Chapter 32: The First Fight
The poster which showed every participating student stated both the rank of these students, their odds at winning and their first opponents.
The Rong twins were both at the first-star Practitioner rank due to the medicinal pills which Hui Yue had given them. Although Hui Yue had also passed some pills to Gao Yan, unfortunately it had not been enough to allow him a breakthrough. Still, he was a nine-star Disciple ranked cultivator and his cultivation based had grasped him a shared second place with another young man from the year above them.
Ma Kong and Deng Wu were both noted down as seven-star Disciple ranked, which somehow caused Hui Yue to snort slightly. If they were to know about Deng Wu’s real cultivation level, it would without a doubt shock them, though Hui Yue also understood why Deng Wu was unable to tell anyone just yet.
Hui Yue himself was rated rather far down, however, this was to be expected since Hui Yue was just a first year student and had yet to break through to the Disciple ranked cultivation. Although he was considered a genius within the first years and a promising youth, he was still very far from being one of the stronger students within the academy.
Walking out of his courtyard, Hui Yue came to a sudden stop as he looked at the five people who were standing in front of him, with cheeky grins plastered across their faces. A deep sigh escaped his lips, before their cheerfulness caused him to smile in return.
“You forgot that it was today, didn’t you?” Rong Ming asked smilingly and Hui Yue nodded with an embarrassed smile on his face.
Today was the day the tournament was to begin.
The six of them went to the canteen together, only to find it filled with students, making it impossible for them to find seats where all six could sit next to each other. Instead of having a big breakfast, they instead ordered stuffed bread-rolls to go, and made their way to the arenas.
Around all of the arenas, even the smaller ones, were several adults, many of whom Hui Yue had seen before at the auction. All of them would be present at the Academy for the next three weeks, and they kept observing the students that were moving around.
The few of them drew a lot of attention as it had the two top seeded participants amongst them, not to mention the sons of two families that kept on increasing their influence within the city.
However, even if they hadn’t been there, Hui Yue himself was enough to draw an insane amount of attention. His white hair and blue eyes stood out amongst all the black haired, brown eyed students that walked around at the academy.
One could say that the eyes of the spectators were drawn towards the unusual white child. Only after looking at the child did they notice the Rong twins.
Hui Yue and the others quickly looked at the schedule. None of the other five were in Hui Yue’s group, although Ma Kong was in the same group as the Rong twins and Wang Ju Long. Gao Yan and Deng Wu were also separated.
Currently, there were a few minutes before the first fights started, and Hui Yue could relax until noon, when it would be time for him to step up on the stage.
Hui Yue’s first opponent was a third year student who was a second-star Disciple ranked cultivator, putting the opponent’s odds above Hui Yue’s.
The Rong twins both quickly settled their duels within few seconds as their opponents forfeited after only three attacks each, and something similar happened to Gao Yan.
Ma Kong had a little more trouble in his fight, and he ended up with a cut in his eyebrow, although he still pulled off a first round win.
Deng Wu was not up by the time Hui Yue had fought his first match.
Hui Yue stepped up on the stage and he felt completely calm. The person in front of him was three years older and his physique was much larger, however, for the audience it was obvious that, while one was calm as ice, the other was sweating and looked as if he was very worried about the fight that was about to commence.
The audience was stupefied. It was obvious that Hui Yue was at a disadvantage so why would the teachers look at his opponent with pity, and the boy look that scared?
The answer was quickly given. As soon as the bell rang the older boy scuttled towards him, his eyes widened incredibly and light grey Qi gathered around a fist which was being thrown at Hui Yue
Hui Yue stood still for a bit before he snorted. Qi rushed through his meridians and activated Velocity Flow, allowing him to dodge without any trouble.
After dodging, Hui Yue kept observing as his opponent stumbled and almost fell in front of him, however, Hui Yue did not take advantage of this mishap, but instead waited for the boy to come at him once again.
Fist after fist was thrown his way, and Hui Yue kept retreating, not allowing the forceful fist to even hit the corner of his clothes. Disdain was evident within his eyes.
Hui Yue was capable of knocking this guy unconscious within a second, however, he kept remembering what had happened last time he used his skill on Shan Ping, and although he did not feel any guilt, he still did not wish for his first kill to be some random accident within the tournament.
After dodging for ten minutes, Hui Yue had finally given up being patient. His hope had been that his opponent would forfeit when he saw how inferior he was, however, that had not happened, and Hui Yue had no other option than to take action.
Pearl white Qi gathered at his hand as he vanished into thin air, only to appear behind his opponent, much like he had done with Shan Ping, however, this time he did not target the temple, instead he gave a light tap on the back of the neck, causing the young man to pass out.
The teachers were shaking their heads, recognizing the exact same skills as those he had used before, and although they were excited to see them again, they knew that Hui Yue had been incredibly lenient towards his current opponent.
The audience, however, was shocked. All of them had expected the older boy to mop the floor with Hui Yue or at least win effortlessly, but when they saw how the movement skill was activated and the purity of the younger boy’s Qi, all of them gasped in surprise, thinking that they had found an unheard of genius.
What puzzled them in turn was that neither students nor teachers seemed to be shocked by this scene, causing their excitement to dim slightly. Although it was a new genius, it was highly likely that some families had already reeled him in.
The first within their group of six to be eliminated was Deng Wu. Although he was capable of fighting just fine, even with his suppressed cultivation base, he quickly chose to forfeit.
