"I know, right?"

Both Tong Xue and I trudged toward the Phoenix Express, sore and grumpy. Rubbing my arms, I groaned in pain.

"Ow…Elder Zhao sure as h.e.l.l didn"t hold back, did he?"

"Yeah…I didn"t expect him to be so severe during training. He literally beat the Nine Heavenly Armaments into our bodies."

I shuddered at the memory from yesterday night. "You know wha the worst thing was? That was only one of the Nine Heavenly Armaments. He only taught me the sword version."

"Yeah, and he taught me the dagger version." Tong Xue sighed. "Said it was pointless for me to learn any other weapons."

"He does have a point," I conceded. "Telling me to learn how to use other weapons this late into my training would be countereffective."

That said, I remembered crafting an ice spear and an ice axe when fighting the Ghost Bear. Elder Zhao told me that he would be teaching me several sword styles as well as how to use a spear, but no more than that. Apparently I wasn"t going to need to learn how to use a bow, a whip or other weapons. That suited me fine.

I prefer a gun anyway, and I don"t think I can handle all that training…

Speaking of which, I wondered how Tang Qi Hong managed to learn all those. It felt pathetic, losing to a girl, but if she was more talented than me, then so be it. I wasn"t s.e.xist enough to complain about that.

Girls could be better than guys at fighting. There was no shame admitting that.

"Are you guys all right?"

Lian Rou looked concerned when she caught sight of the both of us limping toward the luxurious bus that was the Phoenix Express. It seemed that most of the Wu Ling Academy students from our sect had already boarded.

Tong Xue and I found our seats beind Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou, and proceeded to plop down on the cushioned chairs like puppets with their strings cut. d.a.m.n, but I felt as if I could fall asleep right there and then.

Tang Qi Hong looked at us pitifully and nodded in sympathy.

"Elder Zhao really put you two through the wringer, didn"t he? I don"t envy you both. I heard that he is an even stricter teacher than Master…Mother."

She was still not used to addressing her master as her mother. I wondered about her relationship with Zi Xiao Ji, who thought of her as an older sister. Speaking of which, I hadn"t seen Zi Xiao Ji or her bodyguards despite returning to Tushan City yesterday. The three of them were most likely out on a mission.

"Oh boy…" I muttered under my breath. On the other hand, I sort of understood how Tang Qi Hong was able to learn the Nine Heavenly Armaments under her master. Lady Zi Da Ji might be more powerful, but she probably was a more…patient master than Elder Zhao.

"d.a.m.n…I"m a little worried about tonight"s training menu," Tong Xue moaned. Lian Rou giggled at his expression.

"Well, you were the one who wanted to join the Blood Blades. You asked for it."

"I"m kind of regretting it now…"

"So you want to go back to Spirit Engraving and smithing?"

Tong Xue suddenly sat up straight at that.

"No, I"ll endure the combat training under Elder Zhao."

"Hmm?"

I couldn"t help but stare at him. Just what was he so afraid of that he would brave even Elder Zhao"s h.e.l.lish training to avoid smithing under Lian Rou? I mean, Lian Rou was definitely a talented Spirit Engraver and blacksmith who was just under Tang Qi Hong, Hu Mei Er, Liang Shao Yang and Zi Xiao Ji, but she didn"t seem that fierce, did she?

Oh, but at that time I had no idea. And I was probably lucky that I didn"t have to experience her teaching for myself.

"Well, on the bright side, if you survive the training, you"ll be among the strongest in the sect!"

Tang Qi Hong was beaming cheerfully. I grimaced and shook my head.

"If we survive the training, that is."

"Don"t be such a wimp," Tang Qi Hong replied, annoyed. "You"re a guy, aren"t you?"

*

As we alighted from the Phoenix Express and proceeded toward the main campus building, an unexpected person showed up.

"Fei Wu, do you have a moment?"

We turned around in surprise, catching sight of Bai Ning Xue as she strode toward us. Zhu Jiao followed hastily, and I was astonished to see him awake this early. Normally he would rush into the cla.s.sroom at the very last minute, just seconds before the bell for the first cla.s.s rang. Today, however, he was actually accompanying the ever-early student council president.

No doubt Bai Ning Xue woke him up and forced him to follow her, especially now that they were officially dating. She couldn"t allow him to ruin her image.

"What business do you have with Wu?" Tang Qi Hong asked, the hostility barely veiled in her voice. Bai Ning Xue took no offense, registering the presence of her "rival" calmly as she did everything else.

"Student council business. I"m here to ask you to reconsider."

"Nope," I replied immediately. Bai Ning Xue"s expression hardened slightly, an almost imperceptible creasing of her brow.

