Translator: Pika
What just happened?
The crowd was still cheering a moment ago when everything suddenly plunged into silence. Everyone’s eyes were widened in disbelief.
Sang Hong, Jiang Luofu, Xie Yi, and the other powerhouses were chatting merrily with one another. Those from the Wu clan, Zheng clan, and Yuan clan were looking gleefully at Chu Zhongtian, waiting for him to be embarrassed. Shi Kun was feeling reassured after seeing Zu An had gotten onto the dueling ring, and he was just about to take a sip of water...
All of them were frozen in place at this very moment.
It could be my eyes playing tricks on me, but did Zu An just slap Yuan Wendong? How could that be possible?!
Everyone’s first reaction was that they were seeing things. Yuan Wendong was a renowned fifth rank cultivator where Zu An was a renowned good-for-nothing who was even weaker than a normal human.
Everyone rubbed their eyes in confusion before double checking with the companions beside them. In the end, they could only conclude that they weren’t seeing things, and a huge uproar broke out.
How did he do it?!
Those from the Chu clan, upon seeing Zu An leap onto the dueling ring, prepared to rush in to stop him. However, the sight that occurred left all of them stunned too. Chu Zhongtian traded gazes with Qin Wanru, and Chu Chuyan’s body shuddered. Their eyes were filled with incomprehension.
Only the person on the stretcher, Chu Huanzhao, began clapping delightfully. “Good job, brother-in-law! Aiyo~”
Her movements accidentally tugged on her injuries, causing her to groan in pain.
Yuan Wendong was completely dumbfounded. His head was still dazed from the impact of the strike. If not for the stinging pain on his cheeks, he would still be trying to figure out what had just happened.
“I got struck by that trash?”
Rage immediately gushed into his head.
You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +1024 Rage!
He had imagined countless scenarios as to how he should best torture Zu An so as to vent his anger without revealing his killing intent. He had also thought about how he should react if those from the Chu clan were to intervene and stop him. However, this was a scenario that had never crossed his mind, not even once!
He was actually slapped in the face by a trash, right before all of the notable figures in the city!
“I’m going to kill you!”
Yuan Wendong’s relatively suave face immediately distorted from anger as he began charging toward Zu An.
“Wait!” Zu An raised his hand to stop him.
“It’s too late to beg for mercy now!” spat Yuan Wendong angrily.
Despite his words, he still came to a halt. He was thinking about how he could regain his pride. I should get this fellow to kneel before me, begging desperate for mercy with tears in his eyes. No, that still won’t be enough.
Zu An combed his hand through his hair and swiped it backward. “I was in too much of a hurry to come onto the ring that I forgot to play my specially prepared entrance music.”
As he said those words, he took out a seashell from his robe, and a passionate melody began playing on the dueling ring.
“...” Yuan Wendong.
“...” Shi Kun.
“...” Wu Qing.
“...” Chu Chuyan.
All of the students from the Sky class immediately knew what was going on, having witnessed it themselves not too long ago during their arithmetic class. However, the rest of the crowd was confused by this turn of events, which led to fervent discussions.
“What’s with this melody? Why does my heart start pumping just by listening to it?”
“I feel passion rushing through my veins. Where are the villains?! I’m going to kill them all and save the world!”
...
Xie Daoyun had been sitting quietly in her seat for a long time now. She wasn’t too fond of fighting, so the duels that had happened only made her feel drowsy. However, as soon as the melody was played, her body immediately jerked upright. Wonderment filled her eyes.
“Gong, Shang, Jiao, Wei, Yu[1]... Hm? This note doesn’t fit the music scale. There are so many notes which I’ve never heard before! How did he manage to do it?”
“That fellow is always such a show-off.” Xie Xiu was awed too, though there was no way he would say it aloud. All of a sudden, a thought surfaced in his mind, and he turned to Xie Daoyun and asked, “Big sis, you’re good at music too, right? Why don’t you make an entrance music for me too?”
