“Master, let me tell you about Shao Nansong. This person is extremely amazing. He always comes first in every experiential training competition in the academy. Not a single person who has challenged him has ever won. Anyway, there are many people who admire him. But now, we have someone from a different academy who is actually daring enough to challenge him. Let’s go and take a look.” The fifth princess dragged Ling Chuxi along with her as she broke into a jog, moving towards the back of the academy where the martial arts training venue was. There was a fighting ring specially set up there to provide students with a platform to spar.
By the time Ling Chuxi and the rest arrived, the fighting ring was already surrounded by people. The crowd had arranged itself into a formation of three inner layers and three outer layers, and it was slowly but surely increasing in volume. The fifth princess was unbothered by any of this as she pulled Ling Chuxi along and squeezed her way forward. The people who were being pushed aside turned their heads to scold the person pushing them, but they all ended up noticing that it was none other than the little star of misfortune herself, the fifth princess. In the end, all the words at the tips of their tongues were held back. And just like that, the fifth princess brought Ling Chuxi and Ling Yichen right to the front of the crowd with her.
“Hey, who is the person who challenged Shao Nansong?” asked the fifth princess to someone she randomly grabbed in the crowd.
“It is someone from Maple Red Academy, his name is Chu Jianyi,” replied the person who was grabbed by the fifth princess immediately.
“Never heard of him,” murmured the fifth princess as she tried to recall in detail who this person was, but she had no recollection of this name whatsoever.
“Hearsay, he wishes to challenge every single student who is here on the exchange program,” added another spectator standing to the other side of the group of them.
“How arrogant of him!” huffed the fifth princess. Then she raised her head to look at the fighting ring. “That person I was telling you about is here. He’s here. Master, that is Shao Nansong. I guess the other one must be Chu Jianyi?”
Ling Chuxi sized up the two people on the stage. Shao Nansong was handsome and had a heroic air about him. Even though he looked reserved, one could tell that his cultivation was not weak at a single glance. The other young man, Chu Jianyi, had a baby face and looked a little immature, but he wore a serious expression on his face. That cherubic face of his reminded Ling Chuxi of a bun and this made her feel delighted just looking at it. This was for no reason other than because she really liked eating meat buns!
Very obviously, Shao Nansong was the more popular contender. First of all, he was a student of Wind Cloud Academy and the people surrounding the fighting ring were practically all students from Wind Cloud Academy as well. Naturally, they would cheer for him. Of course, there were also those who were envious of Shao Nansong in the midst of the crowd. They were hoping for Chu Jianyi to defeat Shao Nansong and put him to shame.
For example, Ling Chuxi could heard soft mutterings coming from behind her saying things such as, “What’s so great about Shao Nansong? What if the other person really defeats him? I’ll see in a bit how shamed he will be.”
This time, as with other times undoubtedly, there were many young maidens looking at the heroic Shao Nansong with faces filled with admiration. It was reflected clearly in their eyes. Naturally, this was also the reason why many male students did not find Shao Nansong pleasing to the eye.
In the fighting ring, the two young men stood opposite each other.
Around the ring, all the students who were there to spectate started getting excited.
“Shao Nansong, Shao Nansong, Shao Nansong!” chanted the crowd as piecing cheers could be heard from the female students who were excitedly waving their arms about.
“Lovestruck idiots,” mumbled the fifth princes secretly as she continued to watch the happenings in the fighting ring.
In the fighting ring, the slender and handsome young man the crowd cheered for gave a reserved smile and waved to his many supporters around the fighting ring. Immediately, it brought about a wave of shrieks. The Wind Cloud Academy’s genius who was known as the number one expert did indeed have the capital to be proud.
Standing opposite him was a young man who was dressed in a rather ordinary manner. Once someone met his gaze however, they would not be able to forget his eyes. They were eyes that belied the baby face they were set in.
In his eyes, the black of the irises was clearly distinguished from the white of the eyeball’s sclera—there was such clarity that there was not even a thread of murkiness in them. They were as still as a deep pond which was tens of thousands of years old. He stood calmly before Shao Nansong, without a single expression colouring his youthful face. There were no ripples in his eyes, as though his heart did not contain anything else.
