105 Chapter 104: Outcome of the match (2/2)

”Hmm, it seems likely that you'll be able to keep your promise and meet Bai Ning Xue in the finals if you clear the seminfinals.” Ban Zhang nodded, careful with his words.

”Yeah.” Zhu Jiao held up his hand and clenched it to a fist. ”I'll defeat her, and then I'll confess to her.”

”How romantic…” Lian Rou's eyes were shining. In contrast, Tang Qi Hong looked grim as she placed her hands on her hips.

”Do you have any chance of winning against Bai Ning Xue? She's quite the monster, you know. She has been completely unbeaten throughout all her years in the academy.”

”What are you talking about?” Tong Xue scoffed. ”Zhu Jiao could pull Bai Ning Xue's long winning streak to a halt. He has made it this far without injury.”

”I was only lucky with the matches,” Zhu Jiao replied modestly. Tong Xue snorted at that.

”Yeah, right! You faced three student council members in a row and defeated all of them! Before that you emerged the unbeaten winner of the group of death during the prelimary rounds! And you're telling me you got lucky with the matches?!”

”Ah…ha ha ha ha…”

Zhu Jiao scratched the back of his head as he laughed sheepishly.

”Hey, are you guys finished with your conversation? If you want to talk, go somewhere else. You're disturbing the patients.”

”Ah…sorry!”

My friends bowed apologetically when Teacher Yi repriemanded them, and they quickly left. Heaving a sigh, I proceeded toward the bed that Teacher Yi directed me to and plopped down on it.

”Oh, hey!”

”Hey!”

I was slightly surprised to see Feng Tian Yong on the neighboring bed. Apparently he was required to wait in line like me. Teacher Yi wasn't one to play favorites, after all. And she wouldn't be attracted to someone as young as Feng Tian Yong.

Her heart was most likely set on Teacher Jiao.

”Sorry about earlier.”

”What? No, no, no!” Feng Tian Yong was astonished by my apology, and he waved his hands frantically. ”It was a great match! I'm proud to have fought against you!”

I smiled. ”I'm glad you think that way.”

Feng Tian Yong laughed. ”How else am I supposed to think? You were a formidable foe. And you've earned my respect all over again.” he leaned in close. ”Hey…how did you grow so strong? I thought you were only a One Star Constitution cultivator. Do you have some sort of secret you've been keeping from the rest of us?”

”No.” Actually, I might. I thought back to my experiences back in Sen Lin Forest, of my physical transformation upon consuming magical beasts and demonic monsters' meat in the abyss. Then I recalled how I absorbed the qi from a hundred demonic martial artists in the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect's hideout a couple of years ago.

”Hmm…” If Feng Tian Yong was skeptical, he didn't show it. Instead, he leaned back on the soft pillow, grimacing as he did so, and then glanced up at the ceiling. ”My goodness. This means the semifinals are all our class. You, Zhu Jiao, Li Chun Long and Bai Ning Xue. Wow, our class 1-4 is totally dominating the tournament.”

”No doubt some people are going to suspect our class of cheating or something,” I muttered under my breath.

”Ha ha! Even if they do, they don't have any proof! Besides, how are we supposed to cheat? Do they think we can rig the matches or bribe the referees or something? And…” Feng Tian Yong narrowed his eyes. ”If they can't believe we won through the virtue of our superior strength alone, then they're welcome to challenge us to an official match.”

”That sounds troublesome,” I complained. It was already tiring to put up with these almost daily tournament matches, and now they wanted us to accept challenges from dissatisfied schoolmates who couldn't believe that we had progressed this far?

”That's just how it is,” Feng Tian Yong replied breezily. Easy for him to say. He didn't have to fight in the semifinals. ”I'll welcome any challenge.”

Of course you would. Feng Tian Yong would never throw away any chance for him to show off in front of the girls. As if to emphasize my point, Feng Tian Yong whistled when Qing Xin Xia walked past and waved at her in a friendly manner.

”Doing a great job as always, Xin Xia!”

”Yes.” Qing Xin Xia smiled politely, but moved on to tend to the other students. I glanced at Feng Tian Yong and was surprised to see that he wasn't disappointed. He merely leaned back against his bed and relaxed.

”I see Xin Xia is still pining for Zhu Jiao, eh?”

”Eh?”

”What, you didn't notice?” Feng Tian Yong sat up to stare at me. I shook my head.

”No, I mean I knew about Qing Xin Xia's feelings for Zhu Jiao all this while, but I just didn't expect you to…say it so bluntly.”

”Oh. Well, it's none of my business, but even so…it's kind of tough to see her pine one-sidedly for an unrequited love. Zhu Jiao's attention is completely on Bai Ning Xue, after all. That's one hell of a love rival.”

”…right.”

”Well, there's the harem option.” Feng Tian Yong grinned. ”Zhu Jiao could learn from me and choose all of the girls. Have both Bai Ning Xue and Qing Xin Xia. I'm sure they'll learn to accept each other. Bai Ning Xue will surely be the official wife, but Xin Xia probably wouldn't mind being the mistress. All Zhu Jiao needs is to embrace and love all the girls equally…like me!”

”Uh…”

There was so many things wrong with what Feng Tian Yong said that I didn't know where to begin. Too tired to argue, I merely sank into silence. Feng Tian Yong refused to give up, however, and opened an eye to peer at me.

”Speaking of which…how about you, Fei Wu? How's your relationship going with Tang Qi Hong?”

I smiled at him. ”That's…none of your business.”

*

Teacher Yi wasn't kidding when she said that the treatment would take a while. By the time she was done with me, it was already late evening. Fortunately, Feng Tian Yong had gone in before me and he had left long ago, so I didn't have to listen to him bragging about conquering a harem of girls while returning to the dormitory.

