Right Hand Man

“Did you need to become that aggressive?” Deng Wu asked worriedly. He was the only one of all the friends who knew about Hui Yue’s third high-ranked skill. Seeing how Hui Yue had shown it off so blatantly had shocked Deng Wu severely.

“Don’t worry,” Hui Yue said with a small smile, as they moved towards the canteen for their free lunch. “I still have some secrets hidden if I need further assistance to win.”

“You aren’t planning on using…. well,... him.... right?” Deng Wu asked. He had a perfect reason to be worried about this. If Hui Yue were to unleash Lan Feng’s powers, then it would be very hard to keep his identity as Li Fen a secret. Hui Yue just laughed at his worried friend.

“I have more options than that. Don’t worry,” Hui Yue assured his friend.

“What are the two of you talking about?” Rong Ming asked curiously. Neither Hui Yue nor Deng Wu answered the question. They just smiled at each other.

Back at the mountaintop, the next fight had yet to commence, as a small break had been given. Even the teachers were standing together in clusters, discussing the student who just displayed three high-ranked martial arts skills.

The same discussion was ongoing among the audience. Multiple families had left their seats to discuss together their theories of the unrecognized genius’ background.

The entire fight had been recorded by the judge and was already being distributed to the different teachers. The school promptly decided to sell this fight recording to the visitors.

Every major family purchased at least one copy of the recording that had been made of this fight. The main reason was not that they admired Hui Yue, but solely to review the three high-ranked martial arts skills he had performed. It was possible for others to create their own versions of these martial arts skills if they analyzed and understood the martial arts skills shown. They could create a skill in half the preparation time normally needed.

Hui Yue would have laughed if he knew that these hopeful men were wishing to learn or create a high-ranked skill by reviewing him in a recording. Hui Yue had spent years upon years of practice to be able to perfect the skills he used. Qi Guard and Velocity Flow were impossible to understand. Transforming Weapons would be harder to grasp. It contained so many possible weapons to choose from. Reviewing just the one weapon would not reveal enough instructional material to get an idea of even the basics.

Half an hour passed before the academy continued to the next group’s fight. Everyone sat down, eager to see which kind of fight would be brought to them. Unfortunately, it would be hard to be more exciting than the previous match. Various figures were still discussing it up in the seating areas.

On another mountain, Hui Yue was sitting with his friends, calmly eating his dinner before the group of them returned. There were still two matches left to determine if Gao Yan and Rong Ming would rank in the top eight participants.

“I never knew you had yet another high-ranked martial arts skill,” Rong Ming said with an admiring voice, albeit jealous. The Rong family possessed in total two high-ranked martial arts skills. However, Rong Ming had not qualified to learn either of them. Despite being Hui Yue’s friend, Rong Ming could not help but be jealous of Hui Yue. At the same time, he also became suspicious.

Rong Ming was Hui Yue’s first friend. The two of them had known each other for so long, yet now Hui Yue no longer seemed like the sweet and naive boy whom he had known for so many years.

Incredibly curious about Hui Yue’s newfound secret skills, Rong Ming wondered if perhaps Hui Yue had a teacher?

Rong Xing had learned one of the high-ranked skills from within the City Lord’s mansion. This skill was the one which had caused the various wounds on her previous opponent. During the academy tournament, it was against the rules to use weapons. That being said, any weapons created from qi did not count as they were ranked as a martial arts attack skill.

Rong Xing had learned the family’s high Duke ranked martial arts attack skill called Flying Qi Daggers. It was quite similar to Transforming Weapons, although not as flexible. It would create a number of small daggers, which were shot towards the opponent. These daggers could not be controlled individually but worked as a barrage. After each barrage, the cultivator needed to recreate another set of the daggers.

Unlike Transforming Weapons, it was not possible for the Flying Qi Daggers to create another type of weapon, just as it was impossible for Rong Xing to use the daggers as close combat weapons.

Even considering such flaws, this was a brutal technique with the capability of unleashing an immense amount of damage to the target. It was guaranteed almost to kill anyone inferior with one swarm of daggers, and seriously hurt others of the same rank as Rong Xing.

Due to this skill Hui Yue and the others assumed that if Rong Xing was to go all out, she could easily be the strongest student in Riluo City’s Royal Academy. That being the case if no one was counting Deng Wu.

Looking out the window, Hui Yue noticed how every student and the adults nearby kept glancing towards him. Previously he had used high-ranked martial arts skills, although never in such an assertive way as today. It was no longer possible for him to be the naïve and relaxed boy he had always been.

It was time to fully embrace and fight to defend his place within this new world. Essentially, Hui Yue needed to consider who were and were not his friends. By going all out in front of such a large audience, it was obvious that some high-ranked experts sensed that something was amiss.

Hui Yue still felt danger lingering around every corner despite not knowing what it was that was amiss. He had mastered at least three high-ranked martial arts skills, and soon he would be flooded with offers to buy them or threats to hand them over.

While contemplating about such things, a flash of ice-cold rushed through his eyes. Hui Yue’s friends had quite a few connections. It was time for him to start considering ways to keep himself safe. Right now, he could think of only one way in which he could call in some favors and stall the minor families.

For some reason, Hui Yue could not shake his discernment that there was something ill-natured about Lord Rong Liang. This feeling had nothing to back it up, but every time Hui Yue saw the man, his hair stood on end, and a sense of dread washed over him.