This was not due to him handing the win over to his opponent on a silver platter, no, Deng Wu would never have to stoop to such a level, nor was it because he thought he would lose the match.
The reason for Deng Wu to forfeit turned out to be Rong Xing. How could he dare risk injury to his handsome face? An injured face was the last thing which he wished to show Rong Xing.
After Deng Wu had finished his fight the six of them moved towards a stall that had been placed on campus. These stalls were mainly made for entertaining guests with alcohol and delicious food. Fortunately for these students, the academy had made no rules against the students drinking alcohol and while all the others drank chilled beer, Hui Yue stared with chagrin at his lemonade.
A sigh escaped his lips as he obediently sipped the cold and slightly acidic drink. Once again Hui Yue realised just how unfortunate it was that he had been born into the body of an infant.
‘Don’t complain about your body,’ Lan Feng chortled from within their shared body, ‘how would you feel if you ended up within one of those useless commoners out there? Huh? It would be terrible if we could not build a proper foundation.’
Hui Yue smiled wryly, knowing that the phoenix was right, but there were still certain limitations hard to live with.
‘Don’t worry about beer,’ Lan Feng tried to console him, ‘since we are in the body of a child it’s only natural that we love sweets, so you are able to eat more cakes than when you grow up.’
‘Right,’ Hui Yue laughed silently, ‘how could I have forgotten that you are the ever positive Lan Feng,’ Hui Yue said slightly mockingly. It was obvious that Lan Feng only approved of their appearance due to the snacks he could get to eat. He was indeed quite the beast.
“My family is very happy about the insurance idea that you shared with us,” Ma Kong suddenly spoke after taking a large gulp of his beer. “You really helped us a great deal. The old manager keeps telling me to invite you by to visit the elders. I’m not going to let you go though, they are all just trying to see if they can force you to come up with other business ideas.”
Ma Kong’s eyes were shining every time he spoke about his family. Before this insurance aspect, Ma Kong had been viewed as a gifted but only slightly above average youth who worked hard for what he wanted. At that time, he had been incredibly far away from being considered an important youth in the family as his older brother was outstanding.
Now the tides had changed. Ma Kong had been the one whom brought in the business idea of insurance, and he was also the one who had a relationship with the outstanding young boy who had thought up said idea.
The Ma family was a family which had relied heavily on merchandise and its Black Market Auction House, and as a result thereof they made it paramount to establish goodwill with experts and other families.
Ma Kong already mingled together with the heir to the position of the City Lord, the City Lord’s only daughter, a son of the Deng family leader and now this unknown young genius who had appeared out of nowhere.
When it came to connections in the younger generation of the Ma family no one was equal to Ma Kong. Unfortunately, while Ma Kong did have the connections he lacked a certain trait of ruthlessness needed when operating a business. All of Ma Kong’s positive sides were not able to make up for the lack of ruthlessness, however, that was all in the past.
The new branch of the Ma family business which focused on insurance was already such a major branch that although it could not rival the Black Market Auction House, it was still following behind it in terms of profit.
Unfortunately, although the profits were right behind the Black Market Auction House it was also riskier, and currently the profit was frozen until a certain amount of money had been accumulated. Enough money to ensure that the insurance pay-outs would be covered.
What made Hui Yue laugh was that the one time he had gone to visit the office which dealt with the insurance, he had seen how the office workers did everything they could to find loopholes in order to not pay out the insurance. This was in every way similar to what he was used to from his old world, and it made him feel a tinge of nostalgia.
A big smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he listened to Ma Kong rambling on about the insurance and his family. Ma Kong was very much like Rong Xing and usually he would be quiet and stand back while observing the surroundings. Other times he would show a polite smile and listen to the others talk, but ever since Hui Yue had increased his family’s revenue, Ma Kong would always get engrossed whenever the subject was about insurance or Hui Yue; his usually calm and collected personality would change into that of a talkative and energized youth.
Hui Yue smiled politely. The subject had been brought up too often for his liking and although the first couple of times had made him pleased and feel important, it quickly got uncomfortable to be praised constantly.
“Deng Wu,” Hui Yue suddenly said in an attempt to change the subject, “you are cheap for quitting the tournament with such a silly reason,”
Although this was an attempt to change the subject it was also something that had allowed Hui Yue some time to ponder upon his own question. Even if Deng Wu was supposed to hide his real strength, he had previously participated in tournaments and duels for the sake of gaining a top mountain courtyard.
Hui Yue felt as if Deng Wu had a secret agenda, yet no matter what he thought of, it was impossible for him to think of what reason it might be.
“My reasoning is one only adults like me can understand,” Deng Wu said with a dramatic voice, one hand on his chest and the other swung into the air, making a gesture that suggested that he was indeed such an adult.
“Right, perverts,” Hui Yue harrumphed, looking like anything but a ten-year-old boy. His eyes were filled with intelligence, which did not suit his age, and all the naivety which should be present was erased by a flash of cunningness.
Deng Wu sighed as he looked into these intelligent eyes and felt a shiver run down his spine. Knowing Hui Yue’s secret and his combat abilities, Deng Wu would never underestimate this little silver monster that was running rampant in front of him in the shell of a child.
“I am no pervert, just a romantic,” Deng Wu candidly explained with an expression of dread on his face that left everyone at the table gobsmacked, squeezing a stare at him to ascertain whether or not he was joking.