Chapter 19 Blow For Blow

"He's standing up?!"

"Is he insane?!"

"This guy....he's truly a weirdo!"

The disciples exclaimed one after the other, the students of the Royal Academy were even more shocked. To them Shui Long was an insurmountable existence, yet Mo Xiaowen could withstand one of his punches? This was shocking to them.

"You can still fight?" Shui Long asked as he gazed at Mo Xiaowen. The boy had now climbed out of the dust cloud, his upper robes mostly destroyed.

"The question isn't if I can still fight, but if that was your full power." Mo Xiaowen retorted before rushing at Shui Long. Having suffered an attack he was no much less afraid of getting hit again. As long as he made sure he wasn't hit in the face he'd be fine.

Once again, the clashing between the two began once again, but this time Mo Xiaowen was taking the initiative. After their punches connected, he'd immediately move to throw another one, putting the Prince on the defensive.

Fundamentally, there was a difference between them. The Prince was over all the better combatant, and looking at it objectively before the fight began, the Prince had a 99% chance of winning. But there was one thing that most failed to take into account, pain tolerance.

While most disciples and students around their age would go down in one good blow, that wasn't the case for Mo Xiaowen. The pain would have to surpass that of the Body Tearing Grass, or his body would have to completely shutdown to make him stop. After all, his Body Tempering Pills were on the line.

'Damn it, why's this guy so aggressive now.' Shui Long couldn't fathom why the pace of the battle had changed so much. At this point this battle had gone from fun, to tedious, to difficult. And he wasn't liking it one bit.

The Prince's eyes then flickered, with a glint. As Mo Xiaowen's punch hurtled towards him rather than meet it head on for the 100th time, he weaved under it before throwing a punch towards Mo Xiaowen's chest.

If the boy wouldn't submit, then the Prince would make him.

"Boom!"

Again Mo Xiaowen crashed into the stage, but without missing a beat, he leaped out of the cloud of dust and continued attacking Shui Long. Almost as if he was a mad dog Mo Xiaowen repeated his same actions from before.

Seeing this Shui Long smirked, and weaved under his punch once again, but to his horror another fist was hurtling towards him.

"Boom!"

Luckily for the Prince he had barely managed to block the attack, but it still sent him tumbling backwards. His arms ached, and he was more fatigued than he'd ever been before, yet still he trudged towards Mo Xiaowen. Unlike the boy, the Prince wasn't moved by a reward, rather it was his pride that pushed him forward.

'Like I'd lose to someone my age!'

'Nothing will stand between me and my Body Tempering Pills!'

They both roared inwardly before dashing towards one another no holds barred, almost as if they agreed beforehand, there missed each others, aiming for the other's chest.

"Boom!"

Both cultivators were thrown back, but both got up and dashed at each other. The spectators looked on in shock. Right now the two didn't look like 13 year olds, but fully grown adults fighting each other to the death.

By now they had both suffered their fair share of damage and were so fatigued they could barely move. Rather than run to each other, they now both walked to each other. Once in range they both threw a punch, weakly hitting the other in the chest.

"Thud."

Falling on the floor, the two couldn't rise try as they might. The referee then looked towards the Elder and the Head Teacher, seeing them nod the referee sighed before declaring the verdict.

"This battle ends in a draw."

Immediately the crowd went wild. Who would've thought Mo Xiaowen would fight to a draw with the Crown Prince.

"That's our Howling Demon Mo Xiaowen!" Someone in the crowd roared. And in an instant the other disciples followed suit.

"Howling Demon!"

The disciples chanted, to the confusion of Mo Xiaowen. 'Why am I being called the Howling Demon of all things.' He sighed inwardly as he struggled to get up. Shui Long did the same, which ended up with the two making eye contact.

"T-That, was a good fight. I underestimated you." Shui Long said clutching his chest.

"Hmm, it was, now I see why some people enjoy fights. This was a fitting first fight." Mo Xiaowen replied, but it almost seemed as if he was talking to himself.

On the other hand the Prince was shocked at this proclamation. 'His first fight? While his technical ability was subpar, that pain tolerance was no joke.' Shui Long was astounded, his will shaken slightly.

'So there's people my age in the Flood Dragon Kingdom who I can't beat. Seems I've been slacking.' The Prince concluded before looking towards the Royal Academy. "Is no one going to help this Prince up? Shui Ruolan, come help your older brother." Shui Long demanded.

Hearing this the Princess jumped onto the stage before grabbing her older brother. "That was an interesting fight, I hope to see you fight again when the Demonic Cliff Sect challenges the Academy." The Princess said as she looked towards Mo Xiaowen.

"Huh? Well I don't mind as long as there's a reward." He replied before his gaze drifted towards the Elder. "I have performed sufficiently for the reward right?" The boy asked the Elder concernedly.

Everyone within the arena was shocked yet again. Did this boy do all that, and fight so hard just for a reward? They thought for sure he was a battle maniac, or had some great pride, but no, it was a reward of all things.

Naturally the disciples could somewhat understand Mo Xiaowen, but the Royal Academy students couldn't understand it. Which was par for the course. If you grow up with everything, someone fighting to attain something doesn't make much sense to you.

"You'll get your reward." The Elder replied. A supervisor then moved to help Mo Xiaowen up and took him to the medical bay within the arena.

---

"Even that trash Mo Xiaowen can become great!? Fuck all of it, I am done." Chen Zemin roared running out of the Demonic Cliff Sect. Subpar talent, endless bullying from his peers and even his family. No matter how hard he tried it was never enough, and Mo Xiaowen, that Mo Xiaowen.

'Giving me hope and then dashing it, picking on me along with my brother, and then standing out and replacing me as the star of Batch 898. Every other Batch had a Chen as the head, apart from mine! The heavens are unjust! All I ever wanted to do was prove myself to my family, yet no matter how hard I try I can't even match my peers. But worst of all, you seem to have picked someone else as the heaven's chosen.' He thought to himself as he entered the forest outside the Demonic Cliff Sect.

Chen Zemin no longer had anywhere to go. Going back to the Sect or to his Clan, he hated both options. 'I don't fit in, in this Kingdom...I don't belong anywhere.' He thought to himself before falling to his knees.

"Maybe I should just curl up and die."

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