"It would be a waste. We could really use someone like you."

"You don"t need me," I scoffed. "And I"m too busy with…stuff. I"m sorry, but I will not be able to juggle student council duties and my own personal affairs at the same time."

"Come on, man…" Zhu Jiao had joined in, and I wondered if Bai Ning Xue had put him up to it. "You finished second in the tournament. It would be weird if you didn"t join the student council."

"No, what"s weird is that the student council members are selected based on their strengths and power rather than their leadership capabilities." I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. "Why? I mean, just because you"re strong in battle doesn"t mean you are necessarily a good leader. You should be looking for someone with good administrative abilities, or a strong grasp of finances, statistics and mathematics for someone handling the treasury position, or someone with good social skills and management abilities for the general manager post. Not the strongest students."

"That"s a good question." Tong Xue tilted his head inquisitively. "Why do battle academies always select their student leaders and student council based on combat ability instead of leadership capabilities? They are not the same thing."

"Because that"s how it has always been," Bai Ning Xue replied seriously. In other words, we were doing this because every other battle academy novel and magic/martial arts high school stories did it. I couldn"t help but bury my face in my palm.

"Then change it!"

"There is no reason for change."

"Are you kidding me?! There is every reason for change! This just doesn"t make any sense! If you just pick people based on their strengths, the student council will be p.r.o.ne to corruption and incompetence! You want a repeat of Gu Chun Song, Li Chun Long and the rest?!"

"If you"re not happy with the current student council members, you can always challenge them, defeat them and take their place. In the world of martial arts, strength is what matters. The strong devour the weak."

"No, no, no, no." I shook my head. "In the first place, it"s wrong to cla.s.sify people into strong and weak. Everyone has different strengths and talents. Just because you can"t do martial arts doesn"t mean you"re useless. Soldiers rely on the food that farmers produce. Without farmers, even martial artists will starve to death. Without doctors, even the strongest martial artist would succ.u.mb to illness and injury. And where would we buy clothes and necessities without merchants, storeowners and supermarkets? You need cashiers and managers to run those supermarkets too. What is with this stupid obsession with strength? I think all those wuxia and xianxia writers have an unrealistic belief and have no true understanding of the way the real world works, and just subscribe to the "survival of the fittest" and "strong eat the weak" nonsense without critically thinking of how impractical that would be if you attempt to apply it to the real world!"

"I don"t care about any of that," Bai Ning Xue interrupted, not paying any attention to my monologue. "All I care is that you reconsider not joining the student council. We need someone of your prowess."

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. If she refused to listen to anything I said, then why should I listen to anything she said? Heaving a large sigh, I shook my head.

"No. And besides, I"m not as strong as you seem to think I am. I only made it this far into the tournament out of luck."

"That was not luck," Bai Ning Xue disagreed. "And I"ve personally seen you fight. Especially that night, against First Senior…"

"Huh? What is this about?" Tang Qi Hong scrunched up her face in disbelief. "Since when did Wu fight against your senior?"

"About two months ago," Bai Ning Xue replied. "Just before the tournament…"

I sighed again when everyone turned to glance at me. "It"s a long story."

Well, I did promise a flashback, so I might as well stop beating the bush and get to it. By now, the readers were probably wondering why this chapter was t.i.tled "Flashback" when we had already gone two and a half pages without any form of flashback…

*

"Student Fei Wu. I would like to ask a favor from you."

Two months ago, when I left Tushan City to return to Wu Ling Academy and stayed in the dormitory there, partially to catch up on my studies after missing a couple weeks of cla.s.ses (thanks to my Moby d.i.c.k adventures that involved me hunting a Void Whale), and partially because the tournament was going to begin, I was approached by none other than Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang.

"Sir." I saluted, only to receive a strange stare from the princ.i.p.al. Evidently I had played too much Warhammer 40,000.

"A great deal of staff will be leaving with me in the afternoon to attend a conference in the city hall." Xiao Zhang grimaced. "Apparently they want to discuss this year"s budget, so it"s not something I can miss. So there won"t be a lot of staff left in the campus tonight."

I knew that. The teachers weren"t stay-on staff. Teacher Jiao, for example, returned home every evening after his office hours were over. The dormitories were only meant to house students, and other than a couple of elderly who served as managers, there were no adults left in the campus at night. In fact, I was pretty Xiao Zhang wouldn"t be present at night even if he didn"t have the conference.

"So if any emergency happens, it might not reach me until after the conference is over."

Oh, so that was why he was approaching me today in particular. Usually he would be able to "teleport" over immediately if something happened in the academy.

