Chapter 13: Erased
Hui Yue looked at the unconscious Shan Ping, and something within his head silently accepted that the older boy might have died as a result of the decisive attack from before.
What shocked Hui Yue the most was not the fact that he might have killed a person for the first time in his double life, nor was it his lack of emotions. Instead he was surprised how effective the attack had been while being executed against Shan Ping compared to how useless they were against Wang Ju Long.
For the first time in ten years did Hui Yue really understand exactly Lan Feng had meant when he said that the foundation was incredibly important, and he felt gratitude towards the feathered boy inside of him for teaching him a cultivation method that allowed such a strong foundation.
‘Well about time that you start to appreciate me,’ Lan Feng said with a dry voice from within, ‘but don’t kill off that fat boy just yet. He is alive, although he is pretty banged up.’
‘Is that so?’ Hui Yue asked, but he did not really care too much about the answer. Hui Yue had no intention of becoming a mass-murderer, however he had long since understood that it was impossible to get through this life without killing other people, and as a result he had made a few rules for himself.
Anyone who went at him, he would fight with no mercy. Hui Yue would only fight those who went for him, or in some way interfered with his goals. He had no intention of destroying families or innocent people exerting revenge just because they shared the same family line. Should any family members return for revenge, then Hui Yue would ensure that they died just as the ones before them.
Hui Yue’s snapped back to the present and looked around with a lazy expression on his face. A low murmur was spreading throughout the hall and the students were staring at Hui Yue with terrified eyes, as if he was a demon that had descended from the heavens.
Those who previously doubted the rumour of Hui Yue beating Wang Ju Long in a duel were now certain that it was true, and before they had looked at Hui Yue as being astonishing for matching up to Wang Ju Long, while now they considered it to be the other way around. Wang Ju Long had to be outstanding to survive a fight against Hui Yue who could knock out Shan Ping in one hit.
All the students who were standing at the same side as Hui Yue quickly moved to the other side as if they feared for their safety. Hui Yue sighed while looking at them, but he made no move to change their opinion about him. Although the gossip and the glares were annoying, they were still much better than having students hanging around him constantly, possibly disturbing his training.
Throughout the entire exchange Wang Ju Long had stood behind with his arms crossed on his chest, looking at both Hui Yue and Shan Ping with disdain. Wang Ju Long was aware of his strength. He usually practiced against the disciple ranked guard trainees at his family home, and he had felt fairly insulted as a nine-star student ranked boy assumed that he could beat someone Wang Ju Long had tied against.
Although Wang Ju Long hated Hui Yue, he hated him for the fact that they had tied previously. As a genius from the Wang family he did not care what the commoners gossiped about, nor did he care about their feelings as all of them were trash that he could get rid of with a wave of his hand. Only weak cultivators such as his older brother would care about the public opinion, and his gaze had never once left Hui Yue.
Shan Ping had insulted him which was why Wang Ju Long did nothing to warn him, instead he sacrificed him to once again observe the high ranked martial art skill that Hui Yue had practiced, and now that Shan Ping was unconscious on the floor, he stepped past him and moved towards a calm area within the hall, an area fairly close to Hui Yue as all the commoners had fled. Here he waited for the teacher to arrive, not noticing the chatter that was going on from within the hall.
They did not have to wait for long before a teacher appeared at the door. At first he had a great smile upon his face, but it quickly vanished as his eyes rested on the body that was sprawled upon the floor.
This teacher knew Shan Ping well. He had been teaching the first year students for the last ten years, and Shan Ping had redone his classes twice. He knew that Shan Ping was two years above the rest of the students, and currently, his cultivation was ranked the highest. Only two students should be capable of beating him and they were Wang Ju Long and Hui Yue.
The teacher furrowed his brows as he looked at the two students in question. Neither looked as if they had been in a fight, and both had a bored expression on their face while observing the teacher.
The teacher sighed deeply before he picked up his Teachers Emblem and lifted it into the air. Every student emblem from within the room lit up with the same silvery light that Hui Yue had seen before, and he could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise of the new development.
As soon as the student emblems had gathered enough light, a beam shot from the emblems towards the Teacher’s Emblem where they disappeared within, and the student emblems returned to their usual appearance.
The teacher lifted the Teacher’s Emblem towards his forehead and closed his eyes before the silvery light once again appeared on the emblem, seemingly shooting rays of light into the head of the teacher.
