The First Fight

The poster showed every participating student. It stated the rank of these students, their odds of 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. 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 base had garnered him a shared second place with another young man from the year above him.

Ma Kong and Deng Wu were both noted down as seven star Disciple ranked, which 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. Hui Yue understood why Deng Wu was unable to tell anyone, just yet.

Hui Yue was rated rather far down the roster. This rating 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 year students 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, 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. It was 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. Then they 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. They kept observing the students that were moving around.

The few of them drew a lot of attention as had the two top seeded participants among them, not to mention the sons of the 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 a tremendous amount of attention. His white hair and blue eyes stood out among all the black-haired, brown-eyed students that walked around at the academy.

One would say that the eyes of those spectators were drawn towards the unusual white child. Only after looking first at the child did they notice the Rong twins.

Hui Yue and the others quickly looked over the schedule. None of the other five were in Hui Yue’s group. Ma Kong was in the same group as the Rong twins and Wang Ju Long. Gao Yan and Deng Wu were also separated.

There were just a few minutes before the first fights started, and Hui Yue could relax until noon. Then 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 matches within few seconds. Their opponents forfeited after only three attacks each. Something similar happened to Gao Yan.

Ma Kong had a little more difficulty in his fight. He ended up with a cut on 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 feeling completely calm. The person in front of him was three years older and his physique much larger. For the audience, it was apparent that, while one remained calm as ice, the other contender was sweating and looked very worried about the fight that was about to commence.

The audience was stupefied. It was evident that Hui Yue was at a disadvantage, so why would the teachers look at his opponent with pity, and that boy look so scared?

The answer was quickly seen. As soon as the bell rang the older boy scuttled towards Hui Yue, his eyes widened incredibly while light gray qi gathered around a fist which was aimed 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, almost falling in front of him. Nonetheless, Hui Yue did not take advantage of this mishap but waited for the boy to come at him once again.

Fist after fist was thrown his way. 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 the last time he had used his skill on Shan Ping. Although he did not feel any guilt, he did not wish for his first kill to be some random accident within a tournament.

After dodging for ten minutes, Hui Yue finally gave up being patient. He had hoped that his opponent would forfeit when he saw how inferior he was. Unfortunately, that had not happened. 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 reappear behind his opponent, much like he had done with Shan Ping. 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. Although they were excited to see them again, they knew that Hui Yue had been incredibly lenient towards his 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. When they saw how the movement skill was activated along with the purity of the younger boy’s qi, all of them gasped in surprise, thinking that they had found an undiscovered genius.

What puzzled them, in turn, was that neither students nor teachers seemed to be shocked by this scene, causing the audience’s excitement to dim slightly. If this was a new genius, it was highly likely that some families had already enticed 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 forfeiting 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. Why should he dare risk injury to his handsome face? An injured face was the last thing he wished to display to 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 made mainly for entertaining guests with alcohol and delicious food. Fortunately for these students, the academy had no rules against the students drinking alcohol. 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 realized 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 still, certain limitations were 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 can eat more cakes now 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 got to eat. He was indeed quite the beast.

“My family is very pleased about the insurance idea that you shared with us,” Ma Kong suddenly spoke after taking a large gulp of his beer. “You’ve 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 some other business ideas.”

Ma Kong’s eyes were shining every time he spoke about his family. Before this insurance concept, Ma Kong had been viewed as a gifted, but only slightly above average, youth who worked hard for what he wanted. Before all this, he had not been considered an important youth within the family, as his older brother was outstanding.

Now the tides had turned. Ma Kong was the one who had brought on the business idea of insurance. He was also the one who had a relationship with the outstanding young boy who had thought up this idea.

The Ma family was a family relying heavily on merchandise and its Black Market Auction House. Therefore 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’s 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 traits had not been able to make up for the lack of ruthlessness; however, that was all in the past.

This new branch of the Ma family business which focused on insurance was already such a major asset. Although it did not yet rival the Black Market Auction House, it was still following close behind it regarding profit.

The earnings were close to those of the Black Market Auction House, but 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 payouts 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 to not pay out the insurance. This was in every way similar to what he was used to from his old world, and it had him feeling a tinge of nostalgia.

A big smile appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he listened to Ma Kong rambling on about the insurance business 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. Ever since Hui Yue had increased his family’s revenue, Ma Kong would become engrossed whenever the subject was about insurance or Hui Yue. Then his usually calm and collected personality would change into that of a talkative and energized youth.

Hui Yue smiled politely. These subjects had been brought up too often for his liking. The first couple of times pleased him, and he felt important, but it quickly became uncomfortable to be constantly praised.

“Deng Wu,” Hui Yue suddenly said in an attempt to change the subject, “why would you forfeit just like that? You definitely could have beaten that guy.”

Although this was an attempt to change the subject, this question was also something that Hui Yue had pondered upon for some time. 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.

“It is a reason which only adults like me can understand,” Deng Wu said with a dramatic voice, one hand on his chest and the other swinging up into the air, making a gesture that suggested that he was indeed such an adult.

“Try me,” Hui Yue harrumphed, looking anything like a ten year old boy. His eyes were filled with intelligence beyond 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 the little silver monster that was running rampant, in front of him, inside the shell of a child.

“How can I partake in a fight which might injure my handsome face?” Deng Wu candidly asked with an expression of dread on his face that left everyone at the table gobsmacked, squinting at him to ascertain whether or not he was joking.