"What kind of emergency?" I asked. In all of my years here, I couldn"t recall any significant "emergency" that would require Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang to rush over to the campus grounds in the dead of the night.

"I don"t know. Something like…hmm, a raid on the academy, for example? A rogue martial artist attacking the students living in the dormitories, or sabotaging the facilities?"

"…"

I stared at Xiao Zhang, wondering where this was going, yet having an inkling of what he was asking of me.

"So…if there appears an enemy that even the student council can"t handle, I want you to a.s.sist them."

"Uh, what?" I scowled at that. "If even the student council can"t handle that person, what makes you think I can?"

"Of course you can." Xiao Zhang placed a hand on my shoulder confidently. He lowered his voice into a whisper. "You"re the successor to the Heaven and Earth Sect, after all."

I felt a chill run down my spine at that. Did the princ.i.p.al know about my connection to Tian Mo and the Heaven and Earth Sect?

"So I"ll be counting on you."

"R…right."

I watched numbly as he turned to leave. There was a hoverjet waiting for him and the staff, and there was a great deal of fanfare as they boarded and the arcane vehicle lifted off and soared into the sky, leaving contrails of qi in the air. I stood there, staring blankly as the hoverjet disappeared into the distance.

"…well, time to get back to training…"

As usual, my training took place all the way until night. I was preparing for the tournament during that time, so it wasn"t weird for me to train longer than usual. After spending so much time out on the sea, I felt that I needed to catch up on my training and hone my martial arts more than ever. So engrossed was I in my training that I actually lost track of time. Before I knew it, the sun had set long ago and the sky had turned dark.

"Oh gosh, it"s already this late?!"

I quickly packed up my training gear and began jogging back to the dormitory. As I did so, I heard a loud ruckus near the vast courtyard right in front of the main campus building. Amongst the noise, I could make out the ominous, mechanical clicking of the battle puppets that we used for training and sparring.

That"s a lot of battle puppets, I thought when I realized that the racket was only possible if there was an army of battle puppets marching across the school grounds.

"I really…like Veritas."

Someone spoke up, his tone filled with swagger and absolute confidence. I frowned at the unfamiliar voice and began to proceed toward the source, my curiosity piqued. If the situation turned out to be dangerous, I could always run away. On the other hand, I did make the promise to Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang, so it was best to keep an eye on what was going on in the academy.

Did Princ.i.p.al Xiao Zhang already antic.i.p.ate this? He knew that someone would attack the academy at night?!

I couldn"t help but be skeptical. How convenient.

"It was an amazing Korean manhwa from a few years ago…had an epic ending but left a lot of loose ends. I was so looking forward to the sequel, but the writer and the artist appeared to have a falling-out and they ended up never drawing the second part. A pity…a real pity."

A handsome guy with stylish hair almost to his shoulders, and dressed in a fashionable shirt and jeans, was raising a hand as he indulged in his soliloquy.

"But the protagonist of that manhwa and his master, they had really cool lightning moves. Very appropriate for me to copy from, since I"m from the White Tiger Sect."

That good-looking guy was from the White Tiger Sect? Why was he here?

"Don"t f.u.c.k with us, Lei Yong Chun!"

Li Guo Qiang was shouting. From my hiding place, I glanced out and caught sight of a small group of students behind the large army of mechanical battle puppets. They must be the student council, but not having any interactions with them, other than my cla.s.smates, I had no idea who they were. At that time, anyway.

"You can"t escape from here!"

"Well, it"s been almost 10 years, so your generation might not have heard of it. Well, you can always find it online on any manga reader website. It was such an awesome manhwa…"

The f.u.c.k? Lei Yong Chun read Veritas online as well? On manga reader websites? He was unexpectedly similar to me, or at least had similar hobbies.

"Well, their moves were also inspired by anime…what was it, Marzinger or something?" Lei Yong Chun crouched down. "I can"t remember…I don"t think that anime was from this timeline. Anyway, that doesn"t matter…what matters is their cool attacks."

He grinned, his eyes glinting sinisterly.

Raising his fist, he gathered as much qi as he could into it. Silver lightning flowed and crackled around his arm as he punched it down onto the ground.

"Thunder Break!"

Yelling, he smashed his fist against the ground, and the ma.s.sive torrent of electricity flowed out of his hand and into the ground. In a single instant, the wave of lightning spread across the courtyard and electrocuted every single battle puppet present, causing them to sizzle and convulse from the intense voltage.

And then they exploded, the cl.u.s.ter of battle puppets vanishing in a colossal conflagration that consumed everything in front of the main campus building.