A few minutes passed in silence while all students were observing the teacher with great interest. It was obvious that currently he was watching a recording of what had transpired, and as he opened his eyes slowly, traces of the silvery light was still evident within.
The teacher sighed heavily and looked at the unconscious Shan Ping before he send a small thread of qi into the Teacher’s Emblem and informed the Royal Academy Infirmary about a patient.
Hui Yue had been observing the whole scene with great interest. He knew that it was possible that the teacher would blame him for his actions, but he himself was quite certain that he had broken no rules, and he was completely calm when his eyes met with the teacher’s.
Annoyance was clear within the teacher’s eyes, but below the annoyance was a certain degree of fear. Hui Yue was a student that he had never heard about before. He had arrived out of nowhere together with the Rong twins and his talent had allowed him to get a top Courtyard even though he was only at the fifth-star student rank. If anything he had just made the cut, but something had to be hidden within.
The recording had shown that his qi was without a doubt the purest that this teacher had ever seen before, and the movement martial art skill was unlike anything he had ever heard about.
“You,” he said while pointing a finger at Hui Yue, “student Hui Yue, do you realise your mistake?” he asked with great anger. Shan Ping would only have caused problems for Hui Yue in case he had done something to disregard Wang Ju Long.
“I have done nothing wrong, teacher,” Hui Yue said seriously while looking at the teacher with big and innocent eyes as if he was a naïve child who was being wrongly accused.
“You look at Shan Ping,” the teacher insisted, “he did not fall to the ground on his own.”
“That is true,” Hui Yue mused, “but you saw the recording, all I did was defending myself.”
“It was far too fierce to be considered defending oneself,” the teacher insisted. Although Shan Ping obviously was the one at fault, it had been one for the sake of Wang Ju Long, and Wang Ju Long was the genius from the Wang family. Anyone who insulted him would have great troubles in the future as elder Wang would never let them rest while being at the Academy. That included the teachers.
“Teacher, you must have seen that all I used was a low ranked martial art skill. I am only a five start student ranked cultivator while classmate Shan Ping is a nine star student ranked cultivator. How was I to know that he could not take one hit of my weakest martial attack skill? When I duelled against Wang Ju Long previously I was unable to even leave a mark on his skin.” Hui Yue insisted with his big eyes and naïve face, completely contradicting the words he was saying.
The teacher sucked in a deep breath. At first he was certain that he had heard wrongly, but unfortunately the reality was clearly pointing towards what Hui Yue said was the truth. The Royal Academy had only been open for a few days however Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long had already clashed against each other. It seemed that this year would not allow the teacher any rest.
However, even if he wished to blame this incident on Hui Yue, everything the white-haired boy had said was correct. It was indeed the lower practitioner ranked martial art skill Raging Strike that Hui Yue had been using, and it should not have been possible to deal that amount of damage to the opponent who was four stars above him in strength.
A sigh escaped his lips before he looked at the door and a woman entered. She was dressed in a white robe and in her hand was a small bag. She hurried towards Shan Ping on the ground and kneeled down next to him while quickly observing him. She paid absolutely no attention to anyone else within the room, not even the teacher.
After a quick examination she opened her bag and a variety of scents quickly spread within the hall. A small pill got picked out and she quickly crushed it within her hand before the dust got spread all over Shan Ping’s unconscious body. As the dust landed on the body, it slowly started levitating, and when he was levitating a metre above the ground, the woman swiftly pushed him out the hall.
‘That was your first time seeing a medicinal pill,’ Lan Feng told the gaping Hui Yue, and Hui Yue quickly regained his senses, smoothing his facial expression back to one of indifference.
‘Does it heal him?’ Hui Yue asked curiously as he still gazed towards the doorway where the woman had pushed Shan Ping away.
‘No, that pill was obviously created for the sake of allowing someone to levitate. I think it will allow the user to fly for a brief amount of time if they were to eat it, but since he is unconscious this was the only way to apply it.’ Lan Feng explained, and Hui Yue nodded his head before he returned his gaze to the teacher who had been looking at the woman and Shan Ping as well.
“In accordance to the rules, Hui Yue is allowed to defend himself. Shan Ping will not be punished further as his injuries enough to keep him at the infirmary the next month.”
With this the teacher turned around and entered a room before gesturing the students to enter. The room was shaped as an amphitheatre with seats located in a circle around a scene in the middle where the teacher was sitting with a small table.