Xie Daoyun shook her head and replied, “There’s something odd about this melody. I reckon that it was produced by a top-notch master musician in the world. I’m afraid that I’m unable to produce melodies of the same level as this.”
Xie Xiu was stunned. “Is Zu An that talented in music?”
He regretted saying those words right away, for he saw Xie Daoyun’s eyes lighting up. “This is a melody composed by Zu An?”
“I think so. Zu An had played it once in the classroom, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else before.” Xie Xiu hesitated for a while before deciding to come clean. There were many people in Brightmoon Academy who knew about this, so if Xie Daoyun really wanted to look into it, there was no way he would be able to hide it from her.
“This fellow seems to be an interesting one.” Xie Daoyun looked at the silhouette on the dueling ring with curiosity in her eyes.
Jiang Luofu was also looking at Zu An too, but her eyes were more focused on the seashell in his hand. That seems to be Shang Liuyu’s personal possession. She actually gave her own possession to him? Hmph! And you dare claim that the two of you are unrelated to one another?
“What’s the point of putting on such a show? Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
Meanwhile, Yuan Wendong’s face had turned as dark as charcoal. He didn’t think that Zu An was asking him to stop in order to do this.
“What do you know? This is a ritual!” Zu An opened his hands slightly, reminiscent of the Buddha embracing the masses. “In my BGM, I am undefeatable.”
“You’ll soon know that all of these antics of yours are completely useless. All it does is make you look like a clown!” Yuan Wendong tried his best to mock Zu An so as to regain some of his honor, but somehow, he felt that his skills in this aspect were lacking in comparison to the latter. Somehow, he had a feeling that he was still being one-upped, and that only made him even more infuriated.
You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +400 Rage!
Zu An sighed deeply and said, “I really don’t know where you find the courage to say these words even after getting slapped by me. Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
Yuan Wendong nearly choked. He looked at Zu An and raged, “I was only careless earlier! I didn’t think that you would attack me just like that! Now that my guard is up, there’s no way you stand a chance against me anymore!”
You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +511 Rage!
Those words spurred a series of boos from the crowd. For a fifth rank cultivator to be struck by a good-for-nothing, surely something like this cannot be reasoned with just carelessness anymore, right?
Yuan Wendong simply turned a blind eye to the reaction of the crowd. Snow had told him that even though Zu An was a third rank cultivator, his fighting prowess was higher than it looked. So, he wasn’t too surprised that Zu An actually managed to strike him in a surprise assault.
However, things were different now. He had picked up his attention to guard against Zu An, so how could the latter hurt him anymore? Hmph! Just wait till I get my hands on him. I’ll first snap his hands then...
Barely as these thoughts surfaced in his mind, another loud ‘pah’ sounded.
Yuan Wendong staggered weakly, nearly tumbling over. Yet another stinging pain assaulted his cheeks.
What just happened?
Yuan Wendong was confused. All he saw was a blur earlier. There was just a split moment where he lost sight of Zu An, and at the next moment, he was struck once again on his cheeks.
How is this possible?
Yuan Wendong wasn’t the only one doubting the matter. The crowd was equally baffled as well.
Sang Hong narrowed his eyes. Unlike the others, he saw everything clearly with the sharp eyes he had as an eighth rank cultivator. Zu An had used a bizarre movement skill to get close to Yuan Wendong. His movements were simply too quick that the latter didn’t get a chance to react at all.
Shi Kun also frowned deeply too. He turned to direct a stern glare at Snow as he asked, “What’s going on? There’s nothing in your reports that states that he has a movement skill of this caliber!”
Snow was equally bewildered too. “I don’t know about it either! He didn’t use it the last time I clashed with him!”
“Useless!” Shi Kun cursed coldly before turning his gaze back to the dueling ring.
Snow’s eyes reddened as she bit down on her lips. As indignant and aggrieved as she was, she held her tongue because she knew that she wasn’t in a position to say anything more.
Jiang Luofu also smiled approvingly. If I knew that he had such a trump card, I wouldn’t have worried so much for nothing.
