1 Li Yang. (1/2)
The Third Lecture Hall of the Deepsea King sect was packed with people as the disciples of varying ages awaited the arrival of their teacher, Ting Miu. Some of the students were acting rather restlessly, tapping the long wooden table that followed along with the half circle-shaped seating areas, their gazes constantly moving between the door at the left of the room and the blackboard and desk where Ting Miu would stand while giving the lesson.
Their restlessness was quickly alleviated when the door at the left of the room was opened, a graceful woman stepping into the lecture hall. Ting Miu had a tall and curvaceous figure, her enticing bottom and waist swaying with each step. Dark orange hair cascaded down her head, a few curly strands hanging down the left side of her face and slightly obscuring one of her alluring brown eyes. The tight-fitting green robe she wore gave the male students just what they had been waiting for, some of them involuntarily swallowing their saliva.
Ting Miu wasn't just an enticing beauty, she was also one of the sect's only 10 Core Disciples, meaning that she had enough strength to easily wipe out the over 1000 Inner Disciples that had packed themselves into the lecture hall. Ting Miu stopped in front of the blackboard and placed a few books on the desk next to it, not even bothering to open any of them before she started to wave her finger, faintly glowing words starting to appear on the blackboard as she spoke to the disciples.
”Today I'll be talking about some of the more common uses of the law of fire and some of the mutated or enhanced versions of the element itself, pay close attention and you might just know enough to survive a due...”
Ting Miu suddenly stopped talking as her gaze swept over the disciples within the lecture hall, her slightly narrowed eyes roaming across every seat within the room. She remained silent for a few seconds before opening her mouth again, asking a question to the entire room.
”Where's Li Yang?”
Her question caused the expressions of some of the people in the room to turn helpless, others turning bitter at the fact that she had noticed the absence of a man so quickly. Some people weren't quite sure if they should tell the truth, but the number of people willing to throw Li Yang to the hounds for entertainment was far greater, someone quickly calling out to Ting Miu.
”Miss, I saw Brother Yang resting under the cherry tree by Great Carp Cliff just minutes before the lesson. I called out to him to remind him that you were coming, but he only waved his hand and sent me on my way, not even bothering to open his eyes.”
Ting Miu's thin eyebrows ticked up when the young male disciple gave her the answer she had honestly expected, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly. She let out a soft curse under her breath but then quickly collected herself and started ascending the central staircase that split the half circle-shaped seating area, beckoning for the disciples to follow her as she headed for the door at the end of the room.
”That haunted little brat... Alright, come with me you lot, we're changing the lesson into seeing just how much damage a human body can take before it shuts down, wouldn't want you guys to not know your limits.”
The students could only follow Ting Miu out of the lecture hall, some of them snickering amongst each other that Li Yang was about to get more than just the normal earful.
As the person in question, the 14-year-old Li Yang was completely unaware of what was coming for him, he was still sitting casually on the ground while leaning against the sturdy tree behind him. The tree was located right at the edge of Great Carp Cliff, the southeastern edge of the island where his sect was located. This meant that he could gaze upon the vast ocean that surrounded them while leaning against the tree, a few other islands just barely visible in the distance.
With the sun hanging high in the sky and reflecting off of the water, it made for a rather spectacular sight. But Li Yang wasn't actually looking at the sight, he had his eyes closed while lightly chewing a thin branch from the cherry tree, his icy-blue hair neatly combed and slicked back, only a few errant strands hanging down over his face.
When he closed his eyes, it wasn't actually darkness that he saw but rather a pair of pitch-black eyes. The eyes were filled with a terrifying sense of death and destruction, but they looked so soft and gentle, a tinge of sorrow and care floating within them. Drifting voices also reached Li Yang's ears but they were so indistinct and blurry that he could only make out a few words here or there. Only by focusing all his attention on the words could he manage to make out longer sentences, but doing so placed a great strain on his mind and quickly left him exhausted.
Disembodied voices and eyes, these two things had followed Li Yang ever since he was born, they would reach him every time he closed his eyes. It was like he was haunted by something, and a great number of the sect-members did indeed believe that Li Yang was haunted by something, either that or he was hallucinating and had been delusional since birth.
Li Yang's closed eyes suddenly shot open, his crimson pupils flashing with a faint light as he threw himself forward and rolled away from the tree. Just as he moved, the bark of the tree trembled and grew, forming a small hammer that struck the empty air where his head should have been. Li Yang hopped up after rolling away, spinning around and grinning at Ting Miu and the disciples behind her.
”Senior Sister Miu, did you miss me so much that you came running just to see me? But that feels a touch too violent to be a greeting, I would have much preferred it if you sprung into my embrace, maybe shed a few tears to tug at my heartstrings.”
Li Yang hastily jumped to the side after he spoke, just barely dodging a few strands of grass that had suddenly grown and were trying to coil around his legs. He continued to jump and dodge around as the grass all around him reached for him, his grin shifting into an expression that was partly embarrassed and partly aggrieved, his hands covering his chest as if he was a shy young girl.
”Come on now, Senior Sister, you're making me feel unloved here. Didn't we just recently share a lovely date through the market, you even did all those things to me after we finally reached a private place. Am I just a toy that you can play with and then discard, is that what's going on here?”
Ting Miu nearly burst into a violent coughing fit when she heard Li Yang's shameless statement, a statement that was intentionally misguiding and twisting actual events. But before she could curse at him, one of the male disciples, the one that had pointed out where Li Yang was, exploded forth while pointing at Li Yang, his face dyed crimson as his youthful hormones drowned out all his sense of reason.
”Hold your tongue, Li Yang! How dare you spout such lies about Teacher Miu, how dare you try to stain her name like that!”
The expressions of Ting Miu and some of the onlookers twisted slightly as the male youth burst forth with rage. This was exactly what Li Yang had been waiting for, a fact that those who knew him a bit better were well aware of. And just like they expected, Li Yang didn't miss a beat as he changed his target from Ting Miu to the male youth.