The teacher used the time to report the fight to all the other teachers at the Riluo City Royal Academy through the Teacher’s Emblem.
Usually a recording such as this was not something they would share with each other, however the teacher was worried after seeing the pure quality of qi that Hui Yue possessed together with the high ranked martial art movement skill.
He wished to use this recording to see if any of the other teachers were able to explain anything about this unknown person who had appeared out of nowhere, and although all the teachers were incredibly interested, none of them were able to find any information.
When they tried to pry into Hui Yue’s personal papers all they found was a decree written by Lord Rong Liang saying that his past was erased and that he currently belonged to the Rong family.
Having an erased past meant that it was illegal to investigating, and those who did so would be sent to court where they would be judged by the laws of the kingdom. An erased past was a privilege that the royal family had given every City Lord in a way to recruit experts who wished for a new start. As long as the expert was not wanted by the government, then anyone could become an expert with an erased past, that was if one could convince the City Lord that one was worth it.
“Today will focus on the guidelines that we follow here at Riluo City’s Royal Academy,” the teacher said at first, quickly causing every student to calm down and quietly listen to his words, “my name is Li Yuan, and I will be the one who will be in charge of your class.”
Teacher Li Yuan could already feel how his heart grew heavy thinking that this year he had to look after both Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long. Usually any teacher would feel thrilled after being informed that they had two geniuses in their class, however it was something else when those two geniuses had sharpened their blades and just waited for an opportunity to remove the other.
A sigh escaped teacher Li Yuan’s lips and he looked at the two young boys before continuing, “The school year is split into two semesters. Each semester you will study one subject. The lesson tomorrow will focus on the different subjects you can chose between, however some subjects are only open for those who has the talent to attend them.”
Hui Yue felt some curiosity towards these different subjects. He liked the idea of focusing on one specific class at a time, but for now he could do nothing about his curiosity as the subjects would not be revealed before the following day.
“This Royal Academy is sponsored by the Royal Family, and they wish to provide the country’s young generation of cultivators with the best possibilities. This includes the Martial Art Skills that we have gathered in the Martial Art Skill Hall. Together with providing Martial Art Skills and Qi Cultivation Methods we have the Pill Distribution Day once a month.”
The mention of Pill Distribution Day caused almost all students within the class to hold their breath and look at teacher Li Yuan with glistening eyes. Even Lan Feng and Hui Yue felt excitement within their shared soul as they looked towards their teacher.
Teacher Li Yuan felt a brief feeling of satisfaction upon seeing the expressions of all the students, especially when he noticed that both Hui Yue and Wang Ju Long showed attention to his speech. Although both came from noble backgrounds, medicinal pills were usually the reason as to why the noble sons would be sent to the Royal Academy to study.
“The pill outlet will hand out a medicinal pill to the student cultivators at our Royal Academy each full moon. The strength of the medicinal pill depends on the rank of the cultivator, and sometimes specific cultivators might get granted an extra pill as reward for impressive progress. The Medicinal Pill Outlet will open after the next distribution day and it is possible to buy extra pills there at any time.” Hui Yue looked at teacher Li Yuan and slightly narrowed his eyes. The next full moon was three days away, so it was not too long before he would gain his first medicinal pill.
The teacher was quiet for quite some time, allowing the students to chat amongst themselves. He was completely aware of how tempting the medicinal pills were, as he himself relied worked here for the sake of the medicinal pills he was rewarded.
Hui Yue was sitting further back than the rest of the student, and he heard small breaks of conversations. It seems that many of the poorer families had to rely on their sons or daughters selling their medicinal pill every month and then give the money to their family afterwards. Having children who made it into the Royal Academy could be considered another way to gain an income. Although cultivation would be fairly slow without the medicinal pills, it was still not impossible for them to keep a decent cultivation speed.
As the students finally calmed down a little, teacher Li Yuan continued, “Students at Riluo City’s Royal Academy are allowed to leave the Academy whenever they feel like it, there is no rules that say that you cannot visit your family to gain extra cultivation resources or martial art skills.”
Although some students such as Wang Ju Long would most likely use the trips to gain extra resources, the majority of the students would travel to Riluo City to sell their pills and give the money to their families. The Royal Academy were perfectly aware of this, however considering the amount of cultivators who joined The Royal Army after graduating, they considered the medicinal pills to be an acceptable investment.
