In the A Academy, after half a month together, the fifty students had become familiar with each other. At least they could call each other by name.
"Yuan Zhao, your people from the Divine General Mansion are really impressive. Even though they are new students, they almost swept the top ten," said Du Yueqiu, a slender girl sitting on the grass, looking at Li Yuan Zhao with admiration. She was an older student, eighteen years old, at the prime of her youth, but in A Academy, she was already considered an "old hand."
Before the school year started, she was in the top ten of the martial arts rankings, but now she had fallen outside the top fifteen. It was all because this year's new students were too strong. Among them, seven were from the Divine General Mansion, along with two royal princes, making it hard to compete. There were also the children of a certain master and a princess from a city, all with impressive backgrounds, totaling thirteen.
These older students had trained hard for years to reach the perfect state of the Zhou Tian realm, while these new students had just arrived and were already at that level or close to it, coming in with strong family support. Even though their realms were the same, the techniques and methods they practiced varied in quality, leading to a difference in strength that was almost double. The older students were no match for these powerful heirs under the supreme authority of Dayu.
"Well, I’m only sixth, so I'm not that far off," Li Yuan Zhao scratched his head and said.
Du Yueqiu was left speechless.
Nearby, another young master from Liangzhou, Zheng Bai, smiled wryly. As a new student, he was ranked thirty-eighth. Only those with extraordinary backgrounds could bully the older students; they, the children of noble families, still had to behave and accept the guidance of the older students.
In the training area, some students were sparring. Du Yueqiu looked at the martial arts rankings with a complex expression. Among the top five, only one older student was struggling to hold on, seemingly representing the last dignity of the older students.
The two princes were ranked first and second, with their royal techniques unmatched. The third was Wang Han from the Tian Zhao Divine General Mansion. Seeing his name made Du Yueqiu's expression change slightly. Besides the princes, Wang Han was currently the most feared person in A Academy. Although he was only fifteen, he was ruthless and decisive in his moves, completely different from the others, as if he had been through blood and fire.
Someone had found out that Wang Han seemed to have served in the Mohe Division for a year.
The fourth was the daughter of a master, who was said to have comprehended the heart of the sword, making her swordsmanship extremely formidable. The fifth was an older student, once ranked first, whose spear technique had reached a high level of perfection. He had fought Li Yuan Zhao yesterday and narrowly won.
Li Yuan Zhao was ranked sixth, followed by his two siblings, Li Yun and Li Zhi Ning.
"Strange, where’s your brother Hao? Why isn’t he here?" Du Yueqiu shifted her gaze and looked around, curious.
She was more interested in Li Hao, especially since she often heard Li Yuan Zhao refer to him as "Brother Hao." When they were together, it was clear that Li Yuan Zhao respected this guy of similar age.
This naturally sparked curiosity. However, every time class ended, Li Hao would dash away as if he were in a hurry to use the restroom. They had never seen him during their spontaneous sparring or challenges on the martial arts rankings, as if he were someone outside of A Academy.
Even during class, whenever she glanced over, he was either sleeping or scribbling in what looked like a book.
So diligent? At first, she admired his dedication, but later she accidentally saw that there wasn’t a single word in the book; it was all sketches.
The sketches depicted fierce monsters, and they all seemed to be aquatic creatures...
In addition, there were many drawings of Teacher Su Ye, some of which included cat ears and tails, making Teacher Su look like an incomplete monster.
This was just random doodling.
But despite that, Du Yueqiu could still tell that the art was exquisite and lifelike, definitely not something done casually; it must have taken a lot of effort.
But they were all martial artists; who had the time to waste on other things?
"Brother Hao is probably off having fun," Li Yuan Zhao said dismissively.
He was already used to Li Hao's ways. Train together? That was a joke. Even when his aunt pleaded, they had never seen Brother Hao in the training grounds.
Since childhood, Brother Hao had never hung out with peers his age unless they sought him out.
"Fun..." Hearing Li Yuan Zhao say it so casually, both Du Yueqiu and Zheng Bai were stunned.
The whips on their backs had long engraved the word "effort" into them.
Fun?
They wanted to, but they didn’t dare.
In their fathers' words:
"You’re playing with time now; in the future, you’ll be playing with your life!"
"If you don’t suffer through hardship, how can you become a great person?"
"The prosperity of the family depends on you all; if you are so lazy, how can you face your ancestors?!"
"Fun" was such a frivolous word, but it felt so distant to them, like a taboo that couldn’t be spoken of.
"Isn’t he participating in the martial arts rankings? If that’s the case, he’ll be challenged by the students from B Academy and might end up demoted to B Academy," Du Yueqiu hesitated.
Li Yuan Zhao narrowed his eyes in anger, "Who dares! If anyone challenges Brother Hao, I’ll demote myself to B Academy and challenge him back!"
Du Yueqiu: "…"
Zheng Bai: "…"
Wow, that was quite domineering.
"You guys are from the Divine General Mansion, so no one should be willing to challenge him, but in a year, when it comes to the Mohe battlefield test, it’ll be all on you."
