Amidst their heated discussion, the Nine Silences Hall delegates rushed back.
Since Bu Jingyun was here, they naturally would not have left the Academy grounds.
The Sentinel swept his gaze around, and only after he saw Bu Jingyun standing perfectly unharmed did he heave a sigh of relief.
Bu Jingyun once again transmitted orders to Sentinel, who felt very unwell once he’d processed them. ‘Hallmaster, how come your entire style’s changed after venturing outside?’
The Principal felt cold sweat dripping off his brow. ‘They really came back?!’
The Sentinel glanced at the Principal and cleared his throat. “Since you guys find the results unsatisfactory, let’s have a rematch!”
Principal, “…”
‘No, I really don’t want to!’
This time, the one the Principal glared at was Zhong Shiyi. ‘You caused this, you deal with it!’
“Might I ask you what your relationship with Shen Yaoguang is?” Zhong Shiyi was unafraid and—under the Principal’s warning gaze—stepped forward to question the Sentinel.
The Sentinel frowned. ‘What relationship? How am I supposed to answer? The person who abducted our Hallmaster? Our enemy?’
“Why should I tell you? Look, are we fighting or not?” Lacking an answer, the Sentinel flew into a rage, “If not, then stop wasting time! You think everyone’s got as much free time as you?”
“Come on Principal, fight! Don’t lose face now!” Shi Sheng shouted, “Whatever happens, don’t lose! Otherwise, people are going to say you won without fighting before!”
The Principal who was just about to reject the ‘generous offer’ stumbled and nearly lost his balance.
“Cowards! Don’t even dare to fight! You lot are just the parasites of your clans; like you could ever amount to anything!” Nine Silences Hall very ‘cooperatively’ started shouting provocations.
As expected, the students of Nine Provinces Academy were incited. “Who’re you calling cowards?! You wanna fight? Come on! You think we’re afraid of you?!”
“Hmph, bring it! I’ll beat you back into yo momma’s womb!”
“Principal, let’s fight! Don’t shrink back!”
“Principal, fight!!!”
Watching the seething crowd, Zhong Shiyi’s fighting spirit seemed to have been ignited as well. “Principal, Nine Silences Hall is too arrogant! Our Academy’s going to become a joke at this rate! We must fight!”
“Fight your head! Can we beat them? Principal, we can’t fight!” Hobo Uncle interjected.
Zhong Shiyi fiercely accused, “Ye Tiannan, how could you praise others while denigrating your own team?!”
“It’s for the sake of those little radishes, ain’t it?” Hobo Uncle spoke righteously, “We all know Nine Silences Hall’s strength, it’s impossible to win!”
“Enough!” The Principal’s body was trembling, causing his flab to shake. “We have no choice left but to fight.”
Considering the incensed crowd, if they didn’t fight, their reputation would be tarnished.
‘It’s all because of this group of troublemakers! Hmph, of course, the one with the most blame is Shen Yaoguang!’
The Principal huffed and announced the continuation of the competition beginning with the contestants following Shi Sheng, whose round was counted as a win for the Academy.
These kinds of competitions tended to lure one to sleep. They were typically a waste of time, with the sole objective of beating your opponent.
To Shi Sheng, who never cared about the means nor any notions of fairness, it was all a load of rubbish. Once you beat your enemy, whatever you claimed was justice.
Only when Qin Langyue’s turn came did Shi Sheng begin to pay attention. Qin Langyue was currently at the third level of Spirit King.
‘Yep, levelling like on a rocket alright!’
Qin Langyue sent the Nine Silences Hall contender flying the moment she stepped on stage.
Having won so easily before, the competitor from Nine Silences Hall had started getting cocky. Qin Langyue exploited the gap in his defences and defeated him in a single hit.
However, the following matches wouldn’t be so easy. Since Nine Silences Hall dared to act so brazenly, they naturally had the qualifications to back it up. Their younger generation was filled with promising and powerful experts.
Qin Langyue nearly lost several times, but always managed to stage a comeback. Her victories were ones where she barely had an edge.
The competition was held in a King-Of-The-Hill style, where both sides had the same number of competitors who would fight until all the competitors of one side were defeated.
Currently, Nine Provinces Academy only had Qin Langyue left while Nine Silences Hall still had two contenders.
“Can Qin Langyue do it?”
“Let’s hope she can… I mean, hasn’t she lasted till now?”
“I didn’t know she was this strong. Luckily, I didn’t toss stones down a well at her before.”
Female leads were really leads (unkillable cockroaches); they’d always manage to triumph in the end in spite of the odds.
Once the Nine Silences Hall competitors were reduced to one contender, Shi Sheng suddenly poked Bu Jingyun. “Get one of your guys to come over.”
Bu Jingyun stared at her in confusion.
“What’re you looking at me for? There’s plenty of time to look all you want in the future! Go call someone over, don’t you understand?”
“Hmph!”
Shi Sheng, “…”
Bu Jingyun transmitted his order for the Sentinel to send someone over, whereupon Shi Sheng retrieved several purple balls and handed them over to him.
Having witnessed the terrifying power of those balls—which could explode upon impact to generate lightning, which was even more frightening than a spirit power explosion—his hand couldn’t help but tremble. ‘What if it blows up?!’
“If you can’t win, just toss it.”
“This…” He quailed. ‘Surely, that’s… not okay? And aren’t you on the opposing side? How come you’re helping us? Could it be you’ve really fallen for the Hallmaster?
The Hallmaster actually sold himself…’
Bu Jingyun’s cold gaze forced him to rein in his wild imagination. ‘Must not sully the Hallmaster!’
“Even if you don’t use an item, she will. This is the most help I can offer you.”
Although the rules didn’t forbid items, their use had virtually been non-existent throughout all the competitions thus far. So when Qin Langyue had used an item in the original setting, the Nine Silences Hall had been caught off-guard, thus resulting in their crushing defeat.
“Hallmaster?” ‘Can her words be trusted? She’s already kidnapped you, but still dares to parade you around so flagrantly around the Sentinel…’
Bu Jingyun didn’t speak.
Somehow, the disciple seemed to understand Bu Jingyun’s intent. He returned passed the items to the Sentinel informing him that the Hallmaster had agreed.
So right when Qin Langyue was about to use an item, the contender from Nine Silences Hall threw the little balls first, generating a string of explosions that forced Qin Langyue out of the ring and inflicting her with heavy injuries. Her personal well-being was uncertain.
Those from Nine Silences Hall cheered while those from Nine Provinces Academy wore expressions of disappointment and anger. ‘We nearly won! But Qin Langyue just had to lose at the critical juncture!’
First she’d shown them hope, but in the end, she submerged them into despair. Some people’s impressions of Qin Langyue plummeted.
If you won, you received honour and glory beyond compare.
If you lost, countless accusations were laid bare.
This was reality.
So… do not lose!
“Despicable! You used an item!” Some people spoke out to censure Nine Silences Hall.
“What’s so despicable about that? Didn’t your side plan to use an item too? All we did was beat you to it! And the rules never said using items was prohibited, so how is it despicable?!”
“Stop finding excuses for losing, geez!” Shi Sheng scoffed, her melodious voice easily audible over the rest. A strange silence befell the crowd.
The Sentinel found Shi Sheng much more appealing; though of course, this wasn’t enough to make him forget about how she’d kidnapped their Hallmaster!
“Shen Yaoguang, just whose side are you on?!” Zhong Shiyi’s eyes were practically spitting fire.
Shi Sheng spread her hands. “No one’s.”
‘I’m(bbb) just spectating the FL. And doing my(bbb) side job as a cannon fodder that pulls aggro while planning to destroy the world.’