“Once a year we encourage our students to leave the academy to engage in field training,” teacher Li Yuan continued while looking around, “Some will follow their families into the Magical Forests, while other will work together with their family guards for a period of time. Those without suitable placement for field practice will be offered a spot in the Royal Army.”
Hui Yue nodded, he had heard about this a long time ago when he first met Rong Ming, so he knew that the Academy put a lot of value into the student’s outside practice, so he had expected this. He could not help but feel a slight admiration towards the Royal Family for reeling in cultivators at such a young age, although the majority of these students were thanks to Lord Rong Liang’s Martial Art Schools within the city.
Teacher Li Yuan kept talking about the specific rules of the school and which buildings were used for what purpose which was completely uninteresting for Hui Yue, and instead he slipped into deep thought.
Hui Yue knew that the Rong twins would most likely offer him to follow them into the Magical Forest the next year, however for now he was not certain how much he should accept from the Rong family. They had been treating him specially for quite some time. Hui Yue knew that Rong Xing and Rong Ming held no hostility towards him, however Lord Rong Liang was a City Lord. It was obvious that he was used to scheming and reeling in people, so Hui Yue would not accept too much from him, as he had no knowledge of what Lord Rong Liang expected to get in return.
Although Hui Yue had no wish to rely on Lord Rong Liang for his future, he also knew that his family was unable to help him with his cultivation. None of them had cultivated above the student rank, and their economy was already incredibly bad, asking them to purchase medicinal pills would be the same as asking them to sell their land, which was something that Hui Yue would never do.
In the end, Hui Yue decided that all he had to rely on was himself and Lan Feng. They would gain strength together without having to owe anything to neither their family nor their friends.
However, Hui Yue knew that one thing was to say that they would rely on themselves, another thing was to actually go through with it, and the most important thing to have was money. It did not matter if it was in this world or his old world, money was the thing that made the impossible turn possible. Hui Yue needed a way to earn money.
The first thing that flashed into Hui Yue’s mind was the looks of greed and desire that had appeared on Gao Yan, Deng Wu and Ma Kong’s faces when they heard about the martial art skills he had found within the Magical Forest. It seemed that Martial Art Skills would be a very good way to earn money, however selling those high ranked martial art skills had some downsides that caused Hui Yue to become unsure.
Having fought Wang Ju Long, Hui Yue was now aware of how important and powerful those high ranked martial art skills that Lan Feng had given him was, and if he were to sell skills of that ranking he could not control who were to buy them. If they ended up in the hands of the Wang family or the Deng family, he would most likely be creating more trouble for himself.
‘Why don’t you just ask me?’ Lan Feng’s smug voice appeared within Hui Yue’s concentrated mind, causing the white-haired boy to be slightly startled.
‘Do you have a solution?’ he asked curiously, and sighed internally when he noticed how Lan Feng puffed up his feathers and looked very self-assured.
‘I am Lan Feng, the legendary Blue Phoenix! Of course I have a solution,’ He said with his usual haughty attitude. Hui Yue did not ask anything, and just observed the feathered boy, waiting for him to continue.
‘I have a wide array of Martial Art Skills and even Spiritual Art Skills. I even have some skills you don’t even know what is, but those I will not share with anyone. Of my limitless supply of martial and spiritual art skills, some of them are really quite useless. They might have very high rank, and their potential are almost unlimited, however some of them has been tailor-made to the creator so no one else is capable of activating them, others were created so quickly that they have become unstable. The cultivators within this City will not be able to see whether or not they are useful, and they will buy them as they will believe that some of their cultivators might be able to actually activate it one day.’
Hui Yue furrowed his brows after hearing this, although it seemed promising, they were relying on the fact that the families did not happen to have anyone who would be able to activate the skills.
‘Don’t worry,’ Lan Feng said quietly, ‘even if they do manage to learn the skill, they will need years upon years to actually perfect it, and by then you will be gone from here.’
Hui Yue snorted upon hearing this. Lan Feng was definitely such a person that only cared about himself and a very few specific amount of people, everyone else could die for all he cared.
Although this plan had some loose ends, Hui Yue knew that this was the best possibility they had to earn money quickly. Hopefully there were no one around who knew how to activate the said skills.
‘Okay,’ he finally agreed with a sigh, ‘after this class lets go to the library. I need to check a few things before we start planning how to do this.’