BOOM!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"W…what?!"

"All of them blew up!"

No s.h.i.t. Why state the obvious?

Even from this distance, I could feel myself buffeted by the shockwaves.

"What the f.u.c.k?!" Li Guo Qiang couldn"t believe his eyes as he gaped at the unbelievable scene. There was nothing remaining of the battle puppets except incinerated ash and broken parts, smoldering and jerking as electricity continued to flow through them.

"He destroyed over a hundred level 5 battle puppets so easily?!" Xin Lai gasped, taking a step back in disbelief.

"Where"s Lei Yong Chun?!" Gu Chun Song demanded, looking around angrily.

"You kids are naïve."

A voice spoke out from within the smoke. I could barely make out the dark silhouette of Lei Yong Chun as he stood at the epicenter of the flames and fumes, his hands stuck in his pocket as he struck some sort of cool pose.

"Did you really think these battle puppets would be enough to fight someone like me? Well, I hope you enjoyed the show."

He strolled out of the smoke, a smirk curling across his handsome face.

"Or were you so busy hiding that you weren"t able to see my awesome move?"

"d.a.m.n it!" Li Guo Qiang cursed. "Everyone, run!"

"It"s too late!" Xin Lai protested. She was right. Lei Yong Chun was not an expert they could run away from. If he wanted to catch them, he would.

"Fine!"

Li Guo Qiang took a step forward, and for some stupid reason, he took of his shirt. The h.e.l.l, man? Why were you taking off your uniform shirt in the middle of a battle? To look cool or something? To show off your muscles?

"I will hold him back and buy you guys time! While I do that, you guys should use the time to attack him!"

He began gathering as much metallic qi into his body, strengthening it with his signature Iron Soul technique. Swallowing, he steeled himself.

"I should be able to withstand at least one hit!"

"Guo Qiang!" Xin Lai protested, but he wasn"t paying his girlfriend any attention. Instead, he raised his arm after turning his whole body into steel.

"HAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Yelling determinedly, he glared at Lei Yong Chun before he charged forward recklessly. The latter merely smiled as he slowly strolled forward, not at all intimidated by Li Guo Qiang"s reckless charge. Instead, he seemed amused.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Really? Are you going to tackle me or something? Are we on a wrestling program now? You wanna join the World Westling Entertainment?"

He raised a hand casually, which crackled with intense electricity. Li Guo Qiang continued, undeterred. Lei Yong Chun shook his head.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Li Guo Qiang replied with a roar and threw his entire body weight against Lei Yong Chun. The latter merely swung his hand flippantly.

Bam!

Lightning seared through Li Guo Qiang, completely bypa.s.sing his Iron Soul defenses and blowing a black hole through his arm. The poor guy howled in agony, tears actually leaking from his eyes as he shuddered from the impact.

Lei Yong Chun merely flicked his arm, and Li Guo Qiang found himself hurled bodily into the air, his mouth still open in a terrified and painful scream. He spun helplessly in the air before he crashed heavily onto the ground a few meters away from the amused Lei Yong Chun, who shook his arm and ma.s.saged it as if he had just finished a warmup.

"Guo Qiang!"

The rest of the student council members were yelling in panic now. Lei Yong Chun grinned as he beckoned them.

"Who"s next?"

"Lei Yong Chun…you…!"

"Yeah, yeah." Lei Yong Chun suppressed a yawn, as if he was bored. "Let"s not waste any time. All of you, come at me."

And they did.

"The Phoenix Spreads its Wings!" Xin Lai shouted as she soared into the air, unleashing a blast of flames at Lei Yong Chun. The latter stepped to the side, evading the crimson and golden flames entirely.

"Golden Kirin Divine Fist!" Throwing his gauntleted fist forward, Zhu Jiao tried to take advantage of the moment and land a hit, but Lei Yong Chun deftly spun away before punching the former in the gut. Zhu Jiao grunted before an explosion of electricity penetrated even his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor and sent him flying.

"Spinning Top!"

"Whoa there."

Lei Yong Chun moved his head slightly as a spinning orb of lethal qi sliced past his cheek, but didn"t even leave a single line of blood. Gu Chun Song cursed when he saw his technique missed, but he stubbornly dashed forward.

"Head of Lightning!"

"You kids just don"t learn, do you?" Lei Yong Chun sighed as Gu Chun Song rushed forward, and gestured to Li Guo Qiang"s p.r.o.ne body. "Always recklessly charging at your enemy…you really ought to be more careful."

"!!!"

Gu Chun Song froze when he realized Lei Yong Chun"s hands was on his face. There was a blast of lightning and Gu Chun Song was sent hurtling several meters away.

