"A chance?"
"Yes. You can challenge the disciple in the other circle. Though it's up to you, because this disciple is also a body cultivator. I hope you don't disappoint me with your choice."
Everyone was surprised by this unexpected announcement, especially Xiao Ming himself. He wasn't hoping for another chance to acquire the elixir.
And now that this heaven-sent opportunity had come he was not going to reject it.
He cupped his fists and said, "Thank you, Senior Sister for this chance. Xiao Ming will gladly accept."
He then jumped into the other circle and stood in front of the shocked Xu Peng.
Xu Peng who had been silently recuperating from all this time currently hated Yuan Shuchun to death.
'Why the fvck is this b!tch targeting me? What did I do to her? Fvckin queen of cunts.'
He was annoyed by the fact that she was continuously targeting him just because no one challenged him.
Clearly, she didn't wish for him to get the elixir.
'If I can't get it, no one else can. Xiao Ming is already pretty much injured, he shouldn't be a big deal right now.'
Thinking this, he took a fighting stance, as a violet aura covered his whole body.
Seeing Xu Peng prepare his Qi Armor, Xiao Ming smiled.
He stared at Xu Peng like a child looking at his new toy and asked, "How hard is your skin with this Qi Armor?"
"Hard enough to crush your pride."
Xiao Ming had his eyebrows raised from such an aggressive reply, "Calm down buddy, this is just a friendly spar, should I use full power against you?"
"Hmph!" Xu Peng smirked, "You are already in such bad condition, I would be surprised if you could even scratch me."
"We'll see."
And then with a smile on his face, Xiao Ming went for the attack.
Xu Peng got ready to block the incoming attack and repeat what Huang Bao had just done, throw Xiao Ming out of the circle.
However, suddenly he felt something weird.
He felt as if he was flying.
And the next thing he saw was something familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.
He saw his own body.
And it was getting farther, and farther… and farther.
Then it felt like he was falling and suddenly he noticed that his body didn't have a head.
Before he could even process anything, he had lost consciousness. Forever.
...
Silence fell throughout the hall.
*Pat*
*Plop*
Two sounds echoed as the head of Xu Peng rolled out of the platform and his unmoving body fell on the platform as blood gushed all of the surfaces.
The disciples were in shock.
Yuan Shuchun was in shock.
Ye Tian Yun was in shock.
Xiao Ming had just killed a fellow disciple and he was now cleaning his sword with a white piece of cloth as if nothing had happened.
"Well, it wasn't hard enough."
His voice rang through the hall, bringing everyone back to their senses.
*ssssh!*
A lot of disciples took a deep breath as they digested what had just happened.
Yuan Shuchun stood up, there was less anger, more annoyance on her face.
However, before she could even say anything, the cold-looking disciple beside her came forwards and asked aloud.
"Xiao Ming, do you know what you have just committed!?"
Xiao Ming took a regretful sigh and said, "Senior Brother, I clearly asked him if his armor was hard enough, and he claimed that it could crush me. So I didn't hold back and went straight for the head."
"What kind of nonsense is this? You've committed a murder. Do you think you will be let go as if nothing happened?"
"But I only attacked like that because he himself claimed himself to be this powerful."
"Hmph! You should just say goodbye to your cultivation. Take this idiot to the Disciplinary Hall, Elders will judge his fate the first thing tomorrow morning!"
Xiao Ming had a panicky expression as he saw few Inner Court disciples jump on the platform.
He suddenly looked at his sword. Somehow he wasn't able to convince himself that he had really killed a fellow disciple.
He looked on the ground below the platform and saw Xu Peng's dead-pan eyes staring at him as if looking through his darkest soul. What made him feel worse was the smile on Xu Peng's face which made his whole expression look even more unnatural and menacing.
Xiao Ming looked around and saw the Inner Court disciples slowly closing to him, he tried to tighten his grip around his sword, but he found there was nothing in his hand.
His attempt only made his hand tighten into a fist.
He looked around for his sword but it was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly he noticed that everyone present around him only had one expression - anger.
Except for two disciples, Yuan Shuchun, who looked very annoyed, and another disciple, just left facing Yuan Shuchun, among the new Inner Court disciples.
It was the disciple who had interrupted his argument earlier and even kicked him to the platform.
This disciple was looking at him as if… as if he was watching a show…?
Nothing around him was making any sense and all of a sudden he felt a sudden burst of intense pain in his head.
The pain was so excruciating that he was forced to sit and held his head tight, trying to figure out what in the world was happening.
There was a certain feeling that welled through at this point.
'Is this… despair?'
Just then, he heard a voice, "Stop it."
These two words echoed throughout his head. And slowly his pain went away.
He stood up and found that there were no Inner Court disciples approaching to detain him.
He then looked in front of him, and he found Xu Peng standing in front of him! Alive and Well!
...
A/n: If you come across any errors/typos, please comment and let me know.
Ig we're back on track now.. Resuming old schedule of 2ch/d from today.