However, the ones who were the most shocked of all were no other than those from the Chu clan. Qin Wanru tugged her husband’s hand as she asked, “Hubby, are my eyes playing tricks on me?”
Chu Zhongtian was no less shocked than her. He replied with a bitter smile, “How could both of our eyes be failing at the same time?”
Judging from Zu An’s ki pulsation, it would appear that he was a third rank cultivator. However, how could a third rank cultivator move so quickly?
As it turned out, Zu An had been concealing his true abilities all this while. Who could have thought that he had managed to silently cultivate to this level?
Chu Chuyan couldn’t help but ask, “Father, what is that movement skill he’s using? Why haven’t I seen it before?”
Chu Zhongtian shook his head and replied, “I’ve never seen it before either.”
The one who was the happiest about the current turn of events was no other than Chu Huanzhao. She looked at the figure on the dueling in excitement. My brother-in-law is actually this formidable! Hmph, he actually lied to me for so long. I’ll slowly settle the scores with you later on!
“Is this the standard of the Sky class students of Brightmoon Academy? Tsk!”
“What fifth rank and prodigy? Even a normal person can slap him so easily. I think even I am stronger than him!
“Are the two of them working with one another to put on a show before us?”
...
Most of those in the crowd didn’t have eyes that were as sharp, so they were unable to see through the crux of Zu An’s movements. They simply thought that Yuan Wendong, despite being a fifth rank cultivator, was not pulling his weight and was getting slapped by his opponent in a ridiculous manner.
Hearing the discussions from the crowd, Yuan Wendong’s eyes reddened.
This bastard! How dare he humiliate me in such a manner?!
You have successfully trolled Yuan Wendong for +1024 Rage!
He was feeling both angry and embarrassed, but more than that, he was shocked too. He hadn’t seen how Zu An moved earlier, and his inability to understand what had happened was interfering with his ability to think straight.
“You fool! Is your elemental ability just for show?! There’s something weird about Zu An’s movement skill, so don’t fight him face-on!” Wu Wei’s voice sounded in his ears.
Yuan Wendong’s eyes lit up. He never thought of using his elemental ability as he assumed that a fifth rank cultivator like him would be able to curb a third rank cultivator easily. On top of that, he was worried that he would accidentally end the battle too quickly by leaving Zu An severely injured. So, he subconsciously thought that he had to fight slowly with Zu An so as to torture him.
However, after having gotten slapped twice, he couldn’t care less about it anymore. He felt that he had to shred Zu An into pieces in order to vent his rage.
“You have thoroughly enraged me!” Yuan Wendong spat as he began to back away to the corner of the dueling ring, slowly creating distance between the two of them. Then, he slowly raised his hands as he embarked on the standard villainous monologue, “I must admit, your movement skill is more formidable than I’ve thought. However, before absolute power, that’s all meaningless!”
As he spoke, the swords and sabers of the crowd near the dueling ring began to tremble, as if some sort of force was summoning them. Shocked, the crowd quickly held their weapons tightly to keep it from flying away.
Only those from the Yuan clan were prepared and allowed their swords to be taken to the dueling ring. The swords swiftly gathered around Yuan Wendong, floating before him. Their tips were all pointed in one direction, toward Zu An.
“Is this the prowess of a fifth rank cultivator?”
“Woah! This army of flying swords is simply too awesome!”
“See! How could a fifth rank cultivator like Yuan Wendong possibly lose to that wastrel from the Chu clan?”
...
Qin Wanru was incredibly agitated. “Why didn’t Zu An use his movement skill properly to get close to Yuan Wendong and curb him? All of the things he could do, he waited silently for Yuan Wendong to create some distance between them! What’s he going to do now then? No matter how fast his movement skill is, how can he dodge all of them?”
The more she thought about it, the angrier she felt. “He’s showing off for nothing!”
You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +567 Rage!
1. Basically refers to Do, Re, Mi, So, La respectively, just that it’s a more traditional version to them in ancient China.
😉