Hui Yue knew that both Lord Rong Liang and Lord Bu Huang had previously used their cultivation base as a way to screen Hui Yue’s body for abnormalities. Although they clearly did not find Lan Feng, it was obvious that they did find something, but neither of them asked any questions.

Lord Rong Liang had always done his utmost to seem like a perfect person. He even went as far as to erase Hui Yue’s past, but the sense of danger remained buried deep within Hui Yue’s heart. He could not shake it off.

This constant sense of danger caused Hui Yue to be careful about his secrets. What Hui Yue had learned in this world was that strength determined everything. Deng Wu had already made sure that he understood how dangerous information could be.

This made Hui Yue feel slightly guilty. He would prefer it if he could tell the Rong twins, Ma Kong and Gao Yan about his secret, but for now, he had to keep it hidden. If Hui Yue were to let go of his secret, it was likely that someone would start expecting something different from Deng Wu as well.

“You really live up to the nickname they gave you,” Gao Yan sighed. He looked at the relaxed Hui Yue, causing the younger boy to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

“Nickname?” he said laughingly. When Gao Yan spoke with some of the commoner students, he noticed glances were thrown his way.

Hui Yue had expected to get attention due to his unprecedented fighting match, but he did not expect to get a nickname. In a way, it made him feel like a pro wrestler from his old world, and the thought made him slightly hesitant.

His eyes no longer held the childish innocence they had been displaying for the last ten years; instead they were sharp and cold, observing everything around him.

“It’s about time to return,” Hui Yue said, and the others instantly stood up, following Hui Yue back towards the mountain peak.

Although Hui Yue was by far the youngest in their group, it was as if he seemed older than the others. They all listened to him, following his suggestions easily. Even the-hard-to-deal-with Deng Wu followed anything Hui Yue said.

Upon returning to the mountaintop, Hui Yue’s small group was encased in a great uproar. One person from each family wished to greet him and gift him with great valuables in hopes of enticing him, but no matter what they brought Hui Yue respectfully declined showing the maturity he previously had tried to hide.

Walking towards the arena took longer than expected, as Hui Yue was stopped every few steps to greet people he had never met before. Although he had no idea which families these people belonged to, Hui Yue still showed great respect as they greeted him. Being arrogant might court unnecessary trouble.

Finally, they reached their destination. This time it was Gao Yan’s turn to fight for the position within the top eight.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Gao Yan sighed as he looked at the person in front of him who had a brilliant grin showing on his face.

Gao Yan had not spent any time considering who his opponent might be. From the very start, he had said that he would only care about winning and nothing else. This had also caused Gao Yan not to spare a glance at the scheduling poster announcing who fought and when.

After having exhibited such arrogance, he was stunned when he noticed that Cheung Chan Tin was standing in front of him.

“Hey boss,” the grinning young man cordially said, as he strode to the top of the platform. “I’m sorry boss, but I have to fight you today. Those pills will really make the world of a difference for my parents.”

After hearing this, a wry smile appeared on Gao Yan’s face. He was in the exact same position. He nodded his head solemnly before finally returning the greeting. “If you hold back on me, I will be very mad at you,” he said with a sigh as he got into position.

Hui Yue looked intently at the fight which was about to start. To fight one’s friends usually resulted in a real spar rather than a frantic battle, and by watching a real spar, one gained a deeper understanding of their abilities.

“Receive this blow of mine,” Gao Yan said as he shot forward like a cannonball, straight towards his friend who decided to try and take it on.

“Bring it on!” was the answer which was returned to him, the smile still playing on the Cheung Chan Tin’s face.

White qi with a faint hint of gray could be seen covering the arms of Cheung Chan Tin. His ear-to-ear, face-splitting grin had been replaced by a serious expression, as he steeled himself for the initial impact.

As Gao Yan moved forward, Cheung Chan Tin leaned forward to accept the hit quicker, causing Hui Yue to shake his head. By moving like this, he was ensuring that the attack from Gao Yan would inflict more pain than if he had jumped back as the hit connected.

It seemed as if Cheung Chan Tin had understood his mistake as his teeth gritted together and Gao Yan moved back again. Unlike a usual fight, Gao Yan did not take advantage of the moment of pain in his opponent. He waited until the other was ready before he took a defensive stance.

“Give me everything you got!” Gao Yan said, and his friend did not need to hear this more than once. He gathered all his gray-shining qi around his fists. Both the quantity and quality of the young men’s qi were quite equal.

The qi which had gathered on Cheung Chan Tin’s hands condensed and solidified, covering only his knuckles, turning into a spike on each knuckle.

A shiver ran down Gao Yan’s spine as he saw the martial arts attack skill which his friend was using. However, he knew that he should not avoid it. He had to take it head on. A grin started spreading across his face, and a beckoning gesture was made towards Cheung Chan Tin. This was going to be one exchange of blows after another until one of the two gave up.

Years back the two of them had run the dirty streets in Riluo City together, glancing in the windows of shops and seeing the legendary cultivators walk the street.

When the Martial Arts School project started, the two of them enrolled together. Throughout the entire time at the Riluo City’s Royal Academy, Cheung Chan Tin was Gao Yan’s right-hand man.

This was the first matched fight in which Cheung Chan Tin and Gao Yan must fight all out against each other.