At that moment, Yuan Mei and Ding Yan attacked from two directions. Ding Yan from the left, slightly behind, while Yuan Mei swept up from Lei Yong Chun"s blind spot to grab hold of his hand. Above, Xin Lai continued to distract Lei Yong Chun by firing a volley of flaming arrows.

"Phoenix Feather Arrows!"

"Whoa…impressive. You kids have finally done something smart."

Lei Yong Chun nodded in approval before he slightly stepped away from the fiery projectiles. He didn"t respond when Yuan Mei grabbed hold of his hand, probably because he didn"t know what her martial art was.

Flowing Spirit…a type of martial arts very similar to jujitsu. Yuan Mei specialized in grappling and throwing. Once she caught someone in her grasp, he would never be able to escape.

Unless he was Lei Yong Chun, that is.

"ARGH!"

"Oi, oi…don"t just grab my hand like that. Have you forgotten what my ability is? Hmm…if I recall, aren"t you my junior"s best friend, Yuan Mei?"

Yuan Mei was unable to reply, her body going into spasms as Lei Yong Chun electrocuted her endlessly. She slumped onto the ground, her body sizzling.

That"s…Magnetic Force of Lightning s.p.a.ce?!

I somehow recognized that White Tiger Sect technique, but only because I had read it before in a manhwa.

"You…!"

Ding Yan struck from behind, vengeance on his mind, but Lei Yong Chun merely dodged it with the minimal of moments. Ding Yan"s fist sailed through empty s.p.a.ce before Lei Yong Chun reached out and caught hold of his arm.

"Your turn."

"Kuuuk!"

Ding Yan shuddered as he was electrocuted. However, he gritted his teeth and clamped down on Lei Yong Chun"s arm with his other hand.

"Hmm?"

"Good job, Yan! Hold him there!"

With a thunderous roar, Li Chun Long descended from above, swinging his sword. Green and golden flames erupted and wreathed his blade.

"Celestial Dragon Thunder Flame!"

"Oh, so this is your plan? Not bad. Not bad at all."

Lei Yong Chun seemed more amused than concerned, however. He reached out with his free hand and caught Li Chun Long"s blade with nothing more than his bare fingers.

"That was a good tactic…however, you kids are still too naïve."

"AAAAARGH!"

"GAAAAAAH!"

Another silver blast of lightning, and the smoldering bodies of Ding Yan and Li Chun Long fell to the ground, the former no longer able to hold on to Lei Yong Chun"s arm.

"Why, you…!"

Xin Lai continued to keep her distance and fire her flaming arrows from afar. Making use of her speed, she bombarded him with her arrows.

"Do you really think you"re safe just because you"re fighting from range?" Lei Yong Chun smirked. Raising a hand, his snapped his fingers.

A lightning bolt descended from the sky and slammed into the soaring Xin Lai. She shrieked and flailed about helplessly, the powerful currents searing through her body, and she finally crashed down onto the ground, unconscious.

"Now then…"

Lei Yong Chun stretched his arms. He then turned to Qing Xin Xia, who was trying to treat Li Guo Qiang with her healing magic.

"I don"t really like doing this because you didn"t attack me, but I can"t afford to let you heal your friends. Otherwise this fight will never end."

"!!!"

Qing Xin Xia stumbled back, only for Lei Yong Chun to vanish from her sight. She looked around worriedly, but she didn"t expect him to reappear behind her and chop at the back of her neck. There might be several electric currents, but the effect was all the same. Qing Xin Xia went down, knocked out.

"Holy f…" I murmured as I watched the entire scene unfold before my eyes.

It didn"t even take five minutes.

In less than five minutes, the student council members – Li Guo Qiang, Xin Lai, Zhu Jiao, Gu Chun Song, Li Chun Long, Qing Xin Xia, Yuan Mei, and Ding Yan – all eight of them were lying on the ground, unconscious. Lightning continued to dance around them, electrocuting them and keeping them incapacitated.

"Wow.

In the center of the sprawled bodies, Lei Yong Chun straightened and studied his unconscious opponents, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Not bad…they actually made me work out quite a bit. Seems like I can"t underestimate these kids anymore."

He then turned around with a smile, tilting his head mischievously to the side.

"Oh…after seeing all your friends beaten up like this, you"ve finally decided to show yourself, my little junior?"

I felt a chill when he turned toward my direction. Did he sense my presence? No, that couldn"t be. I was too far away…

Then I realized he wasn"t looking at me. Instead, he was staring at someone else who emerged from the shadows.

She was none other than the current student council president, Bai Ning Xue.