”…eh? Isn't that…Qing Xin Xia?”

While I was walking down the corridor, I caught sight of a familiar figure. Qing Xin Xia was several paces ahead of me, hurriedly striding down the length of the corridor and turning around a corner. Since we were going the same way, I hastened my pace to catch up with her.

I didn't have any ulterior motives. I only intended to accompany her on her way back to the dormitory, especially when it was this late at night.

However, Qing Xin Xia wasn't proceeding in the direction of the dormitory. I was astonished to see her turn round a corner and head for the second level.

”That's…”

Intrigued, and having nothing better to do, I ended up giving in to my curiosity and following her. Okay, I knew what I was doing was stalking, but I just couldn't help it. I wanted to know where Qing Xin Xia was going this late at night, if it wasn't the girls' dorm.

How suspicious, I thought, the irony completely flying over my head as usual. Or maybe I enjoyed being a hypocrite while I pathetically tried to justify my stalkerish behavior. Whatever the case, I needed to follow her for the plot to move along. It sounded contrived, but then let's be serious. Which guy didn't follow a beautiful girl around when she's all alone?

Don't tell Tang Qi Hong I said that or she would absolutely murder me.

Using Shadow Steps, I kept my presence concealed and succeeded in tailing Qing Xin Xia without her knowing. I suddenly realized that Shadow Steps were perfect for stalking, but reminded myself not to pull something like this again.

I mean, jokes aside, there was something amiss with Qing Xin Xia's movements. I wasn't stalking her because I was a pervert. The more I studied her, the more I understood that my curiosity was piqued by her body language.

Qing Xin Xia was looking around, as if watching for someone. She looked all nervous, perspiring despite the chill of the night. Her frantic glancing and jumping at shadows only served to harden my suspicions and magnified my curiosity.

”Isn't that…?”

I frowned when Qing Xin Xia finally stopped in front of a room. She glanced around one last time, as if making sure no one was following her, and then knocked on the door.

”It's me.”

There was a muffled response from behind the door, and then it swung open. Qing Xin Xia looked around cautiously one last time before she disappeared into the room. The door then shut and clicked, signaling that it was locked.

”Huh…”

Frowning, I wondered what had gotten Qing Xin Xia into such a high state of alert. Once I was sure no one would notice, I stealthily made my way toward the door. Stopping in front of it, I gaped at the words stenciled into the front.

”The student council…?”

”Ugh…”

I heard Yuan Mei grinding her teeth as she bit on her finger. Even if I couldn't see her, I could somewhat sense her foul mood and her actions through my Heaven and Earth qi sense. She was clearly frustrated over something.

”How could this happen!?” Ding Yan exclaimed angrily. ”We paid such careful attention to the matchups!”

”I can't believe Zhu Jiao advanced to the semifinals without much difficulty! Even though he was assigned to the group of death and had to face three of us…!”

This time it sounded like Gu Chun Song.

”It's because of that Fei Wu bastard!” Li Guo Qiang snarled. ”We thought Feng Tian Yong would be able to defeat him, but he somehow beat even Tian Yong! He didn't seem to be anything special up until this point!”

”Thanks to him, all the matchups are ruined,” Xin Lai sighed. ”What are we supposed to do now? The plan's…”

Plan…? What plan?

Scowling, I leaned closer to pay more attention to the student council members' conversation. I could sense the rough positions of all the student council members. The majority of them were seated on the luxurious couches that surrounded the huge mahogany table where their notes and documents were scattered on.

Only one person stood aloof, right next to the windows. Folding his arms, he gazed outside, his expression grim.

”Chun Long?” Qing Xin Xia asked, concerned. Li Chun Long finally turned his head back to look at the rest of the student council.

”I'll take care of Fei Wu.”

”Chun Long, you're the only one left among us,” Xin Lai told him. ”So we're counting on you. Will you really be able to defeat Fei Wu?”

”He's just trash,” Li Guo Qiang growled dismissively. ”He got lucky, that's all.”

”Even luck wouldn't allow him to defeat Wu Xing from Kun Lun Sect, Wu Hei Gui, Kuang Hu and Feng Tian Yong in consecutive matches,” Gu Chun Song warned. Technically, he was mistaken. I didn't face them in consecutive matches. I fought Wu Hei Gui early on during the preliminary rounds, and not before I fought Wu Xing.

”In other words, we can't afford to underestimate him,” Ding Yan remarked.

”I won't,” Li Chun Long promised. ”But he's in my class. I know how to deal with him. He's still a One Star Constitution cultivator who can't absorb artificial qi. He should be of no threat. I'm more worried about Zhu Jiao.”

”No threat? Are you serious? I mean, I see what you mean, but…”

”I'll stake my life on it. I promise.” Li Chun Long cut off Yuan Mei before she could finish her sentence. ”I…will stop Fei Wu by any means necessary.”

He then turned to walk out of the door. Realizing that he was heading out of the room – and I was right outside – I quickly used my Shadow Steps to dive into the shadows and continue hiding my presence as he left.

As Li Chun Long walked out of the door, he paused for a second and gave his comrades in the student council one last glance.

”So…” he said grimly. ”You guys make sure to take care of Zhu Jiao.”

”Chun Long…” Qing Xin Xia murmured softly.

This isn't good!

Scrambling away from the student council office, I struggled to process what I had just heard. If I hadn't misheard them, then I had just stumbled upon some sort of conspiracy. Feng Tian Yong's words came back to haunt me.

The tournament…it had really been rigged! By none other than the student council!

I've to tell Teacher Jiao!

Feeling my chest tighten from the anxiety, I quickly fled to the dormitory while vowing to see Teacher Jiao first thing tomorrow morning.