members. "We"ll send you the official notice by tomorrow. For now, return to your dorm and get your affairs in order before you enter isolation training. Make sure to use your sentence to reflect on your own actions, hone your skills, and develop not just as a martial artist but also as a person."

Since martial arts were strongly linked with character, justice and righteousness, it was thought that isolation training would help imprisoned martial artists develop their character if they totally dedicated their time into training in martial arts. I didn"t buy it, of course – why would demonic martial arts and sects exist otherwise? – but I wasn"t the authority here. So I didn"t say anything.

Well, that wasn"t completely true. There was something I wanted.

"Before they enter isolation training, do you mind if I challenge Li Chun Long to an official match?" I asked as I raised my hand.

Everyone turned to stare at me.

"It"s not against the rules," Xiao Zhang replied. "But Student Li Chun Long has been disqualified from the tournament. Surely you no longer have a reason to fight him?"

"Reconsider your request," Teacher Cai added. "I don"t mind officiating your match, but this will bring needless risk to your well-being."

He was aware of how I was getting pummeled by Li Chun Long and destroyed one-sidedly before he and Teacher Jiao arrived to haul both my and Zhu Jiao"s a.s.ses out of the fire, so to speak. Of course I remembered that too, but…

"Begging your pardon, but I don"t want to automatically qualify for the finals like this. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and will invite rumors from the rest of the student body." I paused and raised my head up high. "I can already hear them saying about how lucky I am to get to the finals…like how fortune has favored me, or the academy is biased against the student council, or how I would have lost to Li Chun Long if this didn"t happen."

"Those are just talk, you can disregard them," Xiao Zhang pointed out dismissively.

"Perhaps so, but as a martial artist, I want to prove all that wrong not through talk and speculation, not through questions of "what if?". I want to prove them with my very own actions." I took a deep breath. "If I lose this official match against Li Chun Long, then I will forfeit the final."

There was a stir in the room as the teachers began discussing with each other in low whispers on how to deal with my response. I didn"t react and merely continued standing up straight, refusing to slacken my spine as I waited.

"Very well. You indeed raise a good point. The ways of a martial artist should definitely be proven through actions rather than words. Thank you for reminding everyone of that. Permission granted." Xiao Zhang turned to an astonished Li Chun Long. "Consider this as one of the affairs you need to sort out before you enter isolation training."

"Understood."

Li Chun Long cupped his hands and bowed. He then turned toward me, his lips curling into a sneer.

I knew what that meant. He was laughing at me inwardly and swearing that I would regret this. No doubt he harbored resentment against me for ruining the student council"s plans and getting in his way of crippling Zhu Jiao.

"Then we will hold the official match tomorrow," Teacher Jiao said as he glanced from me to Li Chun Long. "Best to get it done and over with so that Student Li Chun Long can get into isolation training as soon as possible."

"Thank you very much." I bowed formally as I thanked the staff.

"If there"s nothing else, then this sessions is adjourned." Xiao Zhang stuck the table with his fist to dismiss everyone. The students and teachers filed out of the pseudo court room, the student council members heading toward the dorm to prepare for the long isolation training ahead of them. As for me, I headed toward the training facility to train for tomorrow"s official match. Even though it wasn"t technically a tournament match, I couldn"t afford to lose.

It wasn"t just because of the promise I made in front of everyone. My pride wouldn"t allow it. Plus I wanted to get a few hits in as revenge for the student council attacking Zhu Jiao to deny him the semifinal. They wanted to cripple him? They wanted to force him to forfeit the match against Bai Ning Xue, a match he had been looking forward to for so long?

Not a chance!

Furthermore, I rememebered how outfought I was a few days earlier when Li Chun Long singlehandedly defeated me with his Green Dragon Sect martial arts. I couldn"t let it end like this. I wanted to defeat him.

That was the sole motivation right now.

"Hey! Wu, wait!"

Zhu Jiao hurried after me. As the main victim in this whole mess, he had also been called to stand witness at court and had been the first to give his account. The student council members had testified and pleaded guilty after him, and I had hammered the truth home with my own account, providing the evidence with my cellphone recording.

Not that my testimony was necessary, especially when the student council members had already pleaded guilty, but it was a matter of formality and so that the school scribes had a job to do – recording every word the defendants, the victims and the eyewitnesses said. To be honest, they probably recorded everything using qi devices, but they still had to replay the entire session and transcribe every word into written text.

I didn"t envy them their job.

"Jiao, are you all right?"

I slowed down a little to allow him to catch up. Teacher Yi had done an amazing job, healing him fully in just a night. She was exhausted after that, and would probably be just as weary as the rest of the tournament ran its course. Even more so, now that she would be deprived of Qing Xin Xia"s help when the latter went into isolation training.

Unless, of course, Qing Xin Xia counted her healing duties during the tournament as affairs to handle, and went into isolation training after the tournament ended. With only three months of imprisonment when compared to the rest of her comrades, she could go in later and still be released way earlier than the others.

"Yeah, I am…but more importantly!" Zhu Jiao stared at me in concern, no doubt having heard my challenge. "Are you sure that"s wise?"

"Wise? No. Necessary? Yes."

"How the h.e.l.l was that necessary?!" Zhu Jiao demanded. Before I could reply, we both turned around as another voice called out to us.

"Wu, Jiao! Are you guys all right? How did the court session go?"

Our friends had arrived, looking concerned. They had been anxiously waiting outside the courtroom for the results, and now that we had finally emerged, they quickly swarmed over us. Tong Xue, in particular, was extremely curious.

