Chapter 9: Hand-to-hand combat

A tall teacher with dark brown hair and tanned skin walked towards Wei Jinhai and the other students who were involved in the fight. He was practically fuming as he marched towards them.

"Do you have any idea how much disruption the six of you have caused?" the teacher said sternly, "Students not in class. Loud yelling in the halls. Violence on school grounds. Do you think any of these are appropriate?"

"No, sorry Mr. Li," one of Jin Fu's friends said quietly.

"Hmph, if you brats really were sorry, then you shouldn't have done it in the first place," the teacher, Mr. Li, said as he gave a disapproving look to every single one of them. "Honestly, I would have expected this from Jin Fu, but you too Chen Liwei? Usually you don't get involved in these type of fights," Mr. Li said as he looked at Chen Liwei with slight disappointment.

Wei Jinhai thought it was unfair that Chen Liwei was also getting into trouble for something he didn't even do, so he quickly cut in, "Chen Liwei really didn't do anything wrong. All he did was throw one punch to stop the other guy from punching me in the face."

"So you're saying it's not wrong to punch someone in the face? Even if it was to stop the other, violence isn't always the answer. You all will be getting detention this afternoon for your reckless behaviour," Mr. Li said firmly. "Now all of you head to class," he said before turning around and walking away.

"Sorry for dragging you into this," Wei Jinhai said apologetically to Chen Liwei.

"What are you apologising for? I didn't do it for you. I'm just sick and tired of Jin Fu and those two picking fights with people every week. It gets irritating after a while," Chen Liwei replied with a blank face.

"Didn't do it for him, my ass! You never got involved or even cared when I picked a fight with someone before! You'd always just spare a glance then walk away. Why is this time different?" Jin Fu said angrily. "Is it because of that bastard?" He shot a glare towards Wei Jinhai. "Even last time when the fire-"

"Stop it! You're overthinking. I did it purely because I've had enough of you guys going around fighting everyone," Chen Liwei cut Jin Fu off. The argument was slowly starting to get more heated.

"I won't stop! If I was the one that was about to punch that half and half, would you have punched me too?" Jin Fu snapped back.

"Yeah!" Chen Liwei yelled. The air went silent. The others were left speechless and Jin Fu's face showed a hint of hurt, but was quickly replaced with a scowl. Even Chen Liwei was shocked by what came out of his own mouth.

"Wait, Jin Fu I-" Chen Liwei started but Jin Fu interrupted him, "No need. I know whose side you're on now," He said as he turned around, but before he walked away, he quietly added, "I thought we were pals."

The other two followed Jin Fu back to their class, leaving Chen Liwei to stand there, feeling guilty.

Wei Jinhai wanted to lighten up the mood a bit, so he gave a big smile and said, "Don't worry about it. He'll probably get over it by the end of the day. He just needs to calm down a bit."

"It's none of your concern," Chen Liwei snapped back, his face returning back to its usual blank expression. He then turned around and walked back to his class.

Wei Jinhai just shrugged and turned towards Mo Dingbang, "Where are we supposed to be now?"

"We've got Physical Training now," Mo Dingbang replied as they started to make their way down the halls.

"The Physical Training class is outside right?" Wei Jinhai asked as they walked out of the building.

Before Mo Dingbang could answer, Qi Chaoxing ran up to them and yelled, "What happened?! Who won?!"

"What do you mean?" Wei Jinhai asked confused.

"What else could I mean besides the fight, dumbass!" Qi Chaoxing said in disbelief.

"Weren't you watching?" Wei Jinhai questioned. He could have sworn he saw Qi Chaoxing jumping up and down, egging them on.

"I was, but then that scary teacher showed up so I bolted," Qi Chaoxing replied back, sounding very irritated.

"Who won in the end?" She asked with eagerness in her eyes.

"It was a tie I guess, the teacher stopped us before we could finish," Wei Jinhai answered back.

"That damn oldie!" Qi Chaoxing yelled in frustration. "Couldn't he have waited for just half an hour! Oh, I nearly forgot! I came here to fetch you guys, we have Physical Training now."

"Yeah we know, we just don't know where the class is," Wei Jinhai answered back.

"That's why I'm here! I'll be your navigator!" She said as she turned around and started skipping towards a trail in between the trees.