Du Yueqiu said with some reluctance, "For the demon-slaying tasks outside, you can rely on your family to secretly send experts for protection, but in the Mohe battlefield, you can only rely on yourself. You can’t team up; you have to enter the Mohe battlefield alone."
"That’s true."
Li Yuan Zhao frowned slightly, thinking, "I’ll mention this to Brother Hao later."
Du Yueqiu was at a loss for words. Did that young master from the Divine General Mansion not care about this at all?
...
...
On the back mountain of A Academy, at a waterfall.
Two figures were sitting at the edge of a cliff at the top of the waterfall, drinking, playing chess, and chatting happily.
Suddenly, a figure leaped from the bottom of the waterfall, jumping over the dozens of feet high waterfall without getting wet, landing right in front of the two, holding two roasted wild rabbits.
"You little rascal..." Seeing who it was, the two older men playing chess both smiled, then sniffed the air, "Smells good!"
Li Hao handed the two roasted rabbits to the older men, grinning, "Come, try this."
The two older men were Zhao Zongyuan and Shen Yunqing, both instructors at A Academy. Over the past half month, they had been completely won over by Li Hao's cooking.
"Wow, your skills are really impressive," Shen Yunqing said, taking a bite and unable to help but praise.
Although Zhao Zongyuan and Shen Yunqing appeared relaxed and cheerful now, they usually maintained a serious demeanor while teaching. Even the two princes had to behave properly in front of them.
While princes were indeed noble, those who came to study at the Tanguo Academy were not necessarily favored, and they might not live longer than the two of them, so they didn’t need to be overly humble or flatter the golden token at their waists.
"You’ve already lost to me twice today; shouldn’t you go practice martial arts now?" Zhao Zongyuan said while eating the rabbit.
He loved playing chess, but he didn’t like losing all the time. It was much more comfortable to play against Shen, who was less challenging and often lost.
"Practicing martial arts is boring; it’s not like the martial arts of the Black and White Hall," Li Hao replied.
"You want secret techniques right after you arrive? You’re dreaming."
Both men shook their heads helplessly at Li Hao. When he first asked them to play chess, they had tested his skills and found he wasn’t just a spoiled rich kid; he was even better than most in A Academy.
But this kid had no interest in martial arts. Whenever they tried to give him tips while playing, he would scold them:
"You’re about to lose, and you still have time to talk about other things?"
"Can you be serious and pick up the pieces?"
"How about I let you have five extra pieces?"
The two older men were somewhat exasperated, feeling both love and frustration for Li Hao.
"Shen, the wine," Li Hao said, nodding towards Shen Yunqing's waist. "You lost to me two rounds; you haven’t given me my drink yet."
Shen Yunqing twitched his mouth. He had originally only shared with Zhao Zongyuan, but now there was another mouth to feed, and his supply of drunken wind brew was almost running out.
But a bet is a bet. He snorted softly and tossed the wine gourd to Li Hao, "Take it easy; you’re still young."
Li Hao grinned, uncorked the bottle, and took a couple of swigs, then wiped his mouth and said, "This tastes really good."
Cooking was a vast art; he could brew good wine himself, but it took too much time, and he was too lazy to bother.
Seeing Li Hao so carefree, the two older men had no choice but to continue eating their wild rabbits.
Li Hao returned the wine gourd to Shen Yunqing, patted his backside, and said, "I’ll come back tomorrow."
With that, he leaped away, his figure like the wind, landing on a white stone outside the waterfall.
Then he strolled away, humming a tune, leaving leisurely.
He had only come to the waterfall for a couple of drinks and to reward the two older men with some wild rabbits.
"This kid..." Watching his retreating figure, the two men could only smile wryly. They had never seen such a strange young man.
"By the way, that movement technique he just used, isn’t it the top-grade 'White Phoenix Skill' you taught?" Zhao Zongyuan asked.
Shen Yunqing chewed on the rabbit, mumbling, "That’s right, and it seems that kid has already mastered it perfectly. I really suspect he comprehended that Wind-Cutting Fist on the same day..."
"Mastering it to perfection in half a month..."
Zhao Zongyuan pondered, speaking softly, "Could it be that the news released by the Li family was just to mislead people? That Marquis Wu has been stationed at the border for years, and neither he nor his wife is around..."
Before he could finish, it was clear enough.
Shen Yunqing swallowed the rabbit meat, took a swig of wine, feeling so comfortable that his eyebrows almost fell off. He sighed, "The depths of noble families are like the sea; who knows? In any case, this kid is definitely a genius. When the Mohe test comes in a year, he should make a name for himself."
Zhao Zongyuan nodded slightly, not denying it. It all depended on whether Li Hao was willing to show up then.
Suddenly, he noticed Li Hao’s figure disappearing around a corner and raised an eyebrow, "Did that kid take the wrong direction?"
"Huh? Didn’t you tell him? That way leads to the Mohe."
(End of Chapter)