"They wouldn"t tell us anything!" Tang Qi Hong complained, adding onto Tong Xue"s question as she followed him.

"Seems like the student council members have been punished," Ban Zhang remarked thoughtfully as he glanced in the direction where they were headed.

"You"re right," I informed him. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Well, it serves them right. They were supposed to be student council members, yet they went and did something like this."

Ban Zhang certainly had the sense of duty and responsibility to be a student council member, but unfortunately they selected members based purely on strength and not leadership capabilities. Otherwise Ban Zhang would have become a student council member long ago. However, in terms of strength, he was unable to match any of them.

This was stupid. They should be selecting student council members based on leadership ability and charisma, not strength. Fortunately, Bai Ning Xue was completely impartial, fair and charismatic, to the point where her student council officers would be willing to break the rules just to preserve her position. While I couldn"t say anything about the other student council members, I had to admit that it was testament to her personality and character that she could command such total respect from her subordinates and the rest of the student body.

"They were sentenced to six months of isolation training," Zhu Jiao added, a bit of venom in his voice. He then softened. "Xin Xia got three months because she tried to help me. All of them were removed from the student council."

"Considering what they did, I say that was quite a light punishment." Tong Xue folded his arms. When he caught Zhu Jiao"s darkening expression, he quickly added, "Well, not for Xin Xia, though. She clearly doesn"t deserve to be punished this much."

"Yeah…but they can"t really let her off either. It"s quite the dilemma." Zhu Jiao sighed in frustration.

"I can"t believe Xin Xia and Chun Long would do something like this." Lian Rou shook her head in disbelief as she tried to digest the facts. She turned to Zhu Jiao and me. "As long as you guys are all right, that"s the most important thing."

"By the way, what are you guys talking about?" Tang Qi Hong stared at me suspicious. "What"s not wise but necessary?"

"This guy…" Zhu Jiao groaned and jabbed a finger at me. "Even though Li Chun Long has been disqualified from the tournament and he can just automatically advance to the final, he decides to go challenge Li Chun Long to an official match and promised that he would forfeit the final if he loses. What kind of idiot does that?!"

"That…certainly isn"t wise…"

Tong Xue stared at me as if he had just saw an alien for the first time.

"But…I understand how Wu feels."

Not surprisingly, it was Tang Qi Hong who backed me up. She came to my side and faced the others.

"If I were him, I wouldn"t want to win like this. Not like this. I want to defeat my opponent fair and square, not through a technicality or disqualification."

"That"s true." Zhu Jiao sighed. "I guess I wouldn"t want to win like this either. It"ll leave a bitter taste in my mouth."

"Not to mention, everyone would be talking about how Wu got it easy," Tong Xue added, having realized my intentions. "They"ll accuse the teachers of playing favorites, or claim that Wu only won because his opponent was disqualified. This is the only way to convince them that he deserves to progress to the final on his own merit."

"Wait, why does Fei Wu even need to convince anyone in the first place?" Lian Rou asked, bewildered.

I shrugged. "Why do I even aim to win the tournament in the first place?"

"That"s…" Lian Rou trailed off. "The resources. The winner gets more resources than the others. The higher your ranking, the higher you finish in the tournament, the more resources you will be rewarded with."

"True, but Wu can"t receive artificial qi, so that"s a big chunk of resources cut off for him. I don"t think they"ll compensate him for that even if he somehow wins the tournament."

"It"s not for the rewards or resources," I added after Ban Zhang"s sobering reminder. "It"s mostly for pride and prestige. That"s why I don"t want to win like this. There"s no honor in automatically winning a match by disqualification."

"Honor, huh?" Lian Rou murmured, and then nodded. "I guess I see what you mean."

"Yeah," Tong Xue agreed. "And it"s also to deflect criticism, since there will surely be people complaining that you won by default and don"t deserve to advance to the finals. If you defeat Li Chun Long in front of everyone, in an official match, you"ll silence all those criticisms."

"That is indeed the plan," I a.s.sured him.

I had no idea how I bought into this whole beliefs about honor and pride. Readers might find it highly impractical and stupid, but I guess I was influenced by the ideas of sportsmanship. Even back in my original timeline, we had something called sportsmanship in tournaments and compet.i.tions. Of course, the stakes had been raised to insane levels, especially when money and sponsors were involved, but there was still talk of ideals and sportsmanship among the compet.i.tors. I would like to believe that those continue to exist.

"Okay. But do you have a way to defeat Li Chun Long? He"s pretty strong, you know."

Zhu Jiao was staring at me now, obviously remembering how I got blasted away by one of Li Chun Long"s attakcks when I was trying to save him from Gu Chun Song and the others. I took a deep breath and sighed.

"No, I don"t. Not yet, anyway. Besides…" I smiled as I returned Zhu Jiao"s gaze. "You should worry more about yourself, Jiao. Do you have a way to defeat Bai Ning Xue?"

"Hmph." Zhu Jiao grinned. "I plan to just show up and do my best. Whoever wins, I won"t hold any resentment."

"Then I shall do the same."

"The problem, though…" Tang Qi Hong looked thoughtful as she glanced in the direction where the student council members had disappeared to. "…is whether Li Chun Long has the same att.i.tude. I"m sure he"ll be focused on getting revenge on you for exposing the student council"s schemes and causing them to get punished."

"Even though they fully deserve it," Ban Zhang muttered under his breath.

"Oh, don"t worry. I"m sure Li Chun Long holds a grudge againt me." My smile widened. "In fact, I"m actually counting on it."