Wei Jinhai and Mo Dingbang gave each other worried glances before following after her. The trail lead them deeper into the trees. They couldn't see anything else other than trees and bushes.

"Uhhh, are you sure we're going the right way?" Wei Jinhai asked doubtfully.

"Yeah, it's just up ahead!" Qi Chaoxing said as she continued to skip along the trail.

After another couple of minutes, they reached a clearing. There was a huge, open field with trees surrounding it and students were standing around, chatting to one another.

"I thought we were late?" Wei Jinhai questioned as he watched everyone lounge around.

"You are. The teacher's just later I guess," Qi Chaoxing replied back.

Wei Jinhai then noticed Chen Liwei and Jin Fu on the other side. It looked like Jin Fu was still not talking to Chen Liwei for the incident from earlier. Wei Jinhai nearly forgot that the Angel and Spiritual class were joining them for their Physical Training classes.

Wei Jinhai also noticed that his roommate, Hu Feng, was also there. Just as he was about to go and greet him, the teacher arrived. Wei Jinhai immediately noticed that it was the same teacher from earlier. The teacher, Mr. Li, still looked irritated from what happened earlier. He was wearing a frown on his face and didn't look pleased at all.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. Thanks to some misfits, I had to arrange a quick meeting with the Headmaster to discuss their punishments," Mr. Li sent a glare towards Wei Jinhai and Jin Fu's direction. "Now that I'm finally here, let us get going with the lesson."

"Today we will be doing some basic hand-to-hand combat training, so I can more or less see what your levels are," Mr. Li continued, "However, I will be choosing your partners for you."

"Jin Fu and Mo Dingbang; Hu Feng and Song Tengfei; Wei Jinhai and Chen Liwei; Qi Chaoxing and Yang Meiling..." After Mr. Li finished assigning everyone their partners, he announced, "First up is Jin Fu and Mo Dingbang. You are allowed to use your powers, as long as it won't put the other's life at risk."

Jin Fu and Mo Dingbang glared at each other before getting ready in their fighting positions. Jin Fu striked first. He used his fist and punched the air, sending massive air currents towards Mo Dingbang. However, Mo Dingbang saw it coming and easily dodged it.

Jin Fu scowled as he saw his attack get evaded. Mo Dingbang then ran towards Jin Fu at full speed. He raised his fist and managed to land a blow on Jin Fu's shoulder. Jin Fu stumbled backwards a bit, due to the impact of the hit. He quickly regained his balance and sent another wave of air currents towards Mo Dingbang's legs.

Mo Dingbang lost his balance and fell down. Jin Fu took this chance to charge towards him in an attempt to strike him in the stomach, but just before he managed to land the blow, Mo Dingbang rolled over and narrowly missed it. Mo Dingbang then used his feet and knocked Jin Fu over, making him also land onto the ground. They both got back on their feet and resumed trying to land at least a few blows on each other.

Jin Fu and Mo Dingbang were really similar in strength, so it was really tough to see who was winning. Jin Fu was better at fighting at further distances, due to his air bending ability and Mo Dingbang was better at close combat.

Mo Dingbang then landed a very powerful hit on Jin Fu's cheek, causing him to fall over, unable to get back up. Mr. Li then indicated that as the end of their match. The rest of the class cheered for them, it really was a tough match.

Chen Liwei went over and tried to help Jin Fu up, but Jin Fu pulled back and snapped, "I don't need your help! I'm perfectly fine."

Mr. Li went up to Jin Fu and Mo Dingbang and said, "Not bad. Your capabilities are pretty much the same." He then turned towards Jin Fu, "Only thing you need to work on is your close combat. You're not the strongest in that area. However, your spiritual abilities make up for most of that."

He then turned towards Mo Dingbang, "On the other hand, your close combat is excellent. One of the best in my opinion. The only thing bothering me, is your lack of spiritual ability in the fight. Is it because you don't know how to control it yet?"

"It's not that, I just prefer close combat during one-on-one fights," Mo Dingbang replied with a straight face.

Mr. Li sighed and said, "It doesn't always work out that way. I suggest practice your spiritual abilities more. Now onto the second group, Wei Jinhai and Chen Liwei."

Wei Jinhai looked at Chen Liwei and thought to himself, "This is going to be interesting."